Betaed by Skippyscatt

---

The four young men spent the rest of that day and most of the evening researching, trying to find out who the men in charge of the uprising were and what they were capable of. Information was scarce and Heero was in a temper by the time they allowed themselves to sleep.

Duo had taken a break early in the afternoon and gotten their tent. The sheriff had told him there were several and they could have their pick, except for the one already occupied by the Spec Ops group. He'd decided to take one near them but not too close.

Wufei and Zechs had checked it out too, but Heero had stayed at his computer, typing away. He could still sleep anywhere, as long as he was sure the area was secure. And if Duo said it was secure, it was.

But their sleep was disturbed despite the secure surroundings. The first disturbance was from two of the Special Opps people. They were looking for Heero.

"Hey, Yuy! You in there? Sheriff wants ya!"

Heero was awake at the first sound and groping for his gun, he realized just in time what was going on. Duo grumbled, "Special Ops? Hell, we're screwed." Heero patted him on the shoulder and told him to go back to sleep.

Heero went to see what the sheriff wanted. The sheriff was sitting at his camp desk swearing up a storm. It seemed that Une had sent them a care package and the sheriff wasn't best pleased.

"I really wanted to keep a low profile until we hand better intel. But this ‘delivery' of yours . . . well, it's sure to put up someone's back. You should see the stuff she sent." His emphasis on she set Heero's teeth on edge.

"How bad is it?" Heero braced himself for the news.

"Well I suppose it could be worse. She sent arms up the wazzoo. Bunch of guns, ammo up the ying yang. Things I've never seen before. And an eighteen-wheeler to carry it all. How we're supposed to get all that stuff up here, I don't know."

Heero rubbed his face with both hands. "Don't worry about it. I'll go down, take an inventory and bring back up whatever I know we'll need. Just park the damn thing somewhere and put a guard on it. No, send to WEI and have them guard it. You're spread too thin. Anything else?"

Sheriff Haskins shook his head. "No. Just . . . damn, boy. Lady Ann Une sends you a hell of a toy box and you don't even blink an eye. What the hell?"

Heero was tired and thinking about what Une had sent them so he put his foot firmly in his mouth. "It's a hell of a lot better than stealing it or buying it on the black market. And I, for one, intend to send Une a thank you. I'm going back to bed. Don't let anyone turn off my computer. It's running a search. Should take all night."

The sheriff just sat there for a moment staring at Heero's retreating back. Then he muttered, ‘Well, hell. I don't even want to think about it.' and headed for his own bed.

---

The second intrusion was much more dangerous as four of the regular deputies decided that they'd shivaree the new comers. This was an ancient western custom of breaking into people's homes or camps and dragging them out into the night to dance them around on chairs and generally scare the wits out of them.

Needless to say, it didn't go well at all. The tent door was thrust open and the men rushed in to grab their quarry and pull them out. They were met with four deadly firearms aimed directly at them, backed by four furious wide-awake faces.

Zechs stood up slowly, fury written plainly on his face. "And just exactly what do we owe this insanity to? Have you completely lost your minds?"

As one the men held up their hands and started backing out the door. "Sorry. We're sorry. We just . . . well . . . it's an old custom. But we . . . can see it's not . . . we'll be going now."

Duo grumbled, put up his fire arm and settled back in his blankets. "Heero, go back to bed. You too Zechs. Wufei? You ok?"

Zechs snarled and snarked but went back to bed. Wufei had barely woken up, just pointed his gun in the direction of the disturbance and glared. Duo turned to look at the intruding men, he looked tired and cross.

"Look guys. This wasn't the best idea you've had lately. We're tired and wound up. Meet us for coffee in the morning if you want to be hospitable. Good night."

The men crept out of the tent, shaking in their boots. When the sheriff found out about this, he was going to have a fit. They'd been told specifically not to bother the specialists. They'd thought it was just a bunch of hooey after seeing the pilots. Now they were sure they'd just missed death and disaster by the skin of their teeth.

"Wait ‘til the sheriff hears about this. We're dead men walking."

Another man poked the speaker. "Shut up! Want to call down disaster?"

"No, but I don't believe in that shit."

A third voice joined the argument. "Well, I do, so shut up."

A furious voice from the tent snarled. "This is a Tent, you morons. All of you shut the fuck up. Go to bed. Do what ever, but do it quietly."

Mutters of ‘fucking fucktards' and ‘hush' were accompanied by rustling sleeping bags and quieter grumbles.

The four deputies made their way to their own beds, thankful that they hadn't gotten shot.

---

The rest of the night was as peaceful as a night in the mountains can be, and the group woke with the sunrise.

The smell of breakfast was wafting through the camp; coffee, eggs, bacon, toast and other good smells woke the group slowly.

Duo was the first to wake, nose twitching like a rabbits at the delicious smells coming into the tent. He reached over and poked Heero, who grunted. ‘M awake.'

