Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Catching the Past ❯ Counter Moves ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

COUNTER MOVES
CHAPTER 8


Duo scrubbed his eyes in a vain attempt to make them focus better. Going back to the computer screen in front of him, he almost jumped when the other three boys walked into the war room.
"....and so tracing those complaints back to that dummy corp dead ended. The man that made the complaints hasn't been heard from for days. I looked into it from Piper's side assuming that it was him. I can't get a connection. There are no records if you believe the records. And so far no one is talking, especially after our main witness disappeared like that." Quatre was telling them. "Heero, this guy is impossible! You can't do business without records of some type, especially considering the type of business he's in!"
"I know, I found the same thing when I hacked their records." Heero grunted in agreement moving towards Duo and the computer.
"At least Relena and I managed to get all the charges against Duo dropped. She's working on Deuce now." Quatre grumbled out loud in a disgruntled tone. He wasn't happy with his failure to pin this Piper down. As it was, they still didn't know what had happened to what was possibly their only outside witness. Quatre figured him for dead.
Quatre perked up a bit though at his next thought .He'd received a call earlier that morning that Jase had begun improving though only a bit. Jase wasn't out of danger yet but his odds were improving for every day he hung on.
Trailing behind Heero and Trowa who were both collected around Duo, Quatre took a look at the computer.
"Ah. Another demolition party planned." he murmured.
"Not quite." Trowa said. "Lady Une had a bit of a time explaining the last expedition. If it weren't for the fact that Heero brought enough evidence from the labs to make it reasonable grounds for investigation, we could have been in some rather hot water."
"Heero did?" Quatre said in blank confusion. Somehow he'd missed this important piece of information.
Heero nodded,"Saw some suspicious supplies. But again, no concrete proof. Which begs the question of what kind of guy does experiments with no records? He's got to be hiding them somewhere."
"Could he have been expecting us?" Quatre mused aloud.
"Nah, not you, he was expecting me." came Deuce's voice from the doorway.
They all turned to look his way.
"And I forgot to tell you but try looking under Peter Sangre. His last name isn't really Piper but I think it must have been a while since he's used his real name. However, I'd guess the reason you can't find anything is because, if I remember right, he's supposed to have photographic memory or something darn near close to it. One of his R&R people mentioned it to me once. He was scandalized that Piper was so unprofessional about the way he did things. I had other things on my mind at the time so I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have." Deuce finished up.
There was dead silence from all the boys as they looked at him, then each other.
"Well, that's....just great!" Quatre exclaimed at last in dismay throwing his hands up.
Duo glanced back at the computer and surreptitiously tried to rub his tired eyes. He had the contrast up all the way and it didn't seem to be enough.
"So where does that leave us?" Trowa asked the group. Disgruntlement showed in his eyes even though it didn't show in his voice.
"We could talk to him." Heero said flatly. He was not happy with this new development and he certainly didn't feel like talking to this man. Actions spoke louder than words to his mind. That was why Relena was so effective after all, she had more than once proved willing to back her words with her actions, and even her life. Wether she was right or wrong, she meant what she said and people knew it.
"Don't think it'll work." Deuce shook his head.
"Why not?" Quatre asked, frustration written on his face.
"Because he's crazy!" Duo blurted out finally joining the conversation. They all looked at him.
"I'm serious. This guy is too dangerous to fool around with. He's after revenge and he's nuts. You can't count on him to follow the normal rules. No telling how far he'll go to get what he wants." Duo finished up a bit uneasy with all their attention focused solely on him.
"We have no choice." Trowa said finally. "We have to talk to him to get our evidence. What we do afterwards will depend on what happens."
"And if we're going to talk to him we're going to have to figure a way to wire somebody for sound. We want proof this time around. I saw Zechs using some really neat two way gadgets that ought to work so I'll take care of that little detail." Quatre said thoughtfully, eyes lighting in growing anticipation.
"What have you got?" Deuce asked Duo curiously peering over his shoulder.
"His main money making branch. There's a listing of all the branches and divisions of Kale's." Duo replied scrolling the info for Deuce to see.
"Hmm. He's going be on the lookout now. We're going to have to take that into consideration this time around." Trowa said.
"Not the business." Quatre said suddenly. They all looked at him.
"His home. Don't go for the business. Go for his home. If he doesn't keep records at the business, he surely keeps some at home. Even if he doesn't need them his customers would require something." Quatre finished up nodding decisively.
