Chapter 2

The door to the warehouse slowly and loudly opened, alerting the blonde youth and waking the two kids that occupied it. The older protectively drew the others closer to him with his one good hand. Five men entered the warehouse. From the brief glimpse Joey got out the door it told him that no-one else was out there. The men approached them, looking down they visibly sneered in disgust and malice, as their eyes shone with greed. Joey stared back defiantly. One of the men stepped forward. His presence was greater than the rest and he expelled threat. The man had a small beard, his black hair was well combed, but his twisted smirk gave away his intentions.

The man's eyes looked at each of the three in turn, and then looked at them again. Turning back to his men he addressed them in a voice that was accustomed to being obeyed.

"Who are these?" His hand vaguely gestured to Joey and Serenity "I told you to grab the boy, why have you got someone else here?" He did not raise his voice but the threat of violence still hung in the air. There was a shuffling of feet by the men but they remained silent. "Well…Hyou answer me."

The man on the far left, Hyou, shied back from his boss as he began to answer.

"Welllllllll… we were grabbin' the boy, but he bit Greg, an' called for help before we coul' knock him out. Then this guy came runnin' over" he gestured to Joey, but still continued to speak quickly. "He hit Vince an' almost knocke' out Lyon before runnin' to Greg, but then Vince grabbe' the girl an' threaten' to kill her if he didn't stop. The kid was screaming at them to run, an' he seemed to know them. Ya told us not t' leave a mess so we knoke' out the blonde an' tied up the girl with the kid. The blonde tried something when we got back so we ruffe' him up a bit and broke his arm. We didn't d' anything else 'cause we didn't know what ya wanted, that's why their here boss." During his speech the other men, Vince, Greg and Lyon had grumbled their agreement, the 'Boss' didn't move. A slow smile spread across his face. Joey did not like it.

"Very good Hyou." The man named Hyou sighed. "Kaiba will really squirm when he finds out we have his friends as well" Joey resisted the urge to scoff at the mention of Kaiba having 'friends'. The man reached out a hand; Joey was tempted to attack him but by the look on the other men's faces, that was not a good idea. The 'Boss' roughly took hold of Mokuba by the back of his shirt, yanking him away from the other two sitting forms. Joey growled low in his throat, the one called Vince stepped in front of him. His wide frame blocking Joeys view and providing a solid wall that he could not pass. Serenity whimpered, remembering how the man had gagged and tied her harshly with Mokuba in the back of a van.

Mokuba struggled and kicked but his attempts were wasted as he was hoisted into the air and came face to face with his captor. He cringed when the man sneered.

"Hey kid, awww don't be scared" tears of fright threatened to fall from Mokuba's eyes. "We won't hurt you, well… unless it's necessary." The tears began to run freely down Mokuba's face. "Don't worry about getting into trouble for being late home. We called your brother and told him you would be staying with us for a while. We're just going to use you for a while as we get what we want from Kaiba, so if you're good and quiet we may not need to kill your friends here."

He looked towards the other two captives; Serenity had tears running down his face too, Joey just growled. "You do what I say, when I say. Understand?" He shook the boy in his hands, said boy then began to nod his head violently in understanding. "Good." With that the 'Boss' threw the black haired kid towards the other two captives. Mokuba hit the ground hard, crying out in pain. Vince bent down and slapped him hard in the face.

"Boss told you to be quiet," he shouted to Mokuba as he crawled towards his friends.

"Vince, stay here and make sure the kid understands. We're going out to discuss the plan."

"Yes Boss, I'll make sure he understands" Vince watched as his boss and colleagues left. Turning back to the trio the pleasure he was getting thinking about the cruelty he was going to inflict was clear on his face. Taking a step nearer to Mokuba (who had nearly reached his friends by crawling on the ground) he harshly took hold of the boy's long hair and pulled back on it violently.

Mokuba cried out again as he was pulled back to face his soon to be tormenter. Kneeling on the ground he looked up at the largest man he had ever seen, the tears still falling freely down his cheeks.

"Now kid I'm going to teach you to obey your elders. Like all good twerps should." He drew his plate-sized fist back, savoring the moment before his pray would scream in pain, at his mercy. His brought his fist down with speed, the grin spreading over his face, as Mokuba closed his eyes.

And hit Joey squarely in the face.

Joey fell to the ground, stopping his body from hitting the concrete by using his hands. Turning his face, he moved once again in front of Mokuba and stared squarely at the man. Vince wasn't the smartest of men; his mind took over a minute to figure out what had happened and why his target wasn't screaming on the ground. When he did catch up with reality his face twisted in anger making it even uglier.

