Heero stood in the cattle yard and grumbled softly to himself. He missed Pete already.

Pete had been released to his parents' custody yesterday. It had been five days early, but his father had asked for special consideration as he had to return to L3 to resume his duties there. Pete's mother had been one of those fluttery types that Heero had little experience with. She annoyed him from the minute he met her until Mr. Griffin told her mildly to ‘Be quiet, Love.'

Mr. Griffin had quietly pulled Heero aside and told him, if he needed a recommendation for his parole, it was available on request. Heero had told him that he was requesting it and thanked him in advance.

Mrs. Griffin had finally realized that Heero was the boy who'd put Pete on the helicopter. She immediately started to hug him and cry over him, which had made him very uncomfortable. But Pete had held his hand and managed to get his mother pried off and into his father's custody. Then it had been time for Pete to leave.

Heero had gathered up all his things and put them in a box; he carried the box to the car for Pete and handed it to the driver. He didn't notice the driver, he was focused on Pete. The driver however noticed Heero and nearly had an aneurysm. He recognized him right away, but since Duo had saved his entire unit he kept his mouth shut.

Heero gave Pete a hug. Doctor Terry would be proud of him. Duo too, he was finally getting over his, as Duo called it, ‘touch me not' attitude.

As Pete started to get into the car Heero suddenly remembered he had Pete's MP3 player. (Though why they were called MP3 he couldn't say, the files were MP8 format.)

"Pete, here, don't forget this. You'll be wanting it."

Pete looked at his father, who nodded. "Keep it. I loaded a bunch of good stuff in it for you. I got a mail from Duo, we sneaked around a little. It has all his favorites in it and a bunch of stuff Quatre recommended. And some of my favorites . . . Don't forget me . . . ok?"

Heero gave Pete a little smirky grin. "I have a perfect memory. I won't forget you. You have my mail address. Keep in touch. If you send a permission, I can mail you."

Mr. Griffin called Pete to the car, telling him to give his friend one last hug and get a move on.

The last sight Heero had of Pete was his face in the rear window of the car looking back at him.

~*~

Now he was standing up to his ankles in shit [oh, excuse me, manure] and mud, waiting for some guy to come and bulldoze off the top layer of the cattle yard so he could turn the cows back in.

As a trustee, he had duties to take care of, not that he minded. It was better than sitting in a classroom, bored out of his skull, while some idiot droned on about things that he would be better off to stay away from. With Pete's help and encouragement they'd both managed to test out of enough classes that they had their high school diplomas. So Heero had plenty of time to do extra duties. He didn't mind.

Headmaster Compton had made sure that there was no trouble after his ‘spanking.' Heero didn't have the heart to hold anything against him. He'd tried so hard to find a way around his responsibilities. But Heero didn't regret his actions, it had gotten a man who was guaranteed to cause trouble out of the facility and out of the system. Weighing the good against the bad, there was no downside.

Mr. Compton seemed to think that he'd abused Heero horribly. Heero had been sent to talk to Mr. Terry who hated being called Doctor. Heero had simply talked about how he felt, and Mr. Terry had sent a report to Mr. Compton that Heero wasn't traumatized and to let it drop.

So he stood and watched the cows and waited for some late idiot to show up to do his job.

When the yard was clean and the cows back in and fed, Heero had free time. Today, he wanted to go to the gym. There was a demonstration of some martial art. It was supposed to be done by a man who was one of the best in the system. Heero grumbled to himself, ‘If I miss that demonstration because of this idiot, I'm going to be royally pissed.'

"Hey Heero. Mac hasn't shown up yet?"

Heero turned to see Mr. Anderson coming to check on him. He liked Mr. Anderson; he was a good man and tried to see that all the boys under his care did what they were supposed to do, stayed out of trouble, and had what they needed. The ratio here made it possible for each floor monitor to supervise only eight boys. Mr. Anderson was in charge of only six, now that Pete was gone, so he tended to check on his charges quite frequently.

"Mr. Anderson, Sir. No, Mr. Mac hasn't shown yet. If he doesn't get here soon, I'm going to miss the demonstration in the gym. Was there a set time he was supposed to be here, or was it open ended?"

"He was supposed to be here at ten." Mr. Anderson looked at his watch. ‘It's ten thirty now. If he isn't here in another fifteen minutes, I'll see what I can do about getting you off for the demo. Ok?"

Heero nodded, "Yes, Sir. That will be fine. I'll wait here until then. But the cows are even more restless than I am. They're wanting to be fed. I wish he would hurry up."

Mr. Anderson went to see if he couldn't find out what had happened to Mac.

While he was gone Mac showed up, driving the bulldozer. He started to doze off the lot and Heero started worrying. The man didn't know how to drive the machine. He was all over the place. He hit the shed, he knocked down a gate, then he hit the shed again.

Heero growled, this guy was a menace. Mr. Anderson returned just then, much to Heero's relief.

"What's going on? They told me that Mac was here, but that isn't Mac. I don't know this guy from Adam."

"You sure that isn't Mac? It's hard to tell what he looks like from this distance."

"Yeah, I'm sure that isn't Mac. He's too big and the wrong color."

Heero just nodded. "Ok, Sir. What do we do?"

"We don't do anything. I'll call the Chief of Operations and have him come down here. It's his job to take care of situations like this."

Heero sighed; there went his demonstration. It was going to take him all day to get this mess cleaned up.

~*~

By the time the Chief of Operations got there, the man had knocked down a section of fence and hit the shed for a third time.

That lean-to shed wasn't going to take too many more hits. Heero didn't want to think of the work it would take to rebuild it. But without it, there was no place for the cows to get out of the sun and no feed boxes to put the feed in.

"Damnit. I told Mac not to send that useless maggot here again. He's a drunk, and alcohol and heavy machinery don't mix. If he knocks down that shed, Mac can just send his crew to rebuild it." The man turned to Heero and pointed to the concrete block machine shed. "Go in there. I don't want him running over you. I'm going to send for a crew to stop that moron. It's the only way we'll get him off that dozer. Go on. You're not in any trouble."

Heero just nodded, he wasn't interested in messing around with some idiot on a bulldozer. Let the guards take care of this, that was what they got payed for.

