I finally got this chapter done! I apologize for the delay. I

forgot how hectic the holidays can be.. I hope to have a

chapter of out law done later today ... but no promises on

that... I hope you like

I apologize for any mistakes that I may have made.. Please forgive

me…..

Come what may

Chapter 3

Duo’s story

I pushed open the door with my shoulder and entered the room. I had

my eyes on the tray so I wouldn’t make a huge mess, and felt all

three pair of eyes on me. I looked up and frowned, the word escaping

from my lips before I had conscience thought to stop it.

“What?” I questioned as I moved slowly across the floor to the tall

dresser. I slid the tray on it and turned to the 3 young men across

the room from me.

Not a one of them said anything.

I cocked an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. “Ok, boys, let’s

get one thing straight. I don’t want any thing left out and I want

the whole story.” My eyes traveled to each one and ended up on Duo.

“You start first. You left me high and dry to run the salvage yard .

I hadn’t heard from you in months , then out of the blue you email

me and tell me you want money, and then tell me to get off L2. I

really think I need an explanation about all that. I thought ..

Maybe ..” I stopped in mid thought…. Where was that going? What was

I looking for in the next statement I was going to make? I clamped

my mouth shut and crossed my arms. I looked at the floor and let the

heavy silence fill the room.

I looked up when I heard Duo speak my name.

“Hilde. I’m sorry. I had to do it that way.”

I uncrossed my arms and turned around to look at the tray. I reached

for the coffee pot and poured the cups . “Why?” came my soft

question to his reply. I swallowed , and blinked rapidly, not sure I

wanted to hear the explanation. I took a deep breath and turned back

, steeling myself for his answer.

“I had to. There is political unrest everywhere. L2 is the worst.”

“I still want to know why you didn’t contact me all those months.”

“I…..I …couldn’t. You don’t know how bad I wanted to, Hilde. Heero

didn’t want to involve you, he said I was too emotionally attached

to you.”

I blinked at those words, never expecting them from Duo or even

Heero for that matter. “Heero said that ? How in the hell would he

know about anything like that?” I felt a blush creeping up my neck.

“I told him how I felt.”

I glared at him. “You told Heero but you couldn’t tell me?”

I almost burst out laughing as his head went down and his face

blushed the prettiest pink I had ever seen. It was just too much!

“I didn’t know how….I was afraid.”

Another revolution for me… the great Duo Maxwell afraid of his

feelings….. That was scary! I didn’t want to put him on the spot in

front of his friends so I let that drop. We would discuss that later

when we were alone or at least we would try …. If we were ever

alone. “ So…. Ok.. I guess I understand that … but the other stuff?”

“We were deep undercover and I almost blew it when I emailed you .

It was shortly after that everything started to fall apart. I mean

really fall apart.”

I moved to the bed and sat on the edge. “Ok, but why now? Tell us

everything and start at the beginning.”

Duo let out a long sigh. “ I don’t know how much you know ,Hilde,

but there is a lot of corruption in the government and in the

Preventers. Relena retiring was the worse thing she could have done.

She held everything together. People listened to her. Even the

president listened to her. But when she stepped down chaos took

over. Certain factions have been trying to take control for months

now and they are slowly succeeding.” He paused and I took

opportunity to defend my friend.

“That’s so unfair ,Duo, to blame Relena for this. She stepped down

when she realized there was nothing more she could do. You two were

gone and she had no protection.”

I watched as he opened his mouth and I waved my hand in front of

him. “No, WuFei wasn’t there. Neither were these two.” I said as I

waved my hand over to the two sitting on chairs in the room.

“And no I couldn’t do it either. I am former OZ remember? I can’t

get into the Preventers. I am banned.” I saw Duo’s eyes widen at

that remark.

“That’s not fair. You’re a good solder.”

“Who says life is fair? I’m not a solder any more, Duo. And besides

I understand where they are coming from.. A former Ozzie and a

traitor to boot. It’s no wonder. Any way Relena didn’t feel like she

was helping any more and it was beginning to be a waste of time. She

wanted to get out before she lost all respect for her colleagues and

they lost respect for her. So don’t put the blame on her.”

