Chapter Nine
Everyone jumped a mile at the sudden appearance of one of the suspects in the case.
"Um . . . hi, Alister," Duke finally, tentatively spoke. "Are you . . . you know, yourself?"
Alister grimaced, holding a hand to his head. "I don't even know what I'm doing here. I just heard you talking and I turned on the light."
The group started to relax. He seemed normal.
"Do you know you're in Kaiba's house?" Mai asked.
"What?!" Alister stared at her.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Duke demanded.
Alister slumped back against the wall. "I had to cancel a chartered flight because of the snowstorm. I made the phone call and then I got up . . . and suddenly I was here. Oh. . . ." He reached in his pocket and took out his phone. "Raph and Valon are probably climbing the walls."
Duke frowned, watching as Alister quickly dialed a number and turned away to talk. "Okay, this is just weird," he said to the girls. "It sure sounds like he was controlled or brainwashed into ending up here, alright. But what snapped him out of it? I can't believe he was supposed to come all this way and then not do something while he was here."
"Maybe . . . turning on the light did it?" Serenity suggested.
"But why would he even turn on the light if he was being controlled?" Mai said. "I think he was already out of the control when Duke talked about turning the lights on."
"Obviously there's still a lot more we don't get about this," Duke said. "And I'm wondering if it's safe to be around Alister. What if it's like hypnosis and there's a post-hypnotic suggestion that can make him flip back to being under these people's control at any time? He could suddenly turn on us without warning."
"That's an awful thought," Serenity said, her eyes wide. ". . . But I guess it could be true. . . ."
"We'll just have to stay on our guard," Mai said. "We can't very well leave him alone right now."
"I know," Duke said in frustration.
Alister pulled back from the phone, staring at it in frustrated disbelief. "I can't get an answer from either Raphael or Valon!" he exclaimed. "If they're out looking for me, they'd take their phones with them!" He headed for the door. "I'm going back home right now."
"How did you even get here?" Duke wondered. "You couldn't have brought your motorcycle."
Alister frowned, considering that. Then he ran into the hall and to the front door, flinging it open wide. The others hurried to catch up with him as he ran down the steps, over the driveway, and to the front gate. All was deserted. The only cars were the ones brought by Solomon, Yami Bakura, and Duke.
"Maybe you took a cab?" Mai suggested. "But it's gone now."
"We'll take you home," Duke decided. He really wanted to make sure Alister got there for sure.
"Thanks," Alister said slowly. "But were you done here?"
"We're all trying to solve the mystery," Duke said. "Right now, I think getting you home is a big part of that."
"Oh. . . ." Serenity bit her lip. "I should really let Joey know before we go off somewhere. . . ."
"Let Joey know what, Sis?"
Everyone jumped. Joey was coming over from around the side of the house, followed by Yugi, Atem, Solomon, and Tristan.
"We've got a new twist in this case," Duke explained.
The arriving group listened to the tale, with Joey in particular displeased. "How about me and Tristan go with you and Alister, Duke?" Joey suggested. "Serenity and Mai can stay here and keep looking for clues."
"Ugh." Mai rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Joey, I don't think we're going to find much of anything out here. I for one would like to know what Raphael and Valon have to say about all this."
"So would I," Solomon said. "So why don't we all go? Téa's group can stay here and wait for Kaiba to show up. We don't all need to do that."
"Coming to think about it . . ." Yugi's eyes filled with concern. "Haven't they been gone an awfully long time? It seems like they should have been here by now."
"We'd better call them," Atem agreed.
But neither Seto, Mokuba, nor Marik were answering their phones. The group stared at their phones, bewildered.
"Okay, something is really rotten here," Joey said. "This doesn't make any sense! Why aren't they answering?! We're getting signals!"
"It could just be that freak show not letting any of our calls go through," Mai said.
Suddenly Joey froze. There had been so much going on that he hadn't stopped to think about it, but Yami Marik's appearance that afternoon had been the first time Mai had seen him since he had emotionally destroyed her. He hadn't appeared to notice her or he likely would have taunted her, but surely she had noticed him.
"Hey, Mai, are you okay?" he asked. "I mean, from seeing him again and all. . . ."
Mai sighed and looked away. "I don't have time to not be okay, Joey," she said quietly. "There's more important things to worry about right now."
"You're important too!" Joey insisted. "I know that couldn't have been easy for you."
". . . I watched him try to emotionally destroy someone again," Mai finally admitted. "I've never liked the Big Five, but . . . my heart really goes out to Nesbitt tonight. Lector too." She gave a weak laugh. "When I saw Yami Marik today, I just froze. I couldn't say anything, do anything, even though I wanted to. I didn't want him to see me. And . . . he didn't. I didn't really think I'd be able to fake feeling okay after that. But, weirdly enough, I guess I have. . . ."