Heero and Mr. Anderson went into the shed and watched as several men came from different directions and attempted to herd the man out into the open field, away from the cows, the sheds and the commons.

He didn't herd, in fact he started playing chicken with some of the bigger men. When they came into his line of sight, he chased them.

Heero bit his lip and worried. This wasn't going the way it should.

"Mr. Anderson, Sir, if that fool heads for the commons, we've got a real problem. There must be twenty or thirty men . . . boys there at this time of day. Classes are changing for the next fifteen minutes, and you know they won't understand what is happening until it's too late for some of them."

Mr. Anderson inclined his head in understanding. "I recognize him now. We've had trouble with him before. He's related to Mac somehow or other and he persists in sending him. The last time he ran over forty feet of fence and a water trough. We like to never got him stopped. This time he's worse."

"How did you get him stopped?"

"One of the men just stood in front of the dozer and, when he saw him, the jerk stopped, just before he ran over him. This time it doesn't look like that‘s going to work."

"What are you going. . . oh, shit! What . . . ?" Heero felt the impact through his hand.

"Damn, that idiot hit the back of the shed. He's really out of control this time. I don't know what gets into him. He'll go along just fine for months, then he'll go on a bender."

Mr. Anderson was getting really worried. They weren't getting anywhere in their attempts to stop the runaway and he was endangering everyone around him with his antics.

Heero pushed Mr. Anderson into the back of the shed and took cover behind a baling machine. "We'll stay here until they stop him. It's safe. That machine is sturdy enough that, even if he manages to break in, it'll stop the dozer before it gets to us."

"Good idea. But you stay here. I'll check to see what's going on. We may have to make a run for it if he starts in on this shed. I don't want to take the chance of it collapsing on us."

Heero examined the interior of the shed with a practiced eye. "One good hit on the center post and we're in a world of hurt. It'll go down like a house of cards."

"You sound like you know what you're talking about."

"I do." Heero kept it to that and waited for Mr. Anderson to check on the guards' progress in getting the bulldozer stopped.

But they suddenly didn't need to check on progress. There was a shrill scream that Heero identified immediately as mortal. Someone had just died in a very messy way.

Mr. Anderson grabbed Heero just at the door and pulled him into a firm embrace. He turned a furiously unresisting Heero to his chest and covered his eyes with one hand. "Don't look. It's not good."

Heero gently put Mr. Anderson aside and snarled. "No more messing around. One down and he's headed straight for the commons. He's not going to stop."

Mr. Anderson grabbed Heero again and this time he held on hard. Heero didn't struggle; there was, hopefully, enough time to reason with the man.

"You can't go out there! A man just died. You'll get yourself killed."

"No, I won't. I know exactly what I'm doing. Don't interfere. Someone else will get hurt."

Heero remembered a movement that Duo had used and eeled out of Mr Anderson's grip.

"Heero . . . Heero, come back here." Mr. Anderson snatched at thin air and followed Heero out of the shed.

When he got outside, he saw that Heero was baiting the dozer like it was a bull. He led the man away from the buildings and commons into the open field. The cows wisely headed for the far side, but that attracted the maniac's attention and he decided that he was going after them. In his drunken rage, he just wanted to kill every moving thing he saw.

Heero dodged the bulldozer, zigzagging back and forth across the field. He kept it up until other men got in place to try to distract the man. Heero caught a man's eye and made a ‘round them up' motion that he hoped would be understood. The other men did and started baiting the monster machine into circling; they'd run until he followed, then dart out of the way. They continued the baiting process until he was running in a fairly tight circle.

He seemed to be getting more confused. Heero couldn't figure out why until he saw the plastic tube the man held in his mouth; he was drinking from some kind of container concealed in his clothing by sucking the whiskey through the clear tube like an elongated straw.

Suddenly, they lost all options as their drunken opponent realized something was up. He raised his head and looked around. Realizing that he'd been baited from his objective, he targeted the commons and headed for it at top speed. Heero snarled in frustration. He'd been hoping to run the machine out of fuel, but evidently the tank was full, or nearly so, and they were out of options.

Men screamed and shouted as Heero took a running jump and landed on the track. Using it like a conveyer belt, he allowed it to bring him to the driver's seat. He grabbed the man and literally threw him off the machine. He didn't bother to watch where he fell. If he got run over, that was his problem. Heero was more interested in stopping the dozer before it got into the commons and ran over half a dozen idiots who were just standing slack jawed and staring.

Heero got the dozer stopped and just sat for a moment enjoying the feeling of satisfaction he got from a mission accomplished.

Mr. Anderson climbed onto the dozer, snatched Heero out of the seat and shook him like a doll. Heero had to hold back to keep from hurting him but he managed; then he realized what the man was shouting.

"Heero . . . if you ever do anything that stupid again, I'm putting you on suicide watch. I'll spank your butt rosy, you . . . you could have been killed. You young fool . . . you . . . damnit."

Heero managed not to laugh at the man, he even disengaged himself from Mr. Anderson's clutching hands without breaking a finger.

"Sir . . . I'm fine . . . you're going to hurt me more than that did. Please. Don't shake me. I think you're giving me a headache. Mr. Anderson . . . stop."

Mr. Anderson finally got himself under control and stopped shaking Heero and started shaking himself. Other men who'd been involved scrambled onto the machine and hauled Mr. Anderson off Heero. Heero settled himself onto the seat of the bulldozer and started it back up. He was going to have some to do to clean up the cattle lot and the mess the runaway had made.

"I'll take the dozer, finish the job and start fixing this mess. Will someone get me some help? I could do it on my own, but there are enough slackers around here that I shouldn't have to. If we shake a leg, I can still make the demo. . . . Well, don't just stand there gaping at me like a bunch of carp, get going!"

Heero turned back to his job, leaving a dozen adults either staring at him in astonishment or headed to follow his orders.

Several men showed up just as Heero was done scraping down the lot. They started mending the fence, so Heero got off the dozer and called in the cows. The cows came willingly enough and Heero set out the feed, then closed the mended gate and sighed. That job was done. He turned around to go to the dining room, lunch was going to be late today. But as he turned he saw Doctor Terry standing waiting for him. He groaned silently, he was hungry and not in the mood to put off his reward.