He nodded, then said, softly. “But it would have been easier with

her still there.” He paused, and took a drink of the coffee I handed

him. “Who would protect her, Duo?”

He looked at me, saying nothing, then looked to Quatre.

“Sorry about your cousin, man. We didn’t know. Any way, I got a call

from Heero, telling me that Une had a secret mission for us and not

to tell any one, Not any one. She had told him the security of the

Preventers was at stake. Unfortunately we didn’t know how at stake

it really was until last night. For the last 4 months the Preventer

operatives have been killed almost in a regular basis. One about

every two weeks. Some one in the Preventer system has got access to

the files and is pulling them up one at a time, then killing the

operatives. The reason they didn’t find us so quickly is that Heero

and I are not on the roster. We are not officially working for the

Preventers so we could get into places the Preventers couldn’t. It

was good up until last night and some one narked on us, putting us

and your cousin in the line of fire. Did you talk to Heero last

night , Hilde?” He asked, pulling his gaze from Quatre to me.

“Briefly. He was in a lot of pain, even if he didn’t speak it. He

did give a word to search for. “I was going to speak it , but Duo

spoke up first. “Don’t say it, they could be listening. “

I growled softly. After Quatre and Trowa left and Duo was resting I

was going to tear this place apart. . If I even found one bug……… my

thoughts shifted back to Duo as he continued to tell how they had

been ran down to the pier and they hid in the warehouse. He said it

had turned into a all around brawl and shoot out after that.

“Ok, we know that you both got away from them but what about the

events up to it. Do you know how they got wind that you were

operatives working for the Preventers?” Quatre asked.

Duo sort of shrugged. “I’m not sure . Heero found a name and a web

site but even he couldn’t get into it.” He looked up at me. “So I

came to you , Hilde. I was hoping to get you to help. I know I owe

you a big explanation and well, I’ll try my best. Heero and I don’t

know much. We can’t get into the Preventer files on this, but we

both know it’s in the Preventers .. At least two people. But that’s

all Heero can find out. They blocked his access. This is a bad deal

and well I just don’t know how to fix it. Too many are dieing

because of this.” He paused and then asked me again if I had talked

to Heero.

I nodded and then asked. “Ok. Why did I have to leave L2?”

“That’s where all this started.”

I opened my mouth as the words sank in. “L2? Why L2? What happened

on L2 to make it a dangerous place?”

“Oz.”

“Huh?”

“There are a lot of Former Ozzies there. A lot. Some think they were

treated unfairly after the war and well they want to cause trouble.

I wanted you off before some one caught wind you had a Gundam pilot

living with you. I …… I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. “ Is there more to it then

that? I can’t believe some of them would be like that . Granted a

few are angry but I still don’t see them doing this.”

Duo shrugged and slid down into the bed farther. “I know some of

them are your friends and they didn’t desert you even after what

happen, but still some one is behind it.” I watched his eyes droop

and heard him sigh.

I nodded. I knew now what my task was going to be and it wasn‘t

going to be easy. I wondered how many of my friends had used me to

get the information they needed. I was starting to get angry. “Come

on, we can do this conversation later.” I turned to Duo and pulled

the covers up on him. “Get some sleep. I’ll be right out here if you

need anything .”

He nodded and closed his eyes. I ushered Quatre and Trowa out into

the other room. Quatre looked at his watch. “We’ll come back later

and make arrangement for you to go to that job.” He reached out and

grasped my arm, looking me in the face. “ I know you don’t want to

do this but we need to know what is going on here. It’s like

stumbling around in the dark all the time.”

I nodded, knowing what he meant, but it didn’t mean I had to like

it. “And you will tell me your part of this story, later. I will get

the rest out of Duo when he wakes up.”

Quatre nodded as Trowa said nothing. I often had wondered what those

two were really about.

After they slipped out the door and disappeared from sight, I went

back to peek in at Duo. He was sound asleep and sprawled all over

the bed. I grinned then closed the door. I turned to look at the

house. I made a small excursion to the garage and a small box in the

upper corner of the room. I rummaged through it until I found the

small object I was looking for. I held it up triumphantly and

shouted “Yeah!” I quickly moved back to the house and began my

sweep. Old habits die hard. I was a solder, after all. I made quick

sweep of the house once then went back over it again a second time

much slower. I found nothing. I stood in the center of my living

room and thought about it. If some one wanted to listen to things

that were said and didn’t want the bug found where would you put it?

