~ * ~

Heero managed to get Relena back to her townhouse without further incident. She kissed him on the cheek and went inside with a quick wave at the door.

The driver didn't ask where Heero wanted to go he knew. They reached home and Heero went in search of Duo. He found him in the smaller lounge, playing a video racing game with Zechs.

Duo looked up, lost concentration and Zechs left him in the dust. Duo growled, "I'll get you back for that." Zechs just grinned and tossed his controller aside. Remarking he wanted to find Wufei he sauntered out, braid swinging jauntily.

Heero settled behind Duo on the couch and tugged him into a hug. "You're a dead man. I'm never going shopping with that woman again."

Duo rubbed his head against Heero's chest. "It couldn't have been that bad. You're still in one piece."

"Not really bad. But I never saw anyone buy that many clothes at one time in my life. There's not a rag left in the mall."

Duo snickered. Heero was learning to exaggerate and joke, much to Duo's joy. "Well, lover. Did you buy anything?"

"Relena bought me something."

"Duo turned his head to peer up at Heero through his bangs. "Yeah? Well, what?"

Heero smirked at Duo, paused a second, until Duo elbowed him in the belly. "A hula hoop." Heero's bland expression caught Duo by surprise. He blinked, caught up with himself, and spluttered.

"She bought you a what? A hula hoop? Oh, hell." Duo giggled himself right out of Heero's embrace and onto the floor where he rolled back and forth alternately snickering and fighting for breath. Heero watched with a disgusted expression.

"Well, when you're done being an ass, we could go find something to eat. Something that's not chili cheese fries." Heero had to laugh himself. Duo's eyes were so wide they nearly popped.

"You fed the former queen of the world chili cheese fries? I wondered what you were calling me for. You for real did?" Heero nodded. Duo crowed "Excellent!" and dragged Heero down to the kitchen to find a snack.

~ * ~

Wufei smiled when Zechs entered their quarters but it faded when he realized that Zechs wasn't happy.

"What is it love?" Wufei slipped his arms around his taller lover.

"You're going into the office tomorrow. I'll miss you . . . we . . . haven't been apart since I was put in your custody."

Wufei smiled. "We won't be parted. You're coming with me."

Zechs rubbed his cheek against the top of Wufei's head. "But you have work to do. And I'll just be in the way."

"Don't worry. I've been reading my email, unlike a certain braided baka and his lover. Quatre is up to no good. And we're going to enjoy the fruits of his labors. At least I am."

Zechs whined and wheedled but Wufei refused to say another word only telling Zechs that he should be prepared for an explosion when some people decided to read their emails.

~ * ~

Duo grumbled softly, he wanted to make love to Heero, but Heero insisted that he read a backlog of email that made his head spin. Heero was taking care of his backlog with ruthless efficiency.

His mail consisted of messages from several people from the facility, Pete and Trowa and Quatre. Lady Une had sent him two and Sally Poe one. He deleted unknown senders without opening them. He didn't want to have to deal with a virus. It took him exactly ten minutes to pare his backlog down to thirty or so messages that he actually had to read and respond to.

Duo, on the other hand, corresponded with a variety of people from all stages of his life. Every kind of person from spacers to sweepers to who knew who. All of whom he felt deserved a personal reply, or at least a newsletter. He spent the better part of an hour composing the newsy mass letter. Then he spent another twenty minutes fine tuning that and picking who got it instead of a personal letter.

He spent another half hour on the remainder of the casual acquaintance part of his backlog. Then he started on the rest. The first email was from Lady Une, still pestering him to work for Preventers. He sent her a firm refusal and a request to stop emailing him.

When he reached the mails from Trowa he sighed. They were all newsy communications telling him about the work on the new colony Quatre was building. He wished he was there. He sent a reply to Trowa apologizing for not responding sooner and telling him all that had happened, he appended the newsletter for good measure.

Heero made a snorting sound that distracted him from his efforts, but when he turned an enquiring eye his way Heero just told him to finish with Trowa's mail and read Quatre's.

Duo did so and nearly exploded. Wufei was going to be very disappointed in the morning. Quatre had removed him as head of the department. He was now resigned to training. Mr. Lyons was head of the security department now. Duo didn't mind, he just kind of resented having been notified by email the evening before he returned to work.

Then he looked at the date of the mail and realized that it was two weeks old. He settled back for a second to pull himself together. He also realized that he shouldn't be upset about being told by email. Quatre was in space and the time lapse between L4 and Earth was something like fifteen minutes for a phone call.

Duo thought and thought, trying to decide if he was mad or relieved. He wasn't that good at desk work. The thought of it made him edgy, so he was glad that Mr. Lyons had the job, he would be good at it. And he deserved it.

Heero pulled Duo into a gentle embrace. "Don't be mad at Q. You know he hates wasting resources. And we're all wasted at a desk job. Even if you did work in a lot of training too. Now you can do what you're good at. You know what Quatre's up to, don't you?"

