Notes: Scott Irvine is the guy with long hair and a beard who appeared at times during Battle City. He's only named in the game The Falsebound Kingdom, in which he is the antagonist.

Chapter Ten

Johnson was still badly shaken as he and the rest of the Big Five departed with Seto several minutes later. Although they had looked high and low, they had not found anyone in the area who could have pushed the metal cart at him, and so they had to leave that part of the mystery unsolved . . . just like every other part.

"That could've been an accident . . . only we know it wasn't," Crump said.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"This whole thing is really sick," Mokuba said. "And now you're the only one who hasn't been hurt in some way, Crump. You're probably next."

Crump paled. "None of us are going back to our homes until this is cleared up!" he insisted.

"The only problem with that is, it likely won't get cleared up unless we do go back," Johnson pointed out.

Seto nodded. "You'd have to be the bait and we'd try to catch them in the act." He eyed Crump, who looked terrified.

"There's no way to catch these nuts!" he burst out. "You'd probably get me bumped off in an instant! Johnson would've got run over and knocked down the stairs by that cart if . . ."

"If Seto hadn't warned him," Mokuba pointed out in irritation. "Seto wouldn't let you get killed!"

"Not on purpose," Crump amended. "But I mean, we don't know who pushed that thing. They'd probably have some creepy-clever way to eighty-six me before you could do a thing about it!"

"Crump has a point," Gansley said. "I'm not in favor of deliberately setting him up as a target."

Seto grunted. "Maybe a decoy then. I want to catch these people almost as much as you do, if not more. They've endangered Mokuba and they're making it very difficult for me to get any work done. They're also causing my butler to behave very strangely, and if he doesn't have a good explanation for his behavior, he's fired."

"Just who could you get as a decoy, Mr. Kaiba?" Lector asked.

"One of my security guards, maybe," Seto said.

"Can we trust them?" Crump gulped. "I mean, if your butler has flipped his lid, maybe the problem doesn't stop there!"

Seto growled. "It had better."

Mokuba bit his lip. He hated to admit it, but Crump had a good point. The idea that they couldn't trust any of the staff, however, was absolutely terrifying.

"It does seem like maybe at least one person is on some kind of avenging angel quest here," Lector said. "The messages people have been receiving are very strange. Can you think of anyone who might want to kill all of your enemies, Mr. Kaiba?"

"Not particularly," Seto retorted. "Most people want to join the ranks of my enemies, not stop them."

"Maybe it's someone at the company," Mokuba suggested.

"I can't think who," Seto said. "But if we still can't find Hobson, maybe I'll have to look into the idea."

At last they pulled up in front of Kaiba Manor and drove through the gates. To their surprise, Téa, Bakura, and Yami Bakura came running over to the limousine and the Ishtar van as soon as they stopped.

"Kaiba!" Téa exclaimed. "What's going on?! Why didn't you or Mokuba or Marik answer any of our calls?!"

Seto opened the door, regarding her in disbelief. "What calls?"

"No one's phones registered incoming calls?" Bakura blinked in disbelief.

The Kaibas took out their phones, as did Marik. "No," Marik frowned. "And yet I picked up Ishizu's call. . . ."

"Oh great," Téa groaned. "Something else that isn't making sense!" Then, really processing what Marik had said, she blinked and looked to Marik's siblings. "Hi, Ishizu, Rishid. . . . What's up?"

"Marik and I received a threatening message," Rishid said grimly.

Ishizu nodded. "Someone left it on my desk at the museum."

"Oh my," Bakura gasped. "What are they threatening you about?"

"Apparently about what we did to Kaiba and Mokuba during Battle City," Marik said.

"Oh no," Téa moaned.

Yami Bakura watched as the Big Five emerged from the limousine. "What are all of you doing here?"

"We're here for that meeting," Johnson said. "Someone tried to kill me back at the house."

"Yeah, and they found out a lot of their servants are trying to get them out of the way so the servants can be the masters of the house again!" Mokuba blurted.

"Really." Yami Bakura looked darkly amused.

"Yeah, yeah, I know it's hilarious." Crump rolled his eyes. "But the danger's real!"

Seto looked around. "So, where's everyone else?"

Téa sighed. "Well, Yugi's group was supposed to be looking for you guys, actually. And Duke's group was taking Alister home. . . . He showed up in the house and had no idea how he got there!"

"Alister again?" Seto narrowed his eyes. "What room was he in?"

"Um . . . I'm not sure," Téa admitted. "I think it was on the first floor, maybe at the back of the house?"

