Disclaimer: (Sigh!) We still don't own Yugioh, blah blah blah. There's a
few characters we wish we owned, but slavery is illegal in the United
States.
High Crystal Guardian, you completely hit the point of poor Max's fainting spell. And Symbol Names are good. Yes, GriffenFire, we did know; see, we own four or five naming books, and Golden STILL can never come up with good names.
Golden: But I'm naming my first daughter Spike Deathstalker. *laughs* Probably not for real, but that's what my dad's best friend wanted to name ME.
Seto Kaiba Red Archery Girl, Tank U for reviewing our earlier chappies! ^_^
Finally: Our story has become precious. Unintentional Nightmare, that praise was so uplifting we made ourselves hot chocolate and dedicated an hour to begging Golden's dad for a scanner so we could draw you a picture of gratitude. Didn't work, though. : p
This is, of course, still dedicated to Mr. T. And to Metabee the Medabot, because we miss him. (Waah!) This is also dedicated to George Washington. 0.0 Peggy's hair reminds Golden of those silly powdered wigs. (No! Freedom!!! Let freedom ring!!!!)
Chapter Seven: BREAKOUT!
Domino, Japan: Sub-Town
Duke explained his (rather insane sounding) plan for getting into Kaiba's estate to the others as they walked through Sub-Town.
"You know," Seto interrupted, "I still haven't found Mokuba. Maybe I should stay out of this and just keep looking for him."
Serenity gave him a sad, sad look while several of the others objected.
"You're one of the best people we've got," Yugi reminded him.
"Yeah, well, that isn't really saying much." Seto looked at the ground for a second, then glanced at Serenity, who still had her sad, sad expression. "Oh, all right. Mokuba's gotten lost plenty of times before."
Duke grinned. "Since none of you objected, does this mean we're going with my plan?"
"As long as we don't go with Tristan's," Bakura said, reffering to Tristan's speech about scaling walls on the outside of the building. "It's terrible!"
"When do we get started?" Serenity asked, eager to save her friends.
Joey glanced at her worriedly. "Sis, I don't think you should go along. You already spent too much time in dat place, and you to'd us your eyes record t'ings, too."
"They stop after twenty-four hours," Serenity began to object, but then saw the look on her brother's face. "But I'm the only one who knows where the cell is!"
Max put his hands on her small shoulders. "Which is why, if he complains any more, I'm going to make you tell me where it is. The best chance we have, though," and here he gave Joey an apologetic look, "is if you come with us. Because speed is the key here, and not quite safety."
Duke got an extremely elated look on his face. "So we are going with my plan!"
Tristan got a puzzled look on his face. "I thought that meant we'd go with my plan!" he said in an undertone to Bakura.
"If we are," Bakura replied, "I am staying on the ground."
Max, not hearing the exchange, smiled at Duke and cuffed his shoulder. "Yeah, Duke, we're going with your plan." Duke beamed.
--
Kaiba's Estate
The extremely sad looking elven Enforcer stood silently at the gate like a guard at the Tower of London. (Which had been blasted to smithereens eight years before because the Queliyg thought of it as somewhat unsightly.)
Kel walked toward the Enforcer, smiling, a good old fashioned sword hanging at his hip. [Hello there, Keagan!]
Keagan looked up in surprise. [Kel?! I heard that Ushio killed you!] Kel leaned against the wall beside Keagan, taking out his sword and inspecting the blade.
[To tell the truth, Keagan, he almost did. A human rebel saved me, with healing magic! I even recognized the words as High Elvish!]
Keagan gave Kel a skeptical look. [Are you trying to break in, clan- brother? No humans have ever been taught that language, so you must be trying to fool me some way or another.]
Yami came up from the same direction Kel had appeared from. {He's not lying,} he said in what Keagan and Kel called High Elvish, a smile twisting his lips. {Except that I call this language Egyptian, and the language you have been speaking Gaelic. Interesting that two languages would be common to two planets, yes?}
[If you speak lesser elvish why not do so instead of overusing a more sacred language?] Keagan asked in annoyance.
[How else would you believe me? Would you let us pass?]
Keagan looked to Kel. [He has other ways of getting in,] Kel said. [We were told to get you out of the way, no matter how it's done. I've seen him do terrible things to human Enforcers. How has Ushio been doing?] Yami frowned.
Keagan's eyes widened. [That was you?] Yami nodded, a dark smile gracing his lips. [Oh, then I guess I really am letting you pass!] He symbolically stepped out of the way, bowing. [I'd open the gate, but they open it by remote from the building. There's no key!]
[Duke has allowed for that,] Yami said curtly, then turned to look in the direction they'd come from. "All right, the guard won't be any trouble! We're ready!"
Duke bounced out from the rubble, crowbar in hand. The rest of the rescue team followed, Max, Seto, Tristan, Bakura, Joey, Serenity, and Téa, all armed with blades and firearms.
Duke attacked a panel by the gate, prying it off to reveal wires and microchips. Seto went to look over his shoulder.
"Okay, if I just tweak this here, the gate should open," Duke said, but Seto shook his head.
"I think it'd probably be best to just pull out that one microchip right there," he said, pointing.
Duke gave him a derisive look. "What would you know?" he demanded, pulling the wires he'd originally chosen. A little screen blinked on, reading "20."
"The gate systems are being tampered with," a female voice said tonelessly. "Twenty seconds to alarm activation."
Duke swore as Seto rolled his eyes. "NOW what do I do?!" he hissed in panic, fiddling with the circuits. Yami closed his eyes, listening to Duke and Seto argue.
The timer stopped. Duke blinked. "What did I do?"
"Not this," Seto replied sarcastically, reaching over Duke's shoulder and yanking out the microchip he'd pointed out before.
The gate opened, silently, smoothly, and without a peep from the security computer.
Duke gave Seto a dirty look, and the other boy stuck his tongue out. "Nyat dis," Duke muttered under his breath as they entered the gate, leaving Keagan behind.
"How'd you know about that, anyway?" Serenity asked Seto curiously. He blushed a very little.
"Sometimes, I guess, I can just kind of feel the right way around a machine," Seto tried to explain. "I'm not sure why..."
Both Duke and Tristan noticed the exchange. Duke's eyes narrowed. "Mr. Teenage Prodigy," he muttered to Tristan. _ And now he's got another one-up on me!_
Tristan shrugged. "Seto has always been pretty smart."
"What? Just a shrug?" Duke queried. "No jealousy, not even a twinge of annoyance?"
Tristan grinned. "Well, he's obviously nervous around girls," he said, "And I've known him long enough to know he's not always doing it on purpose."
Duke snorted derisively as they came to the building's entrance.
Seto turned to Duke. "Any ideas on getting us through this door?"
"Yeah," Duke replied a little angrily, "We get the guy with the hardest head and use him for a battering ram." Max glanced at him, surprise registering in his face.
Seto grinned. "You mean... Joey?"
"HEY!!" Joey shouted angrily.
Duke shook his head, angry that Seto could so easily deflect such things. He stomped over to the control panel to the door. "This one looks manual," he said, anger vanishing in surprise.
Seto leaned over his shoulder again and the annoyance returned. "Noo," Seto said, eying the buttons. "Suppose you can figure out the code?"
Duke shrugged. "Well, it's a panel of numbers, and if we could see which ones are most often pushed..."
"That's just fine," Seto argued, "If you didn't need them in a specific sequence."
Serenity giggled. "Try punching in Kaiba's birthday."
