X. Gatecrashers

"Carly!" Jack was almost at the stairs when Carly slammed the door behind her, leaving him standing helplessly with one foot poised over the first step. Crow whistled.

"Better go apologize," he said. There was the sound of a car taking off at full speed, engine doing overtime, and he winced. "Or not."

"I'm going after her," Jack said, heading for the garage and his D-Wheel. Yusei held up a hand, continuing to type furiously with the other.

"Jack, wait, I'm almost in." He'd almost found Sherry's file. Of course the WRGP site wouldn't release anyone's address to the general public, but Security had it. Without Bruno, hacking went a lot slower, but it wasn't anything he couldn't accomplish. Besides, if he found it, he'd have Bruno back soon enough.

"They can wait. I'm going to find Carly," Jack said, and he was out of the door before Yusei could protest. He sighed. He really would have preferred to have everyone with him, but with the twins probably already fast asleep and Aki in the hospital, that just left him and Crow, whose arm was still broken. The screen switched, prompting for another password. They'd dropped their dueling puzzle for something that couldn't be cracked by anyone who could think logically, instead opting for the tried-and-true passwords method. Even easier. Yusei made short work of it, and the Security database finally opened up to him. Unlike the last time when he'd hacked into it, to find Bruno, this time he immediately went for Sherry Leblanc's profile. Even if Bruno and Paradox weren't staying with her, she'd still know where they were.

He found the address and copied it with a grim smile. Tops, not even all that far from where Rua and Ruka lived. Figured that she'd have one of the big fancy apartments.

"Got it," he told Crow, getting up and shrugging on his jacket. Crow ambled over with a sigh.

"You sure you wanna do this now? It'll be midnight by the time we'll get there. They're never going to let us in." He looked at the address and raised his eyebrows. "And Tops? They close the entire block at night, remember?"

Yusei snorted. "Seriously? That's not the worst security we've ever faced." Crow had broken into several depots, at least two Security facilities, in and out of prison, into more buildings than he could count and once even straight into the head officer's private room, and those were only the instances Yusei was aware of. The idea of Tops being a challenge to the two of them together was ludicrous at best.

"Yes, when it mattered." Crow sighed. "Yusei, listen. You've been wanting to find Bruno, and okay, I get that. Fine. But breaking into Tops at this time of night? We can wait until tomorrow."

"No, we can't," Yusei retorted. Bruno could be anywhere by tomorrow. If they didn't go now—

"Yes, we can," said Crow, stressing every word. "You're not thinking smart. In Satellite, we broke into stuff because we had no other choice, and we always, always waited for the best moment. They're not going to run. They don't even know they've been found! They open Tops during the day, remember? So tomorrow morning, we can just walk up, say we came to see Rua and Ruka, and go straight on."

Crow was making sense, and Yusei hated it. He sat back down in front of the computer and set about to make doubly sure he'd removed all traces of his hacking attempt, just to give himself time to think. If it were just him, he would've been on his way to Tops already. He wanted to see Bruno, and he had to confront Paradox, and probably Sherry too. Did Sherry even know how dangerous Paradox was? She could be in great danger without even realizing it. Though Bruno wouldn't let anything happen, right? And neither would Mizoguchi. They'd need to get past Mizoguchi too. That might actually be the hardest part of all. But if they waited until tomorrow, or until the WRGP...

He sighed and closed all the windows. "I guess you're right," he admitted. If they got caught breaking in, they'd lose their position on the WRGP and everything they'd worked for. It just wasn't worth it. That was, after all, the logical decision.

"Right." Crow gave him a relieved smile. "We'll go find them tomorrow. They'll still be there. It's not like they can drop out of the tournament right now."

Oh, right. With all the commotion about Timothy Kant being Bruno, Yusei had almost forgotten that he was also participating in the WRGP. The blocks they were in ensured they would never meet unless they both made it to the semifinals. Yusei suspected that Yliaster had set up the tournament like that intentionally. Wait, did that mean they knew...

"I'm going for a walk," he announced, getting back up. Crow made an alarmed noise.

"You're not gonna do anything stupid, are you?" he asked. He looked like he would physically prevent Yusei from leaving if he said yes.

