Seto inhaled Ishizu's intoxicating, heady scent and could think no more. His hands flew to her rear, pulling her hips against his as hers slid inside his shirt, curling up around his back.
She must clearly trust me again… at least enough for this.
Ishizu pulled back for a quick breath, and thought she would combust as Seto saw his opportunity to dip his lips to her neck, sending shivers throughout her body. Her breath came out in bursts, in gasps as Seto clenched handfuls of her skirt in his fists, dragging his hands to her thighs. Her skirt rode up her legs as he brushed his fingers under her skirt, trailing his nails inward and upward, making her practically whimper.
Hoping to maintain some semblance of control in this most delicate of situations, and feeling more than a bit irked by the faint chuckle she heard him utter at just how damned easy she was tonight, Ishizu drew one hand down from his back and ran it below his navel, dipping just below the waistband of those completely unnecessary boxers. She felt him sigh deeply, a certain satisfaction at his delicious reactions blooming in her chest.
God. This all felt so natural, so right, so integral to both of them—his groaning his need against her neck, her warm, lithe legs quivering in anticipation for him, for this. How could either of them consider anything else?
"Please. Now." It didn't matter which of them said it. Seto guided Ishizu to one of the foyer couches, a plush, sleek leather affair, and lowered her down onto her back. His eyes felt wet and starry as he slid his hands up those soft legs, slowly, teasingly, causing her to nearly cry out in frustration, until her skirt was bunched up around her waist.
He had to have a condom somewhere, dammit, he thought briefly as Ishizu disentangled herself from her blouse, her cheeks flushed and breasts heaving, leaving him rather distracted for a moment. Not that Seto Kaiba was not typically unprepared for such matters, being who he was, but he hadn't exactly expected this sort of affair to go on during this ostensible business trip in Domino City… the strangest things happened in the strangest situations, was the conclusion he came to as she guided his hands to the front clasp of her bra.
That sort of thing had stopped giving him trouble years ago. He dropped the garment on the floor and took in Ishizu's body, her soft stomach, and felt as if he had left Earth. God.
Ishizu pulled him down to her by the lapels of his shirt, enjoying the flash of delighted surprise in his eyes at her forwardness. She planted a searing kiss on his neck and helped him cast off the offending garment, reveling in the heat of his skin, the smooth planes of his chest and torso, the way he was being pushed further and further, the increased frenzy of his movements.
God, everything he was—it was just impossible to believe that it was all true, that she'd managed to hold such wild beauty all to herself, even for a moment. His hair was tousled, his eyes bright and wicked as they looked down at her—oh, the gentle, insistent movements of his long fingers on her thighs… it was a miracle she didn't come undone at any moment.
Seto got in a kiss, sucking on her lower lip and making her giggle wantonly, before a nagging thought tugged at his mind, demanding attention. "Say," he breathed into her ear, before nipping at her collarbone, "how did the meeting go?" That farce? He was sure that it had been an utter failure—in what world would a group of scummy duelists suddenly turn to art and community service as their salvation.
Ishizu flushed again, gasping as Seto unbuttoned her skirt, making her entire body quiver. Lower, oh god, lower… "It actually went quite, quite well… we got se, several volunteers after Joey Wheeler made, made his case…"
Seto lifted his lips from her, his face blanching. Well, fuck. She's played right into Devlin's hands.
Clearly his plan of sending an anonymous tip to the Herald in a few months down the line was not going to be sufficient anymore.
He slid off of her and onto the marble floor, any trace of arousal having fled his body, replaced with apprehension and a trace of… fear? What a ridiculous emotion for Seto Kaiba to feel, and yet it was not an inaccurate description of how his heart beat violently, erratically, in his chest.
Ishizu snapped up, groping for her shirt, breath beginning to steady. What is going on? What just happened? She looked up at Seto, who had risen to his feet and begun pacing hurriedly throughout the foyer. Her cheeks paled with anxiety.
"Seto? What is going on?" She couldn't keep a tinge of annoyance out of her voice. They'd been having such a good time—and why would Seto have this kind of fraught reaction upon hearing of her success with D-CARP? It just didn't make sense—was he threatened?
Feeling more than a mite bit embarrassed, the fog of lust having lifted so abruptly, she swung around on the couch and began getting dressed—a sad set of gestures that did not escape Seto's notice, even as he was becoming completely agitated.
Seto crossed his arms and sighed, his voice skill husky and unsteady. He couldn't meet her inquisitive gaze, choosing instead to address her elbow. "Well, Ishizu, you've kind of made a mess of things, haven't you."
His mind was racing—as if he always should have known… shouldn't he have pieced together that Ishizu's success with D-CARP would not only continue the Mayor's unchecked, maniacal influence over the city and his eventual (highly illegal and unquestionably unethical) Dungeon Dice Monsters venture, but continue to criminalize Duel Monsters, only continuing the economic downturn of the city that few of the elites seemed to actually care about?
How had he not put it together sooner? Was he growing idiotic? God, he hoped not.