"But they don't know Kaiba's birthday," Tristan said, looking puzzled.
"I think she was joking," Max pointed out.
She shrugged. "Only halfway," she replied, reaching between Duke and Seto and punching in a few numbers. "Well, it's worth a try, isn't it?"
The door opened. Serenity's face lit up. "It was!"
Joey's eyes widened. "Then what are they doing there?!" he cried, pointing at the warsuiters standing in the hallway.
"Oh..." Serenity murmured. "I guess they're regular security for the front door. I wouldn't know."
Max swore in English. "_Wonderful, Serenity,_" he cried, pushing her out of the way as the warsuiters registered what was going on and opened fire.
Bakura pressed himself against the wall. "_Now what do we do?_"
Yami pushed Kel unceremoniously to the floor. "_Everyone get down!!_" he ordered, Eye glowing on his forehead.
Bakura stared at him. _Kekatsu, do you see that?!?_
_Yes,_ the spirit replied, _Be a good boy and get on your face like he tells you!_ Bakura flopped to the ground, but carefully kept an eye on Yami Yugi.
Everyone joined him except for Yami himself. He crouched to the ground and scuttled under the line of fire until he faced the center of the door. The warsuiters stopped, realizing they weren't firing at their target anymore and needed to readjust aim, and looked down at him.
Yami stood, the Eye glowing brighter. _Is he crazy?_ Bakura asked Kekatsu.
There was a short silence, as though the whole world was waiting for something to happen. Yami raised his arms.
_No,_ Kekatsu replied, _I think he knows for the most part what he's doing._
"Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress!" Yami bellowed theatrically. A screaming roar sounded.
Suddenly, up in the sky, a large blue form appeared and plummeted towards the earth. The Queliyg warsuiters eyed it nervously.
It screamed again and the warsuiters panicked, pointing their weapons at the quickly approaching creature and letting out a wall of fire.
No effect.
The dragon began slowing its descent, catching air in its wings like a parachute and lowering gently to the ground. Its eyes glittered and it grinned, long teeth gleaming.
The Queliyg screamed in terror and fled.
Yami grinned, a little sweat beading on his temple. The illusionary beast vanished. "I wasn't quite sure that would work," he admitted as the others looked up.
"What did you do?" Max demanded. He too had seen the dragon... and recognized it.
Yami shrugged nervously. "Later. Now's not the time."
Max shook his head darkly as they followed Yami into the building. "You aren't getting off the hook that easily."
--
Alarms began to sound. Mai and Cecilia looked up, and sounds of confusion began to fill the corridors.
"What's going on?" they heard Rex say. "Weevil, now ain't the time to be setting those cockroaches free."
"But it's the perfect time!" Weevil's squeaky, wet voice retorted. "Maybe they'll distract the guards for us!"
"And that would help us how? We're still locked in, you moron! OH, YUCK! _Don't set them free next to ME!_" There were several oozy crunching sounds. "DIE, PESTILENCE!"
"REX, DON'T!"
Mai stood and pressed her face to the bars. "I can't see anything that would tell us what was going on," she told Cecilia. "Uh-oh, better scratch that. Here comes some blonde guy, and he doesn't look too happy!"
Cecilia struggled up, cursing her husband, and went to the bars. "Keith! What are you doing here, traitor?!"
Keith grabbed the bars for support while he caught his breath. Cecilia went to sit back down in disgust. "I'm here to take you to a safer cell," he said, fiddling with the door.
Mai growled. "You mean Pegasus has come for her, and you're here to make her harder to find. Over my dead body." She grabbed a food serving tray and began banging at his hands with it.
"Ack! Don't!" He jumped away, swearing angrily. "It might just have ta be over your dead body!"
A cockroach climbed over his foot. He and Mai stared down at it and watched it disappear. Up his pantleg. "Oh. Yuck." Mai observed.
Keith shrieked and began to dance around, slapping at his pants. "I THOUGHT THEY SPRAYED FOR THESE THINGS!!!"
Weevil stuck his head almost completely through the bars of his and Rex's cell. "They did, but I saved them! Now Rex is killing them anyway!!"
Keith hopped in his direction angrily, making as if to grab him by his green hair and pop his head off, but Weevil ducked back in just in time. "YOU LITTLE SO-AND-SO!"
"Great comeback, Keith," Mai deadpanned.
"You won't be happy either if I have to take off these pants to get rid of it!" Keith retorted, still "dancing." Mai winced.
--
Serenity led the others to the dungeon. Max stared around at all the other prisoners. "Ugh." he muttered. "Okay, all of you work on freeing everyone here. Serenity, lead me to my wife."
"Wait," she said. "There's an elven healer named Mysti that Kaiba tends to keep in the upper levels. Could someone--"
"I'll go," Seto instantly said, springing up the stairs. They stared after him.
"Hey," Kel suddenly said. "I know her! Wait up!" He ran up after the teen.
Max shook his head. "No more volunteers for one elf," he said, stopping Duke and Tristan. "Right now is no time to think about brownie points." He tugged on Serenity's sleeve. "Come on, Serenity. I haven't seen my wife in over a month."
They ran off in a certain direction, Serenity leading.
--
Seto found an elevator. "I haven't been in a working one of these in nine years!" he exclaimed, blue eyes lighting up. He pressed the "up" button and got in just as Kel caught up with him. The doors closed.
Kel swore in elvish. "He doesn't even know where her clinic is, anyway," he muttered, running off in a different direction.
[Mysti!] he called. [Mysti! It's me, Kel!] After clearing one or two flights of stairs in leaps and bounds, he found her clinic. [Mysti? Are you in there?]
The door opened and Mysti stared at him in astonishment. [Kel! Everyone thought you were dead!]
He grinned and took her arm. [As I've been told twice already, by Serenity and Keagan. Come on, let's get you out of here.]
[But what's going on? Kel!] He tugged on her arm.
[I'll explain on the way. Come on!]
--
Seto realized that the elevator was taking him up to the top floor. "Whoops--" He knew perfectly well, after examining the elevator some, that there was nothing he could do.
He was facing the back when the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Seto whirled, and swore.
"Well, that's rather strong language for a fifteen-year-old!" Kaiba noted, grabbing him by the trenchcoat collar and dragging him from the elevator. "Don't I know you, little boy?"
Seto struggled. "Doubtful," he replied. Kaiba was strong!
"Actually, I think I do," Kaiba replied, lifting him off his feet and dropping him into a chair. There was a huge panoramic window in the far wall. "Yes, you look remarkably like one of the boys that recently looted a warehouse, and who was later spotted near Maximillion Pegasus himself! The guard's suit took pictures of you."
Seto gulped, starting to get up, but he found himself pushed quickly back down by Kaiba. "In fact, you were even identified by a prisoner we picked up this morning!"
Seto's blue eyes widened as a terrifying thought struck him. "Pr- prisoner?"
"Why, yes," Kaiba said with a smile. "Seto, he called you. Said you were his brother."
"Mokuba," Seto whispered. _No wonder I haven't been able to find him!_ "Why would he have told you?" he asked hoarsely.
"Oh," Kaiba said in an innocent tone. "He didn't want to tell us. In fact, he was very, very stubborn about the whole thing. He needed a little-- persuading, shall we say?"
Seto felt a growl rise up in his throat. "He's-- just a kid! Why would you start asking in the first place?"
Kaiba's eyes darkened maliciously. "He's a 'kid' who was under suspicion. He's a 'kid' that one of my Enforcers found in the sewers, and I'd given orders that anyone found down there be taken in."
