Other Side Destroyed

A little over a week had passed since Yuugi had returned to his own time and requested Kaiba's help with taking care of the threat to Atem's kingdom. In that time, Kaiba had been working almost non-stop while Yuugi got him things when he needed and otherwise kept out of his way. They had been sleeping in the same bed for the whole week, and the taller's irritable nature towards Yuugi had become nearly non-existent in his irritation at his search and preparations.

Finally, he sat back from his computer around midday and said, "Well, that's as much as I can do, but we'll probably have to do this again sometime." He printed some sheets, then turned all the power off in the room except the lights.

"What are you doing, Kaiba-kun?" Yuugi asked curiously as the older teen sat across from him.

"Making sure I can't be tracked back here," the young businessman replied dryly. "It took me so long because by the end of my first day, they were actively trying to track me, so I had to mislead them." He paused and sorted through the sheets he had printed. "Now, this gets complicated, because these guys lost their ability to reproduce within themselves and have been using humans as breeders for well over a thousand years, which means their 'people' have been born and raised in existing human families. There are a lot of extremely wealthy people, even nobility around the world, who need to be killed because of this."

"And you have a plan?" the smaller teen asked curiously.

"I do, but I'm not giving out the details. Suffice it to say that I'm going to be aiming to take down the most prominent of them and destroy most of their homes and belongings at the same time. What I expect will happen is that current upper-middle class and upper class members of their race will try to pick up where they left off, and when enough of them have made their moves to do so, I'll have to repeat this—extermination. In short, repeat until they quit trying. I don't expect that the middle class members of their race will even make an attempt, since as far as I can tell, they have regained their hearts and are no real threat—it's the upper-middle and upper who worry me."

"Okay. And for us?"

"Our target is in Holland, where I managed to track several properties—one in particular is some sort of facility rather than a home. The main floors are a technology production and sales business, but there are also sealed areas, one of which a reporter said led to a basement. It was called 'storage' in official sources, but their internal cameras don't show the same usage as a 'storage room' would get. As such, that's the one we're going to. Also, you and I are the only ones going there, and each of my guys being sent out will know only that they were sent on a mission, not that anyone else was. I'm the only one who will know everything, and I'm going to erase all my data other than a tracer I need to keep active once we're through. I've already erased the data on my computer to the point where someone would have to come into my office and use it personally to retrieve the data—I'll finish destroying it later. We're going to have to all be dressed alike in clothing which shows nothing of our features."

"I understand. Masks and fully-covering tops, pants, and gloves. I assume you have a specific color in mind?"

"Shades of gray from a medium-dark to nearly black, but no black and nothing too pale. A mistake nearly everyone makes in trying to spy is in wearing straight black, but that makes you visible in a shadow—shadows are shades of gray, not black. For us, the shading will also make it that much harder to pick out features. The only thing they'll be able to tell is that we're male, but they can't just go around slaughtering every living man in the world, so they won't have enough to go on."

"You have clothing like that laying around?" At Kaiba's smirk, Yuugi gave a wry grin. "I shouldn't have bothered to ask, right?"

"Probably not," Kaiba agreed. He then rose. "I'm going to go hand out the assignments to my guys, then I'll be back. We're leaving after sunset on one of my new, small planes. It travels fast, and can't be detected by technology—it was meant for Mokuba and I to go away for vacation without anyone tracking us. Now, it means they'll have a Hell of a time getting a visual of us at night, and can't find us any other way. In the closet in the bedroom, you should find some changes of gray clothes—pick the ones which will fit you best. Don't change into them until we're going to leave, though, since we don't want to be seen walking around here in them." He was gone a moment later the door shutting and locking behind him.

With a sigh, Yuugi rose and went to the room, opening the closet to have a look at what was there. He found about five complete outfits in gray as well as some of Kaiba's clothes—Yuugi had put his in the dresser at the other teen's insistence. "Well, at least he's prepared..." he chuckled as he checked the sizes of the smallest three gray outfits.

The clothes were varying shades of grays in no particular pattern or style, like someone had done a very poor dying job of something which should have been any one of the shades. They were also well-made and sturdy, but that could just have been Kaiba's insistence on quality. Of the three he looked at, he quickly realized he'd have to mix-and-match them, taking the top from one, the pants from another, and a scarf from the third, which would make sure his neck was covered, despite the high neckline of the shirt. It wasn't a turtleneck, so the scarf would be needed. All that was left was the mask, gloves, and boots, but Yuugi thought Kaiba would bring those back to the office with him for the smaller teen.

