Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Some Way Back ❯ Subjective Sanity ( Chapter 17 )

Again sorry about the long wait for this update, but I have been moving house and have only just managed to steal some internet access as my stupid phone line isn't hooked up to my apartment yet. Ok this chapter was hard. I have kinda put in a part to the story that wasn't going to be there in the beginning. However I had the idea, and it appealed to me so here it is.

I don't know how many of you will want to know this, but a friend of mine suggested that I start a mailing list for this story. So if any of you would like me to advise you when I have updated or completed a chapter then send me an email to the address below and I will start a list, because it seems this is going to have a few more chapters than it was at first. Hell I didn't even think it would get to 17!

Just a side note before I get flames about Duo's apparently being scared of needles. I have read the Manga's and watched the series and no where in either do I recall him ever having a phobia of needles or possessing a silver or gold cross for that matter of fact (though I do have to admit I really looked for the cross because I wanted him to have it in the series or Manga's hehe). Therefore I do not include these in my stories. I take what I see in the animes and Manga's and go from there. I gave Duo a manic depressive personality because I do believe that explains his changes from joker to serious killer the best and I am also aware that such circumstances during childhood that all of these guys had, would scar them heavily throughout the rest of their lives. I just try very hard not to insert things unless I can justify them, from what I have seen or read.

Anyway hope you enjoy, if you wish to archive this story please email me arithkenshin@yahoo.co.uk and reviews are always welcome, pleaded neeeedded!!!

#*# = scene change

~ words in direct thought to oneself

~~**~~ end of chapter

Some Way Back: Subjective Sanity

Shinigmai was death; death was dark; and Shinigami thrived on all things dark. Making his way down the hall he stuck to the shadows so as not to draw any unwanted attention in his direction. The movements of his body were almost liquid, as if he could melt in and out of the shadows and pass untraced. His mind shut out all interference including the communicator pieces that adorned him. Approaching the elevator shaft, Shini knew he had to draw any and all of the attention to himself that he could. Skills that had been honed into his very being reemerged, allowing the god of death to become the lethal terrorist that he had once been, once more.

The vague hopes that were at the back of his mind that he would not have to take lives was squelched by the overriding thoughts of the missions success. Pure success and survival instincts set in as he rounded the corner and saw two guards in front of him, reading their hand coms. Flowing easily into one of the many rolls he assumed, Shinigami plastered a dashing smile across his face and walked out of the shadows; a confident swing to his walk.

Approaching them, they looked up at the intruder, stance becoming tense though easing a little at the smile.

No warmth entered his eyes as he moved himself closer to the guards, though his voice was bright and chirpy and in no way let on about the killer behind those eyes. "Hey guys how are you?"

The confusion on their faces was enough for him to get closer. It was as if the men could not figure out if they were looking at one of the men referred to in their communication or not. Surely he wouldn't speak to them in such a friendly manner if he was.

Shinigami was close enough, and he smiled again, pouring some of that emptiness into his eyes. The momentary confusion was all that he needed now that he was within reach. A clean and precise round house took out the man on the right. Almost before he was finished moving Shinigami's hand snaked out, and hit the other man in that nice convenient place on his neck that seems to exist for no other reason than to render a man unconscious. Two bodies were crumpled to the floor in front of him. Calculating that they would be out of it for quite a while he smiled a real smile. Though it was a smile that would send shivers down the spines of anyone that saw it; there was no sanity left in that look.

His mind computed where he was and how long it would take to get him back to where he needed to be to eliminate the final threat. Emotions didn't play a part when he was on a mission, there was no room for them. A part of him knew that he would be regretting it later on, but the God of Death silenced that voice without a thought. Approaching the stairwell next to the elevator he attempted to open the door. It was locked. Slipping one of his many lock picks out of nowhere, the door was open within the blink of an eye. Somewhere in his mind he was appalled at how easy it had been to pick, but he was concentrating on the patrols that he knew also included the stairwells, and did not have time to dwell on that thought.

Once again blending into the shadows, he made his way silently down the stairs. The stair well was now being lit by an emergency light. That eerie orange flashing glow made it easier for him to hide; made it easier for no one to see the expression on his face; maniacal grin was not accurate enough. Creeping down the stairs carefully, he flattened himself against the wall when he heard voices coming towards him.

