Chapter 60: Relena

When a tall, handsome, and well dressed man sat on the park bench next to Duo's and said "I need a favor" without even looking in his direction, it took effort for the American not to smile. It amused him to no end how ridiculous this was. Like some spy movie.

Duo chuckled and kicked some dirt, leaning forward with his arms draped over his knees. "What can I do for you, Zechs? Teach ya how to braid hair?" Normally the older man would laugh at Duo's suggestion but this time his silence warned of how serious the meeting was. "Okay. Got it. How can I help?"

"Relena's attending a big summit. There's been some concerns about security."

Duo picked up a rock and held it in his palm, turning it over to feel the uneven sides. He knew what summit Zechs was talking about. Quatre would be there both representing his company and himself as a philanthropist. "And you need my help?"

"Preventers are on it but this is my sister, Duo. I need someone with good instincts and you're the best I know. If you're there I can be confident she's safe."

At that Duo did look to the other man. He wanted to make a joke about being better than Heero but that was a sore topic he wasn't keen on bringing up. He was surprised to see Zechs looked ragged upon closer inspection. Over the years the former Oz soldier came to truly care for his sister and became very protective of her. For the longest time she was the only family he had left. That instinct to protect your own was one Duo knew well. Now he only needed to gauge the expectations being saddled on him.

"What if I'm there and she's still hurt?"

Zechs remained quiet. He flinched a little and tensed. "If you're there and she's still hurt then I'll know it was unavoidable." He turned to look at Duo and the haunted glint in his eyes was unmistakable. "I've made mistakes before, and it's got nothing to do with the wars. I picked out a wrong suspect at that dinner party when you saw right through the attendees and into the security detail. I don't think that dinner party was a one off mistake. I'm not clear headed when it comes to her but she keeps requesting I handle things and for some reason she gets her way." He looked pained and it pulled at something inside Duo. "I trust you more than I trust myself to keep her safe."

Duo's mouth twitched involuntarily upward into a sad smile. For all their teasing in recent years, any sincere praise sent in his direction still managed to catch him off guard. Maybe it was Noin's influence on her husband. Maybe it was his impending and imminent fatherhood. Whatever the cause, Zechs was becoming sentimental and it was a good look on him. He was still deadly but it wasn't the only thing he was anymore. He was a brother, a husband, a father to be, and a friend.

That part still seemed strange to Duo. Zechs Merquise, or depending on who you asked, Milliardo Peacecraft, by all accounts a man he once hated, was his friend.

Initially he refused to work together when Une brought up the possibility of pairing them for a mission. There was just no way, none whatsoever, he would play nice with the man who tried to kill Heero so many times. It wasn't even about the war and which sides they were on. Hell, even Howard had a strange soft spot for Zechs, claiming him as his "other long-haired, idiot pilot" from the wars. The first time Duo heard that nickname he was furious. He couldn't understand how his Sweepers family could take in someone who wanted him and his friends dead, and it put a lot of questions into his head.

Was it just because the man piloted the Tallgeese? Was Howard, someone he considered something between a young and active grandpa and an older uncle, only loyal to the machines he made? Was he only family because he piloted Deathscythe? Had he not offered to pilot, would he have been tossed back onto the streets?

He took it as a personal betrayal. Didn't speak to Howard for months. But deep down, when he couldn't forgive Zechs after the wars, he knew it was because of Heero. He could never make peace with anyone who went after Heero with the intention of killing him, and it didn't matter if his feelings for the Japanese man were returned. His loyalty was not conditional. Even if Heero didn't love him, he couldn't befriend the man who briefly made it his mission to kill him.

And then, nearly a decade later, he found that he could.

That two week recon mission from Une, where they were stuck with one another under circumstances beyond even her control, solidified something between them. Neither were happy with their partner. Duo was viewed as incapable and unprofessional, and Zechs was viewed as a cold blooded asshole who came from money and didn't know what it meant to be without.