"Can I help you doctor? If you want to talk to me, could we do it in the dining room? I'll miss lunch otherwise."

"I would like to talk to you. You seem very calm for someone who just risked his life. You realize that grown men would still be shaking."

Heero eyed the Doctor for a second then sighed.

"You don't want to talk about it? I think . . ."

"Doctor, I don't want to be short with you, but I'm hungry. If I don't hurry, they'll have shut down the dining room before I can get anything to eat. And there's a demo at the gym I'd like to see. Somehow I feel that talking to you right now would be a punishment. I'd miss lunch and something I've been looking forward to. If you really feel that it would be beneficial for me to speak to you . . . could we do it tomorrow?"

"Yes. That would be good. I understand that you . . . well, I don't understand why you aren't under the bed so to speak. You . . . " The Doctor saw Heero's impatient glare at his watch. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Go on or you will miss lunch."

Heero made good on his escape and jogged to the dining room, stopping in the main barn just long enough to change his pants and boots. It wouldn't do to bring the smell of ‘barn yard' into the diningroom.

He ate quickly, thankful that the kitchen staff seemed to be up on all the gossip. The kitchen was supposed to be closed five full minutes before he got there, but one of the kitchen staff called him into the back kitchen and handed him a plate that they had made up for him. It was even still warm, as they had put it in a warming oven. When he was done, he thanked the woman who'd handed him the plate.

"Thank you. Um,. . .ma'am, do you know if the man . . . "

"We heard all about it. That fool is under arrest. He ran right over Charly's legs, he may have to have a prosthesis. Just terrible. I heard that you stopped him before he could hurt anyone else. You're so brave. We all want to thank you. And then to go right on like nothing happened and finish up your job. Such dedication."

Heero got a funny feeling in his chest, like something was way too tight. He gulped, then gulped again. He knew that his face was getting red.

"Well! . . . you act like no one ever thanked or praised you before."

"No one ever has. Except Duo. I'm not used to it. Thank you."

"Such a shame . . . Here. There's some cake here."

The woman cut him a piece of cake and set it in front of him with a flourish. Heero gathered himself together and ate the cake with relish. Duo would have grumbled that the piece was too small, Heero was just glad to get any.

~*~

When Heero got to the gym, he was just late enough that he had to slip into the back of the room. He was just in time to get the very beginning of the lecture.

The lecturer was one of the few people who'd been off L5 when it went. He spoke about the skills of the Chinese styles of martial arts and some of the more modern (if you could call four hundred years old modern) combined styles, which combined Japanese swords with Chinese styles. Such as using two ninja swords in a Chinese style and a wakazashi in combined katas. It made Heero think so much of Wufei that he didn't realize that the man had actually used his name.

"This young man is one of the six remaining Masters of the Chang Style of swordsmanship. I would like to introduce to you . . . Chang Wufei."

Heero nearly choked on his own spit. Wufei here? Was Duo here too?

Wufei came out and ran through one kata, then part of another. Heero recognized the spot Wufei stopped at. He always stopped there as the rest of the kata called for an opponent. He saluted the lecturer and then stood waiting calmly, his eyes flicking over the group. When he located Heero, he nodded slightly. Heero raised an eyebrow and Wufei signaled ‘wait.'

The lecturer started speaking again. "You might think it is strange for us to be lecturing on such a violent subject in a school like this, but most martial arts are not about fighting but about physical and mental discipline. Discipline that most of you desperately need. Mr. Chang has been practicing the arts for many years. Most of his life, in fact. His discipline is impressive." Wufei managed to look suitably reserved. "That concludes my lecture. If you would like to remain after, Mr. Chang will be glad to answer questions one-on-one. Please remember, Mr. Chang is an expert in several martial arts and we are lucky to have him here, so do be respectful. Thank you."

Most of the people in the gym left. The lecture had been long and the demonstration short. The few that were interested in more than the lecture didn't take long to ask their questions and leave. Heero patiently waited until they had all left, then he approached Wufei and pounced.

"Duo. Is he here? Where is he? What's going on? Why don't they know who I am . . . ."

Heero eyed Wufei over the hand he'd placed firmly over his mouth. Wufei said loudly, "I'll be glad to answer all your questions. Come, walk with me."

Heero followed Wufei into the commons, resisting the urge to shake him until he answered the questions.

Wufei paced slowly, the picture of a contained, disciplined martial artist. Heero prowled along beside him like a caged tiger. They made a strange picture for anyone who cared to look.

"Duo wasn't allowed to come. We're only allowed to leave Quatre's estate to go to school and his office. He managed to loosen our chains enough to get permissions for us to be gone one at a time by complaining that he can't do business if he can't travel. So we can get travel permits upon request. It's mostly a formality, I believe, but we're not pushing things just yet.

"Duo is good. When we found out that you are eligible for parol in. . . . nine more months now . . . well, I can't tell you what a relief it was to us all. Duo cried, and so did Quatre. It was all Trowa could do to comfort him without an unseemly outburst of his own. Of course I maintained complete control of myself." Wufei smirked at Heero. "Long enough to get Maxwell under control."

Heero just nodded. He'd been counting the days and just before Pete left they had realized that the time served was credited directly to the time to first parole hearing.

"Duo is at home. Impatiently waiting for me to call him and tell him that no one is abusing you to death or . . . heaven only knows what."

Wufei nodded and then dropped his head as if contemplating some deep question.

"Between Relena and Quatre, they have managed to hide you in plain sight. No one is quite sure where you are. There are some four hundred Heero Yuy-Somethings in the system, from the age of twelve to the age of fifty."

"Heero . . . Somethings?" Heero wasn't sure what Wufei meant.

"Heero Yuy-Maxwell, if you can believe it. Yuy-Adams, Yuy-Hansen, Yuy-Wilson. Hyphenated all over the place, plus several hundred Yuy's. Quatre spent quite a bit of money in bribes and Relena has muddied the waters considerably by refusing to release our ages. Or any other information about us. I'm not sure that's good but I wasn't consulted."