"Dark eyes, shoulder length hair Trandish said…"

"Yeah… kind of feel sorry for that Davies guy though…"

Something in the back of Shini's mind clicked as he realized that they didn't know just how sorry they should feel for Davies yet. As the men approached his position he realized that their uniforms were slightly difference. They had probably come with Trandish, for he doubted the man would ever go anywhere on his own; not the right hand man, never. Shini unglued himself from hugging the wall to suddenly be standing directly in front of them. He smiled easily. "Hey guys… looking for me?"

They barely had time to register as once again Death set his body into motion. A sharp kick to the head of the nearest guard caused the target to be flung down the stairwell to blie in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the next set of stairs. The other guard had half drawn his gun by the time Shini turned to deal with him. The grin on the longhaired man's face widened, his grip on reality narrowing to what was precisely in front of him.

"Now now, trust me, you don't want to do anything hasty now do you?"

The guard was trembling, his right hand resting on his gun, shaking with indecision. "No, n-no sir, I don't want to be hasty." The hand resting on the gun moved till both hands were above the guards head.

Shini kept smiling as he turned, lightning quick, to dispose of the second guard with another kick. Looking down at the man he snickered softly, "Shame really, taking away all of death's fun." Picking up the guards gun from his waistband he continued on his escape route. Momentarily unblocking his mind from the interference the communicators caused in his concentration, he sought to use what he had, to his advantage.

"Neutralize the border guards of the building. I need access to the front entry security area. Out."

His mind shut out any reply that was forthcoming in order to enable his full concentration to return once again. The challenge was coursing through him and he could barely contain himself; it made him feel alive.

A couple more flights of stairs to go and he would be on the main entry level. Taking the stairs carefully once more Shini, made it to the end of the stairwell without further incident. He sighed softly when he reached the end, rather disappointed that he had not managed to have more confrontations, yet. His blood was boiling and he needed action, he needed to vent that energy that had built up inside him again; needed to let it out.

Approaching the door that led out to the main level he decided he might look through the little portal in the door first. What he saw made him smile. ~Now this is more like it~ Happy to have something to quench his thirst for action, Shini opened the door slowly, just a tiny bit and threw the gun he had claimed from the unconscious guard off into a corner. The sound the gun hitting the tiled floors made, caused all of the guards to run in that direction.

Shaking his head in disbelief at their gullibility, he slid out from behind the door to come to rest behind one of the large plant pots in the hall. It would never cease to amaze him, just how stupid owners of buildings involved in shady dealings were. They all had plant pots, which were just perfect for hiding assassins. Glancing at his watch, he realized he had enough time before the bombs would start to go off. Watching for signs of movement, he saw the guards reemerge from their little conjugation where he had thrown the gun, their faces were wary and eyes darted everywhere. Smirking to himself Shini waited until the two that had been guarding where his plant pot was, returned. Frowning, he calculated the odds that he would be able to silence both men before one of them made a sound to alert the others. Realizing that this would not be possible without causing death, he did not even hesitate. Smoothly he rose out from behind the plant pot like a shadow, left wrist flicking an instant before he moved to strike the guard nearest to him. Two bodies thudded softly to the ground simultaneously and Shini knelt down to drag the first body behind the pot. Moving silently he then gathered the second body to the first; looking down into unseeing eyes he clinically retracted the blade that had pierced through the mans throat, and cleaned it on the dead man's uniform.

~Two down four to go~

Surveying his situation critically Death thought for a moment, weighing his two knives in his hands, testing them, thinking and concentrating. Knife throwing was more of a hobby than a skill for him, but it was a hobby that he knew he was good at. Only this was an instance where he needed to be deadly accurate. Gathering in that confidence that Shinigami wore like a protective cloak, he stood once more and moved through the shadows till he could sight the next set of guards, once again situated behind a perfectly kind plant in a pot, but not wanting to take the risk to attack them hand to hand, incase the other two guards heard.

Eyes narrowed in concentration he raised both arms into throwing position, ready to flick the knives. Centering, he lost himself in his target and flicked, watching both blades sail home perfectly. A smirk once again crossing his lips, he quickly dragged his prey back out of sight and retrieved his daggers, stroking them absently as he clipped them back into their sheaths.

