Beep, beep. Beep, beep.

The insistent sound pulled Duo Maxwell into reluctant, groggy wakefulness. His computer. That's what the noise was. Stumbling through the dark room, he brought up the message. The little clock in the corner of the screen stated that the time was 4:23 am. Of all the times to… He rubbed his eyes and glanced up at the screen again.

Another mission. Adrenaline coursed through his blood. A chance to pilot the Gundam Deathscythe. Duo started grinning widely, and then he actually read the message.

"Recon?" he said disbelievingly. "Oz leadership in one place again and they want me to do recon? This is nuts!" The adrenaline wash was fading, leaving him wide awake. The message screen still beeped incessantly. He sighed. "Mission accepted." Well, there was no way he was going back to sleep now.

The day dragged by unremittingly slowly. Even his efforts to get Heero Yuy, poster child for "humorless", to crack a smile fell flatter than usual. Of course, Heero had probably received the same instructions he had. "Recon," he muttered for at least the hundredth time. "Why does it have to be recon?"

Heero didn't even glance up this time. Duo threw up his hands and stalked off.

The school day with its endless blur of classes, faces, and brightly cheerful students finally came to a close. The mission was about to begin, and despite the disappointment, it was still a mission. "Works for me!" Duo tried to regain his cheerful façade.

"What does?"

Startled, Duo turned around to see one of the girls in his class standing behind him. "Uh, nothing. Just thinking about some stuff," he stammered.

She gave him an amused glance and walked away.

"Duo, buddy," he said to himself. "You have gotta learn to keep your thoughts to yourself. You're gonna blow your cover, and then where will we be?" With that train of thought he went to dress for the mission.

The event was, on the surface, a social gathering to acquaint students with political figures. The more cynical noted that it was a move calculated to gain favorable publicity with the younger generation. It was located at a public building in the center of town; Duo didn't bother learning the name. The political figures in question were mostly Oz, now that Heero had mistakenly assassinated the majority of the pacifistic Alliance leadership. He just hadn't been the same since. Oh sure, he was and always had been morose, slightly - only slightly, Duo? Quit kidding yourself! A little more than slightly, then- psychotic, with a definite tendency towards the kamikaze, but now it was as if some fire inside him had been put out. Duo mentally dragged himself away from that line of thought. Now was not the time to psychoanalyze Heero Yuy.

And speak of the devil. Here he was.

"Looks like we got the same mission again," Duo said jovially. "Hey – whoever comes outta here with the most information wins."

Heero didn't even break his stride as he walked past Duo. "Leave me alone."

Duo caught up with his reticent classmate in a matter of seconds. "Students stick together, remember? And since this is a school assignment as well as a recon mission, you won't look as suspicious as you will if you're all by yourself." He broke off. Heero wasn't listening. Not in the usual sense of "shut up and go away" but in the sense of a total unawareness that he was even being spoken to. Duo followed Heero's gaze. Ah. Relena. The only one so far who'd managed to crack Heero's icy shell. "I see," Duo said thoughtfully. "Good luck!"

The "party" (which Duo privately thought was a ridiculous name for this stultifyingly boring gathering) seemed as interminable as the school day. There were no signs of actual Oz leadership, and so far it seemed as if the whole mission was a bust.

Duo received his second surprise of the evening when he encountered both Trowa and Wufei, dressed as staff. "I don't even wanna know how you guys pulled that off. Have either of you heard anything about Oz?"

"Not a thing." Trowa shook his head. "I'm beginning to think this is a bust."

He was echoing Duo's thoughts of a moment before. "Maybe, maybe not. But I gotta bad feeling." Duo glanced over his shoulder. "I really wish the Powers That Be up there would arrange our missions a bit more efficiently." He sighed. "But still… I'll catch you guys later!"

Quatre was playing violin along with several people Duo didn't recognize. He winked broadly at the young man, but didn't stick around. That made all five Gundam pilots in one place for the evening. For some reason, this made Duo profoundly uneasy. It wasn't possible that Oz knew who they were, was it? Or were they setting an undiscriminating trap and waiting for someone to take the bait? Duo shook his head angrily. "You're getting paranoid," he muttered. Trouble was, paranoia seemed to be the only thing that consistently kept Gundam pilots alive.

Not watching where he was going, he accidentally stumbled into someone. "Oh! I'm sorry 'bout that," he said automatically.

"No matter." The voice jerked at Duo's attention. He knew that voice…and when he looked up, he know who it belonged to: Treize Khushrenada. The leader of Oz himself.

Duo slipped away before the man had a chance to call after him, afraid that Treize would recognize his voice as well. Lurking just inside hearing range, Duo listened to what Oz leadership had to say.

"It's a pity none of our Gundam pilots has shown up," Treize said musingly. "Lady Une, are you sure the rebels received this information?"