Zechs woke when the sock Duo tossed his way hit him in the face. "What? Oh, I'm up. Now." Zechs turned to Wufei, who was curled into a tight ball and tapped him on the foot. "Wake up, Yahzen. Morning."

"No." Wufei was not a good morning person until after meditation, before, he was, as Zechs said, ‘A very grumpy dragon indeed'. Wufei pulled the blanket over his head and tried to snuggle down again.

Zechs pulled the zip up from the bottom of the sleeping bag and tickled Wufei on the foot. "Up. If you don't get up now, you won't have time to meditate before breakfast. Come on, up. Rise and shine."

Wufei pulled his foot deeper into the sleeping bag and grumbled. "I'll rise, but I refuse to shine. Who thought up that particular bit of idiocy anyway?"

"My nanny. Get up. Cranky pants." Zechs smiled at Wufei who had to smile back. "Now go meditate."

Wufei grumped his way into pants and shirt. He opened the tent flap, looked around and decided against finding a private place to meditate.

Heero watched his friend for a moment then turned to Zechs. "I have to go back down the mountain. Une went generous on us and sent a tractor trailer load of who knows what. I'll do a quick inventory so we'll know what we have. I'm going to call the local WEI and set a guard on it. Who knows what mischief these fools could get up to with some of the stuff Une was sure to send."

Zechs raised an eye brow, Heero wasn't usually so judgmental. "Excuse me?"

"I really object to being awakened in the middle of the night by idiots. It makes me cranky. They could have gotten themselves killed for a child's prank. I've got a lot to do today. First, I'm going to check my search. I'll meet you in the mess tent . . . in . . ." Heero glanced at his watch. "Twenty minutes. Wufei should be done with his morning meditations by then. He usually doesn't spend much time on them in the morning unless he's upset or trying to figure out something." Heero walked out without saying good bye. Duo watched him for a moment, then sighed.

"Well, that was a great start to a good day . . . not. God, I hope they have a lot of strong coffee. And they didn't boil it. Argh." Duo stretched, still seated on the cot with his sleeping bag pooling at his hips. "I'm going to drag my stinky self to the showers. Then coffee, coffee, coffee and eggs and bacon and . . . wonder if they have muffins." Duo scrambled out of the sleeping bag and into his clothing. He rummaged in his pack and extracted clean things, a toilet kit and towel. He started out the door to find the showers.

"Wait for us. We should stick together until we're sure that there aren't any repercussions from last night."

Duo just waited by the open tent flap while Wufei and Zechs got themselves organized and ready to go. He fidgeted with the end of his braid, brushing it against his palm then his chin.

"Come on guys. I'd like to get there before all the hot water is gone. I hate cold showers."

Zechs shook his head, bangs flopping. "I'd think you were used to them. Um . . . safe houses aren't noted for their amenities."

"Yeah and the orphanage didn't have a lot of water, hot or cold. I'm used to them that don't mean I like them. So hurry, will ya?"

Wufei shuddered. "I hate cold showers. Positively. I had to take them in the monastery and . . . what? I'm Buddhist. I was a monk for a year."

Duo goggled at Wufei for a moment, then decided not to make a deal out of it now. They had way too much on their plates. He'd winkle the story out of his friend later. Zechs refrained from comment too, for a different reason. He'd felt the stiffness in his lover and didn't what to dig up unpleasant memories.

"Well, I don't want to say I told you so. But when you have goose bumps the size of Gundams, don't blame me." Duo left by himself, trotting toward the shower trailer, braid bouncing.

Zechs and Wufei followed quickly, carrying towels and accoutrements. Duo had his toiletries bag slung over one shoulder. "Zechs, we better stay close to him. I don't like his mood. If someone tries something stupid or even bumps him, bad things could happen. He can get twitchy if Heero isn't near."

Zechs eyed Wufei for a second. "I don't want to ask . . . do I." It wasn't a question.

"Not really. One of the reasons he's not too keen on Une. Bunch of soldiers, shower, naked, tied up . . . no, you don't want to know."

Zechs fumed, snarling, "I gave direct orders that things like that were not to be done. I'd like . . . shit."

Wufei just patted Zechs on the arm. "Things happen. Now we have to deal with the consequences. We better hurry."

They hurried and were just in time to see Duo strip, step into a shower and ignore the stares. He had a rather impressive collection of scars, not as many as Heero but still . . . way too many for an eighteen-year-old.

Zechs stripped off and entered a shower, Wufei right behind him. They bracketed Duo, Zechs on one side Wufei on the other. The water was still hot enough to steam up the windows, so they all took their time.

Zechs swore as he caught his hair in the oddly set corner of the stall. "Ouch! Schist! Maxwell, give me a hand. Wufei's worthless when I get caught."

Duo wandered over to see what the problem was. The corner was screwed together with wing nuts and Zechs was caught on one. He reached out and untangled Zechs then started back to his own shower.