For now he didn't need to be so careful, there were only two guards left in this particular area. Still moving silently he approached the position he knew the final two guards were occupying, he felt the need to punch something. Hand to hand it would be. A voice emerged at the back of his mind that he didn't need to kill these people, but was silenced with a harsh laugh.

The two guards were turned to each other, talking. Not paying sufficient attention in the least according to Shini's opinion. His face took on a scornful expression for he had no respect for people who did not know how to do a job properly. He decided to have fun.

Popping up beside them, as if appearing out of nowhere, he enjoyed the startled looks on their faces.

"Hi there guys!" The voice was bright and cheery, a big smile plastered to the longhaired man's face. "Guess you're waiting for me, ne?" Before either man could answer, he had struck out with both hands pinning their throats, not quite crushing their larynx, but making sure that they couldn't talk above a whisper and that they became weak due to lack of oxygen. Still smiling brightly he continued on, voice soft. "Ahhhh, thought you would be, well, guess what!? You found me! So who is betting neither of you are going to live long enough to get a promotion for this?" The eyes looking up at him widened in fear and the God of Death felt the power surge through him once again. These men were working for an organization that stood to undermine everything that he and his friends had fought for in the war, they were dishonorable and a threat to the peace; and therefore, they deserved to die.

Pulling the man to his right back up to his feet, he grabbed him roughly by the shirt. "Time for death to claim you. You have lived too long methinks." A not quite sane smile crossed Shinigami's face as he pushed the man from him, causing him to stumble and then executed that perfect kick, which his friends had feared he had done all those months ago to the informants. An audible crack was heard as the man's neck broke and the lifeless body fell to the floor. Bouncing on his toes Death snickered a little before turning to face the other guard who was still clutching his throat, trying to get a proper amount of air into his lungs, while staring with fear filled eyes at the man who had just killed his partner.

Approaching him Shinigami knelt on the ground. "And just what are we going to do with you?"

The guards head shook frantically, voice not working and body becoming weaker as he panicked.

"Ahhhh, ok then." Standing back up Shini delivered a less spectacular kick to the man's neck, suddenly bored with his game. As the body fell to the floor he moved on his way, muttering to himself. "There's just no challenges anymore." The only place left for him to pass before he could leave was the front desk, the surveillance monitors. Turning he sought out the camera's, smiling to each of them before whipping out his gun, waving with his spare hand and shooting each one in succession with the other. He didn't plan on them seeing him coming; no one saw death coming. The smile that spread across his face would make blood freeze.

Still he clung to the shadows, subduing his feelings, making himself a void. Trandish was a mild psychic and he didn't want the man to sense him before he had had a chance to approach closely enough. They had had enough close encounters with him using his talents before for Habito, both during and after the war; Death would not give him an advantage unnecessarily.

Molding his body to the walls, he emptied his mind, concentrating solely on the task in front of him. Although each camera was useless, Shinigami still clung to his surroundings like glue. Approaching the front area, he became even more cautious of his actions. The foyer entry area had huge glass panels all around the front section of it; he relied fully on the fact that his friends knew how to do their jobs, never doubting them for a second. His thoughts about the task ahead of him were clinically detached as he realised that he would have to eliminate any threat of recognition if they were ever to complete their objective of bringing GHD to its knees.

Mind set complete for the task directly in front of him. Shinigami surveyed the foyer from his vantage point. Drawing the second handgun from the holster on his thigh, he released the safety and weighed it in his left hand. It was the one that he practiced left handed with, so it felt right, but he was still a little apprehensive; he was almost as good a shot with his left as with his right, but only almost and knives weren't an option at that distance. Brows furrowing slightly he pushed the apprehension to the side; he couldn't afford to be apprehensive at this stage in time. Mind re-set, he took in the layout before him. The two guards would have to go, they had seen him and Wufei too closely. And... well, there wasn't really any question about Trandish, Shinigami's fingers were itching and he was sure self defense would be an excellent excuse.

Taking one last deep breath, he stepped silently out into view, pausing long enough to sight his two targets before firing at the two guards. The soft sound that a gun makes when set with a silencer was all the warning the three men at the security screens had. There was a sickening thud of impact as the bullets flew home, followed by gravity working as the bodies fell to the ground. Absently noting that both shots had been rather close to perfect Death smiled.

