All around the building, the scream reverberated loudly and everyone snapped to attention.
"Man, what *is* that?!" Joey gasped, forgetting his quarrel with Bernard for the moment and dashing down the hall. He ran past Seto, and the young businessman stared unblinking after him. Then he slowly followed, feeling uneasy about something.
The other teens—except for Bakura, who was doing his nightmarish radio show, and Marik, who was currently at parts unknown—also all heard and came running. Eventually they found Joey helping a striking, auburn-haired woman to her feet.
"Oh, thank you, darling," she was saying in her thickly-accented voice. "This is so embarrassing . . ."
"Hey, think nothin' of it!" Joey replied, a funny smile on his face.
"Joey, what happened here?" Yugi gasped.
"Oh, I was just minding my own business when I was attacked by a horrible ninja!" the woman cried dramatically, and looked into Joey's eyes. "But this brave knight frightened him off!"
Joey colored noticeably. "It . . . it was nothin'," he stammered.
Seto stared at the woman suspiciously. Something didn't feel right about this—the way she didn't even know Joey and yet was being so familiar with him, putting her arm around his waist and running her finger down his cheek. "Who are you?" he demanded, also sensing eerily that he knew this woman from somewhere.
The woman smiled at him now, and there was something uneasy about the way she pulled her lips back over her white teeth. "My name is Vivalene, darling." She extended her hand, but Seto didn't take it. "It's an honor."
Seto looked at her, his cold blue eyes boring into her green ones. "Why are you here?"
"Hey!" Joey said defensively before Vivalene could answer. "She's been through a lot! And she can do without your pryin' comments, Kaiba. So why don't you just shut up!!"
Seto's quietly outraged gaze turned to the Brooklyn boy. Joey had only just met this woman, but she already had her sharp talons deep in his flesh. Seto would be silent—as Joey wished—but only because he wanted to observe this Vivalene further.
"Vifa!" Bruce's familiar voice cried now, and then the stout man came running up to them. "Oh Vifa! Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine, darling, thanks to Joey here," Vivalene smiled. "He's precious, simply precious!"
Joey grinned, scratching the back of his neck. "Eh, you're too much!"
Bruce turned to him, an expression of immense relief and joy on his face. "Oh, young man, you've saved the new morning show deejay!" he exclaimed.
Vivalene frowned. "Radio personality, darling, not deejay."
"Oh yes. Yes, of course." Bruce patted Vivalene on the shoulder. "She doesn't like the word 'deejay'," he explained. "She thinks it sounds so unrefined."
The red-haired woman smiled again. Tea thought of how different Vivalene was from the bubbly Mandy Granger. "That is true, darling, but there's no need to go into all that," Vivalene said now.
Tea decided that now was a good time to confront Bruce with what that man had told him. "Mr. Von Wilkenson," she began, "is it true that these kinds of incidents have been happening for a while now?"
Bruce blinked, obviously shocked. "Why, young lady . . ."
"It's alright, darling," Vivalene said to Bruce with a smile, her arm around Joey's shoulders. "Since they're going to be helping us find poor JP, why shouldn't they know everything?" She turned to Tea. "Yes, these kinds of things have been going on for ages, but you must believe that it was only recently that they became dangerous. Bruce was going to tell the police all about everything, weren't you, darling?"
Gosh, does she call everyone 'darling'? Yugi wondered to himself.
Bruce fumbled with his tie. "Of . . . of course I was," he said at last.
The teens were also shocked by this revelation. "This is really true?!" Joey cried in disbelief. "There's a deejay missin', and we've already nearly got creamed more than once today!"
"I said I was going to tell the police," Bruce grumped.
"Then tell me," Gabrielle said smoothly, coming up behind Bruce.
"Of . . . of course," the man agreed, looking surprised to see her suddenly there. And a bit flustered as well, Seto observed.
"I'll come with you, darling," Vivalene said firmly, "so I can tell the officer all about that horrible ninja!" She patted Joey on the cheek. "And I will see you soon, I hope," she purred.
"Anytime," Joey grinned.
When the teens were alone, everyone turned to look at Joey in disbelief.