Duo looked dubious but went to work. Moments later he had brought up the information and they all looked at it with almost a collective sigh. Of course things wouldn't be easy.
"Ok so which one do we target?" Duo asked. He really wished his eyes would behave. Every so often they would blur into double vision, and he kept catching himself squinting at the screen which made him mad. He had to take care of Piper, he had to last that long.
"Both." Heero said plainly.
"I want Piper." Deuce said flatly. Duo nodded sharply in agreement.
"Than Trowa and I will take on this one and you three take on that one." Quatre said pointing at the two addresses in turn.
"What if he's not there?" Duo mumbled under his breath.
"I think he will be. I happen to know a bit about that section of the city. There's a number of wealthy estates there. It's the best bet." Quatre offered laying a hand on Duo's shoulder. Duo sighed and nodded. Quatre wasn't very often wrong.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Deuce wanted to know.
"Nothing." Heero said flatly wheeling to grab his carry sack and start getting ready. The others did the same.



"This guy is paranoid!" Duo hissed.
"Paranoid isn't the word I'd have used!" Deuce hissed back.
"Paranoid with an unhealthy dose of Schizophrenia?" Duo offered with a grin.
"Will you two shut up?!" Heero snapped.
They were referring to fact that the place had enough security for a high level government function.
Still, for all the security there was an alarming lack of movement. In fact the place looked almost deserted but for the guards.
"Maybe Quatre was wrong." Duo sighed.
Right or wrong it had been the best guess that anyone had been able to offer.
"Nope he wasn't wrong, look." Heero pointed out the car that was pulling up to the door.
Deuce sucked in a breath. Try as he might, Duo couldn't see any more than some dark blurs. Things had gone fuzzy for him at any great distance and sometimes he could see little halo's of light around certain things depending on the lighting. The spots hadn't been back though, Duo hoped that was a good thing.
So Piper was there, now remained the problem of getting to him. Now would be a good time for an idea.... Duo thought.
"...here's what we're going to do..." he said after a moment of intense thought.




Trowa and Quatre kept their watch at the rundown house on the edge of town till dark. They saw nothing. As far as they could tell there was really nothing to see. The house was just another rundown house with only a few neighbors around. Neighbors who were carefully minding their own business. Quatre figured they made a habit of non involvement.
Just as dusk was falling, Trowa gave Quatre the signal and they both approached the house to meet at the door. The door was locked. Trowa made a motion at Quatre to get back but Quatre shook his head and motioned for Trowa to stand watch instead
. Moving so he could keep one casual eye on their surroundings and one eye on Quatre, Trowa watched curiously while Quatre picked the lock with respectable speed. Upon entering, they both pulled out flashlights and started scanning the rooms. Finding the place deserted and not very well kept up, they moved back to what seemed to be an office.
Trowa started searching the drawers and file cabinets while Quatre pulled his wire free to report that the place was deserted. Finished with his report, he deactivated it and stowed it in his pocket, then set to work helping Trowa sort through all the paperwork for anything that looked interesting.
After a long moment of working in silence, Trowa asked Quatre in a low voice, "Since when did you learn to pick locks?"
Quatre flushing slightly, grinned a little at the memory. "Since I won a bet with Duo."
"You what?" Trowa paused to look in Quatre's direction.
"Sure. I bet him I could beat him at (1) Street Fighter Alpha then bribed Hilde to munch some double chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven right next to us and he was so distracted I beat him in less than five minutes!" Quatre told Trowa laughing quietly to himself.
Trowa grinned faintly at the other's antics and finished the stack of papers he was sorting through.
"Find anything Quatre?" he asked the Arabian.
Quatre sighed and shook his head. then froze when the light switch snapped on behind them simultaneously with a gun being cocked.
Both of them carefully raising their hands in the air, Trowa turned his head cautiously to see who it was.
"You!" Trowa exclaimed in disgust.





Several minutes after winning the argument promptly following his idea, somewhat to Duo's surprise, a black clad figure could be seen sauntering easily towards the estate.
Duo's appearance was met promptly by three security guards who surrounded the boy.
"Hey! Watch your hands!" Duo barked knocking one man's hand away. "I want to talk to Piper and he's gonna wanna talk to me so I suggest you be a little nicer...!!"
Something in his voice and manner must have gotten through to the lead guard.
"Harley! Watch him but keep your mitts off for a minute. We're gonna have to frisk you first, you understand. Elleck, do it." the lead guard snapped.