"Oh, Mai," Serenity said softly. "I'm so sorry. . . ."
"Yeah," Joey said in chagrin. "Me too. I should have thought about it before now. Everything's been so crazy, but that's no excuse."
"Sure it is!" Mai turned back to face them. "Okay, you're right that we need to deal with my problems too. There's no way I'm letting them build up again like they did after Battle City. But there are more serious problems at stake right now. Mine can wait until this is taken care of. We need to know what's going on back at Alister's house, and now we also need to know what's happening with Kaiba! That nutcase and whoever's working with him are trying to wreak havoc on everyone tonight!" Her eyes narrowed. "And we have to stop them. I don't want anyone else to end up like I did."
Atem smiled at her. "And we won't," he vowed. "Alright, everyone, let's call Téa and then go. Some of us will take Alister home and some of us will try to find Kaiba's group."
Yugi was in agreement with that. To his relief, his call to Téa went through. She and the Bakuras were still looking through the house, and she relayed to Yugi about the strange papers they had found in Hobson's room.
"No Hobson himself, though," she sighed.
Yugi sighed too. "Well, maybe hopefully soon," he said. "Meanwhile, Téa, some other strange things have been happening. . . ."
She listened while Yugi described the events of the last half-hour, gasping at parts.
"Oh no! That's really weird that all those people aren't answering their phones," she exclaimed at the conclusion. "Yeah, you guys go on and see what's happening. We'll wait for Kaiba here."
"Okay! See you, Téa." And Yugi quickly disconnected the call.
Téa slumped back against the wall, worry filling her eyes. What could be wrong? Were more people hurt? Mokuba? Marik? Raphael? Valon? . . . Seto?
Her insides twisted.
xxxx
Alister's house was in darkness when Duke pulled up in front. Shaken now, Alister fumbled with the door handle. "The lights were on when I made the phone call about the flight," he exclaimed. Finally getting the door open, he ran up the steps to the porch and unlocked the door, all in one movement.
Valon was laying on the couch when he opened the door, a half-read manga open on his chest. Raphael's cat Liu was also on his chest.
Alister stopped, shaking his head in amusement and disbelief. They certainly looked cozy. And judging from Valon's rising and falling chest and slight snoring, he was just fine. It sounded like Liu was motorboat-purring, too.
"Everything okay?" Duke asked as he came up from behind.
"I think so," Alister said. "Only . . . where's Raphael?" He walked farther into the room.
A sound from the basement stairs brought everyone's attention up. Raphael was climbing up the stairs, seeming perfectly fine. When he saw Alister, however, he stopped and stared. "Alister, what are you doing home?"
"What do you mean, what am I doing home?!" Alister burst out.
"You had that chartered flight," Raphael said. "You should be in the air by now!"
"I canceled that!" Alister cried. "It wasn't safe to take the plane up! There's more snow forecast!"
Raphael frowned, folding his arms. "That's what I said, but you insisted on going."
Duke frowned too. "We found him in Kaiba's house. He remembered canceling the flight and then suddenly he was in Kaiba's drawing room or sitting room or something."
"And he tried calling you guys, but you didn't answer," Serenity spoke up.
Raphael took out his phone and stared at it. "There's no record of a call. . . ."
Alister slumped against the wall. "What is going on around here?!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
"I don't know, but we really need to find out," Duke scowled.
xxxx
The Kaibas and Marik, meanwhile, had been fully on their way back to Kaiba Manor after dropping the Big Five off at Crump's house. None of them had expected any sort of delay whatsoever. But when Marik suddenly pulled over to apparently take an incoming phone call, Mokuba worriedly looked over at him from the limousine.
"I wonder what's wrong, Seto," he said in concern. "Marik looks upset."
Seto frowned. "Something else going wrong is all we need right now." He looked to the chauffeur. "Pull over."
"Of course, Mr. Kaiba." The chauffeur drove over to the curb and parked in front of the Ishtar van.
After a moment, Marik hung up and got out of the van. He looked shaken as he started walking to the limousine.
Mokuba opened the door and leaped out before Marik got very far. "What is it, Marik?! What's happening?!"
"That was Rishid," Marik said. He sounded and looked very strange. "He said someone delivered a manilla envelope to the museum. When he opened it, he found a sheet of paper that said, 'You and your brother will die for your acts against the Kaiba family.'"
"What?!" Mokuba shrieked.
Seto, who had also exited the limo by now, stood with narrowed eyes. "I suppose it's logical that the two of you would be included in this nonsense. You did kidnap Mokuba and force me to duel for his safe return during Battle City."
