Chapter 5

Tristan opened the door just enough for him to peek through it. The two guards were just coming back up the stairs. 'Great, just great. One guard was bad enough, how could I possibly get passed these two guards?'

A ton of thoughts were racing through his mind. He could try to fight his way passed them. Though with how muscular they were and their walkie-talkies in arms reach, all that would accomplish would be his capture or getting beaten up. He could try throwing another coin to try and divert them. Unfortunately the two guards would now be at a position where they would be able to see the coin travel much better, enabling them to possibly notice the coin rolling from behind them. He could even look in that closet he had imprisoned the Breaker in earlier. But if the Breaker woke up, he would be in big trouble.

Then inspiration struck. He turned around and saw exactly what he had hoped for, a window with a fire escape on it. He could use the fire escape to climb up and reach the third floor. However, this was also a risky move. If anyone was in the room where the window above the fire escape would lead to he would be caught, captured and maybe outnumbered. Yet despite how risky the plan was, it was by far the best course of action.

He approached the window, opened it and squeezed through it to reach the fire escape. Then he quietly walked to the ladder and climbed upward on it. In a minute, he reached the top of the ladder and landed on the next fire escape. He peeked into the window. No one was inside so he checked to see if it was locked. It wasn't, he opened the window and squeezed inside the room through the window.

Once inside he hurried to the door and opened it just enough to look out of it. What he saw almost made him pass out. The door led to a hallway similar in design as the one on the second floor branching to the left and right, a stairway slightly to his left, and the door farthest from Tristan to the right was labeled with the room number 368B. Unfortunately though, the man who had been called Jeremiah was still guarding the door.

'Always some kind of a problem.' Tristan thought, trying to come up with the best course of action. Then it came to him. He reached in his pocket for a coin, hoping to try and fool Jeremiah like he had fooled the two Breakers earlier. 'Yes! One coin left.' He peeked through the door again. Jeremiah wasn't looking in his direction, so if he timed it just right he'd be able to throw the coin without being caught. He took a deep breath and threw the coin at the stairs then closed the door.

Though he couldn't see it, he heard Jeremiah stand and walk to the stairs. "Who's there?" he asked in a commanding tone.

No one answered.

Closer now, Jeremiah called again. "Who's there?"

No one answered again.

This time Jeremiah called from right in front of the door Tristan was behind. "I'm not in the mood for games, who's there? Speak now!"

At that, Tristan swung the door wide open. The door crashed into Jeremiah, sending him flying. In seconds, Tristan was out of the room and on top of him. He rustled the walkie talkie out of Jeremiah's belt and elbowed Jeremiah's head as he turned. With a thud Jeremiah hit the ground and didn't move.

Now Tristan was panting. He took the walkie talkie and ran to the door labeled 368B. Tristan could only give a sarcastic laugh. The door needed a key card to open. 'Figures.'

He walked back to Jeremiah and felt his pockets. No card of any kind.

Now Tristan was worried. 'How can I possibly get in there? This guy may've been guarding Mokuba, but he doesn't have a-" A yellow card caught Tristan's attention through the corner of his right eye. Somehow it had fallen out of Jeremiah's pocket. He hurried to the card and slid it through the slot on the door. The key card placement gave a short beep and Tristan opened the door. Inside a windowless room at the far wall stood Mokuba. "Mokuba." Tristan said.

Mokuba turned to face Tristan. He looked as if he had just stopped crying. Yet upon seeing Tristan, his sad face turned into a smiling and ecstatic one. "Tristan!" He ran to Tristan and hugged him. "How did you find me?" He asked happily.

"It's a long story," Tristan replied. "But we'll talk about it later. Let's go!"

Mokuba nodded in excited agreement. Suddenly his face turned from ecstatic to alarmed. "Tristan, behind you!"

Tristan turned just in time to see Jeremiah groggily stand up and walk to the stairs.

"He's going to rat us out." Mokuba said.

"Not if I can help it." Tristan ran to Jeremiah and got his arm ready to punch.

But before Tristan could get to him, Jeremiah called down the stairs. "Intruder!"

'Damn it,' Tristan released his punch, knocking Jeremiah to the ground.

However, Jeremiah's call had been costly for Tristan and Mokuba. Two men were now coming up the stairs towards them. Tristan returned to Mokuba, "We're about to have company, and I don't think it's going to be the good kind."