He was stopped by a huge man with a buzz cut. "Hey, kid. You too, blondie. Ya ought ta cut that mess. All anyone'd have to do is grab it." The man started to demonstrate by grabbing at Duo's loose hair.

He didn't get far. Duo pulled a short blade from somewhere and slashed at the man. He backed up until he was near the locker baskets. Zechs put himself between the fool and Duo while Wufei snatched up towels and handed one to Duo, wrapped one around himself and another around Zechs.

"Don't even think of it." Zechs ignored Wufei, keeping his attention on the other occupants of the showers. "We'll be getting dry, dressed and out of here. No one comes close. Understand?"

Several other men either groaned or grumbled. One came forward to say. "Don't mind Fritz. He's an ass. All Oz and stuff. He's ok as nut jobs go. We'll keep him out of your way. Just finish your showers and ignore him."

Zechs looked at Wufei and Duo. Wufei shook his head. "Not a chance. Duo's shaking, we need to get him out of here."

Zechs nodded, grabbed extra towels and dried his hair then turned to do the same for Duo. Duo was clutching at Wufei's shoulders, wide eyed and fretful.

"Where's Heero? I need him. Wufei, find Heero. Let's go find him, now."

"Sure, we'll go find Heero in a second. We need to get dry and dressed first. Ok?"

Duo didn't seem to really hear Wufei and Wufei was starting to freak out a little himself. He didn't like being this near a man who was admittedly Oz without a weapon in hand. He felt himself starting to shake too.

Zechs swore softly then turned to Fritz, "You see what you've done?" Fritz started to say something but Zechs stood straight looked him right in the face and said something in German that made him flinch. "Now go find Yuy. We need him here. Maybe he can repair this. Go! Mach schnell!"

Fritz dressed hurriedly, dragging clothing on over still damp skin and headed out the door at a hard trot.

Zechs moved to do what he could.

---

Heero looked up from his computer to see a strange and strangely upset man standing in the doorway of the command tent.

"Yuy! Where is he? He's needed."

Heero stood up from his chair, situated behind a command board. "Here. What's wrong?"

"Um . . . Maxwell is having some kind of melt down. All I did was suggest that he should cut his hair."

Heero winced. "Please don't tell me he was in the showers. And you didn't touch him? Or . . . oh, fuck." Heero grimaced in irritation when Fritz nodded. "Shit. Show me."

---
Heero took one look at the huddle of bodies and snarled. "Out! The lot of you! Get out!" he moved to gently pry Wufei off Duo. He pushed Wufei into Zechs's arms and tugged Duo out of his defensive huddle.

"I've got you love. It's ok. No one is going to hurt you. Easy." Heero crooned and soothed. Zechs did the same with Wufei. The few remaining people shifted uncomfortably and eased for the doors.

When the sheriff got the word, he just swore. His people were good people for the most part, but none of them had been in actual combat. They didn't understand twitches and flashbacks. He rubbed his forehead in irritation. Those boys had enough to deal with without a bunch of rough-assed red-necks pulling stunts on them.

He went in search of the pilots and found them back in their tent. He scratched at the closed flap and was told to come in.

"Hello. Um . . . damn. I hear there was an incident with Fritz in the showers. I'm sorry. He's ex-Oz and has no idea sometimes. I'll speak to him. Is there anything you need?"

Zechs shook his head. "No, Duo just needs to get himself together again. Wufei was upset too. Flashback, you know. As to Fritz, I'd like a word with him. In front of as many of his cohorts as possible. If you don't mind."

Sheriff Haskins shook his head. "I don't mind. If you can get through to him, I'll appreciate it. I've talked until I'm blue in the face. He just gives me that ‘you have to be tough' shit. Like long hair or being a woman makes you less tough." The sheriff sighed. "Ten minutes."

Zechs nodded. This wasn't going to be pretty. He was going to do his Lightning Count act and hope most of the people took it to heart. If not, they were going to have continuous problems until this mission was complete.

He turned to Heero and touched him on the shoulder. "How is he doing? Wufei is better. Yes, love?"

Wufei nodded, hugging the blanket Zechs had wrapped him in tighter. "I'll be ok in a minute. Just . . . I don't like so many big men so close. And Duo's worse than I am."

Heero petted Duo gently. "Better? Duo?"

Duo nodded, breathing deeply, using a centering exercise Wufei had taught him. "Better. I'll be ok. Just . . . ugh. I hate having anyone but you touch my hair when it's down. Wufei and Zechs aren't so bad either. But that guy, he needs to learn how to keep his hands to himself. And this is so not a good start. This mission is jinxed. I swear."

Heero winced. The last time Duo had declared a mission jinxed, they'd had all sorts of problems. "I hope not. We have to get organized today and find out more about who's in there. Come on. We better be standing behind Zechs when he goes all Lightening Count on those assholes."

They finished taking care of themselves and dressed in BDU Tactical Green and checked each other out. After some tucking of shirts and boot shining they headed for the general staging area.

