The Seventh Element
Chapter 7
Bargaining
The dock doors slid open, and Bakura walked in, Drake behind him. To Bakura's pleasure, the 7 crates he had ordered brought there had arrived on time. He turned to the crowd of pig-like Mangalores and frowned at the human-faced leader.
"Darek? Is that you?" He asked. The human swallowed and nodded.
"This face was needed to get in." Darek gasped out.
"It's ugly, take it off." Bakura scolded. Darek growled, and with a shake of the head, he quickly reverted to his original Mangalore face. Bakura smiled. "Much better. Never be ashamed of who you are, even if you are really ugly." Darek growled at Bakura's smirk.
"I imagine you Mangalores are still steamed up over the UFF blasting the majority of your once proud fleet to smoke, huh? Good to see you survived. I always say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Bakura turned and walked over to one of the crates. Shooing away the attendant, he opened it and reached inside it.
"You promised us artillery, to wreak our revenge." Darek growled. "The Millennium Items will remain in our possession, until you make good on your deal."
"Don't you worry about that Darek, I have your weapons right here." Bakura spun around holding a sleek, black object. It was like a 3-D oval with a glowing button on the side. Bakura pressed the button, and the oval whirred and opened to reveal a rather impressive gun with various attachments. "Behold, the RB-96A. Breaks down into 4 parts that can be stored in body armor, cannot be detected by heat or metal detectors. The clip is a 50000 bullet titanium piercing round with optional limited secondary firing modes. Good for right-handed and left-handed, can be used by anything with an opposable thumb, can be used one-handed but has secondary firepower only accessible by a second. And speaking of firepower." Bakura pointed to a mannequin of a fully armored UFF soldier at the end of the room.
"As said, it has 50000 rounds of titanium armor-piecing bullets, can penetrate 5 centimeters of steel from up to 100 feat away. Makes it easy to dispatch armored troops, and with the Replay option, a patented invention of mine, it becomes even easier." Bakura flipped a switch on the gun. "One shot." Bakura aimed and fired a single bullet that hit the shoulder of the mannequin. "And a micro-sensor in the gun barrel detects where the shot lands, and sends every following shot to the exact same spot." Bakura spun and opened fire on Darek. The Mangalore leader stumbled back and roared angrily. However, every bullet Bakura fired turned in mid-air and slammed back into the mannequin's shoulder. The Mangalores laughed as Darek glared at Bakura.
"And to make sure they stay down, time for those secondary firing modes." Bakura said, turning back to aim. "Rocket launcher, releases 200 pounds of concussive force upon impact, loads 4 into the barrel." The rocket fires and blasted out the mannequin's left arm and part of the left shoulder. "Arrow launcher. Loads 10 into the nose of the gun, optional poison-capsule heads for venomous payload." Two hatches opened and fired the small, lethal metal projectiles, lodging them in the head. "Our famous net launcher, recently ranked #2 on the UFF's most useful crowd control device manifold." The net launched and wrapped around the mannequin, the magnetic balls on the corners snapping into place. "The always efficient flamethrower." Bakura grinned wickedly as the plume of flame incinerated the armor and left a smoldering, vaguely human lump behind. He turned to Darek, his eyes flashing. "My personal favorite."
"And for the grand finale, our all-new Frozen Mist Emitter." A murky white mist sprayed from the gun and covered what was left of the mannequin. A thing layer of frost and ice was covering it when the mist cleared. Darek and the Mangalores nodded and eagerly applauded. Bakura tossed the RB-96A to Drake, who placed it back in its crate.
"7 crates, each with 12 RB-96A's, provided you brought me what I wanted." Bakura smiled at Darek. "You got them, right?" Darek nodded.
"We had to search hard, but we got them." He said. Two Mangalores set a wooden case emblazoned with the Millennium Symbol on the crate next to Bakura. Bakura smiled and eagerly unlocked the case. He flipped it open, stared for 3 seconds, and snapped the case shut. Bakura swallowed and gritted his teeth.
"This….this case….is empty."
