Brood: *sigh* Wow, WSJ's been so hyper lately.....this writing contest she went to...well...

Zutsokaki: She did KINDA well...

WSJ: KINDA!?! I took FOURTH place! YAAAYYY!!!!!

Brood: Go 'SJ! AND she's going to the state competition! Let's start the chapter now!

WSJ: No! More news!!! Brood placed FIRST in her forensics (competetive acting) tourney, and she's going to her state competition too!!! Albeit different states... And different "sports"... ^^ But what the hey! We're both hyper as crud!

Zutsokaki: v_v;; Oh joy....

Disclaimer: We own none except our OCs.

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"Listen to me kid, you have to tell me what happened."

Ryou groaned slightly as he turned his head to look at Seto Kaiba. "Jou is... walking right into a trap, I don't know where. He and Mr Yuy left, and then Mr Barton pulled a gun on me, and..." he swallowed, trying to force tears out of his eyes.

Yami Moto, sergent of the Domino Police Force, frowned at this. Bakura had beckoned him and his younger brother Yuugi over, and now the three policemen and the Kaiba brothers were gathered around Ryou's stretcher. "I don't like the sound of this... Are you sure you don't know where they went Ryou?"

"No... But Mr Barton was talking to someone over a radio he had. Whoever it was was the one leading Jou into the trap."

Yami grinned almost ferrally as he strode over to where Trowa was just being carried out of the building, also on a stretcher. Dispite the startled cries of the paramedics, he grabbed the ex-spy by the collar and lifted him a good two inches off the bed, causing him to gasp in pain. "Alright, who were you talking to over that radio of yours?"

"I .....don't know what you're talking about." Trowa said, glaring coldly at the tri-coloured-haired sergent.

"I'll bet." Yami growled, and waved Yuugi forward. The younger Moto nodded and ran into the building.

He immerged two minutes later, carefully carrying a walkie-talkie. It was slightly dented from where Trowa had fallen on it, and rather blood-encrusted, but it still worked. Yuugi handed it over to Bakura, who preferred playing "bad-cop" much more then Yuugi did.

Bakura accepted the radio from him with a nod and turned it on, shoving it into Trowa's face with one hand and unholstering his gun with the other. Yami and Seto also drew guns, and Trowa gulped. It was one thing to be with the CIA, sneaking around and hoping not to get shot, and quite another to be staring down the barrels of three revolvers. "Talk." Bakura growled. "We wouldn't kill you if you didn't, but we'd sure make your life hell."

Trowa swallowed, but before anything more could be said the radio crackled and Duo's voice came over it. "Tro, what do ya' want man? We're kinda busy!"

"Where are you, exactly?" Trowa asked. His voice was calm, but his quick breathing and pale face made his fear readily apparent.

"Employee parking lot of Merquize Inc, like I told ya' before. Now shut up, Yuy and Katsuya are on their way." Abruptly Duo snapped off his end of the connection, causing Trowa's to go to static.

Bakura cursed, and he, Yami, and Seto took off down the street with a couple other officers in tow. Mokuba and Yuugi stayed to supervise the cleaning up and crowd control at Winner Corp. Trowa sunk back down to his gunnery with a wheezing sort of choke, and the paramedics rushed him toward the ambulance.

Ryou was just about to be loaded in as well when someone pushed to the front of the crowd, yelling his name. Yuugi told her to stay back, but Ryou roused slightly and lifted his head. "Shizuka?"

Shizuka pushed past Yuugi and ran toward him, with tears on her cheeks. "Oh my god Ryou! I saw the news. Are you alright?"

Ryou laughed weakly, then coughed. "Does it look like it?" Shizuka quickly noticed that Ryou's voice had a slight slur to it as he talked to her.

Shizuka turned to the lady paramedic who was hovering over Ryou. She was dressed in the white uniform of a doctor, but the insignia on her sleeve proclaimed her to be also with the Domino Police. "Please, let me go with him! Jou is my brother, and Ryou's my friend! Please!"

