Dreams of power
Chapter 14:
They had been driving for about five minutes. Marik and Malik were catching their breath and exchanging looks of triumph. Kaiba was trying to be patient, he knew that kidnapping a politician couldn't have been easy... but he wanted all the juicy details. He had a right to know; after all... he was funding the whole thing.
"Alright you two. I've been quiet long enough. I want to know what happened back there!"
"Okay, Kaiba." Malik smiled. "You wanna know what happened?"
"Yes. That's what I've been waiting for."
"Okay then, here." He pulled out the four Purple Hearts from his back pocket and let them slip into Kaiba's hand.
"What the..." he studied them closer. "These are John Kerry's..."
"That's right." Marik said, "They're fake. Malik took them before we left. I'm glad he did, 'cause I totally forgot."
"It was actually fun. I got stuffed down a chimney and almost wet myself twice... but, it was fun."
"Glad you think so." Marik looked at him from across the seat, "It was a lot of fun, now that I think about it. You sure missed out on a good time, Kaiba."
Kaiba grunted, "I think I'll live. I heard screaming all the way from the car, that's not my idea of a good time."
When they got back to the T.V station, it was close to midnight. Marik and Malik had to carry John Edwards up with them, Kaiba refused to leave fingerprints. They got up onto the top floor and saw Sanders sleeping on his desk. Instead of yelling his name like they normally would, Marik dropped John onto Sanders' desk, right next to his head.
"Hey!" Sanders sat up straight. "What is this?!"
"John Edwards!" Marik and Malik shouted in unison.
"Oh! Oh yeah, him. Well, you got him... that's good."
"And that's not all." Malik dropped the Purple Hearts onto the desk, "Look what we found with Kerry and Edwards."
"You stole their Purple Hearts? Wait, how did they get four? I thought Kerry only had three."
"They're all fake. We saw Edwards helping Kerry make one." Marik said.
"Yeah..." Sanders held one to the light, "I think...it is a fake. Wow! Do you know what this means?"
"No." Marik and Malik said in unison.
"I'm speechless! I mean, this is great! It's ammo I never even dreamed of. You two have really outdone yourselves. With Kerry gone from the race, who else is there? It's wonderful, it's spectacular, it's-"
"I though you said you were speechless." Malik groaned.
Sanders rolled his eyes, "Sorry. But this is great... you two have this thing in the bag. Now that you have these, you really don't need John Edwards. We can let him go."
"WHAT?!" Kaiba, Marik, and Malik shouted in disbelief.
"That's right. We've got all we need, he's pointless now."
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Malik rubbed his forehead, "You mean that we did all that for nothing? I think I've been traumatized."
"Well, we can't just let him go. He's seen us, and knows who we are." Marik said, "We'll just have to keep him."
"Keep him?! What should we do with him? Put him in our closet with Yami and Yugi?"
"Sure, why not? There's enough room."
"You are impossible."
"It's the only choice we have."
"Fine, fine!" Kaiba interrupted, "But whatever you do, do it quickly. Besides we have- Oh Ra! I totally forgot! Tomorrow!"
"What about tomorrow?" Sanders asked, "Good god! I think I know what you remembered! How could I have forgotten?! Kaiba, are they ready?"
"No, they're not! What am I going to do? We can't just have them wing it."
"Why not? That's what they've been doing so far. I say just put them up there, Marik is very resourceful."
"Sometimes. And it's not really him I'm worried about. It's Malik, they're better off together. And the debate is candidate and running mate separate."
Marik and Malik looked at them, "What are you two talking about?"
Kaiba turned to them, "You know that debate I told you guys about? The very important one?"
They nodded.
"It's tomorrow."
"What?!"
"Yes, Sanders and I forgot. I have no idea what we're going to do."
"Well, it's talking about the issues, right?" Malik asked.
"Yeah, mostly. But they'll be asking questions and-"
"Don't worry Kaiba. We're fine just going up there and winging it. We've done that before and it turned out-"
"Awful!" Sanders said, "We have to teach you how to answer those type of questions on your own. The only reason you did as well as you did before is because you were with each other. This time you'll be on your own."
