A/N: This time they have gone TOO far! ITV, you are going DOWN! Guess what people! The last episode we saw was Joey and Yugi beating the Big Five, today we saw the final episode of Enter the Shadow Realm! That's right! They cut out the duel with Noah AND Gozoburo, AND the semi-finals AND the finals themselves! Oh, and let's not forget that they only showed five episodes of before they got on the blimp in the first place, and that they only showed the conclusion on the Yami/Yami Bakura duel! And the Mai/Marik duel! And, yeah, pretty much everything except the pre-Noah-duel Virtual world arc was cut to pieces. And why did they do this, you ask? To catch up with America and put on the next series, I hear you say? No! So they can put on a double bill of SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS! Oh, the humanity…
Just had to get that off my chest. No more YGO for Waffles… (Sniffle)
Oh, something things I meant to address last chapter, but forgot…:
1. You may remember that in chapter three Mokuba mentioned that he could go to Doug Mitsan's before deciding to go to Ryou's. Well, for those that don't know, he is the father of an OC from my other fic, Azreal/Anna. This fic is Amusing for Inspiration, and yes, this does tie in with it pretty directly. None in the four fics there will one day be with her in them need to be read as a series, they're not even written in the right order, and they can be easily read independently. Basically, after I wrote Amusing I decided that there would be another three fics- This one, a more direct sequel to Amusing and one about their children. So, after It's My Move is all done, we'll go back in time to exactly one year after Amusing for the second adventure of Azreal! In other words, look out for the references various characters will make as to the as of yet un-written fic, and look out for Azreal in later chapters!
2. FAR MORE IMPORTANTLY, (See, the capitals were to get your attention!) You may remember that Jenna said her song was stolen at 'The Leprosy Mission thingy'. For those of you who did not spend four months worth of Tuesday nights, cutting up stamps, let me explain. You should all know what leprosy is; a desise that kills nerves. But did you know that it can cost as little as £10 (About $12 US, if my conversion is correct) to cure someone of Leprosy forever? Leprosy mission is a charity that, by selling USED stamps raises money to help people. You can help just by keeping the stamps off your letters! And right about now, I would have an internet address for you, but I kept the leaflet in my coat pocket and it rained… hee hee hee… But if my good friend Scooby2408, who I know keeps absolutely everything, would be so kind as to send it to me, I can put it up next chapter.
Disclaimer: Nope, nada, nothing.
Review Responses:
Icehaven: Glad you liked it:D Here's the update... and I bet 'Oh crap' would mirror Mokuba's thoughts exactly. Espically after the whole thing with the spanner...
SOS: Hee hee hee... your name spells out SOS! (Sorry, I'm too short on time right now to right out your full name) I fully intend to keep writing, so hang around to see what happens!
Kaibafan101: You think this is 'good work'! WOW! I'm so flattered! (Bounces off walls)
Dragonlady222: I wish I was still in the Virtual World Arc... But I divulge. I also have a confession to make... I love Asimov, esp. I, Robot (Bet I've read it more times then Ryou:P) But I really haven't read much McCaffery: Only The Rowan and part of Dragondawn. You see, I can never find the first book in the Pern series! D'oh. Glad you're enjoying the fic!
Willowwind: I love Dragons! Stupid hobbit kills the dragon...(Has been talking to sisterabout The Hobbit again) You want to know what happened to Seto? Well, here it is! And what is this sleep you speak of...? Meh. I don't seem to have time for it anymore...
Gasp! So many reviews! I could just faint! It makes up even for the stinking GMTV people! I'm so happy, I'll repeat: I could just faint! No, actually, I better post the fic first. But I assure you, there will be much fainting later.
And after what is quite possibly my longest A/N ever, let's FINALLY get on with the fic!
Four: Bettered By a Fool
"Explain."
"Forgive me, Mr Kaiba, but I don't think you're in any position to give orders."
"…I see no possible advantage to you keeping me locked up here. What do you want!"
"As I said, all will be revealed… We are just having a little trouble securing your 'cooperation'."
"What!"