Clothing tested and chosen, Yuugi went down to the kitchen for some juice and snacks—they'd had lunch about an hour ago, so they didn't need to have a full meal at that point. He was back and enjoying the food and drinks when Kaiba returned and joined him to drain his glass. The smaller boy poured another for the young businessman while the older teen began snacking as well.

"Done?" Yuugi asked the brown haired teen who had sprawled across the other couch after eating two of the biscuits Yuugi had brought with the snacks. A hum was his answer, so he asked, "Is there anything in particular I need to know before we go?"

"I'm relying on you to destroy the portal and the building once I'm done, but try to stay out of any fighting if you can avoid it. Unless there's too many of them, and the portal may well be guarded."

"I'd be expecting it to be, unless everyone who knew about it came through the portal to Atem's time and is now dead."

"No. Most did go to the basement and never came back up, but there are at least ten, including the family head, who went down and came back up later the same day."

"I see. Then you should know the lizards have tougher skin and more physical strength than we do, and they have some kind of power which isn't actually like Egyptian magic, but...I guess I'd call it psychic power by what Atem told me. The leader on his side of the portal was telekinetic and a necromancer."

Seto Kaiba snorted into the arm he'd thrown over his eyes while Yuugi talked. "It figures it would get harder. Are they so tough a blade can't cut them?"

"A blade can, just don't get hit by their blades if you can avoid it. A quick slice shouldn't do harm, but prolonged contact...That's where it tears your soul. They're able to be killed in all the same ways we are, but I don't think you could kill them with a fencing sword—you'd need something sturdier. I mean...Atem managed to kill five of them with his sword, so..."

"Can be done, but not by someone who hasn't got a clue how to fight," Kaiba completed the hanging sentence.

"Yeah," the younger teen agreed.

"Any weapons you can use?"

"A bow. Probably a gun. Otherwise, I'm no good with physical weapons or fighting."

Yuugi was surprised to see a purely amused, small smile, on Seto's face before the taller teen said, "I'll make sure you have a few guns to be safe, then, and this is just a whim, but a tiny spy dagger, meant to be hidden in your boot or sleeve to kill someone at close range who has grabbed you. You don't need skill for that, just to grab it and stab the point into the nearest part of their body."

"...Great. Make it poisoned and with a sheath and it'll do me good," Yuugi chuckled.

Kaiba suddenly sat up to stare at him in surprise for a minute, then gave a malicious smirk and said, "Now there's an idea. Wait here while I get some things ready."

He sprinted from the room as the smaller teen gaped at him in surprise.

PA-HPS-YM-SK

That night, in the virtually silent, small jet, Yuugi glanced at the other teen's covered face through his reflective goggles, mind still boggled by what Kaiba had brought back to the room just before Yuugi got back with the evening meal. Now, he wore the full outfit, and had a rifle across his back, and two different styles of hand-gun at his waist (all three with silencers on them), along with the dagger hidden in his sleeve. Kaiba had used the time between supper and their departure time teaching him how to flick his wrist and arm to make the dagger shoot into his hand for use. The older, similarly covered teen practically prickled with weapons of all sorts, from dirks and stars to daggers and swords to guns. His guns also had silencers on them—the last thing they wanted to do was make a bunch of noise.

They were now in Holland and almost to the 'shop' they needed to raid and destroy before morning—which was closer in Holland than Japan. Within minutes, they were landing on the building and Kaiba said softly before opening the hatch, "Remember, no talking once we're in there—no noise at all if you can help it—and stay close to me. Let me get us to our destination."

"Got it," Yuugi agreed, and Kaiba opened the hatch so they could slip out.

It took almost no time for the taller teen to get the door onto the roof open, and he led the way down into the building, where he paused at the first electrical outlet to plug in a tablet which he then used to shut down the cameras and the security systems in the building proper. The basement levels would be another story, but the main floors they could bypass easily enough now. He then unplugged his tablet and headed further into the building, Yuugi following a couple feet behind him, a silent shadow.

At the basement door, Kaiba stopped again and just looked at it for a minute, then drew a card from a different pocket and let the door scan it. When the door opened for them, his senses were on high alert to something not being quite right—he'd figured they'd have to blow the door off its hinges or something more forceful. As such, he gave Yuugi an upward motion with two fingers, indicating he be ready for trouble, and the smaller teen drew the rifle off his back, readying it for use. Kaiba carefully began making his way down the stairs, Yuugi stepping lightly behind him.

