Quatre raised his hands in defense. “Gentlemen, gentlemen!” He tugged at Trowa’s sleeve who already stood up, ready to leave. “Sit down. Now.”
Ignoring Duo’s rather surprised look when Trowa obediently sat down, clutching at the laptop, Quatre said: “Show him the information we gathered and I will do the talking.” He turned to Duo again.
“My apologies, Mister Maxwell… Duo, for myself and for my... associate, Mister Barton. There’s no need for thinly veiled threats or hurtful barbs. Forgive my rudeness.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not here for business purposes only. Much of my motivation is personal. I want you to find this for myself and my family’s sake. The Never-Ending Circle was the last artifact my father was researching, and I have great reason to believe he was killed for it.”
After he had finished his sentence, silence reigned in the office. Duo leaned back in the armchair, the chair gently squeaking under his weight.
“Outsiders shouldn’t be conducting research on mythological artifacts that are out of their reach anyway,” he said after a minute of silence.
“My father was a well-renowned archaeologist,” Quatre objected.
“A small correction - Winner Sr. was known for his massive funding of commercial excavations that ended up harming tribe and country, disrespecting nature and traditions as he went. Just as my travels and discoveries were public, his were too - and everyone in the archaeological field was abhorred by his common use of fucking dynamite to gain access to a hidden tomb or a buried temple.”
“My father wasn’t the one using those methods,” Quatre objected again, yet cringed. It wasn’t without reason he made the slight alteration to his business name, adding a simple “International” to it as to mask the link with the previous owner. “Treize Khushrenada and Zechs Merquise were in charge of the excavations. They were responsible for the execution of the work, not my father - he guided the operation from behind his desk.”
Duo snorted. “Book wisdom! Pulling at the strings of an excavation instead of standing in the field, sifting through rocks and dirt for that one, unique find? What kind of archaeologist is that? That’s someone who has lots of money and is able to finance a boy’s dream, making a wish come true for himself, no matter how much damage there will be done.”
“Mister Winner Senior has done extremely…” Trowa spoke up, but Quatre raised his hand. Disgruntled, he fell silent.
“Good boy,” Duo couldn’t help but remark, a smirk firmly on his face. Quatre ignored it, reaching over to Trowa to take the laptop from him and put it on Duo’s desk.
“My father was a good man,” he said, voice a mere whisper. “He made his mistakes and he had his faults, just like I do… just like you do, like anyone does. His greatest mistake was to believe he could lead a multi-million dollar company by blindly trusting the goodness of mankind, unfortunately. He worked hard to keep everyone satisfied, to keep his workers content, and he made the wrong decisions that made Winner Enterprises slide off to the wrong side of the war. My father took all the blame and he was discharged from the family.”
Duo nodded, listening attentively. His eyes darted to the laptop, curious as to why Quatre had put it on his desk - there was only text on the screen, the letters too small to make out from this distance.
“My father decided to retreat from public life, and, as you said yourself, finance a boy’s dream and make his wish come true. Archaeology had always been one of his passions, and with some of the revenues of the company, he financed many private research facilities and excavations. He left the physical execution of everything to Khushrenada and Merquise, knowing that he wasn’t fit or capable enough to do it himself, and he trusted them. Once again, my father’s trust was misplaced. Khushrenada used the freedom he’d been given to do his own research, and set up his own network to retrieve artifacts and sell them…and somehow, my father died for it.”
“I’m sorry, Mister Winner…”
“Quatre,” he offered.
“Quatre,” Duo repeated, a small smile tugging at his lips. “I’m sorry - I don’t know where you got the impression from, but I don’t do detective work. You’re better off at the local police station, or you can hire a private investigator. I’m for artifacts only.”
“Don’t you think I tried?” Quatre said, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. “No one was really willing to help me, Duo. You have to remember that the Winner name still carries a negative load to it, as people tend to forget the positive, but never the negative. I still have to be careful about what I say, what I do - most of the time, I have to be extra careful just because I’m bearing the Winner name. I managed to rebuild the company and expand it, trying to cleanse our name, but I couldn’t take away the stain; the stain from my father’s death, a wasted death.”
