1998
"Nice room, ain't it Wufei?" Duo threw the haversack onto the bed carelessly, before he threw himself on the mattress, grinning as the mattress gave under his weight and bounced him several times.
"It'll do," the Chinese boy replied gruffly, checking out the view from one of the two large windows in the room they were to share. Outside, he could see a few students lazing in the afternoon sun, enjoying the absence of classes over the weekend.
"Ne Wufei. Lighten up," the braided boy yawned from the bed. "It's the weekend. There're no classes, no homework. Just enjoy it while you can."
"You seem to forget that we're on a mission, not a holiday," Wufei frowned, glancing at Duo with barely veiled annoyance. "We specifically chose the weekend to register, remember? So that there won't be anything to interfere with..."
"Oi! Chill, Wufei. I know that," Duo sighed, getting off the bed and walking towards where the Chinese boy stood. "But that doesn't mean that we can't enjoy ourselves. Look!" Duo chuckled happily, gesturing at the yard outside. "They've even got a basketball court. And girls! See Wufei?" he nudged the boy beside him.
"Hn! We're here to work! And the faster the better, baka!"
"Ch! You're just like Heero..." Duo grumbled, looking longingly at the inviting shouts and laughter coming from the court before turning to Wufei.
For a brief moment, violet-blue eyes bored deeply into Wufei's own midnight black ones. And for a brief moment Wufei caught a fleeting emptiness in them that seemed so foreign to the American boy before him. But it was only for a moment, and that moment was soon forgotten as Duo's eyes took on their normal sparkle.
"You guys just don't know how to have fun," Duo added.
"Heero and Trowa need our part of the mission accomplished fast, before they can get on with theirs. We are not going to jeapordise..."
"Alright! Alright! I hear you!" The longhaired boy rolled his eyes, exasperated. "I want Heer...um..them back too, you know," he muttered, shuffling off to unpack.
Wufei eyed the longhaired pilot's retreating back with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you sure this is the right way?" a braided figure hissed in the shadows.
"Yes! Are you doubting me?" the figure's companion hissed back in annoyance.
"Of course not, Wu. Heh! Who could doubt you? After all, it's -"
"Will you just keep it down?" the pony-tailed figure snapped, his voice low but clearly audible to the other boy. And clearly conveying threats of massive bodily injuries if his orders were not followed. "And don't call me 'Wu'!"
The two boys crept along the corridor in silence, making their way past the administrative offices and into the Principal's office.
"Okay," Duo mumbled as he jiggled the old-fashioned lock with his ever-present lock pick, a legacy from his thieving days on L2. The door swung open silently as Duo turned the knob with a smirk. "Yup. Haven't lost my touch," he grinned at Wufei as they entered the dark room.
Quickly glancing up and down the darkened corridor to ascertain that they were alone, Duo closed the door after him, and both boys got down to work.
"Ish!" The Chinese boy exclaimed after several minutes of checking the network. "The system's network is tighter than Heero's ass!" Duo winced inwardly at Wufei's comment but couldn't help retorting.
"And how would you know, Wufei?"
"You pervert! I was speaking metaphorically!"
"Well, there're lots of other metaphors," the braided boy smirked.
"Hn!" Wufei snorted. "Anyway, look at this." The boy highlighted several points on the graphics shown on the monitor. "We can upload our parts of the virus here, here and...here."
"Then what're we waiting for? Let's do it!" Duo grinned.
"Not so fast, Duo. The system's timed. We can't upload everything at once. We can only do half now and the other half later."
"But..." Duo frowned. Heero would be waiting at the facility, waiting for the signal to upload the integral part of the virus before he and Trowa could leave. If Wufei and himself could not get everything done tonight, the other two boys would have to remain at their posts for a little while longer. But time was running short and the longer Heero and Trowa were at the OZ facility, the higher their chances were of being found out.
"There's no other way," Wufei sighed in resignation.
"What time is it?" Duo asked, glancing at his watch in answer to his own question. Five minutes more until their agreed time of contact. "Okay, I guess we start uploading, Wufei. Then we'll just have to tell those two to wait a bit more," Duo said, an uncharacteristic grimness in his voice.
"Kusou!" Heero cursed as he read the transcript on the monitor.
"What is it?" Trowa hovered behind the Japanese boy, surreptitiously sneaking glances towards the door even as he peered at the monitor over Heero's shoulder.