Duo patiently complied while the one called Elleck patted him down. Two knives, one gun and three grenades later, Elleck turned to the lead guard.
"That's it Ikari." he said nodding once.
"Ok, bring him on through." Ikari said smartly leading the way through the gate. The minute Duo passed through though an alarm started wailing. Elleck and Harley promptly drew their guns and held it on him as Ikari turned triumphantly to face Duo.
"Ok kid, that gives us a scan when you walk through and it's telling us you got extra hardware on you. You wanna do this easy?" he sneered at Duo.
Duo silently reached around behind him, slowly as the two armed guards went tense with expectancy, and pulled his braid around in front of him. Undoing the hair band, he unwound the little gadget from his hair. So much for being wired for sound.
Handing it to Ikari he deftly did the braid up again. Harley gave him a push to get him going, not waiting for him to finish. Ikari just sneered. Elleck had no expression whatsoever.
Hustled along, Harley would push him at the least little thing. Duo, getting tired of it, waited till Harley reached out again and deftly dodged the push which jostled Elleck.
"Stop playing around!" Elleck snapped irritated at Harley who glared at Duo. Ikari apparently ignored it all.
"Oh shut up! With hair like that, what's he gonna do? Whip me to death?" Harley snapped back.
Ikari never looked back but threw over his shoulder, "Hair or no this kid just happens to be a Gundam Pilot and is on top of the boss's 'Dead or Alive" list, Harley. There's a 5,000 dollar reward out for him and I'm gonna collect it."
Duo couldn't keep quiet any longer.
"5,000? 5,000?? What kinda cheapskate would offer 5,000?? I'm worth at least triple that! 5,000 is just plain insulting, and you decided to work for him?? Geez, you fellas aren't much for brains are you?? I'm almost afraid to think what you three do for hobbies...spit shine his shoes? 5,000!!!" Duo growled in disgust.
"Oh shut up!" Elleck snarled in irate aggravation. Harley raised his arm as if to slap Duo and again Duo slipped it. This time Elleck got it in the face. Snarling he whipped around to kill Harley when Ikari intervened, grabbing his arm.
"Can it you two, you're supposed to be guarding the prisoner!!" he barked at them. Duo just stood there with bored expression on his face. Shrugging, Duo started walking again only to be brought up short by Ikari's hand on his braid and the click of a gun by his ear.
"You. You started this... Harley!" Ikari hissed.
With a gleeful look on his face, Harley came around and snapped a set of cuffs on Duo's wrists. They were just looking for an excuse to make it look good for them... Duo calculated.
"Hands off the hair." Duo said softly in a deadly voice. "I didn't start anything but if someone starts something I finish it..." Duo replied with a look in his eyes that gave Ikari pause for just a brief moment. Then Ikari shrugged it off and turned away to continue on.
Entering the large and spacious office behind Ikari, Duo saw Piper looking out a large, tinted plate glass window with his hands clasped behind his back. He turned to face Duo after a moment.
"Ah, Mr Maxwell. So you have returned." he said glancing briefly over Duo. There was no longer even a pretense of being pleasant on his face and in his eyes.
"Skip it Piper. Cut to the point. I got something you want and you got something I want. Let's talk." Duo said coolly keeping the rage that came up in him at the sight of Piper locked down tight for the moment. He wanted so much to get this guy....he had to focus on the plan. His plan. The others hadn't liked his idea and Duo figured Heero didn't quite trust him to stick to it but he had been the best candidate for getting what they needed and they hadn't been able to argue that successfully.
"Yes. But first..." Piper pulled his gun and pointed it at him. "I think you brought some friends with you. Please introduce us."
"I don't need friends to do this, what makes you think I brought someone with me?" Duo asked warily watching the gun.
Piper grinned without a trace of mirth to be found in it. Moving close to Duo, he jammed the gun under his chin. Forcing Duo over to his desk he hit a switch.
"Attention Gundam Pilots. I presently have Duo Maxwell on the wrong end of my gun. If you don't wish to see him dead you will give yourselves up...now. I give you 60 seconds to do so. If you do not comply, not only will your comrade die, you will be shot on sight. Thank you." Piper grinned to himself coldly as his voice was broadcast throughout the building, he didn't see how he could lose.
At 57 seconds he jacked a fresh round into the chamber.
At 58 seconds he started putting pressure on the trigger.
