Fate Map
By Alecto Perdita
Chapter 6 - Identity
Rating: PG-13
Posted: April 7, 2012
Rebecca was woken up by a series of high-pitched beeps. She must have fallen asleep in front of her computer. She shoved her glasses back up the bridge of her nose and poked herself hard between the eyes. After her eyes finally stopped watering, she searched for the source of the alarm across five different desktop monitors.
She just couldn't catch a break today.
Not soon after returning to her apartment and after dropping Amane and Honda off, she was alerted to the perimeter breach at the group's main safehouse at Domino Pier. She managed to catch the last moments before the security feed was cut to see the KaibaCorp security forces. The rest of the afternoon was lost in a flurry of moving their databases several times, erasing the subsequent packet trail across twenty different servers in four continents, and cooking up a new host of proxy protocols.
By the time she was confident that Kaiba Corp wouldn't be able to get anything useful out of the safehouse computers, or worse, trace back to her, it was almost 4:30 in the afternoon.
It was now 5:30 PM.
Rebecca finally located the source. Her search program had flagged a detainment order just submitted to KC's security firm. She didn't have to scroll down far before finding the trigger for the alert.
"Shit!" she exclaimed.
She pulled up two new windows. In one, she fired off a coded warning to their current imageboard home. But there was no telling if any of the others would get the warning in time. In the other window, she piggybacked onto an American telecom satellite to see if she could locate them via the chip Kaiba implanted in each of the holo-emitters. Each second it took for the satellite to triangulate their locations was an agonising eternity of waiting.
Her heart dropped to the bottom of her stomach. She was too late. Ryou, Yuugi, and Sugoroku had already been detained at the checkpoint designated in the order form. The others were about 30 miles behind them.
Her computers screeched again—they had flagged yet another order.
KaibaCorp was sending a helicopter to pick them up for transfer to an unknown and secure facility. They were going to be nearly impossible to find if they were shuffled back into the company's detainment system.
Rebecca unlocked and yanked out the second drawer in her desk. There were three equally sized compartments inside. One contained a pile of cellphones, all different models and from different manufacturers—these were her burner phones. The other two housed stacks of pre-paid calling cards and SIM cards respectively.
She wrestled momentarily with inserting a new SIM card into the first phone she grabbed, a purple Nokia. Before calling, she sent a string of pre-determined numbers via text.
After five rings, someone picked up on the other line, "What are you doing, Big Bang?"
It was Jounouchi.
"Ryou, Yuugi, and Sugoroku have been captured. You need to get the next checkpoint ASAP!"
-x-x-x-
All betaforms were born with the knowledge that they weren't really human. It was one of the few things KaibaCorp had managed to get to stick in their brief flirtation with genetic memory. Extrapolating from the fact that they weren't born from any womb or even aged naturally (at least not at first), it was easy for most to infer their actual origins. They were genetically engineered, mixed in a test tube, and raised by scientists. 275 didn't know what happened to the betaforms that couldn't handle the reality of their existence, but he had some pretty good ideas.
Rationally, he knew the possibility from the first moment Noah showed him Mutou Yuugi's photo. But it hadn't clicked until he saw his donor for the first time—that he may have blood relatives in this world. Mutou Yuugi also had a father, a mother, a grandfather, and maybe even aunts, uncles, and cousins. If 275 was cloned from Yuugi, what did that make his relationship with his sire? Was Yuugi his brother? Or even his father?
But that road only led to more questions. Yuugi and he had the same phenotype, but all similarities could end there. His ability to read and compel minds was imparted to him by the scientists; he did not inherit them from Yuugi. Other tweaks may have altered his genetic profile further until those similarities were nothing more than mere flukes.
268 and he loaded their prisoners onto the helicopter with the large "KC" logo painted on the side. If 268 refused to sedate them, 275 was going to keep his gun trained on them the entire ride. Within the last twenty minutes, each of the three prisoners had mentally considered and discarded a total of thirty-two ways to escape. 275 knew they weren't going to stop trying.
275 could barely hear his partner's conversation with headquarters over the sound of the rotors. The secure containment unit was about ten minutes away by air. Once Mutou Yuugi was captured, 275 would also have to return to his cell.
He reached up and caressed the collar around his neck. Only he wasn't sure he was ready.
When he first looked into his sire's eyes, reality itself expanded. His senses sharpened with the realization that there was so much he didn't understand.
Especially about himself.
-x-x-x-
The entire vehicle shook suddenly as the nose dipped. Without seatbelts, Yuugi spent entire seconds suspended before gravity righted itself. The sound of crunching metal was followed by another quake. Hovering in the helicopter's path was a large avian xeno. Amane and Jounouchi waved frantically from its back. Ryou leapt across the aisle, trying to wrestle the gun out of 275's grip. The handgun discharged shot upward into the ceiling as they struggled. Ryou slammed 275's hand against the wall until the betaform dropped his firearm.
