Bakura and Yami both glared jealously at this stranger who their hikaris were so happy to see. "Who are you?" growled Yami dangerously.
The man met his eyes calmly. "I am SHADI, which stands for Synthetic Humanoid for the Assimilation and Definition of Information."
Seto's eyes widened. "You're an android?" he asked.
SHADI nodded. "Yes."
"What's an android?" Jou asked his lover curiously.
"A walking computer that looks like a person," said Seto, his eyes narrowing again. The rest of the teenagers stared at SHADI in amazement.
"How come my hikari knows you?" demanded Bakura.
SHADI looked at them all measuringly, taking in the protective air of the two darklings and the way that their friends were stood with them. "If you please, I would prefer to answer any questions you might have somewhere else," he said courteously. His pupiless eyes narrowed. "Somewhere further away from his laboratory," he added darkly.
Yami started. The way SHADI had said 'his' – it was exactly the same as the way that Yugi had said 'him', when he warned Yami that 'they' would be hunting him.
"Quickly, please. Yugi's contact with Malik could have been noticed."
Yami considered, and nodded abruptly. "Let's go back to the shop."
"No." They looked at SHADI in surprise. "If he realises who you are, he will search your usual places for the hikaris."
"Why?" asked Seto. Before SHADI could answer, Yami interrupted with a different question: "If we can't go home, then where should we go?"
SHADI paused. "Do you know of a person called Ishuzu Ishtar?" he asked them.
Seto's eyes widened.
---
"I'm not gonna knock on her door!" hissed Jounouchi. "Her brother is nuts! He's worse than the TombRaider!" He paused. "Uh, no offence," he told Bakura, remembering that he was there listening.
"Well, I'm not!" responded Honda fiercely.
Anzu sighed, and stepped between them, reaching forwards to knock on the door.
Ishuzu opened the door before she could. "You're late."
Everyone stared at her. She stepped back, and gestured abruptly. "Come on, quickly! Before his spies notice you!"
---
They settled into the small apartment. The hikaris sat on their yamis, naturally, and Jou willingly settled on Seto's lap. Anzu perched on Honda, which raised the two yamis' eyebrows; SHADI remained standing, and Marik sprawled on the floor, watching the guests with a disturbing gleam in his eyes. Ryou and Yugi watched him with interest, recognising another yami; their own both tightened their arms, silently warning Marik not to interfere with theirs.
Everyone else's attention was focussed on SHADI and Ishuzu, as they explained what was going on.
"Approximately two decades ago, a group of scientists began to study the possibility of genetic manipulation in relation to the eradication of genetic diseases," SHADI began.
Jou's brow wrinkled. "Huh?"
SHADI looked at him blankly for a moment. "Do you know what a genetic structure is?"
"Nope," he said cheerfully.
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Of course he doesn't," he said bitingly. "He's too dumb!"
SHADI raised his voice and spoke faster, drawing their attention back to him before they could start another argument. "Your genes determine all of your characteristics. Your hair colour, your eye colour, your intelligence – every part of your potential is encoded within them." There was silence for a moment. SHADI took advantage of it to continue. "Sometimes, there are problems within your genetic structure. These cause diseases, many of which are uncurable.
"Project Dawn was an attempt to cure these diseases."
/"Project Dawn is most important to me."/ Yugi suddenly flashed on a memory of him saying that, the night he escaped from the laboratory. Yami heard the memory, and frowned.
"Project Dawn?" asked Seto.
SHADI nodded. Ishuzu watched silently, ready to help him explain what was going on.
"Project Dawn was an experiment in altering genetic codes. The specific idea was to gather healthy DNA – genetic codes –" he explained for Jounouchi – "and use this healthy DNA to 'correct' the problems responsible for the diseases."
"Was it legal?" asked Seto bluntly.
"No." SHADI was just as blunt. "There were very few children who were chosen for experimentation, and their parents were under the impression that they had died. Those chosen would either die soon from the disease they were suffering, or would be left in a state of 'living death' – unable to communicate with anyone, or make any contact with the world." There was silence for a moment, as they absorbed the grim picture. Ishuzu swallowed, her eyes distant as she looked back on old memories.
