Wow. This is late... But at least it's on the day I said it would be! It was a long Monday .

Chapter 7, everybody! If it seems rushed, it's because it was. It seemed REALLY long to me but the word count isn't too high, so I'm probably just imagining things.


7. Damages

For several moments, Harry couldn't make the slightest movement or say a single word. He felt confusion invade his system. Yes, there was no doubt about it, it was definitely Seto Kaiba who had just barged into the room. Only it wasn't possible! He didn't understand; he was so sure that Joey had betrayed them and had arranged for the CEO to leave the country without the slightest delay… was he mistaken? But if that were the case, why did Joey seem so surprised to see him arrive? Anyway, this wasn't the moment to be asking questions!

"You're lucky this time, Joey!" he hissed, before whipping the barrel of the gun from the blond's temple to point it in the direction of the CEO. Aiming directly for the heart, he was ready to fire when-

"NOOOO!" screamed Joey as he threw himself on the weapon, roughly knocking Harry asunder. He had gone too far to be stopped now. The gun went off and the bullet lodged into the wall, more than a meter from its target.

"What the fuck are you doing! Let go of it now!" But Joey had no intention of letting go of the weapon anytime soon. He clung to it with all of his strength in the hopes of wrenching it away from his adversary. But Harry was not keen to give in, and a ruthless fight broke out between the two men, kicking, punching, biting… anything.

Surprised by such a violent reaction from the blond and not knowing how to react, the three others watched them for a few moments with wide eyes until Harry got fed up with watching his helpers being useless while he was sweating, well, bullets.*

"What are you waiting for, you two? Catch him!" And like good boy scouts, they practically threw themselves to the side to their hurting boss.

"Not Joey, Kaiba! You have to get Kaiba! Remember our mission! I'll deal with this one!"

Agreeing wholeheartedly, the two lackeys turned on their heels; the one closest to the door was the first to pull out his weapon. He fired at Kaiba, who barely avoided being hit by leaping out of the room. Without a second to spare the two men spirited after him.

Joey would have liked to follow them and lend a hand, but Harry made that impossible. He was clinging onto him firmly and destabilized him to the point that they both ended up on the ground to continue their fight.

It took a while, but eventually Joey gained the advantage. Panicked by the reversal of his situation, Harry decided to call back the others for help. He didn't have the choice; he couldn't lose. Responding to his call, one of his acolytes soon appeared before the open door, gun in hand.

"It's not too early!" snapped the boss. "Go hurry up and kill him ! I can't hold this guy back for long!"

This wasn't a very good sign for Joey. Harry used all of his remaining power to hold him in place, and even if he had fought himself free he would never be fast enough to avoid the other man's weapon… maybe, if he flipped their positions, he could turn Harry into a human shield. It didn't sound like much, but it was worth a try. After all, it was his only hope.

Counting on the element of surprise, he was about to try his luck when he was cut off clean in his tracks – his foe had anticipated the attack and was trying to hold him in place just a few seconds more. Damn it!

Suddenly, he heard a great shattering noise, and the man with the gun collapsed like a lead weight.

"Kaiba!"

Yes, Kaiba, his hands holding what remained of what appeared to be a somewhat heavy vase, had re-entered the room. Apparently, he was working on his entries today.

Quickly, Joey finished off his fight with Harry – who was already at wit's end – knocking him unconscious with a nice punch to the face before turning towards the CEO.

"The other guy?"

"Sleeping like a babe." He was quite vexed to see the flash of astonishment in the blond's eyes. "Hey, just because I'm not an assassin doesn't mean I'm completely defenseless."

"If you say so," Joey responded indifferently. He got up then, in pain, silently swearing at Harry to whom he doubtlessly owed several nice bruises. And he couldn't forget to finally take his weapon away from him, either. He had certainly deserved it! He had barely stooped down to retrieve it when a bullet whizzed straight behind him.

He shot up quickly to notice that the second man had reentered the room.

"Yeah, Kaiba, definitely like a baby," Joey snarled, more out of nervousness than anything else.

Two other shots sounded throughout the room, but luckily neither hit its target. The problem was that the room only had one exit – the one leading out into the hallway – in front of which now stood an armed man, making leaving impossible.

Kaiba was the first to react. Ignoring Joey's remark, he ran towards him, seizing his arm and dragging him along as he sped for the window.

"I hope you're not planning on going through it, Kaiba!"

Kaiba's response was to keep running.

"For your information, we're on the third floor here!"

"Got any better ideas, Wheeler?"

He didn't.

With a gigantic noise of shattering glass combined with that of several new gunshots, they passed through the windowpane and began their long fall, landing in a dense thicket of thorny bushes.

"Shit, and after the glass shards, thorns! Great!"

"They're my bushes, Wheeler, and they probably just saved your life!"

"You mean… you did that on purpose?"

"Some people think before they act."

A new round of gunfire put an end to their conversation; it was probably better not to wait in a corner. Kaiba and Joey began to run across the grounds surrounding the mansion until they were out of the killer's range.

They went to the garage then to find a vehicle to take them as far away as possible.

"Only three cars?"

"No. Actually, the fourth one is undergoing repairs."

"I believe it," Joey remarked as he bounded into the closest automobile. "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting the keys, they're all hanging on- "

"Never mind that, we don't have time!"

"And how will the car start?"

"Remember, I'm poor, and I'm also a trained assassin," Joey responded, tampering with several wires that he had magically pulled out from somewhere. Quite suddenly, the motor revved. "You getting in or what?"

Kaiba sighed and began to climb inside when he saw that Joey was in the driver's seat.

"I'll get in once you're out of my way."

"Hunh?"

"Move it, I'm driving!"

"Kaiba, we don't have time for this! I jumpstarted this hunk of metal, it's me who's driving!"

"Maybe, Wheeler, but it's my car, and you've already done enough damage as it is!" Having said this, he remorselessly shoved the blond into the passenger seat and threw himself behind the wheel.

He slammed on the gas and they began to speed briskly away from the property. Joey took the moment of 'peace' to ask the question that he was burning to ask.

"My sister? What'd you do with my sister? And Mokuba?"

"Right now they should be settling in to a nice little hotel in Madrid."

"What? All alone?" burst the blond.

"It's the best way for them to be safe and not arouse any suspicion. But don't worry, Mokuba's prepared for this type of situation. If something moreover should happen, I always have this." Kaiba then proceeded to pull a mobile phone from his pocket.

"What… is it?"

"It's a cell phone whose number and very existence are known only to my brother. He has its twin, which I alone can connect to." He held out the device to Joey. "You want to talk to your sister?"

Joey hesitated for a moment, then pushed the phone away.

"No? Just like I thought. You're too stiff to give her any explanations, right?"

The trip continued in a hostile and glacial silence.

Kaiba interrupted it only once.

"For your information, Wheeler, you'll pay for the car. And the lamp, and the alarm clock, and the glass, and the vase, and the window!"

"WHAT?" Joey shouted. "I didn't even have anything to do with the vase or the window!"

"Maybe, but you gained from it, and you were in my house without an invite."

"Yeah, sure," grumbled the blond. What an ass, he thought. Even in times like this all he does is think about money.

On the other hand, the remark had something that was… reassuring. Not only did it carry some sort of normality, something you knew to grasp on to in the middle of all the things that were going on, but it also indicated hope: the hope of a future, the hope of having the time and the possibility of paying Kaiba back. It was kind of refreshing, even if, deep inside, Joey didn't really believe it.


*I was looking for an English metaphor to convey the French here, and oddly enough it involves bullets. That made me smile :D

Alright, normal spiel... what will happen next, in your opinion?