"We got 'em boss!" Ikari exclaimed sharply as his communicator went off. Pulling it out, he barked instructions into it. Piper eased off on the gun and held it at an angle waiting. Moments later Heero and Deuce were being pushed into the room by none other than Chance and Jez.
Cuffs were produced and fastened. Piper then instructed Ikari, Harley and Elleck to stand guard outside the door. Jez and Chance just leered at Duo and Deuce as they took up positions on either side of the boys.
Piper thoughtfully walked around the two boys making a complete circuit, carefully inspecting a new type of bug it seemed. He stopped in front of them and shook his head.
"Pilot 01 otherwise known as Heero Yuy and Deuce Kipling. Yes I know about you Kipling. Though I expected more of you Yuy. What happened to the famous pilot that would let nothing stand between him and finishing his mission?" Piper said walking around to where he could face them all.
"Can't always get what you want." Heero responded coldly. He seemed a bit peeved.
Duo, on the other hand, was the picture of relaxation, hands casually behind his head hampered only slightly by the cuffs. Deuce just stood there warily.
"Ah, but I have." Piper beamed at them. He turned to face them all losing the smile.
"Where is it?" he asked sharply back to business once more.
"Where's what?" Deuce asked innocently. Piper's eyes narrowed as his patience was fast disappearing.
"You know what." he almost hissed at Kipling. He raised his gun again lining it up on Deuce who tried hard to ignore it.
"Oh, well, sorry, how was I to know that if I took the last of your allergy medicine you'd get so cranky?" Deuce shrugged apologetically raising his hands. Duo snickered and straightened up bringing his hands down from behind his head.
Piper snarled and cocked his gun still lined up on Deuce who frowned.
"Errr....the jeep I borrowed when I left?" Deuce murmured uneasily. Piper's finger twitched.
"The PSD23 you twit!" Piper snarled at Deuce.
"Oooh, the PSD23.....er, do you mean that artificially engineered viral/toxin that you were experimenting with to sell to the highest bidder of various discontented world leaders before I 'borrowed' it?" Deuce asked brightening up.
"Yes! Yes, where is it?" Piper growled relaxing slightly now that he seemed to be getting somewhere.
"Or are you talking about the PC11 that I also borrowed? See, one was on the right hand side and one was on the left hand side and I get so confused sometimes....dyslexia can be such a pain." Deuce prattled on. A sweat drop was making it's way down Deuce's face now, he didn't know how much longer he could do this. Duo made it look so easy.
Piper looked blankly at Deuce for a moment. He'd ordered the PC11 disposed of, no one wanted to touch it. And he was much more interested in the PSD23.
"Don't... play... around... with... me... boy...!!! I don't care about the PC11, I want the toxin and you're about 3 seconds from a shattered kneecap boy!" he told Deuce, his frayed edges showing. Deuce took this as a bad sign and decided now was a good time to pass the buck.
"Oh, I gave it to him a while back!" Deuce said airily flapping his hand at Duo.
Piper looked as if he wanted to hit something but collected himself and turned on Duo. Deuce breathed a barely audible sigh of relief that Piper's ire wasn't focused on him anymore.
"Back to you I see, you're more trouble than you were worth! You said you wanted a deal. So talk!!" Piper barked.
"Deal's off. You lied to me, you don't even have the PC11." Duo said calmly.
"I'LL SHOW YOU DEAL!! ARE YOU TRYING TO DIE EARLY?!" Piper roared in a rage, inches from Duo's face.
Duo just shrugged,"You're the one gave me that PSD23. Since you're the one that did it how do you propose to threaten a walking dead man? Besides I don't have it anymore either. I gave it to him."
Piper was starting to turn an interesting shade of reddish/purple. Stalking away from them for a moment, he snatched a shot glass and bottle from his desk. Pouring himself a drink with hands that trembled with rage, he tossed it back in one long swallow. Getting himself under control, he then turned on Heero.
"Ok, Yuy. You got one chance and one chance only, to tell me what I want to know. This... has turned into a three ring circus as seems to happen all too often with Maxwell as he's no doubt responsible for this somehow. So, I'm asking you once only... where is it?" Piper said evenly.
"You mean the PSD23..." Heero said flatly. Piper twitched and a manic gleam entered his eyes.
"I gave it to the Preventer's medical team's head doctor.... her name is Sally Po. She's always hanging around with 05. You'll have to go through him to get to her." Heero continued smoothly.
"Thank you." Piper said coldly and raised his pistol, lining it up on Heero.
"Just a minute Piper...." Duo said softly.
