Chapter eight
There was stunned silence for several moments after. Agitation made the room feel small and hot to its occupants. It was a deadlock; someone was going to have to play their hand, because neither Kaiba nor Marik seemed to be able to bluff the other out. Finally, Marik sighed resignedly. All of his fire and brimstone speeches and testosterone induced quips had failed him; he was going to have to level.
"Look…" He rested his hands on Kaiba's desk and leaned forwards, "We know you've been attempting to bring your dead girlfriend to life," this was Marik's best impersonation of a sympathetic person who actually cared, "the same way Pegasus tried to bring his wife back. You've downloaded your memories of Kisara into the Virtual World computer program, you completed her using code and now, with the help of some black magic," He tapped the manila envelope on the desk, "You've succeeded, mostly at least. You attached her soul to your Blue-eyes card and people like us can see her spirit. But Kaiba," he let his voice become slightly more gravely, "you've done a lot more than resurrect your girlfriend, you might have given Zork the final opportunity to shape the world to his ideals." Marik stopped, searching Kaiba's eyes for any hint that he gave a damn. Marik couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw something flicker behind his cornea.
"Marik," Kaiba leaned in closer to Marik's face, "let me make this very clear to you." His voice was almost done to a whisper. "You have thirty seconds to ask your question-" There was an audible pause, and Marik realized a second too late what was about to happen. Kaiba shouted the next part in his ear. "Before I have your corpses dragged out of my office by security!"
Pulled back off the desk, Marik cleaned out imaginary ear wax. Trying hard to act un-phased, he said, "a half an hour with the Virtual World Technologies, that's all we need. If the memory world is safe, we'll be out of your hair. If it isn't, well then we have bigger issues to worry about than your strange obsession with dead girls."
Kaiba ground his teeth for a moment. "Fine. Half an hour, that's it though."
Kaiba led the way from the conference room to the first set of emergency stair cases, he mumbled an explanation about how the Virtual World room was not accessible by elevator for security purposes. The first half of the trip consisted of Kaiba grudgingly stomping down half a dozen flights of stairs as Yugi and Ryou chatted aimlessly, Marik occasionally interjecting his own commentary. But as the sublevels became increasingly deeper, the talking slowly faded. The lights had grown dimmer and more noisy, and what were at first immaculately clean wall, railings and steps, had become grime coated and fungus infected.
"Cleaning staff isn't allowed into these levels." Kaiba obviously felt the need to offer some reason for the disgusting sate of his building. "This is where everything… important happens."
Finally, the correct door was located. It was unmistakably impenetrable, but the coat of green moss made it seem far less intimidating. The only part not overgrown was the retinal scanner. Kaiba leaned forwards to allow the process. A process which was fairly disappointing, it was nothing like in the movies. A red beam didn't shoot out into his eye, and a picture of his pupil didn't appear on a small screen. The machine just buzzed a little bit and eventually, after typing in a code on the touch pad, the doors opened and permitted them accesses.
End Chapter eight