The sheriff had as many of his deputies and spec opps personnel there as was possible and still man the electronics. They were lined up in formation, at attention and the sheriff was ripping them all a nice new one.

When they marched in, they were all business and the stern expressions on their faces worried those who didn't know what had happened. Those who did, trembled in their boots.

---

Zechs started out cold and went from there to arctic. He explained exactly what had happened, then explained about flashbacks. He lectured them on the responsibilities of men to each other. Then about abusing hospitality. He ended up by announcing that anyone who thought they were incapable of doing the job could either leave or suck it up. He ended by asking them if they thought they were ready to handle the job on their own and offering to let them take the first shot. He didn't get any takers on any of his suggestions.

"Very well. Dismiss! Return to your stations. And no more nonsense." Zechs made a perfect about face and stomped to the table the sheriff had set up as a review station. "Well, that was a disaster. We'll have a devil of a time gaining their cooperation now."

Duo sighed. "I'm sorry. I could have handled that better. And now they're all going to resent us for that little ass eating. Shit!"

A voice from behind him said softly. "No, we're not. We know exactly where to put the blame. Fritz is always yapping on about the superiority of Oz training. But all it really did was make him stupid. If you want to, you could come to the tent over there . . ." The man pointed to a tent near the mess tent. "And . . . um, guys? Have you eaten yet?"

Duo's stomach gave a miserable growl. Wufei shook his head. "No. We got waylaid. I, for one, could use some food. Let's get some breakfast. Even if it's only leftovers."

The other three agreed and were glad when their host shrugged and said, "Breakfast has been held over for this. There's going to be a line but we'll jump you up to the front."

Heero shook his head easily. "No, we'll start at the end like everyone else. But I'll admit I need some food too."

So they headed for the mess tent and a delayed breakfast.

When they entered the mess tent, they joined the end of the line without much comment. They made their way to the head of the line and accepted their trays. After filling them they found an empty table and sat down. Heero felt the skin between his shoulder blades tighten. He watched a subdued Duo shovel reconstituted dried eggs into his mouth. Wufei ate steadily, neatly forking up his eggs. Zechs kept his back straight, head erect, just as he'd been taught in the academy. They were all on edge and showed it.

"Excuse me. Can I . . . um . . . sit down a minute? Please?"

Heero's glare nearly scared the man off. Heero pinned him with such a cold look he felt shivers squirming up and down his spine. Wufei didn't bother with a glare. He actually snarled at the man. Zechs said fridigly. "Sit." Duo kept his eyes on his plate, trying to keep from shooting the man where he stood.

"Look. We all got off on the wrong foot. Fritz told us that you'd get a kick out of a shivaree. So we did it. Obviously you didn't like it at all. So . . . they, the other guys, elected me to come over and apologize to you all. So. We are really sorry, swear to god we are. Ok?"

Zechs looked at Duo and Heero. He already knew what Wufei would say. Heero shrugged, "I want a quiet talk with Fritz." Duo nodded at Zechs, not yet ready to speak to anyone outside their group.

Zechs gave the spokesman a regal bow, "Apology accepted. Tell me. Is this Fritz a lot of trouble?"

"Man, where do I start. He swears he was in Oz Specials. But he's dumb as a box of rocks. We all have our doubts, but his records check out. So we're stuck with him. I really wish someone could prove him . . . um . . . wrong? What ever. Sheriff just keeps him around because he can talk that Oz lingo, helps talk down drunks. You know?"

Zechs nodded again, braid swishing against his back. "Yes. I see. I have some contacts. I'll get his citizen number and check him through my sources. I don't remember seeing him and I saw almost every Special at one time or another."

Zechs pulled his phone from the thigh pocket of his TRU pants. He dialed a number, spoke for a moment then listened for several more. He then dialed another number, gave the information he'd obtained and waited. Everyone watched him rather impatiently, waiting for him to get his information. He finally hung up the phone.

"Where's the sheriff? I need to talk to him about a fraudulent application." Zechs stood up, excused himself and left with the man. The others looked at each other then went back to eating their breakfast.

---

Heero poked Duo. "We need to do some attitude adjustment. A little calming of the waters. You catch my drift?"

Duo nodded. "Yeah. We got a situation on our hands. And we need to fix it fast, or we're never going to get anywhere here. What do you want to do?"

Heero shrugged, "Clean our hand guns."

Duo snickered. "Ok."

Wufei nodded. "I think mine needs a little attention too. May I join you?"

Duo smirked at Wufei. "You bet cha."

All three of them took their fire arms out of their holsters and unloaded them, removing the magazines and checking chambers. Then they got their cleaning kits out of their pockets.

Each one of them had a different way they set out their gear, but they all put their guns right in the middle of the layout. Heero looked around, most of the people in the tent were watching them, either openly or surreptitiously. He motioned to a man who was watching openly.