Duo pursed his lips. “I do tend to stay away from personal involvement, Quatre.” It felt strange to address one of the most powerful CEO’s in the world with his first name, but he’d given permission himself. “If you have done any research about me, you should know that I don’t want to be involved with retrieving artifacts for purely selfish or personal, emotional reasons.”
“Please read up on the artifact,” Trowa said, voice curt and controlled. “When the Never-Ending Circle is retrieved, we’ll conduct our own research on it, each going their separate ways. That would leave you to having no more involvement. Just the artifact.”
Duo frowned a little, but pulled the laptop towards him and started reading.
“Is this all the research?” he asked, eyes skimming the text. “There’s not even an accurate description of the artifact. This is a collection of rumours and myths, vague descriptions of objects that are believed to be the artifact in question - I don’t know if, should I even accept it, I can work with this!”
“Duo, you’ve been working with fewer leads than this,” Quatre tried again. He wasn’t going to beg - a no was a no - but he wouldn’t leave Maxwell Manor before knowing he’d tried to the best of his abilities.
“That was when my brother was still alive,” Duo snarled in return. “I’m all for the adventure, for the excitement and the thrill; but he was the one for the planning, the calculating, the research. Ever since Solo died, I haven’t gone on any expedition, as you were so kind to point out.”
“My apologies,” Quatre said. “It wasn’t my intention to tear open old wounds, though I have inadvertently done so.”
Duo straightened himself in his seat, rubbing over the bridge of his nose. “Look, Quatre, what’s this really all about? There are lots of other people out in the archaeological sea. You mentioned my previous partner, Heero Yuy- he’ll be happy to help you if you give him the right price, and I don’t think there’s much haste involved in this. I can even give you a list of people who are all but willing to help you, when provided the money and equipment.”
“Beside you and Heero Yuy, there’s no one else who can do this,” Quatre said. “It’s all about retrieving this mysterious, mythical artifact, something you’re both experts in. I know it exists, my father knew it exists - his money, his trust was abused by Khushrenada and Merquise to find this object, and he was subsequently killed for it!” he added, furiously.
“We can’t go to the police with our suspicions,” Trowa took it from there, as Quatre hid his face behind his cup of tea, cheeks burning from anger.
“As Quatre mentioned before, the Winner name still carries a negative connotation to it, and he worked very hard to get where he is now. Any negative press or words will throw us back to where we started, and neither he nor the memory of his father deserves that. It will stir up some controversy if there’s a public investigation to a death which has been ruled of natural causes previously.”
Trowa threw a worried glance towards Quatre, but continued nevertheless. “Mister Winner Sr. kept very detailed journals about his research and progress. There is something of the Never-Ending Circle to be found in his work, and there is a part of this artifact already uncovered and in our possession.”
“Why didn’t you say so immediately?” Duo said, incredulous. “I was under the impression that barely anything was available about the object!”
“You have to understand that I’m… very careful about all of this,” Quatre said, placing his teacup back on the desk again. “I can’t go and throw all this around in plain sight. Heck, my family doesn’t even know I’m doing this, even though I’m doing it for them… My sisters locked everything away, securing it out of my reach. They wanted me to concentrate on W.E.I. and leave father’s legacy for what it was - just a bunch of journals of a man with a dream of uncovering an absolutely mythological and unattainable artifact. I agreed; at that time, I thought it was for the better to focus all my energy on restoring our name and getting back into business before everything was completely lost and we would lose everything we had left.”
Quatre shivered. “My father is a follower of the theory that the Never-Ending Circle is the tool of the God of Death - a scythe. It’s the most common theory, and it was confirmed by the first piece that was found - he managed to locate it close to Cuba’s seabed, off the coast of the Guanahacabibes Peninsula.” It took him three tries to pronounce the geographical name, and a little frustrated, he pointed at the laptop. “It’s written all down in his journals, and you can read up on it whenever you want. In any case, the piece convinced my father that the Never-Ending Circle is made out of two components, the staff - the uncovered piece - and a blade, to form a scythe together. Khushrenada and Merquise found it because of his directions, his guidance, after countless hours of study and dedication.”
Tapping with his fingers against his lips, Duo was raking his brain, as Quatre’s story was ringing a bell, especially after naming the Peninsula. “I think I remember that happening, though it was never disclosed what exactly was uncovered,” he slowly said, cursing himself mentally for not recalling the details.