"If I can find the right room, maybe I can figure out what someone wanted Alister to do in there," Seto said. "Or what Alister wanted."

"Seto?!" Mokuba stared at him. "You're not really thinking Alister went in there on his own?!"

"I don't know, Mokuba," Seto frowned. "He's probably being controlled, it's true. But in a world where people you trust can betray you, it would be better to stay on guard, even around him. Let's not forget the way we met."

"Yeah, I know, but I really believed Alister when he said he was trying to get past the hateful feelings he had for KaibaCorp!" Mokuba pleaded. "In his right mind, I know he wouldn't hurt me, and I'm sure he could only be a part of this if someone is controlling him!"

"Let's hope you're right, little brother," Seto said.

Duke's convertible pulled into the driveway just then. "Hey," Duke greeted. "So Kaiba made it back, huh?"

"And I need you to show me what room you found Alister in," Seto said. "It could be important."

"Sure," Duke blinked. "Come on then. . . ." He headed up the stairs, with Seto following close behind. Everyone else trailed after them.

"I sure hope Yugi's group is alright," Téa moaned. She took out her phone and tried to call, but as she really expected, nothing happened. "Ugh! Why are some calls going through and not others?!"

"I'm sure that's Yami Marik's doing," Mokuba said in disgust. "He only lets the calls go through that he wants to go through!"

They had to admit that made sense, as distressing as it was to acknowledge.

"Okay," Duke said as they traveled down the back hallway, "it was here." He stopped in front of a particular room.

Seto pushed the door all the way open and walked in with a frown. "This was one of Gozaburo's favorite rooms," he realized. "I don't even use it much myself. There could still be documents or other material from Gozaburo's KaibaCorp in here."

Lector looked around, his stomach twisting in knots at the sight of the familiar space. Yes, Gozaburo had always enjoyed his time in here. He had called it his Planning Room. Sometimes Lector had joined him for brainstorming sessions for the company. If he hadn't decided to go along with Seto's plot to take over the company, Gozaburo might still be here now.

And what would the Big Five be doing? The same as they always had under Gozaburo's reign? It was hard to say.

Crump came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder. For better or worse, they had made decisions that had led them down a much different path. Mostly for worse. But they were together, and Lector had to admit, they had certainly grown close through all of their plotting and failing and disastrous ends. He would never feel good about having betrayed Gozaburo, but he would always be grateful for the close friendships and familial bonds the Big Five had formed with each other.

Taking strength from Crump's actions, Lector stepped forward. "There most likely are such things in here, Mr. Kaiba. I know at least two hiding places Gozaburo had for his special papers."

Seto turned to look at him. "I should have known. Show me."

Lector crossed the room and pressed a carved sun at the edge of the fireplace. A secret panel slid open in the hearth, revealing a manilla envelope.

Seto bent down and picked it up, frowning in bewildered curiosity. As he slipped it open, Lector took out the thick packet of papers inside and unfolded them. "Just as I thought. Gozaburo's plans for the real-life Satellite Cannon."

Seto grabbed them for a closer look. "You made missiles all the time, but Gozaburo was really insane enough to want to create a real weapon based on the Satellite Cannon?!"

"That's right," Lector said.

"I was going to bring it to life," Nesbitt said.

Seto frowned. "I know you talked about it, but I hadn't realized it had gone as far as having actual blueprints for it. What if this entire, supposed plot has been a smokescreen to get at these plans?" He waved the papers.

Mokuba gasped. "Seto, you mean maybe no one's really trying to kill our enemies to avenge us and all they want is the plans for this awful thing?!"

"That's exactly what I mean," Seto said. He turned to glare at the Big Five. "What if the five of you started this plan? You could have intended to only pretend you were in danger to eventually find a way to get in here to look for these plans, only it got out of control when your enemies decided to take advantage of it and put you in danger for real."

"Oh, so I promptly told you of the secret places in this room because I wanted the plans myself, Mr. Kaiba?" Lector folded his arms. "Your theory doesn't make any sense."

"Neither do you people," Seto shot back.

"We didn't do anything crazy like this!" Crump yelled. "We're the victims here!"

"That's right," Gansley growled. "We knew nothing of any of this. Our introduction to this disaster was when some mysterious person emailed Lector and wanted to meet him on a street corner."

"And we tried to trace the email," Nesbitt said. "It was just one of those temporary accounts people can open. It was opened with a fake name at an Internet café and was already closed."

"Come on, don't fight," Mokuba pleaded. "What if they really didn't do this, Seto? Who else knows about these plans?"