"I see. Well . . . Wufei, do you think it's necessary to maintain security protocols now?"

Wufei considered for a few steps. "Not really. I don't think we'll be mailing anything sensitive. It's just war nerves, as my therapist calls it. If we need to send anything sensitive, we can exchange open mail with a hidden code word. Duo came up with one. I'll give you a complete list later."

"Ok, that is acceptable. How are the others? I . . ." Heero sighed, it was getting easier to communicate his emotions but strong ones still threw him.

"Everyone is fine and we all miss you a great deal. It is unjust that you should be punished for following orders. Unfortunately the professors are all . . . dead . . . humm."

"What?" Heero liked it when Wufei got that look in his eye. It meant he had an idea and Wufei's ideas were always to Heero's liking.

"Don't want to say just yet. False hope is worse than no hope." Wufei looked at Heero. "You don't tell Duo enough. He worries. He caught a flogging and he. . . ."

Heero grabbed Wufei's arm and, at his grunt of pain, let go again. "Who I'll . . . some . . . what happened."

Wufei told Heero the whole story and ended by telling Heero that there was a major dose of sorry waiting for the right time. Heero told Wufei about his own experience with the cane and ended his story by saying, "He still looks so guilty every time I see him that it makes me feel funny. If he knew what had happened to me he'd probably have fits."

"You talk to your therapist?"

"I can't really." Heero shook his head regretfully. "He'll figure out who I am and I'll wind up in Hellcreek. No thank you."

"I see. But are you getting any help?"

Heero nodded smiling faintly. "I think my therapist has an idea of who I am . . . maybe . . . But he doesn't want to know. He's a real help. I can tell him things. I'm feeling . . . different. I'm not . . . worried all the time."

Wufei started to say more but they were interrupted by his lecturer coming to find him.

"Mr Chang, we need to leave soon so that we may be back in the time of your curfew. Please." The man bowed and turned away.

Wufei nodded. "Yes, of course. I'm coming directly. Thank you."

Heero solemnly shook hands with Wufei, suppressing an urge to hug him. "Tell Duo I love him." Wufei blinked."Give everyone else my best. And, Wufei? . . . I owe you more than I can ever repay. I'll mail you soon."

Wufei grimaced, he'd been so involved in talking to Heero, gauging his condition, that he'd forgotten to give him the list of words.

Heero nodded. "It's nice to be in touch with ‘old friends' you should try ‘chow leu' tea." Wufei raised an eyebrow. Both words were from the war days. The code words he was supposed to pass could be passed later, those two codes would do for now.

They parted and Wufei watched as Heero headed for his dorm room. He moved easily and didn't seem to be in any distress. Wufei was considerably relieved by everything he'd seen. Just before he turned to leave, he saw a large man approach Heero, speak for a moment, then turn to walk beside him, draping an arm over his shoulder in a companionable manner.

"Let us go. I am comforted."

~*~

Conference notes: Re: Yuy-Winner, Heero

This subject seems hesitant to the point of shyness, but upon further examination it is found that he simply is not talkative. When spoken to, he responds with confidence although his politeness can verge on diffidence at times. He calls all staff by their rank and/or sir.

His performance in the forest fire was exemplary. He sacrificed himself so that a much younger and less capable individual was secured. Then managed to secure his own safety without help from outside sources.

"Well gentlemen any further notes, additions, emendations or comments."

Mr. Compton looked around the table. The staffing on Heero was going quite well and he was hoping for recommendation toward early parole applications. The relevant staff were all in attendance which included Mr Terry, Mr Anderson, the head cook, Mrs Parker and the dairy man, Mr Cooper. They all shook their heads and went on to other boys. When the meeting finally broke up, Mr. Compton asked Mr. Terry to stay for a few moments.

"Well, you've been talking to him for weeks now. What do you think? This last little incident has me on edge. He took the whole incident in stride. Not good if you ask me. What's he hiding?"

Doctor Terry rubbed his temples then shrugged.

"I have an idea and I'm pleading privilege. I don't want to speculate. He's not exactly hiding anything."

"Very well. I have some questions, and if the answers are appropriate, I'll let this slide until I'm forced to do something. Is he a threat to the facility? To any inmate? To staff? Do I have to worry about him having a psychotic episode?"

Doctor Terry shook his head. "He's not a threat to anyone or anything as long as they aren't a threat to him. He's not psychotic, nor even particularly neurotic. A lot too tightly wound, but other than that . . . don't worry about him. I have a good idea of who and what he is and I will say this: you don't want to know anything about him except what you learn by direct observation. When the time comes, we'll all find out everything we need to know. Until then . . . ignorance is bliss."

Headmaster Compton sighed, he'd been afraid of this. He now had a good idea of who and what he was dealing with, and an abused mule wasn't it. He thought very carefully before he nodded, "If you're sure . . . ok, I'll let it ride. But I don't like it. That boy . . . he's . . ."

The two men gave each other identical weary looks and left to finish up what had turned out to be a very unpleasant day.

~*~

Duo sighed. Wufei had brought him good news and he was reveling in the fact that Heero was well, no one was abusing him. Duo shifted uncomfortably on the cushion. Quatre had produced an extra thick one for him to sit on. But it still hurt. He was out of school on a Doctor's excuse until further notice.

He was on the computer in his home office. Unashamedly doing evil things to certain people, which included making sure that their girlfriends got copies of uncomplimentary emails, dumping their homework files, and changing the passwords on everything he could get into. He also made sure that the headmaster's personal accounts wouldn't stand up to any significant examination and sent an anonymous email to ESUN Revenue. Then he did a full search on his name and attached his citizen number to some unfortunate files, files without citizen numbers of their own.

Quatre just hoped that Duo covered his tracks. He was doing some not-so-nice things himself.

Several orders from WEI to small manufacturing firms were cancelled and a few names were removed from the ball listing.

It didn't seem like much, but the orders were cancelled because of ‘manufacturing irregularities,' which could mean anything from faulty materials to ‘we just don't like it.'

The removal of names from the ball list was social ruin, plain and simple. Trowa smirked happily; the uncooperative caterer was the father of one of the soccer players.

