Dangerous Horizons

Kaiba Corp is once again threatened. Seto and Mokuba set out on their own to resolve the problem but find that they may be in over their heads. Forced landing, deserted airport….

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Gi Oh

Chapter 1. The Storm

Mokuba sat listening to the hypnotic hum of the prop plane's single engine. Normally he enjoyed being navigator, but not at night, not in this thing. His mind began to wander. Why us. Why do things like this keep happening to us? Those thoughts had been repeating through his head for the entire flight. He silently reprimanded himself. Seto's right. There's no point in wishing for things to be different.

Mokuba remembered his navigator duties and refocused his gaze to the plane's instrument panel. He watched the VOR needle steadily hold its point in the center of the dial before sharply clicking to the left. The inset dial to the right of the needle switched from reading TO to FROM. He smiled faintly as he remembered Seto teaching him how the instrument worked. "Now this one… Mokuba. Are you paying attention? You can't be a navigator if you don't know this." Mokuba giggled at his brother's paternalistic expression. "Yes, Niisama." Seto's eyes softened as he shook his head at his little brother. "This one verifies the planes location by picking up radio signals from specific stations." Mokuba checked their map dutifully.

"Huh, that's funny. We must have caught a tailwind," he said looking at their position and airspeed. "We are making really good time to have reached that station by now." Seto surveyed the instrument panel.

"The needle isn't moving. Are you sure it reset?"

"Yes. I'm sure." Seto double-checked anyway. It was reset. He gently banked the plane to the right and then to the left before resuming their course. The needle was unresponsive – refusing to track the signal. Mokuba glanced over at his brother. Seto's face was expressionless save for the grim line of his mouth. Mokuba knew what he was thinking.

"The VOR is out."

The younger Kaiba felt the knot of fear forming in his stomach grow tighter. No VOR, and we can't see landmarks at night to help keep us on course. We are practically flying blind. "If we are not too lost the map says there should be…"

"We're not lost, Mokuba. We have the compass."

"…Umm. There should be a little airport with a control tower up head. There is probably someone there. Maybe they can help us out." Mokuba wanted directions. He wasn't going to take any chance of getting lost. In the distance, a portion of the night sky flashed brilliantly. A storm was fast approaching. I sure hope it's just ahead thought Mokuba worriedly.

They sat in silence scanning the dark horizon for any sign of the airport. "There it is! I see it!" shouted Mokuba pointing to the flashing beacon to his right.

What was this place called again? thought Mokuba as he looked down at his map. "Mesa Tower," he radioed. "This is Cherokee 7263 – Tango. Do you copy? Over." There was no response. Rain splattered against the windshield as the wind picked up. It was then that Mokuba really wished that they were in their Blue Eyes Jet – he would have felt safer. The plane they were in now seemed down right flimsy in comparison. He knew why they couldn't use the jet. It would have been too conspicuous. Seto had said that for this mission they needed as much discretion as possible. That's why they were in the small, in Mokuba's opinion, death trap. What Mokuba didn't understand is why they needed to keep a low profile.

A few days ago, Seto had told him that someone was trying to takeover Kaiba Corp. He didn't reveal any identities, but Seto said he had a pretty good idea who was behind the plot. His big brother was being unusually tightlipped about the remaining details. The whole thing seemed odd to Mokuba. They had gone through takeovers before with Pegasus and Dartz and still came out on top. What confused Mokuba was the way that they were handling this particular situation. Before, he and Seto faced their enemies head-on. This time, however, Mokuba felt they were almost running away. He shook his head to remove that thought; he wasn't going to believe for a second that they were running away. Mokuba decided that Seto must have an elaborate plan and this was part of it. He would have liked to know what was going on, but he trusted completely that Seto's secret plan would work.

Mokuba tried again to radio, but it was to no avail. "I guess there's no one in the control tower." He looked at his brother hoping that he knew what to do next.

Seto felt the airplane become more difficult to control with the extra turbulence, and he didn't like the proximity of the lightning.

"It doesn't matter if anyone is there or not," he stated grimly. "We are going to have to land and continue tomorrow morning." As much as he wanted to continue, as much as he knew they had to continue, neither he nor Mokuba were familiar enough with the area for such an endeavor to be safe to say nothing of the storm that was beginning to rage around them. Seto took over the radio.

"Mesa Tower, this is Cherokee 7263 – Tango entering downwind for landing, over," he announced just in case there were any other pilots foolish to be out in the storm.

Seto pulled back on the yoke as the runway began to level out beneath them, but it was not enough. The plane still touched down with a hard thud. He reached for the break. It certainly wasn't his best landing, but under the circumstances, he didn't much care. They taxied in the direction of the control tower and spied an empty hangar. The small airport appeared deserted. Working quickly, the brothers secured the plane in the hangar and ran over to the control tower to escape from the storm. Seto silently prayed that the door would be unlocked. He felt a rush of relief as the handle gave way with a reassuring click. They stepped inside the darkened room. It smelled faintly musty. Seto ran his hand along the wall and flipped the light switch.

The fluorescent lights grudgingly flickered on to illuminate the room. Not that there was too much to see anyway. It wasn't very large and its description could be summed up in one word. Decrepit. To one side there was an old couch and a couple mismatched armchairs. The coffee table was littered with outdated magazines. Hanging from the ceiling were some dusty model planes. The opposite wall was practically covered by a battered topographical map, and in one corner there stood a poorly stocked vending machine.

"Looks like we'll be staying here tonight."

"At least it's better than trying to sleep in the plane, Niisama." Mokuba tried to sound optimistic.

"Hn," was all the response he got for his efforts. Seto was busy trying to find a signal for his cell phone.

Ignoring his big brother's indifference, Mokuba took to wandering around the room. He spotted a radio by the coffee table and was about to turn it on when he saw that the cord had been haphazardly wrapped in electrical tape. Probably not a good idea. He didn't want to catch the place on fire. Next, he trotted over to the vending machine.

"Uuuggghh. Looks like we'll be having stale corn chips for breakfast, Seto." His brother was too involved with his cell phone to respond. "Seto?" Mokuba began again turning toward his big brother. Then he stopped. He had caught a glimpse of a darkened hallway out of the corner of his eye.

Seto gave up on his cell phone. We are out in the middle of nowhere. There probably isn't a cell phone tower for twenty miles. There's no way I'll get reception. He decided to try his luck with the payphone. Seto had just picked up the phone when he heard his little brother scream.

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