Seto stood. "Where's my brother, Kaiba?"
Kaiba raised one eyebrow. "Excuse me, is that a threatening note in your voice? Here, in my home, in my domain? Mokuba seemed to think you were smarter than that."
"It's not so foolish," Seto growled angrily, running at Kaiba.
CRACK! Kaiba's arm smashed into Seto's chest, and he found himself seated once more in the same chair. "Oh, it's not, is it?" Kaiba demanded, advancing.
"Whoops--"
--
Max and Serenity came next to Rex and Weevil's cell, and stopped, staring. Keith had taken off his pants and was jumping up and down on them.
"DIE, DIE!" he screamed at the top of his voice.
Serenity covered her eyes. "I'm glad he wears boxers," Max said. "Do we even wanna know?"
Cecilia poked her head out enough to see them. "Max!! Serenity!"
A grin broke out on Max's face. "Cecilia!" he cried in relief.
Finally Keith noticed them standing there. "Whoops," he said, bright red. He reached for his gun, then realized the holster was still attached to his pants. He started to reach down for them, but the cockroach crawled from the folds and excreted on the holster. Keith got a horrible look on his face.
Weevil poked his head out, an excited look on his face. "She finally laid her eggs!"
Rex looked out too. "I don't really think that those are eggs, Weevil."
"How would you know, you don't know what bug eggs look like!"
Keith looked about ready to hurl, then noticed that Max had pointed his plasma blaster at him. He swore emphatically and ran the other way.
Max ran over to his wife and began messing with the lock. "You can open your eyes now, Serenity, he's gone."
The door clicked open and Cecilia rushed into her husband's arms. "Max, you have no idea how much I've missed you!" She then punched his shoulder. "That's for getting me pregnant!"
Max rubbed his arm. "Serenity warn-- told me. Mood swings are supposed to be normal, right?"
Mai nodded, walking over to Serenity, then glancing at Rex and Weevil. "So, should we let the peanut gallery out?"
They both gave their best impression of Bambi eyes. Serenity burst out laughing.
"It was my cockroach that went up Keith's pants!" Weevil offered.
"We're also probably the only source of real entertainment you've had the whole time, too!" Rex added.
Mai shrugged. "Well, pull your empty heads out from between the bars and I'll get it open. Cecilia, Pegasus, Serenity, you guys go on ahead."
"Right," Max said. "But call me Max."
--
The whip cut into Seto's arm as he tried to protect his face. He yipped with the pain, feeling tears well up, and grabbed his bare, bleeding forearm.
"Oh, listen to the little dog whimper," Kaiba taunted, kicking Seto to the floor. He landed on his face as Kaiba raised to strike again.
Seto managed to look up, trying to figure out where his knife and handgun had landed, but they were too far away. The whip slashed across his back, cutting open the cloth.
"Look at how weak you are!" Kaiba clucked. "And Mokuba thinks so highly of you, too!"
"Shut. Up!" Seto hissed as the whip struck again.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you! What did you say?" The whip rose.
"SHUT UP!!" Seto screamed, rolling over as the whip whistled toward him... and catching it on one of his spiked cuffs. He jerked at it, but it wouldn't come out of Kaiba's hand.
"Not bad," Kaiba said, sounding astonished. He pulled on the whip, which was tangled in the left wrist guard's studs, yanking Seto up towards him.
He was about to catch Seto in the jaw, but the boy saw it coming and drove his right cuff into Kaiba's chin instead. Kaiba stumbled backward, letting go of the whip, and Seto ripped it free and threw it away, mostly useless.
Kaiba rubbed his chin, wiping away the miniscule beads of blood. "Impressive," he told Seto. "Not many manage to draw blood fighting me." Seto growled animalistically and charged.
Kaiba stepped out of his way. "Both of your parents are dead, aren't they?"
"What do you care?" Seto demanded, voice hoarse from the tears of pain.
Kaiba lifted a chair. "I would sit down a moment, if I were you, my boy." He threw the heavy chair at Seto, who dashed away from it. It crashed to the floor, breaking into pieces.
Seto backed away. "Why are you trying to have a conversation with me?"
Kaiba picked up a piece of chair and advanced, wielding it like a club. "You're certainly a better fighter than I first realized," he said. "And your brother's accounts of how smart you are don't seem to be all hero worship..."
"Why are you even bothering to talk to me?" Seto asked, bewildered. He dodged a swing of the "club." Kaiba grinned as he saw the confusion in the teenager's blue eyes.
"If you're as intelligent as you're supposed to be, reason shouldn't be above you, my boy."
"Reason?!" Seto demanded incredulously. "My father was killed by Queliyg, my brother has been tortured by the pet of one, and you want me to listen to reason?"
Kaiba's eyes darkened. "I'm not their pet, Seto. Listen to me. You and I, we could drive them away! Kill them all, if it's revenge you want!"
"You've been kissing up to them ever since they landed! I know, my father told me how you helped them subjugate all of us!" Seto's cheeks were wet with furious tears. "You wouldn't get rid of them, you just want me where you can keep an eye on me, and nobody else'd be better off with you in charge, anyway!!"
"Seto," Kaiba said, tossing the chunk of wood aside, obviously to gain a little trust. "Seto, think of what I'm offering you here. It's more than an alliance, Seto. It's a home. I couldn't take your father's place, but I'm willing-- and offering to take his role."
Seto glared at him. "What kind of father would hurt his sons?"
"Are you refusing?" Seto nodded. "Even on Mokuba's behalf? Maybe he would accept me as a father." There was a little faltering, but then the boy strengthened again.
"You hurt him, too. That's worse than hurting me."
"Oh, how sweet, Seto. But I can hurt him more, too, if I don't get my way," Kaiba threatened softly. The teenager's eyes widened, and suddenly Kaiba saw something to fear in them.
"DON'T YOU DARE THREATEN MY BROTHER!" Seto screamed, slamming into Kaiba and steering him toward the panoramic window.
Glass shattered.
Both began plummeting toward the earth, or rather, toward the concrete below.
_Whoops--_ Seto thought, his life flashing somewhere in his vision. Gravity took him-- and then something else jerked on the end of his trenchcoat.
There Seto hung by his shoulders, thirty stories up. Kaiba continued to fall. An awful scream ripped from his throat as he neared the asphalt. Seto closed his eyes, wincing.
"Hang on, Seto," Kel's voice called.
"To what?" the boy demanded as he felt himself being pulled up. Kel laughed as he carefully swung Seto inside.
"To hope," Kel replied. "I've been looking for you. I found Mysti."
It was then that Seto noticed the blonde female. "That's her?" he asked. Kel nodded.
Mysti stared at him. "Oh, dear, look at you!" She began to examine his cuts and bruises. "Were you actually foolish enough to fight him?"
"Foolish?" Seto demanded, voice cracking. "I won, didn't I?
"Only barely, but--" she replied, "I'm surprised you lived three minutes!"
"Everyone's accusing me of being a foolish wimp today," Seto complained, annoyed.
"Kaiba is-- was, hopefully, a cyborg, Seto," Kel said, peering down at the ground. "It's possible he'll survive that! Why were you fighting him?"
"He's why Mokuba's been missing all day!" Seto cried, voice rising. Mysti put a calming hand on his shoulder. He winced. "He hurt my little brother! And he threatened to hurt him again! I've gotta find Mokuba!"
"Seto," Mysti said warningly. "You're going into hysterics. Don't make me tranquilize you."
