The Seventh Element

Chapter 6

Good Idea, Bad Idea

"Hey, wake up!" Tea muttered, slapping Malik across the face a fourth time. The native Egyptian woke with a start and stared.

"What are you? Who do you want?" He asked. Tea rolled her eyes.

"I'm Tea. I brought the guy, remember? The red-head." Tea looked over her shoulder at the matted mess of tri-colored hair. "Or brunette, or….actually, I'm not really sure." Malik jumped up from the floor and ran over to examine the limp form on his couch.

"Oh thank the Gods it is him." He breathed.

"He crashed through the roof of my cab, started speaking this bizarre language." Tea told him.

"It is not bizarre!" Malik snapped. "It is Ancient Egyptian, the language of the Pharaohs. The language taught to them by the Monocheawan and…" Malik trailed off as he saw the bullet would in his shoulder. "Oh no, he's hurt…"

"Ya noticed that huh?" Tea replied. Malik looked himself over and gasped at the light pink T-shirt and track pants ensemble he wore around the apartment.

"Oh dear, this won't do, he's the Weapon, I'm a mess." He looked up at Tea. "I have to go change, you keep an eye on him, and be careful, he's been on a long trip. He is here at last, the perfect one, he's here." Malik rushed out of the room to the amused glance of Tea. She smirked and cast a glance at the limp form on the sofa.

"Perfect, huh?"

- - - - - - - - - -

Ishizu had laid down for a nap when Malik burst into the room, flipping on the lights. Ishizu sat up in bed and stared at her brother leafing through the robes hanging in the closet.

"Gotta look dignified, devout, loyal…I knew I should have worn the black today." Malik spun around holding two dark purple cloaks. "Ishizu, quick, what looks more dignified?" Ishizu raised an eyebrow.

"Malik…they look the same." She pointed out. Malik growled and threw them down in frustration."

- - - - - - - - - -

Tea examined the bullet wound. It wasn't serious, but would need attention. She pulled away from her examination and peered down t the closed eyes of the man she had rescued. He was pretty good-looking, although that attitude of his left something to be desired. Tea leaned down and gently pressed her lips to his. She barely had time to hear the high-pitched whir before she felt cold steel pressed to her temple.

"You're right, bad idea. I shouldn't have done that." Tea muttered, pulling away. The man growled and kept the gun pressed against her head. "That was wrong."

"Senno ecto gammit!" The man snapped.

"Ok ok, sorry!" Tea stammered, stepping back.

"Ecto gammit! Senno ecto gammit!" the man snarled. Tea cleared her throat.

"You might remember me from the cab…the cab?" Tea asked, holding her hands up. The gun was kept trained on her. "Remember? Playse Halp, ring a bell?" She pleaded.

"Please Help?" The man asked.

"Yeah, the Please Help lady in the cab? Look." Tea pulled out her ID and held it out. "This is me here, Tea Taylor Gardner. Leave out the Taylor part, I'm divorced." The man snatched it and looked down at it curiously, but kept the gun pointed at Tea. "Um, you got a name?" Tea asked. The man's head snapped up.

"Um, namw?" Tea asked. She held a hand to her chest. "Tea, and you are?" Tea pointed at him.

"Yamishinewkepthinkilborton." The man rambled. Tea raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" She muttered. "That's your name huh? Ok…I'm gonna work on pronouncing that. You got a shorter name in the meantime? Tea held up her hands and made a shrinking motion. "Shorter?" She asked. The man glared for a few moments before speaking again.

"Yami." He said. Tea shrugged. Not the worst name in the book. At least she knew how to say that one.

"Ok then. Yami, Tea. Tea, Yami." She said. The two of them snapped to glare at the bedroom doom. Yami hissed and lifted the gun to point it at the cloaked man there. Malik lifted his head from the hood of the Tombkeeper robes and gulped. He carefully held up the Eye of Anubis pendant around his neck. The golden talisman gleamed in a beam of sunlight, and a look of joy crossed Yami's face.

"My Pharaoh…" Malik breathed. Yami smiled and dropped the gun on the floor. Malik crossed the room and eagerly shook Yami's hand. "It is good to see you after so many millennia." Malik said.

"Um…hello?" Tea asked. "I'm still here ya know." Malik and Yami shot her a look, and Malik threw an arm around Tea's shoulders and led her to the door.

"Miss…Tea was it?" Malik asked. "Thank you so much for bringing the nice man here. We'll heal him, get him some rest, he's been on a long trip and he needs it." Malik pushed Tea out the door and went to close it.

"Hold on a second." Tea said, sticking her shoulder in the doorway. "When he woke up, he kept saying this one thing over and over…what does 'senno ecto gammit' mean?" Malik furrowed his brow.

"Uh, don't do that, without my permission." He translated.

"Really?" Tea asked, Malik shoved her shoulder away and slammed the door. Tea pursed her lip. "A guy mad at a girl for making a move…never thought I'd see the day."

