Outcasts

Chapter 4: Newcomers

The suit didn't fit right. It should have done – the tailoring was impeccable, testament to the skill of the young man that had poured over him for a good hour, fitting him for his new role. And yet it pinched at him incessantly. Even now, stood stock still looking down upon the city from his assigned office, a tightness at his hip, a tenseness to his back. Then again, what was he to expect? The suit had been designed for a larger man than he.

Pneumatics hissed, heralding the arrival of the clown. He wasn't sure what to make of Yeager. By his own admission, the diminutive man was a member of the same organisation that had spun the strings that now held both of them in office. A minor member to be sure – Rex already outranked him – and maybe because of that he'd shown nothing but simpering subservience thus far. But that was the way of men such as Yeager, snide little weasels hiding in the shadows cast by those they believed would protect them. Without knowing the extent of his involvement with Yliaster, Rex could only guess as to the man's true nature. Loyal to a fault, kept blind to the true nature of what was to come, or playing the role of fool to the hilt while he prepared some scheme?

In Satellite, misjudging a man could earn you a knife through the ribs. In Neo Domino, there were far greater things at stake. For now, he would keep Yeager at a distance, drip information out of him under the guise of authority. Maybe one day he'd learn more about the three men who had saved him from his ill-fated flight.

"Good morning director." Yeager oozed, oblivious to Rex's considerations. "You'll be pleased to know that we've been able to recover body-cam footage from some of the men who were working during that unfortunate incident the other day."

A complete disaster for public relations. Satellite was a touchy enough subject as it was. The people on this side of the water preferred not to think about who was sacrificed at the altar for their cheap electronics and goods. The director before Rex had done an admirable job in covering up the island, shipping out undesirables to create an impression that everyone upon that soil was trapped over there for the good of the city. But the knock-on effect of that now fell in his lap. A ship destroyed in an explosion, Security guards left dead and maimed. The papers were already spinning rumours of armed insurrectionists rising up and setting eyes on the city, vicious criminals readying their revenge on Neo Domino.

People were worried, undeservedly so. The majority of Satellite's population simply wanted clean skies and good food, to return to life before the Zero Reverse incident. But telling anyone as such would spell an immediate end to his political career. No-one would feel safe with a Satelliter running the city, and no number of secret societies would be able to keep him in office for long if he played his hand too softly.

"Good. I trust you've also written up the proposal regarding the new measures?"

"Yessir. An emergency ten percent increase to Security funding, complete with a recruitment drive focused on keeping Satellite secure. We're playing up the city defence angle. Protect your family, join today, that sort of thing."

He snickered, apropos of nothing.

"I'm sure there'll be no end of new dogs willing to keep the island locked down."

And so the boot would press down harder on the neck of the city. No-one demanding the changes would consider that an increased Security could be used against Neo Domino until it was their door being kicked in, their streets patrolled on the hour. All they could see was an exploding boat and alarmist headlines.

The man who'd built a bridge to freedom and thrown himself off it bristled, only to be pushed down deeper and silenced. Come the hour, come the end times, none of this would matter. Whatever needed to be sacrificed in the name of a new world would be slain without thought or mercy. They'd thank him eventually.

Yeager left the materials on his desk, excusing himself from the room with a stately bow. With little else to do until the speech solidifying his new powers, he took the time to examine them.

The video started as expected; footage of the docks where the incident had taken place, small talk between the guards as they awaited the confrontation to come. And then it did, duels exploding all around the camera-wearer's viewpoint. A chase, as one of the Satelliters broke through the defensive line, the wearer turning about and running him down with a swift kick to the back of the leg.

The camera tilted up just in time to catch the explosion of petals, as a painfully familiar dragon tore itself free of the metal cocoon the ship had made around it. He watched petals stream out, scything men down with aimless abandon.

The footage was rewound, paused on the moment the dragon craned its head up and declared anger to the world. He scanned the picture over and over again, looking for a companion hiding in the shadow of its wings. But even with the dead-on shot provided, there was too much ruptured metal in the way, too much chaos as the petals began to swirl about the beast.