"Man, you've got it bad," Tristan said, shaking his head.
"She's wonderful," Joey replied dreamily.
"I don't know, Joey," Yugi spoke up slowly. "Something seemed kinda fishy about her to me."
"Can you tell us exactly what happened, Joey?" Tea asked.
Joey leaned forward defensively. "Hey! She's an angel! Don't tell me you guys are questionin' her story?!"
"Well, actually . . . yes," Tristan replied. "Did you actually see that ninja she was talking about? She said you scared it off."
"Of course I saw it," Joey bluffed. He actually hadn't seen the ninja, but he supposed that it had heard him coming down the hall and disappeared. After all, Vivalene couldn't be lying about the ninja—he knew she couldn't be!
Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't know, Wheeler. Do you really think she cares about you?"
"Of course she does!" Joey growled. "Man, why are you all gangin' up on her?!" He folded his arms. "She said she wants to see me again!"
"I don't trust her," Seto said darkly.
Joey nodded. "Ohhhh . . . you don't trust her," he remarked sarcastically. "Well, guess what—your opinion ain't worth a hill of beans to me!" he snapped. "She's not interested in you; she's interested in me! And I'm not gonna not be with her just because you don't trust her! You're just suspicious of everyone, Kaiba."
Seto resented that remark. It was true that it was hard for him to trust people since he'd been betrayed so much in his life, but something told him that this Vivalene absolutely did not deserve trust from anyone, and especially not from Joey.
"But Joey, it's not just Kaiba," Yugi tried to protest now. "All of us feel like maybe you shouldn't get involved with her."
Joey sighed. "Look, Yug, I appreciate you tryin' to help me and all, but Vivalene's the sweetest girl I've ever met. There's no way she could be some kinda heart-breaker or whatever it is you're thinkin' she is." He turned to go. "Now, if you'll excuse me . . ." With that he shoved Seto aside and then stormed off down the corridor.
"Joey, wait!" Yugi called, but in vain.
"Well," Tristan said with a sigh, "I'm just afraid Joey's getting in over his head. Again."
Tea nodded in agreement. "He just barely met this woman and he's already seemed to decide that she's just the one for him. I think she seems like a flirt, the way she calls everyone 'darling.'" She sighed as well. "Joey's probably going to get his heart broken."
Seto crossed his arms over his chest. His feelings of uneasiness had little to do with whether Vivalene was a heart-breaker or not. He sensed something sinister and evil about the woman. And when he exchanged a glance with Yugi, he knew the other boy was thinking the same thing.
****
Bakura watched helplessly as his Yami again grabbed for the microphone. "Yami, please!" he protested, trying to free himself from the telephone cord.
Yami Bakura smirked. "'Please' what, you dolt?"
Bakura wrestled his way out of the cord. "Please stop saying embarrassing things!!"
Yami Bakura held the microphone just out of the boy's reach. "You do realize that everything we both say is going over the airwaves?"
Bakura groaned. He knew that only too well. He made a grab for the microphone and both he and Yami Bakura toppled onto the floor, while the computer meanwhile had finally decided to cooperate and was playing a Huey Lewis song. Unfortunately, the listeners were also being treated to the sounds of the crashing as Bakura and his Yami fell to the floor.
Bakura pulled on the microphone and it came free just as the song was ending. "And that was Huey Lewis . . . I think," he added after a moment. He glanced up at the sound engineer, who was gesturing to him to wrap things up. "Well, that's the show for today," he said, not able to stop from sounding relieved. "There's more music for you up next, so stay tuned!" The On the Air button went dark and Bakura set the microphone down with a groan.
"Ridiculous mortal," Yami Bakura grumped.
The sound engineer came out of his booth and stared at Bakura in disbelief. The boy looked back at him, dreading what would happen now.
"I'm afraid I really made a mess of things," Bakura sighed ruefully. "I knew I wouldn't be a good radio personality!"
The sound engineer started to laugh. "Actually, you weren't as bad as the one last month," he replied. "But who's your friend?"
Yami Bakura stood up, sneering. "I am not his friend," he grumped.