They called it their two week recon mission, because that's how long it was supposed to last, and that's what they were supposed to do. By day six things went sideways and by day 26 they were finally heading back to their respective homes, having pushed themselves beyond any reasonable expectations, even for two very seasoned agents. Duo accepted that Zechs wasn't quite so cold blooded, nor as much of an asshole as he thought. He learned the former Oz officer was capable of putting his pride aside and had a real heart. He even expressed regrets to Duo over his entire rivalry with Heero through the wars, attributing it to youthful arrogance. In return, Duo liked to think he taught his mission partner The Power of Friendship. But really the man was simply forced to rely on the kind of street expertise Duo had in spades. After that mission, the next time they spoke, Noin thanked him personally and admitted her husband would never have survived without him.

It knocked Duo a little off his axis to have Noin not only thank him, but in doing so confirm that Zechs spoke about him when he wasn't around. Even more confusingly, it was with praise.

The forced kinship born of their mission created strange and strong bonds between them. And equally important, both Zechs and Noin kept it a secret that they'd seen him and had contact with him. Though neither were particularly close in any way to the other Gundam pilots, they did see them from time to time. Their respect for his wishes, and their refusal to betray him, mattered. How could Duo ever say no to Zechs when he just wanted his family safe? They'd shed blood together. He'd even gone out of his way to shed blood for Zechs. Those kinds of experiences, and their consequences, didn't fade with time. But now he was being asked to work a summit where Quatre would be in attendance. And given his current situation it would be reckless to simply agree.

"I'll need to run it by Une."

Zechs hastily replied "She already approved. And I know you don't like Relena at all, but I know you like me. And I know you're an honorable man. So please, help me."

There was absolutely no way he could refuse.

"I ever tell you short hair suits you?"

The blonde wrinkled his nose and shot Duo a confused look.

"Some things just suit you, man. The haircut, the new attitude, the family. They suit you."

"What does tha—"

"I'll do what I can to preserve your family. I like this version of you. He's a good friend to me, and I help my friends." Duo sighed and stood from where he was seated, stretching like he was about to continue on a run, not making eye contact. "Send me the details and ya have my word that she won't be harmed so long as I can help it."

Without waiting for a response he took off at a jog. Eventually he'd run all the way back to his home to start digging through forwarded case files.

The job was simple enough on the surface. Preventers once again had a team of agents on the case and this time it included Zechs, Wufei, and Trowa. Duo didn't question why Heero was left out. He hardly cared. At least that's what he told himself every time he started to worry.

A large summit was being held at a former mansion turned convention hall downtown. The story was the same as always. Someone didn't like policy, they were threatening the summit in general. Nothing specific to any individual, but given recent events Preventers were concerned for both Quatre and Relena. Honestly, he was getting tired of knowing so many people with credible death threats against them, and once again marveled at how he went from a street kid who knew nobody to a professional who knew some of the most influential people in the Earth Sphere.

Not that any of those influential people were particularly useful to him. They tended to just ask for favors and need protection.

The Preventers were taking care of everything. They had three teams in place, with Trowa's on the perimeter, Wufei's on the interior, and Zech's guarding the attendees. Quatre was a private citizen and thus had his own security detail. Relena's security would be provided by Preventers and essentially be comprised of only Duo.

He was fairly certain a fourth team was probably prowling the city just to keep order but no one said anything to him about it. Une signed off on the request to bring him on board as Relena's detail. This, he knew, was code for "personal bodyguard" and it grated on him. Wasn't this Heero's job most of the time? Didn't they argue over this years ago when Heero would accept guarding Relena and cancel longstanding plans with him like vacations?

The memories weren't helping his mood.

To use time wisely in the days before the summit, Duo studied the blueprints of the location and committed as much to memory as possible. Because the convention hall used to be a private mansion the building had hidden passages throughout. Most of the passages were blocked off but Duo went over the building's plans several times to cement which ones were viable. He needed to know in case anyone else used them. He also needed to know in case he had to use them. With Trowa on the perimeter they coordinated rendezvous points in case those passages were used for an escape, and Zechs insisted if the plan went into action he would be the one to intercept them.