"He's probably down in the dungeons," Kel pointed out. "If we don't find him, someone else will, and take care of him. Calm down. Please?"
Seto looked like he didn't want to calm down, but when Mysti made as if to stab him with a hypodermic needle, he went quietly.
--
Mai wandered the corridors, trailed closely by Rex and Weevil. "Remember, check every cell to make sure no one's in there," Mai said. "We definitely don't want any left-behinds."
"Sure thing, good-lookin'!" Rex said cheerfully. The blonde spun and seized him by the throat.
"Unless, of course, you call me that one more time, and then I'll throw you in a cell again!"
Weevil giggled as Mai stomped off angrily. He wet his finger and made as if he was touching Rex. "Sss, you just got burned!"
Rex cuffed his ears. "Shut up, broccolli hair."
Mai stopped, staring into one of the danker cells. "Oh," she cooed softly. "You poor little guy." Rex and Weevil ran over to see a bruised and beaten child, about ten and with long, dark hair, lying on the floor like an injured bird.
Mai attacked the lock as the boy looked up at them painfully with stormy gray eyes. It opened quickly and she rushed in to kneel beside him. "What did they hurt ya for, honey?"
The boy moaned. "I-- wouldn't tell..." Mai shushed him.
"So they made you. I understand." She swept him up into her arms, tears in her eyes. "Those monsters. One more thing and then don't talk. What's your name?"
"Mo-kuba..."
"Well, then, Mokuba. We'd better get outta here, and maybe find Mysti, so she can help you get better." Mai walked slowly out of the cell. "C'mon, boys."
--
Yami looked around at the prisoners milling in the entry hall and shook his head. _Utter chaos,_ he thought at Yugi, who didn't quite realize that someone was talking to him.
Even so, the boy insisted on contradicting him. Or perhaps simply defending the prisoners. _They haven't had this much freedom in years, some of them. It's not really their fault._
Téa squeezed over next to him. "Can't someone do something about this crowd?" she asked. "It's ridiculous!"
_See, she agrees with me,_ Yami thought at Yugi. Something in Yugi's mind twinged as he realized he wasn't just talking to himself.
Joey joined them. "Well, whatever whoever does, dey'd bettah not use Max's method of crowd control. I t'ink da buildin' might collapse if we did dat."
Max emerged from the dungeons, Serenity and a beautiful woman at his side. "Look," Téa said, pointing, "That must be Cecilia!"
Joey grinned. "You can see why Max musta' married her. She sure is pretty!" Téa whacked him. "Whaaat?" he demanded, rubbing his head. "She is!"
Then Seto and Kel came down the stairs that led from the second floor, along with the blonde elven woman that had to be Mysti. Once or twice Seto stumbled a little and Kel would catch him, much to Seto's annoyance.
"My goodness," Bakura said as he edged toward them. "He certainly looks like he's had a rough time of it!"
"I wonder what happened," Téa said for all of them. Oddly, the crowd seemed to part for Mysti as the trio made their way to Yami and the others.
Duke and Tristan emerged from the crowd. "What happened to him?" Duke asked in astonishment, staring at Seto. The human teenager and two elves walked closer.
"This idiot got into a fight with Gozaburo Kaiba," Mysti said, jerking a thumb at Seto, who glared at her. "You don't get into fights with cyborgs unless you have a very big plasma rifle!"
Kel laughed. "He won, though."
"He's why Mokuba has been missing all day! I couldn't let him get away with that!"
Yami stared at him. "Kaiba kidnapped Mokuba?" Seto nodded.
"I have to find him," he said, and started for the dungeons, but Mysti held him back.
"Somebody will find your brother, Seto. You, however, are not getting out of my sight until I'm sure you won't do anything else so stupid!"
"Will you stop calling me stupid!"
"Now you know how it feels," Joey muttered.
Max, Cecilia, and Serenity finally made their way over. "Seto, have you not been using your brains again?" Max immediately asked, smiling.
"Will you people just shut up?" Seto snapped. "I nearly die and all you people do is tease me!"
"Where's Mai?" Mysti asked.
"She stayed behind to let Weevil and Rex out," Serenity said. "She should be coming out soon--"
She was interuppted by Mai's voice calling over the general babble. "Mysti?! Hey, let us through, we need the healer!"
"Woah, who's dat?" Joey asked as the crowd slowly parted to reveal the tall, beautiful blonde woman, flanked by two (much) shorter males, who was carrying none other than--
"Mokuba!" Seto cried, rushing forward before Mysti could stop him.
Mokuba managed to look up, and a grin broke out on his face. "Big-- Brother," he said shakily.
Mai looked them both up and down. "It must be a family thing to get the heck beaten out of you," she said. Seto ignored her.
Mysti joined them. "Oh. My." She shook her head. "I suggest a healing trance and plenty of bed rest afterwards."
Seto looked at her, a dazed look in his eyes now that he had reason to calm down. "What?"
Max and Cecilia appeared behind Mysti. "It really works," Cecilia said. "You could be on the edge of death and it would save you."
Max nodded. "We attest as witnesses... Seto, I've just noticed there's a gaping hole in the back of your trenchcoat. What was he doing?"
"Whip," Seto said, and Max winced. "Let me carry him, please. He's my responsibility..."
Mysti stopped Mai before she could hand Mokuba over. "He is your brother, but I'm not about to let you try carrying him after you almost died, Seto." Mokuba looked up again, worry in his eyes.
"Seto... You- al-most died?" Seto got a very angry look on his face.
"Now look," he said to Mysti, "You've gotten him worried!"
"Set-o, just let- the nice lady carry me, o-kay?" Mokuba muttered. Mysti laughed.
"I think that treatment probably shouldn't wait," she noted. "You're Mr. Pegasus, right?" Max nodded. "Congratulations. Please calm the crowd down, will you?"
"Right." He found a high place and found himself climbing up above the door. "HEY, PEOPLE!!" Everyone stopped milling and looked up. Max didn't even need any artificial amplification. "I KNOW EVERYTHING'S A LITTLE CONFUSING, BUT WE NEED YOU TO BE CALM AND SOMEWHAT ORDERLY SO WE CAN BE SURE EVERYBODY GETS OUT SAFELY, OKAY?"
There was some assent from the crowd below him.
"EVERYONE JUST MOVE- WALK, NOT RUN- UNLESS YOU SEE HUNTER SEEKERS, AND FURTHER INTRUCTIONS WILL BE GIVEN OUT AT THE GATE. GO ON, NOW!"
Climbing down and rubbing his throat, Max made his way back to their little group. "That good, Mysti?"
She'd already performed the healing trance on Mokuba, who now slept heavily in Mai's arms. "Yes. You had better get ahead to give those 'further instructions.'" He left, Cecilia following him. Mysti turned to Seto. "Now to take care of you."
"Beg pardon?" he asked, not quite sure anymore what was going on. She shook her head.
"You're half asleep already." Mysti put a hand on his temple and began to chant.
Kel caught Seto as he passed out. "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be," he noted. Yami shook his head in some amusement.
"We had better start moving," he pointed out. The entry hall crowd had thinned out considerably.
"Do you think-- this means that soon Earth will be free?" Bakura asked.
"I sure hope so, Bakura," Téa said softly. More than one person nodded.
