Note: I realized something during this morning's chapter read. Publishing a chapter where Duo is in the place he last saw Hilde alive hits different this week. A few days ago was the 16th anniversary of a dear friend's suicide. That friendship framed my fictional account of Duo and Hilde's relationship. Obviously I took liberties in my writing because it's fiction, but the worry after each attempt, and the grief and the uncertainty over what really happened, are quite real. For seven years I only knew that he died, and assumed he finally took his life. Now I know not only that he killed himself, but how.

I cannot definitively tell you that knowing is better than not knowing. I don't often visualize things with my imagination, but it put an image into my head I've never been able to shake.

And last night, by complete happenstance, I was in a location I haven't been to in many years. Suddenly I was driving the same road I did when I last saw him, alive and in my passenger seat. Even the weather was similar. Back then I stayed under the speed limit just to keep him with me a bit longer. Every time I saw him I tried to delay our goodbye, because I never knew if it would be the last time we'd be together. And whenever I'm on that same road, or I'm driving and weather is just right, or I hear his favorite song, I turn to the empty seat next to me, and remember.

So my read through this morning? I extra felt for Duo, and for what being in a location forever tied to a memory means.

There's no good or narrative reason to bring all this up. But it did make me want to say in an official note that I hope I've treated my Hilde storyline, and the emotional impact of it on Duo, with the respect and gravity it deserves. I wanted to write it as an example of how to heal, even when you'll never get definitive answers, or when something awful feels so terribly pointless and avoidable. The Hilde storyline does come up again.

In addition, I was all over the place doing my read through and changing a lot. I'm... not sure if it's cohesive? I think it's fine. Maybe. I don't have the brain to do a second read through this morning after all the changes. As of hitting the button to post, my buffer is gone, and I need to write.

Anyway, sorry for the heavy intro. I did have an original note before my tangent, so here it is...

This chapter includes events that may be difficult for some readers.

Take care.

Chapter 76: Call

There was no time to linger in memories sparked of the last time he was in the Jalisco Square shopping center and gunfire erupted. Just a second after he first heard those distant shots, he saw a weapon being pulled from under a dining table. Duo dove behind a large column as the food court became a battleground. Immediately, he grabbed for his own weapon. He didn't even notice he was bleeding. His eyes scanned the area as debris flew past his face. Someone, obviously there with the man he'd met with, was shooting in his direction and the column was taking damage, pieces flying off in chunks. The air smelled chalky, with a mix of gunpowder.

His mind dangerously wandered away from that shooter, and instead he visually scanned the floor above. That was the best vantage point. He knew it well. He'd shot a man dead who stood on the upper floor, looking down while hunting for victims the day Hilde died. And if his instincts and his ears were right, the first shots originated from that same spot above, right after the call with the asshole who'd been on him for months, Laron Chevalier.

Give my regards to pilot 05.

Those words could only mean that Wufei, that jackass, followed him and was somewhere in the building, with no backup. At least not until he could shake his own assailant and reach his fiend.

Suddenly, he realized civilians were largely gone. A few were hiding under cover but all shots, other than the ones earlier in the distance, were directed to him. It was odd, given the effective cover he had. Wasn't that a waste of ammunition?

Was it a waste of time?

Chevalier told him on the phone that option one, his death, wasn't really an option. He expected him to meet at the church.

Once again he scanned his visual field. No sign of anyone above. The same civilians were taking cover in the food court, too afraid to leave, and rightly so. He knew they were there, but hadn't really thought about them. What kind of Preventer was he?

Thinking fast, he put two fingers up to his mouth and whistled an old pattern from the wars. His assailant already knew his location, so it wouldn't give away his position. The sound was piercingly loud and echoed a bit in the open space. Two lower staccato notes followed by three higher ones. If Wufei really was here, and he could reply without putting himself in danger, he would.

In the meantime, he thought that maybe, just maybe the shots in the distance briefly resumed. There was no way to be sure, given how loud everything around him was. The deafening noise would've made it hard to think if he hadn't fought in two wars. He needed to figure out who was shooting at him, and how to escape.

He wasn't an idiot. He saw that weapon in the corner of his eye just before he ducked behind the nearest viable option for cover. The shooter couldn't be the man he spoke with. It had to be a lackey. Someone hiding among members of the public waiting for the signal to attack. He combed his memory and recalled someone with short hair, seated at a table and pulling a large gun from underneath.

Fucking cowards.

He turned in a crouch so the shooter after him was on his right, and the upper level exposure was largely to his left and front. There was no way to face his assailant without exposing his back to some degree, even if only to an imaginary accomplice with a view from above, but he had no choice if he was to return fire. When he moved he saw some kids huddled together under a table on the far side of the fountain. They looked about his age when he first entered the war.

