The Purpose of a Heart
Chapter Three
Bakura waited for an answer for what he thought was quite a long time. The way he saw it, the boss could either get freaked out by his fearless demand and let him go, (which Bakura didn't expect anyway), or he could say no and threaten to kill him if he ever so much as hinted at getting out again. But neither of those things were happening, which puzzled him.
"Did you hear me?" he finally asked.
"I heard you."
"Well?"
"Bakura, Bakura, Bakura." The commander said, shaking his head as if he were disappointed. "You should know the answer. What did I tell you the first week here, what did I drill into your head constantly?"
"That you would kill Yami if I didn't stay in line." Bakura replied guardedly.
"Exactly. Would you really put Yami in such danger? It's not nice to treat your friends so lightly."
Bakura blinked. The calm approach, he hadn't expected the man to use that tactic. He'd half expected to get his head blown off, but instead here he was being scolded!
"I'm very disappointed in you Bakura, because this request of yours either means you have a very short-term memory, or you don't care as much about Yami as I thought. You are of course free to walk out whenever you like. No one is keeping you here against your will. But you have to be aware of the consequences if you decided to leave."
Bakura scowled. He was using the same voice that people often used to talk children into or out of things.
I've got five thousand years on you, chief. Bakura thought with annoyance. So you'd just better lay off this little-kid routine.
"So are we clear?" The boss's words brought him back to the present. Bakura set his jaw and backed out the door.
"Whatever." He grumbled, slamming it behind him and nearly running into Blair outside. The body-builder had the empty-eyed look of a drug addict whose high had worn off hours before, and he offered only a courtesy glare to Bakura, who gave him a salute back and stomped off toward his room.
Blair peered into the office. "What did the white-haired kid want?"
"To get out of his job." The boss replied calmly.
"Why the hell didn't you shoot him! Teach him a lesson for asking stupid questions so late at night."
"Shooting him would have no effect on a person like that." The man said, sitting down in his swivel chair and flipping his computer on. Blair blinked sleepily. The boss pulled a bottle of pills out of his desk drawer and tossed them toward him. "Here Blair, a man brought these for you. Ordinarily I'm not very keen on your addiction, but you're so pathetic looking right now, and I need you awake tonight."
Blair caught the bottle with a wide smile. "Thanks boss."
"Whatever." He printed out a few sheets of paper. "Take these down to the office for me."
"Will do."
"Well then, get moving. You can't stand around all night, there's business to attend to."
"Damn stuck up prick…" Bakura grumbled as he locked his door and got dressed for bed. "He's nothing but an overdressed, haughty, insane billionaire. He thinks he's like, king of the world or something just cause he's got that idiot Blair at his service to keep everyone else in line. Guy probably couldn't even shoot a house at close range, much less a person."
He glared at the shadows on the ceiling. "Bet Mr. bossman wouldn't be so high and mighty if I had something on him. I should have taken my Uzi. It'd be no match for his Smith, and Blair would have been no help."
After an hour of cursing the boss, Blair, everyone in the building, and the damn mosquito buzzing in the corner, Bakura felt calmed down and ready to think straight. So yeah, outright asking had been a bad idea. Cross that one off the list. That didn't mean he'd messed up too badly. He was pretty sure the boss hadn't been mad enough to follow through with going after Yami yet, which gave him time to find a new way out. His griping had given him an idea. Maybe, someplace in this building, there was some information that he could use to blackmail the boss. He liked the idea of the blond-haired man being on the receiving end of the threats for once.
The next day found Bakura prowling the fifth floor. He'd decided to do a complete search of the building, and starting at the top was his first choice. Right away he figured out that the whole floor must belong to the boss alone, because there were about twenty different types of video cameras guarding one door. He tried knocking on it, but got no answer. There was only one other door on the whole floor, and that was an empty storage closet. Nothing up there.
