Chapter 8: A more severe punishment
Mokuba Kaiba decided to pay his older brother a visit at their family's estate the following morning. The young detective's intentions were to exchange notes with the masked crime-fighter, regarding Bane's whereabouts. Mokuba parked his patrol car in front of the mansion and rang the doorbell multiple times. Much to his surprise, the door opened to reveal the same blonde woman from yesterday, Mai Kujaku. She was wearing one of Seto's shirts, which gave off a hint as to her relationship with him. Mokuba politely greeted the stranger. "Konnichiwa (Hello) and ohayou gozamimasu (good morning). I'm Detective Kaiba Mokuba, whom you saw here the other day. I'm looking for my nii-san (older brother), Kaiba Seto. Is he here?"
Mai frowned. She answered, "Good morning to you, Detective Kaiba. I'm Kujaku Mai. I'm afraid that your older brother is not here right now."
"Would you know where he would be at this time of hour?"
She bit her lip, as she replied. "I do not know." In truth, she had some idea as to where the elder Kaiba would be, but feared that his absence implied something bad happened to him.
"So I see." observed Mokuba, disappointed. "I'm sorry for disturbing you, Kujaku-san. Sayonara (Goodbye)." He turned around and began walking to his car.
"Chotto matte kudusai (Please wait)!" exclaimed Mai.
The young detective did a 180. "Nani (What)?"
"Actually, I might have some idea as to your brother's situation. Please come inside, Detective." admitted Mai. "It's going to be a long story. And you'll probably want to be comfortably seated for it..."
Mokuba understood and followed her inside the mansion.
An hour later, Mokuba was back in his patrol car, at a loss for words. For the past hour, Mai Kujaku, or rather Talia al Ghul, confessed to him of her true identity and history. The demon head's daughter also revealed that she knew his brother's secret and had left the night before to hunt down and stop the masked mercenary known as Bane. Mokuba tried calling his brother's cell phone number. Nothing. The younger Kaiba was worried. He sighed. "Where are you, nii-san?" The detective immediately recalled that modest apartment in Satellite the day before. The one where he dropped off Seto. He thought to himself. Perhaps that's where I'll find some clues to find my brother.
The patrol car left the Kaiba Mansion and headed towards Satellite, which was on the way to the Daedalus bridge. Some twenty minutes later, Mokuba parked his vehicle on the street across the apartment building. He was about to exit his car until he saw a bluish-white-haired woman who, dressed in black and carried some luggage bags, hailed a taxi cab. The woman in question looked vaguely familiar to the young cop. He saw her leave from the same apartment his brother entered yesterday afternoon. Now where did I see her before?, thought Mokuba. Wait a minute. Images flashed before his eyes. It was the night Police Commissioner Yugi Mutou was critically wounded in the sewers. The night when the police found the abducted senator from the Marik Ishtar Day event. The supposedly hapless woman who survived a gunfight amidst of what went on inside the pub before the police arrived. The same woman whose apartment Seto visited and was never seen again for police questioning, until today.
He was now a detective. There were far too many coincidences to be dismissed them as such. As the woman left in the cab, Mokuba called on the police dispatch. "Patch me through to Commissioner Mutou. I've got a lead on the senator's kidnapping." He promptly turned his key back into the car's ignition. He followed the taxi.
It was around noon when Kisara Shiroi found herself at Neo Domino Airport. She planned on leaving the country and someplace faraway. Her "little sister," Kotori Mizuki, opted to stay behind; a certain boy at the orphanage (Yuma) caught her eye, which she reciprocated. Paris, France sounds about nice this time of year, Kisara thought, as she looked at the list of flights soon-to-be departing from this city. Kisara told the employee at check-in that she wanted the next flight to Paris, France. The con-artist then handed over her visa, fake passport, and other required items that "verified" her identity at check-in and upon the agent's inspection, retrieved it back. "Your flight leaves in thirty minutes, Nakagawa-san. Have a nice day and a safe flight."
"Rie Nakagawa" thanked the check-in agent and left for the airport terminals. Not long after, Kisara was a little unnerved by the sight of several police officers standing by at various checkpoints in the airport; she tilted her head down as she passed by one who noticed her and spoke on his dispatch radio.
Calm down, Kisara. Just find someplace secluded and remove the obstacle to your freedom. The Cat turned and saw a door leading to the stairwell. She headed there, her bags in tow, with the officer following her.
The cop, as he opened the door, said, "Excuse me, ojou-san (young lady)?"
"Yes, officer?" Kisara meekly replied, turning around. She was in the midst of applying a little make-up on her already flawlessly beautiful face.
"I'm going to have to see your plane ticket as well as some identification."
Kisara closed her palmtop mirror and "fumbled" to look for her ticket and passport. "Would you mind holding this for me?" she asked, handing her Audrey Hepburn-inspired black sunhat to the man.
"Sure." said officer, who held that hat, its topside facing him.
"Arigato." replied the wily Cat, who, without warning, sucker punched the cop in the jaw. "Sucker."
Kisara promptly left the stairwell (sans hat but in tow) after hiding the unconscious officer's body behind the door. She had her luggage pass the security check-in and was on her way to the next plane to Paris. Kisara walked through the halls and was about to approach the concourse, until a young officer around her age appeared before her. Detective Mokuba took out his badge and that was all it took to stop the thief in her tracks.
Damn.
