Chapter Three – Renegade
That must have been a dream.
Those flames, that unholy, improbable fire, wrapping it around him and his D-Wheel, caging him in infernal chains. He screamed, cursed, and whimpered, but the fire drowned out it all.
Where was he? Was it really a dream, and he was in fact just dozing off, slumped on the stately chair inside the caved-in theatre he had claimed as his audience room? If he opened his eyes, would he once again see that yellowish moon hanging in the sky above, stained by the unwholesome vapours rising out of the chemical plants in the heart of Satellite?
There was someone speaking very close to him. Hovering between sleep and wakefulness, he caught a few broken words filtering through his foggy mind.
"Ushio, what… you think?"
"It's obv… escaped… intact… find he was th… duel deck…"
Duel deck.
Jack Atlas's purple eyes fluttered open. His hands tightened into fists, and he tried to feel his deck of Duel Monster cards that he assumed was still in his hands. Digging his elbows into the bed he was laying on, he tried to raise himself up.
What greeted him was excruciating pain. The skin on the back of his hands felt they would split open, his arms were weak, and his entire frame wobbled. A residue, throbbing pain lodged itself firmly in his chest. Caught unawares, he gasped out loud, and fell back down onto the mattress with an audible thump.
Others in the room, those two men standing near the window with their backs to him, turned around quickly at the sound. The taller one made to dash towards Jack, but the shorter one put a restraining hand on his companion's shoulder.
"Ushio. Leave him with me."
The voice that spoke was even, soft, but nonetheless carrying with it a steely hint of decisiveness. The taller figure didn't need to be told twice. He gave one more look at the shorter man, nodded briefly, then crossed room and exited. The automatic doors closed after him.
The person remaining in the room walked up to Jack's bed. Jack scrutinised him wearily as he approached. A messy head of raven-black hair, streaked with gold, stood on top of a young, resolute face. A pair of blue eyes gleamed from beneath his long black fringe. Even when dressed in a reserved and composed suit, Jack could tell that the man standing next to his bed harboured a great force to be reckoned with. He was not tall, he was not overly well-built, but the Satellite resident could feel a tangible aura of command. Staring up into those blue eyes that were now fixed unblinkingly on him, Jack Atlas swallowed.
"Are you from Satellite?" The other man broke the silence.
Jack's only answer was a brisk nod and a growl. He had gathered from his surroundings that he was indeed already in the City, a place physically so close to Satellite and yet politically so far away. He was from Satellite; Jack wasn't going to deny it. He couldn't deny it even if he wanted to. It didn't matter if he answered his interrogator's questions well or not. Regardless of the outcome, he would be regarded as a criminal, Marked and sent to detention centres. That was the inevitable punishment of a Satellite resident who crossed the border and entered the City without authorisation.
Well, earlier tonight, Jack figured it was better to be imprisoned than to lose his life.
The other man took something out of his pocket and placed it on the little table beside Jack's bed. "In case that you're worried, this is your deck, completely intact. It's quite a good one, Jack Atlas."
Jack scowled.
"How did you know my name?" His own deep voice sounded almost brutal after the other man's soft intonations.
The blue-eyed man chortled. "I didn't, but one of my reporter friends did." As he spoke, he knelt down to the level of Jack's face on the bed. "You are the man they call the King of Satellite, the leader of all the most powerful duel gangs over there, Jack AtlAs. Am I correct?"
Jack stared at the other man. His mind was slowly recovering, his thoughts returning to its proper speed. When his own amethyst eyes connected with the other man's sapphire gaze again, a realisation suddenly struck him.
The blond man's eyes opened wide in shock. "Wait. You're Fudo –!"
The black-haired man nodded slowly. "Yes. I'm Fudo Yusei, the King of the City."
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Carly stood up hastily when he saw Ushio walking out of Jack's hospital room. She had driven the King here after the two of them called up Ushio, who arrived with a Security truck to deal with Jack and his D-Wheel. Yawning a little, Ushio nodded towards her.
"Nice catch, Carly. Didn't think you'd be able to recognise Jack AtlAs."
Carly beamed a smile at the tall, tanned Security officer. "I've done some coverage on Satellite. I know what the King of Satellite looks like."
