Kitsune Duo stood in front of a mirror in the current Gundam safehouse. He knew he was safe in his fox-form, at least for tonight, because all the other pilots were out on various missions. 

He looked over his outfit, silently approving. He was wearing a maroon bandana on his head, to cover his perky ears, and a long, black trenchcoat to hide his tail. His thigh-length braid was tucked in the trenchcoat, to keep him from being recognized by anyone, be they friend or foe. Covering his incredible amethyst eyes were a pair of black sunglasses, and to complete the look, he donned a pair of spiked, black fingerless gloves.

He cracked his knuckles, grinning happily at the prospect of a night on the town in his kitsune form. His grin was momentarily shadowed, however, by the fact that he wouldn't have a choice about where to go. He was working for a mysterious group, known only as 'Four'. No matter how hard he tried, he could never discover just who the Four were. He suspected they might be some very influential, wealthy politicians, but he couldn't be sure. 
Although, he needn't worry, as no one else knew their identity either. 

He was lucky; they let him maintain a policy of strict secrecy, honoring his own, as he honored theirs. They usually gave him strange orders, but he would wait and see what they had for him tonight.

He pushed up the old windowsill, and jumped out of it in a flash, not even bothering to look down. He landed with a small sound, but was off running, a darker streak of black in the night, trenchcoat billowing out behind him. 

He ran for several blocks, hiding back in the shadows, and away from the dim streetlights. He had to get to black 36a...There was a building there...

Keeping up his blistering pace, he soon reached the red-brick apartment building from his orders. He slowed to a stop, going cautiously, in case a human was awake and might see him. Sensing no one, Duo, or rather, Shin, as he went by in kitsune form, walked nonchalantly into the alley in-between the apartment and a run-down motel. 

Just as he'd thought; there was a rusted ladder on the side of the gray, bleak motel. He easily jumped the ten foot height and grabbed onto the bottom rung. Climbing with unnatural dexterity, he soon reached the top. He took a running leap, and jumped across the building to the roof of the apartment complex, landing on his hands, and doing a frontflip. He took a deep breath and prepared to start waiting for the Four, who obviously hadn't arrived yet.

The sound of clapping reached his sensitive ears, covered up as they were. Instead of starting, and jumping anxiously at the sound, as he once might have, he turned around smoothly, covering his slight frown with the deep bow that he sketched. 

How could he have not heard their breathing...? His ears weren't that much affected by the bandana, were they?

"Impressive." A deep voice said, as four cloaked figures simply appeared, out of the dark of night. There was only one street-light to see by, and its light was dim and flickering. 

"Thank you." Duo answered warily. 

"We have a new task for you tonight, Shin." The smallest of the four figures, (Duo assumed it was a woman.) said, not unkindly.

He yipped a bit in derision then said, "So I expected." 

The tallest cloaked figure took a quick step forward, then subsided angrily. Duo could almost feel his glare.

Yep, he thought gleefully, the tall one is probably that woman's husband. He wondered back if he had seen any political figures that had tall husbands or short wives. He almost sighed in disgust. How much more pathetic can you get, Maxwell?

"You might at least try to be a little polite, after all we do have-" The apparent leader of the group spoke, but Duo broke in. 

"Yes, yes, I know, you have the Pendant..." He said resignedly. The Pendant was a piece of jewelry, imbued with kitsune magic, made especially for the kitsune queen. It had been missing for centuries. Duo loved his people, so he had to get it back. Which put him in the Four's employ. 

"When are you ever going to let me have it?" He asked with a small whine in his voice. "I've worked so much for you...Please..."

The leader shook his head minutely, then asked a question of his own. "Will you let us see your face?" Duo pulled back a bit at the question and frowned to himself.

Finally, he replied. "Hell, no." 

The leader leaned forward slightly, then spread out his gloved hands. "Then I am afraid I will have to assign you another task. This one should be easier than the rest: it's mere information-gathering." 

Duo nodded quickly, listening raptly to the details of the job. 

"We need you to find out all the information you can on an individual named Duo Maxwell." 

Duo pulled back in shock and stumbled a bit. 

"Wha-...I mean, yes, Doe Masswull."

The leader appeared to look him over, trying to puzzle out what had just happened. However he shrugged, then corrected Duo. 

"It's_Duo_ _Maxwell_. We need you to find everything you can on this person. There's a rumor that he may be a Gundam Pilot, we want that verified, as well. We want his past, present, and future. we want all his hopes and dreams dug out, found out. Everything about him, we want to know."

Duo desperately tried to act nonchalant. "Why would you want to know about a...supposed Gundam Pilot? Wouldn't he technically be your enemy?"

A cold voice that Duo hadn't heard before replied, "He may be useful to us. We need to know these things to determine if he is worthy...You have a week." 

"Oh." Duo replied, stunned. "I guess...I could find out about this guy...Where will I meet you when I have the data?"

The one with the stark voice replied again, "Same place, same time."

"Ah." Duo said, at a lack for words. "I...need to go, then. Yesss..." He left without a backward glance, jumping straight off the building. 

After they were sure he was gone, the Four pulled the hoods of their cloaks down. 

"Damn, that still bothers me about who he is!" Heero griped, angrily, in his bat-winged form, as he was a lesser demon. 

Quatre answered softly, saying only, "He seems very familiar to me...Perhaps we know him elsewhere?" He folded his feathery wings about him and shivered. Trowa stepped closer to him and hugged him, causing Quatre to smile gratefully up at him. 

Wufei grunted. "Why do you want to know about Duo?" He asked. "I mean, beside the obvious reason, we all know how much you fancy him. But...What good does it do?" 

Heero smiled, slightly predatorily. "First, if Shin fails, we can order him to remove his trenchcoat and all other concealing things, and second, we can find out more about Duo, if he succeeds...He's been too quiet lately, I know something is weighing on his mind..." Heero ended sadly.

"Were you serious about having him join the us?" Trowa asked quietly.

"Maybe..." Heero said, musing it over. "Just maybe..." He said again, with a slight smile.