Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Red Lined ❯ Trouble with a capital "H" ( Chapter 2 )

Trouble with a Capital "H"

Duo sat up fast as the end of his dream awoke him like the gunshot he heard when he shot that thug. His right hand was pressed against his left shoulder in a death grip. Violet eyes stared unseeingly at the wall in front of him while his shallow breath brought him dangerously close to hyperventilation.

As his body relieved the event his mind spun through the events after the dream. How he had woken up in the hospital to find out that the thug whom he shot was very much alive and well when a New Orleans officer came in to take him to the station. Finding that out was a knife twist to Duo's anger and desire for revenge. He damn near dies from blood loss and some minor wounds and the bastard who got shot in the chest was declared fine and discharged from the hospital.

He was shocked to find out that his father had a will and had given guardianship over to his friend Jonathan Winner, a very prominent figure in high society politics. Knowing his father had ties to the Winner family made Duo suspicious of what his father could have been involved in, but he was going to keep his mouth shut and stay out of whatever involvement his father had had with the Winners. Although, he hadn't stayed very true to that statement in retrospect he remembered.

Jonathan had wanted to tell Duo the whole truth, but the young fourteen year old boy hadn't wanted to hear it. In fact he had wanted nothing to do with his father's friends and ties. He didn't even want to be in New Orleans. He wanted out as fast as possible. Jonathan had nodded his understanding, but Duo knew he had upset his guardian. Even his son, Quatre, had shown pity and sadness at Duo's vehement talks about getting out of dodge.

In the end, Duo was sent away to boarding school and eventually to MIT for his degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. This brought his mind back to the present and where he was now; Miami University working on his master's and teaching classes to the student body. Duo's breathing deepened and his unblinking eyes teared up and he closed them to stop the dryness he was feeling. He reopened them as he felt his right hand cramped where he was holding his left shoulder and it took him a few moments to make his hand let go and relax. He stared for a moment at the dull scar tissue that was left from his gunshot wound nine years ago.

Nine years. Nearly a decade since his father's murder and his decision to leave New Orleans and Louisiana and this dream still affected him this badly. Maybe he should think about therapy. Duo turned to look at the clock to see what time it was. His first class wasn't until ten this morning and he intended to get as much sleep as possible after his dream and the drinking he had done at the late night bar.

The large red numbers read six o'clock. Damn that was too early. What time did he get home? Two? Three? With a groan he flopped back down and pulled the blankets back up to his chin. He felt sleeping darkening his vision and he relaxed. The next thing he heard was the distinct hammering of someone at his door. Now what time was it? Duo sat up again and glanced at the clock. Seven. It had only been one bloody hour! Who the hell was at the door?

Duo threw the covers off and slowly got to his feet. He stretched a second to help wake him up and then he was padding over to the chair in his room to pull a pair of boxer shorts on so he didn't freak out whoever was pounding on his door. That done he walked out of his room yawning as he called out, "I'm coming!" He opened the door and blinked with the flood of bright sunlight. As his eyes adjusted he saw his neighbors, Courtney and Jessie, standing on his doorstop, dressed and sporting backpacks. What were they doing here this early?

"I told you he would forget Jessie." Courtney exclaimed as she took in Duo's attire. "We woke him up."

"What did I forget?" Duo asked as he slowly woke up.

"That you were giving us a ride to class since our car is in the shop for a long while." Jessie answered.

"Did I?" Duo asked as the gears in his brain started their daily turning.

"Yes you did. Now can you please let us in? I don't think the other neighbors will appreciate the view as much." Jessie replied looking Duo up and down.

Duo grinned and he moved back so that the two women had room to get in. "Well, then come on in." he said with a wave of his hand.

"Nice boxers." Jessie commented as she walked past with Courtney behind her.

"Glad you like them. I aim to please." He said closing the door. Leaning back against it he asked, "So when is class?"

