8 All The Virus We Need
// Graffiti decorations//
//Under a sky of dust//
//A constant wave of tension//
//On top of broken trust//
//The lessons that you taught me//
//I learn were never true//
//Now I find myself in question//
//They point the finger at me again//
//Guilty by association//
//You point the finger at me again//
Linkin Park—"Runaway"
Needless to say, the four computer technicians at Kaiba Corporation were...let's just say "not so happy" when they realized what had happened.
Who am I kidding?! They were INFRURIATED!!
Kanbara and Maken both resembled boiling pots of water that were about to explode into steam as they typed furiously, trying to trace whoever had taken the technology. Each of them exchanged biting remarks from time to time, acting like the immature men they were.
Takaishi Ran and Campbell weren't as excitable. The two hastily erected a virtual smokescreen to keep out any further hackers before recovering all they could.
"I picked up 50%," Campbell reported. "You, Takaishi-san?"
The former army general shook his head. "None." He turned angrily on the other techs. "Quiet! You're acting like spoiled four year olds!"
"What happened?" inquired a new voice.
Kanbara scowled at the ground. "We lost it," he mumbled sulkily.
"If you don't tell me why you lost it, you all will lose a lot more than that! Like your jobs, for instance," Seto shot back.
****
Unbeknownst to all except the four technicians, Nemuriko Midian and Kaiba Seto, the splicing experiments were funded by the Japanese government. They were part of a titanic project to advance the Japanese military.
A rogue hacker was dangerous enough...without access to a potential weapon .If any of the government officials got word that the technology had been stolen, Kaiba Corp would face bankruptcy. After all, it was Seto's idea.
But no one except him knew that splicing wasn't fully his idea to begin with...
****
"So...you're saying that splicing wasn't your idea?" Campbell asked as she and Seto entered the Kaiba mansion.
"Gozaburo was the first to come up with the idea of fusing human and elemental molecules," Seto admitted. "I found the data soon after his death."
"How do you know that Kanbara or Maken or even Takaishi didn't steal it?" Campbell demanded.
"And how do I know that you don't?" Seto retorted. The teenager scowled. "The point is, whoever stole it knows all that...and more. Of that I am certain."
Just then, Campbell noticed the boy standing on the stairs. "Konnichiwa, Mokuba."
"Konnichiwa," the boy replied. He hesitated. "Campbell?"
"Yeah?"
"Eh...your brother's upstairs."
"What?!"
"It's...a long story. Don't tell him that I told you that, though. He'd kill me."
Campbell smirked. "Fat chance."
****
"There's something I need to tell you." Midian stared out the window.
"What?"
The teenager ran a hand through his unkempt black hair and sighed. "Noah's back."
"What?!" Campbell's cerulean-blue eyes widened. "Please tell me you're kidding!!"
"I'm not," he replied wearily. "Father...he told me it all." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Noah killed him."
"Midian, why didn't you tell me this before?!" Campbell demanded.
"I-I...don't know," he muttered sullenly. *Yeah. Why didn't I?!*
"Who, exactly, is Noah?" Seto asked.
Midian glanced up at him from where he sat on the bed. "No one ever told you?"
"Iie."
The black haired teenager snorted. "He's nothing short of an SOB," he replied shortly. "Noah was Gozaburo's son, but he died in a car accident before you were adopted. Apparently, 'dying' was something he didn't do."
"Could he have stolen the splicing data?" Seto questioned.
Midian shrugged. "Could be. Gozaburo did give him a lot of technological education..."
****
I am no longer the weakling I was when my father thought I had died. In a sense, I did. The pathetic side of me died, and the real me was reborn.
And now the real me has a chance to prove itself. May all go well.
Kaiba Noah looked up from the journal in which he wrote. *Why do I even write a diary?* he mentally demanded, throwing down his pen. *What will I need this for?*
*Who knows?*
A knock sounded on his door.
"Come in."
Meikai Norio stepped in. "Master Noah, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but when are we going to send the virus?" he demanded impatiently.
"Have patience, Meikai," Noah cautioned. "We won't need the virus."
"WHAT?!"
Noah rose from his desk, ignoring Norio's outburst. "Where is the younger Kaiba?"
"Oh, you mean Mokuba? At home, I think."
The light haired boy stared out his window. "I want you to bring him here. He is all the virus we need."
Norio gave a short bow. "Yes, sir." He turned and was gone.
****
He didn't know how it happened...he just knew it did. Mokuba remembered someone jumping him from behind on his way home from school, but other than that...
A door somewhere in the house to which he had been taken opened. Mokuba heard footsteps headed to the room in which he was. The door opened.
In walked a light-haired boy slightly taller than Mokuba. He smirked. "I see you're awake," he said, an menacing note in his tone.
"Who are you?" Mokuba demanded, getting to his feet.
"Kaiba Noah."
"Kaiba?!" Mokuba's dark eyes widened. "What?"
"I am...was Gozaburo's real son," Noah explained rapidly, his voice growing bitter. "After I got hit by a car, he left me...left me for dead. I brought you here today to help me reclaim what is rightfully mine!"
"What do you mean?" Mokuba inquired warily.
Noah shut the door. His tone sharpened. "I mean that you are going to tell me all the passwords to Kaiba Corp, right now!" He pulled something from his pocket, and Mokuba saw that it was a switchblade...
****
"Mokuba, how could you do such a thing?" Seto demanded angrily. "How the hell could you give Noah...those passwords?!"
Mokuba shrank back against the wall, too scared to speak. Seto had never yelled at him in his life. *I'm sorry, Seto, but you don't know what Noah did to me...*
The teenager was rapidly losing patience. "Answer me!" he shouted.
His younger brother gasped. "I...I don't know," he said in a small voice. "I'm...sorry."
"That's all you have to say?" he muttered almost sadistically. "You're sorry? God, you're going to have to come up with something better than that!"
"What else do you want me to say?" Mokuba cried defensively. There was silence. "Seto?" The teenager didn't reply. Then with a sigh of disgust, he turned to leave.
Mokuba stopped him. "Big brother, why are you ignoring me?" Seto gave him a bitterly cold stare.
"I trusted you, Mokuba," he whispered heatedly. He brushed past his brother and left the room.
"Seto!"
****
I'm sorry, Seto. I didn't know what I was doing...
You don't know what Noah did to me!
Big brother, why are you ignoring me?
I'm sorry!
Seto!
Mokuba stumbled down a dark alley, oblivious to the rain drenching him from above. His dark hair shadowed his face, and the tears that mingled with the heavily falling rain.
Raining? When had it started? Mokuba ducked under a low-hanging roof to avoid getting wet. He sat there for a long while, mentally replaying what had happened a half-hour earlier.
The boy pulled off the pendant from around his neck, the one with his older brother's picture. He was about to throw it away, but something told him to keep it.
I trusted you, Mokuba.
With a sigh, the little one stuck the pendant into his pocket, got to his feet, and continued on.
At the other end of the alley, Noah leaned against the wall. Lightning illuminated his face for a split-second as he smirked.
*Just a bit longer, little one. Your time is not yet come.*