Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, have any relation to Gundam Wing, have no permission from those who created Gundam Wing to write this. This is purely for fun, to waste time, and to make other people happy reading and to spread the joy of literature to all those poor unenlightened fellow man out there. I am making no profit from this.

Pairings: 1x2x1, side pairing 3x4

Summary: In the world of assassins, everyone knows Heero Yuy's name. And so he is given a seemingly impossible assignment: to track down one Dee Maxwell, and kill him. But then he gets to know an angel named Duo… and life gets really interesting.

Angels and Assassins

Chapter One: In Which Quatre Prophecizes

Heero was five minutes early, but when he walked into the café he wasn't all that surprised to see that Winner was already waiting for him in a corner booth, sipping from a glass of light-coloured coffee. He slid in silently on the other side of the table as the waiter approached.

"The latte is good." His employer gestured vaguely with the glass in his hand; toasted him a little and sipped another mouthful. "But since I know you… he'll have a cappuccino," he said to the waiter, who bowed slightly and retreated wordlessly. The blond turned back to smile at him. "The cappuccino isn't bad, either, if you like cappuccinos. Or would you prefer something else?"

He ignored the question. Winner knew that perfectly well that he didn't mind cappuccinos. His employer was the closest thing he had to a friend; the use of his surname served to remind him that despite that fact, theirs was still largely a business relationship. "I am the only one who can do this?" he said instead.

"I'm afraid so," was the reply. "They specifically demanded you to take the case."

"You told them I was on leave?"

Winner's expression was apologetic. "They upped the price, and I have to say it's a very good offer. I don't like them all that much – their arrogance was one of the reasons I pushed the price higher – but the profit we can make from this would mean we wouldn't have to take any more clients for at least the next four months, if we wanted to."

He hated people like that, but the pay did sound attractive. Their company was newly-started, and though under Winner it was fast gaining a name for itself they still needed more money to finance their operations. "What class?" he said finally. Despite the money he wouldn't take anything less than A-3, to give up his precious relaxation time.

"A-1."

Of course. He should have known that Winner would know he'd only willingly let his leave be cut short for an A-3 and above. The blond in some aspects knew him better than he knew himself, and could almost read his mind at times.

"You can take your leave after this is over, and the pay is very good," Winner said mildly.

He did it again, muttered the voice in his head. "When would I have to start?" was what he actually said.

"As soon as possible, hopefully. You have a lot to do."

When Winner said 'as soon as possible', he meant 'immediately'. There was a problem, right there. "I was planning to satisfy my body's demands tonight," he said calmly. "I cannot guarantee absolute impartiality, physically or emotionally."

His employer looked thoughtful. "Yes, that might pose some difficulty." He frowned slightly, and then smiled brightly. "No matter. One day will not make a difference. I allow you to start tomorrow," he said magnanimously

Heero shook his head, amused. "I am humbled by your generosity, O generous one."

"But of course." Winner winked at him.

He smiled a little, and sat back as the cappuccino arrived. When the waiter left he said, "Alright, tell me."

"The target is Dee Maxwell."

"Real name?"

"I know it doesn't sound like it, but it should be. Who knows, though? Anyway, he's twenty-four this year, and believed to be American, though no one has any idea what he really looks like; he's a master of disguises and used to go to work using many different personas."

"And his company let him?"

"He was their most brilliant scientist; what are a few eccentricities in the face of science? I think they'd have done more than that – he commanded a very high pay, by the way – to get him to work for them."

"Which company?"

Winner smirked. "BioT."

Heero let out a low whistle. "The multinational bioengineering company worth billions? He must be good."

"The best. He was given everything he wanted, and revered as the board of directors' pet. Yet… one day he simply packed up and left. He took all his research with him, wiped out all traces of what he was doing and of himself from the database and the actual lab itself, and disappeared. At that time he was tasked with some top-level secret project, so it's highly probable that this was what made him take off."

Heero grimaced. He hated that sort of person – pampered, spoilt, exploiting his intelligence and finally turning out to be a traitor that bit the hand that fed him. Probably he felt that the latest project was too much work that didn't pay him enough. "So what exactly am I supposed to do with him?" he asked.

"Our client, his former employers, wants that research back, and Maxwell dead."

Ah, this changed things slightly. Dead – they weren't bothering to keeping him alive to make him further his research. That meant they wanted secrecy above all, and didn't mind that his death would mean a large possibility of slowing down their progress. It meant that their research was so important to them that they would rather operate on the basis 'guilty until proven innocent', and not give any chances to fulfil the latter half of that phrase. Desperate almost always meant illegal. It was suspicious, and from the look in Winner's eyes, the blond knew it, too.

"Alright. Continue."

"Ah… this is one of the reasons why the mission is an A-1 class, and why I demanded such a high pay…" Winner trailed off, offering his friend a sheepish smile.

"You don't have any more information?" Heero demanded incredulously.

"Uh… we know that he's good at computers? Since he managed to wipe the system clean of any trace of himself."

"…"

"I did mention he's a master of disguises, right?"

"…"

"Oh, come on, Heero. Please? We both know you're one of the few in the business good enough to be able to track down and capture a target with so little information. I've gotten a clause in the contract that says they aren't allowed to hire anyone else while we're on the case, either, so you have more time and leeway to do things."

"…"

"Please?"

He couldn't resist the utterly hurt, begging expression Winner gave him. The man had the face of an angel, and like the devil he was he was never above ruthlessly exploiting that fact.

"…Fine."

Immediately a huge smile graced the blond's face. "Really? Thank you!"

"Hn. I start tomorrow, and only then," he warned.

"Of course, of course, by all means go jump someone tonight. Don't worry, I bet you'll find Maxwell in no time at all!"

Sometime in the near future, he would recall that sentence, and remind himself never to bet with Winner again, because Winner was a prophet.

This is terrible. I've started a new story, when I'm not even remotely close to finishing anything else.

I am dead.

But! I am working hard to write them all.

If you liked, please review! If you hated, please don't flame, but just… criticize. Constructively. If you hate me for starting a new story, please don't flame me either, but you have permission to spam my inbox with hate mail. Not too many though, please.

Ashen Skies
"…by all means go jump someone tonight."