The woman paused, her black hair twitching in the slight wind, then nodded and waved Yuugi over. "Yuugi, ride with Ryou and this young lady in the ambulance and do the crowd control thing at the hospital for me, 'kay? I'll stay and mop up here."

Yuugi saluted her, but smirked slightly. "And wait for Seto to get back, eh Isis?"

Captain Isis Ishtar frowned, then blushed slightly and nodded. "Hai, are you happy now? Now go. Mr Hiroki here should have been at the hospital already."

Yuugi nodded with slight alarm as he noticed that Ryou had passed out again. He climbed up into the waiting ambulance and then helped Shizuka in after him. The ambulance carrying the traitor Trowa Barton had already roared off down the street.

"So you're Jou's little sister?"

Shizuka nodded, then looked as if something had just occured to her. "Where is my brother?"

"Um..." Yuugi gulped. "Er..."

Shizuka sighed. "He went off chasing some villain again, didn't he?"

Yuugi blinked. "Actually, yes, he did."

Shizuka chuckled, shaking her head slightly. "No need to pussy-foot it around me, Moto-san. Jou always tells me about his cases. Now tell me, is he in any danger?"

"Hai," Yuugi said after a moment's pause. "He and Yuy are walking straight into a trap."

"Again?"

Yuugi sat up and stared at her. "Again? For the sake of your brother, you had better tell me what you mean, Shizuka."

"Well," Shizuka frowned, gathering her thoughts together. "It was about a year-and-a-half ago, one of Jou's very first big cases..."

~*~

"Hold it."

Heero's soldier instincts came into play and he skidded to a stop, looking back over his shoulder at Jou while keeping the other eye on the fleeing Duo Maxwell. "What is it, Detective?" he growled, his trigger finger twitching slightly.

Jou was frowning as he stared into the middle distance. "This is really, really familiar..." Suddenly his eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers quietly. "Maxwell's leadin' us right into a trap. I've seen this one before."

"So what do we do about it?"

"Trap 'em back." Jou said, grinning almost evilly. "All we gotta do is get around behind them and ambush their ambush."

"Sounds good to me. Let's do it, Detective." Something had changed in Heero's voice. He no longer used 'detective' as a derogative. It was almost... Respectful.

Jou caught the change in tone easily enough and grinned at the Perfect Soldier, giving him a wink and a thumbs up. "Right. Now come on."

~*~

Duo dropped into a crouch next to Zechs behind a pile of crates in the corner of the parking lot, panting. "They should be right behind me, boss."

"Good," Zechs said, keeping his eyes on the door through which Duo had just ran. They should be coming out of it any minute... He raised his right hand in signal, and all around the parking lot, behind other piles of boxes and parked cars, came the sounds of guns cocking. Everyone was in place. Zechs allowed himself the luxery of a smirk.

Katsuya had taken in his entire gang a year ago, but Zechs had rebuilt it, better then ever. Katsuya would pay for bringing his first organization to ruin. He would pay for the killing of Lucrezia Noin, the only woman Zechs had ever trully loved. Sure, there had been others over the months, including that bimbo Dorothy Winner. But no one like Noin. No one ever like Noin.

Zechs growled, his hand tightening around his gun, which was leveled at the door. Yes, Katsuya would pay dearly.

~*~

"Everyone back up! Domino Police!"

The crowd around the front of Merquize Inc opened up like Moses and the Red Sea, allowing the officers access to the front of the building. After a quick examination, it was reveiled that all the fire-sheilds were down, rendering the company practically impregnable.

"Kuso!" Bakura cursed, slamming a fist into the building's metal hide. "We've got to get in!"

"Oh please!" Nearby a petite, purple-black-haired woman was pleading with Seto, "My husband's still in there!"

"Calm down Miss," he assured her. "Do you know the codes to get us in?"

Hilde nodded, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "Hai. Here," She went over to a control panel mounted just around the corner and typed in the set of numbers that Duo had taught her. The metal doors gave a shudder, and then began to grind open. Employees stepped forward to go back inside, thinking that the fire drill was over. Yami urged them to stay back.