"No, I'm not, I swear," Yusei said. "I won't go anywhere near Tops, I promise."

He wasn't even lying; however much he wanted to go right now, he wouldn't risk it. He had the team to think of. Right now, he just needed some fresh air. Crow still looked suspicious, but he let Yusei pass, and he seemed mollified when Yusei made no attempt to take Yusei-Go, instead opting to leave on foot.

The night air was colder than he'd expected, and he pulled his jacket closer the moment he stepped outside. The day had been very warm and very clear, and now, at night, the sky was still free of clouds. In Satellite, this would have been a good time for looking at the stars, but the streetlights and large neon advertising screens of the City made it impossible to see all but the very brightest stars. He thought he could see Vega, and Cassiopeia to the east, but astronomy had never been his strong suit. What little material he'd been able to find on it had never been enough to satisfy his curiosity. Maybe he should just walk to Satellite. It wasn't exactly far away, just a few kilometers. He could easily go there and be back before dawn.

But perhaps better not. Yusei backtracked on his thoughts, crossing the street and walking in the direction of the city center as he did so. He had promised not to go to Tops, and he intended to keep that promise, but maybe the constant crowds in the City would distract him. Saturday night meant party night for the students of Neo Domino University, which meant in turn that there'd be something interesting to see. The WRGP itself wouldn't be running during the weekend, and their round two matches were only scheduled for next Wednesday. Team Chevalier's bracket had gotten Tuesday, he recalled. That line of thought led him right back to Bruno, who was also in the tournament, and now apparently also the same person who'd shown him Accel Synchro. He remembered first meeting him, and he wasn't like Bruno at all. So then who was the real Bruno?

And Accel Synchro, was that something he should still learn? Was that something Bruno would still want to teach him? However much it pained him to admit it, their first meeting very likely hadn't been a coincidence, and Bruno — Antinomy? — probably hadn't shown him because he'd happened to feel like it. So should he learn? Did he want to learn?

That was a stupid question. Of course he did. What self-respecting duelist wouldn't want to? Yusei kicked a pebble and watched it fly across the street, miraculously miss all oncoming traffic and disappear into the gutter on the other side of the road. The closer he got to the city center, the more people there were. He avoided a group of students who were taking up most of the sidewalk, already drunk and very loud about it. It wasn't even midnight yet. Lightweights.

He made it to the city center in good time and took the now-familiar route to Security. There were still lights burning in the building when he arrived. Of course they'd have people working day and night. Maybe he shouldn't stand around for too long, not when he didn't have anything to do here. He grinned involuntarily. If he ever told them exactly how fragile their servers were, they probably wouldn't thank him for it. Hey, not his fault if they made them so easy to access.

He rounded the corner, away from Security and up in the sloping parts of the city. That was taking him dangerously close to Tops, but he'd turn back before he got there. Here, there were less people, and Yusei was relieved to leave the party-going students behind him. Not quite because he envied them their nights out, but more because it reminded him of what he was missing out on himself.

He almost didn't see the flash of light down in the alley up front, but the groans of pain were hard not to hear. He hurried forwards, taking out his phone as he went. If someone was in trouble, they'd need help. He rounded the corner to a person, crouched down in pain, his clothes ripped and torn.

"Do you need help—" he started to say, only to stop when he realized just who exactly he was looking at. "Plácido?"

What the hell? Plácido looked like he hadn't even noticed him yet, and Yusei took the chance to round the corner again and hide. What had happened to him? He chanced another glance. Plácido was slowly getting up, and— was he sparking? Wait... What?

"Stupid woman," Plácido was muttering. He got up fully, and— Wow. Someone, something had stabbed right through him. Several times. What was left of his robes did a fairly decent job at concealing the worst of the damage, but still, the conclusion was abundantly clear. First of all, Plácido had run into something that he obviously hadn't been prepared for. Second of all, he clearly wasn't human. Yusei took a deep breath and retreated further back as Plácido left the alley. So, robot. Unless the people in Bruno's future were magically capable of surviving severe stab wounds through the stomach and torso, but somehow Yusei rather doubted that was the case. He wasn't even bleeding or anything.