“You’ll probably remember it from the media coverage of the illegal training facility that was found there at the same time,” Trowa supplied. “The recovery of the part of the Never-Ending Circle was completely overlooked in favour of the spectacular unmasking of the plans of Quinze, a fighter for colony independence.”
“Right,” Duo said. “He was preparing for another war with his White Fang organization.”
“Exactly,” Trowa confirmed. “The reports on the artifact were completely snowed under, forgotten in the light of the military coup Earth just escaped from.”
“Where is this part of the artifact?” Duo asked when the others remained silent. Trowa shook his head, sending his bangs flying.
“The staff was brought back by Khushrenada and Merquise to be locked away in the Winner’s vault, for study purposes, and for as long as it would take to find the other part. Mister Winner was still studying it at the time of his death, and it was put into the vault by Iria Winner, Quatre’s eldest sister, as to leave his legacy in… peace.”
“From being tampered with,” Duo remarked dryly, but quickly went on to another topic. “Those men…Khushrenada and Merquise…they’re not known in the archaeological world. Khushrenada sounds familiar, though. I think he’s been here once, to admire the costumes and armour.”
“Treize Khushrenada is a rising star in the Romefeller Foundation. I’ve added some information on them to my father’s reports,” Quatre said. “The Romefeller Foundation holds up ideals to promote and improve history research and awareness. They sometimes fund excavations or restorations of ancient paintings and the like. Their interest lies mostly in the Victorian eras, and they’re well known for their meetings and balls - the dress code is Victorian, of course. The money behind that Foundation is almost… limitless.”
“If they can back up so much financial power, why was Khushrenada working for your father?”
“I’m not really sure. I think it was simply a joint venture, combining money with experience,” Quatre commented. “Khushrenada did the fieldwork together with his ally Zechs Merquise, and the deal was that they got to keep everything but the Never-Ending Circle. With the recovery of that artifact, my father hoped to get at least his own name restored, and maybe get himself into the archaeological world.”
"Naïve,” Duo clacked with his tongue.
“Naïve but noble,” Quatre said, tone of voice soft. “I owe this to my father, Duo. Once again, I’m prepared to donate a substantial amount of money towards the Maxwell collection, the foundation or the mansion itself, or to one of your charity funds. The Maxwell Foundation, for example…? I know how much money and effort you put towards that particular goal to provide education for deprived children.”
“You said you were afraid this case could grow over one’s head,” Duo shot back. “But still you ask it of me, of one person only.”
“We have more faith in someone who’s more socially involved and has a great love of history and art himself, instead of asking a materialistic reward for his efforts. We knew you would at least listen to us, no matter how much the press likes to depict you as an international jet-set playboy type.”
Duo’s grin turned in to a genuine smile. They had come to an understanding. Quatre Raberba Winner was indeed, as his reputation preceded him, tough as nails without losing his human touch. An oath to his father. Maybe there were more similarities between them than he could ever have imagined himself.
“Fine. I’ll go search for this Never-Ending Circle for you,” he said, and he didn’t imagine the sigh of relief, as if there was a great burden falling off of the CEO’s shoulders. “If I manage to retrieve the artifact for you, you’ll donate an amount of five million pounds to a foundation of my choice.”
“Agreed,” Quatre was quick to say before Trowa could even interject. “I’m very pleased that you’re willing to help us, Duo.”
He pulled out a card from his jacket pocket. “This is my personal cell phone number… only a dozen people on Earth and the colonies have it. You’re allowed to call it anytime, anywhere, anyplace. If there’s something I can do to help you, don’t hesitate to call.”
“Tempting,” Duo said, suppressing a wave of annoyance. As if the man thought he couldn’t deal with anything on his own! The Maxwells had a solid reputation, established after their impressive record of discovering and retrieving artifacts all over the world. But this was his first trip without Solo… going solo. The irony almost made him snort, but he refrained from the visual reaction and took the card.
The CEO took out another card from his jacket pocket. It was a laminated employee card of some sorts, and Duo strained his neck to look at it. Quatre pushed it towards him, over the desk.