It occurred to him that 13 years on from Meteor those teenage kids probably had no memories of living in a war zone, and that was partially the product of his own efforts. Perhaps he'd feel good about that in another situation, but looking at them made him feel nothing, though he knew it should. Wouldn't a normal person at least feel awful about those kids being caught where they were right now? Or maybe an abnormal person, such as himself, would lament bringing them peace because it meant they grew up unable to defend themselves after living a life with the sort of luxury a lack of mortal danger brought.

Still, he was in mission mode and feelings, any feelings, could get people killed. He signaled them to remain in place, and mouthed the word STAY as clearly as he was able in English, Spanish, and French. They either understood, or they were too scared to move. He wasn't sure how long those kids held his gaze. It felt a long while.

Incoming fire was stilted, but somewhat relentless. He hadn't seen the type of firearm being used but the shooter was not stopping to reload like Duo would need to with his handgun. If he wasn't reloading, that meant Duo wouldn't survive without distracting or outsmarting him in some way.

While it wasn't unheard of for petty criminals to have large capacity automatic weapons, it certainly wasn't common. Even L2 had decent enough gun control to keep most firearms out of the public's hands. No one wanted a heavily armed populous after experiencing war at home. When you've seen bodies ravaged by instruments of destruction, you tend not to want to see that again. Duo knew it well. He carried a weapon for work, but he rarely had to kill anyone. His skills saw him adept at injuring threats to eliminate them. He was precise, going for minimal damage with maximum neutralization.

These days when he killed, it was the only way to ensure survival.

That notion was laughable, in his opinion. During the war he may have killed more people than any one soldier on either side. Deathscythe was stealthy, like him. When he attacked with his Gundam he didn't see himself killing soldiers who had no time to evacuate or retreat. He saw himself destroying mobile suits and buildings. The people inside those suits and buildings? They never factored. They couldn't. And when he infiltrated Oz and killed to remain hidden, when he set explosives that were sure to murder and maim, he had to assume those caught in his path of destruction were nameless and faceless. He had to assume, in order to survive.

His entire life always came back to survival.

He learned, years ago, that this made him colder than Heero was in those days. Pilot 01 knew perfectly well that he was killing living people. He came to terms with that as a price of war, and as a necessary evil to obtain peace. Duo? He deluded himself, proclaimed he was The God of Death, and ran with it like some sick joke to justify his actions.

All these years later... he wasn't that guy anymore. He was responsible for every one of his actions, and he felt the heavy weight of his choices. Now, as a small group of kids huddled across from him, he didn't even want to kill the person who was shooting brazenly in his direction. The shooter was either spraying ammunition wildly in the hopes of finding his target, or simply unable to fully control the weapon. Both options made the situation very dangerous, but how could he kill this person and put those kids through seeing it? How could he let them see a mangled corpse they'd never purge from their minds? This shooter had to be neutralized, not killed.

His mind backtracked. Was it a waste of time? Maybe the shooter wasn't mindlessly spraying bullets, and instead creating a distraction? Chevalier said he wouldn't die here. He said it clear as day. Meet me at the church and bring my money.

Was he instead being trapped here, to ensure he couldn't get to Wufei?

It wasn't necessarily a bad strategy on Chevalier's part. And with the shooter focused on Duo's hiding spot and ignoring civilians, it pinned him in place rather effectively.

He wasn't the only one to notice this.

The kids waved to get Duo's attention. One of them was opening a box she'd extracted from a shopping bag. Inside were new athletic shoes. She waved them in the air at Duo and mimicked tossing them into the shooter's line of sight. This, he thought, was a bad idea. Under no circumstance did he want the shooter, who was thus far careful not to hurt civilians, to have reason to go after the kids.

They ignored his attempts to dissuade them. Maybe it was something about the debris around him, or the blood he still hadn't noticed on his face.

After miming a countdown, the girl tossed one of the shoes into the open area but away from Duo. Vibrations from bullets hitting the column stopped as the shooter's aim directed elsewhere and, capitalizing on that, Duo made his move. A fast as he could, he ducked out from behind the column onto the opposite side of the distraction and took aim at the sole person standing in the nearly vacant eat-in area.

She went down immediately, hit in the leg. In a stroke of good luck, she dropped her gun. Before she could recover he ran for her, bolting forward into the open to take her weapon or tackle her so she couldn't repossess it, whichever was the better opportunity. Her arm was just reaching out for the gun when he slammed into her, sliding them both away from the weapon on the smooth tile floor. The motion smeared a streak of blood from her injured leg along their path.

A little disoriented, she again sought her weapon. Though it was not within reach he knew his only choice was to disable her until law enforcement eventually showed. She could have a second gun, or backup.