How was he going to tell Ishizu that the work she had devoted herself to for all these months, had suffered and slaved over, agonized, planned, wheedled, begged for—how could he tell her that the very program she had pioneered and was championing as zealously as anything was actively harming the city?
He couldn't even look at her now—couldn't take in the woman sitting near him, so near in body, but so close to leaving again, feeling betrayed and hurt by his unending spite.
Bitter anger rose in his mouth—anger at their unfortunate situation, how every time it seemed as though things between them (what a childish, disgustingly romantic concept, but there you go) could go smoothly for once, some other ridiculous force beyond their control would shatter what frail trust they had managed to patch up in that moment; at the cruelty he knew he would have to deal out shortly, at the way her impossibly strong and lovely face would crumple at his words; and, mostly, anger at the mayor. That fucking bastard. And several other equally obscene epithets crossed his mind.
It took gall to do what the well-loved Mayor had done—to capitalize on the growing unrest over Duel Monsters, to turn Ishizu's personal tragedy at the game's hands into his own plan for governance, to do all of this—all of this lying, all of the championing of harmful ordinances and restrictions against cards and Duel Disks, creating a seemingly never-ending downward spiral—all to sell his own rip-off game. Gall and careful, crafty planning.
His greed knew no bounds. Seto almost chuckled to himself at that thought; surely many would describe Seto Kaiba in just that way. Yet the discovery of such a kindred spirit left him feeling cold.
And befriending Ishizu like that, gaining her trust, and manipulating her goodwill, her passion, her drive for art, in order to further his agenda, in order to enjoy an uncontested opportunity to sell his asinine dice game… Seto felt ice settle in his veins.
While Seto Kaiba had done cruel, ruthless things for gain, for profit, the impending misery of Ishizu Ishtar turned the words over in his mouth before he could say them, before he could explain.
This whole mess was truly much larger than the either of them could rightfully be called upon to handle, and yet they were the only ones who could.
Well, he supposed, the "we" was conditional on how well she took all of this.
"Excuse me, Seto Kaiba? I've made a mess of things? Why, how utterly rude of you to say—how so?" Ishizu's voice cut through his reverie, his internal monologue, with all the brittleness of glass shards.
He let out a long sigh as he finally met her confused, indignant gaze. She had stood up and finished pulling on her clothes; her hand was giving away her nervousness, having drifting up to the top button of her blouse and abusing it with a careless fury.
"Well, Ishizu, I'm not exactly sure how to say this in a way that will not make you become completely irrational…" Well, that was quite the start there. Idiot.
He regrouped, wondering idly where his shirt had gotten off to. Ishizu looked nearly livid; Seto gathered that her patience for his behavior was fraying quicker than she was letting on.
"Basically… your D-CARP program is a tool of the mayor, and you've been made a pawn this whole time." God, was there any way to say this without sounding like the cruelest of cruel men?
Ishizu felt sick. Her throat closed up; her stomach twisted in knots. No. No. It cannot be true. He must be wrong—he must be lying.
When has he been wrong before?
Why would he lie?
She could feel an acute stress headache come over her; her stomach dropped with anxiety. A shiver trickled over her skin as every muscle in her body seemed to clench up tightly. Her mouth tasted of blood—she'd bitten too hard on the inside of her cheek, tingeing her saliva a rusty, salty-bitter red.
She swallowed the blood and shuddered, willing herself to regain her blessed composure. I cannot cry. I cannot humiliate myself in front of this man more that I already have.
"What do you mean?" When she found her voice, it was low. Controlled. Composed. Curated. She smoothed her skirt over her legs and resumed picking at the top button with her left hand, her right hand curling around her body as if to give herself an embrace, to hold herself together.
Seto looked pained as he muttered, "I met with Mayor Devlin today—that's the reason I even came to Domino in the first place. He wanted to speak with me about a matter of business with KaibaCorp… I found out his whole damned plan."
He sat down in one of the swivel chairs in the foyer, sure that the floor would abandon being steady for him in that moment.
"I know you hadn't been here long before—before the incident with the Duel Monsters game and the museum, but what do you know about the relationship between this city and Duel Monsters?" He cocked his head as he waited for her response; Ishizu opened her mouth but said nothing, her brow furrowing.
What did she know? Why does it matter? Haven't I suffered enough at the hands of that foolish, dangerous, criminal game?
"I don't see how that is relevant, Seto Kaiba." The continued use of his full name, spoken smoothly and dispassionately, did not go unnoticed; he felt an annoying pang.
"Well, you see, Duel Monsters had long been one of the largest economies in Domino City. KaibaCorp was making a killing selling new hologram technology that I designed—all top of the line, cutting edge, of course. Industrial Illusions had been considering opening a location here—Industrial Illusions, of course, is the company that owns the rights to Duel Monsters. And of course, you surely must have heard of our own hometown hero—" and here he spat out the name as if it were poison on his tongue—"Yugi Moto, not to mention myself, as I was the former champion before that runt—anyway, it its height, around seven years ago, one-in-ten adults in this very city was either employed by KaibaCorp in the Duel Monsters division, or involved in selling merchandizing or trading cards—for example, I believe, Yugi Moto's own grandfather used to run a gaming shop." He delivered the lecture drily, like a professor, leaning back and lacing his hands around the back of the chair.