"Eight." Courtney answered over her shoulder as she walked into the kitchen. "I'll make breakfast if you can get dressed. It seems like you can't take care of yourself very well."

"Ha. Ha." Duo replied grumpily as he headed into his bedroom and shut the door. Courtney shrugged and set the table as Jessie began looking for breakfast ingredients. Toast. Butter. Milk. A quick look through cupboards showed an abundant amount of ramen, instant-noodles, and several kinds of cereal. Typical Bachelor.

She handed Courtney a random cereal box and the milk from the fridge. Her blue-grey eyes twinkled as she mouthed, Bachelor to her room mate. Courtney chuckled and set breakfast up. Her dark brown hair was pulled back up from her face and her slightly tan skin sported a handful of freckles compared to Jessie who looked she had been showered with them. If her skin tanned instead of burned her freckles would stand out less in the Miami sun.

Duo made his appearance dressed in a royal blue dress shirt and a pair of black slacks. His hair waved behind him not brushed nor braided. "Have my twin mothers finished breakfast?" he asked with a mischievous smirk.

Courtney and Jessie turned and glared at him with very similar expressions. Blue-grey and hazel eyes narrowed and Duo started laughing. "I know, I know you aren't twins. It's just that you both look almost alike and don't hit me Courtney. You both have the same expressions."

Courtney who was ready to chuck the milk at him lowered her weapon and smiled. "Shut up and eat. We need to get your hair done if we ever want to leave. Remember Duo, we'll get back at you for all those twin comments." Her smile turned pure evil.

Jessie laughed at Courtney's smile and Duo's pasty expression. "I don't know why people think we look like twins. I'll take sisters, but I don't think we look that alike." She said opening her backpack and pulling out a hair brush. Courtney made a beeline for the bathroom returning with another brush and a hair band.

Duo winked at the girls and said, "Have at it. I don't what I'd do if you two weren't around waiting on me." He then began to munch on his breakfast of his cereal and milk.

Jessie stuck her tongue out at Duo's back and began attacking the young mans waist length chestnut hair. Courtney began working on her side of Duo's head as she shook her head. Letting Duo's comment alone she asked, "Why do you leave your hair grow so long? Aren't you afraid that its going to get in the way?"

"Nope", Duo crunched as he ate. He got a far away look in his eyes and both girls had to strain to hear his whispery voice. "Along time ago, almost ten years now, my father died. He was always harping on me to cut it." His voice rose and made them jump. "So I keep it long to piss him off up there."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so when do you need to leave for class?" Duo asked glancing down at his watch. "Its already seven-thirty."

"No way!" Jessie exclaimed. "Shit we gotta get going. Good thing we're almost done with your hair."

"No kidding." Courtney agreed as she finished the braid. With a pat to the back of Duo's head she walked back to her bag and returned the hairbrush with a sigh. "I'm going to have to clean the brush again. You keep shedding."

Duo snorted as he pushed himself away from the table. Jessie quickly cleaned up the table as Duo grabbed his car keys and his briefcases. One for class, one for his research that he was doing for his master's. He locked the front door and walked out through the back door with the girls trailing behind him as he headed for the garage.

He threw his briefcases next to him as he got into the driver's seat of his Jeep. It wasn't a wrangler since he hated the open feeling that the small short wheel base gave him. He liked the confines of the Cherokee since it surrounded him with protective metal. It sort of gave him the feeling of a cockpit. His friends got into the backseat and he hit the garage door opener so he could back out without taking the door with him.

"You never drive the mitsi." Jessie commented as she stared at the sleek black 3000 GT.

"I'm cruising tonight if you want to come along." Duo replied as he drove off hitting the garage remote to close. He grabbed his sunglasses from one of the cup holders as Jessie shrugged noncommittally and cruised down the residential streets toward Unity Blvd so he could get on South Dixie Highway and take it to Ponce De Leon Blvd. It was as usual a rather uneventful ride to the school. He parked in the designated area for teachers and headed to the lab after he waved the girls off to class since they were fairly close to being late.