"Yes, it seems that your brother has done a runner. But don't worry, my pet, we'll get him soon."
"No! You said that-"
"And you believed me." He shook his head. "I never thought of you as a fool, Kaiba, but perhaps I need to re-assess that stance…"
"This was not in the deal! You promised to leave him alone!"
He considered the head of Kaiba Corp, head on one side. "You know, desperation is quite befitting to you." He drawled. "But you see, circumstances change. And with little Mokie disappearing…" He paused to give the conclusion more effect. "He is proving quite bothersome." Laughing, the man left. Seto sat back down, smiling grimly. At least Mokuba had run. And, his captor was perfectly right: Circumstances could change, at the blink of an eye.
A fool Kaiba may be, but then, he was playing a fool's game.
And he was not intending to lose.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Seto frowned to himself. They would be there soon. At least Mokuba didn't have to witness it… Even though he was going to have to go along with these psychopaths, it didn't mean he'd have to like it. And it didn't mean he'd have to go along completely unprepared.
He went to a drawer in his desk and pulled out a box of contact lenses- made by KC, of course- and, selecting two, put them in his eyes. Glasses just wouldn't suit him. He glanced at his watch. He had little time left, even provided they turned up traditionally late to let him sweat. There was just one thing left to do…
Seto went to a shelf, and slipped a CD-R from it's sleeve, watching as the disk gleamed in the light. He slipped it into his laptop and twiddled his thumbs as the pre-prepared programs uploaded themselves.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
In the same place, but a world away, Ryou had finally caught up with Mokuba and after a short conversation, the two had made their way up to and into the mansion.
And found nothing.
They sat down on a sofa so squishy that it practically swallowed you, and felt a little disheartened.
"I can't believe that we didn't find anything…" Mokuba sighed. "I know Seto, and I'm sure that he'd have left something…"
The Kaiba mansion was a large place, and they had conducted a through search, so by now it was the early hours of the morning. Ryou ran a hand over his eyes wearily.
"I'm sorry, Mokuba…" He said slowly. "We can't do anything. This is a matter for the Police now."
"What did they ever do for anyone…?" Mokuba replied grumpily.
"We'll see." Ryou replied. "You're welcome to stay with us for a while, and since we're here you may as well go and get some stuff…"
Mokuba nodded and headed up to his room. He must stink, after all that time he'd spent in his school uniform. He pulled on his favourite clothes- a slightly worn pair of jeans and a black tee-shirt with the yellow triple-triangle toxic waste symbol, with the words 'Hazardous Waster' written around it- but somehow they didn't make him feel any better. He felt completely useless, remembering how his brother had helped him in a similar situation. He knew that he had let Seto down… He rubbed his eyes, both from tiredness and to stop the rouge tear and began to distractedly pile things into his rucksack.
He knew something really bad must have happened, otherwise why wouldn't Seto had broken out yet? Was he caught by surprise, or had he been prepared? It was hard to imagine his brother being surprised by anything… was this another unfathomable plan? After all, you never knew just what Seto was getting up to on that laptop.
Mokuba slapped his forehead. Then he shoved the shirt into his rucksack and tried again. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before! He ran back down the stairs.
"Ryou!" he shouted, on the way past the room the guy was currently inhabiting "I have an idea! C'mon!" He continued down the hall, Ryou appearing behind him a moment later.
"What's the matter?" Ryou asked blearily, shaking his head. He'd managed to doze off in the few moments Mokuba had spent upstairs.
"Seto's office!" Mokuba said. "We didn't check it! His laptop!"
"But Kaiba makes the best security measures in the world…" Ryou began in confusion. "And if he's the same as when I knew him, he wouldn't hesitate to use it on something so important…"
Mokuba pushed open the office doors. "Seto is the only one who can make such secure settings…" He said "And only I can break them."
They entered the dark room, and when Ryou located and flicked the switch, it was bathed in an unobtrusive light. And they could see the well-organised office was as well organised as ever, except for a bedraggled potted plant that had tipped over and was spreading soil all over the carpet, and among that soil lay Seto's laptop, the keyboard almost completely ripped away, the screen cracked and broken, plasma and soil oozing from it like blood.