He ducked behind a bench when Plácido left the alley, praying he wouldn't come in Yusei's direction. He didn't. Instead he turned the other way, away from the city center and in the direction of Tops. Yusei winced. He had promised Crow not to go, but if Plácido was going there, maybe he should follow anyway? This was clearly important.

Mind made up, he followed Plácido from a distance, keeping as much space between them as possible while still keeping an eye on him. Right before he hit the main road that would lead to Tops, Plácido turned left, however, back downtown towards the cheaper apartment complexes. Yusei hurried to catch up with him. He turned a corner, only to find him gone.

Where'd he go? Yusei wondered, looking around. Plácido had most definitely been there seconds earlier. He couldn't just have vanished in thin air, could he?

A hand shot out, pinning him against the wall before Yusei could react. He twisted and managed to land a kick into his attacker's side. No effect. Plácido glared down at him.

"You'd better not keep following me, Fudou Yusei," he hissed. Up close, he looked even worse. He hadn't just been stabbed through the stomach, but through his chest too, and one of the gaping holes had barely missed his neck. Whatever had attacked him, it had done a serious number on him. Not that it was helping Yusei any. Plácido had him pinned against the wall, feet barely touching the ground, and breathing was starting to get difficult.

"Leggo," he managed to say, using his right arm to break Plácido's grip. No use. If he'd had his duel disk right now, maybe he would've been able to actually hurt him, unless—

Yusei swung himself up, using Plácido's arms as support, and kicked him in the stomach, aiming for the spots where he'd already been stabbed. Plácido grunted in pain and let him go abruptly. Yusei didn't waste time. He was out of Plácido's reach before the other had recovered, this time fully prepared for any kind of attack.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked. Plácido got up again. Yusei glanced around. No one in this street. That was both a good and a bad thing. Plácido posed a very real danger to him, but on the other hand, if he'd known Bruno, and if he knew more about him, Yusei wanted to find out.

"I don't see how that concerns you," Plácido hissed. "You're lucky I don't have my sword."

He had a sword? Yusei switched his stance when Plácido straightened up fully, and for a moment, they just stared at each other, waiting for someone to make a move. Then Plácido moved, faster than Yusei had expected, but not fast enough — Yusei barely dodged a fist and jumped out of the way, again out of reach. Plácido was clearly far stronger than him, but with the damage that had been done to him, if he could just tire him out, have him waste his energy... Did it even work that way for androids? He was going to find out.

"You knew where they were, didn't you? Bruno and Paradox?" he asked. Plácido stepped forwards and Yusei immediately took a step back to compensate.

"Yeah, so? They're idiots. Should've killed you and your groupies when they had the chance."

Yusei glared. "Bruno wouldn't."

That didn't quite get him the reaction he'd expected. Plácido started laughing. Loudly, loud enough to attract the attention of anyone who might be nearby, and Yusei glanced around desperately. "You really believe that? Of course he would've. Wouldn't even be the first time."

What? Yusei took another step backwards, this time involuntarily. "What do you mean?"

"You really think this is the first timeline where we've run into your merry band? Your precious Bruno sure never hesitated about offing anyone. Dunno why they thought your death was such a bad thing that they had to undo it. I would've just left you to die."

"You're lying."

"Yes, you would like to believe that, wouldn't you? Face it, you're not immortal and Antinomy doesn't give a fuck about you."

Yusei clenched his hands into fists, sliding into an offensive stance on instinct. How dare he— Bruno would never— The Bruno he knew would never kill anyone, much less Yusei himself. The very idea was too ridiculous for words.

Plácido smiled almost pityingly. "All of us have blood on our hands, Fudou Yusei. Antinomy is no different. Or did you think you could reform him? Show him kindness and change him? Face it, he's no better than the rest of us and you can't do a thing about that—"

Yusei's fist found his face before he could finish that sentence. "You fucking liar," he hissed. Plácido only grinned up at him, smile razor-sharp. He didn't even look fazed when Yusei punched him again.

"You're too naive," Plácido said. "Wouldn't be the first time that's your downfall." He caught Yusei's third punch and punched him in the stomach, then tossed him aside as easily as one would a child. Yusei managed to keep his balance, but had to grab hold of the wall to keep standing. He coughed, clutching his stomach, and tried to straighten up before Plácido attacked again.