"Yeah." Ushio sighed and turned to look at the room that he left with a thoughtful gaze. Carly knew what he was thinking. There seemed to be no reason for the King of the City to be meddling with such a scum.
"Carly," Ushio spoke slowly, "do you know what Yusei's up to with Jack?"
Carly was silent. She didn't want to tell Ushio what Yusei was doing in her pursuit of Aki, even if Ushio was someone who had literally grew up with the King. A few years older than Yusei, Ushio was one of the few people outside of his social circle Yusei knew as a child. The two had met during one of young Yusei's naughty excursions out of Tops, and they stayed in contact even after Yusei went through his education and Ushio became a Security officer on the rise. Ushio knew far more about Yusei and Aki than Carly, yet as a policeman Carly doubted he'd approve of Yusei's recent actions. She decided to keep quiet until a better time.
'I don't," she replied.
Ushio snorted, and turned back. "Why were you out with Yusei tonight anyways, Carly? Shouldn't he be in that party with Mikage-san and everyone else?"
"Oh. Long story." Carly was dreaded to be asked that. She knew it'd be better if Yusei explained to Ushio in person, so she left the issue as it was and changed tack. "So you were hoping to see Mikage-san instead of me when Yusei called you?"
He put up his best rough and surly look. "O – of course not!"
Carly grinned. It was pretty obvious to everyone that Ushio was having feelings for Sagiri Mikage.
"Tch. Not like she'd fall for me even if I do have the heart." Crossing his arms, Ushio sighed. "You know that all she can see is Yusei." He slumped down on the benches that lined the hospital corridor. "Sometimes it is good to be the King."
Carly sank down beside the big Security officer. She could understand.
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Jack glared at Yusei. Out of all the possibilities that he had imagined, this was the last person he had thought would welcome him into Neo Domino City.
"Surprised, Jack Atlas?" Yusei wasn't going to cut him any slack. This blond man was a criminal, a thug, an outlaw that was prepared to do anything to obtain what he wanted, and Yusei planned to treat him just as such.
Jack spatted. "Surprised? Definitely." Mockery seeped into his voice. "I never knew that my fame got the King of Riding Duels to personally greet me as soon as I'm in the City."
Yusei growled.
Jack gingerly put his weight onto his hands and worked himself into a sitting position. Bandages covered his skin. Moving around still caused a small tinge, although not as bad as when he suddenly tried to get up moments before. Yusei stood up straight too. He had left Jack's deck on the bedside table. Jack snatched it back.
"So you're a D-Wheeler, Jack Atlas?" Yusei's eyes didn't leave Jack as the latter quickly went through his deck.
"Don't think that the City is the only place with D-Wheels, Yusei." Yusei frowned at Jack's casual and rude use of his first name. Jack liked that annoyed expression on the King's face.
"And where do you get them? Theft?"
"Hmpf. As if. We have people building them too." Jack cast a quick, guarded glance at Yusei. Not that he expected the King's attitude towards Satellite to be any different.
"Cut to the point, Yusei. What are you doing holding me up here? Shouldn't you be sending me to Security as quickly as you can?"
The King took in a slow breath. "Show me your right arm."
"… What?"
Had he heard that correctly?
Jack shirked back his arm instinctively. Not many people knew about the birthmark that has been on his right arm for as long as the blond man could remember. The King of Riding Duels was definitely not someone he had expect to know about it.
"What's wrong, Jack? What's with your right arm?"
Jack glared at the other man. "Why do you want to see it?"
Yusei sighed. His patience was wearing thin. He was beginning to find this Satellite renegade more irritating by the second. "Give it up. I saw that red mark on it when I got you into the hospital."
Jack grinded his teeth and reluctantly rolled up his right sleeve.
Yusei fixed his gaze on it. There was no doubt about it; it was definitely very similar to another shape, a shape that he remembered quite well. The reddish, crimson lines on Jack's arm was of a V-shape with small spikes coming off the two arms of the V, a formation that Yusei involuntarily thought of as a pair of feathery wings. The rigid straight lines that made up the mark were just like that another shape that Yusei knew, that shape on Aki's right arm, a shape that looked distinctively like a claw.