Of course the memory of the golden days of Domino had no effect on Seto Kaiba's cold heart at all. Of course not…
Ishizu's eyes narrowed. "I see, but that doesn't change…" Duel Monsters may have been the lifeblood of this city, but surely it was a poisoned blood…
Seto pressed his lips together in unbearable annoyance before continuing. "You see, Duel Monsters used to have a veritable monopoly on the gaming scene in Domino, but it wasn't all that much of a problem, legally speaking, because it provided many opportunities for employment across various sectors of the economy." Herein was the laying of the groundwork—the information she would hopefully put together first so that he wouldn't have to tell her positively everything—he was no teacher, after all; she would surely figure it out almost as quickly as he had. "Of course, there were competitors, but they all failed, hah, spectacularly."
"Yes, but the game is—it's dangerous! You know this as well as I do, Seto Kaiba. You designed the holograms, the shockwave effect…" Ishizu remembered the incredible pain that had felt like it would rend her body in two—the hours upon hours spent crouching under feet of debris, concrete, steel, dust encasing her lungs as she clutched that Vermeer close to her chest as if it were the only real thing in the world, the only thing that would save her… the weeks lying in the hospital bed… that was what Duel Monsters meant to her. Nothing more—how could he expect her to see his story as valid, when even now she still felt phantom pains from the broken bones she had sustained as a result of that one fateful duel?
Seto closed his eyes to avoid seeing the pain that threatened to crack Ishizu's face apart into a mess of tears. And to be honest, in that moment, he regretted all of it. The work at KaibaCorp, the technical design, the perfection—it had led to the anguish of this woman, this woman sitting across from him, and that thought turned his previous victories unexpectedly…sour?
Was this…?
He couldn't even think the word at a time like this, when Ishizu felt further away than ever.
"Yes," he managed, his voice coming out weaker than he would rather have liked. "Yes… I did do that. And… I—I regret causing you that pain, however indirectly." That will have to suffice.
Ishizu raised an eyebrow despite herself. Seto Kaiba, apologizing? Surely the world was coming to an end.
He went on, continuing in his usual bored drawl. "So of course, when you've got wide, unfettered access to a potentially dangerous game, accidents will happen. The city council and our beloved Mayor Devlin didn't do much when the incidents were confined to the less desirable neighborhoods, but when the museum was hit… suddenly, controlling and ending Duel Monsters became the goal, with you as the poster girl for the movement."
Ishizu leaned in towards him, feeling fury rise again in her chest. "Do you mean to say, Seto Kaiba, that the mayor used what happened to me to push Duel Monsters out of legitimacy?" What an absurd idea. What reason could he possibly have had?
"That's exactly what I'm saying, Ishizu." God, why couldn't she catch up faster? This was all getting slightly irritating on his end—what, did he have to spell it out for her like he would for a child? Wasn't she supposed to be brilliant?
"But why would he do such a thing, Seto Kaiba? What stake do you think Mayor Devlin could possibly have had in outlawing Duel Monsters in Domino City?" His story was getting more and more ludicrous by the moment. Why hadn't she left the penthouse already, and be done with this foolishness, his coldness, his rudeness?
"I'm not done, Ishizu. What I'm trying to say, if you'll grant me the fucking time to get the words out, is that Duke Devlin most definitely had a stake in ending the legitimate business of Duel Monsters in this city." Yes, his patience with her refusal to believe him was definitely wearing thin, dangerously so. He ran a hand through his hair in agitation. "As he so kindly put it for me during our meeting earlier, the market was too strongly dominated by Duel Monsters; there was no room for competitors in the market. And with the power as mayor of Domino City, what better way to advance his own interests by reducing the one thing that was standing in the way of his financial gain?"
Ishizu raised a hand to her mouth, eyes widened, heart careening wildly, uncontrollably, in her chest. He's not saying… it cannot be true, what he's implying…
"Are you saying Mayor Devlin was one of those businessmen with competing interests?" she murmured, not wanting to believe it—could her benefactor, the charming, kind, popular mayor, have anything to do with this sort of thing?
And yet the pang at the base of her belly revealed her own doubts.
"That is precisely what I am saying, Ishizu. Very good. You seem to have finally caught up." Seto couldn't help how nastily, how condescendingly the words came out; he instantly regretted them. "Duke Devlin, back in the day, was a small-business tycoon who had created a game called Dungeon Dice Monsters, a fairly derivative rip-off of Duel Monsters. He'd had a brief partnership with Industrial Illusions for the rights to the Duel Monsters creatures, spells, traps—but even with the rights, the technology, he couldn't sell a damn thing. It was a failure for him—I can't believe I didn't put the pieces together until I was standing in his office." Clearly his intellect seemed to be abandoning him.