Duo shook his head, "Not really. He's up to something, I know that. Just exactly what, I'm not so sure of. So . . . oh, great swami, enlighten me."

Heero snickered. "Quatre is as crooked as a dog's hind leg. He's working his way into having his own surgical strike team. Guess who."

Duo goggled at Heero for a few seconds. "But . . . why? I get that he wants us. But . . . ok, dumb L2 brat here."

Heero shut Duo up by kissing him. "No, you're not dumb, you're just too honest for this kind of thing. " Duo sneered at Heero, who pinched him in the ribs and got a smack in the head for his troubles.

"Stop flirting and get on with it." Duo got out of Heero's lap and gave him a glare. "Tell."

"Ok. Think about it. There's no borders anymore. Things and people move without hindrance of any kind. Anything that is stolen can't be traced easily. Kidnaping is on the rise. And hostage situations are rampant. Most of the police forces can't afford to train a swat team and keep it at ready. Quatre is going to offer us as a solution to the need for a well-trained team. We'll be available to anyone who can afford us and on special assignments as needed. Since we're unilateral there's no conflict of interests. WEI will be policing its self. With us as backup to WEI regulars. We'll be a team in and of ourselves. But I think Quatre has ideas about us training teams and perhaps heading teams of our own."

Duo goggled at Heero and mouthed 'oh, shit' In other words, they were going to be completely outside the law, as the law wasn't capable of handling the cases they were going to be taking on. Even Preventers were going to be hiring them. Heero smirked at Duo with some satisfaction.

~ * ~

The next morning saw them seated in the small breakfast nook in the conservatory. Duo admired the orchids with an absent sort of interest. The new one's were very nice. Zechs poked at the orchids and nibbled on a piece of toast. Heero ate his breakfast without comment. Wufei ate part of his food but left the bacon complaining that it wasn't agreeing with him.

Heero realized that they were all nervous about this, he was too, but he didn't see any reason to allow nervousness to spoil his breakfast. He was worried about Wufei, he was having way too much trouble with his stomach.

The drive to the WEI facility was easier than they would have thought. One of the things that Quatre had finally managed to do was acquire them all drivers licenses. Heero thought letting Zechs drive first was a nice touch. Even if Duo did remark "well, age before beauty, you know."

Zechs drove with a decided flair but no near accidents. He pulled into a parking spot smoothly and put the car in hibernate. Everyone got out and headed inside. They didn't make it far.

"Excuse me gentlemen. I need to see ID."

Duo sneered. "ID? We've got . . ."

Heero patted him on the arm. "Show your ID. It's regs." Heero gave him a significant look. "I think you implemented them."

Duo had the good grace to flush. "Damned if I didn't. Sorry guy. I'm a little . . . on edge."

They all produced ID, Wufei handing Zechs his with a small smirk. Heero handed his over with a grin at Duo.

The guard examined the plastic clad cards and motioned them inside with a grumble.

Duo turned around and went back.

"Look, pal. I don't know what your problem is so why don't you explain it."

The guard decided to be up front with Duo. "I know who you guys are and where your ID came from, but I also know that the actual physical cards came out of your computers. It's . . . scary. If you can do it, what's to keep other people, people with ill intent from doing the same thing? Huh? See what I mean?"

Duo gave the man a stricken look. He was falling down on his job badly. He bit at his lip and started thinking hard.

"Man, you're right. I got to think about this. And . . . shit . . . um . . ." Duo started to wander off, Heero collected him to keep him from disappearing on one of his miles long thinking rambles.

Zechs smiled at the puzzled guard and explained about Duo's habit ending, "so we don't want to have to drive miles to find him. I'm not sure he has his cell phone with him. Just his computer and I don't think it's easy to find a jack just anywhere."

The guard nodded and allowed that 'the boy' had 'that look.' "He'll be a danger to himself and everyone around him until he gets it figured out. My son is the same way. Kids! Go figure."

Zechs hurried to find Wufei. Wufei was standing in the nearby hall, rubbing his stomach and grimacing.

~ * ~

Duo settled at a desk and extracted his computer from his pocket. He booted it up and settled to work. He didn't even notice Mr. Lyons when he came in. Heero explained what was going on and made all the arrangements for the day with the grinning man.

Wufei and Zechs retreated to the office Wufei had occupied before. Wufei too had been promoted and his assistant had taken over his duties. Wufei couldn't decide if he was pleased or not. Not that it made much difference. When Quatre Raberba Winner made a decision, it was wise not to argue with him.

Wufei was disgusted, not with Quatre but with the entire situation. WEI was under attack from what Wufei thought of as 'ants'. Small time criminals who were breaking into warehouses and stealing what they could get their hands on. Larger criminals were doing the same thing on a grander scale in space, by stealing entire ships. And the smugglers who were bringing drugs and weapons from space onto Earth. He was tired just thinking of it all. And no one seemed to have the authority to do much about it. The laws were all based on having borders.

