Boring stuff first. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. The YGO people do. Kaylynn is Pop Flower Millennium's. Lita is Anthy's. Any questions? No? Good! Cause I don't have answers. The general idea is that this is kind of like those '80s cop classics in anime form. The YGO crew has done some growing up. Dueling takes up too much time and doesn't rake in much cash, so they all had to get real jobs. Except for Yugi who now runs his grandpa's store. The spirit has somehow managed to get his own body and still lives with Yugi. Kaiba is still a jackass (Back off me Pop. You know its true. Kill him Legolas!!!), but a rich one with his company. Serenity works at a jewelry store, Bakura (no longer possessed) is in the antique business, Mai became an actress and is hardly around anymore, Duke is still living in his parents' house and works at a movie theater, Lita is a bartender and Kaylynn works at a sporting goods store in the gun section (I think she was hired by a crack pot). Joey and Tristan joined the force and are partners in…anti-crime under chief of police Jetta (who isn't one to sit behind a desk and give out assignments). Kaylynn and Seto are still together, as are Joey and Jetta, and Lita and YAMI Yugi (as I have been informed). I am well aware that I have not mentioned Tea. She is now an exotic dancer and hooker and she will get what's coming to her, because she is ugly, French-like and I don't much like her. Well here goes nichts (that's the rough German equivalent of nothing). Catch you on the flip side.
Yellow tape surrounded the apartment building. Red and blue flashed in the night lighting. A stretcher baring a long black bag was being rolled out the front door. Just before it was loaded into the ambulance a figure hurried under the yellow tape. They stopped and the figure looked inside the body bag. There were two bullet holes in the man's chest and one in his forehead. The figure continued up to the front door where it was waved in by one of the cops standing guard. Several people were running around the house, taking pictures, recording information, and collecting evidence. There were two officers standing at the back of the room where the killing had taken place. They were speaking quietly and turned as the figure approached. "Hey chief," said one of them in a heavy Brooklyn accent. He had blonde hair and honey brown eyes. The other had chocolaty brown eyes and hair. The chief greeted them somberly. "Wheeler," she said inclining her head, "Taylor. You see the dead guy?" They both shook their heads in confirmation.
"Pretty nasty stuff," said Joey Wheeler, "You think it might be connected to last weeks incident?" Chief Jetta Raynnes shrugged. "Maybe," she said, "How much do you know?" Tristan Taylor pulled a small pad of paper out of the inner pocket of his brown trench coat. The other two also sported brown trench coats. "Information on the victim," Tristan read, "35 year old male named Thomas Cole Andrews. Lives alone, divorced, no kids, and works at the diner on fifth. Most of his family is deceased and he has no blood connection to previous victim. No signs of forced entry and no signs of a struggle, same as last time. Three shots of a 10mm handgun, same as last time. One in the fore head, two in the chest, same as last time" Jetta shook her head. She looked around the room as Tristan pocketed his notes. "Could be the same guy," she said. She walked over to where the body had landed. She observed every detail of how the body had lain. She walked around the apartment, examining things. The other two tailed her as if waiting for her opinion. She looked at the deceased's belongings. He had a full bookshelf. His computer desk was cluttered with pictures and handwritten notes. All simple memos, things to do lists and notes from friends. Most of the pictures had him in them with large groups of people. "It seems he had a lot of friends," she observed, "What do you boys say we do breakfast tomorrow. I'll meet you at the diner on fifth at seven thirty. Don't be late" She turned and left the apartment with some short waves and nods of approval from her two favorite officers.