****
In the meantime, Marik was investigating every room he passed in the dark hallway. "I know someone is watching me," he said coldly. In spite of that, he still couldn't find anyone around. He had also checked for hidden cameras, but nothing of the kind was in sight. "Something very strange is going on here," he muttered.
He reached the end of the hall and turned to the right, being prepared for an attack.
What he wasn't prepared for was to run right into Elsa and fall over on the floor.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
Elsa picked herself up, not even bothering to lend a hand to Marik. "I'm looking for the proof I need to get Bruce Von Wilkenson arrested!"
Marik stared at her in confusion. "I beg your pardon?!" He also stood up, glaring at her suspiciously.
"Von Wilkenson is the one who did something to JP, I just know it," Elsa said stubbornly.
"And just why would he do such a thing?" Marik asked. "He wants ratings for his station more than anything else, it seems, and he said that JP's show is the most popular."
Elsa tossed her head. "Yeah, well, don't you find it kinda odd that he didn't call the police about any of the weird things that happened? He wasn't even gonna call them when JP vanished!"
Marik gave her a funny look. "You mean to say that this is not the first incident to befall the station?"
"Of course not!" Elsa shot back. "Bernard and I have seen all kinds of scary things since we started working here!" With that she proceeded to tell him many of the same things that Darin' Dave had told to Bakura, and Marik listened with intense interest.
"But I still do not see any motive for Von Wilkenson's actions," the Egyptian boy said at last.
"Well . . . I don't either," Elsa replied, "but I'm gonna find out!"
"You'd best be careful in your search," Marik warned. "You cannot accuse people falsely of crimes."
"Oh, I won't tell the police until I get the concrete proof," she assured him, pausing. "Here's something else interesting—you did know that JP wasn't just a deejay on the station, didn't you?"
Marik blinked. "No, I do not believe I did. What do you mean?"
Elsa's eyes glinted and she moved in closer. "He was also the program director!"
"I see." This news rather startled Marik, but he didn't understand really why it would make such a big difference.
Elsa didn't really seem to either, but she didn't let that stop her. "Now if you'll excuse me," she said snootily, "I have to find Bernard." She spat the name out with disgust.
Marik let her pass by, then suddenly thought of something. "Why do you refer to JP in the past sense?" he wanted to know.
Elsa shrugged. "Come on. After what that freaky caller said and everything? We're dealing with murder here!" She hurried off down the hall, leaving Marik more confused than ever. Why wouldn't Bruce have called the police before? Was it his obsession with bad publicity, or was it something else? Nothing made sense, as usual.
****
Seto walked down the hall in frustration. They were no closer to solving the mystery. The other people who might be able to help them had already left for the night, so he would have to wait until tomorrow to contact them. There wasn't much more he could do now . . . except call on JP's sister in Summit Hills and see if she knew anything. He had met up with Bernard again, who had informed him of the sister's existence.
As he headed for the door, he had the eerie feeling that he was being followed. He whirled around. No one was there, but Seto knew that they could have quickly dived behind the desk or into a nearby room. "Who's here?" he called. No answer.
He continued on down the hall and out the door. A burly, muscular man was standing there, and he gave Seto an intense look as the boy walked by. Seto stared back, his blue eyes narrowed.
There was something else he was still puzzling over as well. Several weeks ago he had discovered that money had mysteriously disappeared from his company's accounts and concluded that it was being embezzled. He still hadn't figured out who was the culprit behind that, what with all these other disasters always cropping up.
"Hey you."
Seto whirled around. The burly man by the door had spoken. "What do you want?" Seto demanded.
"You're Seto Kaiba, right?" The man flipped a toothpick out of his mouth.
"And what if I am?" Seto stood his ground, preparing for trouble.
"You have a brother, don't you?" the man wanted to know.
Seto was instantly in front of the man, staring into his cold gray eyes. "What do you know about my brother?" he demanded.
The burly man shoved Seto backward. "If you want your brother to stay safe, you'll keep out of other people's business." With that he turned and disappeared into a nearby alley.
Seto immediately regained his balance and gave chase, his eyes aflame with fury. When he reached the head of the alley he stared into the darkness suspiciously—but there was nothing to see. The burly man had vanished!