Zechs had settled himself at the partners'desk and begun to read all the reports that he had been told were for him. The secretary didn't seem to care who he was. She'd just grinned at him and said, 'I hope you have strong eyes, sir. Mr. Winner has requested that you read all the flagged files.

Zechs was glad that Heero had installed a resizeable monitor module in his computer when he'd built it. He could have two dozen threads open at the same time. It was a great help in cross referencing things. Things he wasn't liking at all.

Zechs wasn't quite sure exactly what Quatre had in mind but one idea was simple. The Gundam Pilots were going to be WEI's version of vigilantes, only legal. He was sure WEI's legal teams were assembling precedents at this very moment. For now it seemed that all Quatre wanted them to do was train security people. He could do that, he'd been training recruits since he could remember.

Heero was happy to realize that he was going to be partnered with Duo, Wufei and Zechs. He was so tired of being alone. He was eager to see what he was supposed to be doing. He watched Duo as he smirked happily at his monitor tapped in some commands, then shut down his computer.

Duo clapped his hands together then hopped up from his desk. "Well, partner. Welcome to WEI Security. We're the new training officers for the Surgical strike teams. Specializing in hostage situations, bombs, assassination threats and all that kind of nasty shit. Just like old times except now we're the good guys for sure. Ain't that a hoot?"

Heero shrugged. "All I want to do is ensure that peace is maintained. I was thinking of entering Preventers, but I don't think I could deal with Une."

Duo shuddered. "Me neither. I just don't want to deal with that woman at all."

"Zechs says that she was always weird. Skitzo."

"So she's nuts. Figures. Wonder what . . . but never mind. We'll find out what she thinks of this arrangement soon enough. Don't want to sweat it until we have to, right?"

Heero stretched out a hand and hauled Duo into his arms. "Not going to sweat anything until we have to. Come on. Mr. Lyons and I settled the days schedule between us. Unless you have something special in mind." Heero released his hug and pulled an electronic note book from his shirt pocket.

Duo shrugged, gave the tablet Heero handed him a quick glance and nodded. "Seems good to me. We're not actually under Mr. Lyons. Not that I'd mind that. But he'll be setting up the training schedule subject to our collective approvals. Wufei is going to love his job. You're taking over the computer labs and the gym weight training and what not as well as small arms training, I'll be doing training in bombs and street fighting techniques and B and E, Wufei will be teaching organization and martial arts. Zechs will be teaching . . . Hell I'm not sure what he's good at, I'll have to make sure not to set him up for a fall. Can't have that. He's got no self-esteem left."

Heero grunted. "He was a mobile suit trainer. And I think he'll be good at hand to hand. And small arms. I know he's good with long arms. We'll just have to see. Come on. We need to get together with Wufei and Zechs and get started."

Duo grinned at Heero and hauled him out the door.

~ * ~

Zechs's last really tired thought was 'this is going to be interesting.' then he just shrugged his jacket on and followed Wufei through the door into the gym.

Heero was standing there wearing, Zechs couldn't believe his eyes, black spandex shorts and a green tank top. He looked every bit of twelve, until you looked him in the eyes. Then he looked a very steely eyed hundred and twelve.

"The changing rooms are over there. Please change into the clothing in the baskets labeled with your names and come back."

Wufei bowed slightly and headed for the door Heero had pointed to. Zechs trailed in his wake, trying desperately to reconcile The Perfect Soldier with the smiling boy he'd driven in this morning.

"Wufei, is Heero all right?"

Wufei stopped with his shirt halfway off. "Sure. He's just in soldier mode. Don't do anything foolish and it'll be fine . . . oh, and don't . . . um . . . I'm going to be in combat mode for the duration so, don't hug me from behind or anything."

Zechs fiddled with his braid for a second then started stripping himself.

He pulled out the basket with his name on it and found a pair of loose pants and a t-shirt, the same type that he'd always worn for physical training. They were in the WEI colors of chocolate brown and buff. He wasn't too fond of the colors. They didn't suit him.

Wufei was already dressed when Zechs turned around. He was greeted by the sight of Wufei in dark navy blue tai chi uniform. He looked as fierce as his name sake.

"Hey! Found the clothing I see. . . "Duo bounced in. He was wearing red. Red pants, red shirt red shoes and a red bow on his braid. "Zechs, that brown looks awful on you. Wait right here. I don't know what that idiot was thinking. . . . "Duo's voice trailed off as he disappeared into the bowels of the locker rooms.

This wasn't the same facility that Zechs had visited several weeks ago. He realized that this was a different complex altogether. He wondered what Duo was up to.

Duo came back with the same type of clothing he was wearing. "All the training officers wear red, except Heero and Wufei. Here. Put this on. You look like sex on two legs in red. Wuffers if you let him get away, I'm pulling him into a three way with me an' Heero."

Wufei glared at Duo. "Maxwell, hands off my boy friend. You even look at him the wrong way and I'll cut . . ."

