When vengeance goes too far
Chapter 2: Sweet, sweet revenge
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Yu-Gi-Oh! They are the property of Kazuki Takahashi, Shonen Jump, and as I just found out Konami and Shueisha comics.
Seto Kaiba was sitting in his office ponder on the previous day's events. Serenity Wheeler, the girl that had blatantly humiliated him; how he cringed at the mere thought of her name. How dare she talk to him like that, him Seto Kaiba, perhaps the richest and most influential person in all of Japan outside of royalty and politics. He now pondered on how to get his revenge. Serenity had humiliated him more than Yugi and Pegasus ever did combined. How in the short space of time between him being humiliated right up to the present moment in time he had grown to hate Serenity more than he ever hated her brother and Yugi combined.
"Overrated," he thought, "No one calls me overrated. Just who does she think she is undermining my duelling skills when she isn't even a proper duellist." He slammed his fist on his desk. Why did he feel this much humiliation? Was it because Serenity was a girl or was it because she was five years younger than him. Maybe it was both, but Kaiba was in too much of a rage over his humiliation to ponder on the reasons why.
"Roland," Kaiba said, after he picked up the phone.
"Yes Mister Kaiba," Roland's voice came over the phone, "What can I do for you?"
"Get Hobson on the line," Kaiba, said, "I have a bit of an assignment for him."
"Certainly sir," Roland said, his uneasiness was evident in his voice, but Kaiba was too caught up in his thoughts of revenge to notice or even care. An evil grin crept onto his face. "Let's see you handle this Wheelerette," he thought, "And when I'm done with you, you'll see death as a salvation from the misery that I will put you through."
Little did Kaiba know that his little brother, Mokuba had seen the whole thing through a gap in the door. Mokuba didn't know what his brother was planning, but he had a good idea that it had something to do with his humiliation the previous day.
"Oh Seto," Mokuba, thought, "Please, oh please don't take this too far." Mokuba really liked Serenity and found her quite cheerful to be around. He remembered how Joey entered the Duellist Kingdom tournament just to win the prize money so that Serenity could have her eye operation. As it turned out, Serenity had weak eyes since birth. Mokuba could really sympathise with Joey. He may sound and act like a common street punk at times, but when it came to his sister, it was like he was a whole new person. Mokuba really admired Joey and unlike his brother, he admitted that Joey was a good duellist and he had to admit that Joey almost beat Kaiba at Battle City. If it hadn't have been for Kaiba's final trap card, Joey would've won.
The next day at Domino Middle School, the teacher of the class in Rom 33A was handing out test results. Serenity Wheeler sat nervously awaiting her test results. This test was a very important one. It counted for the whole year and failure meant that you were held back. The teacher handed Serenity her paper.
"Too much studying, eh Serenity," the teacher said, "I'm very disappointed in you."
"Huh?" Serenity, said, "What do you mean?"
"Just look at the paper dear," the teacher said.
Serenity looked at the paper and almost choked. She had gotten an F, the lowest grade and it also since F was the first letter in the word, fail, many people had made the F grade as the abbreviation for failure (I'm just guessing), which was true in a way, but that's not why Serenity was so shocked. What shocked her was that she hadn't gotten a single answer right. She knew that it was a mistake. Sure she had studied for the test, but she hadn't over-studied. She knew that she had gotten most of the answers right and yet the paper in front of her said otherwise.
"Mrs Ariumi," Serenity, said, "I believe my test was evaluated wrong."
"I highly doubt that," Mrs Ariumi, protested, "Computers evaluate at those tests and we all know that computers don't make mistakes."
Serenity wanted to protest, but she knew that it was pointless. She looked at her test paper again and gasped. Everything wasn't as she remembered it. The answers were different from the ones she had put down. The only explanation she could think of was that someone had switched papers with her. However, she knew everyone in the class and none of them fitted the profile of someone that would cheat and the handwriting on the paper was far too professional looking to have been done by another student. Serenity's first thought was that one of the teachers was out to flunk her, but she remembered that she adored all her teachers and they adored her, well apart from her gym coach, but he only made her miserable because he felt that she was too lazy and was getting little exercise. He'd have nothing to gain from doing this.