"Man, what *is* that?!" Joey gasped, forgetting his quarrel with Bernard for the moment and dashing down the hall. He ran past Seto, and the young businessman stared unblinking after him. Then he slowly followed, feeling uneasy about something.
The other teens—except for Bakura, who was doing his nightmarish radio show, and Marik, who was currently at parts unknown—also all heard and came running. Eventually they found Joey helping a striking, auburn-haired woman to her feet.
"Oh, thank you, darling," she was saying in her thickly-accented voice. "This is so embarrassing . . ."
"Hey, think nothin' of it!" Joey replied, a funny smile on his face.
"Joey, what happened here?" Yugi gasped.
"Oh, I was just minding my own business when I was attacked by a horrible ninja!" the woman cried dramatically, and looked into Joey's eyes. "But this brave knight frightened him off!"
Joey colored noticeably. "It . . . it was nothin'," he stammered.
Seto stared at the woman suspiciously. Something didn't feel right about this—the way she didn't even know Joey and yet was being so familiar with him, putting her arm around his waist and running her finger down his cheek. "Who are you?" he demanded, also sensing eerily that he knew this woman from somewhere.
The woman smiled at him now, and there was something uneasy about the way she pulled her lips back over her white teeth. "My name is Vivalene, darling." She extended her hand, but Seto didn't take it. "It's an honor."
Seto looked at her, his cold blue eyes boring into her green ones. "Why are you here?"
"Hey!" Joey said defensively before Vivalene could answer. "She's been through a lot! And she can do without your pryin' comments, Kaiba. So why don't you just shut up!!"
Seto's quietly outraged gaze turned to the Brooklyn boy. Joey had only just met this woman, but she already had her sharp talons deep in his flesh. Seto would be silent—as Joey wished—but only because he wanted to observe this Vivalene further.
"Vifa!" Bruce's familiar voice cried now, and then the stout man came running up to them. "Oh Vifa! Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine, darling, thanks to Joey here," Vivalene smiled. "He's precious, simply precious!"
Joey grinned, scratching the back of his neck. "Eh, you're too much!"
Bruce turned to him, an expression of immense relief and joy on his face. "Oh, young man, you've saved the new morning show deejay!" he exclaimed.
Vivalene frowned. "Radio personality, darling, not deejay."
"Oh yes. Yes, of course." Bruce patted Vivalene on the shoulder. "She doesn't like the word 'deejay'," he explained. "She thinks it sounds so unrefined."
The red-haired woman smiled again. Tea thought of how different Vivalene was from the bubbly Mandy Granger. "That is true, darling, but there's no need to go into all that," Vivalene said now.
Tea decided that now was a good time to confront Bruce with what that man had told him. "Mr. Von Wilkenson," she began, "is it true that these kinds of incidents have been happening for a while now?"
Bruce blinked, obviously shocked. "Why, young lady . . ."
"It's alright, darling," Vivalene said to Bruce with a smile, her arm around Joey's shoulders. "Since they're going to be helping us find poor JP, why shouldn't they know everything?" She turned to Tea. "Yes, these kinds of things have been going on for ages, but you must believe that it was only recently that they became dangerous. Bruce was going to tell the police all about everything, weren't you, darling?"
Gosh, does she call everyone 'darling'? Yugi wondered to himself.
Bruce fumbled with his tie. "Of . . . of course I was," he said at last.
The teens were also shocked by this revelation. "This is really true?!" Joey cried in disbelief. "There's a deejay missin', and we've already nearly got creamed more than once today!"
"I said I was going to tell the police," Bruce grumped.
"Then tell me," Gabrielle said smoothly, coming up behind Bruce.
"Of . . . of course," the man agreed, looking surprised to see her suddenly there. And a bit flustered as well, Seto observed.
"I'll come with you, darling," Vivalene said firmly, "so I can tell the officer all about that horrible ninja!" She patted Joey on the cheek. "And I will see you soon, I hope," she purred.
"Anytime," Joey grinned.
When the teens were alone, everyone turned to look at Joey in disbelief.
"Man, you've got it bad," Tristan said, shaking his head.
