The 17th approached faster than Kaiba would've liked.

He'd managed to keep Mokuba home with Isono and added muscle, but he still had to show his face and pretend like nothing was wrong.

Yami had given him an earbud and instructed him not to wear it unless he was absolutely in danger. He was apparently coordinating a safety effort from somewhere outside the building.

The girl cop Anzu had come by the day before to check in on them, and he'd seen Yami returning the box of blueprints to her. They were obviously friends. He'd even caught her smiling at him for a second too long. Definitely friends.

Kaiba stayed by the wall, trying to be invisible and trying not to appear on edge while he gripped the wine glass, watching people mill about before him. Yami had instructed him not to eat or drink anything. He'd been fed and watered beforehand to ensure he wouldn't go hungry, and he was too nauseous to eat anyway.

He was on high alert for any of the faces he'd seen in the mugshots.

He'd memorized all possible escape routes leading to potential hiding spots.

His own security team was on standby, driving the fastest, most armored cars he owned, and he was armed with a tiny pistol tucked against his upper left hip.

He was as ready as he could be.

"Mr. Kaiba…" A woman's voice edged silkily through his left ear, and Kaiba tensed. N o p e.

Yami had said to trust no one, he would trust no one.

"Hey. I'm a friend. Will you put on a nicer face?" The woman snapped, and Kaiba turned to face her with an impassive blink. She was a beautiful blond with her hair curled to perfection, and her lips glittered with a shiny gloss while her breasts were pushed up distractingly high in her black dress.

Yami did not mention any friends would be approaching him. He would ignore her.

He turned to face the crowd again and felt a cool hand on his elbow that made his stomach clench with annoyance.

"Mr. Moneybags, take me seriously or I won't help you when the bullets start flying," she muttered under her breath, her tone changing drastically. "I'm risking my life for this shit."

"I don't know you. Fuck off," Kaiba whispered through gritted teeth, and she whispered back to him with equal ferocity, "Wish I could. Now play nice. You can call me Mai. I'm your plus one. Pretend we know each other."

Nope. Kaiba thought mildly as he let her hang onto his arm, thinking to use her as a human meat shield when the bullets did start flying. The urge to take the earpiece out of his inner pocket and shove it into his ear to confirm with Yami was high, but he held out.

That earbud was for emergencies.

He'd stayed against the back wall and away from the social crowds in the middle of the ballroom as Yami had instructed, and still he was being preyed on.

Anzu had passed him twice while making her rounds through the room, and that didn't put Kaiba at ease. To make matters worse, a man had spotted the woman on his arm and had come zeroing in on her, practically drooling while he bowed to introduce himself loudly, "HEYA! I'm Joey! I gotta know your name. And wow, I love your dress! What's the maker?"

And the man straightened up out of the bow to blink expectantly, completely unfazed by the disgusted look Mai gave him, and Kaiba felt the corners of his mouth curling upwards.

Let the show begin.

Horny man meets out-of-his-league woman.

"I'm taken," Mai said aggressively, hooking her arm harder through Kaiba's elbow, and Kaiba stiffened.

"No she's not," Kaiba replied, daring to speak a bit louder to be heard over the chatter echoing in the ballroom, and Mai flushed dark red, elbowing him, hard, and then leaning into him with too much force while laughing insincerely.

"Myhusband is a hilarious joker," Mai added poisonously, and Kaiba opened his mouth to retaliate in fury when the blond named Joey cut across him first.

"Yer married?!" Joey slapped a hand comically to his face and then winced. "Ow. I-I mean…huge fan, mister Kaiba. I follow your everything, so I didn't hear nothin' about a marriage. Wow. Hey, does your secret boyfriend know about this?!"

Kaiba blinked.

W-What?! This guy wasn't talking about Yami, was he?!

But if he knew about Yami, whose side was he on?

Didn't matter. Trust no one.

This woman also claimed to know Yami.

At this rate, the entire room could claim to know Yami and he still wouldn't trust them.

"Ha, ha, fuck off." Mai replied coldly, dropping the sweet pretense completely. "Don't make inappropriate jokes. Move along, boxed-dye blondie. Not interested."

"My hair'sa naturally dis color," Joey replied with a shrug, holding his hand out boldly with his fingertips outstretched. "Can I escort ya to the drink table?"