Outside the school building, a limo pulled up on the road outside and the back door window opened. Seto Kaiba looked at a window where he could plainly see Serenity upset over her test results.
"Excellent," he thought, "However, this is just the beginning."
He took out his cell phone and called Hobson.
"Hello Hobson," Kaiba, said, "Excellent work."
"Thank you Mister Kaiba," came Hobson's voice.
"I'm impressed," Kaiba, said, "Just what did you do?"
"Oh I just had some men break into the school last night and switch Miss Wheeler's paper was one that I had… acquired and did myself and then I hacked into the school's network and changed her grade as well as the stored test results," Hobson said.
"Excellent work Hobson," Kaiba, complimented, "Now here's you next assignment…"
The limo driver just sighed. Once again, he was involuntarily listening to his master talking about revenge, only this time he heard every word that was being said, though he just kept his eyes on the road and pretended not to be listening in. The driver thought that Kaiba was a ruthless cold-hearted tyrant that just did whatever it took to get his way. He wanted to quit his job, but unfortunately, he had a family to look out for and this job earned him the most pay.
"Back to Kaiba Corp," Kaiba said after he'd finished talking to Hobson on his cell phone.
"Yes sir," the driver said. "You ruthless cold-hearted stuck-up punk," he added in his thoughts.
"This is just the beginning Wheelerette," Kaiba, thought, "Very soon, your life will be in ruins beyond repair and I'll show you that I never tolerate those who humiliate me."
Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Mrs Wheeler was coming home from the mall after a days shopping. Since Serenity decided that she wanted to stay with Joey, Mrs Wheeler had decided to move back into Domino in order to keep an eye on things between her son and daughter. She still felt uneasy about leaving Serenity with Joey. It was a fact that she never got along with Joey. Joey blamed her for the divorce and she saw Joey as a younger version of her former husband, who was still back in New York doing who knows what. Not that she cared about her ex. He had been a drunken slob that got violent whenever he was drunk. She knew that it was unfair to criticise her son, but from what she saw, he was heading down the same road as his father, which was why she arranged for one parent to have one child. Naturally, she chose Serenity while her husband got Joey. Now Joey hated her because he saw her as the person that ruined his life with his sister.
When she arrived home she found a small bald man standing at the gate to her house. He wore a pair of glasses and a small stereotypical butler suit. What made Mrs Wheeler feel uneasy about him was that standing behind him were six tough-looking men dressed in grey business suits and sunglasses.
"Are you Mrs Mary Wheeler?" the short man asked.
"Yes," Mrs Wheeler, replied, "Why do you want to know?"
"Nothing personal ma'am," the short man said, "We have orders." He then snapped his fingers and the six musclemen advanced on Mrs Wheeler.
"Get away from me," Mrs Wheeler, said, "Help, Police!" She turned and tried to run, but she slipped and fell flat on her stomach. The six men were upon and the short man said, "Remember, don't kill her, just beat her up till she loses consciousness. I'll call for the ambulance." The six men nodded and started to beat on Mrs Wheeler.
Serenity had just gotten home from school. She was upset over her test results. Now she was in trouble because now she couldn't move on to the next grade and probably would have to repeat the one she was in just now. Not that is was the end of the world, it did mean that Serenity's plans would have to be postponed. What upset Serenity the most was the fact that it seemed that an adult and not a fellow student had been responsible. The handwriting on her fake paper looked too complex to have been done be someone of her age.
"Hey sis," came Joey's voice as she entered the apartment.
"Hey Joey," Serenity said in an upset tone.
"What's up," Joey, said, "Did somethin' happen at school?"
"I got an F in my test today," Serenity, said, "Yes, I did and the thing is, the paper I was handed out wasn't even mine."