"I really wouldn't move if I were you Tranny old boy." Vaguely Shinigami could hear the laughter of his teammates coming through the communication device in his ear. "Because I have an especially itchy trigger finger just for you!" He was now walking slowly towards his prey, who had turned around in surprise, gun dangling in his hand at his side. Shinigami could only think of how pathetic the man who was standing before him looked, the shock was evident on the mans face; recognition not far behind the shock.

Grinning as he approached the man, the God of Death felt the anger he had been keeping at bay for months start to reemerge. Oh ... not all of it, but a rather large amount of it. If he let go of all of it, he didn't even want to think what might happen. But at that point in time, he couldn't help releasing some of it; it was demanding release.

Close to the man now, Shini tapped him on the nose with the gun in his left hand, the right one still trained on his target.

"Why hello Mr Tranny old buddy, old pal! Havent seen you in a while now, have I?"

The man on the receiving end of Death's current mood was literally spluttering. "It's you!"

Shinigami chuckled. "Wow, aren't we observant today. That I am me, is something I would never have guessed. But since you seem to know me so well, we don't need introductions now, do we?"

"Duo Maxwell..." The mans voice had fallen to a barely audible whisper which was followed by an extremely loud laugh from the man he was talking to.

"No...technically no... if it was me him then you would already be dead, but then i don't expect you to understand that at this point in time do I? Well of course the answer to that would be no, because to be perfectly honest I don't give a fuck about you, do I?"

The man seemed to have overcome his attack of the splutters somewhat as a cruel grin spread across his face. "No, it's just that my last reports showed that we had put Duo Maxwell out of commission when we eliminated that faggot of a boyfriend of his. It surprises me to see you operational."

The grin, if it was possible, just spread wider on Death's face. "Beeeeeep! Wrong answer... I am sorry, you don't get the prize that's through door 2." Trandish's face took on a look of utter confusion at the attitude that was being displayed to him.

"Ahh. confused? Well Let me clarify a little something for you, because hell... it wouldn't be nice for you to die without knowing the reason why would it?" The man's face blanched as Shinigami barrelled ahead. "At the moment I am feeling decidedly blood thirsty... yes I do believe that would be the most accurate description of me at this point in time. Now my Duo side is a little more rational than me, however more emotional, and at this point in time I don't feel like being emotionally irrational, or rational for that matter of fact. For the mood I am currently in, it is much easier to fall back on my trusty Shinigami, I mean you can't honestly believe that children could do what we did without fucking ourselves up royally, unless we had a backdoor to ourselves do you? To be perfectly honest, I just want to kill, no let me rephrase that destroy everyone and everything involved in taking my life away from me. Death is attractive, don't you think?"

If it was possible, Trandish's face got even paler. The man was partial psychic, and could usually pick up on people and their motives and movements. And all he was getting from Shinigami at that point in time was pure, unadulterated glee.

"Tsk, tsk." Duo shook his head, eyes never leaving the other man's face. He brought his left hand gun to rest just above and in-between Trandishes eyes, also bringing his face close enough to whisper. The tone of the whisper was as cold as a corpse.

"Death comes to everyone; but sometimes Shinigami makes personal visits." Letting some of his feelings out, he grinned once more as he saw the effect that they had on the fully open Psychic. The gun the man had been holding clattered to the ground. "Let's make sure you have that third eye now shall we Tranny?*1*" Pulling the trigger, the bullet exploded through the man's skull, ripping the back of it to shreads and covering Shinigami's face in remains. Letting the body fall to the ground, he glanced at his watch and realised he had better start running in order to avoid the blast. Grin, blood and grey matter still adorning his face, the God of Death exited the building.

#*#

Shorlty thereafter Shinigami rendezvoused with the rest of his teammates. Smiling at them, he was momentarily annoyed with the looks of concern on their faces but realised that they had probably just been concerned for his safety. That was at least, until he looked at Quatre, whose face was tear streaked. Slowly, as they all walked back to the shuttle, Duo began to shed the mask that had served him so well during the war. The explosions had begun behind them, but Duo didn't care that the buildings would burn, he wanted everyone to pay. By the time that they entered the shuttle, he was actually feeling exhilarated. One down, at least one to go. Idly he wondered if the plan he had set into action that afternoon before they took off, would bring any fruition. His thoughts were brought to a halt once they had taken off, interrupted by Quatre's angry voice. Wait, rewind... Quatre...angry?