Wufei wasn't sure exactly what Duo was up to, but he knew that Shinigami was on the loose and he worried. If something really bad happened to Duo, Heero would murder him . . . slowly. And he wouldn't resist. He'd promised Heero he would take care of Duo, and then he'd turned his back at the wrong time and look what had happened. Duo was sitting on a pillow, Duncan was gloating, and he was getting an ulcer.

~*~

Quatre stuck his head in the door. "Chang, we have to go or we'll be late. Duo . . . please stay out of trouble."

Duo eyed Quatre then smiled. "I'm going to go to the office and get some real work done. There's some reports that I need to see. This ball is killing me. I understand why you need to have it but still. . . .some of these people are . . . suspicious."

Quatre gave Duo a smug look. "And we're not?"

Duo smirked back. "Go . . . I thought you were going to be late."

Wufei gave Duo a severe look but didn't say anything. The look was enough, he hoped.

Trowa tucked Quatre under his arm in a gentle hug. He knew that Quatre was worried about Duo, they all still were. He still wasn't up to his old self. He switched from Shinigami to weepy too easily. He spent too much time on the computer just waiting for Heero to IM or email him, and he spent much too much time in the gardens alone. He had put up with too much shit from the soccer team too.

Duo waited until the others left then he checked his inbox.

Heero had sent him an email telling him about his ‘adventure' with the bulldozer. He mailed back scolding him for risking his life, telling him that was the guards' job but he knew that it wasn't going to do any good. They were all ‘natural protectors' as his therapist said.

Duo got his backpack and fished through it. He tossed his ebook on his desk and put his notebook in, rummaged around and stuffed a paper notebook and a pen into another pocket, then he put his MP3 player in his braid and headed for the car. He was still pissed that he couldn't get a driver's licence for another three months. He could pilot a Gundam for god's sake.

After spending most of the morning reading reports and dealing with the usual security messes, Duo decided to take a run on the Soul Breaker. He'd designed the obstacle course to encompass everything that a man had to do during combat. Climbing, running, jumping, and coordination routines were all included.

First, a short run, then an exercise station where they were required to do fifty pushups. Then another, longer run, to the second station and fifty sit ups. The third station required climbing a framework, jumping from it to another and climbing down. The fourth station required field stripping a .45 caliber pistol and reassembling it in a set amount of time. The fifth station and fifty pull ups, by now most men were on their last legs. The sixth and final station required opening a complicated set of locks and doors; getting through them led to a crawl under concertina wire, through a ditch, and the final leg was another run.

Each station was supervised at all times by training personnel. Duo didn't want any man to overextend himself and get hurt, but everyone on the security team he was in charge of was expected to be able to make it through the complete circuit in what Duo considered a reasonable length of time. He allowed them twice as much time as he took.

He over heard two men as he finished the course.

"Holy fuck. I don't believe that little fart managed to make it through at all. Did you see his time?"

"Yeah, and I hate to tell you this, but he designed the thing. Little Gundam fucker is a machine. Scary when he gets mad. Do not touch the hair. It'll get you hurt quick." The older, wiser man dug a water bottle out of the cooler.

"He's so young. And so little. Gundam pilot, you say. Thought they were all older. Yuy guy's in prison, isn't he?"

Duo wandered over to get a drink of water.

"Yeah, Heero's in prison. He took the hit for all of us. They got him on the ‘commanders only' thing Relena set up."

Duo took the bottle of water the man handed him.

"Well, he should have. I mean . . . making you boys go into combat like that. It's not right. " the man held up a hand to forestall Duo's looming outburst

"Not saying that you four weren't good soldiers or anything like that. You were, and from the looks of it, still are. But . .. As a . . . an older man myself . . . .I just don't see it. I'll take my foot out of my mouth now."

Duo sighed. "Heero's no older than I am. We're all seventeen, except maybe Trowa. He could be eighteen."

Both men goggled at Duo. "But . . . if he was . . . I . . . well, that's a kick in the balls for sure. How could he have set up all the surveillance and what not needed to decide where and when . . . where did he get all his Intel?. . ."

The man trailed off at the arrested look Duo got.

"Buddy, give your name to the gate guard I'm putting you up for a promotion. And thanks."

Duo headed off, leaving two puzzled but happy men to wonder just what that was all about.

~*~

Duo sat down at his computer and wrote for over two hours, recalling everything he could about where their orders had come from. Each one of them had acted in concert with the others, but their orders had come from the Professors. They had each had their own controller in the professors. They had never taken orders from anyone else, unless they were told that either Quatre or Heero was in command. Duo had been in command several times himself. Wufei and Trowa had also been in command on occasion. But they had all taken their initial orders only from their own professor. The professors were the commanders.

After sending the report to the legal department, he sent an email to Heero asking him to write up a similar report to the enclosed address. He also sent emails to the others just to make sure he didn't forget anything.

"Connie. I'm going for a walk. I've been inside so much recently, I feel like I'm gonna mold. I'm just going to walk around the area. My phone is on if you need me for anything . . . " Duo blinked at his secretary who was eyeing him oddly. "What?"

"You should take a shower and change your clothes before you go out, sir. You came directly from the training field and shut yourself up in your office. You're kinda . . . ripe."

Duo laughed "Sorry, I had a man give me an out for all of us, I . . . kinda got distracted."

Duo went to the executive wash room, took a shower and changed into clean jeans and a t-shirt that he kept in a locker there. They all had lockers in the washroom where they could keep a change of clothing. Duo made a mental note to bring more clean clothing and headed out the door to the street.

~*~

He spent some time just walking around, enjoying the day, it still hurt to sit for long stretches of time. The time he'd spent writing the report had pushed his endurance to the limits, so it felt good to just wander around window shopping.

He stopped to watch some construction for a while and nearly had a heart attack when he saw one of the new construction mecha. It looked amazingly like a damn leo. He watched as the operator nearly knocked down a shed, then managed to get himself tangled up in a cable on a crane.

Duo put his hands over his eyes and groaned. This guy was tragic. He was an accident waiting for a place to happen.

