And finally, the first of the two climax chapters in my story! Don don don! Now in all seriousness, this is the longest chapter in my story, so if you didn't listen to me before when I said "Make sure you have time," make sure you have time! Hee, well anyway you've probably moved on and started reading by now, so I'll just leave it at this and hope you enjoy chapter 23!
23. Data Transfer~
He tied her up and pushed her roughly down the many hallways of Kaiba's mansion, Yami Marik following them with Kaiba still bound by the purple energy flowing from his Millennium Rod, looking almost bored at Kaiba's feeble attempts to free himself. Tanurah had gagged her mouth, so she couldn't make a loud enough noise to attract help from the remaining guards that hadn't been killed. They made their way down to the very bowels of the mansion and halted at a steel door similar to that of Terry's, but Tanurah wrenched it open with one arm as though it were a flimsy piece of cardboard. When they stepped through and into the room beyond, Kinou's back arched as a coldness she had never felt the like of before swept over her and she halted on the uneven stone floor, unable to move. Tanurah roughly shoved her, causing her to lose her balance and fall; she hit the ground and skidded, and the cut on her cheek ripped open again. Blood began to seep out and trickle down her neck as she curled up and watched Tanurah stalk into a side room while Yami Marik leisurely threw Kaiba to the floor and snapped his fingers, conjuring up ropes around Kaiba's torso that bound him so tightly he could barely move, a gag now in his mouth. Yami Marik moved into the side room after Tanurah and all went quiet. Kinou closed her eyes, tears mixing with the blood on her cheek. She could hear Kaiba trying to move and he managed to inch his way over so that he could see her face. His brow knitted when he glimpsed her bleeding, but she took no notice of his concern. Her mind was filling with Marik's cries out to her, and she was trying to listen to them all at once, trying to understand the jumble of thoughts pouring into her. Anger, sadness, worry, helplessness, love, concern… all were swimming through her mind at once, but one thought stood out more than the rest and she focused on it.
"Kinou! Are you all right?"
She barely could make herself respond to his cries to her, but she forced her mind to focus on him, once again turning her attention away from the more pressing situation. ….yes… I'm… I'm bleeding… was all that she could manage to get out to him before the voices of Yami Marik and Tanurah returned and she opened her eyes to see them carrying a body back into the room. Ragged breathing reached her ears as the arm of the person swung into her view—and clasped in its hand was Emily. She gasped, barely making a noise through the gag in her mouth. They laid the person on a table and as they moved around to start fastening restraints to him, Kinou realised it was Terry.
He was unconscious, and badly hurt. There was a large gash on his forehead and nothing had been done to clean up the large stream of blood that had emitted from it, and he had numerous cuts and bruises on his arms. His state was so horrible, Kinou wondered incredulously why he was still alive. The two men snapped metal clasps around Terry's wrists, ankles, and midsection, binding him to the table. Yami Marik saw the little rag doll in his hand and made a noise of contempt.
"Why is that still there?" he sneered.
"As hard as I tried to get it out, the fool won't let go of it," replied Tanurah, turning to peer at Emily. "It must be something important to him, though it's one of the foulest things I have ever laid eyes upon. No matter," he continued, turning back to an enormous control panel. "It won't interfere; we only need his mind."
Kinou and Kaiba looked at each other as Yami Marik walked over and yanked her up by her ropes. He laid her on a table next to Terry's and she looked over at his mangled body as he began to stir slightly. Yami Marik put a metal clasp on her neck as he leaned over her.
"It would be wise to not try anything, my dear," he said, snapping his fingers and causing the ropes that bound her to disappear. She instantly tried to undo the metal clasp around her neck; he smirked as she clawed at it, and Tanurah called him over to where he was. As he left, Kinou desperately felt around for the crevice to unlock her bind. Terry groaned and she turned her head as well as she could to see him waking up and trying to move.