Almost everyone had gone home for the night. Kaylynn was still in the back room, locking up the last of the pistols and thinking how much Jetta would really like the one she was holding. She hadn't eaten supper yet and she was dying of hunger. She decided to check up on Jetta and see if she'd eaten yet. As she was locking up a case she dialed Jetta's cell number on the office phone. Jetta answered. She must have been in her car. "Raynnes here," she answered. Kaylynn could just barely hear her. Between the road noise, the signal static and the general weakness of cell phone volume, it was hard to hear. "Its Kaylynn," she said, "Have you had dinner yet?" There was a wave of static then, "No". Kaylynn locked the door to the back room. "Then swing by the shop, pick me up, and we can get something to eat together," she said. She shuffled through her keys to find the one for the front door. "Sounds like a plan," Jetta said, "I'll be there in a few" Kaylynn agreed and hung up the phone. She went around and turned off all the display lights. As she made for the front door she knocked over a stand full of arrows in the dark. She could see the shafts glinting in the light from outside. She knelt to pick them up, but went still when she heard a noise. The lock on the front door was being picked. Kaylynn moved quickly to the baseball isle, leaving the arrows there. She groped for a wooden bat and crept toward the front of the store. She'd be damned if she was going to let some creep get in her and steal a pistol Jetta hadn't seen yet. The door opened and she ducked behind a clothes rack. A large man dressed in all black walked in. He was wearing a mask and was walking quietly. He passed Kaylynn without even seeing her. When he passed she stepped out behind him and slammed him with the bat. Things didn't go the way she'd planned. He almost died of a heart attack, yes, but the strike itself hardly fazed him. "Uh oh," Kaylynn muttered under her breath as she aimed a blow at his head. He caught the bat and pulled it away from her. He knocked her backward with it. Luckily she fell into a container of athletic socks. She started screaming as he advanced on her.
As if seeing all the lights off and no Kaylynn wasn't enough to alert her, Jetta heard Kaylynn scream. She drew her gun and ran for the door, pushing it open with her shoulder. There was just enough light to see what was going on. "Freeze!" Jetta shouted pointing her gun at the burglar, "Police!" The man stopped dead in his tracks. He knew that at that distance a bat couldn't beat a gun. He dropped it and put his hands in the air. Jetta walked over to them and helped Kaylynn out of the socks. She held the gun in one hand as she pulled her handcuffs out of her belt with the other. Then she put the gun back in the holster as she cuffed his hands behind him. She pulled his mask off as she led him up to the front desk. It turns out that the police had been after him for a while. She turned to Kaylynn. "Get the lights," she instructed, "I assume there's a mess in here so you might want to get that. We can take him downtown when you're finished and then get something to eat" Kaylynn hurried to get the master lights on. She fluffed the socks in the container back up. "You now you're taking me on an ego trip don't you?" she asked Jetta. Jetta looked slightly amused as she stood there, holding the burglar in place. "How so?" she inquired. Kaylynn laughed as she hung up the bat. She turned and grinned at Jetta. "I get to take someone downtown," She said. Jetta laughed softly as Kaylynn scooped up the spilled arrows and dropped them back into their stand.
"Now just keep an eye on him until we get to the station," Jetta told Kaylynn as she buckled the burglar into the back seat. He still had his hands cuffed behind him and a scowl on his face. The two women sat in front and they took off for the station. "So," Kaylynn asked, "What are we going to do for supper?" Jetta shrugged as she flipped on her blinker and made her turn. "It was your idea," she answered, "I don't care. You decide where we go and I'll pick up the bill" Kaylynn smiled deviously and thought for a moment. "Well," she said, "If you're going to front the cash, let's go to the Hob Nob" (The Hob Nob is an extremely over priced fancy restaurant) Jetta shot her a look that sent her into hysterics. "Or we could go to McDonald's," Kaylynn laughed. They pulled up to a stop sign and heard a rather loud rumbling sound. They both turned to face the man buckled into the backseat. He was looking down at his stomach. "I missed dinner at mother's tonight," he confessed. The two looked at each other slowly then sank back into their seats. Jetta put the car back into motion. ""Well I see you found a better use of your time," she said over her shoulder then turned to Kaylynn, "Its always the meanest looking ones that are the pansies at heart. Well not always, but usually" Kaylynn just nodded.