“This is the only thing I can give you,” he said. “This will get you into the offices of the W.E.I. building here. You have about six minutes to log in as an employee, otherwise the alarm will go off.” He heaved a small sigh. “I trust you to retrieve the first part of the Never-Ending Circle from the vault without making too much of a mess.” Muttering an “Iria will kill me as soon as she finds out”, he continued: “We’ll leave the laptop here for your convenience. You can find any information on the artifact, Khushrenada and Merquise, the Romefeller Foundation and all of my father’s reports and journals on it. He didn’t believe in modern technology much, but he kept a dictaphone with him at all times. His secretary transcribed them for me.”
“Very well, I’ll read up on it,” Duo nodded and stood up from the chair as Quatre rose as well.
“I thank you once again,” Quatre said, and even Trowa mumbled his thanks as they shook hands. As if someone had rung an invisible bell, Hillary entered the room to show the guests out, bowing for them slightly.
“Don’t forget - call me anytime, and keep me up to date on your progress,” the blond CEO stressed once again before leaving the room, Trowa not looking back one single time. Duo nodded, waving with the card and waiting until the door behind them had closed, before flopping back into the chair.
“Christ, Maxwell, what have you gotten yourself into?” he voiced out loud, hand raking through his large bangs. It had been two years since Solo had died, on that cursed trip to what they thought had been the discovery of Atlantis…a loose end, but they had unearthed signs of an ancient civilization. To this day, professors and doctors were busy studying the shard fragments they had found, if only to continue in the honour of Solo.
“Asshole!” Duo said out loud, not really sure if he meant himself or his brother. They’d been such a great team, completely in synch with each other, both passionate about their discoveries…a little too passionate. It had been just sibling rivalry, a healthy competition between the two of them to find the most exclusive, the most mythical, the strangest of artifacts - it hardly mattered in the end, because they always ended up drinking to each other’s success, sharing their findings in every way possible. If only Solo had vacated a minute earlier the last time. If only he, Duo, had had more time to get his brother out of there…but in the thrill, the excitement of their discovery, they’d been too reckless, too caught up…
…and after it was all over, Solo’s body had washed up on the shore, with shards embedded in his hands and arms, as if clinging to the pottery could’ve saved his life. The markings were unique enough to turn the whole archaeological world upside down, sparking heated discussions about a civilization predating Atlantis itself… but it didn’t bring back Solo Maxwell.
Duo had been standing at his grave, a black scarf woven into his braid, cursing the stupid expedition, cursing his stupid self, cursing his stupid… curiosity. If it weren’t for his idiotic enthusiasm and curiosity, Solo would’ve never thought of searching out action and adventure himself. He was a bookworm, fast on his way to become a well-respected teacher and doctor, destined to write volumes of books and essays on several archaeological subjects, to be cited in dozens of students’ dissertations and papers. Duo had been anything but that - he liked to read, but only comics and ‘easy’ suspense and horror novels, not the thick scientific or historical works - that was where Internet was for.
Being in class and sitting still was an outright nightmare for him - Duo was always outside, running, laughing, sun or rain, mud or sand. He was the one to discover things by trial and error, experiencing life by simply trying things, forbidden or not, living life at its fullest, every moment of the day. Duo would rather get stung by an insect and live through the pain or discomfort than sit at home reading about the insect in question and not knowing how it looked like in real life. He’d been the one to break his bones during his practice of extreme sports. He didn’t believe in book wisdom, though he acknowledged their importance for research - after all, he wasn’t cocky or stupid enough to think he knew everything. Some things in life could only be found out by books - for the rest, he wanted it to experience with his own hands or mind.
Duo scratched the back of his head, sighing as he planted his feet on his desk. Why had Quatre Winner really sought him out? Did he truly believe that Duo Maxwell was the only one capable of retrieving the artifact? He hadn’t gone on an expedition since Solo’s death. Before, he’d been away with either his brother or with Heero… Heero.
