Two hours later, I finally managed to connect to Tanner's signal in the city. Within seconds, his face was on screen, "Yusei, were you involved in the weird signal over Satellite?"
Pinching my eyes together for a second, I let out a deep sigh, "Yeah, that was a duel I was in. But how are you guys doing? Aki said that one showed up in the city."
"Yeah. We got tricked into going to the Arcadia Movement building, where us adults got separated from the kids. While we were trying to get back to the kids, the leader got attacked by a Dark Signer. Jack helped us get out, and now we are at his place."
An extremely familiar voice spoke up from off screen, "Is that Yusei? Is she okay?"
Tanner turned his head to look offscreen, "Yeah, she just called."
The computer was violently jerked, and pointed at Jack's face, "Are you okay? I saw you crash!"
"I just woke up, but Martha says that my body is just tired from taking so many hits in the past few days. She wants me to stay in bed for another day or two before she'll let me up and about."
His shoulders relaxed a bit, and he rubbed his face, "Sounds typical of Martha, and how is Aki dealing with everything?"
"I think that being here has been good for her. Martha's been spending one on one time with her, and she's starting to calm down and cheer up a bit."
"Martha did beat some sense into you."
Chuckling, I shook my head, "Classic Jack Atlas. Blunt to a point, and so withdrawn you make everything sound like an insult. I hope you are being civil with the other boys."
He grunted, and another voice added to the mix, "Are you talking to Yusei?"
From the way Jack had to look down, it didn't take much thinking to know who asked him that. He crouched and put the computer on something, bringing Luna's face into view, "Hey, Luna. Are you doing okay?"
She nodded, "Did Jack say you crashed?"
I did my best to smile, "My runner stopped working, so I fell off. Our local doctor says that I should be fine by the end of the week. My body is just tired from the duel with Jack and the duel with Aki."
Leo appeared as well, "That creep Sayer made me duel him!"
My face likely went through a series of expressions as I bit my lip to hold back some words that were not appropriate for kids, "Now that you're safe, we can hopefully forget about people who make terrible decisions."
Jack scoffed, "You forgive too easily."
"So you want me to not forgive people, Jack? Curious coming from you."
He stiffened, disappearing from view in the blink of an eye. Luna looked at me, "What was that about?"
I smiled at her, "We used to be friends way back in time. Until he decided to choose being famous over being a friend. That's why I was in the city."
Leo moved even closer to his sister, "But-"
Luna shoved him out of view, "Leo! Don't push people for information. Yusei never lies to us. She sometimes doesn't tell us everything, but she never lies."
Jack showed up over her shoulder, "Yusei? Aki's father has gotten in contact with us a couple of times. What should we do about that?"
The sudden change of topic threw me for a loop, "I'll have to ask her about that. From what I understand, it's a very complicated topic."
I was about to say something else when Jack's assistant showed up, "Miss Fudo?"
"Yeah, what is it?"
She glanced down at a datapad, and scrolled through it, "Director Goodwin would like to talk to you and Miss Izayoi as soon as possible."
Holding up a finger, I called out, "One moment. Martha!"
Footsteps came my way, and both women came in, "Director Goodwin needs to know when I'll be off bedrest."
"On Monday. Is that Jack?"
I turned the screen to them, and watched Aki come stand behind it as Martha looked at Jack, who was very interested in something on his wall, "Jack Atlas, you look at this screen right now."
Slowly, his head turned to look at the screen, "Hello Martha."
Her face got more stern, "Care to explain why Yusei had to go to the city to get her most prized card? Why Stardust wasn't in her possession?"
There was a pause, "Because I got tricked into thinking that I would die there if I didn't steal her card and runner."
Martha glared at me, "He also took your first runner? You told me it broke down."
"For the record, I told you that after Jack suddenly stopped using it."
She rubbed her forehead, muttering quietly, "Why did I ever adopt both of you?"
Jack shrugged, "Because I persuaded you to take in Yusei."
"And that, Jack Atlas, was a huge mistake on your part, because Yusei isn't afraid to beat sense into that thick skull of yours."
I held up my hand, "Martha, he's going to end up coming here to fight the Dark Signers. Could you wait to scold him until then?"
She nodded, and looked at Jack's assistant on the screen, "You can tell the Director to send a helicopter on Monday, and both of them will be on it. And Aki? You can't hide from your father forever."
I scrubbed one of the pots off as Aki helped Martha make some bread on the other side of the kitchen, glad that I was finally allowed back on my feet. Sure, it meant that I had to do chores, but I honestly didn't care that much.
Aki smiled at me, "It looks like you've done that job before."
"Mostly as a punishment. I was a very unpredictable child."
They both laughed, and Martha explained, "Yusei used to jump into everything without thinking. Granted, she would always have a backup plan if something didn't work, but both plans were created on the fly, so she would often get into major trouble."
I smiled, "True. Though thinking that Aki and I could take down all of the Dark Signers on our own definitely wins the prize for most stupid idea."
Both of them laughed, but stopped when we heard the sound of a helicopter. Aki looked at me, "Is it Monday already?"
Martha dried her hands on her apron, "Yes it is. You two better collect your things and head outside."
Aki ran around the house for a minute, while I grabbed a backpack that I had packed one of the days when I was bored of just sitting around. When she joined me at the door, we headed out to the waiting helicopter.
A security officer waved for both of us to get into the helicopter, and the second we were both inside, the door swung shut.
We sat on a bench next to each other, and Aki smiled at me, "At least we aren't in the cargo bay this time."
Every inch of tension that was in me released as laughter burst from me. Aki laughed along with me for a little bit, before grabbing my shoulder, "Yusei, could you stop? You're making me laugh."
Instantly, I stopped, "Sorry about that. That's part of the reason I try to remain calm all of the time. My powers slip out when I'm not paying attention."
She pulled her legs to her chest, "It's okay. I've never felt an empath do that before. Now I get why you are worried about your powers, because I'm guessing that negative emotions work the same way."
"Yeah. Growing up, I used them accidentally hundreds of times. Getting my powers to do what I want isn't easy, so I've only used it intentionally a few times. But you understand the stress of having powers that don't listen to you."
Aki nodded as she adjusted how she was sitting, "I wish that mine did what I wanted a couple times. But they don't."
I stared out the window at the approaching city, "Martha always said that wishing is only half the battle. After we deal with these Dark Signers, we'll figure out a way to deal with your powers and getting them to behave. Deal?"
"Deal."
A/N: Thanks to Lets-Go-To-Vermont and Dark Lord of the Fallen Angels for reviewing on the original version of this chapter.
Some of you may notice that there are a couple things removed from this chapter. I felt that they disrupted the flow of the chapter, and they'll be put in a different place.