"Could you call start for us? It's not fair if one of us does it. Oh . . . and does anyone have a stop watch?"

"Sure, I'll call start for you. My name's Mark Holland. And I have a stop watch." He chuckled slightly. "It's on my watch."

There were a few snickers and he flapped his hand at the other observers. "Stop that. Ok . . . ready . . . set . . . go!"

All three sets of hands flashed into motion. Parts hit the table with soft clicks, each one of them set out in a neat pattern. Cleaning instruments were pulled or pushed through barrels and receivers. Parts were wiped with oil rags and quickly snapped back into place. When the first weapon slipped into its holster Mark called ‘time' the other two sounded like echos of the first. The winner and loser were only separated by two tenths of a second.

"The winner is . . . um . . . I'm not sure what your name is. Sorry"

Wufei looked smug, as he had every right to. "Chang Wufei."

Heero and Duo both congratulated Wufei. Duo also smacked him gently on the shoulder. "You've been practicing. Good for you. I can't believe you actually beat Heero."

Heero snorted, "And why is that? I haven't had a chance to practice speed cleaning in nearly a year. Good work, Wufei."

Wufei smiled in pleasure at the well-earned praise. "Thank you. Now I challenge you to a match." He looked around. "Anyone else want to come? You're all welcome to observe or put in your own challenge." There were several interested looks and some scared ones "We should take this somewhere more appropriate"

So they all trooped out into the impromptu parade ground. They were barely in the middle of the grounds before Wufei attacked Heero, Duo darted out of the way, joining the other observers.

Heero blocked Wufei's first blow, the second caught him in the short ribs hard enough to make him grunt. He backpedaled gaining just enough room to keep Wufei from hitting him again. He squatted and fired off a drop spin kick. Wufei jumped it but he wasn't fast enough to avoid the reverse kick which got him just under the shoulder blades. Duo winced at the thunk of foot on flesh. "Man, that one's gonna leave a mark."

Wufei let the momentum of the kick push him into a forward roll that took him out of Heero's reach. He bounced to his feet and turned just in time to have Heero grab his wrist, twist it up behind his back and then trip him. He landed on his stomach but that didn't do Heero much good. Wufei squirmed until Heero lost his grip, then wriggled around, put one foot in Heero's stomach and kicked him off.

After a few more lightening kicks and punches Heero took a square hit on the chin. It wasn't very hard, but he acknowledged the hit by stepping back and holding up both hands. Wufei backed up and waited, it was their custom for the looser to bow first. Heero bowed, carefully keeping his eyes on Wufei's. Wufei bowed back, according Heero the same respect.

Wufei ambled to the edge of the clear space and squatted. He found a water bottle dangled over his shoulder. "Here. Bet you're thirsty. Good match. In fact, scary match. I didn't see half of it."

Wufei didn't recognize the voice and had to stifle a flinch. He didn't like having strangers behind him, but a bad reaction now would do them no good. He sighed when he felt the silent pressure of presence ease. He realized that everyone had given him a rather large personal space.

"Heero's very fast and exceptionally strong. Excellent fighter." Wufei watched as Zechs made his way through the crowd. He felt relief as he knew Zechs would stand behind him. Zechs wasn't much bothered by people behind him.

Zechs did exactly as Wufei expected him to do. "Hello, lover. Got your info?"

Zechs nodded. "Spoke to the sheriff, Fritz is on the way to the slammer as we speak. He's wanted for war crimes. Idiot! All he had to do was keep a low profile and no one would have ever caught him. Oh, well. And he never was a Special. So . . . what's going on?"

Wufei snickered. "Heero lost."

Zechs winced slightly. A voice from beside them said, "So Yuy lost, big deal. It's not as if he lost to someone . . . um . . . not as good as he. I mean . . . well um . . ."

Wufei realized that the twin beams of their stares was making the man nervous.

"You don't understand. The looser has to fight Duo." Wufei settled back to see how the fight would go.

---

Heero sighed. Fighting with Duo was bad. One, he loved the violet eyed maniac and didn't want to hurt him. Two, Duo was a street fighter with enough formal training to make him extremely dangerous. And Duo could make a weapon out of the oddest things. He eyed the clearing doubtfully, there didn't seem to be any weapon makings around, but with Duo, who knew?

Duo smiled at Heero, one of his innocent ‘ice cream wouldn't melt in my mouth' smiles. His eyes said, ‘watch out!' Heero took his stance and waited for Duo to make the first move.

And waited, and waited. The fight degenerated into a staring match that kept them watching each other and twitching for several moments. At least that's what the watching deputies saw. A few were martial artists and were awe stricken at what they saw. This was a match of absolutes. Each twitch was the beginning of an attack, or the answering defense. One mistake and the attack would be real and indefensible. Duo blinked, Heero started an attack. It didn't reach its target and Heero drew back with a dark blue mark on his throat.