A group at the bar had just finished a round of tequilas. Lita collected the glasses and refilled them; placing a lemon by each glass and sliding the saltshaker back among them. She hoped Kaylynn or Jetta might stop by. She always hoped they'd come, but she had a feeling that they weren't coming tonight. It was always more fun when they came, even if Kaylynn didn't drink that much. She was lively anyway. Lita and Jetta usually had a few shots together. Instead of Jetta and Kaylynn coming, Joey and Tristan walked in the door and grabbed a couple stools at the bar. Tristan dropped his head onto the counter. Lita walked over, drying the inside of a mug. "Long day?" she asked. Tristan looked up at her with blood shot eyes and nodded then put his head back down. Joey smiled ironically. "This morning, I'm in bed and the phone rings," he explained, "The office got a lead on a case we're working on. They needed us on it right away or the trail would get cold. So there I am at Tristan's front door, pounding the life out of his door. Turns out that the office hadn't called him, just me. So I gotta wait for this guy to get ready. We follow this lead to a little store downtown. The clerk barely speaks English and we're supposed to get a report from him. Not only can we not understand him, his wife, who we can't understand, starts yelling at him about the story bein' wrong. So while we wait we get some coffee. When we go to pay for it, they quite arguing and get all pleasant again. So again we try to get the story from him. He starts babbling and shows us a video the store camera got. It reveals the face of a guy we'd been after. Plus, he had parked just right for the camera to see his plates out the window. So we radio the info to dispatch and we get an address and a name. We run over to the address and the cars parked out front. We knock on the door and some woman answers. We ask if the guy lives there. She says she's never heard of him and that she's never been involved in anything against the law. She starts rattling off her rights and that if we don't have a warrant she'll be speaking to our superior. Like that's not suspicious. Then the guy walks right up behind her and asks who she's talking to. Then the idiot tries to close the door on us and tell him there's no one there. So we knock again and he answers. We ask him his name and he tells us honestly. He is definitely the guy we're after. So we say that we'd like to ask him a few questions. He freaks out and grabs a gun from behind the door. He's acting all nervous. We draw our guns and he almost put a hole in Tristan's head. We did manage to get him down and unarmed. We cuff him and stick him in the back of the car. Then the psycho chick decides to come after us with an umbrella. She catches Tristan in the side. Doc said his hipbone is bruised. Then after the trip to the doc, there's a murder. We show up and some chick has been shot. So we check it out. We don't find much of anything. Then there's an identical killing somewhere else. At this point it's getting late and we haven't eaten or drunken a damn thing but coffee all day. The only bright thing was that Jet showed at the last murder to check it out. And tomorrow our assignment is to get breakfast. So what I'm saying is that I need several beers and I'll be fine" Lita had served several people during the course of his story and had already started pouring the two of them beers. They came in enough that she knew what they drank. Joey snatched up his mug and downed most of its contents. Lita tapped Tristan on the head and gave him his mug. She couldn't help but think how pitiful Tristan looked at the moment. "So," she said, "You mentioned seeing Jet. What's she been up to? I haven't heard from her all week" Joey rolled his eyes and gave a weak laugh. "She's been doing her favorite thing all week," he said sarcastically, "Tons of paperwork" Lita winced. Everybody knew how much Jetta hated paperwork. "Has she strangled anyone yet?" Lita asked. Joey shook his head as he took another gulp. "Not that I'm aware of," he informed her, "But who knows what she did after work" Lita gave a smile and went off to serve a group of people at the other end of the bar. She wasn't sure that she wanted to leave those two on their own, but she had customers. As she finished she heard a familiar voice greet the two worn out cops. She turned and hurried over. "Hi Yami," she said cheerfully, "What'll you have?" He smiled at her as he sat down on a stool next to Tristan, who still had most of his glass full. "A little whiskey, please," he said, "But not much. I still have to drive. And maybe give these two rides home. How many has Tristan had?" Lita laughed. Yami must have thought Tristan looked pitiful as well. She placed a small glass of whiskey in front of him. "Would you believe that's his first?" she asked him, leaning against the bar. Yami gave a start and looked at the semi-conscious Tristan lying on the bar beside him. "You're right," Joey piped up, "That was his first and mine. Fill her up" He pointed into the depths of his empty mug. Lita laughed again and put Joey's mug under the tap. "You can't have too many, Joey," she told him, "Yami shouldn't have to take you home and Jetta would kill me if I let you get too drunk" Joey mumbled to himself as he tipped his mug back again. Yami and Lita just watched him chug. "Slow down my friend," Yami told him. Lita went to take care of some more people as Joey told Yami about the day's events.