"But seeing as you're still being useful, I guess you get to live for now." Plácido announced, not even looking at him. "Who knows, maybe Antinomy will get the honors."

He left, tattered robes swishing around his legs. Yusei tried to follow him, but Plácido's last punch had left him gasping for breath, his stomach on fire. He was lying. He had to be lying. Bruno did care about him, and there was no way he'd just go around killing people. The Bruno he knew would never kill him either.

But did you ever really know him? If he cared, then why did he leave? A voice in his head whispered insidiously. Yusei resolutely blocked it out. There had to be another reason. Bruno had been angry with him, angry because Yusei'd said he was better than—

Better than his friends. Better than the people who Plácido had said had killed thousands. If Bruno hadn't wanted to be better than them, then— then that meant that Plácido—

He was right, the voice whispered again. He wasn't lying, and you know it.

oOoOo

In Crow's opinion, the next day didn't bode well. Jack had returned in a huff about two hours after he'd left and had then spent the next hour alternately complaining about Carly not letting him in and trying to call her. After five minutes, Crow had tuned him out. After ten minutes, Carly clearly had too, because that was when Jack started complaining about only getting a busy signal. He'd finally managed to convince Jack to try again the next day and gone to bed. He hadn't heard Yusei come back during the night, but he must have had at some point, because the next day Crow found him down in the garage, idly toying around with a laptop. He'd unscrewed the back panel and removed the hard drive. What he was going to do with it, Crow didn't bother to ask. This was stress therapy for Yusei.

"Where've you been?" he asked.

"Around," Yusei said. He dropped a screw and swore, diving under the table to retrieve it. "Don't worry, I haven't been to Tops."

"Well, wanna go now?" he suggested. It was already past nine. They'd have no trouble getting in.

Yusei hit his head on the underside of the table, swore again, and emerged with the missing screw, looking strangely reluctant. "I want to finish up here first," he said. Crow raised his eyebrows. He'd barely been able to stop Yusei yesterday, and now he suddenly didn't want to go?

"Did something happen last night?" he asked, hoisting himself up on the table where Yusei was working. "Actually, did you even sleep at all?"

"No."

"Is that a 'No, nothing happened' or 'No, I didn't sleep'?"

"Yes." Yusei reinserted the hard drive and turned the laptop around, booting it up without screwing on the back panel again. Crow was going to assume Yusei knew what he was doing and that this wouldn't end up with them having to get a new laptop.

"Right, well, if you're not going, check on Blackbird for me, will you? It's making some funny noises."

Yusei looked away from the screen, alarmed. "You're going?"

"Yeah, of course," Crow gave an exaggerated shrug. "But I guess, if you don't wanna—"

"I'll come," Yusei said quickly. He abandoned the laptop entirely and got up.

"Cool. I'll get Jack." He jumped off the table with a grin. Still had it. He would've gone anyway, because dammit, he was curious, but he'd had more than enough of the moping Yusei of the past couple of weeks. It'd cost them their first match, for god's sake!

Jack was moping as well, but the promise of finding Bruno and Paradox and possibly getting to hit them seemed more than incentive enough, which was how Crow found himself at the eastern gates of Tops an hour later. The guard on duty recognized them and waved them through without asking anything. Sometimes it paid to have friends in high places.

"Right, sixty-four...," Crow counted the buildings, "sixty-five... Geez, this place is massive. What was it again?"

"Seventy-two," Yusei said immediately. "Fourth floor, 405."

"Right." He looked around. Jack was the first to spot the building they needed, half hidden away behind the sixties row. Why did they have to make everything so difficult?

The building itself confronted them with an additional challenge, when the door required a code to get in. Tops people sure were paranoid. Yusei frowned at the keyboard.

"Only so many combinations, right?" Jack said. Yusei kept on frowning.

"Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine," he replied. "Could be anything. If I had a computer I could just brute-force it, but—"

"You're thinking stupid again. Let me." Crow elbowed him out of the way and eyed the keyboard. 0000 would be too obvious even for the rich kids. On the other hand, it'd have to be something the inhabitants of the building could remember even when they got home drunk off their asses. This was one of the systems that really didn't offer any protection. They'd let you retry as many times as you wanted. Theoretically, they could even input all nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine combinations, one by one, but Crow really didn't feel like doing that.

