Author's Note: I apologize for not putting any Yu-Gi-Oh! characters into this particular chapter, but I promise that you will be seeing a lot more of Seto and your other favorites in the later chapters. Speaking of which, I just wrote the outline for the finale duel. I still don't have the finale completely written, but at least the tedious part is over and I can get on with the fun part *happy dance*
Music Lovers Alert: If you like to listen to music while you read, I recommend "East Tennessee" by David Rovics. Most of the lyrics have nothing to do with this story, but the chorus is really catchy.
Chapter 4 Evacuation
Joan materialized in her own room at Rakitan Industries. She hastily grabbed a few precious belongings and stuffed them in a backpack. Then, she ran out the door to alert the others to what just happened. She bumped into Tam in the hallway and said, "Tell everyone to meet by the truck now. Have them take only what they can carry. I'll take the West wing, you take the East wing. Go!"
Tam nodded and sprinted off to the far end of the complex. She knew from the tone of Joan's voice that this was not a drill. She went door-to-door, clearing the Noelites out of their quarters and waking those who were still sleeping. As the number of alert Noelites grew, Tam found that her job became easier. They roused each other and all Tam had to do was herd them down the hall. Before long, everyone gathered at the Class 8 truck.
Joan mounted a stock of spare tires and spoke to her people. "We have just been betrayed by a supporting member. The details will be made clear to you later, but right now we must abandon this place. Tulip will be your navigator, and he will find a safe place for you. Now go! The authorities may be here any second."
The Noelites started climbing into the trailer in an orderly fashion, but Trevor turned to Joan. "Aren't you coming with us?" he asked.
"Tam and I are going to detonate some explosives to destroy all evidence that we have been working with Kaiba Corp. Now go! We'll be right behind you."
Trevor gave Joan quick kiss before hopping into the trailer. A few of Joan and Tam's lovers made moves to leave the truck in order to do the same, but Joan yelled, "Get yourselves to safety, damn it!"
Penguin slammed the trailer doors shut from the inside and the truck pulled out of the garage.
Tam and Joan dashed to the Action team's practice grounds and grabbed all the explosive material they could find, which was not much. Joan then went to the Information room while Tam went to the Rakitan Industries office. Tam yanked the sword collection off the wall and planted explosives on the place where the security camera was located and on the computer. Luckily, Kaiba had voluntarily removed all the other surveillance cameras he had placed around the Noelite facility nine months ago. Tam ran back to the garage and plopped the ancient swords in the trunk of Noel's hybrid getaway vehicle next to Joan's backpack. Joan joined her a few seconds later.
"Ready?" Tam asked.
"Ready!" responded Joan.
Tam hit the detonator, and the two of them tore away from the building as two sections of it burst into flame. With any luck, the fire would be large enough to destroy everything that the Noelites didn't want the authorities to find.
"Hey Tam, what would happen if an airplane smashed into Rakitan Industries?" Joan wondered.
"That depends on where it hit."
"What if it got Information?"
"You mean before or after we set off the explosives?"
"Before"
Tam thought for a moment. As she did, a squadron of police cars with blaring sirens passed them heading in the opposite direction. Apparently they had left just in time. Then Tam said, "If an airplane hit Rakitan Industries, even in the Information room… It's a good thing we set off those explosives when we did, because a jet-fuel fire like that would have caused too much confusion for us to destroy everything properly. Something might have survived, and the office would have been completely untouched. By the way, why exactly are we on the run?"
"I think we've been framed. Six hundred people died today, and they're pinning the blame on us."
"How?"
"You know, that's the funny thing. I saw it happen with my own eyes, but there's something missing. It just doesn't feel right."
Joan explained what she saw to Tam, and then the two of them drove on in contemplative silence, trying to make sense of what had transpired.
Closing Note: I told you that it would be an explosive tale, didn't I? I mean this on multiple levels: physical, emotional, magical, and biological (yes, the gratuitous sex scenes are coming eventually).
Call For Reviews: Just for fun, I'd like to see you all guess who is going to duel in the finale. Hint: there will be four people dueling.