By lunch Bakura had successfully explored every unlocked and unoccupied room from thefifth tosecond floor, and had found nothing of any use. Mostly a lot of bedrooms. He figured the useful stuff would probably be behind any of the locked doors, but picking the locks was out of the question. Cameras patrolled every inch of the halls and someone would see him. His outlook not improved by his findings, (or lack thereof), he ate his sandwich in the dining hall in silence, scowling.
Blair walked by at that moment and saw him sitting there, and made his way over. He'd been delving into his new pills and bench pressing in the gym on the third floor, and was feeling untouchable. Tormenting the new guy assassin would be fun.
"Bakura." He said in greeting, flexing his biceps so that the white-haired kid would get a good look at his muscles, which he was exceedingly proud of.
"Idiot." Bakura returned with a nod, and took another bite of hissandwich.
"Hey, do you always have to be so rude to me?"
Bakura chewed thoughtfully. "Yes."
"Where's the respect? I know more about this operation than you ever will."
"Congratulations."
"Doesn't it make you wonder…you know, why you're here? What the boss is planning?"
"No, I'm more the philosophical sort. I spend my time wondering if there really is a God. Cause if there is, he must have been stoned when he created you." Bakura replied. "Then again, if the task fell to me to have to create you, I'd like to get as high as possible beforehand too."
Blair frowned. "I don't like your attitude."
Bakura raised an eyebrow.
"It's about time you learned some respect Uzi-boy. You might have the boss fooled, but I know that you're up to something. I saw you lurking around on the video cameras today. You're trying to find out what's going on in here, aren't you?"
"Maybe." Bakura said with a sly smile.
Jutting out his jaw, Blair contemplated what else to say. Normally people were afraid of him, and yet here Bakura was, calmly eating his lunch and toying with his answers. The assassin seemed to even be enjoying his interrogation.
"Well, you'd better stay in line." Blair finally warned. "Because I'm going to be keeping an eye on you and if you snoop too much, you'll regret it."
"Thanks for the warning."
"Because if I see even one hint that you're out-stepping your place-"
"I got the point." Bakura swallowed his last bite and stood up, clapping Blair on the shoulder. "And it's been wonderful talking to you today, too." He said, turning and walking out the door. Blair frowned after him. Something was going to have to be done about Bakura, he thought. The kid was just too arrogant for comfort.
Bakura figured that Blair was probably going to keep his eye on the video cameras, (wherever the viewing room was, Bakura hadn't figured out yet), so he returned to his room to waste time till nightfall. If he was caught, it would seem suspicious, but there was less a chance of being caught at least. And anyway, maybe he could claim sleepwalking.
At 11:00 pm, Bakura got out of bed and quietly opened his door. The hallway was pitch black except for small red lights along the ceiling, marking the location of smoke detectors, cameras, and a thermostat. He waited till his eyes adjusted to the darkness and started down the hall quietly, tiptoeing down the stairs to the second floor. There were a few lights on through the door to the dining hall, and Bakura decided to avoid it, in case someone was still in there. So he instead took the stairs down to the first floor. It was on that floor, at the far end of one of the halls, hidden around a corner, that he found another staircase he hadn't seen before. He assumed this one must lead to the parking area of the compound, but when he took it, it instead led him to another dark hallway that consisted of only one door.
This hallway was remarkably free of little red lights marking cameras, and it was also free of any windows. The only light came from a white storm light at the end of the short hallway. Bakura wondered if he was underground. Maybe this was a basement. It looked old, the walls and floor were stone instead of plastered, and it was cold. He shivered. Even he, who liked mysterious dark places, got a chill from the one. It felt like the hallway of a prison.
Glancing around, he slunk up to the door and tried the knob. Locked, of course. Fishing into his pocket, he came up with a wire he'd brought along just in case he needed to pick any locks.
Well, I guess this is one thing that Louis came in handy for. He thought as he twitched the wire around inside the keyhole. It had been the chatty college student that had described to Bakura exactly how and where the tumblers in locks were usually located and the wrist movements needed to pick them. Hot-wiring cars, picking locks…Bakura wondered if Lou had ever considered a career in burglary. He'd have to ask him about it the next time he saw him.