"Married." Mai growled, holding up the back of her hand to show off a thin, golden band, her top lip curling so much with disdain, Kaiba almost let out a laugh.

"But ta who?" Joey asked with his eyebrows raised in confusion, then pulling out his phone from the inside of a stiff blazer pocket. "Lemme google it! What's yer last name?! Girls try to trick me like this all the time! I won't fall fer it. I know Mr. Kaiba ain't married! I'm a superfan, remember?"

Nice, Kaiba thought plainly, wondering where Yami was and if he was watching this interesting show from afar, because it was getting good.

Yami wasn't watching, but he heard Anzu notify him quietly in his left ear about it.

"Hey, did you put someone on the CEO? A woman is on his arm acting familiar."

Pausing for breath in the stairwell, Yami shifted the straps of the case higher on his shoulder while his heart sank.

"No. I didn't," he replied, and there was a brief pause before Anzu answered, "Alright. I'll put Joey over there and have his button cam facially scan her."

Perfect, Yami growled to himself as he continued climbing up the steps, feeling the wind ruffling his hair as he got higher and higher in the building, hating how his stomach was doing horrible churns the more Anzu gave him terrible updates.

"…Joey can't get her name, Kaiba visibly annoyed…"

"She claimed they're married… Joey is on the superfan angle, hope we can pull her away…"

"I'll try to approach and see what I can do."

I'll have eyes inside soon, Yami thought as he huffed and climbed higher, knowing he could trust Joey to take care of Kaiba. That agent was more than he appeared, making him a great weapon.

"MR. KAIBA?! Oh my gosh! I'm such a huge fan!" Anzu broke into their circle and elbowed Joey aside, breathlessly holding out the back of her phone and a marker. "Please sign my phone! Please! I just bought it. I love it!"

She gave the blond woman on Kaiba's arm a pointed look and changed her tone dramatically. "And who are you?" And she made sure to lower her gaze to the woman's ample cleavage, feeling Joey elbowing her back to stand in front of her to also stare rudely at her chest.

"Who cares. Hey, can ya sign my tie?" Joey asked loudly, pulling up his tie where the golden tie clip shone ominously with a black diamond on the end, and Kaiba realized with a jolt that it was a camera. Oh. Shit….

This guy was an agent.

He was with Anzu.

The woman on his arm was a parasite.

They were both trying to tell him that.

He yanked his arm out of her grip so fast, he almost spilled the wine in his other hand. Anzu perceptively took it from him and placed her phone in his palm with the marker, her eyes narrowed as she smiled through gritted teeth, "I'm honored…."

"No fair!" Joey cried, shooting his arm out to snatch the phone and marker out of Kaiba's hand to quickly undo his tie and bunching it into Kaiba's outstretched hand, "please sign the back'a dis!"

"It's cloth! It'll bleed and look ugly!" Mai snapped, swiping the tie out of Kaiba's hand and Kaiba tensed. Hey now, that thing had a button cam on it.

Did she really want it?!

"Nah I don't care," Joey shrugged as he pushed Anzu aside and draped his arm intrusively around Kaiba's shoulders, feeling the CEO tense, but he pushed on with his script. "Letssgo geta drinky drink. I wanna pick yer brain about computers!"

Gladly, Kaiba thought darkly as he let the annoying cop drag him away from the blonde woman who was obviously fuming at having lost him.

"Darling, do you know him? Let's not," Mai said as she stuck resolutely by his side, and Kaiba bit the inside of his cheek, understanding a few things about his situation.

Mai would not leave him alone.

Which meant this cop, Joey, would not leave him alone.

He was stuck with these two until they got shot or something.

"Listen lady, I dunno who you think you are, but I know Mr. Kaiba personally, okay? So back off," Joey circled around Kaiba's front to step intrusively into Mai's face. "He's mine."

The woman was slightly taller than Joey because of her heels, and she glared down her nose at him while Kaiba took a tiny step back, feeling a real fight brewing between them. Maybe this was what the cop was aiming for. Big fight, get her thrown out of the event. Easy.

"What makes you say that, Atem? The stupid act really doesn't suit you," the woman said icily, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring haughtily. "I have a message and it's 'lay off the CEO' or it's open season on you too. Again."

