Chapter One
Thunder clapped ominously. Water sprayed in a fine mist from underneath the spinning rubber tires of Marik's bike. Struggling to see through the tinned visor of his helmet, he swerved perilously around the corner of a wet deserted city street. The streetlights flickered on momentarily, illuminating the rain drops that skimmed across his dark Middle-Eastern skin as he rode through the growing twilight. His mission was vital; it could be only a matter of months before the memory world was reopened.
Suddenly, from the midst of the cityscape around him, his destination rose against the horizon. Kaiba Corp, one of the largest technological leaders of the world. With pressing urgency, Marik revved his motorbike onwards. It was a clear shot to the building. The next moment a striped bar blocked his way. The controls to raise it were located somewhere inside the security both. Too late. Marik had no time, and no intention, to stop. He threw all his weight against the pull of gravity. His stomach lurched and he felt his center of balance shift drastically. The bike fell flat against the ground as the forwards motion kept it moving. Marik's head was dangerously close to the ground as the motorbike slid under the bar. With a horrible grating noise and a flurry of sparks Marik emerged on the other side of the checkpoint. He was lying a mere few feet away from the double glass doors that permitted entrance to the Kaiba Corporation main headquarters. Rising from the wreckage of his bike, which Marik surmised needed a new paint job anyway, he headed towards his destination. Blindly groping at the wet intercom system, Marik held his arm in pain. His left elbow was luckily the only damage he had sustained in the dramatic entrance.
"Kaiba!" Marik angrily shouted at the small tan box while banging on the large button. "Shachou!"
"Name and occupation." The fractured voice came back over the system.
Marik glared at the intercom. "Marik Ishtar. Anthropologist, area religion, sub-set archeology." He waited, every moment the drizzle of rain becoming closer to a downpour.
"Access denied."
"Damnit Kaiba!" Pounding on the box now, Marik took out all his frustration on it. "Get this door open, now!" As the echo of voice faded from his ears, he stood in utter silence. Fatigue from the trip suddenly catching up with him. The numbness that had originally kept the pain in his arm at bay was wearing off, Marik began to consider the possibility he had fractured part of it. Lightning split the sky. Dropping to his knees in the rain Marik hugged his arm close to his body as he started to quiver uncontrollably. His bike probably wouldn't run at this point, his left arm was almost completely dysfunctional, and it was getting on nine thirty at night with a storm warning. He longed for the comforting presence of his Sennen Item. Alas, it was lost with rest of them when the Pharaoh crossed into the afterlife and the tablet was destroyed. It was unlike Marik to admit defeat so quickly, but he had been running on empty for days now. The necessities he had been denying himself for this past week were taking their toll.
"Pathetic." An all too familiar voice crackled across the intercom. "It must be something especially ridiculous you have to tell me, considering you came all this way, in this weather none the less. Enter center door Ishtar, and head to the clinic when you get in. You're lucky we have a few nurses working overtime today." A small click and the red light on the box went out.
Torn between gratitude and annoyance Marik nodded to the security camera and entered the building.
There was a small airlock between the outside world and the Kaiba Corruption, Marik stood there for a moment on the rubber rug looking into the lobby. So caught up in the journey, Marik hadn't thought about what he would do when he reached the destination. It was crucial Kaiba believed him and let him access the computer files he needed, but Kaiba sounded as skeptical as ever. Marik disliked thinking about what could happen if Kaiba didn't allow him access. It would result in at least the return of the shadows games and in the worst case scenario… the rewriting of the past.
Composing himself, Marik entered the lobby. To the right of the abandoned front desk Marik saw the nurse's office. With a defiant glare Marik ignored Kaiba's requested and headed directly for the elevator.
End Chapter one