Yusei shook his head slightly. There was no way that Aki and Jack Atlas could be related. The senator's daughter should have nothing to do with Satellite lowlifes such as him.
"You've had a good enough look?" The said lowlife growled.
Yusei gave a small nod. Jack quickly rolled his sleeves back down, covering it once again.
"You're not comfortable with it, Jack Atlas?" Yusei queried.
"That's not your problem." Jack grumbled a reply. No, he was not comfortable with it. He never was. The birthmark gave him an eerie feeling. It was as if those dark blood-shaded lines try to draw him in whenever he looked at it for too long, try to tell him of some obscure message whenever he traced his hands over it for too long. By the time that he joined the Satellite duel gangs as a youngster, Jack had already started wearing elbow-length gloves to hide that red birthmark.
Yusei watched that brief discomfort flit past Jack's face. Aki disliked her mark too, but for a different reason. He needed to question Jack.
"How long have you had that mark for, Jack Atlas?"
"It's a birthmark. I've had it ever since I was born."
Yusei frowned.
"Then have you ever experienced anything strange when you're duelling?"
"What do you mean, 'strange'?"
"For example… hints that you may have the powers of a psychic duelist?"
Jack raised his eyebrows, trying not to show his surprise. Every duelist has heard of those people with the ability to turn digital holographic projections into real existences, and most people thanked their stars that they never met such a person. What would the King mean, blurting it out like this?
"Of course not. I'm not a psychic duelist. What are you implying, Yusei? That this birthmark of mine is somehow linked to the power of those demons?"
Yusei's eyes flashed suddenly in anger. Jack instinctively stopped himself from continuing.
"Don't." Yusei's words came out as a hiss. "Say. That."
Jack's careless words brought back mountains of memories. Aki's reddish mark appeared on her arm the day that her power was first unleashed, and she had always related her powers with that mark, calling it wretched, cursed, devilish. And the way she was treated by other duelists… the way they had all called her a monster… Yusei never allowed anyone to call her that in front of his face, least of all this lowlife from Satellite.
Jack was staring intently back at him. Yusei took in a deep breath to calm himself.
"Then, Jack Atlas," he said slowly, "have you ever heard of… or met someone else who has a birthmark similar to your own?"
"… if you let me stay in the City, then I'll tell you."
Those words came out quickly from Jack's mouth. Blackmail was nothing new with Jack Atlas. He knew very well that he could be on his way to one of those detention centres infamous for their treatment of Satellite residents at first light tomorrow morning, but from what Yusei has been saying, the King of Satellite could tell that his birthmark, that red figure on his arm, meant a lot to the other man. It meant enough that he had prevented Security from locking Jack up straight away.
He was going to exploit it to his fullest advantage. If Yusei was willing to break one rule for that birthmark, Jack wouldn't mind tempting him to break another.
The blond man kept his eyes on Yusei as the latter became visibly troubled before him. However, Yusei quickly regained his composure and glared back at the Satellite resident. Blue pupils and purple irises momentarily locked their sights upon each other, one pair brimming with profound enmity, one pair veiled with resolved determination.
Pulling himself to his full height, Yusei ended this infuriating staring match.
"I'll leave you to recover, Jack Atlas."
Jack didn't reply to that. Yusei left the room without a further word, leaving Jack alone in the darkness. Jack shut his eyes and fell back onto the bed. He wanted to sleep. Regardless of the result of the bold stunt he pulled on Yusei, he still had possession of this hospital for the night. He might as well get some good quality sleep while he could still manage it.
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"… Yusei?"
The blue-eyed youth took a deep sigh as he walked out of Jack Atlas' room. He placed his fist on the wall and leaned against it dejectedly.
Carly and Ushio stood up concernedly. Carly started to walk towards Yusei, but Ushio stopped her with a look.
"So, Yusei, is this about Izayoi?"
Carly gasped at this abrupt question, and Yusei lifted up his head, alarmed. There was a brief silence, in which Ushio kept his irritated eyes on Yusei. Carly bit her lip, unsure of whether Yusei will admit to his intentions or not.
Although, what could a Satellite gangster possible have to do with the daughter of a Senator?
"Yes," at last, Yusei's steady voice broke the quietness as he pushed himself off the wall. "This is about Aki."