"Damn it! Duo how the hell do you do that? And where the fucking glorious hell do you keep that knife?"

Duo snickered. "Awww, Heero, that'd be telling. Wanna search me for it?" Heero shook his head ruefully. Both men headed for Wufei and Zechs, ignoring the observers for now.

"Hey, Zechs, wanna match me? I'm in the mood for another fight. What'd ya say?"

"That I'm going to regret this immensely in about four minutes. Come on."

Zechs settled his shoulders and walked into the impromptu ring.

"You get the first swing. Ok?"

Zechs frowned. "Duo Maxwell, I don't need the first . . . damn it!" Zechs swore this time he was going to keep Duo out of his personal zone. Every time they fought, Duo got inside his reach and he was done for.

Duo rushed Zechs swiped at his face and rolled out of reach. Zechs tried to keep him far enough away that he had a chance. But it didn't work. Duo got inside again and punched him in the stomach. Zechs woofed out all his air and stood gasping for oxygen. Duo laughed, not his merry, happy laugh. This one was ugly and maniacal, Shinigami's laugh. Zechs back peddled as best he could, looking at Duo sharply, checking to be sure he was awake and aware x 4. He was, so Zechs aimed a kick at him, hoping that his long leg would give him some advantage. It worked. He caught Duo in the side with a soft thump. Duo hopped away easily.

"Na, na. Zechsey. You know better than that. I'll have you in a sec."

Zechs reacted easily. He'd been working on this particular move for a while and hoped that it would work as well in reality as it had in his plans. He twisted slightly and then snapped his head, flicking the end of his braid across Duo's face. Duo flinched back at the sting of the end on his cheek. Zechs snapped out a hand and tapped Duo on the Adams' apple. If he'd used full force Duo's throat would have been crushed. Duo threw up his hands and announced. "Ok. I'm done. I give."

Zechs had to smile. Duo was truly delighted at the outcome of their match. He was always a good sport, except when it was the real thing, then as he said. "Fuck or get fucked. And I only take it from Heero."

"Well, finally. I'm tired as hell of you kicking my ass."

Duo smirked at Zechs. "You been hanging around with me too long. You're getting potty mouth."

Zechs rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. I lived in barracks from the time I was fifteen. Just because I have a layer of fancy polish doesn't mean much. You do just as well when you want to. It's second nature to me because it was beaten into me at school. And don't make that face."

Duo had made a sorrowful face but brightened as Heero came to put an arm around him.

"I think we may have made the proper impression at last. Come on. We need to go check my search."

---

They started for the HQ but got waylaid by men who wanted to ask them questions, congratulate them on their fighting abilities or their cleaning race. They spent over an hour talking to people. It was time well spent. Between one thing and another, their bad start was smoothed over. They all sighed silently in relief. It would have made a difficult mission even worse if they had had to fight on two fronts.

Zechs sidled up to Heero, "You can sneak off if you want. I'll stay around and shmooze with the locals. Public relations seem to be my role in this mission." Heero gave Zechs a calculating look, unsure of his attitude. "I don't mind. Whatever it takes. I'm not even supposed to be involved in this." Heero's blank look made Zechs laugh softly. "Relena is my sister after all." Heero's stunned expression made Zechs laugh even harder. "Oh, go on. Scoot." Heero left at an easy trot.
Duo glanced up from where he was showing some deputies his ‘picking kit' but decided to finish his conversation before following Heero. He went back to his lecture with some misgivings.

"Take it easy there, partner. We're really good guys, you know. We all got off on the wrong foot. We expected a bunch of arrogant take charge from the hick types. Instead we get a bunch of . . . well, um . . . no offence, but you're actually younger than my oldest and he's sort of useless. Too young to do anything and old enough to want to be on his own. It's actually a little bit intimidating, that, and you're easily half his size, but watching you fight . . . man that was something. And . . ." At Duo's amused look he sighed. "I'm babbling aren't I?"

Duo just shrugged. "No matter. I'm the babble king. Just ask Chang. But see, the whole bunch of us started training practically in diapers. We don't know any other way to be. Just think, you want your son to go through what we went through?" Several of the bystanders shook their heads or made some sort of negative sign. "Didn't think so. So, what we have here is an agreement that the six of us are unusual in every way and get judged on our own merits. Right?" Nods all round satisfied everyone.

"Excuse me. Can I ask a question?"

Duo grinned again, "Just did. But you can ask anything you want to. I just don't promise to answer."

The man shuffled his feet looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry. But I was in the showers. What happened? I think we need to know some details, just so we don't punch the wrong buttons."

Duo sighed, rubbed the back of his neck thinking. "Well, not to go into too many details. Because I'm not going to. Wufei and I both wound up on the wrong end of Oz torture methods, so naked in a shower with a bunch of really big guys is not good. Then that ass handled my hair. Which I hate. Only Heero, Wufei and Zechs can touch it without . . . repercussions. So I flashed back to a really bad time. Now . . . we move on. Subject closed. Ok?"