"Various people at KaibaCorp," Lector said. "Anyone still there from Gozaburo's era. Not to mention Hobson. Of course, if he had wanted the plans, he could have snuck in at any time to abscond with them and no one would be the wiser."

"Unless he didn't know where the secret compartments are," Seto said. "Maybe he needed someone like you to get into this room to find them."

"Then maybe I should have been controlled instead of Nesbitt or Alister," Lector said. "I was the only one besides Gozaburo who actually saw where he was putting things."

"And knowing Gozaburo, I'll bet he had another chamber that even you didn't know about," Seto said.

"That's always possible," Lector conceded. "The other one I'm aware of is over here." He crossed the room and pressed on another carving, this one under the lightswitch. A small box in the wall opened, but this one was empty.

"Wait a sec!" Duke exclaimed. "That's right where Alister was standing when we found him! He turned on the lights! What if right before that, he opened that compartment and took out what was inside?!"

Seto's eyes narrowed. "Asking him if he did that would probably be pointless, but it's an intriguing problem. I'd like to know the answer." He looked to Nesbitt. "What was the fake name that person used on their email?"

"Red Hand," Nesbitt said with a scowl. "If you can believe that."

"I can believe it, but I doubt it was just a prank," Seto said. "There must have been some meaning behind choosing such an alias, considering how dangerous everything's become. Maybe there's some hidden clue in it to the person's identity."

"Alister has red hair," Mokuba mumbled under his breath. But he really didn't want to believe it was Alister.

"Since it was your butler who showed up to meet me, Mr. Kaiba, maybe you should be figuring out whether that alias could fit him," Lector said.

"I'll do that," Seto said. "But meanwhile, you'd better try to remember what was in that compartment."

"Well, it's not as big as the other one," Mokuba noted. "Maybe it was something small like a key?"

"That's right!" Lector exclaimed. "It was a key."

"To what?" Seto demanded. "A safe deposit box?"

"No," Lector said. "Gozaburo said it was a key to open a box he kept in his bedroom."

"Heh," Seto grunted. "Then it's probably still there. I locked up Gozaburo's bedroom and have never gone inside it since I took over." He headed out of the room. "I'll look into that, but first I'm going to bring up a list of all my employees and cross-check it with this Red Hand alias. I'll be downstairs if anyone needs me."

Mokuba looked to the Big Five. "What are you guys gonna do?"

They looked to each other. "Wait around and see what he comes up with, I guess," Crump shrugged. "Maybe check out Gozaburo's bedroom, although we probably can't open that box thing without the key. And then we'll go to a hotel. I'm not going to any of our houses tonight!"

"I'm going to try calling Yugi again," Téa said. "I'm really worried that we haven't heard from him in all this time!" She took out her phone and dialed.

"I wanna know why that freak's making it hard for our phone calls to go through," Crump said. "If he is. Is it really just for kicks or is there some purpose behind it?"

"There's usually a purpose," Marik said. ". . . Only that purpose is usually just to make life miserable for everyone."

"You really must've had issues, kid, to create something like that," Crump said.

"Oh, like you guys haven't come up with a lot of crummy stuff too," Mokuba shot back.

"Yeah, but none of us created some supernatural being that goes around trying to psychologically break people for the heck of it," Crump said.

Marik looked away. "I'll be paying for that the rest of my life, and beyond."

Rishid laid a hand on his shoulder. "Meanwhile, I understand that some of you released the mad doctor who is most likely also part of this scheme."

Johnson cleared his throat, uncomfortable. "Yes, well . . ."

"Come on, guys. Seriously?!" Téa regarded them all in frustration as she hung up after another vain attempt at reaching Yugi. "We all have to work together here! There's no time to be arguing like this!"

"That's right," Serenity nodded. "Can't we all just be civil to each other and wait to find out what Kaiba learns?"

No one responded, but they all drifted away to various parts of the room and stayed quiet.

"Nice work," Duke said with genuine appreciation and approval.

Serenity smiled a bit. After a few minutes of the welcome silence, she started to walk over to Nesbitt.

"Oh no," Duke said in alarm. "Serenity, you can't really be going to do this!"

Serenity just smiled at him. "I'll be fine." She walked over to Nesbitt at the window. "How are you doing?" she asked.

He regarded her in disbelief. "Why do you want to know, after all I did to you and your friends? You can't convince me you're not still angry."

"You're right, I can't," Serenity said. "I don't know how you could do the things you did to us and not feel horrible about it. But I've seen how anger poisoned you and your friends. I don't want to obsess over being angry at any of you . . . although I'll admit it's hard whenever I think about what you did to Tristan and what you tried to do to Duke, David, Mokuba, and Marik. But even after all you did, I knew you couldn't have always been a bad person. And today you showed that you do still have a heart. Now you know what it's like to have someone you love very much get hurt. I hope maybe that will help you want to be a better person in the future and not hurt someone else's loved ones."