As Jetta turned the burglar over, a surge of contentment rushed through her. She had been about ready to eat all the paperwork that was living on her desk, waiting to be attended to. She was so happy she could get out to do her job. Kaylynn just stared at her as she ranted about her happiness. She was glad Jetta was happy, but she had too much energy for that hour of night. They stopped by a fast food place that was open late. They enjoyed their dinner and then Jetta dropped Kaylynn off at her house and headed home. She had to make sure she'd be at the diner at seven thirty like she'd told the boys to be. She pulled up to her apartment and got her mail from her box, then stalked up the steps. She opened the door as her dog came hustling out of her bedroom to greet her. She plopped down on the couch and flipped through her mail. Most of it was junk mail and sales papers, the rest of it she left in her bill drawer. She kicked off her shoes as she called Copernicus into the room. She put her gun and badge in the drawer of her nightstand. She put her watch and necklace on top of it and curled up under the covers of her waterbed. Her little brown mutt snuggled up against her and fell asleep.
At seven twenty five Joey and Tristan were sitting at the counter of the diner on fifth when Jetta pulled up and came in. There was a man in the kitchen yelling about Tom not being there. A waitress came to ask for their order. When they had finished giving it they also asked to see the manager. The waitress looked at them curiously but went to get him. The man who had been doing the yelling came out and the waitress pointed to them. The manager walked over and greeted them. "Good morning," Joey said showing the man his badge, "We're with the NYPD. We'd like to ask you a few questions" The man was wiping his hands on an apron. They tried not to draw too much attention to the fact that the police were asking the diner's manager questions. They didn't want to ruin the place's reputation. These people hadn't done anything wrong. Jetta pulled a picture out of a folder and showed it to him. "Do you know this man?" she asked. He picked up the picture and looked at it closely. "Yeah," he said, "That's Tom, our cook. Why? Did he do something?" He put the picture back down and looked at the cops curiously. Jetta put the picture back in the folder and began to rummage through it again. "Yeah," Tristan told the man, "He got killed" The man jumped in shock and confusion. He tried to ask how it happened, but Jetta pulled out another picture. This one was of a woman. "How about her?" she asked the man, "Have you ever seen her before?" He picked this picture up as well. He had a thoughtful look on his face as he put the picture down again. "Yes," he said, "She sometimes came to visit Tom. Her and that kid with the funny hair" The three cops looked at each other with questioning looks. "What funny haired kid?" Joey asked. The man recalled to his memory what he looked like. "Well," he said, "He's not really a kid. I just call everyone younger than me a kid. How old are you kids? Mid twenties? He's about your age. He has blonde hair with darker parts and a reddish outline. Got real long blonde bangs too. He's tall as any normal person. He comes in with her usually. They come about once a week" The three of them knew that description. They all had the same thought at the same time. Yami! "Do you know their connection to Thomas Andrews?" Tristan asked the manager eagerly. The man put his hand to his chin and thought again. "I could never tell for sure," he said, "But I think that they're all old friends or something" The three of them looked at each other again. They didn't know that Yami had friends they'd never met. Plus they were ten years older than then. Maybe Yami was in danger. What if he was next on the killer's list? "Thank you, Sir," Jetta said, "That was all we needed to know" He nodded and disappeared into the kitchen again. Jetta put her folder back in order. Joey sighed then stood up. "I'm going to call Yami," he said then headed over to the payphone on the wall. Jetta shook up a sugar packet then emptied it into her coffee. Tristan did the same with creamer. Then they both dumped the remains of their packets into Joey's cup and stirred it for him. Joey came back and sat back down. He stared at his coffee for a moment. "That coffee was black when I left," he said. Tristan just sipped his coffee. Jetta was just putting her cup back down. "You're very observant," she said, "Did you get in touch with Yami?" Joey slowly shook his head and took a sip of his coffee. They weren't too worried about Yugi. He really knew how to take care of himself. "I might be able to find him," Jetta said then went over to the phone. She lifted the receiver to her ear and dropped in some money. She dialed Lita's number and waited. It rang