He gestured with his hand to Mokuba. Mokuba gave a nod of understanding and the two ran to the room where Tristan had come in from.

As both had expected, the two Breakers saw them as the passed the stairs. "The intruder has freed the prisoner," one said into his walkie talkie. "Bring back up."

Tristan and Mokuba entered the room; and being the last one inside, Mokuba closed the door and locked it.

"You think that'll hold them?" Tristan asked.

"Maybe a little," Mokuba didn't sound to optimistic. "But these locks can be opened by key also. If they have a key, they can come in."

Tristan groaned. Then he heard it, footsteps coming up the stairs. But the words between the Breakers outside alarmed him.

"Use the key to open the door."

"Yes sir."

Tristan got an idea and opened the window. "Mokuba, climb down the fire escape and run like the wind to the police. Tell them there's a gang called the Breakers in this building and tell them that three of their members have your brother, Yugi and Joey in their clutches in a house with orange bricks on it and a red door a few blocks from here."

"But I can't leave you here against who knows how many-"

"Just go!"

Reluctantly, Mokuba squeezed through the window and climbed down the fire escape. Tristan tried to cover this by closing the window and opening the closet.

As he was about to go in, the locked door swung open and eight men swarmed upon him. Tristan fought with all his might, trying to keep them from looking in the closet for as long as he could. The more they thought he was in the closet, the more time for Mokuba to escape. But Tristan was overcome in seconds.

"Hey, let go of me!" Tristan ordered.

"Open the closet and get Mokuba out of there." One of the Breakers said.

Summoning all his strength, Tristan lay down and spun himself around on the floor. He knocked down everyone in his leg's path, but was again overcome in seconds. He could only watch as the door to the closet was opened. But he was happy to see the faces on the eight Breakers next to him.

"The window!" the same Breaker exclaimed. "Check the window you fools!"

Seven of the Breakers did, just in time to see Mokuba jump off the bottom step of the last ladder and run off into safety.

"He escaped sir." One of them said.

The Breaker who was still close to the door screamed angrily. "You fools! Now we've lost him." He looked down at Tristan, a grin on his face. "You find something funny tough guy?"

The grin stayed on Tristan's face. "No. Just taking in the scenery."

The Breaker just snarled. Then he ordered the other Breakers, "Bring him to the interrogation room." He then returned his attention to Tristan, "We'll see who's laughing soon enough boy."

The seven Breakers grabbed Tristan and dragged him out of the room with the eighth Breaker following. 'I may have lost Mokuba Kaiba, but maybe this little runt will make up for it.'

-------------------

As Tristan was being dragged to the interrogation room, Tea and the boy who volunteered to help her were still walking east towards his house.

"So, who's been kidnapped?" the boy asked Tea.

"The Kaiba brothers." Tea replied.

The boy almost stopped short. "As in the creator of the duel disk and the host of the Battle City tournament Kaiba brothers?"

"Yeap, those Kaiba brothers." Tea took a deep breath. "Mokuba's nice, but Seto Kaiba is a real jerk. All the times my friends and I have been around him he never once said anything nice."

The boy gave a nod to show he was listening. "If he's such a pain in the neck then why bother helping him?"

"My friends and I trailed the kidnappers and that's where we split up. I was supposed to get the police, they were supposed to help Kaiba."

"Oh," he replied. "Well, I hope we can call the police in time to help them out."

"Me too."

Minutes later, they approached a tan building which looked newly constructed. It had many windows and fire escapes.

"This is my home," he told Tea. "Once inside, you can call the police."

"Thanks again." Tea said. "Oh by the way, what's your name?"

"Billy. Yours?"

"Tea."

"Nice to meet you."

Billy opened the door and they both entered the building.

"Follow me." Billy led Tea through the building up to the third floor.

Upon arriving at the third floor, a man came up to them. "Hey Billy, you got a date?"

Billy shook his head. "Nah, we gotta get to a phone. I'll talk to you later."

The man gave a nod and wandered off and Billy and Tea walked on. Then Billy stopped at a door labeled 396A. "This is it." He told her. He opened the door and went in.

Tea followed, but she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Tied to a chair in front of her in a windowless room was Tristan, with eight men around him. "Tristan!"

Tristan looked up. "Tea, get out of here now."

But it was too late. Billy had closed the door and locked it with his key. "You're not going anywhere Tea."