Evidently the job boss thought so too, as he called the operator in and had him rack the suit. You could hear him yelling all over the lot. Everyone working had stopped to watch the suit, so the lot was quiet. Except for the royal ass eating the job boss was giving the operator.

When he ended up by telling the man that his son was a better operator than that, the operator quit, yelling, "You'll never get another operator as good as me. You're too particular, asshole."

The job boss sent everyone home and left, locking the gate after himself.

Duo looked at the suit, then he walked around the block and looked at the suit again. He walked the rest of the way around to the other side and looked again. The suit sat there in its rack, innocently shining in the sun. It was painted that obnoxious shade of lime green that construction mecha were. It was supposed to show up against any background and warn people that it was there.

Duo couldn't for the life of him understand how anyone could not see a three story high mechanical suit walking around. He sighed softly. It wasn't a Gundam, but it was a suit.

What could it hurt? The gate was locked, no one would be in the site. Duo looked at the suit, it looked back.

Duo climbed the fence and looked at the rack. It wasn't locked.

Duo climbed the rack and opened the (unlocked, for god's sake) access hatch. The pilot's seat beckoned to him like a lover.

He slid into the chair and realized why the man had been having so much trouble with the suit; the controls were all over the place. They needed calibration, so he took a few minutes to calibrate the controls. Then he started checking out the rest of the setup. It was much simpler than a Gundam. No weapons or radar. No flight controls. Just handlers.

All the suit could do was walk, carry things and use an array of construction tools that ranged from a laser cutter to a welding unit. The hands were very nice, extremely well made and sensitive. Not just a claw like most construction mecha, but real hands, like his Gundam had.

Duo moved the suit out and walked it around the lot. He didn't notice that the job boss had come back. He picked up a spool of wire and put it back down, then he picked up a cracked girder and broke it. This suit was so nice.

But the sensors sucked. He couldn't see behind, the peripherals stunk, and there was a blind spot at his feet big enough to hide a car. Which was why he nearly stepped on a police cruiser.

"Oh, shit! Son of a bitch. Hey, Officer, I'm really sorry."

Which sounded really strange coming from the loud speaker system of a three-story tall construction mobile suit.

The officer replied with his own system. "Come out of the suit."

Duo hesitantly replied "Um Officer? I can't. Not that I'm trying to resist or anything, but if I just leave the suit, it'll fall over. I have to rack it and power down."

Duo got far enough away that he could see the men. One man turned to the officer and gesticulated. The officer looked at the other man and then shook his head.

"Ok, rack it and power down. Then come out."

Duo racked the suit and powered it down, following the procedures that were second nature to him. He never thought that he might be in any kind of trouble until he got on the ground.

"Turn around and spread your legs. Don't resist me."

"I'm not resisting. What's up? What's the problem?"

"Well . . . to start with, criminal trespass. Then vandalism. If you've damaged that mobile suit. Who knows?"

Duo snorted, "Damage a construction suit? Don't think so. That thing will survive an impressive explosion."

The cop took Duo's thumbs together and Duo sighed, realizing for the first time that the man intended to handcuff him. He resisted the urge to slither out of the man's grip and teach him to be more careful. If his men were this careless, he'd be eating on them for the next month. But he decided that he wanted to get through this with as little trouble as possible, so he just let the man do his job. As long as he didn't hit.

The officer was surprised by the attitude of the boy he'd just arrested. Most of these punks were rude, loud, and obnoxious. They invaded construction sites and tore up everything. Then all they would do was swear and complain that they had rights.

"Look, I don't know what gets into you kids. That thing is dangerous. You don't understand the power."

"Officer, I'm not trying to be rude, but I have a better idea of the powers of a mobile suit than you do. So please don't lecture me."

"Smart ass."

"You have no idea."

Duo settled back in the seat and sighed. Quatre was going to have a fit. He'd have to get him out of . . . damn.

He didn't realize he'd said that out loud until the cop asked hm if he'd finally realized what he'd done.

"Yeah. My friend is going to ream my ass and my guardian is going to kill me flat out. Damnit. It. . . I just. . . oh hell."

The cop was satisfied. The boy finally realized what he'd done. That was good enough for him.

"You realize that you could have really hurt some people? If you don't know what you're doing with one of those things you should leave it alone. Right?"

"Right." Duo decided that it wasn't a lie; everything the man had said was true and he hadn't said that Duo didn't know what he was doing.

When they got to the station Duo had a major flashback. He saw dozens of big men in uniforms looking at him and just lost it. He backed up into the officer, moaning. When the officer realized that he was freaking out, he picked Duo up and dragged him, literally kicking and screaming, into an interrogation room. Which didn't help matters much, Duo's prior experiences with that being what they were.

The commander heard the disturbance and came to check on it. When he saw Duo, he did a double take that nearly gave him whiplash.

"That's . . . that boy." He turned to the arresting officer and practically yelped. "Please tell me you didn't . . . he didn't."

The officer gave his commander a puzzled look. "He was operating that new construction mobile. I took the call. What's the matter? And what's his malfunction?"

"He's Duo Maxwell. The Duo Maxwell. I recognized him from the resistance. I was a cell commander. And we need to get him out of those cuffs . . . now. You have no idea what some Alliance goons did to him."

They couldn't get near Duo; he had managed to wedge himself between a file cabinet and the wall. They tried to move the cabinet but it was bolted to the floor. Duo scooted back as far as he could, which put him just out of reach. He didn't do anything but crouch in a space that seemed too small for him; all they could see was wide amethyst eyes blinking at them from a narrow, dim slit

"Fuck. We got to get him out of there. If his guardian sees him like that, we're in a world of hurt. What the hell were you thinking cuffing a juvenile who didn't resist? He obeyed your legitimate commands and even made sure that the suit wasn't damaged by your ignorance. If he'd been a smart ass, he'd have come out of the suit and let it fall when it automatically powered down."

The officer shoved his hand through his thinning hair and bit his lip. "I thought I'd just put the fear of the law into him. Cuff a kid and bring him to the station, let him sit out in the bull pen or in the interrogation room for a while until his parents can get here to collect him. Scares them enough, sometimes, that we never see them again."