"I need nothing from you Maxwell so wait your turn!" Piper said sneered.
"Or should I say Peter Sangre?" Duo paused. Piper turned his head slowly.
"What did you say?" Piper stared icily at Duo for a moment. He hadn't been expecting that.
"I just want to know... I want to hear you say it. Were you responsible for the attack on Hilde at L2?" Duo asked in an oddly calm way.
"Then there's the matter of the attack on Quatre's company, his friend's hit 'n run accident and the attack on Trowa's girlfriend." Deuce put in.
"The Preventers know what you're up to and you won't make it past all five of us!" Heero added menacingly, raising his cuffed hands and crouching ever so slightly. Jez and Chance both were watching Heero tensely, ready for him to try something.
"So was that you?" Deuce wanted to know.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Piper said in disdain, turning back to Heero.
"Thought so." Duo said and made his move; taking advantage of the fact that everyone was watching Heero who looked like he could explode into lethal action any second.
Intimidation factor: a perfect 10!! Great job Heero! Even when your 'helpless' you make people feel like you're about to bite!! Duo whipped the object in his hands at Piper and dived for Chance even as Heero dropped to his hands using his legs to sweep Jez's feet out from under him. Jez, desperately grabbing for his gun, landed hard on the floor in time to hear a crack as Heero braced himself and gave a savage twist to his cuffs that snapped them apart. Jez got his gun up and scrambled for his feet but couldn't get a bead on Heero who was moving too fast. Crashing into Jez, Heero fought for control of the gun.
Deuce had lunged for Piper who had flinched back from the cuffs Duo had flung at him, for that's what they were. Clubbing his hands together, Deuce used the cuffs to add impact to his blow as he cracked down hard on Piper's hands to force him to drop his gun. The gun went off as Piper dropped it but the force of Deuce's blow had knocked it out of line; the bullet merely gouged the desk on it's way to the wall.
Piper kicking viciously at Deuce to keep him back, scrambled around his desk snatching up the bottle. Smashing the end of it against the desk to make a better weapon, Piper launched himself at Deuce slashing with the broken bottle. Deuce gave ground slipping the first slash of the bottle at his face but used the cuffs to catch the next slash. The bottle shattered the rest of the way leaving red oozing slashes on Deuce's arm where the cuff stopped. Piper dropped the remains of the bottle fast and lashed out at Deuce's face.
Deuce, at a disadvantage with his hands still fastened, tried to block but couldn't avoid several blows that left his head ringing and blood trickling down the side of his face into his eyes blinding him. Deuce kneed Piper in desperation but the driven man acted as if he barely felt it; his eyes wild as he latched his hands around Deuce's throat and shoving Deuce the last few feet to pin him against the wall.
It had taken only moments for Jez to find himself straining to hold onto the gun and keep some semblance of control against this kid who was impossibly strong. Seeing how hard Jez was struggling, Heero simply let go. Jez was putting so much effort into the struggle that when Heero let go, his hand flew back smacking the wall hard enough to make him finally lose the gun. Which also left Jez in no position to put up a guard when Heero hammered three final blows to Jez's chin, heart and solar plexis. Jez never had a chance.
Securing the gun, Heero threw a quick glance to see that Deuce was losing fast against Piper and that Duo was sitting on his man with a good double handful of mohawk and was enthusiastically banging a limp Chance's head against the wall. There was a nasty looking knife embedded in the wall just past Duo's head but Heero didn't stop to speculate as he turned to face the door firing at the trio of guards that belatedly came tumbling through the door; trusting the other two to take Piper down.
Duo, seeing Deuce in trouble, grabbed Chance's gun that had never left it's holster. Lining the gun's sights up on Piper who had both hands around Deuce's throat, Duo snarled to himself in disgust. Tucking the gun into the back of his pants, Duo came up behind the two, striking at the back of Piper's neck with the edge of his hand. That got Piper's attention as Piper abruptly let go of a gasping Deuce and turned on Duo with a vengeance.
Shit! Duo thought in a temper as he ducked and weaved slipping most of Piper's blows. Piper was stronger but Duo was faster. Only Duo didn't know how long he could keep it up.
Just what does it take to bring this guy down?? Any normal person would be incapacitated on the floor!! Ok, think abnormal.... Duo growled to himself.
"Hey Piper!" Duo paused, ducking yet another wild blow to look up at the man, face serious, one finger in the air right in Piper's face as if making a point in an argument.
Piper snarled and paused for a bare second.