Joey said, "Explain."
"Well," Serenity, began, "I remember all my answers and my workings, but when I got the paper out, the answers were different and the handwriting wasn't even mines. At first I thought that it was another person in the class, but no one in my class fits the profile of a cheater and second of all, the handwriting seemed far too complex to have been written by a person of my age."
"Wow," Joey, said, "If you think dat's upsettin', you should see yer room."
Serenity said, "Why?"
Joey said, "Someone must've busted in while we were at school."
Serenity rushed to her room and gasped as soon as she stepped into it. Everything was upturned and overturned. Her possessions were destroyed, including a locket that was very special to her.
"My locket," she said, "Mom gave my that for my ninth birthday."
The locket lay on the floor Small shards of glass lay scattered round it and the picture in the locket, which was of Serenity and her mother had been torn and crumpled. However, what devastated Serenity the most was when she looked beyond the now worthless locket.
"My diary," she said.
She went up to a green book with a white sheet of paper on the front that read, "Serenity Wheeler's Diary". The pages had been torn out and bits of torn paper littered area round the book.
Joey said, "Dis was the only room dey hit."
"My room," Serenity, said, "My, locket, my diary, all ruined. I don't think this was burglary, this was just an attack on me. Nothing's been stolen, everything's been destroyed."
Joey said, "But who would want to do some…" He stopped as the realisation hit him. "Kaiba," he growled, "Dat snake in the grass, I'll kill 'im for dis."
Suddenly the phone rang and Joey left to go answer it, leaving Serenity alone.
Serenity couldn't believe it. First the test at school and now someone broke into her room and destroyed all her possessions, including the two she treasured the most, her locket and her diary. She wrote down all her private thoughts in her diary and she kept her locket as a keepsake from her mother. Unlike Joey, she didn't hate her mother. She loved her mother very much, though she still remembered how she took her away from Joey, but being with her for so long meant that Serenity had heard her mother's side of the story and now understood her better than Joey, but that didn't mean to say she hated Joey. Serenity had known that no matter how much like her father Joey could've became, his love for her would all remain as part of him. She inspired him and was the reason he was such a good duellist.
Joey came back into the room and his expression wasn't a happy one. He looked at Serenity with sadness in his eyes. Serenity looked at Joey worryingly.
"What is it?" she said, "What's happened?"
"Ma's in the hospital," Joey, replied, "They say dat someone called saying that they saw a group a guys beating her up. For what I don't know.
Serenity suddenly felt the weight of her legs give way and she fell to the floor. Luckily Joey caught her.
"Mom," Serenity, said, "No, this isn't happening to me. Why me? I'm sorry Joey, I really am. You may hate mom, but I don't. I can't believe that someone would do something like that to her."
"Me neither," Joey said as he embraced his little sister and gave her a shoulder to cry on. As much as he hated his mother, he knew how Serenity felt about her and to some degree he was worried as well, after all the woman was his mother. No matter how much Joey hated her, at the end of the day, she was still his mother and not even he hated her so much to beat her up.
"I'll go with ya sis," Joey, said, "Just for you dough."
"Thanks Joey," Serenity said.
Author's notes: Wow, great huh? So first Kaiba has the test results of Serenity's test changed, has her room demolished and then has her mother beaten up. How much longer will Kaiba keep this up before his conscience catches up with him and what else has Kaiba in store for Serenity? Okay, just to clear a few things up. First off Joey has a Brooklyn accent and those spelling errors that keep occurring in his speech aren't errors at all. It's just the way Joey talks like "Dat's alright", dat meaning that. Second of all, about Kaiba's revenge plan. For that, I was suffering a bit from the dreaded Writer's Block. Rearranging Serenity's test results, destroying her room, not to mention her two most treasured possession and having her mother beaten up was all I could think of. Don't worry though. Next chapter is where Joey gets the same treatment as his mother and Kaiba reveals himself to Joey with a message for him to give to Serenity, anyway, till next time.