Her eyes were wild and in pain when he grabbed her and pushed her fully onto her back. Duo twisted his body so that one of his feet was wedged against her side. He gripped her arm with his free hand and held it at a terrible angle.

"What's his plan?" His voice was intense, full of hatred. "Your boss, what's his fucking plan?"

When she didn't immediately answer he slammed her arm backwards over his knee. She screamed before passing out. The sight of a bone sticking out through her flesh was gruesome, but he could count her out as a threat. She'd live.

Without taking a moment to breathe, he sprung back to his feet and dipped down to swipe her weapon off the floor. It was a larger, automatic model, and she hadn't been wearing the strap. If she had, he couldn't disarm her so easily. He checked the safety, then slung it over his shoulders.

Perhaps it would prove useful.

Once again he whistled for Wufei. His ears rang, but he should've been able to hear a response. Knowing the shots initially fired came from the second or third floor, he ran towards the stairs, signaling the kids as he passed them to get out.

From the corner of his eye he saw them rush to the exits.

Taking the stairs two at a time, he felt his heart pounding in his chest. Wufei was the target here, not him. And if that woman did her job right, she'd distracted him long enough for something terrible to happen. He deliberately slowed down as he approached the second floor landing, carefully watching for any signs of a fight, or an enemy. He saw some people huddled, too scared to move. He didn't see signs of Wufei.

He listened carefully.

Hearing nothing, he whistled again.

Looking up towards the third floor, Wufei decided to stay where he was. It was a good middle ground. No matter on which level of the shopping center a threat appeared he wouldn't be far from reaching it and helping Duo. There wasn't much in terms of cover, and few truly defensible positions, but he'd make do and blend in as a civilian. The enemy wouldn't know he was there until he was on top of them.

On the shuttle the others warned him to be prepared for anything. He knew that, and many years ago he may have gotten angry, thinking they were babying him. Now he took those words for what they were: an expression of care, and an underlying concern from people who loved him. He was as ready as he could be, but it was always good to be assured he was on the right track.

When Une opened the armory to them, he chose to keep on his person a hand gun and a retractable staff. After the wars, as he trained further at Dragon Kwoon, he began to work on a variety of weapons techniques because his Sifu was focused not on swords, but spears and staffs. He'd convinced Une years ago that adding martial weapons to the armory was a good idea, and she agreed. He wasn't the only Preventer with martial arts training and those weapons were easier on the budget.

The retractable staff was a compromise of form and function. It didn't have the full flexibility of wood, but the design was not rigid and he could hide it on his person easily. Though not his preferred weapon, it would suffice. A sword on L2 would draw unwanted attention, but the staff could be more easily hidden. The colony was an odd place. It held a reputation for an excess of guns, but the population wasn't particularly armed. Weapons coming in and out of the colony were supposed to be monitored, though bribes were a surefire way around any rules. No one was particularly sure what they'd face in terms of force, and Duo was no help.

There were times, on their shuttle ride to L2, that Wufei would catch his friend deep in thought, staring into nothing. He wondered what was on his mind, and if it had anything to do with a general anxiety associated with going back to his home colony. Once they got here, he couldn't shake the horrible feeling that accompanied seeing where his friend came from.

A small glimpse of life here told him everything he needed to know about why Duo generally kept tight lipped over his past. And whatever was happening, Wufei was certain his friend would need support not just during but after, when it was all over. He had a feeling L2 stuck to you, and whatever bad things happened there would be hard wash clean.

He kept watch over the food court, careful to position himself so Duo wouldn't immediately spot him up above. There was something in his gait that told Wufei, as soon as he walked into sight, something was very wrong. The average person wouldn't notice, but he'd known Duo since they were teenagers. He could read him a mile away.

Duo was at his most deceptive when he wasn't even consciously trying, and right now all the red flags in Wufei's head were waving, telling him his friend was putting on a front.

Observing from above, he watched Duo's eyes briefly drop to the floor instead of continuing to look for whomever he was meeting. The way he stared, expressionless, gave Wufei a bad feeling. He wasn't sure why, but it felt like watching Duo re-living something important. Something painful. As far as he knew there weren't any standout events in which Duo had to negotiate for hostages.

And then he remembered.

How the hell could he forget?

Sally told him, months ago, what happened after Duo disappeared. She dropped the news one night as they cleaned up their kitchen. She told him how Duo confided in her the day she convinced him to attend her potluck. How Duo said she wasn't bound to secrecy, but she still felt it wasn't her place to broadcast his business. She only spilled everything when Wufei and Duo openly declared themselves family. She couldn't hold his story as a secret any longer. There were some things she just felt family ought to know.

And then she explained about Hilde.

Could they be waiting to make contact in the same shopping center where she died?

And more terrifyingly, if Duo was right and Chevalier was behind this, was everything designed to hurt Duo from the start? Was Quatre even a target?