He slowly opened his eyes and looked around wildly until his eyes fell upon Kinou. His mouth opened in surprise, and she looked imploringly back at him, unable to speak because of the piece of cloth still in her mouth. Tanurah cursed loudly; both of the teenagers turned their heads to look at him.
"There's not enough power to go through!" he yelled, hitting his fist upon the panel.
"You told me everything was prepared, you fool," said Yami Marik, folding his arms and looking daggers at him.
Tanurah sharply turned his head to him. "It was; we just need power. We have everything else we need and nothing will get in our way." He looked over at Kinou and Terry. "Are they securely held?"
"Both are weak and bound by steel; they're not going anywhere," returned Yami Marik, turning to face them as well.
"They'd better not," said Tanurah, starting to walk back out. "We need two to hack into the mainframe and redirect all the power to here. Come."
Yami Marik took one last look at the both of them, smirking, before he followed Tanurah out the door, pulling it shut with a loud clang. Terry looked over at Kinou, who had pulled out her gag and started to try to free herself again.
"Kinou…" he murmured.
Kinou paid no attention to him, getting more and more desperate; she moved her feet up on the table and grimaced as she pushed her hips and body up with all her might to try to cause it to snap open, but to no avail. Tears leaked out of her eyes as she became more and more frightened and Terry, noticing her panic, tried to get her attention again.
"Kinou!"
She finally gave up and let her hips fall back on the table, starting to cry softly, her breath coming in short gasps. Her hands still gripped the metal restraint as she looked over at him with the utmost sorrow and despair in her eyes.
Kaiba's grunts were the only other noise in the room as Terry stared back at her with pity. He closed his eyes partially, looking at her as though she were a small child that didn't understand her situation in the slightest. "I tried to tell you, but…"
Kinou bit back a sob. "But I was being stupid and ignorant and didn't listen. It's my fault we're here… I should have run away and brought you with me; we could have found our own way back, but—"
"Nothing is your fault, you were just confused," interrupted Terry. He started coughing, his chest heaving up and down in violent jerks, and Kinou could hear him choking on something stuck in his throat. A particularly loud hack sounded, and a small spurt of blood emitted from his lips. He closed his eyes and breathed heavily, the blood trickling down his cheek and onto the table. Kinou continued to watch him, unable to move or speak, for she was horrified at what she had allowed to happen to him. He slowly began to breathe easier, and he turned his head to her again, smiling slightly. "I kept her safe," he said, laughing weakly and trying to lift his hand to show her Emily. She did not laugh, but more tears spilled out of her already damp eyes.
"Terry… I'm so sorry…"
A bright surge of energy lit up the dark room for a brief moment before dimming again, though the lights were brighter than they were before. Kinou heard Kaiba mutter some indistinguishable words through the gag, her eyes never leaving Terry's face, and his never leaving hers. She slowly stretched out her hand to him, her fingers barely stroking his arm; he held out his fingers the best he could and she got a small hold on them. Both of them drew their mouths into a straight line; with that, a brief moment of telepathy flew between them: We're going to get out of here.
The door slammed open once again, and Tanurah and Yami Marik walked in, both wearing the same insane grin.
"How touching, they're holding hands," sneered Yami Marik, glimpsing the teenagers, who were still staring into each other's eyes, determination ever growing.
"And Mr. Kaiba is all alone on the floor," said Tanurah, chuckling darkly and walking into the back room once again. "You should have at least let him have a better view of the bonding."
"My apologies," snickered Yami Marik, raising his Millennium Rod; Kaiba rose a few feet in the air and was flown into a chair; Yami Marik snapped his fingers again and the ropes rewound themselves around the chair and Kaiba. "And we'll have no more of this," he said, walking up to their table. Kinou tightened her grip on Terry and raised her knee almost to her chest, ready to kick out at him with everything she had.
"Come any closer and you'll really get it," she said.