He froze the footage on the moment of exit, made notes and a call to his secretary. He would start justifying the new budget by having Security go over the video with a fine-toothed comb until they had a hint of a clue as to the identity of the Signer who had wrecked merry havoc upon the dock.

With everything he could do done for the time being, he sat back in his new chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. Black Rose Dragon, and its owner, were both in Satellite. The one place in the city he didn't have eyes on every corner, the one place where they could feasibly vanish off the map and out of his grip. The one place his brother, and the dark gods he served, might get to them first.

Tempting as throwing the chair over was, he had an image to maintain, even when none were present to witness it. And so he settled for uttering the blackest curse words he knew under his breath, until his mood had lifted enough, and the outline of his secretary moving towards the frosted glass bid him stop. For now, the matter was out of his hands. The Signer's safety would have to be maintained by the Crimson Dragon until he could marshal the resources to do the job himself.

He traded papers with the secretary, a new case coming in to take heat away from the Satellite issue. Senator Izayoi's daughter had gone missing in the aftermath of a house fire, and he was requesting greater assistance from Security in looking for her. A division was already sweeping the area the girl had been seen last, but there was so much city to cover and the worst parental fears were building.

He stamped the request through without thinking. Another easy piece of P.R to see the budget increase though.

"We need to talk about the new girl." Jack declared one day over cards. Crow looked up, looked to his hand, frowned.

"Shoot, I don't think I can get out of this."

Yusei had set up Stardust Dragon and a single facedown card, which in the dining table metagame of Martha's house usually signalled the end of a game. Given that the three boy's decks consisted mostly of mismatched monsters, spells and traps either handed down from older children or excavated from Satellite's safer streets, managing to put out a Synchro Monster at all was a win in and of itself.

"Are you two listening to me?"

"We're listening, we're listening." Crow rattled off, sing-song, as he set down a spell card as a bluff and passed turn. "But do we really need to be paying attention? You're just going on about the same thing you've been saying for a week now. The new girl's a pro duellist and you think it's rubbish that she's not showing off her deck or using that duel disk of hers."

"Because it is rubbish!"

Jack punctuated that by thudding the table, knocking the cards a little. That earned him a rare frown from Yusei, who set about fixing the game state.

"She's still adjusting Jack. It's the same for all the new kids. Remember Martin? He refused to talk to anyone for a month."

"And now he won't shut up." Crow snickered.

"Exactly. Just give her time and I'm sure she'll want to open up. Stardust Dragon attacks."

Crow's Skull-Red Bird was unceremoniously sent to the graveyard, and turn was passed over. Crow closed his eyes and proceeded to draw his next card as dramatically as possible, only for his face to curdle upon actually reading it.

"Alright, fine, you win."

"That's not the only reason I want to talk to her! She has a birthmark, just like mine!"

Yusei brought his cards together, lips pursed in thought.

"It's not just like yours. Hers is a claw."

"Claw, wings, whatever! How many other kids have you seen with marks like that on their arms?"

"None, I guess. But we still shouldn't bother her."

"Yeah, girls don't exactly like it when you go shouting at them."

"I don't shout!"

Yusei and Crow gave him pointed looks, Crow punctuating it with a swooping hand gesture in his direction. Jack choked on his next words, grabbing his deck and giving Crow a shove as he set up opposite Yusei next.

Decks were shuffled, hands drawn.

"I can't believe you don't want to talk to her more. You've been goggle-eyed over that duel disk ever since she turned up."

"It's just nice to see one again." Yusei shifted, defensive. Martha had once owned a duel disk of her own, but it had long been traded off to keep the orphanage running. Since then, if the boys wanted to see proper duels with holograms, they had to make their way out into Satellite proper, which usually came with the risk of running into trouble.

"And I do want to make friends with her. I'm just willing to wait."

Jack folded his hand, tapped the cards against the table.

"Fine, I'll bet you."

"What?"