“Asshole,” he repeated again. Heero Yuy had left him at an extremely bad time, and they’d barely spoken to each other ever since - Duo didn’t feel the need to talk to someone who’d shown his true face at such a horrible time. Hugging himself, as if he could feel warmer that way, he tried to suppress the memories forcefully, even though he knew he was unable to. They had been together for over four years. Heero had been everything to him - and he thought he meant everything to Heero as well. Everything about Heero had been perfect - the way he laughed, the way he talked, the way he went about things…and the sex had been mind blowing, that was for sure. No one else could ever match the stamina of that man. It brought back a goofy smile on Duo’s face, reminiscing how they had been all over each other and how they liked to use the craziest of places to get…
“Master Maxwell?”
“What?” Duo startled out of his thoughts. “Yes, Hillary, what is it?”
The man held one of his characteristic silver trays in his hands, covered with a pure white cotton cloth. Smirking, he yanked the cloth away to reveal two pristine Uzi’s.
“I think you will be needing these, Master Maxwell,” he simply said.
“Have you been eavesdropping?” Duo laughed a little, his eyes darting towards the guns. His fingers were strangely itching. The man shook his head.
“It was quite obvious why they have come all the way out here to talk to you. Mister Winner is not in any business liaison with you, so I figured out it must have something to do with a mission…or rather, a commission.”
“You’re right,” Duo said. “It’s a tricky one, though. Hardly any information on the artifact, multiple parties involved…”
“I am sure you will do just fine,” the butler said. “After all, you have been trained by the best, Master Maxwell. And it will do you good to get out of the house with something else in mind than partying.”
Duo scowled a little, but left it at that. “I guess I needed a reality check, huh?”
“You know yourself the best, Master Maxwell. You never failed to point out your shortcomings, your weak and your strong points,” Hillary continued, lowering the tray a little. “You were never afraid of being extremely hard on yourself either.”
“It’s all that there is in life.”
“There is more to life than death and the feeling of being abandoned.” Hillary shook his head. “I shouldn’t be the only one in this mansion beside you, Master Maxwell. The manor should be filled with laughter and excitement, just as a couple of years ago.”
“May I remind you that it wasn’t my choice that he walked out of the door?”
“It was Master Yuy’s choice,” the man said. “Not a good one, if I might say… but it was his choice. What you want to do with that is your choice.”
“I just need to get the hell out of this place,” Duo grumbled and got out of his chair again, straightening himself. “Get me Hilde Schbeiker and have her report here as soon as possible. Hook up my laptop to national and international libraries and databases and establish a video conference.”
“As you wish,” Hillary said, still upholding the silver tray. Duo grabbed the Uzi’s, holding up the large weapons, and mirroring the smirk on the butler’s face.
“I love it that I never have to tell you to get my guns.”
“Christ, Maxwell, what have you gotten yourself into?”
“…what you want to do with that is your choice.”
“Exactly,” the young man muttered as he lowered his binoculars. From this position he had a good view of the office on the east side of the manor, and he was completely covered by the bushes and trees of the garden. He knew his way around here perfectly, and a wry smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he removed his headset. After hearing the loud click of the office’s door, he knew he wouldn’t be getting any more information for today. Despite his sharp eye and quick wits, Duo Maxwell had never found the bugs in his office that transmitted every sound - after all, Heero Yuy used the best equipment that could be found, and if it wasn’t available, he would build it himself to his exact specifications.
Straightening himself, muscles protesting after being in the same crouched position for so long, he clicked off his little recording device. If anyone would ever find the transmitter – an overly zealous cleaner, or maybe Duo himself – they wouldn’t be able to track it back to him. Heero smirked. He was one of the best in his field - he would’ve opted for visual transmission as well, and he couldn’t wait to test out the camera he specifically designed - but well, a camera was easier to spot than the audio bug. He needed to adjust his design a little, until it was perfect - then he’d find a way to install it. I’m still watching over you, even though you think I’ve left you for good, Duo. His smirk turned into a scowl. He couldn’t deny that the man’s words had hit home. Yes, it was not a good choice. It was a poor decision.
“Too late for that now,” he told himself softly but firmly. Suppressing a wave of melancholy, he turned around to leave, his mussed dark brown bangs ruffled by the wind. Too late. It can never be too late…it just can’t. “Though I wished you would’ve listen to me, Duo...”
Slinging a bag over his shoulders, Heero disappeared, using the cover of the trees to avoid being picked up by the cameras of the security system. As unseen as he believed himself to be, he was unaware of the slanted, ebony eyes following him.