Class didn't begin until ten for him so this gave him an nice opportunity to continue his research and experiments for another hour and a half before teaching his classes on robotics. Then he got another four hours of lab work while he waited for his friends. He was also the ride home.

~_~

Duo walked back into the house and tossed his briefcases onto the table. He was tired. It had been a long day of classes and lab work. It didn't help matters that his project flat lined during one of the tests. It felt like being back at square one even if it was only a little setback. He walked into the bedroom and tossed his shoes into the closet and lay back on his bed.

Did he mention that he was tired? What possessed him to decide on cruising Miami tonight? Lifting his arm he looked at the time. It was seven and it had taken him an hour to get home with traffic on Dixie Highway. He didn't have to leave until ten which gave him roughly two hours and a half hours for a nap. Yeah, a nap sounded really good.

He sat up and quickly striped off his work clothes. There was no need to make them wrinkly any more than they were. The cleaners would wonder what he was doing. Setting the alarm clock for the nap time he lay down and snuggled with a pillow. It didn't take long for his breathing to even out as he slept.

Nor did it seem that long when the alarm began beeping loudly. Moaning and groaning Duo hit the snooze button and contemplated saying screw it for the nighttime cruising. Inevitably he sat up and turned the alarm off as he decided on what to wear for the cruise. He never could pass up the chance of winning a few grand as he raced down the streets of Miami. He loved the thrill of the speed as he raced down the streets beating his opponents in a rush of adrenaline and Nos.

Standing he walked over to the cage that was a big part of the bedroom. He checked food and water before closing all the cage doors ensuring the safety of his rats. He didn't want the tabby next door think his boys were an easy meal. Although, the cat might think twice before coming back after the fight it had with what the rodents dished back out to the feline. It was probably still nursing the wounds.

With a smirk at that thought he headed for the closet and pulled out a pair of tight, yet flexible pants and a black button up shirt. As he out the shirt on he left some of the buttons unbuttoned so that his silver cross would be framed by the black fabric. He finished it off with his leather jacket thrown across a shoulder. He grabbed the GT's keys and headed out for the night.

~_~

It had started out as a fun night hanging out at some of the local racer bars. He was eventually challenged by some of the best racers on the street and he accepted. It wasn't fun without a challenge. The challengers and Duo had left with a bit of the crowd following. They went to the warehouse district that they used for the race and set up the start and finish lines. The crowd congregated on both sides of the street and the racers fin tuned the vehicles.

When they finally got in their cars to race a large crowd had grown as word spread. Duo paid little attention as he waited for the flag to drop. He approached all his races with a single minded intention of crossing the finish line first. He may be driving a tried and true sports car, but he had little modification compared to the competition. He liked it that way. When he won it was his driving skills more so than how much horsepower he belted out.

As the flag lowered he narrowed his eyes as he focused on the finish line while hitting the gas. All four cars leapt off the line and raced down to the quarter mile marker. Everything happened as usual. Cars flew past him at first but than his speed steadily increased as theirs stabilized. On hit his Nos too early and faded back as others hit their Nos at a more appropriate time. As the cars neared the finish line sirens could be heard nearing the area. People scattered and some paid little attention to the four speeding cars. Duo hit the brakes to avoid hitting some of the people, but that put him within easy reach of the cops as they surrounded him. Smacking the steering wheel he put his hands where the police could see them and waited for the arrest.

As if the night could get any worse, the cops had him sitting in the interrogation room for hours. Duo was sure that if there was a window he would be seeing the sun coming up real soon. The police had asked the usual questions; who, what, why, when, where, and how. Duo answered the questions and was wondering why he wasn't being led to a cell. His answer came when the officer's brought out the big guns. They dug up Duo's past in New Orleans.