"...I can't believe that was you that I heard. You were so... heartless, most of them were probably innocent."

Duo sighed. "Quatre. That was a me you haven't seen in years. I haven't needed to be that me since the wars. It is needed now, these people threaten everything that we fought for, and I am not letting all of the sacrifices that we made go to waste. I..."

But Quatre interrupted. "No...there are other ways than killing them, we didn't kill the perimeter guards. We..."

Duo was getting angry now and he interrupted, standing once again. "I was alone, to give us the chance to get the mission completed, I needed to recognize and neutralize threat. It was not possible to keep them all alive. I would have jeopardized the mission now and in the future had I allowed one of them to raise the alarm and had found myself then surrounded by more than I could eliminate quietly."

"But the last one Duo, it was uncalled for..."

The tension in the shuttle was palatable as the others looked on at the two friends.

"Uncalled for...uncalled for?" Duo's eyes narrowed. "That man, is Habito's right hand; without him, he is going to lose a lot of ground. It was a tactical decision, besides he had a gun and I would have been in the same situation had the roles been reversed, had he gotten to me first. Excuse me if I allowed myself to let out a little of the pent up anger that I have inside me, but he was one of them...and besides that... you know I am right."

Quatre could see Duo's reasoning, but he hated people to die and made one more feeble attempt.

"But Duo, it's just not like you..."

The longhaired boy lost his temper. But unlike most people his voice did not come out in a yell, it came out soft and deadly. "You are wrong Winner." Quatre flinched at the tone and use of his last name. "That was me. Just because it doesn't fit into your delusional world of everything being happy, doesn't mean a thing. That was me, you've just never looked close enough to see what's underneath; you've just never actually known me." With that the chestnut haired man turned to sit in his seat, so the others would not see the melancholy that had just overcome him. Without realizing it he was muttering as he turned. "Damn you Heero, if you hadn't bothered to look, I wouldn't be tearing at the seams right now."

The barely audible whisper, stopped any of the others from going to him; out of compassion and the pure reason that they didn't know what to say if they did.

#*#

It was morning by the time Zechs steered the shuttle into its hanger. Duo had regained his usual temperament by then and was feeling a bit bad about the way he had spoken to Cat, who was supposed to be his best friend. He reached for Cat's arm as the blonde went to pass him, and large aquamarine eyes looked up at him, questioningly.

"Sorry Cat, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

Quatre smiled. "It's ok Duo...I didn't mean to pay so little attention to you."

Duo just shrugged. "It's easier to be the me everyone wants to see Cat." And with that cryptic remark the now, once more violet eyed youth bounded out of the plane, ripping his braid from the hiding place in his top and yelling to his friends over his shoulder.

"Come on guys, have to report to the life sucking bitch now...besides I have some news I don't think she is going to like."

The others followed their friend as he bounded down the halls. So lost in their own thoughts, they failed to see him stop short of her offices and therefore bumped into him. He laughed softly as the others backed up, looking at his three closest friends, each in turn, before letting his gaze come to rest on Quatre.

"Um guys, before I do this... you know what I mean. The part where I burst in, call her all the names under the sun that I can think of, inform her of what we've done, and what I am about to do and then requisition anything I need for the next logical part of the operation?"

He received nods from all of his friends as each of them didn't trust themselves to speak, for fear of laughing out loud.

Duo grinned. "Well then, you see, before I do this, I figure I should actually ask you a favor, because the next part of the operation, the only logical step that I can take, well..."He paused, summoning up courage before continuing. "I actually need one of you for the next part...and before you agree blindly as I am sure you are all want to do at the moment, you need to hear me out. For this next part, I need to go undercover... so to speak."

"What do you mean Maxwell?" Wufei was feeling a little suspicious.

Looking a little bit sheepish Duo gave his friends a fast run down on the topic he would soon give out more details to in Une's office. "Well you see, today before we set out I put a plan in motion that I am fairly sure is the only way to tear GHD down properly. Infiltration. Basically I need to be noticed and invited in. Which is going to result in me having to go undercover. Which means that as of tomorrow I will no longer be able to be at headquarters, and only be able to communicate via coded emails, as I won't be able to risk being seen with you guys. However, I will need help."

