Chapter Six
"I am so sorry." David apologised as he and Anathema left the cafe at a fast pace. "It's all my fault. Stupid, stupid watch!"
"It's okay, don't blame yourself." She assured whilst watching him trying to get the timepiece working once more. The battery in it had died, so the alarm he'd set to alert them of when it was time to head back to their course hadn't sounded. Now they were almost ten minutes deferred from what they had planned. "We've still got a bit of time before lunch is over. If we hurry we can still make it."
Their pace quickened and soon became a jog in the hope of recouping some of the time that had been lost. Having barely gone just a few hundred metres a car pulled up to the curb a short distant in front of them.
"Look's like I could be in for the biggest reprimanding of my life." The boy muttered as he saw the vehicle and then explained, "It's my father."
The passenger side window lowered and the grey haired man with dark thick eyebrows and moustache leant across to converse with his child. "What you doing out here Son? Aren't you supposed to be participating in that Duel Monsters course today?"
"I am. Me and my friend here are just returning from our lunch break."
"Would you two like a ride back there?"
David turned to the girl beside him and wore a grin which told her that they'd be able to make it back to the campus on time after all, and if they didn't mention the fact that they were currently running late, he would escape the rebuking too. "Sure; thank you Father."
Anathema watched as the back door of the car was held open for her to enter. Her dad had warned her many times as a young child that she must never get into a vehicle belonging to someone whom she didn't know. But this was the father of the boy she'd befriended so that didn't count right? She'd be in no danger and the journey wouldn't take long. Dad doesn't need to know about this.
Once both of them were seated and buckled in, the car began to move.
"Aren't you going to introduce me to this lovely young lady?"
"Sorry Father, this is Anathema; Anathema, this is my father."
"It's nice to meet you Mr. Willis." She beamed back feeling slightly embarrassed at having been referred to as a 'young lady' by someone whom she wasn't familiar with.
"My name's not Willis." He told her. His friendly tone had vanished from his voice and now sounded like it contained a trace of hostility. "Would you care to guess again?"
Had she offended the man driving them? She certainly hadn't meant to. Not quite sure what else his surname could be as she'd assumed it was the same as her friend's, she turned to David with a pleading look for help.
"Did I forget to mention that my father is quite famous?" He smirked but offered no further help to identify his old man.
Her view turned back to take another glance of the man's face via the mirror hanging in front of the windscreen. It was no good, his appearance didn't ring a bell. "I'm sorry sir, forgive my ignorance, but I'm afraid that I don't know who you are."
"Oh you'll be afraid alright." The driver sneered and manoeuvred his vehicle in a completely different direction to the campus they were supposed to be returning too. "Don't you recognise your own grandfather?"
"Grandfather?" She muttered aloud her confusion. This had to be some kind of sick joke, her grandfather was dead. Although her dad had mentioned him on a couple of rare occasions,- and described the man in question as evil incarnate,- she hadn't actually known what he looked like. "That's not possible! You can't be him! He's dead!"
"Not from where we're from he's not." David jeered as he placed a noose over their victim to tightly secure her arms by her sides.
"LET ME GO!" Anathema screamed as she struggled and kicked the seat in front of her before then being gaged and bound with more rope as the boy worked fast to subdue her. She hadn't expected or even momentarily considered her dad's warnings of being kidnapped to ever come true, especially by a man claiming to be her deceased grandfather and a friend whose betrayal had cut like a knife; swift, precise and deep.
888888888888888888888888888888888
Seto stormed down the corridor as he approached the lecture theatre where the class was being held. In his wake Jack and Keiko swiftly followed. Not wasting a single second since the Welshman's conclusion and unable to contact Anathema since her cell phone was switched off, the three of them had hopped back to Domino in search of the girl before it was too late. For once I pray that Yan is wrong about something.
The doors were flung open and thundered as they hit the inside walls of the huge room. Everyone's attention,- including that of the two teenagers in mid duel and their teacher grading them,- was drawn to the dramatic arrival of the three unexpected visitors. Excited murmurs began to spread like wildfire amongst the students in relation to the appearance of one of the greatest duelists having gatecrashed their induction course.