"What's the code for Rua and Ruka again?"

"4348," Yusei replied.

Forty-three was their building. Then what was the forty-eight? Crow's eyes wandered to the elevator. He watched as the numbers pinged down to the seventh floor, then stopped there.

"Ah, got it." He grinned and keyed in 7220. The door unlocked. "Come on."

Number of the building and number of floors. It shouldn't have been that easy to figure out. Tops clearly relied on the security at the gates to keep any unwanted visitors out. They trudged inside and entered the elevator, where Yusei pressed the number four. Jack tapped his foot impatiently as the elevator doors slid shut.

"They'd better be there," he muttered. Crow grimaced. It was nearing ten o'clock. It would not be surprising if they weren't around, and between an angry Jack and distracted Yusei, he didn't really fancy spending hours waiting for them. The elevator reached the fourth floor and the doors slid open noiselessly. Jack was out before they'd opened fully, followed by Yusei. Crow sighed and followed at a more sedate pace. By the time he arrived at room 405, Jack had already rung the buzzer and was now knocking on the door.

"Cool it, they're not gonna jump out of the window if they see us coming," he told Jack. The door opened to Mizoguchi. Right. That was an added complication. If Mizoguchi decided they weren't getting in, they'd have a hell of a time getting through that door.

"Can I help you?" he asked, looking them over.

"Yes, I'd—" Yusei started. "I'd like to talk to Sherry."

Mizoguchi frowned at them. "Just a moment."

And he shut the door on them again. Crow sighed. What a mess.

"He'll have to let us in, right?" Yusei asked. Jack stared at the door as if it'd personally insulted him.

"I'll make him if he doesn't," Jack said. Crow desperately hoped Sherry would be charitable enough to let them in. He shifted from one foot to the other. This better be worth it. He had half a mind to follow Jack's example and shout at Bruno and Paradox until he was hoarse.

"Milady has agreed to see you," Mizoguchi said, reappearing in the doorway.

"Thanks," Crow muttered as Jack and Yusei moved past him. Sherry was sitting on the sofa in what was a more spacious living room than he'd expected, engrossed in an old paper newspaper. She barely even looked up when they came in.

"What do you want?"

"Actually," Yusei began. He looked around. "I was hoping to talk to your teammate. Timothy Kant?"

"Timothy?" Sherry still didn't look up, but there was a note of faked surprise in her voice that told Crow she was well aware of his real identity. "And why is that?"

Yusei bit his lip. "I met him once. He told me something about a new dueling style, but didn't elaborate at the time. I'd like to know more."

"Accel Synchro," Sherry said. She folded the paper carefully and put it down on the small table in front of her. "And what makes you think he'd tell you? After all, we are on rival teams right now."

Yusei faltered. He finally settled for, "Can I please just talk to him?"

Sherry looked the three of them over. Finally she shook her head and got up. "I'm guessing you're not going to leave before you do, huh?"

"Hell no," Jack said. Mizoguchi, standing on the side, looked quietly amused. He and Sherry exchanged a look, then Sherry turned around abruptly and left the room.

"Why don't you sit down?" Mizoguchi said. There had to be an art to going from threatening to perfectly hospitable in less than a minute. Crow reluctantly did as he said. Jack and Yusei remained standing.

"Good morning," Timothy Kant — Bruno — said. He entered the room, followed by Sherry. He was still wearing sunglasses, even indoors, but now that Crow knew what to look for, it was hard to miss that he and Bruno were one and the same person. He turned towards Yusei. "Sherry said you wanted to know more about Accel Synchro."

"Yes." Yusei looked at Crow and Jack. They both nodded. "Ah, can we talk outside?"

The looks between Sherry, Mizoguchi and Bruno spoke volumes. Finally Bruno grimaced. "Alright," he said. "Let's talk."

oOoOo

"So, Accel Synchro, you said?"

Yusei closed the door behind him, but not before catching Jack's mouthed, 'good luck'. He nodded in thanks. He was going to need it to get through this conversation.