"She's wonderful," Joey replied dreamily.
"I don't know, Joey," Yugi spoke up slowly. "Something seemed kinda fishy about her to me."
"Can you tell us exactly what happened, Joey?" Tea asked.
Joey leaned forward defensively. "Hey! She's an angel! Don't tell me you guys are questionin' her story?!"
"Well, actually . . . yes," Tristan replied. "Did you actually see that ninja she was talking about? She said you scared it off."
"Of course I saw it," Joey bluffed. He actually hadn't seen the ninja, but he supposed that it had heard him coming down the hall and disappeared. After all, Vivalene couldn't be lying about the ninja—he knew she couldn't be!
Seto raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't know, Wheeler. Do you really think she cares about you?"
"Of course she does!" Joey growled. "Man, why are you all gangin' up on her?!" He folded his arms. "She said she wants to see me again!"
"I don't trust her," Seto said darkly.
Joey nodded. "Ohhhh . . . you don't trust her," he remarked sarcastically. "Well, guess what—your opinion ain't worth a hill of beans to me!" he snapped. "She's not interested in you; she's interested in me! And I'm not gonna not be with her just because you don't trust her! You're just suspicious of everyone, Kaiba."
Seto resented that remark. It was true that it was hard for him to trust people since he'd been betrayed so much in his life, but something told him that this Vivalene absolutely did not deserve trust from anyone, and especially not from Joey.
"But Joey, it's not just Kaiba," Yugi tried to protest now. "All of us feel like maybe you shouldn't get involved with her."
Joey sighed. "Look, Yug, I appreciate you tryin' to help me and all, but Vivalene's the sweetest girl I've ever met. There's no way she could be some kinda heart-breaker or whatever it is you're thinkin' she is." He turned to go. "Now, if you'll excuse me . . ." With that he shoved Seto aside and then stormed off down the corridor.
"Joey, wait!" Yugi called, but in vain.
"Well," Tristan said with a sigh, "I'm just afraid Joey's getting in over his head. Again."
Tea nodded in agreement. "He just barely met this woman and he's already seemed to decide that she's just the one for him. I think she seems like a flirt, the way she calls everyone 'darling.'" She sighed as well. "Joey's probably going to get his heart broken."
Seto crossed his arms over his chest. His feelings of uneasiness had little to do with whether Vivalene was a heart-breaker or not. He sensed something sinister and evil about the woman. And when he exchanged a glance with Yugi, he knew the other boy was thinking the same thing.
****
Bakura watched helplessly as his Yami again grabbed for the microphone. "Yami, please!" he protested, trying to free himself from the telephone cord.
Yami Bakura smirked. "'Please' what, you dolt?"
Bakura wrestled his way out of the cord. "Please stop saying embarrassing things!!"
Yami Bakura held the microphone just out of the boy's reach. "You do realize that everything we both say is going over the airwaves?"
Bakura groaned. He knew that only too well. He made a grab for the microphone and both he and Yami Bakura toppled onto the floor, while the computer meanwhile had finally decided to cooperate and was playing a Huey Lewis song. Unfortunately, the listeners were also being treated to the sounds of the crashing as Bakura and his Yami fell to the floor.
Bakura pulled on the microphone and it came free just as the song was ending. "And that was Huey Lewis . . . I think," he added after a moment. He glanced up at the sound engineer, who was gesturing to him to wrap things up. "Well, that's the show for today," he said, not able to stop from sounding relieved. "There's more music for you up next, so stay tuned!" The On the Air button went dark and Bakura set the microphone down with a groan.
"Ridiculous mortal," Yami Bakura grumped.
The sound engineer came out of his booth and stared at Bakura in disbelief. The boy looked back at him, dreading what would happen now.
"I'm afraid I really made a mess of things," Bakura sighed ruefully. "I knew I wouldn't be a good radio personality!"
The sound engineer started to laugh. "Actually, you weren't as bad as the one last month," he replied. "But who's your friend?"
Yami Bakura stood up, sneering. "I am not his friend," he grumped.
