Chapter 11: Things are not always as they seem
"Yes?"
"Sir, there's a message from the bank."
"What is it? And, please, don't call me sir."
"Sorry. The bank says there's been a wire transfer of fifty thousand dollars from Mr. Kaiba's account in New York to a bank in Pittsburgh."
"Oh really?"
"Yes. The transfer should be complete in a few hours."
"I though that crap was instantaneous."
"It is, but there's a waiting period. Just to make sure it's not a hacker or something."
"Right. Uh, could you give me the address of this bank?"
"Right away."
"By the way, why didn't you inform Seto?"
"He demanded that he shouldn't be disturbed. Besides he's at the jail."
"So he passes all the responsibility onto me. What a friend." Ryou groaned as he hurried down to the secretary's desk.
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"I heard you wanted to speak with me."
"Yes." Roba sighed, as he unconsciously rubbed his arm.
"Well?"
"What if I were to tell you everything I knew about what happened? What if I wasn't to hold back on a single detail that I knew?"
"You'd want something. What do you want?"
"Best case scenario: I'm acquitted of all charges and allowed to go with a reference and my name cleared. Worst case scenario: I go to a separate jail from the other Big Five. Anything in-between those two options is good."
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"Ryou?" Marik asked as Ryou ran past him. "Where are you going?"
"Marik? What are you doing here?"
"I came to see you. What's going on? Where's the fire?"
"I'm taking a trip to Pittsburgh to check on a money transfer. Want to come?"
"Sure. Nothing ever happens on Tuesday anyway."
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"So, do you think we'll catch the person behind the money transfer?" Marik asked as he and Ryou left the train station.
"We might. There's a three hour waiting period and our trip was just a bit over that."
"Couldn't you just cancel the transfer?"
"I could, but I'm interested to see who would not only be able to hack into Seto's bank account, but also only take a small fraction of the account instead of a larger part."
"Someone who wets their pants in fear at the mer mention of your friend?"
"If they were that scared, they wouldn't have hacked into the account in the first place."
"Humph. If you say so." Marik sniffed. "Look, there's the bank."
"Right, now…......" Ryou began before suddenly stopping. "Oh my God."
"What is it?" Marik asked. Not answering Ryou started running and Marik ran after him.
"TEA!" Ryou screamed. Turning around in fright, Tea jumped when she saw Ryou.
"Ryou? What are you doing here?" Tea asked, once Ryou had caught up with her.
"I came to find out about a wire transfer from Seto's account."
"Oh?" Tea whispered, before grabbing Ryou's hand and leading him down a near-by alleyway. Turning to face him, Tea blushed lightly and looked at her feet. "Um, that would be me."
"You were the hacker who transferred the money? But why? And why are you here?"
"Well, not me exactly. Mokuba. But you seem surprised."
"I should say so! Hell, girl! You're supposed to be dead!"
"And she will be." Marik laughed.
"Huh?"
"Ryou, who is that?"
"Oh, that's Marik. We're dating."
"Do you usually date men with a laugh like a homicidal maniac?" Tea whispered
"Well, it's the first time I've actually heard him laugh like that." Ryou admitted.
"Shut up!" Marik screamed, his demeanor suddenly changing. Reaching behind his jacket, Marik pulled out a gold-plated gun with the eye of Ra engraved on both sides. Pointing it at Tea and Ryou, Marik giggled softly.
"Oh my God!" Tea moaned, unconsciously moving her hand to cover her lower stomach.
"Marik!" Ryou cried, both surprised and shocked. "What the hell is going on, Marik? What do you think you're doing?"
"Ryou, what does it look like?" Marik asked, a sadistic smile on his face. "I'm going to kill you both."
"But why?" Ryou whispered, taking a step forward.
"Because he's a psychotic, homicidal, evil bastard!" Tea screamed.
"Psychotic, homicidal bastards don't watch the Disney channel and eat Chinese with me!" Ryou screamed back, before looking at Marik. "Marik, what's wrong?"
"Don't come near me!" Marik ordered.
"Marik." Ryou pleaded. "Don't do this."
"Don't do this? Don't do this? But it's all your fault! It was the perfect plan and it would have worked too! But you had to be perfect! It's all your fault! I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you! I wasn't!" Marik screamed, tears streaming down his face. "And so you have to die. Both of you."
"Marik, give me the gun." Ryou sighed as he held out his hands. "Just give me the gun and we can talk about this."