In the room below, they saw what looked like a storage room with a door between two shelves on the far side of the room. It said 'Boiler Room' on it in Dutch, and Kaiba led the way to it, motioning the smaller teen to stay back at the stairs. He carefully placed himself next to the door, rather than in front of it, and made sure Yuugi was across the room from him and the door. As he turned the knob, the door exploded out from under his hand, knocking him down with a grunt as something landed on him, something lizard-like—

And it collapsed on him as a bullet pierced its skull. Kaiba's eyes went to Yuugi to see him taking aim again with the rifle as something hissed near him, then a heavy form fell to the floor nearby and everything went quiet.

While he tried to push the body off him, Yuugi moved over to help pull it off, and Kaiba rose to examine the two bodies. They were just as lizard-like as Yuugi had described to him, so he gave something like a sigh and headed into the now-doorless room, wondering what they'd find in it.

As much as there was a boiler, there was also an elevator, so he went to it to begin working on getting it open. Shortly thereafter, he pulled out his tablet again and connected it to the elevator controls, using it to hack them. It took nearly ten minutes to get the elevator to cooperate, but when it finally did, he unplugged his tablet and motioned Yuugi into the elevator with him. They both got in and waited with weapons ready as it descended, Yuugi to the wall on one side of the door and Kaiba to the wall on the other, both with rifles.

As the doors opened, there was a pause and silence, but a quick look from Kaiba caused a gunshot to ring out, clipping the elevator door as the taller teen pulled back. A grenade landed a moment later, and Yuugi instinctively whispered, "Cyclone." The grenade fizzled and vanished, causing a silence to fall again.

Kaiba drew a handfull of small, gray balls from a pouch on his belt and threw them into the room, where they exploded and filled the room with smoke. Hissing came from inside the smoke, and both Kaiba and Yuugi slipped out of the elevator and along the walls to the corners of the room, shooting in the direction of the hissing as they went. After three shots from Yuugi and four from Kaiba, the noise stopped, and they kept creeping along the walls.

On Yuugi's part, he found himself rather suddenly between a shelf and the wall, with only about half a foot to move around in, so returned the rifle to his back and drew one of the hand-guns instead. Creeping through that space kept him hidden as the smoke began dissipating, and a quick look as one lizard shrieked in rage showed him their current situation and gave him a good look around.

The shrieking lizard jumped at Kaiba, who met it with a katana in his hands, and there were three other lizards focussed on them as they crept closer to the battle. Three lay dead on the floor, having been hit by bullets before, and one lizard was standing in an open path leading between the room they were in and another beyond it. Yuugi guessed their destination was the one where the single lizard was standing guard, so Yuugi shot at him, first.

No one noticed him fall, except maybe Kaiba.

However, when Yuugi shot one of the three trying to creep up on Kaiba's battle with the martially-skilled lizard he fought, the other two spun in his direction and charged the shelves. Since there wasn't anywhere else he could be hiding, Yuugi knew it had been a risk, but he'd had to take it. Also, they were so close together...

"Trap Hole, activate," he whispered, and both shrieked in surprise, then agony, as a hole appeared in the floor below them. Silent stillness came from the hole as Kaiba and the other lizard kept fighting, the lizard without even showing he'd seen or heard the fate of his companions.

Since the young businessman-turned-spy-assassin was occupied, Yuugi slipped from behind the shelves and along the wall to the path where the single guard lay dead, peeking cautiously around the corner. It led to a short hall where there was an emergency seal—currently inactive—and to a much larger room beyond. In the middle of the larger room was a circular object with a triangle around it, and it looked a little blackened around the inner edges. There were also five more lizard-people standing around it and facing the path into the room. He wasn't willing to bet those five were the only ones there.

Finally, there was a shriek from Kaiba's opponent as the lizard fell and the teen sheathed his sword. Yuugi motioned him over, indicating a circle for the portal, five with his hand, and a diagonal line to say he didn't know if there were more, but use caution. Kaiba nodded, moving to the wall to his side of the path and glancing around it. Both shot into the room and killed two of the lizards, but when none of the others so much as glanced at the fallen, Kaiba lifted his shoulders in a shrug. There was nothing left, he was saying, nothing to spare.

At that moment, they both found themselves dragged into the room by some unknown force and dumped unceremoniously on the floor in front of the three lizards by the portal. A quick look around showed a lizard off to one side of the room, by one of the series of computer panels and screens occupying wall space in the room, but other than a few chairs, there were no other objects or people in the room. That, at least, was some comfort.

One said something to them in a language Yuugi didn't know, and Kaiba didn't respond to, but the smaller teen was pretty sure it was Dutch or German, and Kaiba knew both. Something tried to tug their masks off, so Yuugi focussed on his magic lessons with Set to hold their clothing in place. It counteracted whatever the lizards were doing, making them hiss in anger and jump at the two—only for Kaiba to intercept the ones heading for Yuugi, ignoring the one who had tried to attack him.