Yami Marik laughed and took another step forward; she kicked her leg out and he threw up his hand, blocking her foot from hitting his head by inches. Keeping his grip on her foot, he pushed it back to the point that her knee was once again near her chest so that he could reach over and snap a clasp on the hand that wasn't grasping Terry. Almost in the same motion, he snapped a large one around her waist, keeping her leg pinned up. He grinned evilly at her and pushed her leg painfully higher up on her chest, placing his other hand on her unbent leg and pushing it down to the table, stretching her farther than her body would allow; she grimaced and bit her tongue to keep from screaming. "Threats won't do you any good, my dear," he said, leaning forward and pressing her leg even further. "You are quite incapable of keeping us from doing anything."
Kinou tried to push her leg back as she grimaced and tried to glare at him. "Go to hell."
Yami Marik laughed, keeping her leg exactly where it was. "Ah yes, I had forgotten that you watched when I killed that fool Kantugo. You must have been the vessel my weaker self decided to cower in. That was not the only dream that has given you the truth, now was it?" He moved his hand up on her leg, and she whimpered, cowering.
"Get your hands off her, you bastard!" yelled Terry.
Yami Marik froze, staring at him as Kinou struggled to keep from crying out. He let go of her legs and she gasped out at the release, letting her leg fall limply next to its proper place beside the other one. Yami Marik took out his Millennium Rod and pointed it at Terry, leaning over him and smirking. "Do you remember what happened the last time you tried to fight against one of us? Or do you need a reminder?" He raised his arm and struck Terry in the side of the face with his Rod.
"Terry!" yelled Kinou. Yami Marik grabbed her hand from Terry's and twisted it back painfully before securing it to her side with another metal restraint.
Terry groaned and closed his eyes, breathing deeply and looking close to losing consciousness. Tanurah reentered and Yami Marik went to join him at the control panel. They both began muttering together, and Kinou could not hear what they were saying, but she feared for her and Terry all the same.
"It's ready," said Tanurah, and he and Yami Marik gave each other a dark smirk before walking over to their tables, Yami Marik at Terry's and Tanurah at Kinou's. They both reached behind the heads of the tables and pulled out some electrodes with what looked like thin, plastic tubes running from their centres. Kinou looked imploringly at Tanurah as he began to stick the electrodes to her temples, wondering how someone so kind and gentle could have done such a complete turnaround. He noticed her stare and when the electrodes were securely in place, he leaned over her, resting his elbow on the table and stroking her cheek. She cringed from the deathly cold sensation that reached her senses as he did so, and he spoke to her again in his terrifying voice.
"Don't worry, Kinou, this won't hurt," he said, not making her feel any better at all. "…much." He smirked at her terrified silence and stalked back to the control panel, flipping a few switches; the gigantic machine began to hum with a noise that sent shivers through Kinou. She looked over at Terry, but he still had not opened his eyes, electrodes now on his temples. Looking at the control panel once more, Kinou saw that two screens had turned themselves on, and waves had begun to play across them; one set was peaking up and trembling greatly, the other was a near straight line with only a few bumps here and there. Tanurah typed in something, and one more screen came to life, flashing two large bars with numbers and letters scattered about them. DATA TRANSFER flashed across the screen, and Tanurah turned to them, smirking. "This shouldn't take too long," he snickered, and with that, he pulled on the largest switch on the panel.
Almost instantaneously, Kinou felt a pain like never before shoot through her mind. She screamed out and shut her eyes, blotting out all other sights and sounds from her senses. Her body began to move involuntarily, reacting to the pain: her teeth gritted together and her legs once again started to try to push her out of her restraints; her fists clenched so tightly that she could feel her fingernails digging into her palms, but it hardly took her attention away from her head, which felt like it was about to split into two. It felt like something was rushing into her; she couldn't tell what it was, she only knew she wanted it to stop. She almost fainted from the pain before her consciousness was yanked into darkness once again. The pain disappeared, and she could no longer feel any restraints on her. She was not alone in the pitch-black, however.