****
In the meantime, Marik was investigating every room he passed in the dark hallway. "I know someone is watching me," he said coldly. In spite of that, he still couldn't find anyone around. He had also checked for hidden cameras, but nothing of the kind was in sight. "Something very strange is going on here," he muttered.
He reached the end of the hall and turned to the right, being prepared for an attack.
What he wasn't prepared for was to run right into Elsa and fall over on the floor.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
Elsa picked herself up, not even bothering to lend a hand to Marik. "I'm looking for the proof I need to get Bruce Von Wilkenson arrested!"
Marik stared at her in confusion. "I beg your pardon?!" He also stood up, glaring at her suspiciously.
"Von Wilkenson is the one who did something to JP, I just know it," Elsa said stubbornly.
"And just why would he do such a thing?" Marik asked. "He wants ratings for his station more than anything else, it seems, and he said that JP's show is the most popular."
Elsa tossed her head. "Yeah, well, don't you find it kinda odd that he didn't call the police about any of the weird things that happened? He wasn't even gonna call them when JP vanished!"
Marik gave her a funny look. "You mean to say that this is not the first incident to befall the station?"
"Of course not!" Elsa shot back. "Bernard and I have seen all kinds of scary things since we started working here!" With that she proceeded to tell him many of the same things that Darin' Dave had told to Bakura, and Marik listened with intense interest.
"But I still do not see any motive for Von Wilkenson's actions," the Egyptian boy said at last.
"Well . . . I don't either," Elsa replied, "but I'm gonna find out!"
"You'd best be careful in your search," Marik warned. "You cannot accuse people falsely of crimes."
"Oh, I won't tell the police until I get the concrete proof," she assured him, pausing. "Here's something else interesting—you did know that JP wasn't just a deejay on the station, didn't you?"
Marik blinked. "No, I do not believe I did. What do you mean?"
Elsa's eyes glinted and she moved in closer. "He was also the program director!"
"I see." This news rather startled Marik, but he didn't understand really why it would make such a big difference.
Elsa didn't really seem to either, but she didn't let that stop her. "Now if you'll excuse me," she said snootily, "I have to find Bernard." She spat the name out with disgust.
Marik let her pass by, then suddenly thought of something. "Why do you refer to JP in the past sense?" he wanted to know.
Elsa shrugged. "Come on. After what that freaky caller said and everything? We're dealing with murder here!" She hurried off down the hall, leaving Marik more confused than ever. Why wouldn't Bruce have called the police before? Was it his obsession with bad publicity, or was it something else? Nothing made sense, as usual.
****
Seto walked down the hall in frustration. They were no closer to solving the mystery. The other people who might be able to help them had already left for the night, so he would have to wait until tomorrow to contact them. There wasn't much more he could do now . . . except call on JP's sister in Summit Hills and see if she knew anything. He had met up with Bernard again, who had informed him of the sister's existence.
As he headed for the door, he had the eerie feeling that he was being followed. He whirled around. No one was there, but Seto knew that they could have quickly dived behind the desk or into a nearby room. "Who's here?" he called. No answer.
He continued on down the hall and out the door. A burly, muscular man was standing there, and he gave Seto an intense look as the boy walked by. Seto stared back, his blue eyes narrowed.
There was something else he was still puzzling over as well. Several weeks ago he had discovered that money had mysteriously disappeared from his company's accounts and concluded that it was being embezzled. He still hadn't figured out who was the culprit behind that, what with all these other disasters always cropping up.
"Hey you."
Seto whirled around. The burly man by the door had spoken. "What do you want?" Seto demanded.
"You're Seto Kaiba, right?" The man flipped a toothpick out of his mouth.
"And what if I am?" Seto stood his ground, preparing for trouble.
"You have a brother, don't you?" the man wanted to know.
Seto was instantly in front of the man, staring into his cold gray eyes. "What do you know about my brother?" he demanded.
The burly man shoved Seto backward. "If you want your brother to stay safe, you'll keep out of other people's business." With that he turned and disappeared into a nearby alley.
Seto immediately regained his balance and gave chase, his eyes aflame with fury. When he reached the head of the alley he stared into the darkness suspiciously—but there was nothing to see. The burly man had vanished!