"I see. That's good old-fashioned discipline. Iron fist, velvet glove stuff. But it really backfired this time. So now what?"

The commander couldn't fault the officer, his little trick worked enough of the time that it was worth it. But right now they had a mess on their hands. In the person of one scared to death, very deadly, teenaged ex-terrorist.

"How are we going to get him out of there before his guardian gets here? And besides, I didn't double lock those cuffs."

"And why not?"

"They won't double lock on the very end of the rachet. I didn't fasten them . . . just hit the first tooth."

"Well . . . fuck."

The cop looked worried; if Duo, in his panic, had tightened the cuffs, he could be in real trouble.

"Find out where his guardian is and call him or her and get them here. Send a car. Now. I'm not going to be responsible for this turning into more than it has to. We mess around and he could be crippled. Go . . . now."

The desk Sargent was an old timer and hadn't waited for orders; he knew that what they had on their hands could go bad quickly. He looked Duo up without any trouble and found out that his legal guardian was Irena Winner, but his guardian of record was Quatre Raberba Winner. So he called Quatre's cell phone.

~*~

Quatre answered his cell. The teachers all hated it but he was adamant. He was in control of one of the biggest corporations in the system and he didn't intend to loose a contract, or have major problems develop, just to soothe the ego of some high school teacher. He took it out into the hall.

After one sentence he asked quick questions then hung up. He called Trowa and then Wufei. One word was all it took to have them all walking out of their classes.

Well, actually two. "Duo, trouble."

They all met in the hallway and ran right into Mr. Duncan. "You four have left classes for the last time. Either go back to classes or you're expelled. If you're expelled, you'll have to be tutored, and that will cost you and. . . hey!"

Quatre had given Mr Duncan a funny look, then made the universal gestures for ‘up yours' and ‘let's go.'

On the way to the car Quatre called the desk Sargent again.

"Don't approach him. We'll be there in no time. If he tries to leave, just let him. He won't hurt anyone unless he feels threatened. Then all bets are off. Yes."

He turned to Wufei. "We better hurry. He's holed up in an interrogation room. The desk Sargent said we better get there fast."

He gave the driver directions, then settled back to make a few calls.

He called his legal team to have them find out what was going on. What charges had been filed? The call he got back confused him, until the lawyer explained that Duo had fallen afoul of the scared straight program. Which was good. He wasn't charged with anything and wouldn't be, unless the owner of the construction firm decided to be a hard ass.

"That won't happen."

Wufei looked tired. This could turn out very badly. It depended on who owned the mobile suit. And how badly they wanted to make an example of Duo.

"How do you know?"

"I'm the only one who owns construction mobiles in this district. I wasn't aware that they had been delivered yet."

Trowa snorted, trust Quatre not to realize that any mobile suit was an attractive nuisance of major proportions.

When they got to the station, Wufei charged the desk like a fire breathing dragon. Trowa was reminded of, not the gentle oriental dragon, but the fierce northern one.

"Where is he? I want to see him . . . now. Right now."

The desk sargent only saw a demanding young oriental. "Take it easy there, kid. What's wrong?"

Wufei snarled, he wasn't taking this hold up any better than he ought. "You have my . . . my obligation here. I want to see him, now."

"Your . . . who? What? Start at the beginning and talkie slow."

"Do not patronize me. Duo Maxwell is my obligation. He's here. I want to see him . . . now. If you don't take me to him, the consequences could be disastrous."

"Easy there. Don't threaten me. It's not doing you any good."

Wufei pinched the bridge of his nose. "Officer, I'm not threatening you. I don't make threats. But I understand he's having a flashback. Believe me, you don't want to meet Shinigami. If Duo gets frightened enough, or feels truly threatened, he'll be more than you can handle."

The desk Sargent recognized the name and shuddered. "You mean that little kid is a Gundam pilot? Oh shit."

Wufei gave up, just like Heero had. "Yes, he is. And I'm another. If we don't get him out of there soon, we could have a real situation on our hands. Please."

The desk Sargent made a decision that came quite easily. "Ok, but I got to call the commander. He's in there trying to get Duo to come out."

"He won't do it until he see me or one of the others. I'll wait at the door. Please, lead me to him."

The desk Sargent did exactly that and led all three of them to the interrogation room where the commander was couched on the floor, peering in the small space between the cabinet and wall. He was holding out a hand coaxingly and talking softly to Duo.

Duo showed no signs of coming out. He was still wedged as far back in the space as he could get. Wufei tapped the commander on the shoulder and motioned for him to move away. He did so, and Wufei couched where Duo could see him

"Maxwell. Come out of there. We need to get those cuffs off you."

"Wufers? Damnit. I . . . this isn't right . . . I feel . . . report!" Duo seemed in the middle of a major flashback, so Wufei humored him. Their therapist had explained that part of the mind remembered that it wasn't real, but the rest was trapped in the past. Playing to the scenario worked well.

"Very well. It isn't right. These people are on our side. There's been a mistake. Come out so I can get those cuffs off you. You're dripping blood all over."

Duo obediently crawled out of the crack and stood up to allow Wufei to remove the cuffs. When Wufei got a good look at his wrists, he let out his breath in a soft hiss. The metal bands had cut into Duo's wrists badly. He was bleeding and his hands were cold.

"How long have these been so tight? Duo, talk to me. Don't shut down."

Duo gasped and then managed to get his hands working enough to clutch one wrist in the other hand.

"I'm not sure. I got into the car and when I sat down they closed. Then I . . . guess I went . . . away. Wufei. What happened to me? I thought they were Oz. I . . . can we leave now?"

Duo went from confused to sharp in the blink of an eye.

"No, you can't leave yet." The arresting officer wasn't clicking. "We have to fill out a report. You're not in any trouble. Your guardian is the owner of the machine and has refused to press charges. But what with one thing and another this has been an unmitigated disaster from the word go. We need to get pictures and make sure you're not hurt in any other way."

The commander was not happy; he had a bleeding kid on his hands and a pissed off guardian passing messages through his secretary.

Duo gave the officer a bitter look. "What difference does it make? I'm fine. I've had lots worse."