Marik came floating to her from out of nowhere, and wrapped his arms about her tightly; she could hear his heart pounding furiously against his chest as he held her to him, as though he were afraid she would disappear if he let go.
"What happened?" she asked him breathlessly, relaxing slightly with his warmth.
He let her go slightly to tilt her chin up, gazing into her eyes. "I couldn't let you suffer, Kinou, I just couldn't… I pulled your mind here so that you would not feel any more pain."
She kissed him lightly, grateful he knew how to get her there without taking over her body himself. He pulled her back and kissed her deeply, catching her off-guard. As she began to use her own tongue to caress his, sounds started to emerge out of the darkness. The hum of the machine grew ever louder, and she broke the comforting kiss to stare around for the source. An ear-splitting yell rang out and Kinou whirled around, frightened by the thought that it could be Terry. The machine's terrible noise died out, and she turned back to Marik, who knew what she was about to ask.
"Go on," he said, letting her go completely and starting to fade away. "I will do what I can to protect you, but be careful…"
She slowly opened her eyes, and tensed up as she realised her body was extremely warm, and it felt full of a strange energy, unlike anything she had ever felt before. Her muscles ached, and she could barely move at all without getting a shooting pain through her body. The electrodes on her temples were extremely hot, and she tried to shake her head to get them off. Tanurah suddenly appeared over her and pulled the electrodes off, checking her pulse. He straightened back up and looked at Yami Marik, who was leaning against the panel, toying with the Millennium Rod.
"Her heart rate is up, but not high enough to affect how she performs," he said.
Kinou finally got her voice to work. "What… what the hell did you just do?" she asked weakly.
Tanurah turned back to her. "I'm surprised you can even complete a thought, Kinou. Most would be completely stunned for a while after what we just did. But, since you still appear to be slightly dulled, I'll use small words so that you can understand." Kinou gritted her teeth, and he smirked before continuing. "I'm sure you know all about why Terry was brought here, but we made a discovery about him later on after I had analysed your blood sample. He actually had a different version of the virus in him; instead of being able to control what he did, the virus allowed him to move things a great distance away with a tremendous force, which would explain the numerous car accidents that were reported around KaibaCorp while he was being studied. We knew that if we combined your powers, the force would be incredible, making it all too easy to accomplish our goal once the powers were in the same body."
Kinou's head was clearing rapidly, and she glared at him. "All this trouble for KaibaCorp? What were you planning to do with it once you had it?"
Tanurah laughed at her. "You think this is still about this stupid company? When we could easily take whatever we wanted, however big or small? With the combined powers, we won't even need the pharaoh's power to rule the world with an iron fist."
"What makes you so confident that this has even the slightest possibly of working?" asked Kinou skeptically.
"We'll just have to find out, now won't we?" he snickered, unbinding her. She immediately tried to sit up, but her body seemed to be weighed down by something, and she couldn't move at all. He sat her up instead, chuckling. "Your mind seems to be way ahead of your body; this paralysis should only last for a little while, and then we can have some fun."
"You're sick," spat Kinou. She tried to move some more, and managed to move her shoulders and flex her fingers a little bit.
"And you appear to be recovering at an astounding rate," said Tanurah, watching her movements. "Soon we'll be able to find out if that fool's energy will expand your force of power."
"Terry?" asked Kinou, looking around at his table. Her eyes widened as she saw him still lying unconscious, but her breath caught in her throat as she watched and realised his chest was not moving anymore. "…Terry?" she whispered again.
"Check him," said Tanurah, and Yami Marik walked forward and pressed two fingers against Terry's neck, waiting. Kinou held her breath, not daring to make a noise; she was hoping, praying that he was all right, but a small voice in her head was bringing doubt into her mind: If your perfectly healthy body was paralysed from that, you can't possibly expect him to have survived it, and you weren't even in your body for the whole thing—Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP, Kinou said to herself. After about a half a minute, Yami Marik smirked and looked back up at Tanurah.
"One less person to get in our way."