"I'll bet you, on this game. I win, we talk to her today. You win, I'll wait until you want to do it."

"I'm not going to bet that Jack."

Jack drew himself up with all the dignity that came from being the eldest by one year, and therefore the most responsible, respectable and strongest of the three boys. The one de-facto referred to when Yusei and Crow didn't know something, or needed something reached off a counter just out of reach. And he wielded that power with the calm, measured response that it deserved.

"Chicken."

Crow, unable to help himself, winced and hooted as if Jack had reached across the table and punched Yusei in the face. You didn't just call someone chicken and not expect there to be consequences.

Yusei looked down to his cards, considered them. Looked back up again with steel in his gaze, measuring Jack and his cock-sure smile.

"My turn. I draw!"

It had been about a week since Aki had fallen into Satellite. That's what it felt like anyway. Calendars were somewhat of a rarity in Satellite, but she'd gone to bed about seven times, so she considered it a week in passing.

Martha had asked her a couple of times how she was feeling, if she liked staying at the orphanage. Getting an idea if she was about to get up and run away, she supposed. Not totally without reason, as Aki herself didn't quite know if she wanted to stay.

On the whole, the orphanage was… nice. A bit cold most of the time, but it was dry and she didn't have to sleep on benches or against boxes, so it had that going for it. A place with food and running water, and after her first day in Satellite she was hard-pressed to give those up any time soon. Her previous picky eating habits had bitten the dust upon realisation that what Martha managed to get in was what they had to eat, and the alternative was going to bed hungry. Still, she really missed chocolate.

The main problem was the other children. Thirty-two of them there'd been before her arrival, with her as the thirty-third. It was like being at school all of the time, except instead of fading to the back of the classroom as usual, here she was a stand-out, with her nice clothes and duel disk. Unless she made herself truly alone, there was always a pair of eyes on her. True to her word, Martha had done her part to keep any of the more excitable kids from dog-piling her and had set the rule of law: Aki's things were hers, and she wasn't to be bothered about them. But that didn't stop people from looking.

The duel disk stayed locked on her arm even while sleeping, and she would have taken it into the bath as well if not for Martha pointing out that doing so would be a great way to get electrocuted and her cards wet to boot. She'd almost considered going without washing, which had lasted two days until her hair started getting all matted. Not that she ever spent much time bathing even after, rushing through the motions to get back to Martha and the disk as soon as she could.

The problem wasn't helped by the current state of affairs. At Martha's demand, everyone was under house arrest for the week, unable to leave the orphanage. Apparently, some of Satellite's criminal elements had upset Security something fierce, leading to increased patrols even in the safer parts of Satellite. "Times like this, they don't care who they're pushing around, and I don't want any of you getting hurt", she'd said, and so everyone was staying out of sight until they cooled off.

She'd been right, as the mob of black and white suited officers tromping past the orphanage had lessened with each day, and the random knocking at the front doors gone after the second day of increased patrols. But a lockdown was a lockdown, and with everyone stuck inside instead of able to run about as they pleased, she'd become even more of a spectacle. If the boys weren't trying to see her cards, then the girls were trying to integrate her into their friendship circles.

Aki wasn't good at making friends, and hadn't been even back before she'd become a monster. Shy, her teachers had said. It was worse now that she couldn't escape the feeling that everyone only wanted to play with her for the novelty of being seen with the new girl and her duel disk. And so she'd kept to herself, hung about windows and marvelled at Martha's little flower and herb garden, thriving in the pit of concrete that was Satellite.

As footsteps approached, she got the feeling that she was about to have yet another awkward conversation.

It was the trio of boys she'd seen on her first day here; Jack, Crow and Yusei, the former striding towards her with the others trailing half-heartedly behind. She didn't like the look in Jack's eye; darkly determined and making her feel all exposed and tense. Behind him, Yusei mouthed an apology, but it was lost as the eldest boy took up her vision, stood before her with hands on his hips.

"Aki."

"Jack." She offered back, less sure and already standing up, away from the window. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, you can."