The hours he spent mapping out the facility and committing it to memory were significantly more than he anticipated when he agreed to the job. He found his mind wandering as he reviewed them, disinterest in the case seeping into his dedication. The reaction almost made him feel guilty. Not once in his tenure with Preventers could he recall work being so hard to focus on. Usually he loved his job, but for now his job was to shadow Relena.

He couldn't think of a worse and more thankless assignment. If he was lucky she'd just send him an email afterwards rather than demand he arrive at her leisure to receive a non thank you.

Nothing tested his patience more than playing bodyguard to a politician. It was a good thing he was required to be on his feet at attention all day or he'd probably fall asleep. He wanted to stretch his arms but refrained from drawing attention to himself. It was bad enough he wasn't in a suit. The only formal attire he owned was well tailored, and that meant his ballistic vest, though slim, didn't fit underneath.

Instead of a suit he wore black Preventers fatigues as a not so subtle fuck you to Relena, who he was certain would criticize him if he showed up in a suit he bought off the rack, but also be too afraid to say anything about military fatigues. Even Duo, who people often wrote off as a fool, was wise enough to know he looked very out of place. In his eyes that was a feature, not a bug. If anyone wanted to hurt Relena they'd see, without a doubt, she had protection who wasn't fucking around. It wasn't only his gear, but his posture. While his usual goal was to blend in and relax, he was here to play the role of a no-nonsense bodyguard. The point was to draw attention to her security detail as a deterrent. He was proud that his soldier's stance was as good as Trowa's. Back during Meteor he'd asked his friend for pointers on how to keep that posture for long stretches of time.

The only things he could do to look more intimidating to the prim and proper guests were open carry an assault weapon or wear war paint. Neither were particularly appealing.

He caught a few glimpses of Quatre throughout the day. His security detail looked like anyone else. Nice but plain suit. The women on detail were also in the same well appointed but boring attire. At one point he questioned how many people attending the summit were actual guests and how many were security. It seemed like everyone had at least one person in their entourage who might be a hired gun. It was all ridiculous in Duo's eyes. He valued life, but how could all of these people be that important?

The simple answer was they weren't.

The thought did make him pause, though. Relena was important to her brother. And as much as he hated it, she was important to Heero. It felt a little unfair how someone who hated him wormed her way into the hearts of people he respected. Worse than that was the last time he saw her. She threw his only tangible memento from his childhood into a goddamn fire like it was garbage.

Even garbage shouldn't get carelessly burned, and Relena knew it, because it was part of the provisions renewed in the environmental bill she recently signed that sparked all this stupid outrage.

They had not spoken since she followed him out of her house and he yelled at her, not even for the rest of that same day. He'd instructed the others on how to play hockey. He spoke to the others at dinner. She just happened to be physically present. The anger he felt towards her was echoed by his friends, but none outside of Wufei were truly angry on his behalf.

Heero still kept in touch with Relena, and that hurt. Of course Heero was angry at her mistreatment of him, but that didn't cause any falling out. He could accept Heero forgiving Quatre for drugging him because Quatre, like it or not, was part of their group. But Relena? How was she connected at all if not through Heero? It would've been easy to write her off. Those questions lead to intrusive thoughts.

He doesn't love you enough to stand by you.

Duo shook his head. He needed to stop thinking such things. He'd never police who Heero was friends with. It didn't matter who Heero kept in his close circle so long as those friendships were healthy for him. Relena could hate him all she wanted but if she was good for Heero then her hate for him didn't matter.

Frustrated with himself, he decided he needed to stop thinking about Heero entirely. If Relena didn't bring him up, then he wouldn't think about him.

What if she brings him up? What if he's been talking to her while ghosting you?

He tried his best to silence his mind and focus on the mission. He hoped they wouldn't need to speak much, if at all. The very last thing he wanted to do was talk with her. No good ever came of him attempting civil conversation with Miss Queen of the World and he'd avoided her as much as possible in the lead up to the mission.