"It's all your fault." Marik sobbed as he fell into Ryou's out stretched arms, the gun falling from his fingers and hitting the ground with a clatter. "Why did I have to love you? Why did you have to be you?"
"Tea? Why don't you go back to New York? Seto's waiting for you." Ryou whispered, looking down at Marik, who was pressing his face into Ryou's shoulder.
"Seto?" Tea asked, still watching Marik cautiously. "Is Seto alive?"
"Yea, Tea. He misses you, so why don't you go home?" Ryou asked as he sank to the ground with Marik in his arms. "Just go home."
Nodding, Tea fled the alleyway, leaving Marik and Ryou alone.
"Marik?"
"I'm sorry." Marik whispered. "I'm sorry."
"I know. It's all right. Just tell me about it. Tell me everything."
"I was raised in Los Angeles, California." Marik began as he lay down so that his head was in Ryou's lap. Ignoring the fact that they were both sitting in a very dark alley, Ryou leaned back against a wall and began to stroke Marik's hair as he listened to Marik's words.
"My father was very rich and my family had everything. Except him. He was a workaholic. He would come home very late and leave very early, if he came home at all. His work consumed his life and it was a treat to see his face. My sister and I went to upper class, private schools and vacationed in one of our two summer homes, one in Spain and one was in Egypt. We didn't have many friends, though my sister had more than I did. Anyway, my father was one of the Big Five of Kaiba Corp until I was fourteen, thirteen years ago. He was forced out in a brutal set up. And, all though my father could have easily lived off everything he had made over the years, he was completely crushed by the lose of his position. He committed suicide less than three days later. My sister and mother got over our lose rather well, but my father had always been my idol, my hero. I swore revenge against whoever had bought out my father. When I was fifteen, a source told me that the set up that had lead to my fathers death had been organized by the owner of Kaiba Corp, who was also a very close friend of my father."
"But why now? Seto's father is all ready dead."
"My mother recently died leaving the family fortune to be divided between my sister and I. This meant that I finally had an unchecked, unending source of capital. But by the time my original plan was worked out and ready to begin, your friend's father had already died. So I set my sights on the elder Kaiba's son. What did you call him? Seto? Well anyway, murder had never been my aim. I was simply going to take over the company through the Big Five and the younger Kaiba brother. I would immediately make hundreds of poor business decisions making Kaiba Corps a finical ruin. This would have, not only, killed the Kaiba brothers financially, but also the Big Five, four of whom were involved in the take over that pushed my father out."
"But then your take over failed."
"I imagined it might. Pegasus, the man who took my fathers place, is cunning and a back-stabber."
"You knew he would double-cross you?"
"I had thought of the possibility, yes. I knew he would never gain the support of anyone of than the Big Five, though. I counted on Kaiba Corps immediate break up and disintegration if Pegasus deceived me. But then, everything went wrong.
"I fell in love with you. That was never supposed to happen. I was supposed to watch you and make sure Seto did not ask you for help, but then I saw you. I had to speak to you, and then…...... well, you know. I'm getting off track, yes. The Big Five lost in the take over and Seto came out on top. I've never been a very good loser, Ryou. I couldn't take it. So, just now, when I found out Tea was alive, I decided that if I couldn't hurt him, I'd kill the only people he loved."
Ryou nodded and the two of them sat in silence, Marik wiping the tears from his eyes and face and Ryou stroking Marik's hair.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Aren't you going to leave?"
"Why should I?"
"Ryou!"
"Marik!" Ryou teased, kissing Marik on the forehead. "Really though. Why should I leave?"
"I was going to kill you. I was going to hurt your friend. I lied to you! I hurt you! I'm a terrible person, Ryou! You deserve better."
"Marik, shut up; listen to me. I've dated a lot of people, men and women, and all of those relationships have gone badly or ended badly. I've never been happy in love. I put up with a lot and never got much in return, but you were…...... are so much different. You never tried to pressure me. You never held out on me if I asked you a question. You never hit me. You never tried to change me."
"You were hit?" Marik asked.
"Sometimes." Ryou shrugged. "But that doesn't matter. Marik, you told me you never wanted to kill anyone. You were just angry and upset. Besides, with everything I've ever put up with, what's a little thing like a hostile take over?"
"So, I'm really forgiven?"
"Only if you promise never to do it again." Ryou smiled. "Now come on. Let's get off the ground and out of this alley."
"You want to go home?"
"No, let's get a hotel room for a few nights; just until all this all blows over. I think New York is going to be a bit too precarious and dangerous for you at the moment."