"Not on my watch you haven't. I don't believe in beating people. Especially not kids. I know you think you're a man but . . ."

The commander poked the man in the back before he insulted all four of them. He wasn't interested in having a giant scene in his bullpen. He motioned to all of them to come into his office.

"I'll take a few pictures and fill out some papers. Won't take long. Then we have to see the judge. I know, Mr Winner, that you aren't pressing charges." The commander gave Quatre a smirk then sighed. "But the site manager is. And that's a problem. But we'll handle it through channels and it'll all be fine."

Quatre pulled out his phone and made a call. Duo was sitting with a funny look on his face; half pain and half he wasn't sure what. Quatre shuddered slightly. When Duo got a certain look on his face, everybody needed to duck, things tended to get out of hand quickly and he could see hints of that look.

Wufei was watching Duo carefully and he saw ‘that look' wash over Duo's face, then he hunched into himself, cradling his hands against his chest.

"I"m sorry, sir. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble. I just saw the mobile and couldn't resist. I know I'm in real trouble. The judge will have my hide, I'm sure. Are the medics coming soon?"

The commander just nodded at Duo, more intent on talking to someone on the phone.

"Well, that worked out well. It seems that the site manager was persuaded by the owner of WEI himself to drop most of the charges, but the judge has already passed sentence on one of them."

Quatre made a distressed sound. Wufei groaned out loud and Trowa stepped between Duo and the door. Duo looked around rather wild eyed.

"Please, sir. I don't think I. . . . " Duo ducked his head in a manner that warned the others that he was up to something. "I can't take another flogging just yet. Is there anyway that I can get a delay . . . or something?" Duo gave the man a bright hopeful look. It was all Wufei could do to keep from choking. Trowa suppressed a snort.

Quatre put his arm around Duo's shoulders in a comforting manner. "Now, Duo. I'm sure that the sentence isn't going to be nearly as bad as at school. After all, the school is private and they get away with a lot. Don't worry. If it's too bad, I'll call the doctor, ok?"

Commander Smith locked into the conversation. "What? What are you talking about? Call a Doctor? There's a medic on the way for his wrists, he should be here now."

Just then an EMT tapped on the door, then entered without waiting for an answer.

He took one look at Duo and made an angry sort of tisking noise and put his bag on the floor.

"Here, let me see that. How in the hell did you manage to get cut up like this?" Duo let the man take one hand in his and waited as he wiped blood until he could see the cuts. "Not too deep. You've just let it go long enough that you've smeared blood all over. I'm going to spray some of this on you. It won't hurt. It's ‘Healzall' artificial skin." The medic sprayed Duo's wrist. "Let me have the other."

Duo let the man clean him up and spray the invisible bandage on both wrists. Then he pulled away.

"Don't do that. I want to make sure the skin is dry before I put a gauze wrap on it. I . . . son of a bitch!"

The man's sharp exclamation made Commander Smith lean over to examine a cringing Duo.

Trowa braced him gently, saying softly, "They're not Oz."

The uproar was immediate and fiercely contained.

"Oz.! When were you in their hands? And . . . Let me see your wrists. They're scarred! Damnit."

Duo sighed softly. "I got captured. And they weren't nice. I know I'm in trouble. But I caught a flogging at school and it still hurts to sit if I'm not careful. If I have to take another I . . . well, I'll probably faint. I'd really rather not make a fool of myself like that. Could you see if the judge won't give me a delay of sentence or whatever you call it. Please?" Duo gave Commander Smith a pleading look.

"Flogging at school? That's barbaric. I know which school you go to and I don't like it one bit. I want to see what they did to you. If it's bad enough, I can get that Headmaster into real trouble. I know who you are. I was the resistance cell leader here. You all got a raw deal. You should have gotten medals and rewards. Instead they're trying to make you into children again and you're not. You're soldiers and deserve a lot more respect than you're getting. So . . . ahem . . . bend over and drop your pants"

Duo managed to look pathetic instead of anything else. He dropped his pants and bent over the desk. The medic eyed the bruising with a jaundiced eye and then took several pictures with his camera. The commander did the same and downloaded his files into his computer.

"I don't like the look of those bruises at all. When did you say you were . . . how many days ago was this?"

Duo looked at Quatre who just nodded; he'd caught on and so had Wufei.

"Two? Almost three now. I'm sorry to be so much trouble. Quatre will pay for whatever I cost you. I'll manage to pay him back soon. I'm really sorry."

Duo straightened up and rearranged his clothing. Wufei closed in on one side, Quatre on the other, and Trowa backed them all up. They made a united front that made the commander very nervous. He knew what they were capable of, even if no one else here did. He was very glad they were on his side.

"Don't be sorry. I'm enhancing the file to show what those bruises looked like fresh. Fuck. That bastard. I wouldn't beat a dog like that. Never mind a man. This is . . . chargeable. How old are you?"

"Seventeen. I'm still a minor. Why?"

"Because, if you are emancipated or have a guardian that isn't living with you . . . well . . . I know Mrs. Winner is on L4. Lives there. And your guardian of record is Mr. Winner, CEO of WEI so. . . . we got that fuck and you don't even have to go to court. All I need is a report and these pictures. And my description of your attitude."

Duo blinked at the man for a moment. "I have a report in my notebook. I sent an e-mail to a friend of mine. Will that do?"

"Let me see it."

Duo downloaded the e-mail he'd sent Heero into the commanders computer. When he started reading it he smiled. "Reads like a mission report to me. You two trade mail like this a lot?"

"Yes, sir. We can't seem to break the habit.'

"Well, we got him dead to rights. He was an Alliance Sympathizer in the war. I've been wanting to get that fuck for years."

Duo ducked his head so the commander wouldn't see his eyes. They were a dead give away.

"I need to know what my sentence was so I can prepare I. . ." This was the only thing that had Duo worried. The commander was taking his act at face value. Duo thought the man knew he was acting but wasn't questioning anything. With good reason.

"Sentence? . . . oh yeah. Ummm. . . . here it is. Forty hours community service for creating a public nuisance. Hope you like gardening."

Duo blinked, Wufei snorted, Quatre smiled, and Trowa just groaned.