It was those questions that kept him in this tiny room for hours as they repeatedly asked similar questions over and over. They knew of the Winner family's dubious history and since his guardian was the head of the family that meant he was a suspicious character himself. Duo hadn't done anything illegal for nine years. Of course this was discounting his street racing tendencies.

However now he was in the room all by himself and no one had been in here to talk to him for a least a half hour. He was tired and they wouldn't even give him coffee to stay awake. Looking at his watch he confirmed dawn's approach in an hour. He wondered if he would get his one phone call so he could tell his neighbors that they needed to inform the school of his arrest and find there own transportation.

Since he was going nowhere Duo leaned back in the chair and dozed off. He didn't know how long he slept in the chair, but it was enough to give him cramps in his neck and back. He woke as someone opened the door. Glancing out of the corner of his eye he flung himself forward to look at who had just walked in. He wouldn't tell the police what he knew of the Winner family connections, but he wasn't stupid and before he left he learned of the family's people they had working for them.

The man that walked through the door was one of those people that Duo had hoped to never meet in his lifetime. This man was one of the worst people to meet and he had just walked through the door accompanied by a police officer. Duo knew the shock was plain on his face and quickly brought his composure under control. He didn't need to give anything away to these folks.

"Maxwell, this is Mr. Yuy. He's here from New Orleans as your lawyer." He walked to the other side of the table and sat down as Mr. Yuy took a seat next to Duo. And round two began only this time Duo had an advantage.

By the end of the second round it was clear that Duo was going home. He didn't understand the whole lawyer jargon that this Yuy was using, but he had more pressing concerns on his mind such as why the hell was one of the family assassins bailing him out of police hands and with his car no less! Did they want to kill him privately? Or were they going to do something else first? He hadn't done anything to anger the family that bad had he?

As he walked out of the station, he yawned and welcomed a much needed day of sleep. He'd have to call in sick, but it was necessary. Yuy stopped next to him as he did a quick stretch to wake him up long enough to get home. "Thanks man for getting me out of there. Let the family know that I'm grateful for the help."

"I'm here only to take you back to New Orleans. The family wants you back home." Yuy replied with an icy stare in Duo's direction.

Duo turned to stare at him. "What do you mean the want me to come back? I'm three months from my master's degree and they want me to up and leave everything? I can't do that. You'll have to tell them that I have no intention of ever going back there."

Yuy grabbed his arm and dragged him down the steps to a car that was waiting. "I'm not here as your messenger. I have orders and I will follow them through whether or not you agree." He snapped. "Get in so we can get your car from impound."

Duo jerked his arm from the lawyers grasp and got in. Damn assassins. They only know their orders and nothing else. Frowning he slumped in the seat and crossed his arms as Yuy got in and drove off.

After a few minutes of silence Duo asked, "What's your name? You were introduced as Mr. Yuy. I know you're not a real lawyer so I have no idea how you got me out of there."

Yuy glanced at him and concentrated on driving in the predawn world. "Heero. I am a lawyer."

"You're also the Winner family assassin. I'm not stupid. I may not want to know what the Winner's are involved in, but I know murderer's when I see them." Duo replied staring out the window. He didn't see the slight surprise in Heero's eyes as he drove to the police impound.

The rest of the drive was in silence. At the police impound, Duo got his car and Heero informed him that they would be going back to his place before they left. Duo only glared and took off not caring if Heero was able to follow or not.

By the time he got home it was near seven and he knew that his neighbors would be over shortly for their daily ride to school. He was so tired now that he knew he wouldn't be able to drive them anywhere. Grabbing his jeep keys from the table he knocked on their door and waited for them to answer.

Jessie answered the door as she was putting a light jacket on. "Duo, what are you doing here?" She took in his disheveled look and the added, "Did you get any sleep?"

"Not a wink." He answered, "I'm not doing school today. Since I always give you a ride I thought I would just give the keys today so you can still make it. I need sleep real bad. Just remember to give them back. K?"