Ishizu looked down at the ground, desperately trying to stop the tears from welling up behind her eyes. No. Please. Not now. Not in front of him.
If what he was saying was true, then she'd been a pawn in the mayor's hands, nothing more than a chess piece he'd controlled and manipulated to serve his own end. Her drive, her hard work, her curatorial expertise… the pain she'd suffered the day of the incident… he'd seen it all as nothing more than the means to his ultimate end, to sell his damned dice game without competition from Duel Monsters.
The nights he'd spent at her hospital bed, the hours they'd spent carefully crafting each aspect of D-CARP in order to weed out the duelists and get them to stop playing that awful, dangerous game—his sympathy, his care for her, his desire to improve the city, to improve the safety and health of his citizens… none of it had been true.
Yet Seto's tale was so absurd that it all had to be true.
Didn't it?
"So what now? What am I supposed to do? Whether or not what you're even saying is true, let alone feasible, the fact remains that––" and here Ishizu actively blinked back tears, remembering those awful, endless hours spent trapped under debris, sure she would die before the rescue team found her—"the fact remains that Duel Monsters is dangerous. I don't have the same history with this city that you do, Seto, but… but even as you said, I wasn't the first victim of these games. Thank goodness I was the last."
"You aren't the last, Ishizu—the loss of these games has created thousands of new victims—people without jobs, people who cannot feed their families, people who are living in squalor—"
"Why do you even care?" The question was like a knife in Seto's heart. She'd seen right through him early on, he realized—perhaps even on the day they'd met. God, it seemed like ages ago.
Seto Kaiba was hardly one to grieve over other people's suffering. And yet….
"Well, I would have thought you would care, Ishizu, since your D-CARP program is only furthering the rationale that is allowing the mayor to destroy this city before he can sell his damned game." He crossed his arms and returned her dark blue glare, her acute distrust, in full measure.
"Are you saying I don't? This is what D-CARP is meant to address, Seto! The duelists enrolled in D-CARP will help repair the city!"
"Yes, but they won't be able to stop the fact that the lack of Duel Monsters is what is causing more problems than the game ever did!" Seto pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers, willing himself not to lose his temper.
He had practice dealing with those as cynical as he, but he was most unpracticed at dealing with a true zealot, especially one like Ishizu, who had stood, eyes shining, fists clenched in frustration. In her frustration, her fury, she was nearly radiant, just shy of being a goddess.
Ishizu straightened her spine and looked down her nose at him. Surely her angry expression and body language could conceal the confusion that gnawed at her, threatened to eat her alive and spit her out, all cold and mangled, and unable to recover from the blow.
If what he was saying was true… then she'd not only been a pawn, but she'd been a tool of the mayor, actively harming the city doing what she believed had been the right thing. Surely art was not the culprit—art was good for the soul. Good works are good for the soul. Hadn't she just wanted to help the downtrodden duelists, these outlaws who wouldn't emerge from the shadows without the D-CARP promise of reduced jail time for their crimes.
Duel Monsters is dangerous. That fact still remained—Seto's own technological advancements for the game had created to its increased power to harm others.
Couldn't she save those poor duelists with art, the way art had once saved her from her own despair?
Had any of them needed saving, art or no art?
She wasn't sure anymore. And Ishizu Ishtar did not take uncertainty well.
"Then what am I supposed to do, Seto Kaiba?" Her voice was frost. She crossed over to him and leaned over, eyes boring into his intently. "What am I supposed to do?" Her voice was softer this time, bordering on a whisper.
"I… I'm not quite sure, myself." Seto similarly disliked this feeling as well. Having the knowledge of what the mayor's machinations was one thing, and yet no plan of attack had dawned upon him as he'd anticipated it would.
Clearly his time away from Domino had been making him go soft.
"Duel Monsters… Duel Monsters is dangerous, Seto… that is something that I cannot let go of in my mind…" Ishizu whispered, looking away from his gaze towards his chin; meeting his intense gaze was too painful.
Did her refusal—no, inability—to change her mind on this matter make her selfish, impossibly so?
Was she going to be the last obstacle to stopping the mayor holding this city hostage?
"Ishizu… Duel Monsters can be made safer. I promise," began Seto, suddenly alert and full of fear at the word "promise" leaving his lips so easily, so wantonly, as if making a promise to this woman was easy. Was it?
He found it hard to gaze upon Ishizu's crestfallen, frightened face without feeling something.
"I—I promise that if we can do this, if we can get rid of that bastard mayor, then we can work on making sure Duel Monsters is played responsibly." It shouldn't be too much of a task—the police force surely have confiscated all of the Duel Disks, save those belonging to Yugi and his goons?
Tabletop Duel Monsters, or even arena Duel Monsters, would have to suffice.
"But you do believe me, right?" His voice was quiet, nearly inaudible, vulnerable. He held his breath, sure its unsteadiness would give away just how humiliatingly weak he felt.
Ishizu blinked and pressed her forehead against his sweetly, gently. She was nearly alarmed at the openness, and had to suppress a gasp at the danger, the blooming sorrow in his eyes.