Duo wagged a hand in the air in casual dismissal of Wufei' threat. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you'll cut me twice. Deep and often. Got it in one. Just remember. You mess up and 'Ro and I'll pick up the pieces. Come on. We better get out there before Heero glares them all into a spasm."

Zechs eyed Wufei for a moment. "I don't think . . . he means . . . well . . ."

Wufei started stripping Zechs out of the shirt while exclaiming. "I'm going to smack that fool yet. He did mean exactly what he said. Heero likes you very much. Don't let it change your friendship with either one of them, but Duo meant what he said. If I betray your trust, they'll kick my ass to the moon, pick up the pieces and treasure you like you should be. If anything happens to me, go to them with my blessing. Until then, I so much as think you're doing anything more than what you should be. I'll blister you good. Now let's get out there before Heero comes to find us."

Zechs felt bemused and a little like he'd been tossed around in Talgeese without a harness on. What the hell had that been?

~ * ~

Duo watched as Heero examined his first class. He wasn't very happy with them.

They were all standing at what was supposed to be attention but they weren't paying attention like they should be. Duo sighed. Wufei and Zechs came to stand beside him and watch.

"If Heero gives us an order we snap to, ok?"

Wufei just gave a grunt and small nod, Zechs blinked then nodded his obedience.

Heero walked down the line of men and women and then returned to his place at the front of the room.

"Obviously you people don't know who I am. Or two other options you're stupid or crazy. I don't think any of you are either so I'll introduce myself. I am Heero Yuy. Do not look at me and assume anything. You'll be wrong. I am trained in ways that would horrify you. I can do anything necessary to finish a mission. I can and have set my own broken bones, extracted bullets from my own flesh and I can bend steel with my bare hands. Everything I'm going to teach you I have done myself. If I don't know it, one of the other trainers does.

You've been picked because you're not only the best, you're the best of the best. The elite. Now act like it. When I say attention, I expect to hear your ass suck wind. I expect to hear your very bones snap to. Now . . . ATTENTION!"

The men and women snapped to like they meant it. Heero nodded his approval. "Count off. By four. Now."

The sharp one, two, three, four sounded out strong and clear. Heero ordered each group to a different corner of the room.

"You will be working out with one of the four of us. We will grind you into dust and spit you out we will not ask you to do anything we can't do ourselves. We will not only be nipping at your heels we will be stomping on them. If you can't keep up, you're out. If you are told to get your shit and get you will go. You will be reassigned to an appropriate group. If you wash out that does not mean you're not good. It'll mean you're not great. There is no shame in washing out of this outfit. This is not an exercise in 'quien es mass macho' who is the most manly. Just under half of you are women. I don't expect to see all the women wash out. Two of the scariest people I know are women. Now, your trainer will be with you in a moment." Heero turned his eyes on each group in turn. "Don't forget for a moment that each one of us is a Gundam pilot."

Wufei stepped up to his group. Zechs just stood and let his come to him. Duo eyed his group and waited for what he knew was coming.

"Ain't you a little young? I mean, hell. You look about the same age as my nephew." The man didn't seem like he wanted to pick a fight, he was more confused than anything.

Duo relaxed a little, this might not be so bad. "I'm probably about his age. I'm seventeen. I'll be eighteen in two months, I think."

"You think?"

Duo made a face. "Hey, Duo Maxwell? Orphan? Street Rat? Me." Duo wanted to tell the man to get a grip but decided that it wouldn't help matters any. He really wasn't that much of a smart ass.

The man blinked for a second, then sighed. "I was Oz, one of the reasons I regret it is you guys. So . . ." the man shrugged as if to settle some heavy weight. "What now?"

Duo shrugged too. "We train."

This looked like it wasn't going to be the usual. They all usually had to fight at least one idiot to prove that they could handle their jobs. This bunch had to be smarter than average or they wouldn't be here. Duo's group had just proved that they had a lot on the ball by just standing around and accepting him.

The other's had much the same experience. Zechs actually knew one of his men. Not well but he remembered him vaguely.

~ * ~

It didn't take long to realize that they were going to have to combine some of the training into larger sessions. Hand to hand was one of them. Bombs and explosives was another.

They spent a week just getting accustomed to the way everyone thought. Duo was happy, he was working with Heero. Heero was happy that he was working.

Wufei was enjoying working with Zechs and Zechs was just glad that he was doing anything.

Civics classes were interesting. They had come up with the idea that everyone should understand their legal boundaries, or lack there of. Zechs was chosen to give a talk on the how's and why's of their limitations.

He began by explaining that they had a rather broad range of responsibilities. And they could get away with quite a lot. All because the lack of borders had destroyed one of their greatest limitations; local law enforcement. There were city police and local sheriffs as well as the usual complement of highway patrols and such. But they were in chaos because they had no idea where their jurisdictions ended or began. And ESUN was not providing over sight.

"So we have practically unlimited authority. The locals are going to be overjoyed to see us in most instances and for the rest . . . we do what we need to do and make as little mess as possible. Any questions?"