Zechs did the preliminary briefing with her. He informed him that she refused to wear practical shoes but agreed to carry a small flashlight in her purse, and reluctantly agreed to follow Duo's orders. As far as he was concerned it only signaled how she did not take the threat seriously. He made his thoughts on that known.

Thankfully Relena also avoided him as best as she could, even though he was constantly within arm's reach. She didn't seem as mean as before. She made eye contact, acknowledged his presence, and kept to herself. He wondered what happened to change her attitude. Was it the public setting, with all eyes on her? Maybe. But when they first met up for the day it was in private at her estate before heading out to the summit. Something was different between them and he couldn't place his finger on it. She made no insulting comments about him. For a brief moment he wondered if one of his friends confronted her about her behavior before dismissing the idea.

That was absurd. Who would even bother?

Midway through the eight hour summit Duo felt a vibration in his pocket.

Time's up. You in or out?

His grip tightened on his phone. With the preparations for Relena's security he'd kind of forgotten his deadline for Chevalier was coming up. When he talked to Une about it weeks ago she ordered him to lay low until his deadline. After all, he needed time to find the source of the intelligence leak. Unfortunately he'd gotten almost nowhere with that. He put the device back into his pocket. There was no need to distract himself with Chevalier, especially if he began immediately texting plans once Duo agreed to work with him. In less than four hours he could devote his attention to a reply and still meet his deadline.

The man gave a date to reply by, not a specific time. Duo assumed he could turn in his answer by midnight.

He watched Relena listen to someone he didn't care about speaking at length on topics he didn't want to listen to, and did his best to remain professional. All he wanted was to give a dramatic sigh and roll his eyes. These people talked in circles, and several were just there to grandstand. He wondered if they ever tired of their own voices.

Relena was seated at a long table, taking part in a panel of speakers. He was trying his best not to die from boredom when a loud siren erupted from the audio system in the walls. Small lights began to flash, and Duo recognized it as the fire alarm.

Everyone got quiet before they got panicked.

Relena stood from where she was seated and made to follow the building's evacuation plans. Duo pulled his gun and caught her by the arm with his free hand to whisper into her ear.

"Not with them." He couldn't tell if she was confused by his words or annoyed that he dared to touch her, but the look on her face said something. They'd discussed this plan, though she hadn't given him time to physically walk her through it. Maybe she was annoyed that he assumed she'd forget they had their own objectives, having probably been through similar drills before. Either way, he didn't care how she felt. He had a job to do. "Follow me."

To her credit she did as she was told. They made their way along with the crowd to a point, then veered off. The last thing Duo wanted was to be spotted opening a hidden door in a wall, and there was a contingency plan for that. The summit was held in Ballroom A, which meant Duo was to take Relena along the evacuation route, duck into a small auxiliary staging room halfway down the first hallway, and from there make his way into the hidden passages.

Relena hesitated as he pulled her into the staging room and closed the door behind them.

"Duo, this is a dead—"

She shut up when he pushed a wall in a certain way and it opened.

"What on Earth?"

"It's our way outta here, Lena. We discussed this, and you were supposed to be listening. No witnesses." He took out his phone and turned it off. "Phones off!" She gave him an annoyed look. "As of now we're off the grid."

She looked over his shoulder and peered inside the passage but did not take a step forward. Then her eyes shifted and she was staring at his weapon. "Is it safe?"

With a sigh Duo responded "Yes, Princess. Preventers planned this. I know you don't think much of me, but this isn't just my idea. It was a group planning effort."

She took out her phone and reluctantly turned it off. As she placed it into her purse, she was reminded of the flashlight her brother convinced her to carry, and she grabbed it.

"Relena!"

She looked up at him.

"Hurry up before someone comes in here and finds us."

She looked back at the opening in the wall, clutching the small light. "It's dark in there."

Duo was losing patience.