"It would have been nearly impossible for them not to," a female voice replied. Duo recognized her, as well. A ruthless and vicious fighter, Lady Une almost never made mistakes.

"Yes, well, I'm sure they'll show up sooner or later. And we can spring the trap."

"Dammit." Duo cursed briefly and quietly. He had to tell the others to lay low until they could escape. Quatre was the closest; actually, Quatre was the only one easily located. Duo signaled to the other pilot. A few minutes later, the leader of the musical group announced they would be taking a short intermission.

"What is it?" Quatre approached Duo.

"This whole thing is an Oz setup! It's a trap for us! We gotta get outta here as soon as we can." Duo glanced over his shoulder. "It can't be suspicious. We have to leave one by one. Okay?"

Quatre nodded. "All right." His face took on a worried cast. "You have your communicator with you, right?"

Duo touched the back of his belt. "Yes." One down, three to go. And Duo had the feeling that Heero would be the hardest to convince to leave. He was kamikaze enough to want to try taking Treize down even if it meant his own death.

Wufei proved nearly as difficult as Duo expected Heero to be. "I will challenge him."

"No, you're gonna leave like the rest of us. Come on, Wufei. He knows we're here!"

Wufei cast a mutinous glance in Treize' direction, but a reminder from Duo that their orders were for recon only was finally enough to convince him. Trowa, too, wanted to get rid of the continuing threat that Treize posed. Normally, Duo would have jumped right on the bandwagon, but the even the death of Oz' leader wasn't enough to justify the loss of the Gundams. And he and the other pilots were the only ones who knew where they'd hidden the mobile suits, the only ones who knew who to contact for orders.

Eventually, he pounded that idea into Trowa's head. On the other hand, Trowa was nearly as suicidal as Heero. He might – no time to worry about that now, though. One last pilot to track down, and… Duo frowned. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Heero all evening.

"Great. The guy just runs off when we have a mission to accomplish, and leaves me to finish all by my lonesome." Duo rolled his eyes. "Wait a minute. Isn't that – Heero?"

The young pilot turned around at Duo's call. Something was…off, though. His eyes were glazed, his cheeks were flushed, and when he started towards Duo he had a definite lack of balance to his walk. An empty glass tumbled from his hand, and Duo barely managed to catch it before it hit the ground.

"Heero? What the hell is going on?" Duo looked more closely. "What were you drinking?"

"Said I should fit in," Heero mumbled vaguely, and stumbled. "She wouldn't leave me alone..." Duo caught him and found himself supporting at least half of Heero's weight. "I feel…" Heero began.

Duo cursed again, and hauled the other pilot to the nearest restroom, where Heero lost everything he'd eaten in the past twenty-four hours. Duo gave him water afterwards, and smoothed the hair out of the other boy's eyes. Heero dropped the water glass and collapsed against Duo.

"Um, Heero?" Duo somehow ended up with his back to the wall, and now Heero's weight was nearly pinning him there. "Heero?"

The only response was deep even breathing.

"You can't go to sleep here!"

Heero just sighed and cuddled closer, until his head rested against Duo's chest, and one of Duo's arms ended up around Heero's shoulders.

"Great. First he vanishes, and now the guy falls asleep on me. Literally." Duo glanced down at Heero. There was something vulnerable about the young pilot, as if the hard edge he had during wakefulness was gone. Duo squirmed around until he could pull the small communications unit out of his belt. He stared at it for a moment before reluctantly flipping it open.

"Guys, we've got a little bit of a problem." He winced as soon as he said this; trigger happy as they were, the other pilots would probably storm Treize, guns drawn.

"We're on it," Trowa replied calmly.

Duo could just hear the safeties clicking off. "Not that kind! It's Heero." Oh great. That was even worse. Heero was even more trigger happy than the rest of them put together, and the other three were likely to interpret this as a need for backup.

"Where is he?" Wufei asked in clipped tones.

"With me. He's sorta…well, I…I think I'm gonna need some help here."

"What happened?" Trowa asked.

"Just…he's unconscious, okay?" `

"What did you do to him?" That was Quatre, an undertone of mixed horror and amusement in his voice.

"Nothing!" Duo retorted indignantly. "He –"

"Where are you?" Trowa interrupted.

"In the restroom, closest to the west wing. First floor."

"Copy."

"Copy."

"Copy."

Duo clicked off the communicator and stuffed it back behind his belt. "C'mon, Heero. Wake up." Heero didn't move. "Great. Just great." Duo started to push himself up the wall, trying to pull Heero with him. Heero grumbled in protest and clutched Duo tighter. Duo gave up and waited for the other three pilots.

Quatre arrived first, dark eyes widening. "Nothing?" he asked archly. Duo just shrugged apologetically. In the end, it took all four of them to pull the unconscious Heero off of Duo. Even then, Heero refused to completely let go.