"Whoa. What?" Joey tilted his head in confusion and took a nervous step back. "Why'd you think that's my name?! I just introduced myself—"

She doesn't know what Yami looks like! Danger! Kaiba bit the inside of his cheek and was about to ditch them and run when she clung onto his arm again, hissing at Joey, "can't you let me have this one? I'll give it back in good condition!"

Joey blinked once and changed his act so fast, Kaiba was disturbed. The cop hung off his other arm and said loudly, "why would I pass up private time with a smart and handsome guy? You can have'im when I'm done."

Oh. My god. Let me leave! Kaiba cried as he felt himself sweating into the thin protective vest he was wearing underneath all his clothes.

Yami had better be watching this!

"Status update please," Anzu muttered as she watched heads begin to turn in Kaiba and Joey's direction, and her earpiece was silent, giving her a brief pang of anxiety before Yami's deep voice replied, "I have eyes. And I see the issue. That is Mai Valentine."

Anzu grit her teeth and sent that info in a quick text to her team while Yami elaborated,"she grifts for fun and might be unaware of the rare hunters scouting this event too. My encounter with her was through a phone, encrypted with my voice disguised. I'd say we are cordial acquaintances."

Atem is good...friends…with Mai Valentine, Anzu wrote in her message and sent it to her team, seeing Joey frantically dig his phone out and read it obviously while Mai continued trying to pull Kaiba away from Joey.

"C'mon, ditch this loser. There's nothing good about him," Mai said, her frustration at an all-time high. "Let's—"

And she froze oddly when she saw a familiar face wheeling a catering cart into the ballroom, laden with small appetizers, so Kaiba followed her gaze, his blood running cold when he faintly recognized a rare hunter's face from Yami's clever mug shot game.

Oh.

Shit.

Joey was the only one still talking loudly beside him, "hey, whatcha guys wanna eat? Oooo they got those tiny stuffed mushrooms!"

Probably poisoned, Kaiba thought as he watched the color drain from Mai's face, and she whipped her head around to glance at the stairway exit just as another waitstaff man wheeled a cart full of small cakes to block that door.

Joey fell silent when he noticed this too, and heart sank when he noticed similar serving carts lined up against the windows, with waitstaff standing behind each one with a wide-legged stance, realizing they were boxed in.

C-Crud….

"Bathroom," Mai said instantly, and she left Kaiba's side to hurry to the ballroom's double wide doors which were closed and guarded by two waitstaff, and Kaiba broke out into a sweat for real.

In Yami's scenarios, he'd detailed parts of the building to hide in. Never in his planning did he say he would be locked in one main room and treated as live target practice.

"C'mon, let's get away from the windows," Joey muttered, and his phone buzzed. He dug it out with sweaty hands, pressing it to his ear without even looking at the caller ID.

"Yello'." He answered, and there was the sound of rushing wind in the receiver before Yami's voice sounded in his ear.

"Tell Kaiba, earpiece in. Hand the phone to the woman and stay away from all the service carts. There's an earpiece for you in the men's bathroom under the hand dryer slot. I know Anzu doesn't have you on the same one because you're on the floor. Please get it."

Joey blinked and nodded, stepping away from Kaiba to obey, but felt the CEO grab him by the elbow and hiss, "where the fuck do you think you're going?"

Joey grimaced and replied smoothly, "bathroom, and your boyfriend says earpiece in. See ya."

Stunned, Kaiba composed himself and dug his earpiece out to slip it in, keeping an eye on Joey who approached the woman who was facing off with the waitstaffer who was blocking the exit.

"Why can't we leave? I left something in my car," Mai said icily as the annoying blond man from before approached her with a phone in his hand, and she turned to snap at him, "not interested. How many times do I have to tell you—

"You won a sweepstakes," Joey said seriously, waving the phone fast so the screen became a blur. "It might be a scam though 'cuz it's a private number and the guy sounds like a robot on the other end."

Mai understood in a split second and swiped the phone out of Joey's hand, seeing the CEO obviously put an earbud in his ear, and her heart stopped for a full second. A deep voice echoed through the receiver over the sounds of traffic noise, "Mai, it's me, Atem. Stop hanging off my clients. You're in danger, so return the phone to the cop and get the earbud I have prepared for you out of the women's restroom."

Mai didn't even blink before shoving the phone back in Joey's hand and marching away with a huff.