"The uploading can't be done at once. They'll have to do another session tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" The green-eyed boy raised near-hidden eyebrows and frowned. "Tomorrow's the scheduled personnel check. We could blow our cover if we stay here too long." Trowa's voice had resumed the cool monotone that he affected whenever he was worried.
"No." Heero tapped out a reply to Duo's transcript. "The rendezvous goes as scheduled. We only need one person in here tomorrow..."
Trowa looked at the sullen-faced boy in silence.
"And one person is easier to overlook than two," Heero continued softly.
Reluctantly, Trowa nodded in agreement
"Shit!" Duo nearly screamed aloud, catching himself just in time. "That idiot's gonna stay there alone!"
"What do you mean?" Wufei asked, wheeling his chair to Duo's computer terminal. They had been waiting for Heero's signal to begin the uploading when his message came through.
"He wants to go ahead with the scheduled rendezvous," Duo sighed. "And he wants Trowa's part of the virus uploaded first. The one for the mechanical section." The longhaired boy propped his head forlornly on his hands. It didn't take a genius to figure out what Heero was trying to do.
Baka!
Why the hell does he have to take the martyr's stand all the time? For once, why can't he just think of himself?
"Okay. Uploading's complete," Wufei said from across the room. "When will they be ready for pick up?" he asked, turning back to the quiet longhaired boy.
"Um?" Duo raised his head, slightly confused before realising what Wufei was asking about. "Oh, wait. I'll confirm," he muttered as he sent the message.
The reply came almost immediately.
"0400 hours. Tomorrow...I mean, this morning. Trowa will wait for you at the designated location."
"And Heero?"
"Same time, the next day," Duo grumbled. "I'll pick him up."
It was probably the best thing to do, Duo realised. Should anything happen because of the unscheduled delay, Heero would be the best person to handle it. And one person would have a much simpler task of hiding from OZ, should the need arise, as compared to two. And Duo couldn't deny Heero's expertise at guerilla warfare. He just hoped that all would go well.
"Sou...time to play around with my records then," Wufei smirked as he accessed the school's registration database. During their many missions together, Heero and Duo had been the ones who most often used schools as mission bases or temporary layovers. He, however, preferred to work quickly, and balked at the thought of mixing with civilian students his own age. They reminded him too much of a past he did not want to remember, a happier time in a happier place. Quickly, Wufei changed his registration records and erased his image file.
"It'd be strange, ne, Wufei?" Duo asked softly from behind him, looking briefly at Wufei's rapidly disappearing personal files. "Registered one day, transferred off the next day. You must have been a baaad boy," he drawled as he proceeded to glance through some papers on the Principal's desk.
"It's a good thing this is a weekend then, isn't it?" Wufei smiled. "They'll only discover this on Monday. But by then, we'll be long gone." The Chinese boy put the finishing touches to his 'transfer', grinning back at the braided boy behind him. "Do you want me to handle your files as well? After all, you'll be gone by dawn on Monday."
"Hmm?" Duo looked up, surprised. Wufei was actually volunteering to help him? "Yeah, sure. Why not? It'd save me the trouble later."
Wufei grinned back with uncharacteristic glee and turned back to the computer. Duo eyed the Chinese boy, suddenly suspicious. This was not the Wufei he knew. Tip-toeing up to where the Chinese boy sat, Duo craned his neck to spy on what Wufei had typed out.
His violet-blue eyes bulged.
"Wufei!" Duo cried, at the same time covering his mouth with his hands as he suddenly realised that he had cried out quite loudly. "Wufei no baka! What the hell did you do to me? Damn it! What did I ever do to you?" he wailed, even as he tried to keep his voice down.
"Eheh..Duo. You saw?" Wufei yelped as he tried to avoid the longhaired boy's hands slapping at his head. "Ouch! Oi! Gomen! Gomen! Ow!" Duo's slaps didn't really hurt but they did sting.
"How could you do this to me?" Duo moaned, pushing Wufei off the chair and seating himself in the Chinese boy's stead. Duo tsked as he went through his 'transfer' records, changing Wufei's 'alterations'. "That's the last time I let you mess around with my personal files, you pervert," he grinned at the groaning Wufei who was picking himself up off the floor.
"Aw...Come on, Maxwell. It was just for fun," Wufei sniffed, rubbing at his sore backside.
"Well, next time you want to perform a sex change, pick someone else, ne?" Duo laughed.
"Heh! I knew you could take it, baka."
"Humph! You'd be dead by now if you did this to Heero."
"Heero doesn't look like a girl. You do!"
"Wuuu-feeeeiiii!!!"
End Part Two
Shirin
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