"You're awfully naive," Nesbitt snorted. "I know that the best way to get at people is through their loved ones. Why do you think I took Mokuba in Noa's world? Or why I did it again when we took over the city?"

"You're right, you know that," Serenity calmly replied. "But from what you said, you yourself only lost things before. You thought your compound meant as much to you as Mokuba means to Seto Kaiba. Now you almost lost a person. Actually experiencing what Kaiba went through is different from blowing up your compound, I'm sure."

Nesbitt growled. "If anything, it makes me know all the more that going through someone's loved ones is the way to hurt them."

"But do you still want to hurt them like that?" Serenity countered.

Nesbitt looked away and wouldn't answer.

"Okay, come on, Serenity." Duke stepped forward and gently laid his hands on her shoulders. "You've said your piece. I don't think you got through to that guy at all."

"Maybe not," Serenity said. She let Duke lead her away. "But it felt good to stand up to him . . . to confirm that I'm not afraid of him. And anyway . . . he couldn't answer my last question, Duke." She smiled. "If he was still the same person he was before, I think he would have."

Duke sighed. "Maybe you're right, but I'm still going to watch our backs around him."

"I don't think he'll hurt us," Serenity insisted.

"I wish I believed that," Duke said. "I really do."

Lector stayed silent, just watching them go back across the room to their friends. He didn't feel it was his place to speak, especially if Nesbitt preferred to present himself as tough around the kids, but he knew his friend was indeed different than he had been before. It was a very gradual transformation, as his own had been, but at this stage of it he agreed with Serenity. Nesbitt would not harm them.

He sighed as he gazed at the room. So many memories. . . . So many late-night planning sessions with Gozaburo. . . . The times Noa had walked in on them, wanting attention in some form from Gozaburo. . . . He had always received it. Surely Gozaburo hadn't just been putting on an act because of Lector's presence. Surely he had really been a loving father, as Lector had believed. But . . . did that mean he had changed to the abusive monster Seto had insisted he was later? Or was Seto lying to make himself look better?

Did it matter?

Either way, no matter what kind of person Gozaburo had been, Lector still felt the immense guilt and grief over not only having betrayed him, but having played a part in driving him to his disappearance and uploading his mind and spirit to virtual reality. Even Seto had finally given some hint of being troubled that he had been involved in that man's extreme reaction to being bought out.

I didn't know, Gozaburo, Lector thought silently to himself. I didn't know losing the company would mean that much to you. It was a business decision on our parts, one that you might very well have made in our place. Only . . . if our positions were reversed, you wouldn't feel badly at all if I ran away and ended my life, would you? Not that that makes a difference. Even if you wouldn't have cared, it doesn't change that I do . . . that I couldn't even deal with the responsibility of what I'd done and I blamed Seto for everything.

I don't know where you are or if my words will even reach you. . . . And I know it doesn't change anything and probably won't make any difference to you. But . . . I'm sorry.

Crump walked over to him. "It's weird being in here, isn't it?"

Lector started. "You could say that. I don't know why we decided to wait for Mr. Kaiba in here."

"You wanna leave?"

". . . Maybe I'll wait in the hallway." Lector walked out of the room without further explanation and slumped against the wall outside.

Nesbitt joined him after a moment. "It's too uncomfortable in there with all those kids," he muttered. "Especially the ones I hurt."

Lector nodded in understanding. "Maybe someday you'll figure out how to feel about them, just as maybe someday I'll figure out how to feel about Gozaburo. In the meantime, I suppose it's okay to be uncomfortable."

Nesbitt folded his arms and looked away. "I can't figure that girl out. How does someone like that go through what we . . . what I . . . put her through and not come out of it full of malice?"

"I have no answers," Lector said. "I don't know how Mokuba can care about me . . . how he could have wanted to save me and 'bring back' the me who cared before he even knew that I tried to protect him when we took over the city. It seems like any good memories he had of me would have been tainted and invalid after my betrayal."

A shrug. "Maybe that's why he wanted to save you . . . to prove those memories were something real that he could feel good about, instead of having to think they were ugly fakes."

"Maybe so," Lector mused. "But it's still strange regardless."

Nesbitt nodded. "It is." He looked away. "I'm still angry, but I don't know if I still hate. And if I hate, who do I hate? Kaiba? Those other kids? Or do I just hate the thing that took control of me today? Maybe I hate them all for different reasons. Or maybe I don't hate them . . . at least the kids . . . but I'm just angry without always understanding why."