A few hands rose tentatively. Zechs pointed to a man who looked like a fullback. "Yes."

The man stood and shifted from foot to foot. "How do we justify our . . . um . . . interference when the locals don't invite us?"

"There are several way we can justify it. Hot pursuit, even though there are no legal boundaries anymore most people still think like there are. Right of possession, we did it, we have the offenders, live with it. Or, if it's WEI property or we've been hired by the legal owners of the property. Right of ownership. Private property policed by a private security company. And WEI owns a great deal of the warehousing property on Earth and in the colonies. We have a great deal of latitude there. Quite a few of the other large business combines have hired WEI security to protect their properties."

"But, how can . . . I'm not even sure the question I'm asking. How can Winner get away with creating his own army? That's what we are, isn't it?"

Zechs nodded. "Yes. We are. And the answer is easy. Quatre Raberba Winner is rich. Very, very rich. If he wants to he can buy off, bribe or scare almost anyone. Not that he would, or needs to. Most people have no idea what is going on. They live their lives in a bubble of ignorance that is really appalling. Our job is to see that their bubble doesn't get popped. The smuggling is outrageous. Drugs and weapons are making their way into strata of the population that have never had easy access to such things. Street gangs have better arms than the police. The police are helpless because they've never been trained to handle such things. We come in where they can't cope. We're not here to write traffic tickets or handle domestic disputes. Aggravated assault and drunks aren't our business. Hostage situations, bomb threats, smugglers and so on are. Theft of massive amounts of goods which have gone from space to Earth or vice versa. That sort of thing. Mr. Winner has set things up so that we have powers beyond even the old UN, using old vigilante laws. It's our duty to see that we don't abuse them."

Zechs realized that most of the men and women in the room had just had a massive shock to their systems. He dismissed them, advising them to read the materials on their duties and obligations with special care. He hoped that all of the recruits understood what they were walking into.

Preventers didn't have as broad a range of powers, they had to answer to the ESUN General Council. WEI Security didn't. It was a bit frightening.

~ * ~

The next day was physical training.

Their original plans had been changed a little. The week had been used to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the entire group. They'd adjusted the personnel moving people from one group to another to balance them. Each group now had a combination of talents making them more effective.

All the members of each group were in top physical form it was just that some of them had different training. They all needed to be able to handle any situation.

So Heero and Duo sat down with Wufei and Zechs. Zechs advised them that they should 'ring the changes' on their men. Duo got a feral grin on his face. He loved it when he got to show off. Wufei just grunted and nodded. He wasn't fond of having to do demonstrations.

Heero smirked at Zechs who smirked back. They were both going to love watching their lovers.

They leaned against the wall and watched as the four groups were divided into two. One group of recruits who claimed mainly street fighting skills and the other who claimed martial arts skills. And, as the old saying goes, never the twain shall meet. It was better if they did, however. That was the point of this 'exercise'.

~ * ~

Duo stood at the head of his class, clad in his red instructor's uniform.

"Ok, guys. Here's a question. In a fight between a street fighter and a martial artist, who would win?"

He watched as all his students examined the question from all sides, looking for the trap that they were all sure was there. Finally one woman raised her hand. Duo pointed to her with a grinning 'yes?'

"Um . . . well, sir, I think it depends on who is the most ruthless. Or most skilled. Depends on so much." She shuffled her feet in embarrassment as some of her classmates snickered.

Duo nodded. "Come up here. You're right. It depends on a lot. Including luck"

The woman came forward and stood in front of Duo. She was easily twice his size and muscular in a way that indicated genetic engineering or hormone manipulation. Duo looked up at her and smiled gently.

"If we were to fight, who would win?"

She considered carefully. "You."

Duo blinked "You're sure?"

The woman nodded. "Yup. I've never been in a real fight in my life. All I've ever done was compete. I think, if push came to shove, I'm toast."

Duo turned his attention to the rest of the class, he was well aware of the snickers from some of the larger men.

"You're right. And you're going to make it. I'm not so sure about some of the others in this class. They don't seem to get it." Duo nodded to the women. "Go back to your place. You'll do."

The woman smiled her relief and went to stand back in her place, adopting the 'at ease' stance.

Duo motioned to one of the snickering men. He paled and babbled something about size and not me. Duo shrugged and went on to the next snickerer. This guy was all muscle and attitude, he was from Zechs's group.

"I'm sure you realize that I'll mash you into a greasy spot on the floor." He flexed an impressive biceps with a leer.

Duo just shrugged. "Size isn't everything."

"It's enough."

Duo waited for a second but when the man didn't do anything except flex he feinted. Flex ducked, right into the sucker punch to the diaphragm that Duo brought up from the floor. The guy oofed and bent over. Duo slapped him on the back of the neck.

"You're dead. That was either a breaking blow, or a knife. Depending on how dirty I'm feeling at the moment. Go back to your place."