"We've got a situation here," he yelled to all of them. "Please stay back!" He then turned to his officers. "Roba, Kounji, stay out here and keep everyone out of the building. Roba, while you're at it, radio headquarters for back-up. Ryuzaki, Bakura, Kaiba, you're with me. Now let's go."

"Wait," Hilde said, stepping forward. "I know Merquize Inc like the back of my hand. Let me go with you!"

Yami started to protest, but Seto held up a hand. "You're Hilde Maxwell, right? The VP's wife?" Hilde nodded, and he frowned. "We should let her come Yami. She might be able to talk some sense into her husband."

Hilde gasped. "What do you mean?!"

For the moment she was ignored as Yami rounded on Seto, his fists clenched. "Look Kaiba, I out-rank you three times over, and you're not even part of Domino Police. I don't know why you came along, but you have no right to counter-act my orders."

"Wherever the puppy-dog is concerned, I'm involved, no question." Kaiba said loftily, looking down his nose at the shorter sergent.

Yami growled at him. "Look Kaiba, it's no secret that you and Jou don't like each other. It's also no secret that I don't like you. But we already have enough lives at stake here without putting one more woman in the bullet's path!"

"I can take care of myself!" Hilde said, pushing in between them. "Really, I can!"

"We're already wasting too much time." Bakura snapped, taking her side. "Let's just go! The quicker we get in there, the quicker we can wrap things up and get out."

Yami and Seto, after shooting one last glare at each other, nodded at the white-haired liutenent. They turned on their heels and sprinted toward the building, Hilde right behind them. Bakura and Ryuzaki exchanged a look and a shrug, and then chased after them.

"We need to get to the employee parking lot." Seto yelled over his shoulder. "Which way?"

"I know," Hilde said, pushing to the front of the group. "Over here!" She pushed against the door and burst forth into the sunlight.

~*~

Zechs grinned as the door flew open, his finger tightening on the trigger of his gun. At the very last moment, Duo's shoulder slammed into his own shoulder and sent the shot wide. "What do you think you're doing Maxwell??"

"That's my wife!!!" Duo screamed back at him.

Zechs cursed when he saw that Duo was right. Hilde got pushed down behind a car by one of the policemen, who then dove down next to her. "This is not good..."

And then all hell burst loose.

~*~

So 'ere Yuy and I were, crawlin' around in ventilation shafts. Thank kami neither of us are very big. The Merquize Inc building is situated so that the employee parking lot is surrounded on three sides by the building, in a sort of 'U' shape.

Yuy knows the shafts like nobody's business, and I ain't gonna ask how he knows. But he's leadin' us around to the other side, so that we can drop out'a a shaft right on top a' those bakayaros. "You sure ya' know where we're goin'?" I asked him. "Seems like we're goin' in circles to me."

"Keep it down," he hissed. "Yes, I know where we're going. Look." He points out the grill in front of us, and I crawl forward to look. Sure enough, Zechs and Maxwell are crouched behind some boxes right in front of us. I grin and draw my gun, and Yuy does the same, gettin' into a possition to kick the grill out'a the wall. I know Zechs' face anywhere....and I should too....Heero's "partner" Trowa is familiar too, I realize suddenly. Shit, he's all over the wanted poster in the police station. Hopefully the kid's all right... But there's no time for a guilt trip now.

Heero's just about to kick it when I notice the door into the building, the one everyone's expectin' us to come out of, fly open. I watch in sort-of doomed facination as that Hilde chic comes runnin' out, followed by Sergent Moto, Liutenent Tamiya, and, well well............my old buddy Seto Kaiba.

The gang goes haywire, shootin' starts, and Heero kicks down the grill with a grunt, voicing what I'm pretty sure all 'a us was thinkin'.

"Aw hell..."

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Brood: And another chapter competed here! Waaiii! Reviews please! I WUB YOU ALLS!!! And nothing nasty......we don't really appreciate BAD reviews....

WSJ: *sweatdrop* Yeah...we sure don't.....

Zutsokaki: Zzzzzzz............

God bless minna-san!