"Rule #2 in a Crisis Situation: Look behind you." he told him then laughed in Piper's face as a mostly recovered Deuce hammered a blow to Piper's kidney. The man finally started to crumble.
That one hurt! Duo thought with satisfaction as he added his two cents worth with a short sharp blow to the wind which doubled Piper over only to meet Duo's knee on the way down. Piper went down for the count but Deuce added an elbow to the Piper's neck a second time just to be sure; he didn't want any surprises.
"Rule #1, Murphy's Laws of Combat: If the enemy is in range...so are you." Deuce finished up, a savage smile on his face.
Dusting off his hands, Duo smiled with a grim satisfaction at having gotten his chance at the man. Deuce glared down at Piper, his breathing still ragged from Piper's choke hold.
Duo searched for and found his cuffs that had been kicked part way under the desk during the fight, and snapped them over the inert Piper's wrists. Checking around Duo saw that Heero had taken two guards down with two shots and the third guard was on the floor with his hands behind his head while Heero leaned on the door waiting for them to finish up with Piper.
Duo grinned cockily at him, Heero just leaned against the door looking bored; a faint glimmer of what might have been amusement in his eyes. Deuce soon found the key for his own cuffs and they set about getting ready for the reinforcements that could already be heard on the other side of the door..




Trowa and Quatre were looking down the barrel of a gun. The man studied them carefully and cautiously and didn't look like he'd be underestimating them which was a shame Trowa thought. He was thoroughly disgusted with himself for letting the guy sneak up on them but then again this man was no fool and knew who they were.
"So now that you've caught us what are you going to do?" Quatre asked him with full composure.
"You're looking for something. Obviously something do with Piper but I really don't care. You're not my job. Guess you'll just have to stay here while I finish up." the man said succinctly.
Quatre's eyes narrowed at the man. Trowa tensed slightly, ready to break loose at the least chance.
"I won't let you get Duo." Quatre said flatly. The man laughed in his face.
"Not just him anymore." he told them causally. Quatre's eyes went wide then narrowed down in anger. Trowa inched slowly to one side. The man waved his gun at Trowa and he froze.
"Nuh uh. Can't have you doing that. Both of you just turn around and lean up against that wall, hands over your head. Now!" he said curtly to the two of them.
Reluctantly, Trowa and Quatre did what they were told. Trowa heard a whisper of movement and then something hard cracked down on his head and as he slipped into darkness he thought he heard Quatre's voice raised and then nothing....
Quatre, realizing what was going on when Trowa crumpled to the ground against the wall, spun yelling in protest only to have the man lay the barrel of his gun forcefully alongside his own head. This guy had read them accurately picking Trowa as the one more dangerous in hand to hand. And although he had been surprised at the speed of Quatre's reaction, he had been expecting something like this. Quatre never felt the second blow, the force of it knocking him against the desk and onto the floor in an unconscious heap; a trickle of blood flowing out from under his blond hair.
The man stared at the blond in disgust. He hadn't meant to hit the kid so hard, as fast as Quatre had moved, he'd just reacted. Shaking his head he bent down to check blondie's pulse. These two weren't his targets and he had no real wish to harm blondie.
Satisfied, he straightened up, glancing around. Undoubtedly the kid wouldn't see it that way when he went after the kid's friends but a job was a job and he had a reputation to maintain. His line of work depended on that. He'd been paid and he'd agreed to it and that was the bottom line. Moving to the door, he looked back but knowing Piper wasn't planning to be back soon, he figured Trowa would wake up in plenty of time. He hadn't hit him as hard. Then the man was gone.



The commotion and gunshots had attracted more guards and even though they had blocked the reinforced door, Duo didn't know how much longer it would hold against the men outside.
A fuming Piper, dazed Jez, and Harley, the only ones basically in one piece, were now wearing the cuffs. The other three had been checked and relieved of weapons and propped together all in one corner.
The door creaked under heavy blows from the corridor and from the yells, there appeared to be a number of men on the other side. The three boys checked their weapons. Heero glanced at Duo periodically from the corner of his eye. Duo had appropriated Piper's chair and had leaned back in Piper's chair with his feet on the desktop. He was checking his gun but seemed to be having difficulty seeing from the squint he was leveling at it. And there was a fine sheen of sweat that might or might not have anything to do with the situation they were in.
Deuce was grimly silent and checking his own gun professionally enough. Of course, from the bruises on his throat he probably didn't feel like talking anyway.