several times before Lita answered. "What?" she asked, "Some of us have to work late hours you know" Jetta ignored her rudeness and decided not to tell her about Yami possibly being involved in a murder case and maybe being a killer's next target. "Do you know where Yami is?" she asked as calmly as ever. Lita made a snorting noise then fessed up. "He's asleep on my couch," she said quietly, "Why?" Jetta knew that they wouldn't be doing anything they'd regret later so she let it slide and kept going. "We need to talk to him," she told Lita, "We'll be over there in a little while, okay?" Lita agreed but she didn't sound to sure. Then she asked just who exactly 'we' is. Jetta clarified then hung up. She went and sat back down with Joey and Tristan. The food had come and they were eating. "He's over at Lita's," she told them, "I told her we'd be over there in a little while to talk to him. Oh yeah. I never congratulated you two for yesterday's take down. How's your hip Tris?" She bit off a piece of the toast she'd been spreading jelly on as Tristan buried the end of his fork in his eggs. "It smarts a little, but its fine," he told her. She nodded and continued to eat. People always say that you shouldn't mix business with pleasure, but that's hard when your friends are part of business. But it did always make for interesting conversations. "So Jet," Joey asked, "You wanna catch a movie this weekend?" Jet thought for a moment then nodded. She shifted her folder out of the way when it almost fell off the counter. "Please tell me that you didn't put that thing together this morning, Jetta," Tristan said. She nodded and asked why. He just made a face and replied simply, "We had trouble getting up at 6:00 this morning" Jetta shrugged and went back to her toast.
"Yami," Lita said, shaking him softly, "Yami. The cops are coming for you" She was telling the truth to a point. He mumbled and eventually sat up. "Our friends with badges just called. They want to talk to you," she told him. He yawned and blinked at the stereo as Lita sat down next to him and snuggled up against him and rested her head on his shoulder. "About what?" he asked as he put his arm around her and sat back. "I don't know," she said closing her eyes, "Jetta just called and said that they had to talk to you"
Yami nodded and closed his eyes as well, though he couldn't sleep now that he had been woken up. After a while there was a knock at the door. Lita sat up and he went to answer the door. He opened it to find a badge staring him in the face. Joey lowered his hand and put his badge back. "I love doing that to people," he said. The three of them walked in and closed the door. They all sat down around Lita's living room. Jetta fished the photographs out of the folder and handed them to Yami. "Do you know them?" He studied the pictures then looked at Jetta. "Yes," he said, "They're acquaintances of mine" Jetta heaved a sigh. "Sorry to sound all official but," she said, "If they're only acquaintances, why is it that you were with them at the diner on fifth on a regular basis? The manager said that you're there frequently" Lita looked at Yami expectantly, as did the other three. He heaved a sigh and looked at his feet. "The shop hasn't been doing very well recently," he confessed, "I met a woman who said she knew where I could get some money quick. I just wanted to help Yugi. She took me to the diner and I met Tom. I found out that they were planning to hijack a pharmaceutical shipping truck. It would have tons of prescription drugs. I didn't like the idea and managed to talk them out of it. But I guess there was someone who they were stealing the drugs for. He wasn't bound to be very happy, but I haven't heard from either of them for a few days" Jetta, Joey and Tristan looked at each other gravely. They were in disbelief. "Yami," Jetta started, "Are you aware that yesterday they were both found dead in their homes?" Yami made a shocked sound and a look of horror crept over his face. He was shocked speechless. "And Yami," Joey said, "If there was a drug deal goin' down, you should have told us" Yami was still trying to regain his ability to speak. After a moment of random noises, he finally said, "They don't trust the police. They wouldn't have trusted me if I'd brought you into it" Lita could see that Yami was in distress. She moved down from the arm of the couch, sat next to him and held his hand. "Who was this other man?" Jetta asked, "The man behind it all. Do you think he could have killed them? Do you think he might come after you?" Jetta hated to sound like she was a nameless cop asking a stranger questions, but this was serious. "All I know about him is that his name is Sam," Yami answered, "But yes and yes to the other questions"
"Yami," said Tristan, "This isn't good"
"I'm aware of that Tristan," Yami remarked, "But what can be done?"