Flex did as he was told muttering. "Jesus, he's quick."

Duo shrugged again and eyed the group. He was waiting for another question when Wufei came stalking over with his group.

"The whole bunch of them are hopeless. Spar with me!" Wufei's temper was on the ragged edge. Duo set himself and waited for Wufei to start.

Wufei attacked with a ferocity that made Heero and Zechs both flinch. Heero was just short of interfering but Duo slipped the attack. Ducking just enough that Wufei's blow went over his shoulder. He didn't move his feet he just bent backwards and sideways enough that the blow whiffed by his face and over the top of his shoulder.

Wufei snarled and tried a back handed return slap. Duo bent forwards and continued the forward bend into a roll. When his foot flashed out, he landed a solid blow to Wufei's belly. Wufei wheezed and sucked air.

Duo continued his roll into a standing position and whirled to face Wufei. Wufei managed to get in a blow of his own. Duo staggered back, wincing. Heero flinched too.

The fight continued with Duo using all of his considerable street fighting skills and Wufei his martial arts. It was a hard tie. Neither one could gain any advantage. By now Duo had a bloody nose and Wufei a seriously split lip.

Heero was twitching almost continuously and Zechs was trying to decide whether to cover his eyes or stop the fight. Heero clutched his shirt tail when he made up his mind.

"No. Don't interrupt. Neither of them will thank you for it. They . . . we work out like this all the time. Or at least we used to. Duo's . . . tough and he hates to be coddled. And Wufei . . . insult his abilities like that and he'll . . . your backside won't thank you I'll tell you that."

Zechs snarled. "He's getting hurt. I'd take any pain to save him so much as a stubbed toe."

But by the time they got themselves sorted out, someone else had called a halt to the fight. Several men were surrounding both young men not exactly holding them back but definitely making sure that they couldn't get to each other.

Duo grimaced. "What? You think either one of us would really hurt the other? Better a bruise from a friend that a knife from an enemy. Right, Wufei?"

Wufei touched his lip with the back of his hand. He examined the blood for a second then snarled, "Right. Don't pull your punches."

The men and women fell back into formation and snapped to attention at a command from Wufei.

"Now you see what it's really like. Some of you won't make it past the next week. Some of you will. It depends on how eager you are to learn. Get it out of your heads that one form or style is better than another. One person is better than another. A martial artist with the right attitude will win out over a street fighter with the wrong one. And vice versa."

Zechs went to Wufei while Heero went to Duo. Neither one of them was hurt all that badly but both of them were bleeding.

Heero turned to the classes and eyed the combined group. "How you handle yourself is just as important as your skills. If you back off at the wrong time or attack too soon or too late the mission could fail. You'll all get a chance to fight one of us. Don't disappoint." He turned to Wufei. "Dismiss or work out."

Wufei glanced at Duo, Duo shrugged. "Work out." Wufei nodded, Zechs looked from Duo to Heero to Wufei. "Work out."

So they divided the classes back up and started drilling.

There was some grumbling but most of the recruits drilled with grim determination. They could see that they had some catching up if they wanted to be at the same levels as their instructors.

Each of the groups spent the rest of the afternoon in various exercises.

Then just before dismissal Duo hit a small snag.

"Excuse me. All this hand-to-hand is well and good. But what if your opponent has a weapon."

Duo sighed, he'd hoped that this wouldn't come up just yet, but he answered anyway. "Depends on how lucky you're feeling. And how good you are. Pull a gun on me, I'll find a way around it or let you shoot me and kill you while you're messing around trying to decide whether to kill me or not. Pull a knife and I'll cut your throat with it."

Heero overhearing this drifted over to Duo's group, pulling his own group with him.

Wufei signaled Zechs and they took their group to see what was up.

Duo shook his head. This was going to be dangerous. He wanted to have Heero and Zechs show their respective groups that they were just as good as Duo and Wufei had demonstrated they were. He was a bit worried about having Heero and Zechs in direct conflict with each other their history being what it was. But he had to do it so he sucked it up and motioned for them to take center mat.

Zechs smirked at Heero, "Pitch or catch?"

Heero smirked right back. "I always pitch."

Duo hid his eyes in the palm of one hand and groaned. He'd get Heero for that tonight, he was sure Wufei was planning something for Zechs too. The look in his eyes promised some interesting events in the future.

Zechs pulled a rubber knife from its slot on a rack and positioned himself. Heero settled into a defensive position and waited. He didn't have to wait long, but Zechs over extended himself almost immediately and wound up on his back with one arm twisted under him and his knife hand bent into an uncomfortable angle.

He twisted around and Heero had to let go or break his arm. Heero hesitated long enough to let everyone know he'd have broken it if not for the fact this was an exercise.

Zechs acknowledged the 'pin' with a grunt and kicked Heero in the head. Heero's head snapped back and he staggered. But he was stronger than anyone realized so he shook it off, much to Zechs's annoyance.