"There's some emergency lighting. Une had it installed. Don't use that flashlight unless I okay it. I'll guide you. Now come on."

He pulled Relena into the hidden passage and the door shut behind them. She made a surprised noise, and he ignored her. From here he would navigate their way from the blueprints he memorized. The plan he built with Trowa in the event of an extraction would use the passageways to circumvent the crowd and sneak off to safety. Though she appeared uncomfortable she didn't delay in following him. She did, however, reach for his arm in the dark.

He hadn't expected her to be afraid of the passageway, or to seek human contact for comfort. He didn't actually consider her emotional state at all while planning.

Was she like this with Heero? Did she hang on him when afraid, and finding he accepted that contact did she exaggerate her fears to hang on longer? Did she play damsel in distress to get his attention? It was beneath her, but it was a distinct possibility given the lengths she once went through to steal him. Duo used to argue with Heero over the frequency of her security requests right after the wars, insisting she had her own personal agenda. He knew in his bones she used that time to try to poison Heero against him.

No. Don't go there.

He shook his head. He didn't want to think about Heero.

The passage ran behind the walls of the ballroom and then veered off before he lead her down a staircase. It was dark even with the faintest of emergency lighting in the passage, and she stumbled a bit after he warned her of the stairs. "Fourteen of them" he said as he pried his arm from her grip. He went ahead, knowing she would follow. She was a bit slower to make her way down the staircase than expected. He assumed it was out of fear, or maybe it was her shoes. It sounded like she was taking the steps one at a time.

Their goal was to make it to the sub-basement where, after entering a larger room, there were numerous options for paths to follow. Duo wanted the one second from right, which would take them in a few short minutes to a neighboring building where Zechs and his team would be waiting. With Relena trailing behind him he hit the last stair and stepped into the open room, a small smile playing on his face.

Just another few minutes and he'd be rid of her.

It was almost a shame they'd be seeing Zechs so soon. Preventers relied on him to memorize the blueprints, which was reasonable, but he would've liked to be given early access to the hidden system. It wasn't every day he infiltrated a building so old, let alone spent time in one. It was a pre-colony build and felt ancient in many ways. As his interest waned in the mission he'd done a little extra research on the history of the building. It was originally the private residence of some branch of royalty, which seemed fitting for a place he'd only experience because of Relena.

Apparently the architect built these passages so the inhabitants could flee revolution. In Duo's opinion, if you were building your home with evacuation routes in case of revolution, you probably already knew you deserved whatever was coming your way. The family must have been scum.

He took several steps into the larger room and then without warning felt two distinct, heavy impacts to his chest, and dropped to the ground.

Relena screamed from the bottom of the stairs when she heard the shots and saw him fall backwards. She foolishly rushed towards him. Duo was disoriented. He smelled gunpowder along with the mustiness of the passageways they were using. He'd only seen two bright muzzle flashes but never saw the shooter. His ears were ringing, and he was sure Relena's were, too. Any gunshots in relatively close quarters were not gentle on the ears, and there was nothing here to absorb the sound.

But most importantly, he had no idea where the shooter was other than a vague notion from those quick flashes, and Relena was about to sit on the damn floor next to him. How much more of a target could she make herself?

He had one singular, fully worded thought.

Zechs will kill me.

"Go!" he choked out, his voice strained. Relena hesitated. He twisted his body to roll over, nearly onto his stomach, and pulled himself to his knees on pure adrenaline and something Trowa once called mission tunnel vision. When she saw him begin to stand it clicked that they were still in danger, and she finally ran. He didn't have time to shout directions. Things were happening fast and he was in a lot of pain, struggling through shock. After getting shot he didn't think his brain was working quite well enough yet to pull up the blueprints in his head and make an informed decision. But when she made an immediate bad turn, he recognized it instantly.

"Wait!"

She yelped. It was quick and full of surprise.

Because she was so much slower than him he'd managed to just about catch up when she turned the wrong way. Without thinking he leapt forward and grabbed her as they plummeted through a hole in the floor to the level below.