Duo glanced around the group to see several very large tough men nearly in tears. Everyone in the group looked upset, pissed off, disgusted and/or several other emotions. Duo blinked for a second then started his lecture, firmly ignoring everything but the subject at hand.

Wufei was also involved in a lecture. He was explaining about martial arts weapons and how both he and Duo could find a weapon almost anywhere. He pulled a chain dart from his pocket and dangled it from one hand.

"You wouldn't believe how effective something as small as this can be. The targets are the problem. Temple. Eye. Hollow of the throat. Back of the neck near the base of the skull. And the force can be problematical. If you strike too hard, you have no informant. If you don't strike hard enough, you've got a screamer on your hands. Duo is good with found weapons. He can turn a broom stick into a deadly weapon. Not that he's not one on his own. So . . . questions?"

One hand rose. "Yes. That thing looks like a surveyor's plumb bob."

Wufei nodded. "It is. I picked it up on a mission. I was trapped and out numbered. There was a surveyor outfit right there. I got my hands on this and used it for a dart. It worked so well I hung onto it. It's heavy for its size, small enough to fit in my pocket and the chain won't tangle."

"I see. And how did you get away from the . . . Oz? Troupers?"

Wufei gave the man a slightly disgusted look. "Think."

He got several wide-eyed looks in return. "Oh . . . shit."

"Exactly. I had no wish to be captured again. It wasn't a pleasant experience the first time. The second time was even more unpleasant. They tried to suffocate us by shutting down the vent system in our holding cell. So, you see why neither Duo nor I are very pleased by being crowded by unidentified naked wet men?"

The grimaces he got in return were answer enough. He returned to his lecture.

Zechs spent his time just talking and socializing with everyone who walked up to him. He enjoyed himself, relaxing into an easy camaraderie with the group of men around him. They asked him questions about Oz Specials which he answered as best he could. Finally he had to explain that he was not only a special but one of the inner circle and mostly involved with the mobile suit division, spending most of his time in space working on Talgeese.

The group finally broke up when the sheriff called shift change and sent the deputies to their duties. The three pilots went in search of Heero.

---

Heero entered the command tent and went directly to his work station. He found that his computer had been disturbed, the key board wasn't where he had left it and the screen had a popup displayed, demanding a password.

He looked around and saw one of the sheriff's tech department personnel sitting behind his station.

"Did you touch my computer?"

"Sure did. You're not allowed personal computers. You're supposed to go through our network. And you're not supposed to lock the plug ins either. I'll have to report you if you don't shut down."

Heero just eyed the man. His casual attitude and slouched posture annoyed him.

"I'm not one of your people. I was running a very important global search. I hope you didn't crash the run. If you did, we're behind by at least six hours. Don't fool with my stuff."

The deputy stood up and wandered in Heero's general direction, looking at other stations as he approached Heero. Heero waited until he could read the man's name badge.

"Look. Stapleton. Um . . . Don, you need to pull your head out of the book and listen. I'm not one of your people. Tech or other wise. I'm WEI Security and not obligated to obey your regulations. The reason my plugs are all physically locked is for exactly the reason you just gave. You unplug any unauthorized equipment without thought or question. I used to be the same, but I learned to question first. So, just so we're on the same page. Leave my equipment strictly alone. Period. No touchie. Got it?"

Don eyed Heero for a second then mumbled. "Well, I'm gonna tell the sheriff. He'll make you . . . you're . . ." Heero glared at him, putting all his annoyance in a fierce look that literally pinned the man in place.

"You're not listening to me. I'll put it this way instead. If you so much as look cross-eyed at my stuff one more time, I'll break all your fingers. One by one. Every bone. Do. You. Understand?"

Don paled. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. I'm telling the sheriff you threatened an officer of the law. You're in real trouble now, mister."

Heero just rolled his eyes. "Yes, please, you do that. Right now." Don stumbled out and Heero settled at his station, grumbling about, ‘damned, ivory tower idiots.'

He checked his search, thankfully Officer Stapleton's fumblings hadn't crashed anything. He breathed a sigh and started checking out the results. He read quickly and cut and pasted things around into his presentation program. When he was done, he called to the sheriff, who was busy bawling out Stapleton for messing with his equipment.

"Sheriff, save your breath. I'm well acquainted with his type. Just keep an eye on him, or order him directly to leave my equipment alone. But just now I need you. And send someone to find the others. I've got a preliminary report for us to view."

The sheriff gave one more snarl in Stapleton's general direction and sent a different officer to find Zechs, Wufei, Duo and an officer named Brown. It didn't take long for him to find everyone.

The three other pilots were already on their way in and Officer Brown was sitting in the mess tent drinking coffee with his team. The runner rounded them all up and sent them to the command tent.

---

The sheriff looked at the group and waited for what Heero had to say. He was pretty sure he wasn't going to like any of it.