They jockeyed back and forth, until Heero made a mistake and Zechs got him down in a choke hold that would put him out. Heero clapped out and Zechs helped him to his feet.

There was some cheering from Zechs's group and a few groans from Heero's but most of the observers were silent. The whole fight had taken less that ten seconds. Ten seconds of such total concentration that neither man would have noticed anything less than another threat to them.

Duo smirked at Wufei. "You'll be hearing about that for a while."

Wufei nodded. "But it's good for him. His self esteem is wrecked. Heero so obviously didn't let him win that it's a sure prop to his ego."

Duo nodded his understanding and went to congratulate Zechs on his win. Heero was going over the fight with Zechs blow by blow, analyzing exactly what had happened for the combined group. He ended by saying, ". . . so, you see. No matter how good you are, one mistake can be your downfall."

Zechs was standing slightly behind Heero, face flushed with a combination of embarrassment and pleasure.

A quick glance at the other's and Heero announced, "Class dismissed. Tomorrow we'll cover weapons so be ready people."

~ * ~

A trip to the showers was required by all the young men. Zechs sniffed the air.

"We better shower quick. There are laws about air pollution. 'Fei? You all right?"

Wufei was rubbing his stomach again. "I don't think Thai agrees with me. I've got indigestion again."

Zechs fished around in his locker for his duffel. When he found it, he produced a bottle of antacid. "Here. Chew two. They taste like chalk but they do work. If you don't feel better in an hour I'll give you some more. Come on. Shower."

Wufei obediently chewed up the tablets, making a face at the texture. They also didn't taste as minty as he'd expected. He hoped they helped his stomach.

The shower was a disaster for whoever had to clean up after them. They threw bars of soap at each other and towels snapped. The heat and steam did strange things to men who had never been boys. Duo spilled the bottle of shampoo he was trying to pour out of when Zechs accidentally smacked him in the face with a badly aimed wash cloth, he was aiming at Wufei. Heero managed to squash a semi-melted bar of soap into one of the drains by stepping on it. His extraordinary reflexes saved him from a fall, but not by much. Several of the recruits peeked into the shower to see if there was violence being done. The laughter convinced them to go way.

"Wufei?" Wufei pulled his hair back and held it out of his face. He gave Zechs an enquiring look. "Don't pull your hair back so hard. Remember?"

Wufei sighed and tossed his tie back into his kit. "I'll leave it down. I remember what you said. I think I'll start leaving it down when I'm not working. I feel . . . better? Different at any rate, when it's down. More relaxed. What do you think?"

Zechs considered for a second. "I like it down. It all depends on how tangled it will get."

"Not very. My hair doesn't tangle much. Too stiff or something. Come on. I'm hungry again but nothing spicy. I think I better let my stomach rest."

Zechs put his arm around Wufei's shoulders. "If you like we could go to that place at the mall. The one where you liked the rice?"

Wufei nodded. "Yes that would be good. The sashimi was excellent." He turned his head to call to Duo and Heero. "You guys coming or going somewhere else?"

Heero adjusted the short barrel jacket of his uniform. "We'll go. Duo?"

Duo admired Heero in his uniform for a second then shrugged. "I don't care. I can find something to eat there. I'm not eatin' fugu." He shuddered. "But I can have that shrimp thing, it was good. Don't forget. That last mail from Quatre said that we had to stop wandering around out of uniform. I don't get it but the judge cut us some serious slack so we better stick to the letter of the thing."

Zechs shrugged his jacket on and zipped it up half way to hide his shoulder harness. "I have to admit that the uniform thing is a little bit of a bother. But the jacket is cut just right to hide a side arm. But the color sucks."

Duo snickered helplessly while Zechs gave him a disgusted look. "What?"

His Majesty, the Prince of Sanq saying sucks just cracks me up."

Zechs stuck his nose in the air with an exaggerated air of distain. "See here, you pheasant. I'll have you know I'm only a highness."

Duo stuck out his tongue while Heero groaned dramatically. "I'm no bird. And as to high . . . why highness?"

"Because I'm not majestic." They all laughed outrageously at this. "Are you coming, Mausi?"

Duo snickered. "Yeah Mickey, are you coming?"

Zechs turned his head "Excuse me? Why are you calling Wufei Mickey?"

Duo poked Wufei, who smacked irritably at his hand. "Mausi. Mouse? Mickey Mouse?"

Zechs gave Wufei a horrified look. "Not that kind of mouse. Mausi. And I probably shouldn't call you that. It's more for a girl. I'm sorry."

Wufei shrugged. "I'll take all the affection I can get. If you like calling me Mausi, who am I to complain. Just . . . anyone who teases me, outside of this group, is going to lose something they're attached to."

Duo grimaced. "Hey! Look, I didn't mean to start a thing."

Wufei shook his head. "It's not a thing unless you think it is. I personally don't. Zechs, don't look so worried. I think it's cute that you didn't think about that. Come on. Feed me"

~ * ~

The mall wasn't crowded at this time of day so they swept through the open center shoulder to shoulder. Four striking young men in WEI uniforms attracted the attention of almost everyone in their area.