I went to the bedroom again and looked at the clothes we had pulled

from Duo. I searched through them and I found something that wasn’t

suppose to be there. It was small and no one would have notice it if

they had been looking for it.. I plucked it from his pants leg and

carried it to the bathroom. I opened the toilet lid and dropped into

the water. “Bye bye , boys, listen to this for a while!” I hit the

handle and watched as the tiny item swirled down into the sewer

system. I sure hoped they enjoyed my humor. I then returned to the

bed room and checked his clothes again. This time they were clean. I

wondered as I stood in the room where the rest of his belongings

were. He never told me where they two of them were staying . It

probably would be a good idea to go and get them soon. As I stood

lost in my thoughts the Video-phone began to ring, shaking me back

to reality and compelling me to answer it. I left the bed room and

went to pick it up.

I hit the talk button and Relena’s worried face appeared before me.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked .

She sighed, “It’s Heero.”

“What’s that knot head trying to do this time?”

“Leave.”

I growled softly and then said. “Let me talk to him.”

She didn’t hesitate, as she handed the phone over to him. He said

nothing as he looked at me . “Check you clothes for bugs. Then do

what Relena tells you to do. Don’t be a moron. I’ll be in touch with

you when I find out something. And stay with her. She may be a

target , too! Did you think of that?”

His eyes widened slightly and he barely nodded as I hung up the

phone. I wasn’t being smug about the whole thing , but he didn’t

need to running off somewhere, trying to be the big hero, or

whatever he thought he was. Mission , my ass. He needed to stay with

Relena. Period. The poor girl had suffered enough at this boy’s

hands and well she needed a little r and r with him, even if it was

taking care of him. It would ease her broken heart a little more.

Then I wandered into the kitchen to make a bit of lunch. I couldn’t

believe how fast the morning had flown by. Soon I would hear from

Quatre on this job and well, I hoped I could pull it off. I wasn’t

so sure this was a good idea. I mean, Relena could handle it better

than me but then I wasn’t high profile as she was, either. Quatre ,

despite my bitchin’, had picked right. I could do much more computer

stuff than Relena could, too. I knew the girl could get by on the

compy but that’s about all she could do. I took a big drink of the

soda I had pulled from the fridge as I thought about the man’s name

Heero had given me. I wondered what I could find out about the man,

or what ever he was . That would be the next thing I would work on.

I still had to hear the rest of Duo’s story. He had too many holes

in it to make it make any sense. I needed to know what happened

after he left L2 and asked me for money. Don’t get me wrong , I

would have given him money any time he asked for it. We were in

business together and it was part his, too, even tho most of the

time he wouldn’t claim it. So the money was not the problem. It was

the not knowing what was going on. I wanted to kick myself so not

seeing the unrest in the city, but if the Ozzies wanted to rekindle

the war, why didn’t some one appear at my door step and ask me for

help. They wouldn’t have told me why, but would have wanted the

parts I could have provided. My brain started to process all the

thoughts as I moved through the house. The only logical reason was

because some one was framing them to make them look like they were

behind it. I shook my head, not all of the Ozzies were as innocent

as I wanted to make them. They easily could have pulled all of this

off. I stopped in front of the video phone and sat down. I stared at

the screen, wondering who I could call and find out information on

this. Someone Heero hadn’t thought of. Some one I could bring into

this with no problems. Some one loyal to me. Some one who had helped

me escape from the moon base after I had helped Duo. I shrugged . I

don’t why I didn’t think of this person before. I knew Duo wouldn’t

come back for me . He couldn’t have. I had been on my own after

that, ready to deal with the consequences my actions had given me.

Scott. He was the one that got me off the moon base. For an Ozzie he

was a pacifist and hated all aspects of the war. I wondered where he

was , I hadn’t heard from him in a few months. I wondered where he

was , I had left L2 so abruptly that I didn’t tell any one where I

was going. I turned on the computer and quickly found my email and

emailed him. Now I had to wait for his answer.