A series of taps drew Yuugi's attention to the door on his left. A lizard-like xeno holding a tomahawk was somehow latched onto the outside of the copter. As Yuugi wrenched open the door, Ryou slugged 275 across the face. The betaform slumped back, momentarily dazed. The lizard xeno slid into the cabin and pinned 275 against his seat. The wind whipped wildly through Yuugi's hair and into his face, making it difficult to breathe.
"Go!" Ryou shouted over the fury of the wind and the chaos inside.
Yuugi took his grandfather's hands and they jumped. The broad back of his Winged Guardian served a bumpy landing. Yuugi was just glad their feet weren't also bound as he struggled to grip the dragon's ridged back. Amane and Jounouchi pulled up besides them. The blond man whooped loudly in triumph. When he looked back, Ryou was saddled on the same skeletal dragon from their first meeting. When it pulled away from the helicopter, the force of its beating wings sent the vehicle spiralling through the air.
"How did you find us?" Yuugi screamed.
"Rebecca!"
"Let's go before they get their bearings!"
When Yuugi looked back, a plume of black smoke rose from the helicopter's slowing rotor. The nose dipped as it began a sharp but manageable descent. He hoped that no one was seriously hurt, but he wasn't going to stay behind and find out either. If he squinted, Yuugi could make out the form of 275 standing, braced against the open cabin door. They veered toward the east, away from the setting sun. They would need to close the distance between them and Tokyo as much as possible by flight.
A low rumble filled the air as a group of dark storm clouds suddenly rolled into their flight path. His Winged Guardian struggled to stay airborne as the wind speed picked up, pushing them back. The ionic discharge racing across his skin warned of an impending storm. He pivoted to his right, wanting to ask Ryou if they should go around the storm somehow. Then out of the dark clouds above, another dragon just like Ryou's descended like a bomb and sent Ryou's xeno barreling through the air to avoid the dive. Amane and Jounouchi flanked the new arrival and rammed it. As the identical dragon reeled back, 268 flipped them off—his long hair flying in the wind like a banner of white. Yuugi steered his Winged Guardian to cut off 268's retreat path. They would need to take the betaform down quickly, otherwise it would just afford 275 a chance to catch up. Amane's xeno doubled back for a second attack, but it only managed to barely dodge the bolt of lightning raining down. The deafening thunderclap rattled Yuugi's entire body, and a second bolt struck just several feet away.
"Yuugi, watch out!" Sugoroku shouted from behind.
A red serpentine tail—another xeno already?—suddenly clipped the side of the Winged Guardian's head when it tried to wheel out of the way. Yuugi scrambled for better purchase, but his bound hands slipped. He twisted in mid-air and saw that his grandfather was still barely hanging onto the dragon's back. It almost felt like he was floating, but gravity quickly reasserted its claim. He fell with his heart pounding in his ears. Above him, long red coils of reptilian flesh tried to catch and wrap around Winged Guardian and Amane's xeno.
"Yuugi-kun! I've got you!"
Below him, Ryou waited with arms extended out and wrists still bound together. Yuugi's heart fluttered, and it was difficult to know if the free fall was the only reason why.
"Bakura-kun!"
Yuugi fully expected the weight of his falling body to knock them both off Ryou's xeno. To Yuugi's surprise, he landed firmly in Ryou's arm and couldn't help blushing when the other man curled his arms around Yuugi's waist to get a better grip. He craned his neck to get a better view of the fight above. The Winged Guardian and Amane's xeno were breaking away from the new xeno that was still obscured from sight by the dark clouds and 268's xeno.
"Yuugi, are you okay?" asked Sugoroku.
He nodded.
"We should land and make a break for the trees. It'll be harder for them to track us that way!" Ryou never took his eyes off the enemy creatures regrouping above them.
Jounouchi surveyed the landscape below. "There's a field up ahead!"
They raced toward the ground as the sky continued to rumble overhead. "Duck!" was the only warning they received from Jounouchi as a ball of lightning sailed past them. They swerved to avoid the smoking crater now in their path. Their xenos skidded to ungraceful and bumpy landings, turning up even more land in their wake. Ryou was still carrying Yuugi when they hastily dismounted. Jounouchi and Amane each produced a knife to cut the ties around their wrists.
A sudden gale knocked Ryou over from behind. Yuugi hit the ground hard and continued to roll down a grassy slope. Another bolt of lightning struck near his feet where he stopped at the bottom of the slope. Yuugi's bones ached and his ears rang. He crawled over to where Ryou was still lying face down and groaning in pain.
"Bakura-kun, are you okay?"