Kaiba watched her go and heard Yami's voice in his ear, instructing him to stay calm and then going silent the moment someone took to the stage to tap the microphone to make an announcement.

The man on stage talked but Kaiba heard none of it, only seeing Anzu, Joey, and a few other agents rushing to apprehend the waitstaff who were all standing dutifully behind the service carts.

The scuffles did not go unnoticed, and Kaiba held his breath, watching one rare hunter attempt to spit at a cop but was promptly tasered. The man crumpled with a muffled shout, and his body disappeared from view as he fell underneath the serving tables.

Anzu dashed to the stage to wrench the mic away from the man, looking a bit disheveled while she pointed at the door, panting, "everyone out. Single file down the stairs to the basement. Let's go." And she held up the shiny police badge that was hanging from around her neck.

Kaiba grimaced and saw a couple of his security guys enter the ballroom, and he silently followed them out, grateful that the evacuation was calm and coordinated. Uneventful.

Not performed under a hailstorm of bullets.

The stairwell door was opened for him, and he heard many footsteps pattering behind him as other guests filed into line behind him.

The glass windows they passed gave Kaiba supreme anxiety.

Yami had detailed in his plans that he should spend as little time in the stairwell as possible because it was a choke point.

He was beginning to feel claustrophobic.

With a crowd of guests behind him and his security men in front, he felt like he was leading all the other VIPs to their doom.

There was a shout behind him and a burst of rushing footsteps, "prime minister coming through! Excuse us! Step aside!"

In this one stairwell? Come on, Kaiba wrinkled his nose and was about to step aside when Yami instructed him not to move.

"Get in their way, Seto. Seven seconds. Six…

Five…"

A burly security guard pushed him aside so hard, his shoulder hit the wall, and Kaiba let out a pained hiss, gritting his teeth and hearing Yami still counting down, skipping a number while he praised him.

"Four… three…. good… one."

And a sharp clack! hit the window an arm's length away, crippling a masked man square in the neck while he ran up the steps wielding a knife.

Horrified, Kaiba pressed himself tighter against the wall while the man's dying gurgles blended in with the shrill cries of panic from the other guests. The masked man crumpled at the base of the stairs at the foot of the security detail's boots, and the prime minister was made to step around the bleeding body while they went back up the steps, passing Kaiba again, all their faces pale with fear.

"Idiots," Kaiba heard Yami mutter in his ear, and then another command. "Walk down three flights and stay on the fifth-floor lobby. You're safe."

Cool, Kaiba thought cheerfully as he took a long stride over the man's lifeless body, completely unfazed but hearing everyone whimpering and crying out behind him, "Mr. Kaiba! That way is dangerous! Let's head back up!"

Kaiba tilted his head to look behind his shoulder through the burly silhouettes of his security team, hearing Yami's answer first.

"Three hostile targets coming down from the eighth floor—Anzu take the elevator—Kaiba, move! Get out of the stairwell!"

"What about everyone else?" Kaiba dared to ask, holding his breath while hearing his heart thundering in his ears.

"Leave them!" Came Yami's snarl, then a cold pause. "... Really? ... Fuck. Fine. Then you owe me, Anzu. Kaiba fifth floor, now, and take the others with you!"

Kaiba raised his arm and waved to the trembling group of finely-dressed guests on the steps above him, "Come if you want to stay alive! Stairwell is a death zone. "

And he hurried down the rest of the steps, hearing a crescendo of running people following him while his security flanked him tightly as they burst into the fifth-floor lobby which was eerily quiet.

Not even the front desk had an attendant.

"Stay along the walls in the hallway, don't stand in the middle like ducks." Yami's voice in his ear sent a wave of relief down his legs, and he relayed this quickly to the group, "He says fan out and hug the walls! Don't be sitting ducks in the middle of the floor—!"

The words had barely left his mouth when two mask wearing individuals carrying large semi-automatic guns burst out of the elevator, and Kaiba froze in fear.

Ho-ly-sh-it.

This was Yami's idea of a safe zone?!

"Run to the end of the hall! Stay to the right side of the window!" Yami sounded scared for the first time in his ear, and Kaiba didn't hesitate to turn on his heel and sprint down the hallway behind him, hearing the two men shouting after him, "that's Seto Kaiba! Get him!"