Do I believe him?
How could I not?
She pressed a gentle kiss to the side of his mouth and nodded. Seto's eyes returned to their normal haughty state, relief evident in his posture.
Although Seto Kaiba had always abhorred being part of a team, something about the prospect of for once being on the same side, for once, as this incredible woman made him want to reconsider his earlier position on the matter
Ishizu pulled her head away and smoothed out her clothes again. Do we confront the mayor? Do I call for a press conference, or try to quietly end the whole program? What is the best way to do all of this, and spare the museum as much as I can?
Should I… do I need to resign from the museum? She did not particularly want to go down that road.
Seto rose from his chair and began hunting for his shirt. Ishizu noticed his questing movements and spotted the garment peeking out from behind a couch cushion—how it had gotten there, neither of them were sure. She extricated the rumpled mass of white fabric and handed it to him, almost regretting doing so as he buttoned it up.
And even if we manage to pull the plug on D-CARP with minimal red tape, how do we go about fixing the underlying problems?
I mean, realistically—while I'd love to stage a coup and throw the mayor into a guillotine setup, it's not exactly my style. Seto idly wondered where the nearest pair of his pants was, mind whirring at this impending challenge.
Ishizu, quite suddenly, emitted a yawn. "What time is it?" she asked almost drowsily, hastening to stifle another one. The large windows at the other end of the foyer revealed that it was still night, the midnight blue of the sky only just hinting at the gentle pinks of sunrise.
Seto looked around briefly for his cell phone, finding it on the modern glass and oxidized steel desk by the elevator. "It's 2:25 am… it's not like we can do much now, anyway… We can move on in the morning," he concluded, struggling to fight off a yawn—must have caught Ishizu's exhaustion, despite his earlier nap.
All these stressful late nights were going to fuck up his skin.
Ishizu registered the late hour, sleep setting into her bones quicker than she would like. She arched her back in a delicate, graceful yawn, which did not escape Seto's keen notice.
Seto dropped the phone back onto the desk and crossed over to Ishizu, whose cheeks were rosy with exhaustion, with impending slumber. He moved his hands to her waist and pressed a kiss to her temple.
"Do you want to go to bed, Seto?" Ishizu murmured, feeling his touch stir her again. Like clockwork—her reactions to his man were getting practically obscene and impossible to curtail. And he knew it, his lips curling into a sly smile despite his tiredness.
In response, she lifted her hands to his neck and trailed her nails down towards his collarbone, making him shiver deliciously.
"Mmm…" Seto bent his head down and brushed his lips against her neck, making her let out a thick sigh as she pulled him closer. "I'm not sure, Ishizu," he said teasingly, his voice coming husky, his breathing beginning to grow labored at her ministrations. "I don't know if you're in the mood enough…" he finished, eliciting a gasp as he nipped at the tender flesh.
"Don't make me ask again," Ishizu nearly moaned, causing Seto to chuckle at her wantonness, as she led him back to the couch.
Ishizu woke up first in Seto's bed, a dreamy, slightly guilty smile curling on her lips as she remembered how they'd gotten there. Luckily Seto had been able to find a box of condoms among his possessions, or had Roland put it there? Neither of them had been able to figure that one out, and both had been rather occupied at the time.
Ah, the vigor of fresh lust and discovery. So far, neither of them had grown bored with one another, and managed to communicate in as heated and witty ways with their bodies as they had with their words.
She felt his gentle snoring by her ear, his warm arm thrown across her belly, and disentangled herself, wondering what time it was. The two of them had planning to do—it wouldn't do to lie around in bed all day.
That could come later, she thought with a mildly cheeky inward smile.
She studied Seto Kaiba for a moment, Seto Kaiba asleep, those piercing blue eyes that saw and judged everything closed, fluttering, and how he slept: curled up on his side like a child, back turned towards the window. His face was remarkably smooth and untroubled in sleep—Ishizu supposed that in his dreams, there was little room for the ruthlessness that occupied most of his brain.
It was like she was seeing that shy yet open Seto Kaiba who had shown her the very orphanage where he grew up—the Seto Kaiba who had a heart, who could trust, who could…
That all seemed like ages ago.
Ishizu stood and stretched, then walked into the foyer to hunt down her clothing. Spotting Seto's white button-down by the couch, she giggled to herself as she slid it over her frame, the sophisticated scent of his cologne filling her nose.
How like—how like a couple they were becoming—not just the physical intimacy, but at last they were united in a common goal, if only for a while before some clash would get in the way of harmony again.
Somehow, though, she felt as though such clashes would be less trouble to handle than she'd previously thought.
Seto woke up in limbs all tangled up in the thousand-thread count sheets, as the sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows. He groped around for Ishizu's warmth and discovered that she was not there. He registered this fact as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, hearing Ishizu's low, professional voice in the foyer.
Her voice stopped and she walked into the room, holding a tray of plain toast and coffee, clad only in his white button-down, face blushing either from the steam or from this ridiculously domestic gesture. Seto thought he was in heaven.