--
End Chapter Seven. Boy, our sense of humor is improving. I suppose you hate us now, for giving old Téa the last line there. Thbpbpbpb! We're not quite sure where the story will go from here. (The Plot stops here!!) But don't worry, we're pretty imaginitive, and we've got Mr. T helping us! ^_^
High Crystal Guardian, you completely hit the point of poor Max's fainting spell. And Symbol Names are good. Yes, GriffenFire, we did know; see, we own four or five naming books, and Golden STILL can never come up with good names.
Golden: But I'm naming my first daughter Spike Deathstalker. *laughs* Probably not for real, but that's what my dad's best friend wanted to name ME.
Seto Kaiba Red Archery Girl, Tank U for reviewing our earlier chappies! ^_^
Finally: Our story has become precious. Unintentional Nightmare, that praise was so uplifting we made ourselves hot chocolate and dedicated an hour to begging Golden's dad for a scanner so we could draw you a picture of gratitude. Didn't work, though. : p
This is, of course, still dedicated to Mr. T. And to Metabee the Medabot, because we miss him. (Waah!) This is also dedicated to George Washington. 0.0 Peggy's hair reminds Golden of those silly powdered wigs. (No! Freedom!!! Let freedom ring!!!!)
Chapter Seven: BREAKOUT!
Domino, Japan: Sub-Town
Duke explained his (rather insane sounding) plan for getting into Kaiba's estate to the others as they walked through Sub-Town.
"You know," Seto interrupted, "I still haven't found Mokuba. Maybe I should stay out of this and just keep looking for him."
Serenity gave him a sad, sad look while several of the others objected.
"You're one of the best people we've got," Yugi reminded him.
"Yeah, well, that isn't really saying much." Seto looked at the ground for a second, then glanced at Serenity, who still had her sad, sad expression. "Oh, all right. Mokuba's gotten lost plenty of times before."
Duke grinned. "Since none of you objected, does this mean we're going with my plan?"
"As long as we don't go with Tristan's," Bakura said, reffering to Tristan's speech about scaling walls on the outside of the building. "It's terrible!"
"When do we get started?" Serenity asked, eager to save her friends.
Joey glanced at her worriedly. "Sis, I don't think you should go along. You already spent too much time in dat place, and you to'd us your eyes record t'ings, too."
"They stop after twenty-four hours," Serenity began to object, but then saw the look on her brother's face. "But I'm the only one who knows where the cell is!"
Max put his hands on her small shoulders. "Which is why, if he complains any more, I'm going to make you tell me where it is. The best chance we have, though," and here he gave Joey an apologetic look, "is if you come with us. Because speed is the key here, and not quite safety."
Duke got an extremely elated look on his face. "So we are going with my plan!"
Tristan got a puzzled look on his face. "I thought that meant we'd go with my plan!" he said in an undertone to Bakura.
"If we are," Bakura replied, "I am staying on the ground."
Max, not hearing the exchange, smiled at Duke and cuffed his shoulder. "Yeah, Duke, we're going with your plan." Duke beamed.
--
Kaiba's Estate
The extremely sad looking elven Enforcer stood silently at the gate like a guard at the Tower of London. (Which had been blasted to smithereens eight years before because the Queliyg thought of it as somewhat unsightly.)
Kel walked toward the Enforcer, smiling, a good old fashioned sword hanging at his hip. [Hello there, Keagan!]
Keagan looked up in surprise. [Kel?! I heard that Ushio killed you!] Kel leaned against the wall beside Keagan, taking out his sword and inspecting the blade.
[To tell the truth, Keagan, he almost did. A human rebel saved me, with healing magic! I even recognized the words as High Elvish!]
Keagan gave Kel a skeptical look. [Are you trying to break in, clan- brother? No humans have ever been taught that language, so you must be trying to fool me some way or another.]
Yami came up from the same direction Kel had appeared from. {He's not lying,} he said in what Keagan and Kel called High Elvish, a smile twisting his lips. {Except that I call this language Egyptian, and the language you have been speaking Gaelic. Interesting that two languages would be common to two planets, yes?}
[If you speak lesser elvish why not do so instead of overusing a more sacred language?] Keagan asked in annoyance.
[How else would you believe me? Would you let us pass?]
Keagan looked to Kel. [He has other ways of getting in,] Kel said. [We were told to get you out of the way, no matter how it's done. I've seen him do terrible things to human Enforcers. How has Ushio been doing?] Yami frowned.
Keagan's eyes widened. [That was you?] Yami nodded, a dark smile gracing his lips. [Oh, then I guess I really am letting you pass!] He symbolically stepped out of the way, bowing. [I'd open the gate, but they open it by remote from the building. There's no key!]
[Duke has allowed for that,] Yami said curtly, then turned to look in the direction they'd come from. "All right, the guard won't be any trouble! We're ready!"
Duke bounced out from the rubble, crowbar in hand. The rest of the rescue team followed, Max, Seto, Tristan, Bakura, Joey, Serenity, and Téa, all armed with blades and firearms.
Duke attacked a panel by the gate, prying it off to reveal wires and microchips. Seto went to look over his shoulder.
"Okay, if I just tweak this here, the gate should open," Duke said, but Seto shook his head.
"I think it'd probably be best to just pull out that one microchip right there," he said, pointing.
Duke gave him a derisive look. "What would you know?" he demanded, pulling the wires he'd originally chosen. A little screen blinked on, reading "20."
"The gate systems are being tampered with," a female voice said tonelessly. "Twenty seconds to alarm activation."
Duke swore as Seto rolled his eyes. "NOW what do I do?!" he hissed in panic, fiddling with the circuits. Yami closed his eyes, listening to Duke and Seto argue.
The timer stopped. Duke blinked. "What did I do?"
"Not this," Seto replied sarcastically, reaching over Duke's shoulder and yanking out the microchip he'd pointed out before.
The gate opened, silently, smoothly, and without a peep from the security computer.
Duke gave Seto a dirty look, and the other boy stuck his tongue out. "Nyat dis," Duke muttered under his breath as they entered the gate, leaving Keagan behind.
"How'd you know about that, anyway?" Serenity asked Seto curiously. He blushed a very little.
"Sometimes, I guess, I can just kind of feel the right way around a machine," Seto tried to explain. "I'm not sure why..."
Both Duke and Tristan noticed the exchange. Duke's eyes narrowed. "Mr. Teenage Prodigy," he muttered to Tristan. _ And now he's got another one-up on me!_
Tristan shrugged. "Seto has always been pretty smart."
"What? Just a shrug?" Duke queried. "No jealousy, not even a twinge of annoyance?"
Tristan grinned. "Well, he's obviously nervous around girls," he said, "And I've known him long enough to know he's not always doing it on purpose."
Duke snorted derisively as they came to the building's entrance.
Seto turned to Duke. "Any ideas on getting us through this door?"
"Yeah," Duke replied a little angrily, "We get the guy with the hardest head and use him for a battering ram." Max glanced at him, surprise registering in his face.
Seto grinned. "You mean... Joey?"
"HEY!!" Joey shouted angrily.
Duke shook his head, angry that Seto could so easily deflect such things. He stomped over to the control panel to the door. "This one looks manual," he said, anger vanishing in surprise.
Seto leaned over his shoulder again and the annoyance returned. "Noo," Seto said, eying the buttons. "Suppose you can figure out the code?"
Duke shrugged. "Well, it's a panel of numbers, and if we could see which ones are most often pushed..."
"That's just fine," Seto argued, "If you didn't need them in a specific sequence."
Serenity giggled. "Try punching in Kaiba's birthday."
"But they don't know Kaiba's birthday," Tristan said, looking puzzled.
"I think she was joking," Max pointed out.