His thoughts were interrupted when someone approached Duo. Wufei watched carefully, splitting his attention between Duo's meeting and his own surroundings. If there was an ambush it likely wouldn't happen directly in front of his friend. It would come from above, or the sides. Something less obvious than the person standing before him trading words. Given the effort put into researching him and hurting him, this wasn't going to end with a simple execution. There were still people milling about with food trays, and Wufei couldn't imagine anyone would make a scene there if the goal was simply to fuck around with Duo.

He thought for a moment and considered what the most effective way to hurt Duo would be.

Killing innocent people, probably. Killing kids.

And then Sally's words came back to him.

He looked like he was reciting lines from a textbook. There was almost no emotion, he was resigned and telling facts, recoiling from my touch and any empathy, like that might break him. And then, at the end of his story, he said it wasn't the first time he held a friend while they died. We've known him since Operation Meteor, Wufei. That can only mean he went through that before the wars. I can't even imagine how young he must have been, to have experienced that before the age of 15.

If this was where Hilde died...

He scanned for possible assailants, not ones focused on Duo, but ones poised to attack him. The most effective way to hurt Duo would be to recreate what happened four years earlier. Maybe not the mass murder, but definitely the killing of a close friend. Even so, how could anyone possibly know he'd be here when Duo didn't even know? Unless there was an information leak far too close to home...

He didn't want to consider that possibility.

It took time to scan and re-scan everything in his field of vision. Finally he caught a glint of light in the corner of his eye, a reflection on a glass pane. Most people would think nothing of it, but as a war veteran and a Preventers agent, instinct told him someone was attempting to conceal a firearm. Instinct screamed he was in danger, and too foolish to notice earlier. He knew what to do. He had to trust Duo to take care of himself, and deal with his own threat.

Casually he moved, keeping his face turned towards Duo on the lower level as he strained with his peripheral vision to examine his suspect. As he got closer to cover, feigning an attempt to get a better view of his friend, he saw the figure to his side shift and follow him. He was definitely marked. More importantly, he was running out of time. Whatever the plan was, there would be a tipping point where violence would begin, and he didn't think they'd sit down for a lengthy chat beforehand.

From his initial scout of the area he knew the shops around him were not places he wanted to duck into for cover. Most civilians were inside those stores, browsing. He could only hope that the goal was to kill him, not as many people as possible. Someone making calculated shots in his direction was much easier to deal with than someone sewing chaos. He could direct fire away from civilians and disarm the assailant.

One quick glance at Duo and he knew time was nearly up. The braided man was clearly arguing with someone down by the fountain. For a moment he wished he'd taken up residency above Duo's side of the food court. There, he'd have a freestanding elevator shaft that could provide cover. It was built directly behind the fountain with a one glass side to give passengers the illusion that they were moving in and out of the water display. That part of the design was not useful. But the main support walls around the structure, with the way they protruded out, would've given him plenty of cover. Instead, he was across and on the opposite side of the center. He wasn't far from where the stairs were located.

Stairs were open spaces and would not provide any protection.

His only option was a kiosk shop, operated by a young woman who looked incredibly bored. There were fake plants lined up in large containers behind the moveable shop, along the safety glass partition that prevented the pubic from falling to the level below. If needed, he could maneuver them to increase cover. The last thing he wanted was to draw any kind of fire towards a civilian, but he might not have an option. Another glance and he saw Duo holding something up to his ear, speaking heatedly. In anticipation, his hand went to his concealed firearm, and he checked reflections to track his suspect again. One good thing about the layout of this center was the copious use of glass and bright lighting. He could look in nearly any direction and find himself and whomever was behind him in his vision.

The suspect's movement came quickly, and he turned around to return fire just as the first shots went off.

People began to scream, and the young woman at the kiosk, bored seconds before, was running as fast as she could. He felt a little better knowing his cover wouldn't endanger her. He'd fired off two rounds before he was behind the kiosk, but had no idea how many the shooter got off. To his horror he heard rapid fire, presumably coming from Duo's direction. The same fake plants he wanted to use as additional cover were blocking a clear view of his friend down below.

Coming faintly but distinctly through the screams and gunfire he heard a sharp series of whistles.

Duo.

He must have guessed he wasn't alone, that one of the former Gundam pilots came to Jalisco Square, too. Duo wouldn't whistle like that if he wasn't anticipating a response. It was a smart move from back in the wars, one Wufei almost forgot about. As a Preventer he always had some kind of earpiece or means to get a message to his partner or squad. Only back in the war, when they weren't really a cohesive team, did they rely on such a primitive system.

But with his assailant nearly on top of him, a shadow creeping towards the kiosk, there was no time for Wufei to reply.