"You've had it you know! I have men out there who will enjoy taking you to pieces, most of 'em x-Oz." Piper snarled in a fury. No one payed the least bit of attention to him which made him even more furious. Pausing for a breath, his eyes blazing in fury, he glared at them venomously.
"Oi, Duo! ...just how'd you get out of those cuffs?" Deuce asked Duo finally breaking his silence.
Duo grinned and looked at Deuce. His grin dimmed as he tried to figure which of the two Deuce's he was seeing was the right one, then the double vision straightened itself out and he put his smile back. He didn't want them thinking something was wrong, well worse than it was at any rate.
"That's......" Duo paused. Deuce unconsciously leaned his way a bit more.
"... a secret." he drawled and went back to checking his gun for the third time. Deuce glared at him in annoyed disgust, sighed, shook his head in resignation and went back to checking out his own firearm.
The door shook under a heavy thud and a split started running vertically through the door. Some of the shouts and threats were becoming audible.
"You losers have had it. And even if the other two do manage to survive this; you, Maxwell, are going to die a slow and painful death! I'll see you all dead if it kills me!!" Piper snarled at them unable to keep his mouth shut any longer; his face an unhealthy color.
Duo laughed in his face then swivelled to face him and said, "You really screwed up bad this time around, Piper. You see, pretty soon the Preventers will be here. You really have lost this time Piper. Oh, and I knew all about this PSD23 and PC11. The cure was never an option for me but I'm Shinigami and Death doesn't die... and if I do die I'll be back to haunt you. You gambled Piper and you lost cuz you weren't holding all the cards. So shut up before someone does it for you." Duo told him grinning his crazy lopsided smile all the while absentmindedly lining the barrel of the gun up on Piper's forehead as if he were checking the sights.
Piper's mouth opened, a sneer firmly in place, but before he could say anything Deuce walked over and shoved a wadded up cloth in his mouth. Then Heero cocked his head. He thought he'd heard sirens in the distance.
Another heavy thud and the door splintered in two, not quite loose but not really together either. Heero took this as his cue and lay down covering fire while Duo and Deuce pushed the desk over in spot previously selected to provide strategic shelter. The three boys ducked down behind it as return fire splintered the wood. It was a good thing Piper liked sturdy desks.
Piper was making frantic noises through his gag as things erupted around them. Jez and Harley were white as a ghost and had their eyes shut tight. The boys had put them into the best corner possible and behind a pulled over bookcase but it wasn't fool proof as was obvious as Piper jumped from a close call.
Duo pulled a grenade out, looked at the chaos as Heero leaned around the desk to fire back, shook his head and put it back. Heero pulled back as Deuce let loose a stream of words in a language he didn't recognize.
Deuce had been keeping an eye on the big plate glass window behind them off to their right and now they could see a group of three guards coming in close while trying to maintain their cover. Deuce tensed to move while jacking a fresh round into the pistol. Heero caught his arm and held him back. When Deuce looked at him questioningly, he just shook his head then went back to keeping the men outside the door down.
"What's the matter Duo? Out of ammo?" Heero asked flatly having noticed that Duo hadn't fired a single shot yet.
Deuce yelped just then as the men outside let loose a barrage designed to shatter the window and charged. There was only one problem.
The window was made of bullet proof glass. The first man, rammed into the window full tilt not able to stop because of the men behind him. He hit the glass looking shocked, his face flattened against it looking distorted. The man directly behind him, bounced off into the man behind him and the last two guards landed on the ground in a comical tangle of limbs. The last man in line, realizing how stupid it must have looked, became outraged and was soon yelling and shoving at the other two until they wouldn't take it anymore and a full fledged brawl started.
Deuce hooted in laughter, the window fit perfectly with Piper's paranoia, and relaxed turning back to find a lull in the shooting. Heero was looking at Duo and Duo was just looking down at his gun, knuckles white. Turning his head from one to the other, Deuce finally realized what Heero had noticed right off.
Sirens could be heard right outside the building now and shooting had spread throughout the building. The men directly outside the door were in the middle of an argument and everything had come to a dead standstill.
"It's not the ammo..." Duo mumbled finally.
Heero didn't bother answering, just looked at Duo for a brief moment and went back to watching the door.
Duo finally looked up and Deuce stared some sort of morbid fascination at Duo's once expressive violet eyes that were now cloudy and turning pale. Heero turned back to Duo, reached out and firmly tugged the gun from Duo's tense grasp to tuck it into the back of his pants. Duo simply sat there, pulling his knees to his chest and listening to the chaos around them; his face expressionless.