I smiled slightly as I thought of that golden haired , tall, muscle

bound boy. If Duo hadn’t stolen my heart so long ago, he could have

captured it, but as it was , Duo was the one I was in love with. I

sighed as I moved t o the bed room and pushed open the door. Duo was

still sprawled on the bed but he was awake. I saw his head turn as I

entered the room. He smiled at me, one of those big ass grins that

melted me in an instant. I walked across the room and pulled a chair

up to the bed.

“So…” I started, but before I could say more his hand shot out and

grasped the front of my shirt. The next thing I knew his lips were

on mine and he was kissing me. I was so shocked at first I didn’t

respond, then I gave in. When the kiss broke I was staring at him

and he was looking at me.

“I’ve wanted to do that forever, Hilde.”

“Eh?” I must have still been tongue tied , because my response was

muddled.

I felt his hand on my arm as he pulled me close again, making me lay

on his chest. “Gods , I’ve missed you.”

“Me too.”

I knew those 3 little words weren’t going to come out of his mouth

any time soon so I didn’t say them either. This was good enough for

now. Besides our love life wasn’t important.. The lives of others

were.

I pushed myself gently from his chest and scooted up so I could sit

beside him comfortably.

“Ok, tell me the rest of the story, Duo.”

He sighed and nodded. “Yeah, you have to know, since I’m involving

you.” He looked at the blankets and then back at me. “Could I get

something to drink?”

I nodded, having forgotten he had been wounded and had a fever.

When I returned with a bowl of soup and a glass of water he had

repositioned himself to be more comfortable in the bed. He took what

I offered with little complaint. After he had eaten and drank he

began again.

“Before I emailed you, we were followed and some one was taking pot

shots at us from the distance. It was like they knew who we were and

it made me paranoid that they may have found out about you and me.

You know us sharing a house and all. So when I had a chance I

emailed you from a public computer and asked for some money so Heero

and I could lay low. That’s why I told you to get off L2.”

I nodded as he paused.

“I know it was wrong but you couldn’t be involved, yet, Hilde.

Anyway, after you sent us the money we boarded a shuttle and came to

earth. We hid out , trying to put the figure on who was be hind all

the Preventer murders, but we kept hitting road blocks…. Big ones.

So big that even Heero couldn’t break the codes. And Heero can

pretty much break any code. This one tho, it was difficult and it

kept throwing blockers up so he couldn’t get on it well.”

I frowned, “But why pick me? I’m a good hacker but not the best.”

“It’s because you are a hacker, Hilde. Heero’s not a hacker. He’s a

code breaker. He can manipulate things but he can’t do what you do.

I‘ve watched you, girl. The things you can do is amazing.”

I knew I blushed then. I could feel the color rush to my face and I

didn’t know what to say.

So I looked away and down at the floor. I felt his hand on my arm

and I looked up.

“Hilde, I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think you could do it. I

know you can.”

I know I flushed again, but in spite of my crimson face I smiled and

nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

I told him. He released my arm and slid back into the bed, pulled

the covers up.

I looked down at him and finished pulling the covers up for him.

“You rest. Quatre and Trowa are coming back later. They have a few

more details to discuss with me about all of this. Do you want to

know when they get here?”

I saw him shake his head no and I leaned down and kissed his cheek.

“I’ll be just outside, call me if you need anything.”

He nodded and closed his eyes. Duo was tough and he was putting on a

tough guy act for me but I could see through it. All of this was

draining his already weary body and it didn’t help he was wounded.

Sleep was the best thing for him. I made a mental note to myself to

get some one here while I was gone. Some one I could trust. That

left only about 5 people . Relena, Sally, WuFei, Trowa and Quatre.

Heero too but at this point he was out of the picture. As was Duo.

Perhaps one of Quatre’s Maganacs would be willing to do a little

babysitting. I would ask him later. I left the bedroom taking the

dirty dishes with me and leaving the door a jar.

Now I just had to wait. I hated waiting. it was unproductive.

To be continued.