"What? What the hell does that mean?" yelled Kinou.
Yami Marik simply laughed at her, and tears began to cloud her vision as fear overtook her mind. Her mouth opened wordlessly for a few moments as she struggled for a reason he could not feel Terry's pulse; none came. "You're—You're lying!" she cried. "He's not dead! He's not!"
Yami Marik smirked again and undid one of Terry's hand binds. He lifted Emily out of Terry's hand, and tossed her carelessly into the air with one hand as he continued to look at Kinou. "Even when he was unconscious, he refused to let go of this filthsome thing. If he were still alive, his fingers would not be easily pried open."
Kinou gritted her teeth as anger began to flow through her, the hand that she could move trembled violently as it clenched into a ball. Angry tears rolled silently down her cheeks. "You sick bastards…" she murmured.
Tanurah chuckled and walked over to Yami Marik. He picked Emily out of his hands and held her up by her ear, looking at her. "This seems really familiar to me, though I can't quite put my finger on it… Then again, I may just be remembering the first time I laid eyes upon it, when we found this fool trying to escape. Something this ugly does not easily slip one's mind."
"Shut up!" screamed Kinou. "Give her back to me!"
Tanurah stopped and stared at her. "Her?" he mocked. "This is a bundle of ragged old cloth and it's filthy. Why would you want such a thing?"
"Because she's mine! Give her back now!" Her hand partially lifted and she tried to form her hand to make Emily fly towards her, but she needed two hands to do so, and her other was still paralysed uselessly at her side. Tanurah smirked.
"I think we have a motive," he said turning to Yami Marik. Yami Marik nodded and came over to Kinou. "She'll need a little help, of course, but that will be no trouble at all."
Yami Marik chuckled and sat behind her on the table, and he reached around and held her hands out for her, as he had done in her dream. Kinou swallowed a whimper and growled at being used like some sort of doll. He straightened her fingers out and held her hands in front of her, and she focused on Emily with all of her might. Her forehead twinged, and Emily was jerked out of Tanurah's hands and flew in an arc towards Kinou; Yami Marik dropped her hand and held his out to catch her, but Kinou's arm suddenly sprang to life and snatched Emily out of the air. Tanurah raised an eyebrow.
"Fascinating…" he murmured. He walked over to her and looked into her eyes with a piercing stare. She looked away, but almost in the same instant he grabbed her chin painfully and turned her face to him once again. "You are recovering far too quickly for my liking. Something's not right…" He continued to stare at her, as though he were trying to read her thoughts, and she tried to look back at him as though she had no idea what he was talking about. He let go of her chin and straightened up. "Well, no matter, all the sooner for us to put you to work."
Kinou gulped. I'm not going to let them get away with this… they killed Terry, damnit, he never did anything but fight for what was right. She started coming up with some sort of plan as Tanurah and Yami Marik walked towards the panel once more; the screen that originally had Terry's barely moving brain wave had turned off, and hers was still shaking and peaking. I'll pretend I can't move until I have control of my whole body, then I'll make a run for it. Since the two men were still facing the control panel and muttering, she began to slowly flex the fingers in her other hand, as well as try to move her feet around, and they began to get some feeling back in them. As she continued to move, more and more of her body felt like it was cooling down as her nerves came back to life. Almost when she was sure she could move every part, Tanurah and Yami Marik broke apart, Tanurah walking over to a giant object covered in a white sheet and Yami Marik coming over to her once again. He picked her up and she made her body go completely limp, acting as though she were still paralysed. She kept a firm grip on Emily as Yami Marik carried her over to where Tanurah was; the doctor got a hold on one of the corners of the sheet and yanked it off.
Kinou gasped. It was a platform of enormous proportions—in the middle of it there were two waist-high poles with wrist restraints attached at the tops and two foot clamps were visible between the poles. She slightly turned her head towards the ceiling and saw a giant antenna that had large cables running along it and around it like snakes, all of which were connected back to the giant control panel. At the very point of the antenna, there was what looked like a claw with little beads at the heads of the points. Her body tensed up and shivered at the sight, and Yami Marik stopped and stared at her.