Ryou raised his head slowly, revealing a new bruise on his left cheek and spots of blood from his nose. His eyes were unfocused as he spoke, "What's going on?"
Jounouchi rushed in, grabbed Yuugi and threw him over his shoulders. He protested, but the blond man just ignored him and started running. Sugoroku panted as he tried to keep up. Amane swung one of Ryou's arms around her shoulder before hauling her brother to his feet. Over Jounouchi's shoulder, Yuugi watched as 268's xeno closed in from behind. He still couldn't make out the full shape or size of the enormous xeno, but it was casting impossibly long shadows across the field.
Jounouchi slowed to a halt, before gently depositing Yuugi back on the ground. Yuugi pivoted, but he already had a good idea of why they'd stopped.
275 stood firmly in their path. He wielded no other weapon; for the only one he would need already hung above them. "I told you, you won't be able to escape us." The large bruise that Ryou previously left on his cheek turned purple, before quickly fading to a faint yellow blemish.
"Okay, that's just freaky." Jounouchi shook his head in disbelief.
"Great, you have accelerated healing too!" 268 complained from behind. "Fucking show-off."
Amane reached for her holstered weapon. "It's still five against two."
275 unfolded his arms and pointed a solitary finger skyward. "You'll need more than just five people to take on Osiris."
The storm clouds part as if by 275's command. And Yuugi's jaw falls as he gaped at the revealed xeno hovering over them. The red dragon above unleashed an earth-shattering roar, ripping leaves from branches. To maintain his balance, Yuugi dug his feet into the dirt. He helped brace his grandfather against the buffeting wind when the older man stumbled back. Their group's xenos, which had been circling the skies, answered with their own war cries and began attacking Osiris again. He winced as a swat of Osiris' tail sent Ryou's dragon crashing into the ground. Ryou let loose a loud groan of pain and would have fallen to his knees if not for Amane's support.
As if enraged for her brother's sake, Amane's xeno wheeled around and dove at Osiris' face. Flapping its wings frantically to stay afloat, the bird tried to dig its talons and beak into the dragon's eyes. Winged Guardian weaved through the air, launching several fireballs down the length of Osiris' back. Osiris reeled back, shaking its head back and forth to throw off the other xenos. Yuugi and Amane's xenos both had the advantage of being smaller and more manuverable, but there was only so much they could do when Osiris seemed to fill the entire sky.
Osiris' jaws fell open—tendrils of bright yellow energy gathering between rows of razor-sharp teeth. Both of their remaining xenos tried to dodge the balls of lightning, but a blast singed the left wing of Amane's xeno. As the bird plummeted from the sky, it gave a wounded cry before being dismissed in a shower of colors. Amane's knees buckled, sending her and Ryou tumbling to the ground. With only one opponent left, Osiris turned its full attention to Yuugi's Winged Guardian.
Having just watched two of its comrades fall, the smaller dragon was getting sloppy and scared. It no longer wanted to listen to any of Yuugi's instructions. Throwing caution to the wind, it turned tail and flew in a desperate attempt to escape. Osiris slithered through the sky, catching the fleeing xeno in the coil of its long serpentine body. Yuugi's own ribs felt the echo of the pain as Osiris squeezed. His vision swam momentarily, before clearing to see the blackness between Osiris' fangs closing in.
Winged Guardian was going to get killed at this rate.
"No, stop it!" Yuugi shouted, straining his body up in some vain hope to help his xeno. His head filled with the terror flooding through the link.
Osiris suddenly froze in mid-air—its gaping maw suspending over the trapped xeno.
275 called out, "Osiris, why did you stop?"
Osiris was visibly agitated, caught between some rock and indecision. Its tail thrashed uneasily, but made no other move to attack Winged Guardian.
As the terror from his xeno abated, Yuugi felt another presence bloom in the back of his mind. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt before, but it was still recognizable as affinity. The new link weighed heavily, threatening to push every other thought out of his head. He locked eyes with Osiris and really saw the xeno for the first time—a brilliant form dancing in a storm of color.
He wanted to touch it.
Osiris unfurled itself from around Winged Guardian and swam toward Yuugi's outstretched hand.
"Osiris! Only I command your loyalty." 275's voice shattered the peace that settled over the field.
Yuugi blinked, and the vision and the link evaporated. Winged Guardian took flight again, projecting echoes of betrayal and wounded pride as it fled. He turned his head, for his clone had moved to his side. 275's chest heaved with each breath, and his hands were clenched in white-knuckled fists at his side. Yuugi recognized the shock that colored his clone's face—the first real emotion to visibly register.
"It's impossible," 275 hissed.
Author's Notes:
I know it's been a while since I last posted. So sorry! I'll hopefully be able to get back on track with posting after this chapter. Thanks for reading!