"Room service?" Ishizu placed the tray on the nightstand and bit into a piece of toast. Not a crumb spilled. Incredible. "Wake up, Seto. We have to decide how best to move forward." She sat on the bed next to him, crossing her legs and causing Seto to lose his train of thought.
Seto yawned and squinted in the sunlight as he sat up and reached across Ishizu for one of the cups of hot coffee. He took a sip, reveling in how expensive it must be—something like a twenty-dollar cup for this Guatemalan forest, shade-grown coffee. Perhaps it was best if Ishizu didn't find out his expensive tastes in everything.
"So I've decided that before we do anything regarding the mayor, we need to get in contact with Joey Wheeler and the other duelists who joined D-CARP last night and break this news to them gently—that D-CARP is… is shutting down." Her voice grew faint as she thought of the months of work she'd put into the project, utterly wasted.
Seto placed a hand on her thigh in an attempt at comfort, which Ishizu appreciated more than she would ever let on. He'd had to abandon countless projects at KaibaCorp, and it was never easy to admit the hardest thing to admit—that sometimes, talent and genius was not enough. Often it was, through sheer force of will, as well, but sometimes it wasn't.
Seto Kaiba hadn't made it to where he was by letting failures get to him. Ishizu Ishtar could not stand to do the same.
"I think I should call a press conference for this afternoon," Ishizu went on, her voice slightly somber. "Invite the mayor, pretend everything is all right, and then…"
Seto caught on to what she implied, not particularly liking it. "Ishizu, that's awfully reckless of you—if we expose him live, on-air, without any way of getting the upper hand, who knows what kind of shit he'd pull to get us arrested, to get you deported, even…"
"You really think he would go that far?"
"Ishizu, you haven't seen this man's true colors—I have," stated Seto rather coldly, remembering how the carefully crafted mask had slipped.
Ishizu sighed, knowing that once she had trespassed onto his bad side, she would be unable to escape the reach and wrath of Mayor Devlin—unless she managed to put him away for good—discredit him entirely. "It's a risk I'll just have to take… unless you've got a better idea?"
Suddenly, Seto leapt out of the bed, nearly overturning his cup of coffee and causing him an immense amount of pain. I've got it.
This is it. This is the way it can work.
If only his hacking skills and Ishizu's poker face were up to the task, of course.
Adrenaline flooded his veins, giving him energy, strength, gall, even joy. Nothing pleased Seto Kaiba quite like getting the upper hand on someone who deserved it, than serving a dish of revenge to someone who most deserved it.
Ishizu looked at his abrupt movements with no shortage of surprise and a mite of alarm. "Are you quite all right, Seto? Please—put down the coffee. You are making me nervous."
"Ishizu, make the calls you need to make to the ex-duelists, and then call the mayor to set up a press conference for this afternoon. I have a plan—if we can pull this off, we can expose the mayor."
Several hours later, Ishizu sat outside the museum beside Mayor Devlin behind a plastic table covered with a tablecloth, having showered, clad in a black suit jacket, cream-colored, high-necked blouse and long black skirt, hair pulled into a low bun—looking perfectly professional, like nothing was wrong.
The camera crews were setting up before the table, microphones being tweaked and calibrated. All of the local news stations who had tried to intrude upon the meeting the previous night were in attendance—a particularly telegenic reporter sat at the end of the table beside the monitor, practicing her vocal articulations as her teleprompter was warming up.
When she'd called the duelists—Seto had had to find the number of the Baby Dragon to best reach Tristan, and, by extension, Joey—she'd been truly sorry about this whole affair. When she'd heard Joey's rather disappointed response, despite his best efforts to cover up his emotions, she'd nearly cried. Yet she'd pressed on bravely, explaining, in hushed tones, what exactly she and Seto were doing, and how they planned to help the duelist community in ultimately more concrete ways than the noble but misguided D-CARP initiative by exposing the mayor and hoping to turn public opinion against him and towards Duel Monsters once more. Still, despite her best efforts at being unselfish, a lump formed in her throat as she said goodbye to all of her hard work, watching it disintegrate before her eyes.
She'd then called Marik and Odion and explained the situation in halting tones, knowing that she was also throwing away substantial amounts of their work. Odion had taken it rather better, in his usual stoic way, while Marik rather wanted to hunt down the mayor with torches and pitchforks in that old-fashioned way, making her laugh despite her apprehension. How dare that bastard use Ishizu Ishtar's personal tragedy and suffering for his own greed and gain, and nearly throw the city into an economic depression along the way? It was almost unfathomable.
Yet the plan she and Seto had concocted had to be at least a decent one—it was the only such opportunity they would have to catch the mayor off-guard on live television, anyway.
Let it be said that Seto Kaiba had a flair for the dramatic.
When she'd at last paid a call to the mayor, he'd picked up mid-way through the first ring, his voice solicitous and charming as ever. Ishizu had had to fight the nausea brewing in her stomach as she'd make her voice as sweet and honeyed as possible, telling him of their success the previous night and suggesting a short press conference, to be broadcast on all the local news channels, for that afternoon. Not one to shy away from positive press after the near-fracas with the press the previous night, who had practically chased him away from the museum until he'd managed to quell their suspicions, Mayor Devlin agreed readily and agreed to meet her at the Museum at 3 pm.