Before she could ask what, he was rolling up his sleeve, and the words died her mouth as she saw his exposed forearm. There, burning deep crimson red, a set of wings, marked out in the same lines that made up her own brand.

"What…"

"That's what I want to know. I've never met anyone else with a birthmark like mine."

"Birthmark? No, that's not a birthmark."

She shied away from him, but already red light was escaping out from under the duel disk, her blood rising to a steady boil as it pounded in her ears. She kept moving back, putting space between them, screwing up her eyes as the light grew ever-more intense.

"It's the mark of a monster."

She heard Jack squawk something, rapid movement and the other two boys shouting. From somewhere, deep within her own head maybe, a deep base roar that shook her to the core. Already, pressure was building in her forehead. Not a headache, but something grander and alien. And it made her want to run. But as she turned away, something caught her wrist.

"What'dya mean I'm a monster?"

Everything else was lost a flash of white.

Yusei knew, by the tales of adults longing for better days, that he wasn't exactly having a normal childhood. But this was so far beyond those stories that it had swept completely into fantasy in less than two sentences. He blinked rapidly, leaning against the wall for support as he tried to clear the stars from his vision. He could vaguely make Crow out nearby, trying to help Jack to his feet. Of Aki there was no sign, or maybe she was hidden behind the stars. More than ever, he regretted taking that bet.

"Yusei, you alive?"

A slap on the arm from Crow brought him back to reality, the ringing in his ears dimming to a faint whine.

"I'm fine. What happened?"

"You think I know? I don't think this idiot knows what he just did!"

Jack was up, leaning against the other wall, spaced out with wide eyes. Yusei took a breath, and began to think back over the last few moments.

Jack had shown his birthmark. Aki had fallen back, which really should have been the point at which they called everything off. But he'd abided by the bet, which meant that her birthmark – no, not a birthmark, a mark of a monster, apparently – started glowing too. Jack had gotten angry, but he and Crow had grabbed him before he could do anything rash. But then the light had gotten too painful, and Jack had slipped away from them. And now Aki was nowhere to be seen.

Footsteps pattered towards the corridor, the door at the end slamming open.

"What did you boys do?"

Not Martha, mercifully. She was out acquiring food right now, the only person allowed to risk being outside under the current circumstances. Instead, a pair of older girls. Sakura and Madoka, he believed.

"We didn't do anything!" Crow was already protesting, voice edging on a whinge.

"Yeah right! The new girl just came running past, and there was all that flashing. You were bothering her, weren't you?"

"It was Jack! He wanted to know about his birthmark, and then things got all crazy!"

Off in the distance, doors slammed. On nothing but a whim, Yusei leant into the window, watched a dark figure go running off into the mist hanging about the orphanage.

"Which way did she go running?"

The older girls blinked.

"Just past us, towards the… foyer."

The five children stood there in silence for a second, broken by a soft curse.

"Piss. Martha's going to kill me." Jack muttered.

"I'm telling her you cussed as well."

"Shut up Crow! Don't be a snitch!"

He was already running, ducking under the girls and heading the same way.

"Hey, you're not supposed to go out!"

"Sorry, but we need to fix this."

And then Yusei was off as well, following the flapping of Jack's coat.

"What's all this we stuff? It's Jack's fault."

Crow complained, but he was running alongside them as they broke out the orphanage and onto the street. The mist was hanging low today, leaving them unable to see more than ten feet ahead and reeking something awful, all burnt oil and smoke. Poor conditions to find someone in the best of circumstances.

"Okay, so now we've run outside. Now what? We don't know where to start looking, and we can't see anything."

"The park." Jack said, turning to the right.

"What makes you say that?"

"Call it… a feeling."

His hand was resting on his forearm, that dazed look back in his eye.

"That's where Doctor Schmidt found her." Yusei offered. "It's as good a start as any."

Jack nodded and began striding into the mist, as stubborn as ever. Yusei and Crow stuck to his sides, keeping eyes out for Aki and Security alike.