Disclaimer: Same as before.
Dissimulatio
"Please, why don't one of you explain to me why we're missing an entire vehicle, and I was just faxed a bill for-" He looked at the piece of paper in his hand, "a fire hydrant, two mailboxes, and a 4-by-12 foot storefront window!" Moon asked, glaring at the two blue-eyed brunettes.
"It wasn't our fault." Kaiba replied, glaring right back at his superior.
Tristan, Duke, Tea, and Kaiba were sitting at the dining table in the Lounge for their debriefings. Team Blue had just had theirs, and now it was team Red's turn. Their boss, Moon, was currently standing at the front of the table, looking like he wanted to punch something. He was a tall man with long silky silver hair, which he wore down, and ice blue eyes, in his late twenties. Normally, he had a kind and lighthearted air about him, despite his role as their superior. Today however, he was feeling less than jovial, obvious from the frown covering his handsome features.
"Did I say it was your fault?" Moon asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
Kaiba's expression remained unchanged. "The tone of your voice implies that you think it was our fault."
"Then like I said, explain to me what did happen." Moon shot back, visibly restraining himself from strangling Kaiba.
Tea and Kaiba looked at each other for a moment before saying at once, "He stole our car."
"What! Who?" Moon's anger quickly fizzled into surprise.
"Eric Stevenson. The brother. Turns out he wasn't kidnapped by Caliphs, he was a gopher for his supposed kidnappers' boss." Tea replied, laying her head in her hands.
Observing them, Moon couldn't help but notice how exhausted the two of them looked, even after nearly fourteen hours rest. Tea and Kaiba both had dark circles under their eyes, Tea had a small cut above her right eyebrow, and he could have sworn Seto had been limping when they'd gotten back yesterday afternoon. He sighed. Why couldn't he ever manage to stay angry with these damn kids!
"So did you tell Greg that Eric was okay?" Moon asked them, uncrossing his arms.
Kaiba snorted. "In a way, yes. We left him on Greg's doorstep in a bloody heap. I'm sure Greg will put two and two together."
Tea smacked Kaiba's arm. "We did not!" She looked up at Moon, panicked. "He was barely even bruised!"
Moon's jaw dropped. "You beat him up?"
Kaiba gave him a look, as if asking, are you crazy? "Did you not hear us? He stole our car and crashed it into a building. Of course he looks like he just got mauled. The idiot's lucky we didn't kick his ass anyway." Kaiba leaned back in his chair, scowling.
Moon looked at Tea. "Who did Eric work for?"
Tea gave him a weak smile. "Ornfur of the Caliphs. He recognized us about a second before he ordered his men to rip us to shreds." The smile slipped from her face. "We got lucky."
Moon nodded solemnly. "Good old Ornfur. Thank God we still have some allies left."
Duke made a scoffing noise, the first sign that he had even been listening to Tea and Kaiba's debriefing. "Ally. More like acquaintance by default. The Caliphs wouldn't give a damn unless Yugi and Joey hadn't accidentally rescued Ornfur's son."
Moon shot Duke a scathing look. "Then I guess it's a good thing they saved him." He intoned in a cold voice.
Before Duke could reply, Tea cleared her throat, effectively dissipating the building tension in the room. "So anyway, Eric owed Ornfur some money and he had to get it in 3 days, or Ornfur would have him killed. One of Ornfur's men-"
Duke tsked.
Ignoring him, Tea continued, "One of his men told me that Eric had been badmouthing one of Ornfur's rival bosses, and the rival syndicate got wind of it." She looked at Kaiba. "That's why he freaked out and stole our car in the first place. He thought we were with them."
"Why would he think you were with some rival gang if you were human too?" Tristan asked, raising an eyebrow.
A dark look briefly passed over Moon's face, but none of his young employees seemed to notice.
Kaiba grimaced. "Clearly he's not the brightest crayon in the box."
"So what about Eric's debt to Ornfur? Is his beloved demon boss just gonna let it go?" Duke asked, a false cheerfulness in his voice.
Tea glared at him. "No. Actually, his brother Greg is gonna pay it off for him, as long as Eric promises to tell him from now on what kind of shady things he's up to. I feel bad for Greg though. The poor guy not only finds out that the things he thought were in his closet at night when he was a kid exist, but also his own brother works for them." Tea sighed, propping up her chin in her hand on the table.