There went the new Devlin wing of the museum, she supposed, with a rueful sigh.
Seto, for his part, had taken his seat on the hotel bed, pulled out his laptop and begun hacking into the Mayor's files, as he'd planned to do sometime in the future. The quickly approaching deadline of 3 pm lent a sense of urgency to his keystrokes as he tried to bypass the heavily guarded security around the City Hall server. Yet Seto Kaiba was a skilled hacker, and had conquered greater, more powerful obstacles than the Domino City Municipal Department Services and their well-crafted, if easy to massage, security system.
A bead of sweat escaped his hairline. He wiped it away as he finally found what he sought—the mayor's confidential financial records, all documented in a virtual ledger as if for Seto's perusal.
Seto almost laughed aloud. Perhaps a paper ledger would have been smarter for the honorable mayor to employ.
After that bout of internet warfare, he anticipated no problem hacking the teleprompter and supplying his own text for the reporter to read out loud mindlessly.
Mayor Devlin cast a wide, charming smile at Ishizu, who returned it only slightly coolly, and said, "well, Ishizu—I mean, Doctor Ishtar, it's now 3, and it would seem as if the camera crews are ready. Would you like to begin?"
Ishizu bowed her head and slid a glance at her cell phone. There was one new message from an unidentified number (Seto had managed to send it from his computer, hardly a difficult feat):
"Check one."
"I think you're quite right, Mr. Mayor. Let us begin," replied Ishizu, her heart in her throat at this upcoming deception, and turned to the camera in front of her face, a small smile blooming on her lips.
"Hello, Domino City, we're coming to you live from outside the Domino Museum of Art and Artefacts, where Mayor Duke Devlin and Doctor Ishizu Ishtar have an important message to deliver to us about the progress of D-CARP," beamed the reporter, reading the words clearly off her teleprompter.
"Now, for those of you not in the know, D-CARP stands for the Domino City Arts Reformation Program, and is an important keystone in the city's fight against illegal Duel Monsters games as well as a tool for reforming those duelists who are still playing the game illegally. Isn't that right, Doctor Ishtar?"
Ishizu took her cue, disregarding her own teleprompter. Even when she was nervous, even at such a precarious time as this, Ishizu Ishtar did not need cue cards to deliver a speech. "That's right. In addition to Director of the Domino Museum of Art and Artefacts, I am the Domino City Arts Representative, and for the last several months, Mayor Devlin and I—" and here she turned to the mayor and shared a faux-conspiratorial smile for the benefit of the cameras— "have been hard at work creating the D-CARP program to help rebuild this city and bring the last of the illegal duelists out of the shadows. I am happy to report that as of the recruitment meeting last night, we have six ex-duelists who have agreed to join the pilot year of the program."
The reporter and the mayor clapped brightly in response; Ishizu lowered her head in acknowledgment.
Any time now…
Seto watched the press conference on the hotel television with one eye, remarking at Ishizu's impeccable grace under pressure. The majority of his attention was now devoted to hacking the reporter's teleprompter and converting the number-heavy items in the mayor's virtual ledger into something easily read aloud and understood.
Got it.
Now he just had to wait—wait for the reporter to read the information aloud, to begin to ask questions, and for the mayor to lose his cool.
"Mr. Mayor, can you talk more about the processes and goals of D-CARP, for our viewers who may not be as familiar with the program?"
Ishizu's phone buzzed gently in her lap. She looked down and saw the second message from Seto:
"Check two."
She took a deep, imperceptibly labored breath, and smiled at the mayor, who was talking to the reporter and to the cameras about the planning process, how happy he was with Ishizu's hard work and success, and reiterating his rhetoric about cleaning up the streets of duelists and the effects of Duel Monsters once and for all, to lead to a safer, more prosperous Domino City.
It nearly made her sick on-camera, hearing the smarmy words coming out of his mouth—the lies, the damned lies that had gotten her hook, line and sinker and gotten her support, made her become the face of D-CARP and the anti-duelist efforts.
The reporter smiled emptily at Mayor Devlin and turned to her teleprompter, scanning it quickly. Her smile dropped slightly, but noticeably, before picking up again.
"Mr. Mayor, is it true that the ban on Duel Monsters has caused far more economic harm to Domino City than the game itself ever caused?"
A gasp could be heard from several of the crew members behind the cameras and microphones trained on the three subjects behind the table.
Seto chuckled heartily at the reporter repeating his words with little trouble like a trained puppet. Ah, how he loved the press sometimes. So malleable like pretty puppets.
Mayor Devlin's smile vanished for a brief moment, a look of disgust and contempt for the report passing over his face, like he'd smelled spoiled milk. Or a rat.
"I'm sorry?" he said courteously, the smile returning for the benefit of the cameras, for the crew, for the citizens of Domino who happened to be watching this press conference live.