"What is the meaning of this?" Alexis demanded regardless of who it was standing before her.
"I'm here for my daughter." The CEO stated as his eyes scanned the room trying to locate her.
"She's not here." The blonde shot back at him just as bluntly as she had been spoken too. "And I have to say that I'm greatly disappointed she chose to skip class along with a handful of others who have also decided that they are above my teachings."
"That doesn't sound like Anathema." Jack informed the fearless woman whilst his friend silently seethed and struggled to keep his emotions under control. Stay calm Seto, don't take it out on this beautiful lady.
"When and where did you last see her?" His voice was now more civil after having a moment to compose himself. It wasn't as if she had been aware of what was happening and understood his situation.
"Around two hours ago when I discharged the class for lunch. Some of my students have informed me that they saw her leave campus with a boy she'd befriended."
"What boy?" His eyes narrowed attentively.
Alexis hesitated for a moment. She wasn't permitted to go giving out details about her pupils to just anyone but knew he'd only find another way to uncover the request if she didn't comply. Perhaps a name would be enough to suffice? "David Willis. Anathema was helping to teach him what she knows about Duel Monsters."
The name meant nothing to Seto but still he was grateful for her cooperation and expressed this via a bow of the head gesture. He at least now had something to work from, even though it was exceedingly minuscule. "I apologise for the intrusion. If my daughter reappears before we are able to find her ourselves, please have her contact me immediately."
"Of course."
The CEO turned and exited the lecture theatre with Keiko close on his heels. However, Jack still remained where he was as he continued to gape at the beautiful blonde. "I do believe we have the misfortune of not being introduced to each other." A grin was flashed from that Cheshire cat smile. And he extended his hand. "Captain Jack Harkness at your service ..."
"JACK!" His friend's voice boomed back down the corridor. "Don't make me come back there!"
"Gotta go." The captain excused himself with a sheepish smile as he withdrew his hand and backed out of the doorway. He hurried along the hall to catch up with the other two. "Sorry, you know how distracted I get with pretty faces." His words might as well have gone unspoken as the younger man was in mid conversation with the rest of his team via the concealed comms unit in his ear.
"... CCTV cameras from two hours ago. Joey, I want you to run a search on a boy by the name of David Willis."
"I don't do the techy stuff, that's Becky and Ryou's area."
"Wheeler please, just do your best." He'd meant to come across as the voice of authority but ended up sounding more of a plead as the concern for his daughter seeped through into his tone. "We need to find her."
"Aye-aye boss!"
"Seto, before you go, I've gotten the first images from the campus' surveillance system. It shows Anathema leaving the grounds and heading east with the boy willingly; there's no sign of her being taken against her will."
"Keep tracking them Becky, and let me know once you have their current location."
"Will do."
He remained silent as they exited the building and thought of their next course of action. They couldn't just stand around doing nothing so would head east in an attempt to get a head start on finding the missing girl.
"We'll find her." Keiko assured as she'd had plenty of experience regarding her brother's blank expressions and roaming thoughts. "They can't have gone far." She received a halfhearted smile as she trotted beside him.
"Ya know, maybe there isn't anything wrong here. Okay, so she skipped class; big whoop, most kids do that kind of thing at least once. " Jack was given an icy glare for having suggested such a thing. He'd been pretty skeptical from the start with not having any solid evidence to go on, usually it was the other who'd be the first to dismiss such notions. Meeting the disgruntled look he continued, "I think the thing that's eating you right now is the fact that she left with a boy. Anathema's almost thirteen. Face it Seto, she's not going to be playing with dollies and Duel Monsters cards all her life. She's going to develop her own interests and curiosities … "
"That's my daughter you're talking about." He growled irritatedly and came to a standstill with the captain mimicking his stance. "This has nothing to do with her maturing beyond childhood! Finding out about Gozaburo and her disappearance is too much for it to be just a coincidence. Something is wrong here Jack, I can sense it."
"That's called parental instinct." A voice sounded from down a side street as a man sporting a bowtie casually swaggered forward towards them. "You'll find that it's hardly ever wrong. The statistic of it being so is 3.1415926..."
"You idiot, that's not a statistic, that's the numerical value of pi!"
