Recap:

"You or Kaiba?" Max repeated. "That's a no brainier! I'd choose him over you any day!" Kaiba's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Max again and saw that she wasn't lying to get a rise out of him.

"A woman shouldn't be allowed to choose for herself!" The man said unmistakable anger in his voice. Kaiba now looked smugly at the man holding Max.

"Now! Let her go!" Kaiba commanded the cold glare back in his eyes. The man gave a dramatic sigh and let go of Max's shoulder, Kaiba followed his hand as it slowly slid down Max's chest and stomach to rest at the bottom of her stomach and around her hip possessively.

"I don't think so! I want to keep her; she'll make a great pet!" Kaiba's glare intensified ten fold. "Slade take him alive I want to show them what happens when I'm refused!" Slade grinned and quickly exchanged a few bullets. Max struggled against the blonde man trying to get to Slade before he did anything to Kaiba. In her panic Max forgot that the other man had a gun as well, and only remembered this as it came crashing down on the back of her neck making blackness take over her vision she felt her legs crumple beneath her.

"B-bastard!" Max managed to mumble before unconsciousness took her away from the sound of the mans laughter echoing around the room.

"Talking" 'Thinking'

Max slowly drifted into consciousness trying to gather her thoughts, but every time she tried to think the ache in her head grew worse. Keeping her breathing shallow Max took stock or her injuries. There was a throbbing ache in her neck traveling up to her head and her arms were sore, but other than that she was unharmed. Max tried to move her arms but found that they were chained together above her head, she tried to pull but found it useless. Groaning softly Max opened her eyes that felt like they were filled with lead and tried to get her bearings. That was useless. The room she was in was small ten foot by ten built of stone with a meatl door, it looked like an old dungeon with the moss traveling up the damp walls and the shackles hanging off the walls and ceiling. Max blinked and felt a cold draft looking down she saw that her jacket had been taken and she was left with her black tank top and thin cargo pants.

"Damn that blonde asshole!" Max said raising her voice. "Bastard stole my favorite jacket!"

"Nice to see you're awake, Max." A voice said flatly behind Max. Max stiffened and turned around to meet tired sapphire eyes.

"K-Kaiba your alive!" Max said relief flooding into her voice. She tried to walk forward to Kaiba but only managed a foot before the shackles that held her arms stopped her. She looked Kaiba over quickly; his arms were cuffed behind his back and chained to the walls making it so that he couldn't even stand though his feet were unshackled. He was also missing his trademark blue trench coat and had only a tight black shirt on over his leather pants. Max couldn't help but stare at him; she never imagined that Kaiba would have muscles let alone a six pack. She thought all CEO's did was sit at their desks and yell at people.

'Wait I'm a CEO! Heh, guess the young CEO's are more into looking good and not getting fat.' Max let her eyes slowly travel up Kaiba's torso to his eyes that if she wasn't mistaken knew exactly what she had been doing since they held a slight amusement through their weariness. Max blushed and lowered her eyes to stare at the stone ground.

"Max are you alright?" Kaiba asked unused to her being shy around him. Max nodded and squirmed a bit twisting her hands.

"Yeah, my head hurts, but I'm fine." Max said still playing with her hands.

"That's not what I meant." Kaiba corrected calmly, Max paused and looked up at Kaiba confusion flashing quickly through her eyes.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with George would it?" Max asked narrowing her eyes.

"That's part of it, but I meant more of our current situation and the fact that the leader has an obsession with you." Kaiba said evenly.

"Oh, that!" Max rolled her eyes and went back to playing with her hands. "Well I have realized there is nothing I can do about George so I will have to move on, as for the freaky blonde man I'm not so worried about him. If he is the leader that means that he is the weakest." Max stood on her tip toes giving the chain some slack.

"How do you figure that?" Kaiba asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well that's always how it is! The weakest man is the one with the most power! Why do you think that he surrounds himself with strong protectors? Ow, damn!" Kaiba blinked at Max's curse, Max looked down at him and grinned sliding her wrists through the shackles and rubbing the feeling back into them.

"How did you do that?" Kaiba asked curiosity getting the better of him, Max grinned down at Kaiba and reached into her hair feeling around for something.

"Well... remember when Blondie said I was nothing but dressed up dock side trash?" Kaiba nodded and Max continued. "Well he was kinda right!" Max paused and brought her hand out of her hair with a grin.

"Explain!" Kaiba said his patience obviously wearing thin.

"Ok," Max said and walked forward showing Kaiba a bobby pin. "Have you ever been to New York City?" Max asked and Kaiba once again nodded affirmative. "Have you been to the worse parts of the City?" Max paused and laughed softly. "Of course you haven't!" Max knelt down next to Kaiba looking at the lock of the shackles. "Well that is where I grew up," Being so close to Kaiba Max could smell him, he smelled faintly of the cologne he wore, musky mixed with sweat and the damp earth. Max shook her head and continued her story. "That is before I was taken in by the orphanage and when I ran away from it for a few days at a time." Kaiba sighed shifting his arms to give Max better access.

"How does that have anything to do with slipping shackles?" Max paused and looked at Kaiba a smile gracing her lips before she turned back to the shackles.

"Living on the streets isn't easy Kaiba, when you do that there are certain things you have to learn in order to get by."

"Like?"

"Like, pick pocketing, food snatching, breaking and entering, but only if you wanted a place other than the streets to sleep on. And when you learn these... talents, you have to learn ways to get away if you're caught. That's were cuff slipping came in handy and," the shackles gave a dull click and snapped open on one side. "And cuff picking!" Kaiba winced as he tried to move his arm; Max took it in her hand and moved it for him rubbing it to get the blood flowing again. Kaiba looked down at Max who was looking at her hands rubbing his arm.