"Not much," Jetta admitted, "We can put you under police protection and you can report everything you know. And from there you can either join the witness protection program…" Yami shook his head.
"I'm not giving up the great life that I have just because of some homicidal nutcase," he said.
"Then you can either lay low and hope we catch this guy," Jetta continued, "Or you can try to put yourself out as bait and we can get him when he comes after you. But that's a pretty risky course of action"
"It sounds to me like the most risky would be the most effective," Yami said, turning the options over in his mind, "I think I'll play bait" The three cops nodded. Lita looked very worried.
"Yami," she said, "Why didn't you tell me about this? It's kind of big don't you think?" She glared at him. "Lita," Yami said, "I couldn't tell you because it would have been too dangerous for you to have that information. Like I said, I don't know much of anything about Sam other than the fact that he's a very cruel person and easily angered. I was trying to protect you" Lita crossed her arms in front of her and stared at him for a moment. "Well," she shrieked, "Stop protecting and start informing. I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. But it is sweet that you tried to protect me" She hugged him. He was obviously forgiven. The three cops shifted in their seats. "I don't mean to interrupt," Joey said, "But it might be a good idea to check around your place, Yami. See if anyone was inside" Yami nodded. Jetta decided to send the boys over to the flat above Yugi's store where Yami lived while she stayed to talk to Lita. They sat on the couch talking. Lita had made Jetta a cup of coffee and a cup of tea for herself. They discussed Yami's recent behavior then switched to happier friendlier subjects, like their relationships. Jetta's occupation revolved around horrible things happening to people. If she let every murder get her down she'd live a very sad life. "So, have you given him a key yet?" Jetta asked, as she took a sip of coffee. Lita gave a short laugh. "Not yet," she said, "But he has spent the night on my couch several times. We don't go farther than cuddling if you're wondering. Which I'm sure you are" Jetta laughed. She was always weary of the extent of her friends relationships. "How about you and Joey?" Lita asked in return, sipping her tea. "What about us?" Jetta asked flatly, "I don't know. I mean it's okay, but…we're still at that high school, holding hands, seeing movies stage. If we spend the night together it's because it's a late movie. I guess I just hoped we would progress past this by now. I mean, I'm twenty-five, I'm not getting any younger. If we're never going to pass this stage, we should just end it. I need to start looking for someone to spend the rest of my life with. I always thought it would be Joey, but maybe I was wrong. Do you think I'm being selfish?" Lita put down her teacup and shook her head. Jetta was cradling her coffee cup between her palms. "I think that if the relationship isn't going to give you what you want," Lita said, "It would be best to move on. Don't cheat yourself. And if Joey's so insecure that he won't let go of you, he's being selfish and therefore never deserved you anyway. But you need to tell him that you want the relationship to progress. Maybe you haven't been expressing your wants. Do you get what I mean?" Jetta nodded. Maybe Joey didn't know that she wanted more. Maybe he was trying not to be too imposing or move too fast. The ringing of Lita's phone disrupted her thoughts. Lita rose irritably to answer it. "Hello?" she said, "Oh my god! I'll tell Jetta. We'll head over" Jetta watched her as she put the phone back down. Lita sounded devastated. She walked over to Jetta and said, "Someone's kidnapped Yugi!"
Tune in next time for the continuation. Please Review, it makes me feel better.