"At first, the attempts were unsuccessful, and the children were either unimproved or actively injured." Anzu drew in a sharp breath. The two hikaris cuddled closer to their yamis, listening intently. "Finally, a method of grafting – of merging the healthy DNA strand with the unhealthy one – was discovered. But there were unexpected side effects." SHADI looked at the two hikaris. "Almost all of the original DNA structure was overwritten by the 'new' strand. The result was that the child – the 'hikari', light of hope – looked almost identical to the child the healthy DNA had originally come from."
Everyone stared at the hikaris in shock.
---
"What do you mean, the hikari's escaped?" he demanded, sitting up straight and glaring at the screen. Keith, the trainer, looked uncomfortable.
"It's vanished! We're searching for it now, and we aren't gonna let it get away with this," he growled.
"Try finding its yami. The hikaris are supposed to be drawn to them, after all," he suggested. Keith nodded slightly in acceptance of his orders, and shivered at the look he directed at him. "You had better find it soon," he warned Keith. "Or the next person to visit Mei and Kyuu will be… you." With that, the screen darkened.
Keith pulled out a knife, and threw it at the wall. He was furious with Ryou, for getting him into trouble with Pegasus. And the threat that he would be visiting Mei and Kyuu – Pegasus' most skilled torturers – only made him the more determined to take it out on the innocent weakling.
"Boys!" he snapped, growling. His underlings immediately jumped to attention, silently panicking at the rage in his eyes. "Go find the shesiji hikari's yami! And don't you DARE fail me!"
They bowed, and ran off to begin searching. Keith sat back, and dreamed of the many ways he could punish Ryou for daring to escape. Especially with the wide range of 'toys' he had made available…
---
"So the shrimp's – like – an experiment?" asked Jou finally. SHADI nodded.
"As is Ryou, and as are the other two hikaris. But Malik – the hikari of Ishuzu's younger brother, here –" he gestured towards Marik, who was watching him with the interest of a cat watching a bird or a mouse – "is the result of a different situation."
"They were conjoined twins," Ishuzu suddenly broke in. "They were joined at the chest, and their organs weren't able to support both of them – and they couldn't both survive being separated for long. So I asked the scientists who were working on Project Dawn to help, and they developed life support systems which enabled them to survive being separated until the procedure could be adapted to regrow their bodies."
"How did you even know about this 'project dawn'?" asked Seto.
"I was a junior lab partner," she answered him calmly. She looked at the floor, and continued, "And I am afraid that it was my request which resulted in him gaining control of Project Dawn."
Bakura and Yami both sat up, their eyes narrowing.
"The equipment required for my brothers was expensive, and as it had to be designed specifically for their problems, it could not be used on anyone else. The people who originally funded the project refused to continue supplying money, since it was obvious to them that Project Dawn would never be successful."
"Explain that," said Seto sharply. "Don't the hikaris prove that it was successful?"
SHADI resumed the explanation. "The fact that the healthy DNA overwrote the original genetic code made the procedure effectively useless. No parents would pay good money for a treatment which meant that their child could be legally declared to be someone else's, and close to 90% of the DNA was overwritten in each case. Besides which, there were – unexpected side effects."
"You already said that," growled Yami.
SHADI looked at him. "Something in the procedure unlocked latent psychic abilities within the hikaris. Yugi is an empath, capable of sensing people's emotions; Ryou is able to heal with a touch; Malik can control any fires he sees, and –" SHADI glanced at Seto and changed what he was about to say – "the fourth hikari has the gift of telekinesis; he can move objects without physically touching them."
"The people who originally sponsored this research declared that the hikaris were freaks," Ishuzu broke in, her blue eyes pained. "They stopped paying for their care."
"Why would that matter?" asked Seto. "From what I've seen, the hikaris don't need special treatment. Surely you could just have applied to the legal channels, and found them help?"
SHADI met his eyes. "Legally, the hikaris do not exist – they are officially dead, and I am unaware of who their parents were or are. This was part of the arrangement.
"It is illegal to perform genetic experiments upon children. However, if the children do not exist it cannot be illegal." His blank eyes darkened. "That is why he decided to fund the project – fund taking care of the hikaris.
"Since it was possible to perform illegal genetic experiments on them, it was also possible to perform illegal mental experiments. He hired Keith to 'train' them… to be perfect assassins."