Kaiba reached the end of the hall, seeing nothing but the glittering view of Domino city beyond, obscured by the ugly construction building and a half empty parking lot below.

This was a shitty view to gaze upon when dying….

"Sit down and face them," Yami instructed, so Kaiba held his hands up defensively and slowly slid into a sitting position against the window, watching the men advancing on him with their guns raised, but both of their safeties were on.

"Seto Kaiba, come with us," the masked man on the left said, and Kaiba only had to blink once, hear the telltale clack! hit the glass behind him, and then both assailants crumpled to the ground after dropping their guns, twitching violently while they suffered brain hemorrhages from the bullets that ripped through their skulls.

"16," came a mutter in his ear, and Kaiba stayed sitting, his body growing hot with fear.

"Seto, stay down—what?! Which elevator?"

Kaiba didn't move, still watching the two men twitching on the ground before him while puddles of blood pooled out from underneath their heads.

Yami was having a shouting conversation without turning off their earbud connection, and Kaiba winced, his left eardrum aching.

"If I head down there, I lose this advantageous position! Your life isn't worth anything to me! …Who are you?…Anzu's Delta Leader? ….I don't care."

Yikes, Kaiba muttered, and he saw the blonde woman from earlier come stalking out of the elevator doors and make a beeline for him, yammering to herself before he realized… She was talking into an earpiece too.

"Hey babe! I've got Mr. Moneybags here, so come extract us! I'm not leaving this floor until you personally get us out of here!" She cried, standing before the cracked window in a wide-legged stance, poking a finger into the shattered hole before withdrawing her hand to wave enthusiastically. "Yoo hoo! I see youuu! Come get us!"

Kaiba whipped his head around to stare at the dark construction site, expecting Yami to be perched on the roof, or in one of the tarp-covered floors, but he saw nothing but dark levels of concrete.

Where was he?!

Confused, Kaiba followed Mai's gaze and saw her waving to a figure perched on their stomach in the bridge of the crane, wedged between the geometric slats with the unmistakable silhouette of a long-ranged rifle peeking out from the tip.

HOLY FUCK! Kaiba gaped.

The figure at the tip of the crane stood up and threw their arms up in exasperation, followed by Yami's voice in his ear, "fine. Hold yourselves over until I can get inside and get you both out."

"Thanks love," Mai said sweetly, and she quickly reached down to grab Kaiba by the arm, yanking him to his feet. "Come on MoneyMaker. We'll wait behind the front desk for cover."

Stunned speechless, Kaiba stepped around the bodies and walked past several groups of cowering people until they got to the front desk and sat down behind the darkened computers.

"Let's get under the desk, and don't peek up my skirt you pervert," Mai said calmly, wheeling the chair back and folding herself underneath the counter's edge with her legs tucked underneath her neatly.

Numb with shock, Kaiba could only follow suit and listen to the commotion that erupted in the lobby once the elevator doors slid open again. Sounds of scuffling, fighting, and then scared people whispering and yelling, "don't hurt us! Please!"

Kaiba gripped his knees, hating everything while he listened to a guy give orders in a rough, grating voice, "move out! Get the bodies! If you see Atem, kill him on sight!"

Mai drummed her manicured fingers against her bare thigh, completely unfazed, and Kaiba felt his throat constricting. God this was agonizing….

The elevator doors closed, and the crushing silence that followed made Kaiba's teeth ache.

But finally, his earbud blessed him with the sweet relief of Yami's commanding voice. "Status and location?"

"Alive, not hurt. I am unarmed, with Seto Kaiba beside me under the front desk on the 5th floor, love." Mai replied just as the elevator doors pinged softly and slid open.

Kaiba kept his head ducked under the desk, hating the humiliating position but there was nothing he could do.

Yami had instructed him not to fight back until the very last second, until a gun was at his temple, which he assured him would never happen.

And yet, he found himself doubting that the moment he saw three figures dressed in all black, in hoods, gloves, and masks come circling the lobby desk, towering over them with matching heavy boots, with the tallest one, the leader, pointing a gun at him with a black, gloved hand.

"Seto Kaiba. Get up." In a gruff, heavy, accented voice.

Great.

Perfect.