"Yeah." He glanced at Bruno. How had he missed this? How had he ever missed seeing that Timothy Kant was Bruno and how had he ever missed that Bruno was the mysterious duelist who'd showed him Accel Synchro? He wished he'd take his sunglasses off already. They were getting on his nerves. They were hiding Bruno's eyes.

They reached the elevator and Yusei hit the 'down' button with a bit more force than strictly necessary. Bruno seemed perfectly content standing around in silence. The elevator doors opened noiselessly and they walked in. Yusei waited until the the doors had closed before speaking again.

"Why did you never tell me about it afterwards?" he asked, careful to keep his voice level, to make it sound like an honest question and not the accusation he wanted it to be.

"I did believe you were rather busy with the WRGP. As were we," Bruno said. His voice was almost entirely monotone. And Yusei had had more than enough of it.

"Just stop it," he snapped.

"I'm sorry?" Bruno said. He did politely confused very well.

"Stop lying to us."

"I have no idea what you're talk—"

"Bruno, stop it." Yusei slammed his hand against the wall of the elevator, just as they reached the ground floor and the doors slid open. "We know, all right? We know." He took a deep breath. "So please, stop lying."

Bruno reeled back, looking like he'd been struck in the face. Even with those stupid sunglasses, Yusei still saw him glance at the now-open elevator door.

"And don't run either," he added, planting himself in the door opening. Bruno was biting his lip, considering, and Yusei tensed, stopping the elevator doors with one hand as they started to slide shut again. Was he really going to try to attack him? Not Bruno, surely? But if Plácido had been right, if he had...

"All right," Bruno said suddenly. He finally took off those sunglasses, and Yusei just wanted to look at him, just take him in after all these weeks. Bruno was here. He was really here.

"Let's walk," he suggested. Bruno nodded, still biting the inside of his cheek, and for a moment, Yusei thought he was still going to run after all. But he didn't, only followed Yusei out of the elevator and through the exit of the building in silence.

"How'd you find out?" he asked when they were passing a small pond. All the benches around it were taken by what looked like a knitting group. Too bad.

"Carly found out. She... found a picture." Yusei took out his phone, found the picture, and wordlessly handed it to Bruno.

"That's when we put two and two together," he said. He stopped when he realized Bruno wasn't following anymore and abruptly turned around, but Bruno wasn't running, only staring at his phone, mouth drawn in a tight line. He closed his eyes for a long moment, then handed the phone back to Yusei.

"I see," he only said.

"Paradox is your backbencher, isn't he?" Yusei said, desperate for a change of subject. Maybe reminding Bruno of his sister, the one they'd argued about in the first place, hadn't exactly been his best idea ever. But Bruno didn't look angry, at least not the way he'd looked the last time they'd really spoken. He just looked resigned.

"Yes," he said.

"Does she even know— Sherry, I mean," he began to say. Bruno cut him off immediately.

"She knows enough to know what she's getting herself into," he said, his voice leaving no room for argument. "And if you're worried about that, you can take it up with Sherry herself."

"How've you been?" Yusei asked. Really, he just wanted to ask Bruno to come back, to let them help him. He'd even put up with Paradox if he had to.

"Good. I mean," Bruno began, "yeah, good. Roof above our head, that's always nice."

You've got one with us, Yusei wanted to say. He didn't.

"And dueling. I'm pretty happy about that part. Well," he grimaced, "if Sherry would let me."

"I haven't seen you duel yet," Yusei said. He hadn't really been keeping up with Team Chevalier's matches, even though he'd vaguely decided before that he should. Now that he knew that Bruno was on their team, he was already itching to go back and rewatch all their previous matches.

"Probably because I haven't actually dueled yet. Sherry just keeps beating everyone. It's boring!" he said, and Yusei laughed. Being able to talk to Bruno like this, without the terrible tension from before, was so much better.

"What about you?" Bruno asked. "I saw your match against Unicorn. What happened?"

Yusei cringed. Not exactly his best moment. He looked for the best words and finally settled for, "I was... Distracted."