When they entered the restaurant, they were seated at once. The waitress who took their orders was blatantly disappointed when they ignored her overtures. Zechs held Wufei's hand on top of the table and Duo nearly sat in Heero's lap. They all flirted happily.

Heero sighed, "This is nice. I miss the simple things. Sitting in a restaurant with friends. Some stuff you wouldn't think I miss because I never got to do it. But . . ."

Duo interrupted. "But 'Ro, humans are social animals. We instinctively need certain things. We miss them even if we've never had them."

Zechs nodded. "He's right. And this is really nice. Wufei?"

Wufei stretched carefully. "I'm tired. In a good way. It was good to teach. I was a senior student by the age of twelve. I miss things too, you know."

The waitress returned with their tea and glasses of water. As she set them down, she eyed them.

Duo finally had to say something. "You got a problem?"

"Yeah. All the good guys are either taken or gay. I just broke up with my current guy. Now he wants to cause trouble. He's coming here to see about collecting for a debt he says I owe him. So I ran up the cell a little? What's that all about?"

Duo backed down, obviously the girl had problems of her own. "So how much did you run it up?"

She shrugged negligently. "Four hundred euros."

Zechs choked back a snicker, Wufei blinked and Heero snorted inelegantly. Duo just groaned, "Ooh, man." The waitress sauntered away. Leaving them all to pour tea and go back to their discussion.

They discussed their respective groups and came to the conclusion that they might manage to lose only half of them. Zechs commented that he had regularly lost at least 90% of his trainees. Heero shuddered. Wufei patted his hand, and incidentally Duo's in sympathy.

Duo groaned. "90%? That's not good."

"We made a very elite group. Men strong enough to handle a mobile suit, mentally as well as physically, or to deal with black ops are few and far between. Wannabes are every where. You have to weed out the corruptible, inept and generally unsuitable quickly. The cost in training time can be incredible. We washed out people quickly because there was a war on and we couldn't afford to waste the time and resources.

"Now we have more time and can take it easier. We'll keep more men because we can coddle them more. I do like the idea of that. Moo shu?"

Heero nodded. "Yeah. Moo shu is good. You like Happy Family?"

Duo smacked his lips. "How 'bout Five Treasures?"

Wufei pinched Zechs under the table to get his attention. "I think Sweet and Sour Tofu and Eggplant . . ."

Duo made strangling noises. Everyone else laughed.

They settled on Happy Family, Five Treasures, an assortment of steamed buns and Shrimp fried rice as well as the usual complement of pickles and plain rice.

After placing their order they settled to more discussion, this time of Relena.

Heero frowned his disapproval as Zechs told him that she was determined to complete her tour of educational and penal facilities on Earth. He didn't like it and he couldn't say why. Her security was supposedly the best in ESUN, provided by Preventers.

They all grumbled about it but finally decided that there wasn't much they could do about it.

"Except stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass good-by. Heero don't hog the Treasures, man." Duo got the last word because the waitress delivered the food.

~ * ~

They argued genially about who was getting the best or the most. Heero accused Duo of picking out the lobster from Treasures and Wufei firmly told Zechs that he had to eat vegetables and not just the meats from Happy Family. Zechs was just as firm with Wufei that he couldn't just eat the vegetables. Duo just stuffed himself, until Heero took the serving dishes and put them out of his reach.

Zechs looked up sharply and admonished Heero. "What's that? Give those back. If he wants more, we'll just order another dish."

Duo flushed rather heavily and pushed back from the table. "Nah, that's ok. I'm fine."

Zechs started to say something but Wufei patted his hand, saying, "Not now, love. I'll explain later." in a voice that told Zechs he'd put his foot in it somehow.

Duo shrugged and sighed, "Don't sweat it. I'm just an L2 street rat with all the problems that come with it. I'll eat until I'm sick. As long as something I really like is available, I'll nibble on it."

Zechs stiffened then slumped. "I'm sorry. I . . . didn't . . ." Wufei patted his thigh.

"Stop. You meant well."

Duo changed the subject to save Zechs further embarrassment making Wufei give him a pleased look.

"Hey, I almost forgot. Here." Duo pulled a seven inch long brass tube from a pocket and handed it to Heero. "I've been carrying this around in my pocket all day waiting for the right time to give it to you."

Heero took the tube and realized that it was a collapsible whistle. He examined it carefully, checking out all its features. Duo took it from him and pulled it out to its full length.

"It's just a simple slip joint with index marks so you don't have to tune it. Self tuning. Took me a week to figure out exactly where to put the marks nearly drove me nuts. And sneaking out to work on it? You're a light sleeper babe."

Heero put the whistle to his lips and blew gently. The whistle was sweet and true, in perfect tune.

"Great. Sweet, true, in tune. Just like our love." Heero gave Duo a loving look, which he returned with interest.