"All right. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Come over tonight after classes and I'll tell you about it. I've got to get going." Duo said with a wave as he turned and headed home.

He left the garage door open and walked inside the house locking it behind him. Walking towards his bedroom he heard a knock on the door and turned to go answer it. He was so tired at the moment that he didn't think that it could possibly be Heero. So he was a bits hocked to see that the assassin lawyer was standing on his doorstep.

He stepped back and let the man in while the gears began turning again. His violet eyes were wide with surprise as Heero walked into the living room. Duo closed the door and braced himself for whatever was coming next.

"We need to talk. The situation is serious and the Family wants all their associates to return." He stated matter-of-factly.

"I am not an associate of the family. My father was. I have spending my life doing my damnedest to not let them get their claws in me. I'm not going. New Orleans hasn't been home for a long time." Duo responded angrily.

"You don't have a choice. They want you home and that's where I will take you." Heero responded.

"Did you not hear the words coming out of my mouth? I am home. I'm not leaving unless there's a damned good reason. I have three months until I finish my master's degree and I have research to finish before then."

Heero's eyes narrowed as he stared at Duo's angry gaze. Finally he sighed, "My orders were not to tell you the reason for taking you to New Orleans," he started. Duo's eyes narrowed and then widened as Heero continued, "Jonathan Winner has passed away mysteriously. There's a suspicion of foul play, but no evidence to support it."

"Well, when's the funeral?" Duo asked his anger fading away. "I'll go to my guardians' funeral, but I can't stay."

"The new head believes you have useful skills that he wants. He wants you home and I'm to bring you there." Heero responded as he sat down on the couch. His steely gaze was unemotional as Duo's anger flared to life again.

"I can go to the funeral, that's family and it gives me a better excuse than sickness for why I won't be there today. However, my life is here and I will not drop everything that I worked hard for just for someone who doesn't understand that when I left I made a deal with Jonathan. I was never to be brought back into the family fold unless I wanted to. If the new head can't deal with that, too god damn bad. Now I'm going to bed and you can call your boss and tell them my answer. It's not going to change." Duo walked to his bedroom and closed the door part way. He was kind of curious as to what Heero would do.

Sitting down on the bed he began to unbraid his hair as he listened to the noise in the living room. He heard a phone and some mumbled talking. He had just finished unbraiding his hair when he heard the cell phone click off. He turned his attention to the cage when he saw a pair of noses sticking out between the bars. He opened the front door to the cage and held his hand out. One of the brown rodents ventured out onto his hand sniffing for any morsel of food. Finding none he began to explore the wrist as Duo brought his hand and the rat back to his body.

He pet the furry creature and felt his body relax. Why was it that animals had the power to release tension in the human body? Could it be the unconditional love that they offered? He didn't know. That wasn't his area of expertise. He put the rat back and took out the other one. This guy was real laid back and loved to just sit on people and relax.

He was putting that one away when he saw motion out of the corner of his eye. Closing the cage door he turned and saw Heero framed in the doorway. He almost smirked at the apparent discomfort the other man had in seeing the two rodents. "what do want?" he asked as he fingered a few knots out of his hair.

"I've spoken to my superior."

"And?" Duo prompted.

"My orders are now to stay for the length of time it takes for you to finish your degree and then bring you back to New Orleans after you finish." He didn't sound happy, but his face betrayed no emotion.

"Great. Go get a hotel room and leave me the fuck alone." Duo replied his anger returning again. Why was he so pissed at this guy? He did save his ass from jail.

"My orders are for me to stay here and follow you. He believes that if his father was murdered than anyone not within his protected area may be in danger as well." Heero replied.

"So that's why he wanted me in New Orleans? Why didn't you say that?" Duo asked and then added as an afterthought, "I still wouldn't have gone though. So I guess it wouldn't have helped you at all."

He sighed and stood up. "I'll show you the guest room. You better not get in my way. My research is delicate…."