"How old were you?" Max looked up in surprise at Kaiba's question and a faint blush crawled its way across her face.

"Umm, I was five when I was sent to the orphanage so I learned these... talents between the age of five and ten." Max's blush deepened as she continued to rub Kaiba's arm softly. Max risked a glance up at Kaiba to find him staring at her with faint interest Max's hands stopped and she cocked her head, Kaiba opened his mouth to say something but was stopped by Max pressing her finger against his lips. "Damn!" Max muttered and gently moved Kaiba's arm behind his back closing the shackle around his wrist again, she looked at it quickly making sure it appeared to be still locked when it was still unlocked. Max pressed the bobby pin in Kaiba's unlocked hand and quickly stood up without sparing him a second glance. Kaiba heard the footsteps drawing nearer to the cell they were in an understood why Max was suddenly afraid.

"I promise I won't let him hurt you Max." Kaiba said softly, but it was enough for Max to hear in the small room. She looked back at Kaiba and gave him a thankful smile before facing the opposite wall. Max slipped one hand into the shackles on the ceiling, the lock on the door clicked just as she thrust her second hand into the other shackle. The metal door opened with a shriek as it scraped across the stone. Max couldn't tell who it was that had entered since the door was behind her and to the left, the door scraped shut closing out the small amount of artificial light that made it's way into the small room. She held her breath hearing the footsteps slowly making their way towards her it sounded like two pairs, which would make since if the 'master' didn't want to go down to his dungeon without his 'servant'. The owners of the footsteps came into view and Max saw that it was indeed the blonde haired man flanked by his loyal muscle Slade. Slade stopped a few feet away from Max while the blonde continued on until he was only inches away from her.

"Good evening Max!" He said pleasantly as if Max wasn't being held against her will. "You were out for almost two days." Max's eyes widened slightly. "Sorry I hit you so hard, but I couldn't have you helping him!" He flicked his hand towards Kaiba. "Ohh, by the way my name is Oliver, Oliver Pierce." He bowed slightly introducing himself, Max almost smiled at him, he didn't seem like someone who wanted to harm them. In fact he seemed very nice, but Max knew for a fact that looks could be very deceiving.

"Nice to meet you Oliver." Max said and was rewarded with a smile. "Mind telling me why I am chained up in a dungeon?" Oliver stepped forward and cupped Max's chin in his hand.

"I couldn't have my new pet running away now could I?" Oliver said humor tinting his voice and a smirk showing his white teeth. That's when Max's theory of him meaning them no harm went out the window.

"I'd rather not be a pet, but thank you." Max said pulling her chin out of his grasp. Oliver narrowed his eyes and snapped his fingers, Slade mover from his post a few feet away from Max to disappear behind her towards Kaiba.

"Let's try this again! If you refuse me, Slade hurts him!" Oliver pointed behind her and Max turned around to see Slade welding a sharp sliver knife. He was turning it threatingly in the air in front of Kaiba's face. Turning around Slade received a nod from Oliver, Slade bent down and touched the knife to Kaiba's exposed arm, Kaiba's eyes narrowed but he did not move or try to stop him.

'No! He's willing to be hurt for my sake!' Max's eyes closed and she sighed. 'I can't let him do that.' Max opened her eyes to see Slade putting pressure on the knife, it had not broken the skin, but it was very close to doing just that.

"Stop!" Max commanded, three set of eyes turning to focus on her. Max held up her chin proudly and glared at Slade before Oliver walked around to face her once again blocking her view of Kaiba.

"That easy?" Oliver asked disappointment in his voice. Max looked over his shoulder at the mossy wall. "Not even one cut and you gave up! You care about him don't you?" He asked mockingly. Max winced inwardly and swallowed her pride momentarily for the sake of both their lives.

"N-not as much as I care about you!" Max said moving her gaze to Oliver's green eyes his eyes reflected satisfaction and pleasure, Max's eyes showed nothing as she purposely kept them blank.

"So noble," Oliver said with a satisfied smirk. "I like that." He leaned down his mouth brushing against her ear. "Were going to have so much fun." Oliver whispered seductively in Max's ear. Max squeezed her eyes shut trying to block out the images that swam unbidden through her mind just imagining what Oliver could do to her and probably would. "Slade!" Oliver said capturing his attention that was focused on Kaiba.

"Yes, boss?"

"Release Miss Max, but bind her hands I don't want her trying anything."

"Right away!" Slade moved quickly over to Max bringing a key out of his pocket he unlocked the shackles that Max has already slipped through, Max let her hands drop to her side as she stood there unmoving. If it was her life on the line she would not hesitate to act, but if she tried anything and failed Kaiba would be punished for it not her so she stayed still and allowed Slade to tighten a pair of handcuffs around her already sore wrists. Max was surprised that Slade had cuffed her hands in front of her and not behind her back; Max didn't stay surprised for long. She was already considering an escape plan that would work if Slade followed her and Oliver.

"Slade stay here and watch Mr. Kaiba just in case my little kitty decides to scratch." Oliver turned on Max whose hopes had just sunk, he wasn't stupid! He was making sure that she didn't do anything wrong. "Let's go!" Oliver said, Slade opened the dungeon door and Oliver pushed Max gently through holding her elbow and leading her through the winding tunnels. Max blinked remembering something and her hopes lifted ever so slightly. Kaiba's chain was unlocked halfway and she had given him the bobby pin.