He was right. It seemed that the prison was full of ex-Oz and ex-terrorists of various sorts. And mercenaries. They'd taken over the prison and were even holding other prisoners hostage. They'd locked the place down, confining all the prisoners not on their side to their cells.

They had also locked down all of Relena's group. What they hadn't done was close the computer links. Some of the prisoners not in on the takeover were emailing from private connections. The trustees had them, so plenty of info was getting out. Only it was going to people who had no idea what to do with it. Heero had tapped into the prison's uplink and had copied everything going out and coming in. He also had managed to tap into the security link and had pictures of all the hostages and the terrorists. He'd performed a search which included every picture he had, and any name.

All the men involved in the takeover were former members of an Oz super secret cell called, Polaris, Heero admitted that it didn't seem to be an acronym or even stand for anything. Zechs sighed, he remembered hearing about Polaris, it was formed in the last days of the war to carry on the fight if Oz was defeated. He dropped this information into the room with a sigh

"It doesn't stand for anything. Some idiot just pulled it out of a hat or something. They're supposed to set up cells of terrorists to destabilize the government. This must have seemed like a god send to them. Get their hands on Relent and hold her for ransom then kill her anyway. I just . . ." Zechs started shaking. "I wonder what they're doing to her. Oh, my god." He buried his face in his hands for a moment.

Heero patted him on the arm saying in his Perfect Solder voice. Flat, without emotion. "Nothing. I've watched all the video of her, they've got the room she's in under constant surveillance. They feed her, talk to her. Nothing else. One man started to try something. They killed him. She's fine. Sort of."

Duo jumped on that. "What do you mean, sort of?"

"She's alone, for hours on end. She cries. They slapped her around a little. Probably to convince her to cooperate. She's scared. Other than that. She's not hungry, or thirsty. Her needs are seen to. She has a lavatory. Zechs, they haven't . . . touched her. We'll get her out, no matter what it takes. So. I'll continue with my briefing now."

Duo sighed. He was going Shinigami, Heero was turning more and more into the perfect soldier again. Wufei was jumpy and Zechs was falling apart. Probably one of them was feeding off the other.

Duo straightened up and patted Zechs on the opposite arm. "Look man. We'll save her. I Shinigami swear. I'll see her safe if it's the last thing I ever do. Hear me?" Duo crouched slightly to look Zechs in the eyes. "She's family, right?"

Zechs made a funny sound, halfway between a hiccup and a sob. "Yeah, family. She's family. You're family. Thank you. Thank you so much."

Duo grinned in a rather flip manner. "De nada, dude. So, ‘Ro. Get on with it."

Heero did and went through his slide show of pictures of the men and what they were capable of. Blue prints of the prison were shown with points of interest outlined. He spent the next ten minutes going over everything he could think of. When he finished, he called for questions, comments, emendations; anything.

All he got were very tired, rather blank, stares and grumbles. He announced that since it was nearly noon they should break for lunch and think about everything. He called another meeting for that evening as he had several requests for additional information into other agencies. He was hoping that Preventers and the construction company would agree to help him. He also had in a request to WEI to put pressure on several private corporations to give him company classified information. He closed with a soft, "That's all I have for now. All we can do is hope the negotiators can give us something."

---

All this times the negotiators had been in constant contact with the Polaris head man, who claimed his name was Pegasus. They didn't, as one put it, care if he called himself Santa, as long as he talked to them. They were compiling a list of demands. Most of which were outrageous and impossible to grant. But they were working with what they had.

The Polaris group wanted money, a lot of it. Free passage out and all kinds of other things. None of which they could get. ESUN policy was simple, promise anything; give nothing significant. Requests for food, and such, yes. What the negotiators called ‘sweeteners'. But anything else, no.

One of the negotiators sighed, rubbed his face and swore. Duo heard him and walked over.

"Hey man. What's up?"

"We need to apply some pressure. Turn off something. But we can't get to anything, all their utilities are controlled from a small block house against the west wall. If we could turn off. . . . the water, electricity, phones . . . no, not a good idea that. But you get my drift, if we could turn something off, then they'd know we have some leverage. Fuck."

Duo shrugged. "You decide what you want off. And I'll see to it that it gets shut off. I can't promise that it'll be easy to turn back on. But that's another problem."

The officer sighed, "We need to be able to turn it back on on demand. We don't want to completely piss them off, just show them that we have negotiation tokens. So . . . electricity would be good. If nothing else we could always run a cable. And the backup generators have to go too."

Duo grinned. "Why not just blow the backups? That'll make the power go off inside for . . . um . . . about a half hour. Then the breakers will reset themselves. We can just tell them, next time it's for real. Give them the idea without pissing them off too much. What do ya say?. . . um" Duo made a point of reading the mans name tag. "Officer Wyncham?"

"I say . . . go for it."

Duo grinned and clapped his hands like a child offered candy. "Oh, goody. I get to blow something up."