"Well, as long as you got Eric back to Greg, and you guys are all right, I guess it was a successful mission...technically. ...All right then, Red, Blue, you're dismissed." Moon mock frowned at Tea and Kaiba. "And don't worry about the car. The organization will buy a new one...as usual." He muttered, walking towards the silver elevator. "You guys and Yellow have the day off, so enjoy it while you can." And with those parting words, their employer was gone, whisked away in his super-duper elevator to whatever it was he did on the fourth floor.
"Hey guys! How'd your missions go? Yugi told me something weird happened with yours." A short, gray-eyed boy with long wild black hair asked Tristan and Duke, trotting out of the Enterstrangement room.
"Hey Mokuba. Yeah, ours didn't go too well. And Tea and your brother destroyed their car on theirs." Tristan replied, grinning.
Kaiba glared at Tristan from across the table. "We didn't destroy it. Our so-called target did." Kaiba turned to look at his younger brother, smiling faintly. "What have you been up to lately, kiddo? Anything happen while we were gone?"
Mokuba hopped into the seat in-between Tea and Kaiba at the table. "Well... Joey taught me some new vocabulary words... Oh! And Yugi's ankle is all healed, so he and Joey can go out into the field again." He turned to Tea. "And Miho called over the video-link, so I told her you were on a mission, and would get back to her. She seemed kinda anxious or something."
Miho was a member of the Japanese division of Dissimulatio, and she and Tea had been long-distance friends since Miho had visited the American branch several years ago.
At the mention of Miho's name, Tristan's eyes lit up with interest. "Miho called, huh? Did she say anything about me?" He asked, trying to sound casual and failing miserably.
Everyone else at the table, including Kaiba, rolled their eyes.
Duke smirked at his partner's lack of tact when it came to girls. "Dude. She hardly even knows your name. I doubt she even remembers what you look like." He stopped a moment, thinking. "Which is probably a good thing, considering the last time she saw you your voice sounded like a squawking parrot, and you still thought girls had cooties."
Tea snickered. "Oh, she remembers him all right. Every once in a while, she asks me if 'that boy who ruined her shoes' is still here. She'll never forgive you for that, you know." said Tea, sending Tristan a sympathetic look.
"Hey! I thought we'd agreed not to ever mention that again!" The hazel-eyed boy flushed, embarrassed.
Kaiba smirked at him from across the table. "Oh, that's right. We're only supposed to talk about it when you're notin the room."
Tristan's reply was cut off however, when two figures pounded up the stairs, one short with multicolored hair, the other a taller shaggy haired blond.
"Hi guys! How did your mission go?" Yugi asked Tea and Kaiba, a bright smile on his face as he flopped down on one of the sofas a few feet away.
"Actually-" Tea started.
"Actually, we're tired of talking about it, if you don't mind." Kaiba interrupted in a flat tone.
Joey took a seat beside Yugi. "What's wrong Kaiba, you screw it up or somethin'? Wave your gun at da wrong person? A little old lady, maybe?"
Joey and Kaiba were constantly at each other's throats, to the chagrin of everyone. At times, it seemed the two would purposely piss each other off, just so they could have another chance to argue.
Mokuba glared at Joey. He couldn't understand why the blond teenager was so rude to his brother. "No. You're more likely to do that than my brother, Joey."
Joey flinched, not used to such a venomous tone coming from Mokuba. Why'd he always gotta go and open his big mouth? "You're right Mokuba, I'm sorry. I'm just goin' stir crazy sittin' here all day an' all night with just dis gimp ta keep me company." He grinned sheepishly at Mokuba, seeking his forgiveness.
"Hey! I'm not a gimp!" Yugi said, pretending to sound offended. "At least I bother to actually throw away the jug after I've drank all the milk, instead of just putting it back in the fridge for somebody else to find! Your arm isn't broken, and neither is the trash can." Yugi jokingly admonished.
"I don't know what you're talkin' about." Joey replied, sounding deadly serious, but wasn't able to hide the grin creeping onto his face.
Rolling his eyes, Tristan stood up from the table. "Well I'm bored. You guys wanna catch a movie? Moon said we've got the day off."
"Yeah! That sounds good. Something funny, right?" Mokuba asked, jumping out of his chair and running to the computer console to check running times at the theatre. He always jumped at the opportunity to feel useful.