"And just how are we going to be able to help you Duo?" Quatre asked the question that was on everyone's lips.

"To cut a long story short Cat, I am glad it is you who asked, because it is you I need. By process of elimination, and the fact that you are probably the only person that will not kill me if we end up having to spend too long together, you are the only person who can disguise themselves enough to play the part."

"What part?" Trowa was frowning.

"Well, I will clear the rest up once we are talking to Une, because i don't feel like going into it completely twice over right now. But basically Quatre is the only one of you guys that will not intimidate others. I need a cover story, which my identity has, but I need a solid cover story. I need Quatre to pose as my boyfriend, because I need to have a valid reason to fend of Habito's lecherous advances. It is something I hate to ask you guys, but it is something we need if this mission is going to be done right. I can probably do it without him, but without him, keeping up my disguise will be hell, unless I cut my hair, and you know I would hate to do that. The only thing is, I can't guarantee it will be a short amount of time."

Quatre looked at Duo's serious face, and then to his two lovers. Their eyes spoke silently for a while, before the two taller boys looked away. Turning back to face Duo, Quatre simply nodded and Duo sighed in relief.

"Thanks guys. I will remind you, that this is only going to be if my plan works... which isn't a hundred percent." He turned towards Une's offices once more bouncing ahead and announcing their presence by slamming open the door once again.

"Une Baby!" Duo cried at the top of his lungs as they burst, or rather he burst through the door; jumping to land on her desk, sliding to a stop, scattering papers all over the floor, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back on one arm, he fluttered his eyelashes at her. "How's things Une Wune?" His voice was teasing, playful and completely disrespectful, but the woman in question was getting used to that by now and simply sighed.

"Come to report or irritate me Duo." She really wasn't in the mood, it had been a bad morning.

Duo clutched at his chest theatrically and moaned. "Oh you wound me Une." Then his face brightened again. "But I am sure I will get over it in the end." Winking at her he smiled. "We, or should I say I, since I never let the others get in a word edgewise, have come to report Lady Une." He gave a mock salute. "But you might want to make yourself comfortable, since this one is going to take a while."

Une decided to take his advice.

Duo watched her and the others settle themselves into seats, before frowning a little. "I don't really feel like having to say this more than once, so do you want to call Sally now, or fill her in later, or let her walk in half way through my little heap of information I am about to bestow on you all?"

Of course, speak of the devil and the devil appears. Sally chose that moment to walk through the door, closing it behind her. "I'm here...no need to wait for me."

Clapping his hands, Duo chuckled. "Perfect entrance Miss Po." Face growing serious, Duo thought for a few seconds before beginning.

"Ok, to get the tedious shit out of the way. Mission complete, I have the disk and the whereabouts of Habito for the next two weeks. Also as everything seems to have gone to plan, the disk route should be diverted correctly as of the next drop off, so we will always have access to the disks as of then."

"And just how did the mission go Duo?" Une's eyes had narrowed a little as she looked at the reports coming through on her computer.

Duo didn't even flinch, instead he looked her straight in the eye before he spoke. "Mission went well. No casualties on our side. Casualties on their side kept to necessary levels. Habito's right hand eliminated." There was no expression in his voice and no regret in his eyes as he spoke. The calculated way he described the mission made Une shiver, and so she let reprimand die on her lips. She would review the communications logs later on to get a full run down of the situation. Instead the woman nodded at Duo to continue.

"You will have a complete report on your desk, completed by one of us at any rate. Don't worry, we wouldn't dream of trying to deprive you of your paperwork." He grinned once more. "Now, onto the next mission. But for this you need to be patient and listen to a little background. Might want to order in lunch or something because I am starving and this is going to take a while."

Sally sighed and picked up the phone doing just that, as Duo sat and gathered his thoughts, trying to figure out just exactly what he would tell them. Stealing himself, he realized that he had to tell them the full story. Everything, including the challenges he and Heero used to set each other, because it had all started back then.

He cleared his throat as he settled himself down to begin a long story. "Once upon a time." He grinned and laughed at their faces. "It's ok, I wasn't actually going to do that to you, it was just fun to watch your faces." He grew serious again.