In one of the airport's security lounges, an interrogation between an officer of the law and a criminal who does what it takes to survive the mean streets, begins. Kisara was seated on a lounge sofa across the young detective; she was handcuffed behind her back. Mokuba seated himself on a chair, facing her. He put down a book which had, no doubt, contained the thief's files. "I just had a word with Senator Aoyama." stated the younger Kaiba.
"Let me guess. He's still smitten with me?" the vixen inquired.
The detective retorted. "Like you wouldn't believe. But he's still pressing charges."
The Cat smirked.
"You've made some mistakes..." continued Mokuba, reading her files, "Nakagawa Rie-san, or should I say... Shiroi Kisara?"
He slammed the file book hard on the coffee table in front of him.
"A girl's gotta eat." Kisara quipped, fiddling with her restraints.
Mokuba remarked, "And you've got quite an appetite. Why would you try to flee? You can't hide from us with an extensive record such as this."
"Maybe it's not you whom I'm running from." the thief replied, biting her lip.
"Who then? Bane? What do you know about him?"
Kisara warned. "I know that you should be as afraid of him as I am."
"We can offer you protection."
Kisara scoffed and looked at the young detective. Arrogantly. He understood she was going to be uncooperative and stood up from his seat. Mokuba approached the woman, had her turn around, and re-locked her handcuffs, as he realized she was on the verge of freeing herself. The younger Kaiba remained standing as the captive criminal turned around to face him. He adopted a serious, more concerned expression this time.
"I spotted you in front of your apartment building this morning. Yesterday afternoon, my brother, Kaiba Seto, paid you a visit. He hasn't returned home after he left the mansion last night, and I believe you were the last person to see him."
Kisara immediately faced the detective, a knowing look on her face.
"Did they kill him?" he asked, suspecting the young woman knows his brother's secret.
"I'm not sure." she quietly whispered. Her words did not reassure Mokuba.
Half-way across the world, in the sands of Egypt, a band of mercenaries brought a drugged up man to a stone well. The well is actually the only opening to a pit, an underground prison, where for thousands of years, men have been thrown in to suffer and die, whether by their own accord or not. The man in question, is none other than Seto Kaiba, who was soundly defeated by Bane twelve hours ago in the sewers underneath Domino, Japan. The man's captors fastened a rope around one of his legs and slowly sent him downward into the pit.
About ten minutes later, Seto found himself lying atop a worn out bed in a dank cell. His eyes locked onto the face of his tormentor, Bane, as he awoke. The drugs in his prone body began wearing off. There was an small bloody bump on his forehead, a mark from his shattered cowl when Bane seized it away. He was wearing a drab gray shirt and navy blue baggy pants, which were slightly damp from his own sweat and blood.
The crippled captive faintly asked, "Why didn't... you just... kill me?"
"Now why would I give a death seeker what he wants, Kaiba-chan? No, you see... your punishment must be more severe."
"What... are you... going to do... to me? Torture me?"
"Yes. But your body is already broken. Instead, I am going to punish your soul."
"Where am I?"
"Your new home." the monster answered, standing up and looking to the opening above and returning to look at continued, after placing his palm on Seto's torso. "Where I learned the truth about despair, as you will, too. There's a reason why this prison is the worst hell on earth. False hope. Every wretched man who was cast in here over thousands of years has looked up into the light and imagined climbing their way to freedom. It's all so easy... so simple, really. And like ship-wrecked men who have drowned in sea water, these prisoners succumb to their plight pretty quickly. Countless have tried, only to fail and die. Years ago, I learned here that there cannot be true despair without hope. So... as I terrorize your precious city, I will feed its people false hope to poison their already corrupt souls. I will let them believe that they can survive so that you may watch their pathetic survival of the fittest. You can watch me torture the entire city on that TV over there. When you truly grasp the depth of your failure, I will fulfill my destiny as Ra's al Ghul and end Domino. And when everything is said and done, when Domino has fallen into ashes... you will then have my permission to die."
Bane released his pressured palm grip on Kaiba's chest as the pain seared, sending the man back into agony from his injured spine. Seto howled, as the masked mercenary left him. His cries echoed throughout the entire pit. The other prisoners largely ignored his suffering, as they have done so to others in the past. Seto Kaiba was now in hell.
Next chapter – The fire rises
By the way, can any of you guess the significance of Kisara's fake identity in this chapter?
Thank you to those who reviewed, the one who simply left an "update soon," not withstanding.
Autistic-Grizzly: Yes, I believed that revealing Talia early on in the story was a good way to deviate from the original source, since I plan to make her character *spoilers* more sympathetic unlike the movie's interpretation who was a complete monster with no chance for redemption. Batman's one-sided fight with Bane was almost 100 percent the same, but with some added introspection and dialogue, but still brutal nonetheless. Their rematch at the end will reflect similar changes and include a bit more violence. I hoped you enjoyed reading this chapter and will continue to do so in the future.
kilnorc: The Bane in '97 was Bane in name only. We'll just leave it at that. Like I said to Autistic-Grizzly, the early reveal of Talia was intended for me to improve Nolan's take on the character. Originally, I was going to pick Ishizu Ishtar as Talia, but with Marik Ishtar already established as Harvey "Two-face" Dent, that ship has sailed. Also, I noticed that there was a resemblance between Mai and Cecelia/Cyndia (Pegasus's wife, who himself is the late Ra's al Ghul). This made the connection amongst them in this story easier to accept. I'm glad you liked the fight scene and will extend your gratitude as this fic progresses.
