Chapter 3:
It was around ten o' clock at night and the Kaiba Corporation building was dark. Almost every one of the normal employees had gone home an hour ago but there were still two people left in the building.
Seto Kaiba and his assistant were both inside his office, where Kaiba was yelling at him for one reason or another.
"Listen, Carter, this is the third time you've lost those prototypes I gave to you." He said, sitting in his chair behind the large hardwood desk. "You know very well that those are an important part to our new project next year and we only have three months to finish it."
"I-I know… I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba!" Carter stood in the middle of the room looking down at his shoes, "I didn't mean to. You see, I had to go to the store and then-"
"No, Carter, no more of your excuses. I'm tired of you and everything you do wrong. It's not just the prototypes that you've lost. It's the stocks, the bonds, and my laundry!"
"… I have your pink shirt at my apartment…" he muttered.
"Did you get it clean?"
"Oh, yes sir!" Carter nodded energetically, "I got the ketchup stain out of it, too!"
"Really? Because, you know, the maids used Xtra and they never got all of the-" Kaiba stopped himself and sighed, "This has gone on too long. I was planning to get this over with and then go home."
"G-Get what over with, s-sir?"
He stood up and walked across the gray carpet to the door, "Your fired, Carter." he said with a blank face and then exited, closing the door behind him. Carter stood there for a minute, taking it in.
"… Fired? W-What! Mr. Kaiba! Mr. Kaiba!" Carter ran out the door after his ex-boss. He had to go out to the parking lot where Kaiba was getting into the back of his limo, "Wait, please, you can't fire me!"
"And why not?" He asked without any interest.
"I-I have a dog to feed! I moved away from my mom two weeks ago! If she finds out I've been fired, she'll force me back in with her and my dad! And he hates me, he throws bricks at my head! Please, Mr. Kaiba! I still have the scars from last Thanksgiving!" Carter began to cry while pleading, "M-My girlfriend left me after finding me with another woman, last week! But it wasn't another woman, it was my grandpa! She didn't believe me and she burned all my clothes!"
Kaiba tilted his head in wonder, "What the…?"
"Oh, Susie!" He shouted into the wind, "Why! Why! A-and now, Mr. Kaiba is going to fire me! Who has done more for you, Mr. Kaiba, then me? I have forever been your faithful servant! Oh, cruel fate, you have claimed my life!"
Kaiba threw a five dollar bill at Carter and signaled to the driver to go, "You poor, poor thing."
"But…!"
As they drove off, Kaiba called back at him, "I expect your office cleaned out by next Monday."
Carter sat on the sidewalk and sighed, "Now what…?"
-
It was dark outside in the shadow of all the tall buildings. The streets were pitch-black with a exception of a few streetlights and the occasional car driving by. Marik and Malik were walking on the sidewalk and could barely see two feet in front of them.
"You shouldn't have ticked off that bus driver, Marik." Malik pouted, walking on the left side of his yami, "Because of you and your rude remarks, we were kicked off and she left us to walk home!"
"Oh, come off it, Malik. It wasn't my fault. You can't drive well with only one eye. She should've put her other eye back in."
"… Well, why can't we use the Miniports to get home?"
"I told you already, we don't know how to use them exactly. We don't know how to get home with these…we could end up in a volcano or Florida… or the Pope's bathroom."
"Aw, man. We've got to get a car someday."
They continued to walk in silence for a few minutes, until they approached another streetlight and spotted someone underneath it, writhing on the floor making an awful noise. "Wooooooo-ah-hooooooo! Hoooooo!"
"Oh my goodness," Malik whispered, "It's one of those spirits, like in the magazines. Let's get him and turn him in for money!"
"Relax. I think it's just some bum. Just keep walking."
As they walked by, Malik looked down at the man crying on the cement. He was still making those god-awful noises, but he didn't seem like a bum.
"Marik," Malik tugged on his yami's sleeve, "That guy isn't a bum. His clothes aren't rags and they're still in style."
"No, Malik, I don't think-" but before Marik could finish his sentence, Malik had already bent down next to the man wallowing on the floor.
"Hi." He said, "Why are you crying?"
"Wooooooo-ah-hooooooo! Hoooooo! Oh, Mr. Kaiba, why! Hoooooo!" he began to howl at the moon, which hung, brightly, right behind the Kaiba Corp building.
"See, Malik?" Marik rolled his eyes, "He's some kind of nut. Let's go."
"Wait a minute, Marik, he said Mr. Kaiba." Malik poked the man on his head and when he stop yelling, Malik asked, "Do you know Kaiba?"
He sniffed, "Um… yes, he… he's my ex-boss. Ooooh! My ex-boss! How will I feed my doggy!"
"So, when did he fire you?" Malik asked.
"Today. I-I begged him for my job back but he just gave me this." He held up a five dollar bill, "What am I supposed to do with this! My dog eats expensive food. It costs 5.99, not 5.00! 5.99!" he lapsed into his howling again.
"…So, you were his…?" Marik sat down with both of them on the cold sidewalk.
"Assistant. I may not have always been… efficient… but I gave my all to him and Kaiba Corporation for three years! Three years! I don't know how he can just leave me after all we've been through… Oh, the agony! Agony!"
"… Hey, Malik, I think my brain just hatched an idea." Marik said, pulling his hikari in for a private conversation, "This guy's been Kaiba's assistant, and he'd know everything about corporate business, right?"
"Well, I wouldn't say everything… this guy's kinda cuckoo. But he must've known something for Kaiba to keep him around for three years."
"Right! So, let's get this guy to join Ishtar Industries! We could use him to help us out with the selling and taking over the world with our company."
"Sounds cool. But what if he wont do it?"
"Heh, trust me." Marik grinned.
"Wooooooo-ah-hooooooo! Hoooooo!" He was now rolling back and forth on the ground, overcome with tears and sorrow.
Marik and Malik just now noticed that he wasn't as calm as he was a minute ago, if you can even call that calm.
"I have no reason to live anymore!" He stood up and began to run into the street. A car was coming down the corner at about 80mph and he didn't even see the man running out in his way.
"What the hell is wrong with him!" Marik sprinted out after him and pushed him out of the way and into the wet grass on the other side of the road. The car sped by without even realizing what had happened.
Marik caught his breath and then screamed, "What, do you have some kind of a death wish or something!"
"I have no reason to live…" He moaned, "I don't even have a job anymore!"
Malik came over and said, "That's no reason to kill yourself. We can give you the same exact job you had. Only better. You wanna work for us? You could be the assistant to the CEOs of Ishtar Industries."
"R-Really?" He asked, "You guys have a company like Mr. Kaiba's?"
Marik nodded, "What's your name?"
"Well, Mr. Kaiba called me Carter. But that's my last name… you two can call me Pips. That's the name my mom gave me." he said cheerfully.
Marik and Malik stifled their laughs, "O-Okay, Pips. Welcome aboard."