Nothing he could do other than stand slowly while the other two hooded, masked freaks handcuffed him and pushed him into the elevator, with Mai huffing irritably behind him, trying to reason with them.

"Boys, come on, darlings. I don't look good in silver—that better be sterling silver, or my wrists will turn green—HEY! Ow!"

She was shoved into the corner of the elevator beside him and Kaiba grimaced, trying not to panic.

The silence was heavy as they rode down to the ballroom floor and were marched down a wide hallway. He was pushed roughly in through double-wide doors leading into a large meeting room, where other people were sitting stiffly in their chairs with a masked murderers standing behind them, each with a weapon pointed at the backs of their chairs.

Unnerved and wondering where Yami was, Kaiba was shoved into the nearest seat and he heard the gun clicking when it was raised and poked into the mesh backing of his chair.

Fuck. Great.

Mai was forced to sit on the ground by the wall beside other women, and Kaiba's eye twitched. Only men were sitting at the table.

Women got a free pass.

Unfortunately, Anzu was also handcuffed on the ground beside other disheveled female agents, unable to help anyone.

But what concerned him more was that this room didn't have windows.

But Yami said he was coming inside…

A man at the head of the long table lowered his hood and tore off his mask with a deranged smile, his scraggly white-blond hair falling down his shoulders while he grinned at everyone before him.

The leader, Marik, Kaiba kept his face impassive when he recognized the man from Yami's mugshot match up.

"So, I'd like to think I'm fair," Mario drawled, gazing into every terrified face while he sat down in his chair with a flourish, throwing his arms out to the wide while the men at his sides raised their weapons, and everyone at the table except for Kaiba, flinched.

Marik zeroed in on him and said directly to the CEO, "when I'm being fair, I like to give reasons for why I act the way I do. Any retaliation, Seto Kaiba?"

Gee are they going to be my last words? Kaiba blinked and shook his head tightly.

Yami said don't provoke.

He wouldn't provoke.

"No, no you misunderstand me," Marik said with a maddening grin. "Say what's on your mind. I'm the most receptive to feedback when I'm like this." And he waved his hand to make the men at his sides lower their guns.

Kaiba's mouth went dry when all eyes turned to him, and he wondered if he should shake his head again when Marik threatened him with a dangerous gleam in his eye.

"Speak! You corporate pig."

Kaiba clenched his teeth, his ears ringing at being so casually called a corporate pig, but he swallowed his pride and spoke up steadily, "just because you're explaining your reasons doesn't make you correct. What do you really want? Stop wasting our time."

"Ha! This one is fun, I see why Atem kept him alive. Quick, say something else funny!" And Marik clasped his hands under his chin with a glowing smile, making Kaiba's stomach churn.

"Let the women go," Kaiba tried, and he received a round of cold chuckles from all the men holding guns standing behind their chairs.

"Nope, they all carry badges. They're not allowed to leave," Marik replied calmly, receiving an electronic pad that was passed to him which he set on the table and began scrolling, reading aloud, "anyway! Down to real business. Ryuji Tanaka, there's a hit out for you because you embezzled 140 million and they've calculated your life to be worth less than that. You're first."

Kaiba could only blink twice, helpless while he watched a hooded man step up behind one of the businessmen sitting stiffly in his seat. The poor man began to beg for his life but didn't get three words out before he was silenced with three muffled shots to the temple.

The man slumped over the table, twitching in after-death motions while the surrounding men let out frightened gasps and leaned away.

Frozen to his seat, Kaiba realized he was in real trouble.

Where was Yami?

Did he fail to get in?!

"Next up," Marik said happily as he gave the pad a scroll. "Matsuda—oh I forgot to give praise. That was 20 million, easy money, my brave and useful Rare Hunter."

The man standing behind the dead body bowed stiffly, and Kaiba heard Anzu let out a yell, "stop it! Once our backup arrives, you're fucked. I say run now, Marik."

The white-blond man sneered at her and pointed at the hooded figure standing nearest to her. "Make her be quiet."

Kaiba blinked rapidly, his heart rate increasing when he saw the hooded figure raise the gun and point it directly between her eyes.

Anzu glared challengingly back at the masked figure, fearless, and Kaiba had to admire her courage there, knowing if it were him, he'd be forehead-to-the-ground, begging not to be shot.

Author's note:

cliffhanger pls dont kill-