She shrugged. "Only halfway," she replied, reaching between Duke and Seto and punching in a few numbers. "Well, it's worth a try, isn't it?"
The door opened. Serenity's face lit up. "It was!"
Joey's eyes widened. "Then what are they doing there?!" he cried, pointing at the warsuiters standing in the hallway.
"Oh..." Serenity murmured. "I guess they're regular security for the front door. I wouldn't know."
Max swore in English. "_Wonderful, Serenity,_" he cried, pushing her out of the way as the warsuiters registered what was going on and opened fire.
Bakura pressed himself against the wall. "_Now what do we do?_"
Yami pushed Kel unceremoniously to the floor. "_Everyone get down!!_" he ordered, Eye glowing on his forehead.
Bakura stared at him. _Kekatsu, do you see that?!?_
_Yes,_ the spirit replied, _Be a good boy and get on your face like he tells you!_ Bakura flopped to the ground, but carefully kept an eye on Yami Yugi.
Everyone joined him except for Yami himself. He crouched to the ground and scuttled under the line of fire until he faced the center of the door. The warsuiters stopped, realizing they weren't firing at their target anymore and needed to readjust aim, and looked down at him.
Yami stood, the Eye glowing brighter. _Is he crazy?_ Bakura asked Kekatsu.
There was a short silence, as though the whole world was waiting for something to happen. Yami raised his arms.
_No,_ Kekatsu replied, _I think he knows for the most part what he's doing._
"Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Fortress!" Yami bellowed theatrically. A screaming roar sounded.
Suddenly, up in the sky, a large blue form appeared and plummeted towards the earth. The Queliyg warsuiters eyed it nervously.
It screamed again and the warsuiters panicked, pointing their weapons at the quickly approaching creature and letting out a wall of fire.
No effect.
The dragon began slowing its descent, catching air in its wings like a parachute and lowering gently to the ground. Its eyes glittered and it grinned, long teeth gleaming.
The Queliyg screamed in terror and fled.
Yami grinned, a little sweat beading on his temple. The illusionary beast vanished. "I wasn't quite sure that would work," he admitted as the others looked up.
"What did you do?" Max demanded. He too had seen the dragon... and recognized it.
Yami shrugged nervously. "Later. Now's not the time."
Max shook his head darkly as they followed Yami into the building. "You aren't getting off the hook that easily."
--
Alarms began to sound. Mai and Cecilia looked up, and sounds of confusion began to fill the corridors.
"What's going on?" they heard Rex say. "Weevil, now ain't the time to be setting those cockroaches free."
"But it's the perfect time!" Weevil's squeaky, wet voice retorted. "Maybe they'll distract the guards for us!"
"And that would help us how? We're still locked in, you moron! OH, YUCK! _Don't set them free next to ME!_" There were several oozy crunching sounds. "DIE, PESTILENCE!"
"REX, DON'T!"
Mai stood and pressed her face to the bars. "I can't see anything that would tell us what was going on," she told Cecilia. "Uh-oh, better scratch that. Here comes some blonde guy, and he doesn't look too happy!"
Cecilia struggled up, cursing her husband, and went to the bars. "Keith! What are you doing here, traitor?!"
Keith grabbed the bars for support while he caught his breath. Cecilia went to sit back down in disgust. "I'm here to take you to a safer cell," he said, fiddling with the door.
Mai growled. "You mean Pegasus has come for her, and you're here to make her harder to find. Over my dead body." She grabbed a food serving tray and began banging at his hands with it.
"Ack! Don't!" He jumped away, swearing angrily. "It might just have ta be over your dead body!"
A cockroach climbed over his foot. He and Mai stared down at it and watched it disappear. Up his pantleg. "Oh. Yuck." Mai observed.
Keith shrieked and began to dance around, slapping at his pants. "I THOUGHT THEY SPRAYED FOR THESE THINGS!!!"
Weevil stuck his head almost completely through the bars of his and Rex's cell. "They did, but I saved them! Now Rex is killing them anyway!!"
Keith hopped in his direction angrily, making as if to grab him by his green hair and pop his head off, but Weevil ducked back in just in time. "YOU LITTLE SO-AND-SO!"
"Great comeback, Keith," Mai deadpanned.
"You won't be happy either if I have to take off these pants to get rid of it!" Keith retorted, still "dancing." Mai winced.
--
Serenity led the others to the dungeon. Max stared around at all the other prisoners. "Ugh." he muttered. "Okay, all of you work on freeing everyone here. Serenity, lead me to my wife."
"Wait," she said. "There's an elven healer named Mysti that Kaiba tends to keep in the upper levels. Could someone--"
"I'll go," Seto instantly said, springing up the stairs. They stared after him.
"Hey," Kel suddenly said. "I know her! Wait up!" He ran up after the teen.
Max shook his head. "No more volunteers for one elf," he said, stopping Duke and Tristan. "Right now is no time to think about brownie points." He tugged on Serenity's sleeve. "Come on, Serenity. I haven't seen my wife in over a month."
They ran off in a certain direction, Serenity leading.
--
Seto found an elevator. "I haven't been in a working one of these in nine years!" he exclaimed, blue eyes lighting up. He pressed the "up" button and got in just as Kel caught up with him. The doors closed.
Kel swore in elvish. "He doesn't even know where her clinic is, anyway," he muttered, running off in a different direction.
[Mysti!] he called. [Mysti! It's me, Kel!] After clearing one or two flights of stairs in leaps and bounds, he found her clinic. [Mysti? Are you in there?]
The door opened and Mysti stared at him in astonishment. [Kel! Everyone thought you were dead!]
He grinned and took her arm. [As I've been told twice already, by Serenity and Keagan. Come on, let's get you out of here.]
[But what's going on? Kel!] He tugged on her arm.
[I'll explain on the way. Come on!]
--
Seto realized that the elevator was taking him up to the top floor. "Whoops--" He knew perfectly well, after examining the elevator some, that there was nothing he could do.
He was facing the back when the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Seto whirled, and swore.
"Well, that's rather strong language for a fifteen-year-old!" Kaiba noted, grabbing him by the trenchcoat collar and dragging him from the elevator. "Don't I know you, little boy?"
Seto struggled. "Doubtful," he replied. Kaiba was strong!
"Actually, I think I do," Kaiba replied, lifting him off his feet and dropping him into a chair. There was a huge panoramic window in the far wall. "Yes, you look remarkably like one of the boys that recently looted a warehouse, and who was later spotted near Maximillion Pegasus himself! The guard's suit took pictures of you."
Seto gulped, starting to get up, but he found himself pushed quickly back down by Kaiba. "In fact, you were even identified by a prisoner we picked up this morning!"
Seto's blue eyes widened as a terrifying thought struck him. "Pr- prisoner?"
"Why, yes," Kaiba said with a smile. "Seto, he called you. Said you were his brother."
"Mokuba," Seto whispered. _No wonder I haven't been able to find him!_ "Why would he have told you?" he asked hoarsely.
"Oh," Kaiba said in an innocent tone. "He didn't want to tell us. In fact, he was very, very stubborn about the whole thing. He needed a little-- persuading, shall we say?"
Seto felt a growl rise up in his throat. "He's-- just a kid! Why would you start asking in the first place?"
Kaiba's eyes darkened maliciously. "He's a 'kid' who was under suspicion. He's a 'kid' that one of my Enforcers found in the sewers, and I'd given orders that anyone found down there be taken in."
Seto stood. "Where's my brother, Kaiba?"