"What is it now?" asked Tanurah, looking thoroughly angered at the delay.
"Hey body has life," responded Yami Marik. "I felt her move."
Tanurah's brow furrowed and he instantly came towards them. Kinou dropped her act and elbowed Yami Marik and the stomach; he dropped her and she fell on the ground, immediately getting up and backing towards the door. She hurriedly shoved Emily into her pocket and held her hands out in front of her.
"If you try anything, I'll wreck this whole place," she said.
Neither of them moved as Kinou slowly walked backwards, keeping her hands in their ready position. She felt her foot run into something and she carefully reached behind her to feel around for the handle of the metal door. Yami Marik shrugged and started walking to the right; Kinou froze and put her hand out in front of her again. As she followed him with her eyes, she was sure to glance back at Tanurah to make sure he wasn't moving, either. When she looked back at Yami Marik, she was shocked to see him now standing by Kaiba, his Millennium Rod held at the ready. Oh my God! I forgot Seto was here! screamed Kinou to herself.
"I would strongly advise you to reconsider your decision, my dear," he said, smirking and raising his arm to strike Kaiba.
"If you touch one hair on him--!" yelled Kinou, walking forwards and focusing all her attention on him.
"You'll what?" sneered Yami Marik. "Send something towards me to fend me off? And risk hurting your precious little Kaiba?" He pushed his Millennium Rod against Kaiba's neck and tilted his head up as he spoke, and Kinou growled and took another step forward. Yami Marik smirked. "Let's see what he has to say about it, shall we?" With that, he yanked out Kaiba's gag, still keeping his Rod firmly against his chin.
"Kinou!" yelled out Kaiba. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get out of here! Now!" Kinou did not move, frozen to her spot by indecision. Both Yami Marik and Kaiba suddenly looked slightly to the right of her and Kaiba yelled again. "Kinou! Look—"
Yami Marik struck him with his Millennium Rod; as Kinou cried out, Tanurah grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides with an extremely strong grip. Yami Marik swooped over as well and helped Tanurah drag her towards the platform; she was struggling with all that she had, but both men were surprisingly strong and would not loosen their grip on her.
"This would be a hell of a lot easier if you just restrained her with the Rod," growled Tanurah.
"I've already told you, it has no effect whatsoever on those who posses that power!" Yami Marik snarled back.
They successfully got her onto the platform and secured her wrists to the tops of the poles and her feet to the ground. As Tanurah walked off to start warming up the antennae above her, Yami Marik pulled it down and placed the tips of the claw-like attachment inches away from Kinou's head.
"What the hell is that?" said Kaiba from his chair, a slight trickle of blood now leaking down the side of his cheek.
Tanurah and Yami Marik turned simultaneously to face him. "Why don't we give you a better look at it, then maybe you can save us the trouble of explaining it," said Yami Marik, raising his Millennium Rod for what seemed like the hundredth time and making Kaiba soar towards the panel in his chair.
"Take a good look; you may recognise it," said Tanurah with a chuckle.
Kaiba leaned forward and gazed at the antennae's panel for a little while, reading every little detail, until he finally looked back up at Tanurah. "This was my old satellite transmitter… what the hell have you done to it?"
Tanurah laughed. "Almost nothing at all, really. We simply reconfigured it so that instead of hooking it up to a computer, we could hook it up to a person. By transmitting her power through the antennae, we can easily make her wreak havoc and destruction wherever we aim your satellite, easily swaying anyone to give all titles of power to us. And personally, I think we should test it out first before we all get too excited. Care to do the honours?" he asked, gesturing to another large switch and mockingly bowing to Yami Marik.