Jean had accused him of not paying attention to the duel, and of not taking his opponents seriously and being a hypocrite after all his talk about fun and respect. Really, he'd been too distracted thinking about where Bruno himself was, and how they were going to find him in the middle of the WRGP, when they had so many matches to deal with. But telling that to Bruno now, when he was standing right in front of him, finally?

"I'm sorry to hear that." Bruno walked up next to him. "Aki was really good, though."

"She trained with Crow," Yusei said. "I don't know what they did, but you should've seen her D-Wheel when they got back. I honestly thought I wasn't going to get it fixed up in time before the match."

Bruno winced. "That bad? What did they do?" he asked.

"Paintjob, for one, but that was the least of it. I'm surprised they actually made it back to the garage that day, because her engine was pretty much busted. I thought I was going to have to replace it, the state it was in. Completely clogged with all kinds of stuff that really shouldn't have made it in there in the first place. Leaves, for goodness' sake."

"Leaves?" Bruno repeated, puzzled. "How do you get leaves in there?"

"Not the faintest clue." Yusei smiled up at him. They were actually talking, properly talking. "I did manage to save the engine in the end."

"Did you upgrade it?"

"Yeah. I was working on it anyway, so I figured I might as well."

"Good." Bruno fell silent again. They walked side by side through the lanes of Tops. Cars didn't come here, unless they were delivery trucks, and they only passed one on their way. Tops was a community that had been kept artificially peaceful, a haven away from the city for all the people who had enough money to afford it.

"I talked to Yugi-san," Yusei said, for lack of anything better to say. Bruno's steps faltered briefly, and now that he wasn't wearing his sunglasses, Yusei could easily see how his eyes flitted from side to side, suddenly vigilant, as if the few people out would be interested in their conversation at all. There was an empty bench under a small group of trees, mostly hidden away from view, and Yusei put a tentative hand on his arm to guide him there.

"There's nothing wrong with Momentum as it stands now," he said once they'd sat down, very carefully not touching. "It's running exactly as it should, so I don't really see..."

"No, it's Momentum," Bruno said. "I know you don't want it to be, but I'm sorry, it is. That's pretty much the only thing we're completely sure of."

Yusei sighed. He didn't want to get into another argument, not now, but the files his parents had given him didn't lie. Ever since Zero Reverse, Momentum had been running exactly within the parameters they'd specified. That data was even public; he'd been able to go through it with his parents' work next to it, and nothing had pointed towards any anomalies at all.

"I'll look through it again," he conceded, "but really, nothing looks abnormal."

"There's going to be. Soon enough." Bruno kicked a pebble away. There hadn't been any force behind the kick; the pebble only made it a meter or so. "If we just knew what caused it..."

"You don't know? So then you're not sure about Momentum?" Yusei said. All this time, he'd assumed they had some kind of conclusive evidence about Momentum being the culprit, but if they didn't, that meant Momentum might not be the problem at all!

"No, it's Momentum. Really." Bruno looked him in the eyes. "I'm sorry. What we don't know is what caused Momentum to go out of control."

Yusei held his gaze for several long seconds, until Bruno flushed and turned away. "Anyway, yeah, it's Momentum," he said quickly.

"Everything is still as it should be," Yusei insisted. "Look, I'll scan those files for you." Without the note his mother had written, of course. "You can see for yourself."

Bruno's reply was interrupted when one of the security guards found them sitting under the trees. He eyed Yusei warily and looked back at Bruno. "I'm sorry, might I see your visitor's passes, please?" he asked.

"I'm a resident," Bruno replied coldly. "Timothy Kant, seventy-two, four-oh-five."

That seemed to match up with whatever information the man had stored in his tablet. "Your, uh, friend?" he asked.

"Fudou Yusei. His team is here by invitation of mine." If possible, Bruno's voice grew even colder. Yusei put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head while the man was confirming that. It wasn't worth getting worked up over.

"My apologies." The guard nodded at both of them and disappeared as quickly as he'd come. Yusei sighed and slumped.

"The nerve," Bruno was muttering. He looked far more offended on Yusei's behalf than Yusei himself felt. Yusei shrugged.

"Eh, I've heard worse. He's just doing his job."

"I'm surprised he didn't even recognize you."