With a light click, the knob turned and Bakura slowly pushed the door open, in case it might creak. The door opened silently, and Bakura stepped into the new room, looking around in surprise.
It was full of computers.
Or things that certainly resembled computers anyway, Bakura decided as he took a few steps closer to examine them. An assortment of flashing colored lights provided enough luminescence to see that the boxy structures were certainly some type of technical machinery. On another table sat more average-lookingPCs. The room almost resembled a military-like place.Sort of like the kind that he'd recently seen in a movie about a top-secret government organization, Bakura mused. That was what they reminded him of.
The machines were situated in what looked like a U-shape around the outside of the room, and in the middle was a long table. Bakura walked over to see the table contained stacks of paper. And someone's empty coffee cup, he observed. So this room had obviously been used recently. Picking up one of the papers, he held it to one of the green lights above a button on a computer to try and read it, and happened to raise his eyes to the screen. There, in the reflection off the screen, he could see the open door to the room.
And someone was standing there, silhouetted in it.
Dropping the paper, he spun around to see Blair standing before him, a triumphant look on his face. Before Bakura could move, Blair stepped forward and grabbed the collar of his shirt with a grin. Bakura tried to struggle back, but couldn't move an inch.
This is pathetic, he's only holding me with one hand! Damn steroids. Bakura cursed to himself.
"Well, Uzi-boy, you obviously didn't listen to me at lunch today." Blair said gleefully. "Because you are way out of your line."
To Be Continued…
Author's Notes:
Well, Bakura's really done it now. And it's only the third chapter! That boy sure does know how to find trouble. ::shakes her head:: Is everyone enjoying how the story is heating up? What's up with this mysterious new room, eh? It is a bit confusing, to be sure, but that's good. It's supposed to be confusing! Anyone confused? Or at least curious? Good, that means it's working!
Sorry these are such short chapters, I'm trying to extend the suspense, and doing that means I have to limit the chapters to a certain number of scenes. ::niko:: They will each be about 4 pages in Microsoft word, not counting author's notes. There will of course be a few exceptions, but otherwise, this is about as long as they'll be.
I meant no insult to anyone's religion with that crack about God being stoned above. So if you were going to get all up on your soapbox, please don't, it was just an insult being made toward Blair and Blair alone. And really, the guy needs to be insulted.
Replies!!
Hershey-kiss: Aww, you're special! You know, if it hadn't been for you asking for a Yami/Bakura fic, I might not have decided there was enough support to continue writing this. Yep, it's a ghost fic! Back from the dead end of my Yugioh file! Eek…Bakura's situation is definitely like that, ne? Poor guy, it's not good to be in a no-win situation. Hopefully he and Yami can work things out. You're right, this fic has a lot of moral conflicting issues. Those make for some great sls. Thanks for your input for the survey. ::niko:: I've had little luck in getting people to take my poll, so your contribution definitely helped!
You Know Us: Aww, well, I'm glad Michelle figured out the difference. Bad guys make good targets and good guys…or, semi-good guys at least…make bad targets. Poor Bakura is just stuck in a no-win situation. But that, among other conflicts, makes for some great plot lines, and is the start of a good mystery. ::niko:: Of course, he and Yami's relationship is a big one of those conflicts. Hopefully things will work out for the two of them when all is said and done. But! With many chapters between the end and now, there's much that can be done. Aa, you noticed the facts! I thought you might. Hehe. Good, I'm glad someone got the factual part of it, I feel it my duty to educate readers on Uzis, since they appear so often. ::Uzi enthusiasts unite::
I hope you enjoyed the latest installment...even though I wrote some of it while I was sick. I still am sick, by the way. Bleh. It sucks, and I really hope this cold is gone by my birthday. (The 16th!) Rest assured however that I'll be updating as consistantly as possible. I may switch the updating days from Mondays to Fridays, but that remains to be seen. For now, expect new chapters on Mondays anyway. So, I bid you aideu for now. Have a good week, anddon't get abducted by aliens, I need all the reviews I canget.