"With pleasure," said Yami Marik in return, walking forward. Kinou got a surge of foreboding an instant before he threw the switch, but the result wasn't nearly as painful as the first transaction. A strong light emitted from her body, as though her energy were a living aura around her. She gasped out as the beads of the antennae glowed a brilliant red and sent small beams of light into her mind, projecting an area right outside the gates of Kaiba's mansion in front of her eyes.
"It seems to be working," chuckled Tanurah, upon seeing her mouth drop open in surprise. "Go ahead and make something collapse, Kinou; we've all been waiting so patiently."
Kinou closed her mouth, trying to come up with some reason it couldn't work. Think, damnit, think! she yelled at herself. An idea popped into her head. "I can't," she stated simply.
"What? Why not?" yelled Tanurah.
She shrugged her shoulders. "I can't make things move around unless I use my hands, and—" she laughed mockingly "—quite frankly my hands can't do much when they're locked down at my sides, now can they?" She couldn't see their faces, as the mental projection took up her whole line of vision, but she could still hear them.
Yami Marik laughed. "Just lift them up, my dear, it's not that hard."
Kinou sighed heavily. "Did you not just hear what I said? They're locked in these stupid—" She gasped as her hands raised up in front of her. She looked at them, turning them over, then looked down at herself. No restraints were around her feet anymore, and she tried to take a step—her body moved as though it were free. "How the hell did I get out here?" she wondered aloud.
"You're not out there, Kinou; it's just a mental projection of yourself," said Tanurah impatiently. "Now walk until you find something to break."
Kinou mentally folded her arms. "Why should I? You can't make me do that."
"Oh yes we can," came Yami Marik's voice once again. "You forget who we have with us." Footsteps reached her ears as Kaiba's voice trailed out once again.
"What are you doing? Keep that thing away from me!" She heard a swish of Yami Marik's cape and a loud cry of pain from Kaiba as the Millennium Rod once again connected with the side of his head.
"Stop it!" yelled Kinou. "Leave him out of this, damnit!"
"Do you need to make this difficult? Everyone would be so much happier if you just do what you're told, like a good little girl," said Yami Marik, again talking to her like some pet. "Shall I motivate you again?" The sound of his cape reached her ears again and she put her mental hands out in front of her.
"Don't!"
"Then do as you're told," said Tanurah, sounding even more impatient, though he now had a slight trace of amusement in his voice. "Destroy the next car that comes by."
Kinou swallowed hard as her eyes began darting around, looking for the unfortunate soul who would soon fall under her power. A small blue car drove by, and she stepped off the sidewalk, holding her hands out slightly, though they were shaking horribly. I can't do this! I can't make him crash just because of some stupid insane—
She hesitated, and the car drove by, the driver completely oblivious to how close he had just come to death. "We saw that," said Tanurah, the amused edge completely gone now. "We can see what you're seeing on one of our monitors. If you do not destroy the next one, something much worse will befall your precious lover boy."
"Why can't I just lift something and be done with it?" cried Kinou.
"Because that would take all the fun out of it. There's another! Do it!" shouted Tanurah at her.
Kinou sharply turned her head to see a minivan driving by—with two small children in the back of it. "Do it now!" shouted Tanurah again, and Kaiba yelled out as Yami Marik began torturing him again. She raised her hands and focused on the car, trying to push out all the morals she had. As Kaiba's yells became louder, she could only think of saving him and tried to steady her hands. The car began to swerve dangerously towards the gate of the Kaiba mansion, the children screaming as the young mother driving it tried to turn the steering wheel in the opposite direction, panicking. As the car sped up and bumped over the curve, the mother threw up one of her hands in front of her, the other flying back to hold her children back. Kinou shut her eyes and suddenly turned her left palm down and then dropped her hands—causing the car to miss the heavy metal fence by inches and come to a screeching halt beside it. She fell to her knees, completely stunned at how easy it was to control the car, and shocked at herself for almost killing a family in an instant. Her heart gave a lurch as she saw the mother instantly jump out of her seat and throw the rear doors open to clasp her children to her, crying. Laughing reached her ears, and someone clapped enthusiastically.