"I honestly don't think you hate the kids, especially not the ones who weren't responsible for trapping us in virtual reality to begin with," Lector told him. "Maybe you're just confused. I know I am. I still don't know how I feel about Mr. Kaiba anymore, either. I'm still angry at him to some extent. But I won't act on it."

Nesbitt stared up at the ceiling. "I probably won't either."

"You won't," Lector said.

Nesbitt stared at him. "Why? And don't give me the same ridiculous answer that girl gave me."

"You won't because you're trying to prove you can move past your anger," Lector said. "Somewhere inside you, you want to prove it or you wouldn't be trying. Maybe you'll always be angry at him for making you blow up your compound. It's reasonable and understandable. But that doesn't mean you haven't or can't get past the feelings of wanting to act on it."

". . . It's a nice thought, at least," Nesbitt said gruffly. "But how did you start being able to get past your feelings? Was it really just that woman reminding you that you betrayed Gozaburo too?"

"That was certainly a large part of it," Lector said. "That, and just being tired of the rut we were stuck in. I wanted to live again, but not to keep trying and failing and making everything worse for myself.

"Then there was Mokuba. . . . I kept thinking how he idolized Mr. Kaiba and I wondered if he really saw something others didn't. He made a good point about his brother preserving our bodies when he didn't have to. He could've ended life support for all of us, or never started it to begin with. He could have found a way to get rid of us without it bringing bad publicity."

Nesbitt growled. "I hate that now I owe something to Kaiba because of that. But . . ." His shoulders slumped. "I can't deny I'm grateful. I'd rather have my own body than someone else's. I just thought there was no way to ever get back to my body once it was disconnected from the virtual reality pod."

"We all did," Lector said. "I still don't fully understand how and why I was allowed back into my body when I couldn't re-enter it before, after we were free of Noa's world and became wandering spirits in the real world."

A shrug. "Maybe you had to earn the right to get it back? Although the rest of us just got back in because of that Yami Marik character. You wonder why the positive forces didn't keep us from that."

"Maybe by then it was better that you got back into your bodies," Lector suggested. "Dr. Portman was using them as mindless zombies. Not to mention that all of you . . . sacrificed yourselves for me. . . ." He shuddered at the memories. "That angel Kasumi indicated that that act was what earned you the right to have another chance."

"I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that one," Nesbitt grunted. "I was never much for believing in anything you couldn't see, whether that was God, angels . . . friendship. . . ." He looked away, a bit embarrassed.

"I didn't realize any of us believed in friendship," Lector admitted. "But we all did, quietly, without really knowing it or needing to test it. And when we had to test it, we all came through. You don't know how much that meant to me, to know that . . . especially after doubting all of you. . . ."

"I think I know . . . kind of," Nesbitt said. "Discovering friendship is real was . . . amazing. Incredible. I thought it was only for naive kids who didn't know better. But it was for us too."

Lector slowly nodded. "And I'm glad of it," he proclaimed.

"Now if we can all just stay alive through this mess," Nesbitt muttered.

Lector fell silent. He certainly hoped for that as well.

xxxx

Downstairs, Seto was hard at work on the master computer, cross-checking his list of employees against the bizarre Red Hand fake name. "Can't you go any faster?" he complained.

"I think I'm doing quite well, considering the sheer number of employees you have," the computer replied. "Anyway, I'm narrowing the list down a good deal. Look at these, for starters."

Seto scrolled through the list. "Most of these people I don't even know personally," he frowned. ". . . Wait a minute!" He leaned forward. "Scott Irvine has been called 'Red Hand' by fellow employees because he always bleeds them dry at poker?!"

"I thought that one would interest you," the computer said triumphantly.

"Scott Irvine is one of my top research engineers. He was vital during my examination of Obelisk before Battle City." Seto slumped back in the seat. "Only I have a hard time picturing him going so overboard with loyalty to me that he would threaten people who have betrayed me."

"Especially when you're often in a bad mood around him," said the computer. "Just telling it like it is."

"You always do," Seto grunted. "No, I think someone might be deliberately setting Irvine up as a patsy, the same way Alister's supposedly been set up. They would know a moniker like Red Hand could be traced back to him easily enough. Irvine would be too smart to use that as a calling card unless he wanted to be found out, and why would he want that?"

"Search me. Are you gonna talk to him even if you don't think he's guilty?"

"You bet I am." Seto reached for the phone. "And there's no time like the present."