"Now what?" Duo was carrying Heero in front of him, like a little kid. "We can't just walk out there. We're trying to keep attention away from us, remember?"

"Window?" Wufei suggested.

"I can't climb out with him holding on to me, and he won't let go." Duo twitched his braid out of Heero's lax fingers.

"A back door, then," Trowa decided. "We'll just have to…" He shrugged helplessly. "…walk out."

It took less time and effort than Duo had anticipated and the few people they did see were mainly staff.

"Anybody have a car? I walked." Duo shifted Heero's weight.

"Motorcycle," Wufei said humorlessly.

"I do." Relena's voice was completely unexpected. "Where do you need to go?"

"Back to the school,": Duo replied shortly. Heero didn't look as if he weighed much, but dammit, he was heavy!

"Is he…okay?" Relena asked cautiously.

"He's all right. A bit of a misunderstanding. I don't wanna be around when he wakes up, though." Duo laughed nervously.

"I'll see you guys later," Quatre said optimistically.

Duo looked around to see that Trowa and Wufei had already vanished. With Relena's help, Duo managed to get Heero into the back of the pink stretch limo. Her driver didn't even blink throughout the entire ride.

"Do you need help getting him to his room?" Relena asked solicitously.

Duo looked up; they had reached the school. "No, no, I'm okay. Really. Thanks." Duo backed away from the car. He had the oddest feeling that the girl knew more than she let on. "This is ridiculous." He started walking. "Relena's liked Heero since…since I first saw them. She's just concerned. And now I'm talking to myself. You're a bad influence on me, buddy." He glanced down at the unconscious pilot in his arms, and realized he didn't want to take the trouble of finding Heero's room, and keys, and… Decision made, Duo went directly to his own room, ignoring the startled looks of the few students still in the hallways. He shut the door with his foot, nearly overbalancing in the process. He deposited Heero carefully on the unmade bed, and pulled the only other movable piece of furniture in the room over next to Heero. "I should probably watch you to make sure you don't choke or anything." Heero frowned and said something unintelligible. He wouldn't quiet down until Duo held his hand. Lack of sleep, though, caught up with the Deathscythe pilot, and he fell asleep in the hard wooden chair.

Duo woke up when he fell out of the chair, sunlight streaming into the room, and his fingers still entangled with Heero's. The other pilot was staring at him with an unreadable expression in his eyes, wincing away from the bright light.

"You all right?" Duo asked quietly from the floor.

"I…" Indecision blanketed Heero's face. "I'm…fine. How…What…" He put a hand over his eyes. "What happened last night?"

"You had a little too much to drink, that's what happened. Oh, and we found out that the whole setup was a plot to trap us." Duo stretched. Sleeping in chairs left you with cramps. He made a mental note not to do it again.

"What happened with…us?" The words left Heero's mouth slowly, unwillingly.

"You fell asleep on me and wouldn't let go," Duo said honestly, and grinned. "Don't worry. I wouldn't take advantage of you or anything while – Heero?" But the other pilot was already gone, having climbed over Duo and nearly running as he wrenched the door open and vanished down the hall. "Hm." Duo muttered, still from the floor. "That's the thanks I get for dragging him outta there?"

A shower and clean clothes helped immensely in restoring Duo's sense of balance, which was just as well because by the time he got back to his room, yet another mission was outlined.

"Never stops, does it? Maybe one of the others got something I missed." Still, he couldn't keep the grin away. The mission this time incorporated mass destruction. A factory of some sort. "The God of Death strikes again." The carefree attitude had vanished, replaced by a much more serious mien.

The factory produced missiles. Anti-gundam missiles, said the mission instructions. And it was protected by the requisite swarm of Oz mobile suits. Duo settled into the familiar, exhilarating and totally unpredictable rhythm of battle, piloting the Gundam Deathscythe with the ease born of long practice. Aries and Leo alike fell beneath his furious onslaught, but eventually the tide started to turn. That was when both the Wing and the Sandrock showed up, Heero plunging into the fight as if his soul depended on it while Quatre hung back slightly, no doubt giving the mobile suit pilots a chance to surrender. Duo figured the odds of that happening were about the same as a snowball surviving a trip to hell. Still, it was something Quatre needed to do, and Duo wasn't going to stand in his way.

With three Gundams, the remaining mobile suits were easily dispatched, and the young pilots turned their attention to the factory itself.

Charges planted around the edges should do enough damage to bring the Gundams inside and finish off the rest of the missiles. That was Duo's opinion. Heero had other ideas.

"I'm going inside."

"You're nuts! This place is probably crawling with –"

"I'm going inside. You two get outta here. This is my mission."

"Oh, no. You go in, I'm going with you. Don't even try to argue with me."

"I'm coming too," Quatre spoke up.