Mokuba bit his lip. He didn't like to think about those dark times. "But that's all over now!" he protested. "Marik's my best friend! I don't want anything to happen to him or to Rishid!"
"I'd really like to go to Rishid, but I don't want to leave you two in this mess," Marik said haltingly.
"Let's go get both of your siblings and bring them back with us," Seto grunted. "They might be safer with us."
Marik looked to Seto in relief. "Thank you." He smiled at Mokuba and hurried back to the van.
Soon, both vehicles were heading back through the fancy neighborhoods towards downtown Domino City. Seto was deep in thought, frowning into the distance.
"What is it, Seto?" Mokuba asked.
"It just occurred to me that it seems more than a little strange that even though our former enemies are being targeted with threats, Alister hasn't been included in that," Seto said. "Instead of receiving a threat, he is arguably being used as an instrument of destruction. But if he did plant that bomb in Lector's mailbox, why did he throw it at you if he's supposed to be avenging past crimes against us?" He frowned more. "And the note Lector received said nothing about betrayals to the Kaibas; it seemed to be written by someone against war, as Alister is."
"I don't get any of this," Mokuba said. "It really does seem like maybe we're caught between two different plots, Seto. Maybe more!"
"Yes, but what and why?" Seto gripped his arms. "I hate being so in the dark. There's a puzzle piece we're missing somewhere, and by the time we figure it out, it may be too late to stop someone from being seriously hurt." He took out his phone. "You'd think Yugi or someone would have called if Hobson's been found. But if he hasn't been found, where is he?! Did he deliver the note to the museum?"
"If he did, I guess it's too much to hope for that he'd still be there when we get there," Mokuba said.
"Probably," Seto agreed.
Indeed, when they arrived at the museum, all they found were two very upset Ishtar siblings waiting at the door.
"Marik!" Ishizu exclaimed in relief when the boy exited the van. She hastened outside to meet him, followed by Rishid.
"You didn't have any trouble on the way?" Rishid asked in concern.
"None," Marik said. "But we could be attacked at any time." His eyes narrowed. "The Big Five and Yami Bakura were also threatened, but Yami Bakura hasn't been attacked yet. Whoever's doing this seems to be focusing their energy on the Big Five first and foremost."
"I wonder why," Ishizu frowned as they walked down the steps towards the vehicles.
"Well, we know Yami Marik's involved," Mokuba said bitterly. "And he did something to Nesbitt like he did to Yami Bakura, controlling him and I guess trying to make everyone turn against him or something. And wanting Nesbitt to hurt his friends. . . . Maybe he's targeting the Big Five because they're so new at trying to get their lives in order and he wants to try to mess it up."
"That's probably part of it," Marik agreed in disgust.
"We're missing some important clues," Seto said. "He may have only decided to come onboard once he saw the threats. There could be two separate plots taking place."
Ishizu and Rishid climbed into the van. "It's very disturbing in any case," Ishizu said.
"It's even more disturbing that my butler seems to be right in the middle of it," Seto growled. "And now he's nowhere to be found."
"Did anyone see who brought the envelope?" Marik asked.
"No," Rishid sighed. "The museum was very busy today in spite of the snow and there were people going back and forth up the hall all day long. Ishizu only found the envelope on her desk right before she called you, Marik."
"I wonder if we should be involving the police," Marik frowned.
"I would rather not," Ishizu said. "It could be very bad for you and Rishid, considering what the message said."
Seto grunted. "I could tell them it was a private matter, long ago resolved. But there's probably no fingerprints on the paper anyway, and if there were, they've probably been destroyed by now with your fingerprints."
"Likely true," Ishizu said.
"Let's just go back to the house and see if Hobson's been found yet," Seto said.
Ishizu and Rishid were agreeable, so the vehicles started back the other direction.
"I wonder if we should stop by and see if anything more's happened with the Big Five," Mokuba said in concern.
Seto grunted. "You'd think their enemies would have decided they'd been tortured enough for one day." He fell silent for a long moment, but finally said, "With their luck, we should probably check anyway."
"I think they were going to Lector's place after they got the stuff from Crump's," Mokuba said.
A sigh. "Alright." Looking to the chauffeur, Seto said, "Go to Lector's house first."
"Yes, Sir," the chauffeur dutifully answered.
xxxx
Johnson felt shaken as he, Gansley, and Nesbitt delivered the news of the servants' plot to Lector and Crump. From their friends' expressions, they were shaken too. Crump especially was not good at hiding his feelings and quickly started having a panic attack.
"What the heck?! What are we gonna do?!" he yelped.
"Calm down, Crump," Gansley said sternly. "We'll figure something out."
"But it's probably not safe at any of our places!" Crump wailed.
"It does look like that's probably true," Lector finally spoke.