Then shouts were heard and the guards started to scatter as Preventers came swarming in. Heero stayed where he was patiently waiting till he was satisfied that everything was under control. Then they heard their names being called loud and clear. Heero got up pulling Duo with him, Deuce standing silently right behind them.
After a few minutes wait, Lady Une entered briskly with Zechs at her side. Heero looked at him sharply and scowled. Zechs shrugged.
"Do you really think Relena or Hilde either one would stand for being isolated and buried even for the sake of security? They had some things they wanted to do and now they're back." Zechs smiled thinly at Heero who nodded. Duo didn't react. Lady Une looked at him sharply but turned to Deuce who was pulling the three captives to their feet.
The minute he took the gag out of Piper's mouth, as per Lady Une's instructions, Piper started to yell at her.
"I demand you arrest these people!! They've broken into my home, killed my men..." Piper was cut off sharply by Lady Une.
"Save it Piper. We heard every single word and you are, quite simply, sunk. I'd suggest you keep your mouth shut. The less I hear out of you the better!!" Lady Une Looked at Piper. Any sane person would have had the sense to hide and not come out for a good long while.
Piper's mouth worked for a few seconds and then he blurted, "But... that's impossible... you're lying!"
Lady Une, who had started to turn away, turned back and for a minute Colonel Une was peering out of her brown eyes with a look that shouted trouble! Even Piper cringed back at this. That's when Deuce took a step forward and with a nasty grin at Piper, reached under his shirt and pulled out the real wire.
Dangling it in front of Piper, he smiled a truly frightening smile at this man who'd dealt out so much hurt.
"Duo's was just to throw you off. I had the real one all along and even though you caught us, the only one that went through your security the normal way was Duo's. And it was all his idea too! You really are going down Piper, for a long time and I'm glad I was here to see it." Deuce laughed in his face.
Piper stared at him for a long moment and then slowly turned his head to look at Duo who was following the conversation but not looking at anything in particular. Then something seemed to snap inside the man and shackled or not, he lunged at Duo screaming something no one could decipher with intent to kill written all over his face.
Heero promptly shoved Duo back getting in between the lunatic and Duo who barely caught himself from tripping over some debris on the floor. Deuce caught and steadied him.
Zechs, having read Piper's intentions, had already grabbed the man and was physically holding him back, barely effective against Piper's insane struggling. Then Lady Une stepped up to the man and brought the butt of her own sidearm chopping down on his head in one short, efficient blow.
Holstering her sidearm, she dusted off her gloves looking down at the inert man at her feet.
"I believe I did warn you." was all she said as she turned away to address Heero.
"Hmm... three down, two neatly tied and delivered and one out of action for now. I'd like your report at 1500 tomorrow. Good job." she smiled thinly, nodding at the boys.
"Yup! Don't I know it! But I'm still really glad you got here with such perfect timing. Things were getting a little tense." Deuce replied grinning.
"Wufei's excellent work as always. He decided he was going to monitor things personally. I believe Dr Po was not very happy but Wufei can be so stubborn." Lady Une smiled thinly, then turned to leave.
"So how'd Trowa and Quatre make out?" Duo asked casually. Lady Une froze in her tracks and looked back at him sharply.
"They aren't here?" she asked quickly. Heero frowned.
"No, they were supposed to check out an alternate address for Piper. But obviously we got Piper so they should have been back already." he told her shortly.
"That will have to be checked out immediately." Lady Une murmured thinking hard.
"Lets go check it out." Duo jumped in.
"Not you. The condition you're in you can't help, only get in the way." Heero told him bluntly. Duo flinched remembering another time and place when Heero had said the same thing.
"Heero, you will check this other address out and report back immediately. Take any equipment or aid you feel that you want. Duo, I need you to make a thorough report as soon as possible along with your friend Deuce." Lady Une intervened. Duo shrugged closing his eyes and crossing his arms, his expression closing off once again.








(1) Sorry folks... I really am making an effort to stick reasonably close to the tv series/EW/manga but I couldn't resist. My little brother just got done whuppin my ass with Alpha Street Fighter and I really hate the special move button combos you have to put in and I was writing this listening to my brother play his game and the next thing I knew it was in the story and wouldn't come out LOL I guess it's stuck! And who wouldn't be distracted by fresh baked chocolate chip cookies??:) Yum!