"I knew it." Ushio frowned. "There isn't another thing that'd get you so involved nowadays."
The Security officer's dark eyebrows tied into a knot as he advanced towards Yusei. Carly, concerned, followed behind.
"So let me get this straight. You prevented me from arresting that Satellite punk just so you can ask him something about your dead girlfriend?" Ushio stopped in front of Yusei, towering over the younger man, his frown getting darker all the time. "What's going on here, Yusei? Izayoi's already gone."
"I –" Yusei tilted his head just a little to the side, as if he was hiding from the sharp look his long-time friend was giving him. "No… listen, Ushio. I don't believe Aki is dead."
Ushio gave a dry laugh. "So the rumours floating around in the Security headquarters are true after all. You really don't believe Izayoi to be dead, and you're seriously going to search for her?"
"Ushio," Yusei stood his ground as he stared straight back at the other's face, "you know what I think about Aki. I didn't mean to breach the Security Office's authority when I brought Jack Atlas in. I simply wanted –"
"Wanted what?" Ushio interrupted Yusei. "We grew up together, Yusei. I know how your head works, which is exactly why I don't understand you. Putting aside whether she's actually alive or not, if you really cared about Izayoi as much as you do now, what did you do back during her trial? You did nothing. Why didn't you testify for her back then, when we all knew that you could?"
"Ushio, that's enough!" Carly rushed up to Yusei's defence. She knew what he was getting at. There was a time when the court wavered upon its decision on Izayoi Aki, wondering whether or not she was able to control her power at all. They had suggested Yusei to testify concerning this. If he could prove that Aki cannot control her ability and had no other choice, then her sentence may have been reduced.
But he didn't do that. He walked away from that chance to save her.
"You didn't defend Izayoi." Ushio ignored Carly. "You didn't defend her when she's alive, and now you're running all over the place for her. Tell me, Yusei, what are you planning? What is it that you're hiding?"
"I'm hiding nothing!" Yusei spat back at Ushio, barely controlling his irritation. "If you're so upset about Jack, then go ahead and lock him up!"
"You're missing the point." Ushio pointed his finger at Yusei, annoyed.
Yusei swatted Ushio's hand away. He knew he shouldn't be getting worked up over Ushio's words, but he has had about enough bad encounters for one night. Firstly Misty, then Jack, and now Ushio. He needed to get out of here and calm down by himself.
He started to walk briskly away, but Ushio wasn't in a good mood either. He called out at Yusei's receding figure.
"Since you brought up Jack Atlas, then what about him? Would you like to take responsibility for him and find somewhere for him to stay?"
Jack's taunting returned to Yusei's head together with a rush of hot blood. "I don't want anything to do with him!"
"But Yusei –" Carly started to speak.
"For God's sake, if you care about him so much, take him home yourself!"
With that final declaration of anger, Yusei disappeared down the stairway, his heavy and quick steps echoing behind. Carly was left rooted to the spot, surprised by Yusei's sudden rage. Ushio sighed and slumped his shoulders. He came up next to Carly.
"My guess is that Jack pushed our King over the edge. Don't take it to heart, Carly. He didn't mean it."
Carly gave a small nod. Ushio crossed his arm in front of his chest.
"Excuse me for saying this," the Security officer contemplated in a low voice, "but I don't think Yusei ever really understood Izayoi."
"Oh?" Carly turned questioningly to him.
"Despite their time together, he really couldn't see into her." Ushio shook his head reproachfully. "I don't think he knows what he's doing at the moment. He's just letting his emotions get the better of him. I don't like it when Yusei starts to lose his head."
"I hope he finds her quickly." Feeling even sadder for Yusei, Carly muttered.
"Do you?" Ushio shot a look at her. "Do you think he knows why he's even searching for her? Remember, Izayoi is legally dead. Even Yusei cannot do anything to change that."
"But you know how much Yusei feels for Aki-san," Carly rebuked. "He would definitely try to help her if he finds her."
Ushio and shook his head again. "I don't know. Yusei's feelings towards Izayoi had definitely changed just because she's now pronounced to be a criminal, but I don't think he realises that at all." Ushio's eyes became clouded with thoughts.
There was a brief silence. Carly forcibly coughed and changed the topic.