"The servants don't have keys to our rooms," Nesbitt said. "Or at least, mine don't have keys to mine."
"Unless they made some up on the sly," Crump retorted.
"Relocating to Nesbitt's house may be our safest option," Gansley said.
Johnson stayed silent. He wasn't sure what the best course of action was.
"Aren't you even upset about this?!" Crump suddenly asked him.
"Getting upset won't help anything," Johnson replied. Unlike Crump, he was usually very good at hiding his feelings. He had always been so smooth and cool-headed in court, no matter what lies he had been perpetrating. And when he did get visibly distressed, he was liable to blurt anything, whether he believed it or not, if he thought it would help.
Unbidden to his mind came the memory of calling both Gansley and Crump "useless" while pleading the Big Five's case before Noa. He had been so afraid that Noa was going to kill them all right there, as the boy had threatened to do, and he had desperately said the first thing that had popped into his mind to try to pacify the brat who had held their lives in his hands. He hadn't thought anything of it then, but now, looking at those two, he felt a rush of guilt.
They couldn't have known he had said that or they surely would have angrily confronted him about it. They wouldn't have appreciated such a comment, even considering Johnson's motivation behind it. And they would have had every right to be upset. They had lost their duels, and Johnson had felt that he would do better, but . . . useless? Had he ever really thought that about them? Gansley was their leader, really, and Crump . . . well, he was good with numbers, even though his penguin tangents could be tiresome and he really was far too intrigued by the sight of a pretty girl.
Everyone seemed to think that Nesbitt was the most isolated of the group, including Nesbitt himself. But Nesbitt cared deeply, as today had certainly shown them all. Johnson, with all the webs of lies he had woven through the years, was a far harder person to reach in some ways than the introverted Nesbitt was. Did he even know what the truth was anymore?
Well . . . on some things he did. He had willingly sacrificed himself for Lector, just as the others had. He cared deeply too.
Not useless. . . . My dear friends, whom I could lose at any time. . . .
He could have lost Gansley both last night and today. A knock on the head could always be serious; Gansley was just lucky it hadn't been, in his case. And that Yami Marik character had tried to make Nesbitt attack Gansley during the duel.
Lector certainly could have died when he had been attacked. The memory of him lying in the snow with Nesbitt emotionally falling apart over his lifeless body was going to stay with Johnson for a long time.
They were all in danger. Who was next to be harmed?
"Johnson?!"
Johnson started. Gansley was looking to him with a reproachful frown. "Oh . . . er, what is it?"
"What's your opinion on what we should do?" Gansley demanded.
"We could go to Nesbitt's," Johnson said slowly, "but there's no guarantee we'd be safe there. We could try a hotel, but that wouldn't help us get to the bottom of this mystery."
"We don't want to get to the bottom of it by ending up six feet under!" Crump yelped.
"So eloquently put, Crump," Johnson deadpanned.
"He's got a point, though," Lector said. "Staying right in the middle of the chaos is just asking for trouble. I doubt they're going to stop their plans just because three of you caught my cook scheming with someone. They'll just change their tactics and come at us from another angle."
"And you really need to rest tonight," Gansley said. "Going to a hotel might be our best option."
"Except for the possibility that maybe my cook won't spread the word about you catching her," Lector said. "If she doesn't and we up and leave, it could look suspicious and cause more trouble. They might suspect we know something. Maybe they'll fade into the woodwork and we won't catch them at all, and then suddenly, one by one we'll start being killed off when we least expect it."
"So what are we gonna do?!" Crump exclaimed.
Downstairs, the doorbell rang. Surprised, Johnson went to the doorway and looked out towards the stairs. "I think it's Seto Kaiba," he said after a moment of listening.
"Hmm." Gansley looked to the others. "We never did have that meeting with him. We could make the excuse we're going to do that, have the meeting, and then slip away to a hotel for the night. We can always say the meeting lasted all night, if questioned later."
"I guess that might be our best option," Crump said slowly.
Lector and Johnson agreed. Nesbitt scowled, but finally, reluctantly nodded as well. "We can try it."
Johnson walked out to the edge of the stairs. "Mr. Kaiba, come upstairs, if you please," he requested.
Seto looked up at him and suddenly stiffened. "Look out!"
"What?" Johnson looked over his shoulder and leaped out of the way just as a metal cart came barreling down the corridor directly at him. With him out of the way, it clattered down the stairs to the bottom. Johnson stared after it, sheet-white.
"What on Earth is going on out here?!" Gansley exclaimed. He and the others were now gathered in the doorway of Lector's room.
Johnson drew a shaking breath and tried to adjust his lopsided glasses. "I . . . I was almost the next 'accident' victim," he gasped.