"Fantastic!" yelled Tanurah, who continued to laugh insanely. "That was too much fun; just imagine how pathetic the most powerful people in the world will look, cowering like little dogs! I want to try it out one more time before we start."
Before Yami Marik could respond, she heard him readjusting the coordinates of her location and she covered her head with her arms, tears dripping down her face. Tanurah entered the coordinates and she felt the claw warm up again around her head, her body beginning to glow. As the energy flowed into her, her mind felt pain once more, though it was stronger than the first time, and she cried out, clutching at her head. The ground and scenery disappeared from around her, and she felt herself back in the cold room, her wrists and feet restrained once more. Suddenly, her body felt like it was thrown into a wind tunnel, and a glint of light flashed before her eyes; she was in front of Kaiba Land, not very far at all from where she had been before, once again free of the metal binds.
"You wouldn't dare…" snarled Kaiba; Kinou suspected that he had a clear view of the monitor as well.
"Oh, but we would," chuckled Tanurah. "Kinou, why don't you start with the giant Blue Eyes White Dragon right in front? That should make quite a noise—"
"We don't have time for this, doctor," cut in Yami Marik.
Kinou heard Tanurah turn quickly to him, obviously furious with him for interrupting his all too sweet revenge. There were a few moments of silence, and Tanurah turned back to the panel with a heavy, frustrated sigh as he began to readjust the controls. "Where shall we start?"
"China has plenty of citizens to endanger and threaten; put her there," said Yami Marik.
Kinou mentally put her hands out in front of her again. "No, please! Putting me here hurt enough! If you send me that far away, I'll pass out from the pain!"
"You'll just have to bear it, then!" bellowed Tanurah, and he entered the coordinates.
The claw once again warmed up and hummed, but Kinou felt the beads growing extremely hot near her head, and she tried to shrink away from them. As the ground once again disappeared, the antennae grew extremely loud and the beads suddenly sent their rays of energy into her mind; she screamed at the pain and tried to block it out, but it was almost as painful as the transaction with Terry and her head again felt like her mind was trying to tear itself apart. She faintly heard Kaiba yell out to her, but the surging power form the giant machine was close to making her eardrums burst; she couldn't even hear Marik as he tried to call her back into the recesses of her mind. Her body's senses returned her to the room, and she could barely struggle against the pain with her wrists and feet clamped down again. She almost fainted from the pain, before Kaiba let out a yell and she heard something hit the panel—one of her wrists was released from its restraint. Simultaneously, she regained some of her sight into the room; the light coming from her body was so strong it was brightening the whole room from corner to corner, and she looked just in time to see Kaiba raise one of his legs to kick at a button on the panel. When his foot came in contact with it, her other hand came free. She immediately reached up to push the claw away from her head to release herself from the immense pain, but at the same time Yami Marik and Tanurah gave anguished yells and lunged for her. Each of them grabbed one of her wrists and tried to force them back into the clamps—and their bodies began to glow with her same light as she felt energy rushing from her into them. They both yelled out in surprise and tried to pry their hands off of her, but they were latched onto her and couldn't let go. Kinou threw her head back as a particularly large surge of energy issued from the claw, through her mind, and into the two men grasping her. They screamed in unison, the pain radiating from all of their bodies, as Kaiba yelled once again and kicked another button on the control panel. The machine began to sizzle and smoke, and gave a final burst of electricity into the three before shutting off, blasting the two men away from her to land, unconscious, a couple feet away. Her feet clasps snapped off, she fell to her knees, and fainted as she slumped over in a crumpled heap.
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And there you have it~ chapter 23! And there was much rejoicing *little flags wave* Yay..... yay.... Heh, little Monty Python for ya ^___^. Just to let you all know, time to review while I'm still posting is running out; there are only two more chapters after this! So please review if you've been reading and not responding, you silly readers, you! Ja' ne ^^.