"Aha, you've still got your head about you even though you're overwrought. That's great, truly marvellous in fact ..."
"What do you want?" Seto drawled tiredly at the giddy newcomer now wringing his hands.
"You really ought to work on your greetings. Still, I guess it's better than being manhandled in a bush."
"You know this guy?" Jack asked his friend cynically.
"Yes, as do you."
I do? The captain squinted as he took a closer look and desperately tried to recall the young man before him. It was no good, he couldn't place the face. Unless…? "Doctor? Is that you?"
"It's me." He beamed.
"You regenerated!" Jack laughed. He lunged at the timelord and hugged him tightly leaving the other barely able to breathe. As he enjoyed the reunion, a thought dawned on him. You regenerated? Loosening his hold he stepped back and stared harshly at the CEO. "He regenerated, you knew, and didn't tell me?!"
"Don't blame me because your so-called friend didn't inform you himself!"
Sensing the tension that was building, the Doctor aimed to move things along and held his hand out towards the young woman he'd not seen before. "Hello there, I'm the Doctor. Don't say 'Doctor Who'; that's getting old now, even older than me almost. I'm just 'the Doctor'."
"I'm Keiko." She engaged in his enthusiastic handshake.
"Ah, how lovely! The last time I saw you, you were ..." He made several unsure and reconsidering hand gestures before he abandoned trying to attempt a guess at how big she had been. "Well actually you were still in your mother's belly."
Wrong Keiko. Seto kept the mix up that had been made to himself. He witnessed a confused look on his sister's face as she tried to figure out what the man,- who was surely the same age as herself?,- had meant.
"So, what kind of mess are we dealing with now?"
"We?" The CEO snorted. "I don't need you to sort out my troubles Doctor."
"Clearly you do." He shot back. "That's got to be why the TARDIS brought me here. I'm beginning to think that she's got a fixation over you too; first my wife and now my time machine..."
"Excuse me, did you say wife?!" The captain jumped in with his exclamation.
Seto rolled his eyes. "I'll leave you both to chat amongst yourselves." He moved away from the two men and spoke to his team via the comms once more. "How's that search going Joey?"
"I'm still Googling the name you gave me."
"You Googled?" His head sank into the palm of his hand. They had superior programmes and technology at their disposal and the mutt had chosen such a primitive way to do things? At least he's trying. He let out a sigh. "Okay, give me what you've got."
"Nothing useful I'm afraid. Only a couple of thousand social media accounts. Various wiki articles on voice actors, musicians, writers, etc. Some guy wanting to sell me health insurance. A Transformers blog ..."
"Seto, I've news I think you should hear!" Becky's voice sounded. She continued with her findings without waiting for confirmation to do so. "I've uncovered footage of Anathema and the boy getting into a car, and you'll never guess who's driving it."
"Please tell me it's not Gozaburo."
"I'm sorry Seto."
His insides flipped and eyes widened before he demanded, "Where are they now?"
"I'm tracking the car as we speak. I'll text you the coordinates as soon as I get their location."
The comm link connection was canceled and in a blind fit of rage and frustration, Seto lashed out to punch the wall of the building beside him. I'll kill him! I'll fucking kill him for taking her!
"Is it bad news?" Keiko asked as she and the two men approached him.
"He's got Anathema." It was all Seto could muster as he began to blame himself for his daughter's kidnapping. I was supposed to protect her and I failed.
"I'm sorry for having doubted you." Jack apologised as he saw the despair creeping on his friend's face.
"See, what did I tell you about parental instinct? Hardly ever wrong." The Doctor chimed. He received the resentful glare he'd come to expect from the CEO and dropped all further intentions of making light of the situation. "Going by what I overheard earlier, I take it that 'he' is Gozaburo, but would you kindly explain to me as to what he is doing here and now?"
Seto's phone alerted him to the text message from Rebecca and he wasted no time in viewing it. "We act now, I'll answer all questions later." He told the timelord before holding up the screen for Jack to see. "You got that?"
"Yep." The captain hurriedly entered the coordinate details into his vortex manipulator.
"You take the Doc, I'll take Keiko." The details were also entered into the hopper. Hold on Kiddo, I'm coming for you.