"Of course." Kaiba replied, standing as well. "Do you even have to ask?"
Tea stood and stretched. "I think there's some new romantic-comedy out starring-"
"A chick flick! No way. Teen-sex-comedy for sure." Duke interrupted, rolling his shoulders after standing.
"We are not taking my brother to a teen-sex-comedy." Kaiba snarled, daring Duke to argue.
"Here's one!" Mokuba looked up at them from the computer screen. "It's computer-generated, but I've heard it's really funny. Should be worth the... 70 bucks." Mokuba finished, grimacing.
Tea smiled. "Money is no object here, Mokuba. You know that. What do you guys think?" She asked surveying the group.
Various noises of agreement were uttered.
"Great! The next show starts at 3:00. It's almost 2:30, so we'd better hurry if we want good seats." Mokuba said, leaving the console and rushing to the garage exit.
Yugi followed, and checked his watch. "Gosh! You're right. We'd better go now. Should we take a van or a few of the cars?" He asked the group as they headed towards Mokuba as well.
"How 'bout you guys take a van, and I take a cycle?" Mokuba asked innocently, swiping his card, causing the door to slide open.
"How 'bout not." Kaiba and Joey both replied at the same time. There was an awkward silence, but neither refused to acknowledge that the other had said anything.
"Let's just take a van. I swear I've spent half my adolescence in those damn cars, doing nothing." Tristan muttered, heading towards a large, fancy looking black SUV.
"I'll drive!" Joey announced, trying to push past Tristan to get to the driver's seat.
"NO!" Everyone else yelled, sending the word echoing around the concrete garage, muting the swish of the door to the inner compound as it closed behind them.
"Tch. Fine. Tristan, you drive, but I get da aisle seat at the theatre." Joey pouted, taking shotgun instead.
Once everyone was loaded in, Tristan hit the button on the steering wheel that opened the garage door, but only worked from the inside. As the van moved out onto the street, a suspicious rumbling sound was heard, followed by poorly muffled laughter.
"JOEY!" Several people in the van shouted, their disgust obvious.
"What? It's a perfectly normal bodily function. Would ya rather me explode? Cause that's what happens if ya hold it in. Kaboom!"
"Oh shut up, Joey, and roll down a window before I start gagging. You're disgusting." Tea moaned, holding her nose.
Sitting beside his brother, Mokuba looked up at Kaiba. "Is that true Seto? That you explode if you don't-"
"No, Mokuba." Kaiba replied, shaking his head. Then he remembered something. "And what were those words you said Joey taught you while Tea and I were on our mission?"
Mokuba's eyes lit up in excitement. "Oh, those? Well, did you know that another word for rooster is..."
Kaiba had threatened to hang Joey by his own intestines after Mokuba had finished listing off all the filthy new words he'd added to his vocabulary. Thankfully, Joey hadn't explained why those words weren't widely used, so Mokuba wasn't aware that he'd been corrupted. Kaiba could only hope that he'd be so lucky the next time he was away on a mission.
"Hey Mokuba, ya forgot ta mention da other word for cat!"
"Wheeler! I'm warning you!"
And so, they were off to see a comedy at the local movie theatre. Unsurprisingly, comedies were the only types of movies they would watch together. They each had more than enough drama and horror in their real lives to keep them entertained.
Author's Notes: Yeah, they called an SUV a van. Because SUV is a stupid name, and just the sound of it makes me angry. (It's a car not a spaceship!) Now that the main team is introduced, I can get to the actual plot. For the record, "Moon" is really a character named "Tenma Gekkou" whose last and first names roughly translate as "evil spirit; demon", and "moonlight; moonbeam", respectively. He's one of the new characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh R manga, and he has a twin brother named "Tenma Yakou" which means "evil spirit; demon", and "night train; night travel". Since I'm going by the dub names and the YGO R manga has no dub, I adapted the names as best I could think while still keeping them somewhat realistic. I hope that those of you who care one way or the other are satisfied with the name changes, and I guarantee that the name of "the evil twin" won't be "Evil Spirit Travelling By Night". Also, this whole fic is a result of taking what's there and twisting it, so expect a rather complicated relationship between these two brothers, and a certain eccentic billionaire who has an obsession with Funny Bunny. As always, thanks for reading, and please review.