“How’s your visual?”
“Looking good. How’s yours?” Duo answered, not bothering to muffle his voice - he had to speak out loud because of the wind at this altitude. He touched the glasses he was wearing, securely strapped around his head, his bangs flying. Adjusting the intensity of the glasses, he smirked when his vision immediately sharpened. Night vision was darn handy when you were on top of a building far past midnight, with nothing but a huge distance to cover to get what you wanted…or needed.
“Excellent, good image…are the glasses heavy?”
He tapped at the mini camera on the frame. “Not that heavy, but I wouldn’t want to wear them for a whole night. How many?”
“There is no night crew, and the cleaners have already left. I counted five security agents: three down in the hall, and two making rounds, totally at random.”
Duo snorted, putting on his gloves. “That’s one hell of an alarm they’re putting all their money on.”
“You’ve studied it yourself, you know exactly the kind of alarm they have. Besides, there’s nothing much to swipe from the offices anyway - the candy machines are the only valuable things!”
“Very funny, Hilde,” Duo said, briefly snickering. Hilde Schbeiker was not only a very close personal friend, but also the perfect person to back him up, as she had done before during his travels. Hilde was crazy about gadgets and designed them herself; her quick and practical intelligence enabled her to find a solution for anything. Duo trusted her completely, working together with her from the moment he started his travelling, first with Solo, then with Heero. Hilde hadn’t asked any questions when she had been called, not hesitating for one second to cooperate.
“All right, Duo, ready to go? Remember, you have only six minutes to shut down the alarm system. If it counts more people than there are logged in, you have a very big problem.”
“Right,” Duo said, rubbing his hands. He was dressed in all black, feeling a little weird - he hadn’t worn these type of clothes since his last adventure…the search for what they believed was to be Atlantis. Hilde had designed and manufactured the garments, calling it her greatest invention to date. It was nothing short of a costume, skin hugging tight and made out of a leathery, latex type of material that was able to absorb the brunt of major impacts in a fight or from a fall. On top of that, it adjusted itself to extreme temperatures, so one could never get overheated or hypothermic. It even withstood bullets to some extent; it wasn’t exactly Kevlar, so a bullet would go through, but the material was dense and sturdy enough to slow it down, reducing the impact.
Combined with his usual steel-toed boots, firmly laced, and his trusty belt around his waist, the gun holders resting against his thighs, the straps looping around his upper legs with his Uzis, some knives and other small utilities immediately at his disposal, he was ready for action. God, had he missed the action.
Duo adjusted his glasses for the last time and nodded. Solo for the first time. For the first time solo…let it rest, Duo Maxwell. It’s up to you now.
“Let’s do it,” he said.
“The wind is at a good angle and speed. Good luck! Talk to you soon!”
“Going offline,” was Duo’s answer as his hands grabbed the lines. He wrapped them tightly around his fingers for a good grip. The fabric of his gloves was the same material as the rest of his clothing, so the lines wouldn’t cut into his hands. Adrenaline rushed through him as he took a deep breath and ran forward, the large wings of his paraglider inflating from the generated air pressure. It brought a smug smile on his face; he’d always been very good at running, he once approached the national record on short distances - one advantage of always being outside. The edge of the building was in sight and he leaped forward, using the concrete edge to launch himself into the air, while tugging at the ropes to get the glider under control.
The European division of Winner Enterprises International was seated at a large corporate building, occupying the top four floors. Human resources, payroll accounts, general bookkeeping and secretarial services were concentrated here, whereas the American division was mainly focused on marketing and sales, and the Middle-East division on research and development. With the headquarters located at Cairo, Egypt, Quatre Winner had built up quite the real estate portfolio around the globe, and he even had at least one office at every space colony.
Duo mused a little as he pulled at the ropes to adjust his trajectory, enjoying the wind and the flight. How would it feel to be in charge of such a multinational, and to be responsible for so many people? Winner Sr. clearly couldn’t handle it, displaying an almost childish nature when it came to trust and faith in his people. His ideals and principles had turned against him, fallen into the hands of less than scrupulous people.