"So, Ushio, what are you going to do with Jack Atlas?"
"God knows." Ushio rolled his eyes. "Entering the City from Satellite without a permit is a crime. Maybe I really will put him into a detention centre ASAP."
"Even when you've already completed his immigration permission in order to get in him into this state hospital?" Carly queried. Ushio had hurriedly filled in that form after receiving Yusei's request, making Jack more or less officially able to stay in the City. The tall black-haired man must really regret having filled it out so rashly.
Ushio coughed. "Well, I am a Security officer, Carly. Jack Atlas is infamous as a gang leader in Satellite. I suppose I can always overwrite that permission if I pull some strings in the department and send Jack off again…" He drifted off. Carly knew it would be very difficult, not to mention Ushio would have to explain to his superiors why he abused his authority in the first place.
"Where's the checkout office for in-patients in this hospital?"
Carly's question jolted Ushio. He stared at her, not realising what she meant. But it soon hit him.
"You… you're not actually going to take him home, are you, Carly? You know Yusei didn't mean what he said to you, right? He was just angry – he does that when he's upset –"
Ushio was all flustered, but Carly didn't mind. For some reason, she wanted to take matters into her own hands, and not just to spite Yusei.
"I don't know why Yusei wanted to speak to Jack Atlas," she answered Ushio, "but it must be very important. Jack definitely knows something. He's wounded, so he's not at all that dangerous, and I want to know what he has to say." Through her glasses, Carly fixed her eyes on Ushio. "I care about Yusei trying to find Aki-san, so I want to help. Please, let me check Jack out of the hospital tonight, before Security hears about this and causes any more trouble."
Ushio shook his head dejectedly. "I can't believe how you reporters work these days."
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Why didn't you defend her?
That was a good question Ushio asked him.
He had no answer for that.
Because, once again, it was a question that he had avoided for some time.
Sitting in front of his table, Yusei leaned back into the chair he was sitting on, put his hands behind his head, and sighed. His window, high on the already elevated suburb of Tops, looked out over the multitudes of rooftops in which lived the more ordinary inhabitants of Neo Domino City, occasionally blocked by a soaring skyscraper standing aloof against the sky. Moonlight and starlight filtered through the glass, bringing just enough brilliance into Yusei's unlit room for the occupant to move around with ease. A memory stick was lying on the table, still displaying the article that its user read last. In that article, as expected, a familiar red-haired face was looking blankly out at the world.
Yusei's eyes left the scenery of the City and settled on Aki's picture. Within that memory stick was all the data and information that he had gathered on Aki's case, all his own speculations, all the evidence he had found in one way or another. It was undoubtedly one of his most precious possessions.
Yet Ushio had questioned the reason for its existence.
"Why… didn't I defend you?"
He muttered to himself as he picked up the memory stick and looked into her face. He missed her. Back then, even when she was away in Duel Academy or when he was out during tournaments, they could always be able to reach each other, just one phone call away. Now, her absence grated him and pained him. The King placed the memory stick back down, unwilling to look at those things for too long.
"I don't know why I didn't go to court for you." Yusei said slowly, to himself, to no one in particular. "I don't think I realised how serious everything was going to get, and by the time I knew exactly what was going on, it was too late." He shook his head softly. "Maybe I do feel guilty, maybe I am trying to make it up to you, maybe I am looking for you just because of those feelings – but most of all, Aki, I just want to see you again. I simply want to know where you really are. Is… that wrong?"
There was no answer. Not like he expected one.
Yusei's gaze fell onto his cell phone on the table. He really shouldn't have been so rude to Carly earlier tonight. She was probably asleep now. First thing tomorrow morning, he would apologise to her.
He put everything aside and made ready for bed.
After he had fallen asleep, the cell phone screen lit up briefly, eerily blue in the darkened room, then died back down into the deep night.
Hmm... I couldn't find out what those high-tech stick-like image-projecting metal rods they used in the anime are called (you know, the kind that Security uses all the time), so I just settled to call it a 'memory stick'.
The exam period is almost over, so hopefully the next chapter will be up in about 2 weeks' time. I'm going to go on holiday soon, so I'll try to do as much as I can before I go.
Any feedback on this chapter is welcome, and once again, thanks for your support ^^!