"Back when the war first ended, among many other things, Heero and I were bored. Let's face it, the stuff the preventers did back then was nothing compared to what we had all done during the war. I for one, have the attention span of a goldfish, and need things that are challenging to occupy my mind. If the task in front of me isn't enough to occupy my mind, I turn to pranks and jokes and well, to being the me that you all know and love so much. I had been hacking into places, through programmes that actually made me think for the entire war, and yet here we were in peacetime and my trigger fingers were getting itchy again. Of course in peace time that is a bad thing, a very bad thing." Duo sighed softly, recalling things, before he continued.

"Now Heero, he had a better grip on things, but he was also getting bored. He too, wanted a challenge. So we came up with a little game. Kind of a game anyway. We created Internet identities and hacked systems. Security systems for the most part. Leaving an untraceable message for the user. Usually along the lines of "You have been hacked. Nothing has been taken since that does not interest us in the slightest, but you should really consider updating your security systems. Have a nice day." We didn't destroy anything, we didn't leave evil calling cards and we didn't try and insert nasty virus's. We were simply bored and wanted to keep our hacker skills in top form. Now in order to do this we created identities. Each with a name, and each with a history, for people to see and people to know us by... in that world. I have rarely played the game since Heero... it just doesn't have the same zing if you know what I mean. But the point is, my persona was the focal point, the better one."

He took a breath and jumped off the table, padding over to the cold-water dispenser. "So anyway, the persona is still active and before we went on the mission yesterday, I made him hack again...nothing important, just something so that he stays in the eyes of whoever it is that watches." Taking a swig of water, Duo continued. "Now as we have already noted. The only ways that you can get into GHD' internal circle, is to be well known, or to be discovered. The thing is Jaysha Trigan, is well known, in the hacking circles, and he is also watched by a lot of people, for what it is known that he could do. He may never have actually caused any harm, but in those circles, but everyone knows that he could if he wanted to. So no one moves to piss him off."

"The whole idea of this plan is that Jaysha has a boyfriend, and is known to. The sometime hacker Deodan Meentri. Yeah, ok so the names scream gay, we were having one of those moments at the time of creation. This helps me. It is a well-known fact that Habito is a lecherous bastard. I need to be known to have a boyfriend to give me some measure of safety. That is where Quatre comes into play, but I will explain this in a minute. As I was saying. Jaysha needs to do something in order to make them all sit up and take notice. And therefore I need to have access to one of the preventer account to be safe to hack into Une. You have two weeks, before I make my hack, so free up one of the important accounts for me, or else I will just have to take one, and you know I can do it."

Une was finding it difficult to cover her shock. "Duo, I don't understand. We have the information now; we will be bale to track his movements. Isn't that enough to bring him down?"

Sighing, Duo paced a little before stopping and looking the woman straight in the eyes. "It is enough to bring him down, but that isn't enough Une. We need to rip this out at the roots, otherwise some other fucking trumped up bastard is going to come back and take up the reigns just where Habito left off and thereby become our living nightmare once again. We need to make sure that can't and doesn't happen. I am not just going to destroy the man that gave the order, I won't rest until I have annihilated the entire organization." Violet eyes blazed from under chestnut bangs.

For a few moments they stared at each other, before Une gave a curt nod, assuring Duo that she would support him in this action. She felt she owed him this, they had set him loose and now they needed to support him or risk being destroyed by him as well. And at that point in time, Une had no doubt that Duo was capable of doing just that.

A small sigh of relief escaped Duo's lips. "Ok basically I need to move out, and I mean now. I will arrange a place to live; an apartment should do nicely. I will need my mainframes, and about three or four computers as well as a tracer to be a convincing hacker. These things cannot be sent directly to my address otherwise they will arouse suspicion if the transport is found out by anyone else. Now as to why I need it to be Quatre who will come with me." There were nods from everyone including the man being spoken of. "My disguise will consist of dying my hair. This is something I cannot do myself and I refuse to do with anything other than a Henna dye. The Henna dye means that we will have to reapply every 2 to 3 days. This is something I cannot see either Trowa or Wufei helping with, or at least, helping with without pissing me off with their grumbling. I will get an injection to give me the eye colour change, and will take supplies with me so I do not arouse suspicions by trying to gain access to more. I will need to take one shot a week or else the colour wont hold. Black eyes and black hair will make me look too pale, therefore I need to spend the rest of the day today and tomorrow morning in the tanning chamber, as well as having a solarium brought to my apartment. As to why I do not chose to take Zechs with me." ~Apart from the fact that he is a physical temptation at times~ "The person who accompanies me will also need to be disguised. He will need to dye his hair." Duo laughed at Zechs's face. "And apart from the fact that I know that you would hate that Zechs, your hair colour will also allow the colour to appear too unnatural. In short you are too noticeable to come with me. Quatre on the other hand, although he is a gorgeous little thing, will look perfect if we pale him a little and give him red hair and green eyes. Probably a slight chin enhancement or something for his cheekbones, his face is too memorable otherwise. Since my cheeks are now a hell of a lot hollower than they were before, I don't actually need to do anything more to my face really. So there you have my disguise, and Quat's disguise and the reasons for why it needs to be him."