It was so easy to find a scapegoat, and this man had been a perfect example. He was there at the right time, at the right place, and in his naivety he’d done nothing but to walk right into their trap. Treize Khushrenada and Zechs Merquise. Duo remembered them better than he’d care to admit - the tall Khushrenada had discussed with him for hours on end about the soldier uniforms from the Victorian era, and had offered him obscene amounts of money for the authentic objects, obviously not wanting to take ‘no’ for an answer. Duo had refused, appealing to the stipulations of his father’s foundation - nothing from the collection was up for sale, it was intended only for the purpose of gathering information on historical facts, or for exchange with museums - even though the wads of cash had been very tempting. Bound to the stipulations of the foundation, it was sometimes very frustrating to have hardly any liquid funds, knowing that the real wealth was stuck into the collection. However, Duo hadn’t hesitated for one second to decline the offer. Merquise hadn’t said a single word during the conversation - Duo had forgotten all about him until he had to all but throw the both of them out when it was obvious they wouldn’t get their way.
The wind was good, and this angle was perfect - he would land on the rooftop within a few minutes. The GPS on his wrist indicated his position and he adjusted the cords once again, not feeling any of the strain due to the material of his gloves. He had to lose height now or he’d overshoot the building. Shifting around, he pulled down the trailing edges of the wings, causing them to fold in, reducing the glide ratio accordingly. Concentrating, Duo steered towards the rooftop, grinning a little when getting a visual on the surface. Good ol’ Hilde, she’s been thorough with her preparations as usual, to the tiniest of details. She’d studied layouts and floor plans of the building, determining the consistency and materials of the rooftop, studying satellite images of the building to calculate the flying route and the best - and most unnoticed - place to land. He could’ve done it all himself, having enough experience under his belt to calculate his trajectory with his eyes closed, but Hilde had always done this when she was still working for him and Solo, taking lots of tedious chores out of their hands.
Duo lined up for approach, using his speed and the wind to fly in at the right angle. Flaring the wing to minimise forward speed, Duo touched down on the rooftop and ran forward, trailing the glider behind him until he came to a stop.
“I’ve landed,” he said simply, establishing the connection between him and Hilde again.
“All right,” her voice came through, crackling a little. “Remember, six minutes from entry.”
“Yes ma’am,” Duo answered, folding up his glider and the harness in such a way that it didn’t take up much space and wouldn’t be easily noticed. Hiding it under a pile of construction rubble, Duo moved ninja-style over the rooftop towards the maintenance entrance, his fingers searching quickly for his soundless screwdriver. Good ol’ Hilde and her love for gadgets, he praised her again silently.
Unscrewing the bolts of the door was easier than to try to open the lock; Duo had lock-picking skills, but Hilde hadn’t been able to find any information about the lock and he didn’t want to waste too much time. It was Iria Winner’s decision to keep her father’s research and the first, uncovered part of the Never-Ending Circle in a safe at this particular division of W.E.I., leaving it simply there, out of her brother’s reach. Quatre hadn’t gone into details about it, but it had been pretty clear to Duo that the Winner family kept very different opinions about their father’s activities and the destination of his legacy. Duo took a deep breath and braced himself as he mustered up all his strength to lift the door out of its hinges. It was rather heavy and it took him three tries before he managed to wedge it so far open that he could fit through it.
“Where are you now?” Hilde’s voice crackled, a slight interference due to the building’s structure.
“Almost in,” Duo responded, placing the screwdriver back in his belt and after a moment of hesitation, took out his special flashlight, turning it on and checking the stairs leading down. He snorted disdainfully. So, sister Winner had bothered to make sure the safe was at least difficult to reach - he couldn’t imagine a laser trap being a standard component of a modern security alarm.
“What’s the problem? You’re not moving.”
“I don’t want to set off the alarm immediately,” Duo replied, voice low; the transmitter would pick up the softest of whispers but after all those years it was a habit hard to shake.
“Bugger,” Hilde muttered under her breath.
“Don’t panic. It’s hardly worth a sweat.”