"I can't expect everyone in the city to know me." He shuddered. He wouldn't even want to. Leave the fame to Jack; he could do without it. "Anyway, it's not new. 'Those Satelliters get to go everywhere and Security's too scared to do anything about them,' you know. Stuff like that. Don't know where they get it from because Security never had any trouble with us before."

Or 'They get unemployment benefits without ever having worked because everyone's afraid of getting beat up,' or, 'You got to watch out for the kids, they'll make off with your stuff before you know it.' Yusei had heard several versions.

"Bad feelings all around," he said, resigned. "But that's what the WRGP is for, right? So we can actually make it better."

"Bad feelings," Bruno repeated, suddenly very pale. He jumped up, and Yusei hurriedly followed. "Sorry, I need to go check on something really fast. Maybe it's just false alarm."

"Hey, hold up." Yusei hurried after him. "I can help."

"It's just an idea, that's all. It's probably nothing," Bruno insisted. "Don't worry about it."

Yusei closed his eyes for a second. "Bruno, please. Don't do this."

Bruno stopped walking, and for a moment they just looked at each other. Then Bruno put his hands on Yusei's shoulders.

"If it's anything, I'll let you know, I promise. I just want to be sure first." He smiled hesitantly. "Okay? I... I would like those files, I think. Just e-mail me, I'll get it."

No one was having a particularly good track record with keeping promises lately. Could he really believe that Bruno would actually trust him this time around? What was keeping him from just disappearing again?

"If it's anything, I'll tell you. Promise." He dropped his hands, and Yusei shivered against the sudden cold. He didn't want to agree to this. He didn't want to leave Bruno or Paradox on their own, with Sherry, who wasn't even fully aware of what was going on. Was she?

"You could come back," he said. Bruno shook his head.

"You know I won't. Besides, I like this. I get to duel."

"You could—" Yusei started. Bruno immediately interrupted him.

"Could what? I'm not going to take your place, or Jack or Crow's, and I seriously don't want to sit around anymore. Sorry, Yusei." He fidgeted. "I have to go. If it's anything, I will tell you somehow."

oOoOo

He had to be wrong.

He waited for the laptop to boot up, trying to will away the terrible feeling that had settled in his stomach. He couldn't be right. If he was, then everything they'd done—

The laptop finished turning on, and he quickly opened the files he needed, glancing around as he did so. Yusei, Jack and Crow were gone, the latter two apparently kicked out by Mizoguchi. Sherry had left herself, and Paradox was... Somewhere. He didn't know. He didn't really care either, not right now.

The data he'd already gathered were familiar, comforting, something he could hold on to to prove — or disprove — any theory. For the first time, he really hoped that this one wouldn't mean anything, that it was just another dead end like so many others. He paused, fingers poised above the keyboard, then gritted his teeth and started typing. First simulation. One he'd run a hundred times before, and the outcome was no different this time. That much was comforting. He adjusted the parameters. No marked change in outcome.

He took a deep breath before trying his new theory. This was... Perhaps the biggest gamble he'd taken since they'd traveled through time for the first time, with no way of knowing what was going to happen or whether they wouldn't just end up erasing themselves from time and stop existing altogether. That had been a gamble that had paid off. This one— This one hopefully wouldn't.

A screen flashed, announcing that the simulation was running. He shoved the laptop away and closed his eyes. It was going to be fine. Somehow, everything was going to be just fine and he'd get to tell Yusei that it had been false alarm and that he'd just been making up things. All fine. Because if it wasn't, then there was only one solution left for them, one he had been trying to avoid at all costs.

The laptop pinged. He steeled himself and opened his eyes to study the new data that the program had whipped up. The outcome of the simulation was very different now. All the values representing time had lowered, putting the explosion of Neo Domino's Momentum reactor far earlier than any previous simulation had come up with. It was also the right date. The program had calculated the right date to within a month, solely based on this hunch he'd just had, this terrible terrible hunch that was now, without a doubt, true.

It meant he couldn't ever tell Yusei about it. It meant that everything they'd ever worked for had been worthless.

It also meant the end of the world. And there was nothing, nothing they could do about it.

END OF ACT TWO


Next chapter: We take another break to look at some first meetings.