"How long Duo?" Une wasn't sure if she was pleased with the plan the long haired boy had made, but she was fairly sure there wasn't a way in hell that she could stop it now that he had set it into action.

"That's just it Une, I cant say. I don't know how long it is going to take me to get to where I need to be to do what I need to do. The thing that is going to cinch acceptance for me if this works, is that Habito likes pretty boys, and well, we all know I fit that bill." The sarcasm in his voice was enough to make a person blanche. "My skills, topped with my appearance, will make that man drool. He will want me, in every way. My 'devotion' to my boyfriend Deodan will be all that will keep him at bay." He looked around the room.

"Any questions?" He was starting to feel tired but needed to find somewhere to live and spend the rest of the day in the tanning room.

"Is there anything you need from us other than the computers?" Sally wanted to make sure he had everything that he would need.

Duo shook his head to clear it of all the thoughts that were running higgledy piggelty through it. "Yeah, my hair is going to need two 500 gram containers of Henna per dye lot. So in short I am going to need 30 a month. I would prefer to have about 6 months supply at the very least. I am also going to need the things that will enable me to give myself the eye injection once a week. I need them to be black, amethyst eyes just tend to stand out that little but too much ya know. The effect may be instantaneous but it starts to wear off after 7days. Again...at least a six-month supply of needles, solution and syringes. Quatre should only need about 200gramms of the chestnutty red for his hair per application. But he will also be needing green for his eyes for at least as long as me." Duo stretched. "I need to get things started so I can successfully fall asleep in the tanning room. Come back this evening Cat and help me dye my hair please?"

Quatre nodded. "You know that stuff stinks like no ones business don't you Duo?"

Laughing Duo replied. "Yeah, but we can add nice smells to the stuff to make sure that it just has a unique smell instead... like a home made shampoo ne? And when it's all over, I am not going to have to worry about my hair falling out from the chemicals in the dyes."

Une looked up as if to make sure that Duo hadn't left the room yet. Noticing that he hadn't, she expressed a concern that she was fairly sure he had simply forgot to tell them all about. "Duo, how do you plan on communicating with us? You do plan on communicating with us don't you?" Her face had become quite stern.

Almost having reached the door and thus made his escape, Duo sighed as he turned to answer the question. "Code, Une. Just like we did during the wars. Code. 'Fei and Trowa will know what to do to crack it. And don't worry. I am the best, no one will find anything of mine that I don't want them to find." Before anyone else could say anything the chestnut haired man turned back around and left the room, almost running.

The door shut and left the other occupants of the room debating the pile of information that Duo had just dumped on them.

"Code?" Wufei's brows furrowed.

"Hmm great, which one?" Trowa's hair seemed to be extra gelled.

Quatre coughed loud. "Guy's you're forgetting something really really important."

All of the heads in the room turned to look at the soon to be redhead questioningly.

"Being?" Wufei crossed his arms trying not to let the fact that it looked like Quatre was going to be away for at least a few months bother him.

"It's Duo's 20th today... its been a year!"

~~**~~

A/N *1* For those of you who don't know, or for whom English is a second language... the third eye is something that a psychic is said to have. It allows the person to see into other times or other worlds or whatever psychic power that person is supposed to have; allows them to have the intuition that makes them the psychic they are. Of course its exact usage depends on each user's individuality. I am fully aware that there are people who may view the third eye as being something else.

Well there you have it! Feedback please please please. I neeeeeeed some inspiration, need to know if the track I am on is going well or should be stopped.

~Arith