- - - - - - - - - -
"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Yami laughed. Malik did a double take.
"Empty?" He cried is disbelief. Yami stifled his laughter and nodded. "What do you mean empty?"
- - - - - - - - - -
"I mean empty. You know, as in the opposite of full?" Bakura growled. "This….case is SUPPOSED TO BE FULL!" Bakura leaned his head forward and took a deep breath before standing back up and tucking his hair back into place. "Anyone want to explain?"
- - - - - - - - -
"Ze Monocheawan ti korbal hit harl…" Yami yammered.
"The Monocheawan…knew they would become a target…" Malik muttered, trying to translate.
"Hi karp tihorlyarn folron tibalt…"
"They entrusted the items to a friend…"
"Jor larn ti marl koloo shi bon." Yami finished. Malik sighed and looked at Ishizu.
"He knows the name of where he's to meet them, he just needs to find out where it is. Simple." He explained. Yami typed and pointed at the screen.
"There." He muttered. Malik and Ishizu leaned over his shoulders.
"That's Duelist Kingdom in the Atlantic System." Ishizu said. A happy smile came over Malik's face.
"We're saved."
- - - - - - - - - -
"We're screwed." Bakura hissed.
"I'll take my weapons and go." Darek snapped. Bakura spun and slammed his fist into Darek's jaw.
"You aren't going anywhere with anything! Where the damn hell are the Millennium Items?" He roared.
"I don't know, it's not my problem." Darek snapped back.
"Our deal was 7 Items for 7 crates!" Bakura shouted.
"You wanted the case, we brought you the case."
"The case was supposed to have 7 god damn Millennium Items in it! You never thought to check and make sure you had them?"
"The contents of the case were not our concern. We're warriors, not tradesmen."
"But you can count!" Bakura seethed, holding up his hands. "Look at the fingers, count with me here. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 7 Millennium Items, for 7 crates of RB-96As. 0 Millennium Items? 0 CRATES!" Bakura glared at Drake and the workers behind him. "Pack it up, we're done here!" He shouted. Darek shouted a command in the Mangalore language, and the troops behind him pointed their guns square at Bakura. The businessman froze at the sound of the clips clicking into place.
"We risked our lives to get the case, even if it is empty." Darek growled. "That's worth at least 2 crates. A compromise is in order." Bakura looked over his shoulder and smiled.
"So, you are tradesmen then, aren't you?" He chuckled. He thought for a minute. "You can have 1 crate. For the cause." He walked out of the room, Drake and the workers close behind him. Darek spun and marched to his ship.
"Secure the weapons, and meet me in orbit." He ordered the Mangalores. The aliens were too busy rifling through the lone crate Bakura had left to notice him.
- - - - - - - - - -
"God damn warriors." Bakura muttered. "I hate them. They have no manners, no subtlety, no sense of reason." He stopped and turned to face Drake. "You know what I do like? Killers. Hard core, cold blooded killers, die hard, take no shit, professional killers. Now had a real killer seen that demonstration of the RB-96A, he would immediately asked about the red button on the bottom of the gun." Bakura reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. Drake reached into his pocket for a lighter.
"Shall I help you out there sir?" He asked, holding it out. Bakura smiled.
"No need."
- - - - - - - - - -
"Knock it off!" A Mangalore cried, tearing a net off him/ He went back to studying his gun and noticed a tiny, blinking red button underneath the arrow-launcher control. He shrugged and reached down to press it.
- - - - - - - - - -
Bakura casually leaned against the corridor wall before holding his unlit cigarette out into the passage that led to the docks. The doors to the docks exploded as the self-destruct sequence for the RB-96A commenced. Drake dove for cover as two Mangalores ran down the passage covered in flames before tripping and collapsing next to Bakura. Bakura calmly leaned down and lit his cigarette with the flames before standing up and taking a long drag.
"So what do we do about those…Millennium things sir?" Drake asked, climbing to his feet. Bakura lowered the cigarette and blew a puff of smoke out his nose.
"Bring me Ishtar."