Kaiba raised one eyebrow. "Excuse me, is that a threatening note in your voice? Here, in my home, in my domain? Mokuba seemed to think you were smarter than that."
"It's not so foolish," Seto growled angrily, running at Kaiba.
CRACK! Kaiba's arm smashed into Seto's chest, and he found himself seated once more in the same chair. "Oh, it's not, is it?" Kaiba demanded, advancing.
"Whoops--"
--
Max and Serenity came next to Rex and Weevil's cell, and stopped, staring. Keith had taken off his pants and was jumping up and down on them.
"DIE, DIE!" he screamed at the top of his voice.
Serenity covered her eyes. "I'm glad he wears boxers," Max said. "Do we even wanna know?"
Cecilia poked her head out enough to see them. "Max!! Serenity!"
A grin broke out on Max's face. "Cecilia!" he cried in relief.
Finally Keith noticed them standing there. "Whoops," he said, bright red. He reached for his gun, then realized the holster was still attached to his pants. He started to reach down for them, but the cockroach crawled from the folds and excreted on the holster. Keith got a horrible look on his face.
Weevil poked his head out, an excited look on his face. "She finally laid her eggs!"
Rex looked out too. "I don't really think that those are eggs, Weevil."
"How would you know, you don't know what bug eggs look like!"
Keith looked about ready to hurl, then noticed that Max had pointed his plasma blaster at him. He swore emphatically and ran the other way.
Max ran over to his wife and began messing with the lock. "You can open your eyes now, Serenity, he's gone."
The door clicked open and Cecilia rushed into her husband's arms. "Max, you have no idea how much I've missed you!" She then punched his shoulder. "That's for getting me pregnant!"
Max rubbed his arm. "Serenity warn-- told me. Mood swings are supposed to be normal, right?"
Mai nodded, walking over to Serenity, then glancing at Rex and Weevil. "So, should we let the peanut gallery out?"
They both gave their best impression of Bambi eyes. Serenity burst out laughing.
"It was my cockroach that went up Keith's pants!" Weevil offered.
"We're also probably the only source of real entertainment you've had the whole time, too!" Rex added.
Mai shrugged. "Well, pull your empty heads out from between the bars and I'll get it open. Cecilia, Pegasus, Serenity, you guys go on ahead."
"Right," Max said. "But call me Max."
--
The whip cut into Seto's arm as he tried to protect his face. He yipped with the pain, feeling tears well up, and grabbed his bare, bleeding forearm.
"Oh, listen to the little dog whimper," Kaiba taunted, kicking Seto to the floor. He landed on his face as Kaiba raised to strike again.
Seto managed to look up, trying to figure out where his knife and handgun had landed, but they were too far away. The whip slashed across his back, cutting open the cloth.
"Look at how weak you are!" Kaiba clucked. "And Mokuba thinks so highly of you, too!"
"Shut. Up!" Seto hissed as the whip struck again.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you! What did you say?" The whip rose.
"SHUT UP!!" Seto screamed, rolling over as the whip whistled toward him... and catching it on one of his spiked cuffs. He jerked at it, but it wouldn't come out of Kaiba's hand.
"Not bad," Kaiba said, sounding astonished. He pulled on the whip, which was tangled in the left wrist guard's studs, yanking Seto up towards him.
He was about to catch Seto in the jaw, but the boy saw it coming and drove his right cuff into Kaiba's chin instead. Kaiba stumbled backward, letting go of the whip, and Seto ripped it free and threw it away, mostly useless.
Kaiba rubbed his chin, wiping away the miniscule beads of blood. "Impressive," he told Seto. "Not many manage to draw blood fighting me." Seto growled animalistically and charged.
Kaiba stepped out of his way. "Both of your parents are dead, aren't they?"
"What do you care?" Seto demanded, voice hoarse from the tears of pain.
Kaiba lifted a chair. "I would sit down a moment, if I were you, my boy." He threw the heavy chair at Seto, who dashed away from it. It crashed to the floor, breaking into pieces.
Seto backed away. "Why are you trying to have a conversation with me?"
Kaiba picked up a piece of chair and advanced, wielding it like a club. "You're certainly a better fighter than I first realized," he said. "And your brother's accounts of how smart you are don't seem to be all hero worship..."
"Why are you even bothering to talk to me?" Seto asked, bewildered. He dodged a swing of the "club." Kaiba grinned as he saw the confusion in the teenager's blue eyes.
"If you're as intelligent as you're supposed to be, reason shouldn't be above you, my boy."
"Reason?!" Seto demanded incredulously. "My father was killed by Queliyg, my brother has been tortured by the pet of one, and you want me to listen to reason?"
Kaiba's eyes darkened. "I'm not their pet, Seto. Listen to me. You and I, we could drive them away! Kill them all, if it's revenge you want!"
"You've been kissing up to them ever since they landed! I know, my father told me how you helped them subjugate all of us!" Seto's cheeks were wet with furious tears. "You wouldn't get rid of them, you just want me where you can keep an eye on me, and nobody else'd be better off with you in charge, anyway!!"
"Seto," Kaiba said, tossing the chunk of wood aside, obviously to gain a little trust. "Seto, think of what I'm offering you here. It's more than an alliance, Seto. It's a home. I couldn't take your father's place, but I'm willing-- and offering to take his role."
Seto glared at him. "What kind of father would hurt his sons?"
"Are you refusing?" Seto nodded. "Even on Mokuba's behalf? Maybe he would accept me as a father." There was a little faltering, but then the boy strengthened again.
"You hurt him, too. That's worse than hurting me."
"Oh, how sweet, Seto. But I can hurt him more, too, if I don't get my way," Kaiba threatened softly. The teenager's eyes widened, and suddenly Kaiba saw something to fear in them.
"DON'T YOU DARE THREATEN MY BROTHER!" Seto screamed, slamming into Kaiba and steering him toward the panoramic window.
Glass shattered.
Both began plummeting toward the earth, or rather, toward the concrete below.
_Whoops--_ Seto thought, his life flashing somewhere in his vision. Gravity took him-- and then something else jerked on the end of his trenchcoat.
There Seto hung by his shoulders, thirty stories up. Kaiba continued to fall. An awful scream ripped from his throat as he neared the asphalt. Seto closed his eyes, wincing.
"Hang on, Seto," Kel's voice called.
"To what?" the boy demanded as he felt himself being pulled up. Kel laughed as he carefully swung Seto inside.
"To hope," Kel replied. "I've been looking for you. I found Mysti."
It was then that Seto noticed the blonde female. "That's her?" he asked. Kel nodded.
Mysti stared at him. "Oh, dear, look at you!" She began to examine his cuts and bruises. "Were you actually foolish enough to fight him?"
"Foolish?" Seto demanded, voice cracking. "I won, didn't I?
"Only barely, but--" she replied, "I'm surprised you lived three minutes!"
"Everyone's accusing me of being a foolish wimp today," Seto complained, annoyed.
"Kaiba is-- was, hopefully, a cyborg, Seto," Kel said, peering down at the ground. "It's possible he'll survive that! Why were you fighting him?"
"He's why Mokuba's been missing all day!" Seto cried, voice rising. Mysti put a calming hand on his shoulder. He winced. "He hurt my little brother! And he threatened to hurt him again! I've gotta find Mokuba!"
"Seto," Mysti said warningly. "You're going into hysterics. Don't make me tranquilize you."
"He's probably down in the dungeons," Kel pointed out. "If we don't find him, someone else will, and take care of him. Calm down. Please?"