- - - - - - - - - -

"The skeletal structure is shot, total reconstruction would be needed. At this point it would be cheaper to just by a new car." Mai Valentine lectured the customer at her booth. A buzz alerted her to an arrival in the garage below her. Mai look down at the security camera and scowled. "Excuse me." Mai hit a button on her booth, and the floor lowered down into the garage. Tea backed the cab up to the wall and powered down. "Gardner, where the hell have you been?" Mai snapped, jumping down to the floor and examining the cab.

"Don't start Mai, I've had a bad day." Tea groaned, flopping down to the couch for waiting drivers. Mai fingered a hole on the passenger door and snorted.

"I recognize there holes. Class 96 Ultimas, standard police issue. I thought you said you quit the army?" She asked.

"Long story." Tea snapped, rubbing her temples. "Ah shit, I forgot the cat food. To hell with it, I'm ordering in." She got up and went to Mai's repair console. The computerized crane, magnet and forklift combo allowed Mai to repair vehicles with the push of a button. "You got anything to drink?"

"Damn, these things are going to have to be removed manually." Mai muttered, using a pair of pliers to pry out a bullet. "I'm charging extra for this." She told Tea, glaring. Tea gave her a bored look.

"Is that a no?" Tea asked.

"Check the fridge." Mai muttered, climbing in the front seat. She swiped her repair ID, and Tea's statistics came up on screen. "Holy hell, you lost your license again?" Mai complained, climbing out. "You trash the cab, you lose your license, what the hell happened?" She demanded. Tea sighed.

"Mai, I swear to God, I was on my way here when I got a big fare. You know, those big clients you just can't turn down?" She explained. Mai plucked another bullet from the door and groaned. This was going to take a while.

"Oh yeah? How big?" Mai asked. Tea smirked.

"'Bout 5'11. Nice tan, good build, great eyes. The hair was a little freaky though." She told Mai. Mai snorted.

"I haven't seen you this dreamy in years. This dream boat got a name?" She asked. Tea nodded.

"Yeah. Yami."

- - - - - - - - - -

"Be very careful." Malik whispered. Ishizu gulped and dabbed at the wound with the damp cloth she had. Yami winced and spun around from the computer he was at, smacking her in the head before turning back. Ishizu gave Malik a look.

"He's a little touchy." She said sourly. Malik sighed and grabbed a pair of tweezers.

"Hold his shoulder still." He ordered. Ishizu did as she was told, and Malik jammed the tweezers into the wound, seizing the bullet and pulling it out. Yami yelled and smacked Malik across the face.

"Hurt!" He snapped. He turned back to the computer. Malik rubbed his jaw.

"You're right, he is touchy." He said to Ishizu. Ishizu looked over Yami's shoulder. The pharaoh had pulled up an encyclopedia file and was leafing through the pages as warp speed.

"Can he really read that fast?" She whispered to Malik.

"If anything, I don't think its fast enough for his liking." The tombkeeper replied. Yami stopped shuffling through the pages on a page about trading cards, and scrolled down the screen, interested. "He's got 5000 years of history to catch up on, remember?" Malik asked. Ishizu nodded.

"Alright, but Malik, we've only got a few days and we can't wait forever." She said. Malik nodded.

"Of course, you're right." He said. He tapped Yami on the shoulder. "Excuse me." Yami whirled around, and Malik snapped his hand back. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but…the Millennium Items. The case with the Items, where is it?" He asked. Yami shrugged.

"Seen forl tihartlo ki bal." He said, turning back to the computer. Malik's jaw dropped.

"It was stolen?" He asked. Yami nodded, not caring. Malik ran a hand through his hair. "By god, what vile creature would dare do such a thing?" He whispered.

- - - - - - - - - -

"The investors have scheduled a meeting over dropping stocks in the service wing for later this afternoon." Drake Clawfang read off his agenda. He looked up and jogged forward to keep up with the black trenchcoat walking down the hall in front of him, the long white hair a stark contrast to the pitch black. "I was thinking we might raise stocks if we let go a few employees, maybe from the one of your cab companies? I ran the figures, and we can double our service stocks if we fire five hundred thousand."

"Fire a million." The man in the trenchcoat snapped.

"But sir, we only need to…" Drake trailed off as Ryou Bakura spun around angrily. Drake gulped. "Right sir, one million. Consider it done." Bakura smiled and turned around.

"Don't worry about our stocks Drake. You're the assistant, you do what I tell you to do, so unless I tell you to worry, you don't, understand?" Bakura said, resuming his march down the hall to the docks. "Besides, with the business deal I'm making right now, our stocks will be higher then they've ever been." Drake raised an eyebrow.

"What business deal could you have made to do that sir?" He asked. Bakura skidded to a halt as a slow smile crept onto his face.

"Ever heard of something called the 'Millennium Items'?"