Shock and bewilderment filled Tea's face. Billy seemed like a nice guy, she couldn't believe he was bad.

"You and your men really need to clean up your act," Billy told the lead man. "If this town were more trusting than it is, you'd be in big trouble right now."

The lead man just scowled. Then he eyed Tea carefully. "What do we have here?" He started to approach her.

Tea backed up. "Leave me alone freak."

He stopped. "Very well."I'll leave you and your friend alone if... you cooperate."

"What do you mean by that?" Tristan didn't sound as if he believed him.

"Start by telling me how you two got involved with the Breakers."

"The who?" Tea had no idea what the man was talking about.

"These are the Breakers," Tristan filled her in. "Pretty dangerous gang; though I'm sure you already found that out."

"How did you get involved with the Kaiba brothers?" This time the lead man asked in a commanding tone.

Tea looked to Tristan, who shook his head. "We're not talking."

"Oh really?" The man as the eight men and Billy started approaching her.

Tea backed up, tingling with fear. "Leave me alone!" She commanded, but to no avail. The nine continued their approach.

Finally, Tristan cracked. "We saw Reginald and his brothers kidnap Seto Kaiba,"

The nine stopped. It seemed Tristan now had their attention so he continued. "That's all we know, swear."

This seemed to please the lead man. All nine stopped, allowing Tea to regain her cool.

"You're lying," the lead man explained. "You knew more than that if you could find this place."

Tristan sighed. It was against his better judgment, but holding in what he knew was only going to bring more trouble. Then he got an idea. "You're right pal; I do know more about this than you think I do. But I'm not talking until you give us some background information on you, Reginald, his brothers and the Breakers."

Tristan had expected a threat towards him or Tea. Instead, the lead man just blurted what he wanted to hear out. "My name is Breaker; and I'm not only the leader of the Breakers, but also who the gang is named after. My men and I would steal whatever we can from stragglers who entered our territory; money, credit cards, anything.

"Then one day, we came across a young adult boy who just happened to come into our territory. Once we tried to steal his valuables, he fought more valiantly and cunningly than any of our victims ever did; in fact, even better than some of my men. It took a few minutes, but we finally pinned him down and took his valuables. Then he did something I wouldn't have expected from someone who fought like he did; he pleaded. He pleaded for his money, saying that he was the primary care-giver for his family and that they couldn't survive without the money.

Breaker paused as if he were actually feeling remorse, but then continued talking like normal. "At first I didn't believe him. He couldn't have been older than twenty, and I was supposed to buy his story. Just for a change of pace, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I asked him what had happened to his parents. He told me that his mother had died giving birth to his youngest brother, forcing his father to take on three kids plus himself. He had done that well by working at Kaiba Corp, until Seto Kaiba fired him. After he couldn't get a job, the old man finally gave up and ended it all.

"A funny thing happened after I heard that story; I actually felt remorse for him and his brothers. So I asked him his name. He said it was Reginald. Then I offered him a proposition. I offered him and his brothers membership into the Breakers. This way he'd get money, and be able to avenge his father's death."

"Let me guess," Tristan interrupted. "There was a price for all this."

Breaker grinned. "You're smarter than you look. The price was that he and his brothers would face Seto Kaiba in a duel in order to save his brother Mokuba. Once Kaiba lost, Kaiba would fork over Kaiba Corp and all his wealth to Reginald. Reginald could keep the money, but he would turn Kaiba Corp over to me. Since this proposition was one that fit both our interests, Reginald agreed. Now, here we are."

'So,' Tristan thought. 'That Reginald isn't such a bad guy after all. This guy's just using their grief for their father's death to get them to do what he wants.'

"Now," Breaker interrupted his thoughts. "I upheld my part of the bargain, you hold up yours."

Tristan agreed. "We followed Reginald to a brick house. Tea went to call the police, me and two of our friends went inside. I later found a magazine with this address on it, which was how I got here. Tea arrived here purely because of bad luck and knew nothing about any of this until she was brought here."

Breaker smiled. "That's all I needed to know." He gestured to his henchmen with his hand to follow him. They did. He unlocked the door and they all left. Once they left the room, Breaker turned and said to the two teens. "You better get comfortable, because you're both going to be here for a while."

He closed the door, locking it behind him; leaving Tristan and Tea to be alone with their despair.