Malik swallowed hard, "Alone? I don't know about that."
"We don't have a choice, Malik."
"But Marik, I don't want-"
"Okay, teach us." Marik said, ignoring Malik.
"Fine, but we'll have to work fast. Sanders, take Malik. I'll take Marik." Kaiba dragged Marik to the elevator. "Say goodbye to Malik, Marik. This'll be the last time you see him till tomorrow."
Marik waved goodbye.
Malik did the same.
"Alright, Malik. We've got a limited amount of time, and a lot to cover."
"I'm tired, Sanders. I want to go to sleep." Malik curled up on the couch next to the desk. "Goodnight."
"No, no, no! Listen, I know you're tired. Usually after I go out kidnapping vice presidents, I take a little nap too. But you don't have time. The debate is at six tomorrow evening. We've got eighteen hours. Get up, we've got vice presidential training to do."
"Yeah, okay..." Malik sat straight up, "Mold me."
"Right! So, first thing you need to know is how to dodge direct questions. For instance... if someone asks you about your political past, what do you say?"
"Uh..."
"No! See, you can't hesitate. You do that and everyone will think you're going to lie."
"But aren't I?"
"Yes. But you don't want them to know that. You've got to be cunning. You've got to be suave. You basically have to be a pathological liar."
"Got it. No hesitation."
Marik and Kaiba were back at the hotel room. Kaiba was sitting on the bed next to him trying to make him understand how this whole thing would be working. He already knew he wouldn't be with Malik, he wasn't entirely happy about not having his hikari with him... but there wasn't much that he could do about it. The one thing he had to worry about was his debate with Kerry. Just because he had the hearts, doesn't mean that he'd be out of the woods yet.
"Alright, Marik. Kerry is going to be ruthless up there. You'll need everything you have to pull this off. Especially now that your other half won't be with you."
"I still don't know why their separating us."
"Don't worry. Malik will be fine. Since we have John Edwards, whose going to debate him? No one, that's who. He'll be fine, now worry about your situation!"
"Yeah, okay."
"You and Kerry both have an edge in this. But yours is slightly bigger. Yes, he could call you a thief on national T.V. But if he does, you can just show what you thieved and then the tables will turn."
Marik grinned, "Right."
"We'll try and win this on merit alone. But if the people start to favor him, then we'll have to unleash our secret weapon."
"But what if-"
BOOM! Marik was cut off by a loud thud in the closet. One more hit and the door flew open and two spiky-headed teens feel out onto the floor. Still tied up in sheets, Yami and Yugi were gasping for air.
Kaiba raised both eyebrows, "What the hell?!"
Marik stood up, "How'd you get out of there? Get back inside, we're having an important conversation."
"No... no way, Marik." Yugi breathed heavily.
Yami finally caught his breath, "You've kept us in your closet long enough! Who knows what havoc you've caused the world while we've been in there!"
Marik raised his arm, "Talk to the hand, pharaoh. I'm busy."
"What in Ra's name are they doing in your closet?" Kaiba asked.
"Forget it. They were going back inside," Marik glared at the two, "Weren't you?"
"No, we weren't!" Yugi slithered out of the sheet, "Enough is enough, Marik! You're not going to be president!"
"Oh yeah? Well, tomorrow Malik and me have our last debate before the final voting. And we're going to win. What do ya say to that?"
"I say you're nuts! Anyone would have to be nuts to vote for you." Yami stood up, "I'm warning you-"
"You're warning me?! How about I warn you." He jumped on the smaller yami and wrestled him to the ground.
Yugi tried desperately to get Marik off of Yami but Kaiba intervened. He grabbed the young boy and stuffed him back in the sheet, then threw him in the closet. Marik already had Yami in there and they shut the door, hard.
Yami and Yugi pounded against the door for a few minutes but then got to tired to carry on anymore.
Kaiba wiped the sweat off his forehead, "Marik, I'm not even going to ask."
"Good. 'Cause I wouldn't answer you anyway."