The boy he had hit was not screaming in pain, he wasn't even crying. He was staring at him, anger burning brightly in his eyes. Joey could have beaten the man, he could have knocked him out or broken his arm like they had done to him and be running down the nearest street by now, but he didn't, he couldn't. He had to protect Mokuba and Serenity, he might be able to run fast enough but they couldn't. He needed a way to get them out, but until then he would protect them with everything he had.

Vince remembered what the youth he was looking at had done, he had come running to the boys help and kicked him in the stomach so hard he had been doubled up and gasping for air. He could even feel the bruise that had formed. Vince's anger increased.

"How dare you, guess I'll have to teach you a lesson as well" the look that Joey gave him at that sentence made Vince falter. Such burning anger and conviction, it made the youths brown amber eyes hard and threatening. Feeling scared Vince did the only thing he knew how to, he got defensive. "Fine you want to be a hero; you can take the boys punishment instead." Joey mentally sighed, glad that his plan had worked and Mokuba was safe for now. He braced himself for the beating that was about to come.

Vince threw punches at him, hitting him hard and quickly, a few went to his face before he fell to the ground and then the man knelt down to throw punches at Joey's stomach. Grabbing the blondes shaggy mess of hair, Vince smashed him into nearby create. Joey didn't make a sound, not even a whimper. He remembered all the times he had previously been beaten and had slipped into a place where pain didn't existed. The beating continued for a few minutes and ended with the man stepping on his broken arm, causing it to snap again with an audible crack. The two kids were crying out as they watched their brother and friend take a beating to protect them.

Fire burned in his arm straight to Joey's brain, but he ignored it. Vince spat on him before walking off towards the closed warehouse door. He was disappointed and a little bit scared. The blonde kid had taken one of the worst beatings he had ever given out (without using a blade) and he hadn't made a sound. The youth's eyes were still ablaze with determination and the passion of protecting his sister and friend. Vince shuddered, people like that weren't normal and he didn't like it when he couldn't predict his prays reactions.

Opening the door, he found his colleagues in the large car, ready to leave. His Boss was in the very back of the 7 seater talking on the phone, presumably to his own Boss, who had hired him to carry out the job of kidnapping the kid. Lyon was behind the wheel, Hyou and Greg behind him, leaving a seat next to the driver. Vince got in, the Boss nodded to him; he nodded back signalling he had carried out his task. They drove off into the night, leaving their three captives once again in the locked warehouse.

Joey spat the blood out of his mouth after he heard the click of the heavy door locking. Sitting up he felt the sting of the bruises over his body, his arm had gone numb and he could no longer feel or move in at all.

"Brother!" "Joey!" Mokuba and Serenity called out as they rushed to Joey's side. The two kids looked at him with worried eyes and tearstained faces. Kneeling down by Joey, they were hesitant to embrace him in case they caused him any more pain. Joey gave them one of his million-dollar smiles. Relaxing them slightly.

"Yeah I'm fine. It looks worse than it feels." His tone was light and not even the most doubtful person would have suspected the worries and plans that were swimming around in his head. "Are ya ok Mokuba? He didn't hit ya t' hard" serious for a moment Joey turned his attention to the young Kaiba. A big bruise was forming on his face. Reminding Joey of what he had done to his elder brother earlier that day at school. The tall brunettes' words had struck a buried cord in Joey's memory, causing him to strike out blindly and walk away feeling ashamed of his actions. The whole incident felt like a lifetime ago.

"I'm fine; you should worry about your self." A short time passed.

"Brother I'm thirsty? It's cold too" Serenity softly asked her brother. They were back under the blanket but the warehouse seemed to get colder by the second.

"I'm sorry Serenity. I don't hav' anything on me. Hav' this." Joey shrugged of his green jacket and draped it over the small girl.

"But you'll freeze."

"Nah, I'll be fine" he assured her.

"What if we don't get anything to eat? What if they let us starve?" The girl suddenly cried, sounding almost hysterical. Scaring her brother and the boy next to her.

"They won't, they won't. They need us alive t' get what they want from Kaiba, so they won't let us die." 'And I'll make sure they don't hurt you either' Joey added to himself "Now you and Mokuba should go to sleep." Joey stated in a tone that meant he would hear no arguments. Beginning to hum softly, the two children closed their eyes and gently drifted to sleep.

Joey did not sleep however. He was planning on how to get the two kids out. A plan that had so many loopholes and so many risks it was almost suicidal, especially for him. But it was a plan and would mean Mokuba and Serenity would be safe, so he was going to try. For outside of the warehouse, close to the door, he had seen a manhole cover.