"No way…" Mokuba said in disbelief, picking up the remnants.
"Could it be fixed…?" Ryou asked uncertainly. It looked pretty totalled to him.
"Yes." Mokuba sighed. "But it'd be easier just to get a new one, including getting everything on it back." He took the broken shards of laptop, the keyboard dropping letters even as he moved it, and laid them on Seto's desk.
"Do you want to try and clean up in here?" Ryou asked hesitantly.
"No. We have more important things to do." Mokuba said in determination. "We need to get at Seto's files."
"But the laptop…" Ryou began, his sleep-deprived brain sluggish.
"Just because the laptop's gone doesn't mean the files are. This is Seto, after all." Mokuba said, smiling grimly. "Give me time and a decent internet connection, and we may just have something…"
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
These two people were even more stupid and thug like then he expected. They came in, obviously wanting a fight but not expecting one. He could tell by the way they slammed through doors, and by the way they swaggered. They were completely self-assured. They thought they were in control.
"No need for a fight!" Seto cried, holding up his hands as they entered "I don't want any trouble!"
"Well, Mr Kaiba, I'm afraid you're up to your scrawny little neck in it." One tittered idiotically "But don't worry. You behave yourself, and we'll be gentle…"
Seto sighed despondently. "I guess I don't have any choice." He said, downcast.
"That's right." Thug number two sneered. "This is why you shouldn't get yourself involved with the big guns. It's a cruel world for a weakling like you." He gestured at the door "Now, get out of here."
Seto hid a smirk and picked up his laptop. He wasn't as helpless as he pretended.
"What's that?" Thug one asked suspiciously.
"My laptop!" Seto replied, doing his best to sound like a pompous fool "Surely you can't expect me to go without it!"
"Can't you do better then that?" Thug one asked, snatching the laptop. "What a weak attempt." He threw the laptop down and he and his friend proceeded to stamp all over it, till even the robust little gadget gave one last whine and died, it's plasma screen cracked and broken, it's keyboard ripped away.
"My laptop!" Seto yelled. "How could you!" He glared at them.
"Ooh…" The Thug One mocked. "You're getting angry. I'm so scared…"
Under normal circumstances, Seto thought, you would be.
"Now move it!" As Seto did so, silently and with as much dignity as he could muster, the guy continued. "You smarts don't realise." He said "At the end of the day, brains will get you nowhere. It's strength!" He flexed his muscles, managing to knock over a plant pot. Seto snorted. Slightly abated, the Thug continued none the less as they headed down stairs. "You're smart and all, but one day, you're gonna get your teeth kicked in and that'll be the end of you!" He laughed raucously as his partner, also laughing, roughly shoved the 'defenceless' Seto into the back of a waiting car. "Look at you!" The Thug snarled, sounding almost disgusted "All that clever talk and threats, it ent got you nowhere! You're defenceless and pathetic! I was rather disappointed…" This guy really likes the sound of his own voice. Seto thought wryly. "After everything I've heard, I expected more fight from Seto Kaiba."
Seto remained silent. After all, the fight had not yet even begun. So he would stay silent, biding his time.
Then, when everything reached a climax, he would strike.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It was getting quite late in the day by the time he got access to Seto's files. As soon as he was in, Mokuba's hand shot out, stopping the clock next to him. It had taken him three hours and 26 minutes. A new record. The desperation must have helped- Last time it took him almost five hours, most of the day.
You see, it was almost a competition between the two brothers. Mokuba would try to get past Seto's newest virtual defences, so Seto would improve them, so Mokuba would break them… Sometimes it took his days, managing it step by step, but if he did it straight through, as he had done now, it still took him hours on end.
And if he managed to do it in under an hour before the end of the year, Seto would owe him a lot of money.
But that didn't matter right now.
Mokuba looked over his shoulder, to where Ryou had fallen asleep again. He didn't have much of his year out left, and Mokuba found himself wondering just how many times Jenna and Ryou had been jet-lagged. No wonder he was so tired all the time.