Seto looked like he didn't want to calm down, but when Mysti made as if to stab him with a hypodermic needle, he went quietly.
--
Mai wandered the corridors, trailed closely by Rex and Weevil. "Remember, check every cell to make sure no one's in there," Mai said. "We definitely don't want any left-behinds."
"Sure thing, good-lookin'!" Rex said cheerfully. The blonde spun and seized him by the throat.
"Unless, of course, you call me that one more time, and then I'll throw you in a cell again!"
Weevil giggled as Mai stomped off angrily. He wet his finger and made as if he was touching Rex. "Sss, you just got burned!"
Rex cuffed his ears. "Shut up, broccolli hair."
Mai stopped, staring into one of the danker cells. "Oh," she cooed softly. "You poor little guy." Rex and Weevil ran over to see a bruised and beaten child, about ten and with long, dark hair, lying on the floor like an injured bird.
Mai attacked the lock as the boy looked up at them painfully with stormy gray eyes. It opened quickly and she rushed in to kneel beside him. "What did they hurt ya for, honey?"
The boy moaned. "I-- wouldn't tell..." Mai shushed him.
"So they made you. I understand." She swept him up into her arms, tears in her eyes. "Those monsters. One more thing and then don't talk. What's your name?"
"Mo-kuba..."
"Well, then, Mokuba. We'd better get outta here, and maybe find Mysti, so she can help you get better." Mai walked slowly out of the cell. "C'mon, boys."
--
Yami looked around at the prisoners milling in the entry hall and shook his head. _Utter chaos,_ he thought at Yugi, who didn't quite realize that someone was talking to him.
Even so, the boy insisted on contradicting him. Or perhaps simply defending the prisoners. _They haven't had this much freedom in years, some of them. It's not really their fault._
Téa squeezed over next to him. "Can't someone do something about this crowd?" she asked. "It's ridiculous!"
_See, she agrees with me,_ Yami thought at Yugi. Something in Yugi's mind twinged as he realized he wasn't just talking to himself.
Joey joined them. "Well, whatever whoever does, dey'd bettah not use Max's method of crowd control. I t'ink da buildin' might collapse if we did dat."
Max emerged from the dungeons, Serenity and a beautiful woman at his side. "Look," Téa said, pointing, "That must be Cecilia!"
Joey grinned. "You can see why Max musta' married her. She sure is pretty!" Téa whacked him. "Whaaat?" he demanded, rubbing his head. "She is!"
Then Seto and Kel came down the stairs that led from the second floor, along with the blonde elven woman that had to be Mysti. Once or twice Seto stumbled a little and Kel would catch him, much to Seto's annoyance.
"My goodness," Bakura said as he edged toward them. "He certainly looks like he's had a rough time of it!"
"I wonder what happened," Téa said for all of them. Oddly, the crowd seemed to part for Mysti as the trio made their way to Yami and the others.
Duke and Tristan emerged from the crowd. "What happened to him?" Duke asked in astonishment, staring at Seto. The human teenager and two elves walked closer.
"This idiot got into a fight with Gozaburo Kaiba," Mysti said, jerking a thumb at Seto, who glared at her. "You don't get into fights with cyborgs unless you have a very big plasma rifle!"
Kel laughed. "He won, though."
"He's why Mokuba has been missing all day! I couldn't let him get away with that!"
Yami stared at him. "Kaiba kidnapped Mokuba?" Seto nodded.
"I have to find him," he said, and started for the dungeons, but Mysti held him back.
"Somebody will find your brother, Seto. You, however, are not getting out of my sight until I'm sure you won't do anything else so stupid!"
"Will you stop calling me stupid!"
"Now you know how it feels," Joey muttered.
Max, Cecilia, and Serenity finally made their way over. "Seto, have you not been using your brains again?" Max immediately asked, smiling.
"Will you people just shut up?" Seto snapped. "I nearly die and all you people do is tease me!"
"Where's Mai?" Mysti asked.
"She stayed behind to let Weevil and Rex out," Serenity said. "She should be coming out soon--"
She was interuppted by Mai's voice calling over the general babble. "Mysti?! Hey, let us through, we need the healer!"
"Woah, who's dat?" Joey asked as the crowd slowly parted to reveal the tall, beautiful blonde woman, flanked by two (much) shorter males, who was carrying none other than--
"Mokuba!" Seto cried, rushing forward before Mysti could stop him.
Mokuba managed to look up, and a grin broke out on his face. "Big-- Brother," he said shakily.
Mai looked them both up and down. "It must be a family thing to get the heck beaten out of you," she said. Seto ignored her.
Mysti joined them. "Oh. My." She shook her head. "I suggest a healing trance and plenty of bed rest afterwards."
Seto looked at her, a dazed look in his eyes now that he had reason to calm down. "What?"
Max and Cecilia appeared behind Mysti. "It really works," Cecilia said. "You could be on the edge of death and it would save you."
Max nodded. "We attest as witnesses... Seto, I've just noticed there's a gaping hole in the back of your trenchcoat. What was he doing?"
"Whip," Seto said, and Max winced. "Let me carry him, please. He's my responsibility..."
Mysti stopped Mai before she could hand Mokuba over. "He is your brother, but I'm not about to let you try carrying him after you almost died, Seto." Mokuba looked up again, worry in his eyes.
"Seto... You- al-most died?" Seto got a very angry look on his face.
"Now look," he said to Mysti, "You've gotten him worried!"
"Set-o, just let- the nice lady carry me, o-kay?" Mokuba muttered. Mysti laughed.
"I think that treatment probably shouldn't wait," she noted. "You're Mr. Pegasus, right?" Max nodded. "Congratulations. Please calm the crowd down, will you?"
"Right." He found a high place and found himself climbing up above the door. "HEY, PEOPLE!!" Everyone stopped milling and looked up. Max didn't even need any artificial amplification. "I KNOW EVERYTHING'S A LITTLE CONFUSING, BUT WE NEED YOU TO BE CALM AND SOMEWHAT ORDERLY SO WE CAN BE SURE EVERYBODY GETS OUT SAFELY, OKAY?"
There was some assent from the crowd below him.
"EVERYONE JUST MOVE- WALK, NOT RUN- UNLESS YOU SEE HUNTER SEEKERS, AND FURTHER INTRUCTIONS WILL BE GIVEN OUT AT THE GATE. GO ON, NOW!"
Climbing down and rubbing his throat, Max made his way back to their little group. "That good, Mysti?"
She'd already performed the healing trance on Mokuba, who now slept heavily in Mai's arms. "Yes. You had better get ahead to give those 'further instructions.'" He left, Cecilia following him. Mysti turned to Seto. "Now to take care of you."
"Beg pardon?" he asked, not quite sure anymore what was going on. She shook her head.
"You're half asleep already." Mysti put a hand on his temple and began to chant.
Kel caught Seto as he passed out. "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be," he noted. Yami shook his head in some amusement.
"We had better start moving," he pointed out. The entry hall crowd had thinned out considerably.
"Do you think-- this means that soon Earth will be free?" Bakura asked.
"I sure hope so, Bakura," Téa said softly. More than one person nodded.
--
End Chapter Seven. Boy, our sense of humor is improving. I suppose you hate us now, for giving old Téa the last line there. Thbpbpbpb! We're not quite sure where the story will go from here. (The Plot stops here!!) But don't worry, we're pretty imaginitive, and we've got Mr. T helping us! ^_^