Taking the chance, the smaller boy darted for the portal—only for a strong arm to catch him around the neck in a stranglehold as he was pulled against a much larger, stronger body. Struggling resulted in a tightening of the arm, so he flicked his small, poisoned dagger into his hand and slammed it back to strike his captor's hip. He was released with a growl, even as he returned the blade to its sheath, and quickly ducked and rolled away from the one who had come up behind him.

A glance showed a man who had come up from behind them, who was in human form, and the lizard who had been by the computers now heading for him while Kaiba killed one of the first three, but still had two to fight. That left Yuugi to his own devices, so decided to summon, calling in a bare whisper, "Summoned Skull, come to me!"

The two heading for him jumped back as the fiend appeared standing over him, staring in horror as their skin paled. A moment later, lightning lashed around the room, striking Yuugi's two attackers first, then the two attacking Kaiba, all of it originating from Summoned Skull. The four screamed and collapsed, so Yuugi tugged the Skull down close enough to his lips to whisper, "I'll give you the Ax of Despair—destroy that circle and triangle." At a nod from the Skull, he whispered, "Ax of Despair, equip to Summoned Skull!"

As soon as the ax was in its hand, it jumped at the portal to hack at it and had thoroughly destroyed it in short order, leaving no bits bigger than Yuugi's fist. Meanwhile, seeing the portal being destroyed, Kaiba went to the computers to work on them, finding the data, and its locations, which he needed to find. Thankfully, it hadn't gone anywhere useful, other than in a hard drive form, and he expected those to be destroyed by his agents across the countryside. Still, he knew not to get lax, so kept working.

Behind him, Yuugi stood in front of the destroyed portal while Summoned Skull returned to the Shadow Realm—only for the portal debris to rise in the air and try to pelt Yuugi. A Negate Attack, which created a swirl of energy in the air and dropped the debris to the ground, prevented Yuugi from being harmed, but the smaller teen turned to see what had happened, letting Kaiba keep working by setting Waboku to shield him if needed. He hoped the priest-spirits who prevented attack damage wouldn't be needed.

Some feet away, the man who had come up behind him and been stabbed for his troubles had started to push himself up as he began yelling angrily, and the whole room began trembling. Yuugi just watched him and waited, even as he was knocked over by the shaking which became increasingly powerful. The ceiling, floor, and walls began cracking and breaking off, and in a few places, ceiling panels fell to reveal pipes and wires, then stone. Kaiba kept working, hoping Yuugi knew what he was doing by not reacting to the shaking, and finally exhausted all options for where the data could be.

Suddenly, the land gave one last pull, then the lizard collapsed, dead, and everything went still and silent.

Looking over at the taller teen, Yuugi saw Kaiba give him the all-clear motion, so he whispered, "Self-Destruct Button." He then called Kuribo and whispered, "Wait ten minutes, then hit that button and get back to the spirit realm—I don't want you blown up with the rest of the room, little friend." Kuribo nodded seriously, so Yuugi left him to the button and turned to Kaiba.

The taller teen led the way back to the elevator, where he caught one more lizard off-guard and killed him, this time with a short-sword and much faster than the last one. Then again, he'd caught him from behind, much like the Shadow Guards had caught the last two of Yuugi's attackers back in Ancient Egypt. From there, getting back up to the main building, then to the roof and the plane, was easy and unhindered, so they got in and headed away, taking a roundabout route to Japan.

Actually, they were taking the plane to Egypt, of all places, where he'd told Ishizu to meet them for the day before they went back to Japan. While in the plane, Yuugi changed his clothes to normal clothes in the small back section, and Kaiba set the plane on auto-pilot to also quickly change back to his normal attire. When he came back to his seat a few minutes later, he was smirking from having sent their gear to the planet in a burning canister—which would currently land in the ocean.

During most of the flight, they didn't talk, just contemplated what they'd just done as success reports came back to Kaiba from all over the world.

"So, do you still have any reports to get back from your men?" Yuugi asked after over an hour of reports coming in while Kaiba's smirk grew.

"Three, I believe," the older teen replied.

"And the verdict?"

"All successes. A few may have survived, but it's highly unlikely, and their homes are definitely all destroyed."

Yuugi breathed a sigh of relief. "In that case, we can't do any more until some of their replacements start trying to take back the power of the ones we just killed, yes?"

"Stage one is complete, yes. Or will be as soon as I get visuals and the news starts telling everyone about the deaths and destruction. Unfortunately, it will be many years—probably a few decades—before we'll be able to enact stage two. Though, this gives us time to prepare for it, at least."

"It does. Thank you."