"We need someone to stay out here to watch the Gundams. You're staying here," Duo countered.

Quatre acquiesced, albeit unhappily, and Duo found himself accompanying Heero into the factory. Inside, it was eerily quiet.

"Any bright ideas?" Duo asked after a moment. "Disable the completed missiles?"

"I'm not going to disable them. I'm going to fire them."

"Whoa, whoa, wait just a second here. Fire them at what?"

"Space. Away from the colonies," Heero added, seeing Duo's appalled expression. "Where they won't do any harm. Then I'm going to trash this entire compound to make sure the blueprints can't be reconstructed. Happy?"

"Sure, sure, fine by me." Duo shrugged. "Can we just get on with it?"

Heero favored him with another arrogant, unreadable look and kept walking.

They had been moving through the factory for about three minutes when Duo realized that it wasn't a factory. "This is a military base," he whispered. "They were planning to –"

"Sh!"

Duo rolled his eyes. If Mr. Perfect Soldier didn't want to discuss what these perfect little rows of completed missiles signified, fine.

The strange silence continued as the two pilots ran through the halls, searching for the control room. Duo swallowed suddenly. The bad feeling he'd had during the recon that had turned out to be a trap was back, worse than before.

"Heero –" he began.

"Keep it down," the other pilot hissed.

Duo fell silent, but looked around nervously. The control room, when they found it, proved to be in the center of the complex.

"Great!" Duo ran into the room. "Now we can –"

"I don't think so," a smooth voice interrupted. Treize Khushrenada stepped out from behind a control panel, followed by Lady Une. His perfect features slipped into a frown. "Boys? The Gundam pilots are nothing more—"

"Down!" Heero shouted.

Duo threw himself to the floor as Heero fired without so much as blinking. Both Treize and Lady Une dove for cover in opposite directions.

"You get the missiles, I'll cover you." For once, Duo was all seriousness.

Heero nodded impatiently. Duo pulled out his own gun, and they moved toward the main console.

"You don't want to do that," Treize said.

"Really," Duo said sarcastically. Treize began to step out from behind a stack of metallic crates, and Duo fired, missing narrowly. Treize ducked back into cover.

"I can't think of any possible reason not to get fid of your nice little anti-Gundam missiles." Duo glanced over his shoulder. Heero was tapping buttons, frowning slightly.

"I can," Lady Une said from less than two feet away from Duo. "Because if you don't stop, I'll kill this one here."

Duo felt the cold metal barrel of a gun pressed against his temple. He smiled triumphantly. "If you think that'll stop Mr. Social over there –" He broke off at a choked sound coming from Heero. A glance over his shoulder made his jaw drop. White-faced and trembling, the Perfect Soldier was backing away from the console, hands in the air. "What're you doing?" Duo demanded. "Finish it! Fire the missiles!"

Heero shook his head minutely. "I…can't."

"Complete the mission! We have to succeed." Duo charged Lady Une. The next few seconds stretched out into a near eternity. Shock covered the faces of everyone in the room, Quatre's voice warning them too late, Treize beginning to rush towards Heero only to be met by the handle of Duo's gun. A brief glow flickered through Duo – it had been a perfect throw. He grabbed Lady Une's wrist just as she pulled the trigger, shouting at Heero to complete the mission. A sharp pain ripped through Duo's chest and suddenly he was lying on the floor. It was shaking, or was it just his body trembling? He saw Heero , close, saying something, but he couldn't hear.

"Are the missiles gone?" Duo asked painfully.

Heero nodded, unshed tears bright in his eyes. As Duo watched, one of them slowly fell, tracking its way down Heero's cheek.,/p

Duo smiled and raised one hand to brush it away. "We did it, then." It was getting darker now, and he felt so cold. "Heero… I…can't…see you…" He felt the comforting pressure of Heero's embrace before all sensation fled.

Epilogue:
The rumors of the destruction of a secret Oz base and the loss of hundreds of missiles and other weapons were strenuously denied by Oz, as well as the rumors of serious injury to the persons of Treize Khushrenada and Lady Une. However, neither of the two Oz leaders made any type of public appearance in the two weeks directly following the supposed incident, making it very difficult for the general public to discredit the rumors. Just as widespread was the story that one of the Gundam pilots had lost his life destroying the base. No one came forward to deny or confirm this particular rumor, and the Gundams continued to watch and attack Oz bases and operations, although one was conspicuously absent. And in a hospital in the Middle East, a nameless boy whose only identifying feature was a long chestnut braid, lay oblivious to the outside world. The chances for his recovery were slim, but the four people who saw him often (some more often than others) refused to let him slip away. One in particular, a boy with serious eyes and a dangerous grace, sat by his unconscious friend for hours at a time, hoping for his recovery from the massive damage inflicted on many of his internal systems. And that hope for his survival was expressed in the sound of a steady heartbeat.