He mentally debated weather or not to wake him, before deciding not to. Usually, not even he was aloud to look at Seto's files, (This was the point where his brother would intervene on the little hacking exercise.) so Mokuba was sure his brother wouldn't want Ryou to see them. This was something Mokuba would have to do on his own.
Sorry Seto, he thought as he began to scan down the file titles for something that looked relevant But let's see just what you're getting up to…
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Jenna glanced up at the clock on the wall. They'd been gone for hours, and she was beginning to get worried. It was impossible to concentrate on anything. So now it was time to do something.
Grimly, she pulled on her coat and slipped Ryou's keys into her pocket, trying to figure out what she was going to do. She'd have to head up to the Kaiba mansion, wherever it was- but c'mon, seriously, how many mansions could there be in a little town like this?- and if they weren't there…
Well, she'd figure that one out later.
She reached up to open the door when the buzzer went. She flinched a little, startled, but opened the door anyway.
She just had time to register the two men before something was pressed to her face, heavy and damp. Some sort of a cloth. She gasped in surprise, and even as she inhaled she recognised the smell of the chemical from the back streets of her home town. But it was too late. She toppled forward with a strange kind of grace.
"It's not him!" One guy said "And it ent the kid either!"
The other man swore. "You don't say. Well? What are you going to do about it?"
"What can we do?" He responded. "The boss wanted that other guy!"
"I know that, idiot!" The one that was obviously in charge replied, hitting him round the head. "But he's not here, and we can't ask him where the runt is if he ain't here!"
"I guess not…"
"So, here's what we do…" He began. "We take the girlie and give him a message he won't forget…" He laughed. The other one blinked.
"I'm not kidnapping no girl!" He insisted. "Especially not a pretty one!"
"Well, would you rather go back to the boss empty handed?" The other demanded. "Besides, if I'm right, the fact that she is pretty will help us immensely… After all, what's her boyfriend gonna do to get her back?"
"Oh, I get ya now…" The other giggled. "Fine. Let's give him a message he won't forget!"
The two men laughed and stepped inside the flat, dragging the limp girl in after them. So what if they'd got the wrong person? Maybe she could be equally useful, in questioning and as a little… bait.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
"Found anything?" Ryou asked suddenly from behind him, nearly giving Mokuba a heart attack. He seemed to have a habit of doing that, approaching quietly and sneaking up on people.
"It's defiantly something…" Mokuba replied, trying to work out the lines of program code on the screen. "But I don't know what… It could be nothing."
"Or it could be something." Ryou pointed out.
"There's got to be some way to run the program and find out what it does…" Mokuba muttered. "But I can't figure it out…"
He had found the strange code inside a countless folders- he had had to open folder after folder after folder to find the strange, untitled document with nothing but a line of code. He felt sure it was some sort of computer code, but what sort he did not know or recognise. And he had no idea how to start to figure it out.
"You'll get it." Ryou said encouragingly "You are a Kaiba after all."
Mokuba nodded. He was a Kaiba, and the only person in the world to date who had broken Seto's computer security measures. If anyone could do it, it would be him.
There was something familiar about the code… he just had to remember where he'd seen it before…
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
The elder Kaiba's eyes gave away nothing as he glanced at the girl that had been thrown in the cell with him. He had no idea who she was, nor did he particularly care. But then…
After a very boring weekend of only talking to his captor once, being knocked out once, and spending the rest of his time in a cell, Seto had been about to escape. However, as he still had no way to know what these people wanted from him, and therefore didn't as of yet know how to crush them, perhaps it would be worth waiting. And it seemed they were determined to bring his brother, and whoever this girl was, into the whole affair.
So maybe it was worth hanging around for a little longer.
It looked like things were about to get interesting.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A/N: Whooo! Just got it done in time! I know, I know it was short… But I've had exams all week. I got up at 6:40 am on a SATURDAY to write get this done! So, apologises, but give me a break!
Join me next Saturday for chapter five!