“I can see if I can log in to the building’s network and shut it down…”
“No dice,” Duo said. “That would only alert them. It’s no big deal.” He clicked with his tongue and reached for his backpack, taking out small mirror fragments to alter the laser’s direction. It would take him some time, but with some careful movements and using the mirrors in the right places, he would be able to avoid stepping into a laser beam and setting off the alarm. Duo went down the stairs, somersaulting forwards to take the last obstacle, wiping the sweat off of his brow.
“That certainly wasn’t part of the alarm system,” Hilde said. “I didn’t know…”
“It was probably added later,” Duo thought out loud. “We’ve both seen the plans of the alarm system. No laser was mentioned; it’s not your fault.”
“Winner’s sister?”
“I guess so.” Duo shrugged. He knew Hilde was writing it down anyway - it was such a familiar routine they worked with, as if there had been no time between the last expedition and this one. Touching the door in front of him, Duo noticed it was opened simply by using the handle. There was only a straightforward “No entry” sign on the other side of the door - either the personnel was extremely obedient, or they knew about getting fried by the laser on their way up. Using his small flashlight, Duo checked the top floor: maintenance only. He made his way over to the large cabinets, hiding the electric panels pertaining to the building’s electric system that fuelled the elevator and alarms.
The architect of this building was either plain silly or plain lazy to put all the maintenance on the top floor; he probably thought or was overconfident that no burglar would take the effort to approach from the roof or go all the way upstairs to eliminate the alarm. Duo had no problem with the shiny lock on the cabinet; it was a standard one that hardly put up resistance to his lock-picking skills. Duo attached his flashlight to a Velcro strap on his shoulder to have his hands free, and quickly located the panel for the alarm system. It was rather state of the art: it continuously scanned the building on body heat, counting the presence of people and connecting it to the number of people logged into the system. It would be triggered when it simply counted more people than the number logged in; tricky, but not impossible to override.
Hilde informed him of the six minutes again, counting down every thirty seconds. Duo took off his backpack again, frowning in concentration. He blew impatiently at a few bangs hanging in front of his eyes; his long braid was safely tucked way in the collar of his clothing. He grabbed a laptop out of the backpack, booting it up in record time. He didn’t allow himself the time to lose himself in his thoughts - this laptop was built by Heero, his boyfr… Former boyfriend, he growled to himself. It was twice as small as a regular laptop, its processor and software more advanced than any other…no wonder, as it had been Heero who had designed and built it. Gritting his teeth, Duo inserted the card that Quatre had given him directly into the control panel, a miniscule cable attached to it, feeding data to the laptop. It had been the only help Quatre had been able to give him - the simple employee card to log onto the system. The advanced software started crawling through the personnel and administrative files to crack the password.
“Four minutes…”
Duo’s eyes couldn’t keep up with the amount of data rolling over the small screen. The software was tracking down the right password to go with the employee card. Quatre hadn’t been able to tell Duo everything about the building or the alarm system, as he barely visited the European Division, the research and development in the Middle East being much more important to him. Once in a while he made a tour around his divisions, but well…he was the CEO, not the one to know every little detail. Trowa would have to find out for him, and there simply wasn’t enough time for that. There was only one person extremely good at hacking, who didn’t even need a program to do so, and it wasn’t Duo Maxwell. Heero… He cursed very softly. He was just as good as Heero, he only needed a little more time…time he didn’t have. Time he had run out of before…another minute he’d needed when saving So… There! The cursor blinked, showing an impossible password, a jumble of letters and ciphers, and Duo quickly entered it onto the panel, fingers dancing over the keyboard.
“Thirty seconds…”
“Mister Roswell has logged on.”
“Excellent,” Hilde answered, the snicker audible. “Proceed.”
“Why thank you,” Duo answered dryly, removing the employee card, disconnecting it from the cable. Mister Roswell would probably run into trouble the next time when logging in; there was about to be someone who’d ask him the question what he did at work at two after midnight.
“All right, off to the safe,” Hilde’s voice crackled through the link. Duo took a few minutes time to take care of his laptop, the card and the cable, to make sure he wouldn’t leave any trace. He was assured that his fingerprints couldn’t be lifted from anything he touched due to his gloves, but a strange computer cable in this particular cabinet would raise questions. Hoisting the backpack over his shoulder, Duo located the exit and he jogged towards it, avoiding making any sound despite his heavy shoes.