Ishizu smiled inwardly as the reporter went on in stunned disbelief: "Mr. Mayor, do you have a comment? Is it true that you've begun a collaboration with Industrial Illusions and made overtures to KaibaCorp to begin new game design work?"
"As mayor of this fine city, it's my job to foster strong ties to the largest companies in the city for the benefit of all," replied the mayor smoothly, trying to conceal his growing panic as the questions kept coming from the mouthpiece reporter with no sign of slowing down.
Seto gritted his teeth in annoyance and tapped a few keys on his keyboard, changing the words scrolling by on the teleprompter again.
Ishizu, for her part, was not quite sure what facial expression should be showing on her face at this moment—was the plan even working, or would the mayor be able to lie and charm his way out of all questions he found disagreeable or threatening?
Was this even going to work?
Was this worth it?
She arranged her figures into a look of vague concern, thankful that only two or three of the dozens of cameras would even be trained on her at this moment, as the reporter kept reading from her teleprompter.
"Mr. Mayor, is it true that you created Dungeon Dice Monsters as a young man, with the help of Industrial Illusions, and that the game never sold because Duel Monsters had dominated the market?"
A bead of sweat ran down Mayor Devlin's forehead, disrupting his benevolent façade. "Kaiba," he breathed sharply, his teeth gritted, his smile becoming a grimace. Both Ishizu and the reporter heard his utterance, but only Ishizu understood what he meant.
Seto crowed at the screen as the camera caught a particularly unflattering view of his face and zoomed in, showing the mayor's clear discomfort and agitation for all to see.
The reporter's voice trailed off as she read: "Mr. Mayor, do you have a comment? Is it true that your new partnership with Industrial Illusions is an attempt to redesign Dungeon Dice Monsters to market to the citizens of Domino City, now that Duel Monsters has been outlawed?"
Under her breath, the reporter, wide-eyed, whispered, loud enough for several microphones to catch it, "is that even legal, Mr. Mayor?"
At this, the other reporters and standing behind the camera setup flooded the table, thrusting their microphones into his face, cornering him, pestering him with follow-up questions coming from both their station bosses (courtesy of Seto Kaiba, who had emailed the ledgers to every paper and news station in town), as well as responses trending on the internet as facts attacked the mayor mingled with even more damning (if untrue) rumors.
"Mr. Mayor…." "Mr. Mayor, do you have a comment?" "Mayor Devlin, does this mean your efforts to ban Duel Monsters were part of a larger plan to sell Dungeon Dice Monsters?" "Mr. Mayor, are you an opportunist?" "Mr. Mayor, the internet is blowing up with questions—did you stage the attacks on Domino City as part of this larger scheme? Do you have a comment?" "Mr. Mayor, do you anticipate being removed from office, or do you have hope that you'll be able to finish your term as mayor?" "Mr. Mayor…" "Mr. Mayor…"
Mayor Devlin struggled to smile as he tore his eyes away from the reporter, shrank away from the crowds, and focused on Ishizu. His guilty expression, his shiftiness, the way he fidgeted in his seat, looking to escape the sea of press corps—it was going to be nearly impossible to argue his innocence. Anyone watching would realize how utterly culpable he was in all of this—there would be no denying, for he'd had no time to concoct reasonable lies and covers.
Ishizu merely smiled back at him serenely and began speaking loudly to several of the cameras, as she and Seto had planned, for the so-called "crazy curator" was also much beloved by the camera, and began explaining, in calmer terms, exactly what Seto had discovered, had puzzled out—just how the economic collapse was related not to Duel Monsters, but to its absence, how Seto had been called in and foolishly told everything by the mayor, who had somehow thought Seto would accept such an offer (clearly money did not mean everything to the former CEO), and, of course, how completely hurt and betrayed she was at being used by the Mayor to further his own greedy agenda.
Off in the distance, a series of sirens blared as several police cars roared up the parkway towards the museum, led by none other than Detective Bakura, who, if he loved only one thing, loved the laws of the city and executing them in his own twisted way.
The mayor's expression turned furious and violent, but with nearly every news camera in Domino City trained on their table, he couldn't touch her, couldn't threaten her.
Seto closed his laptop computer, feeling satisfied, downright over the moon at how perfectly they had managed to pull this off—on live television, no less. He threw on his suit from the previous day, slipped on his shoes, and left the hotel for the parkway.
Revenge was sweet indeed—for both the ex-CEO and for the curator, who were now free to make their own ways in the city, soon-to-be free from the Mayor's pernicious influence. Together.
Hello readers!
Next is the grand conclusion that this entire story has been working towards... However, it's probably not all that great. You may consider it a let-down, and I understand if you do.
This story is the longest thing I've evert written, and it's taught me so much about my own writing style as well as how to try and juggle multiple plots and write different characters.
I will likely continue taking looks at this chapter and making tweaks as needed for the next two weeks, so please be gentle in your criticism.
I've loved writing this story, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it. Next up: the epilogue!
-WritingAmateur