Thank you again for all the support towards this story! This is a rather short chapter – or should I say, last chapter was unusually long. The only person in the cast who will be making an appearance here is Carly, so you have been warned. Of course, that certainly doesn't mean everything would go smoothly. Not at all.
III - Contagion
The Security escort sure is taking their sweet time to arrive – Carly thought to herself as she looked listlessly out towards the dull, grey Satellite sky. After she sent the information to the twins and settled to wait for the Security, Carly had been through all the orphanage, looking up and down at the records kept here. In order to spend her time in a constructive way, Carly even tried to help Martha and the kids with the chores around the place, but was soon politely asked to leave after she fumbled through barely one bucket of laundry.
Carly then had nothing to do but sit down and go through the few simple games she had on her laptop. Rua and Ruka had warned her not to leave too much of a trace online, since Carly wasn't meant to be in Satellite. Carly therefore did her best to curb her reporter's habit of browsing the net whenever she had downtime and consented to just sit there and look around.
Even though this was Satellite, a place where few in the City managed to enter, Carly felt it was already beginning to lose its previous lustre. She now understood why Jack found life in Satellite to be so unbearable. There was hardly anything here. Life at the orphanage was spent in mindless labour, or literally doing nothing at all. While Martha did possess a nice collection of books, even Carly wouldn't expect all the boys here to be engrossed in reading every day. She could see why gangs thrived so easily here. Compared to the City, where pleasures unimagined were always within reach, the youth here were restless and would rather beat someone up than sit around gazing at the sky. There was something very unusual here - or was it the City that was unusual? Was Satellite too wild, or was the City too unnaturally tame?
Even the Security officers who worked here are different. The police officers in the City had great camaraderie with the people, laughing and cheering with them during events, their holstered weapons usually for show. People who were on duty in Satellite have a glint of real fear in their eyes, as if they have seen true horror unleashed before them. They huddled together with their comrades, their weapons always ready. Carly hadn't dared to ask if Satellite Security officers were recruited from Satellite – some must be, given how familiar some officers were with the local terrain. How would it feel like to rule over your own people as a Security officer, facing down gang members that could have been you in another lifetime? How would the young people think, when they realised they could either be strict enforcers of the law or the complete opposite? Perhaps that was what drove Crow and Jack, and in particular Kiryu, apart from each other. Perhaps that was why people flocked towards Kiryu's Black Duel Disks now, as that equipment promised them power they would never have gotten otherwise.
When the Security vehicle finally pulled up outside the orphanage's tightly shut gates, it was past noon. Carly had already shared a light lunch with the children and was by then thoroughly feeling out of place. Despite being so much older than the kids, Carly felt like a fumbling mess with no abilities to do any housework or contribute to the collective. She all but flew out towards the Security officers when the car appeared, her one small bag in hand. Without Jack, she was indeed feeling that she didn't fit into Satellite or with its people. But what was so different about Jack, that he could function as a buffer between such contradictory places? Carly didn't really know. All she knew was that she genuinely missed his presence, especially as they had spent so much time together recently on both sides of the isthmus. She had briefly considered waiting here with Martha for Jack's return instead of going with the Security officers, but she didn't want to depend on Jack and keep drag him everywhere with her, distracting him from what he wants to do, just so she can fulfil her own whim of being 'in the action'.
If she can alleviate some of Jack's worries by going back to the City and staying out of danger, then she would consent to do so.
"Nagisa-san?" The Security officer sitting in the driver's seat rolled down the window and greeted her cautiously as she approached, evidently apprehensive of her unfamiliar face.
"That's me!" Carly nodded emphatically, and hurriedly took out her city ID card when she saw the officer's expression became even grimmer. "Here. That's my ID."
"Hop on then, Nagisa-san." The officer's face softened somewhat when he saw what she proffered, but never completely relaxed. "If you'll excuse me, I'd like to get out of here with you as soon as possible. Things have been a bit unsteady at Satellite recently."
Carly nodded before looking all over the officer's vehicle. "Sure, but I... I didn't know that the Satellite Security forces still relied on old-fashioned cars that run on fuel."
The majority of modern vehicles in Neo Domino were powered by Momentum, and the Security force's vehicles were given the highest priority when it comes to changing to the new energy source. All Security officers were given D-Wheels and vehicles that ran on Momentum, and they often used this advantage to overcome fleeing criminal. Yes, Carly herself drove a crappy car that relied on fossil fuels, but that was a testament to her poverty, not some kind of nostalgic statement. She wasn't expecting to see a similar vehicle here, and she briefly wondered if the finances for Satellite Security have really been hit so hard.
The officer had a strange look in his face as he answered. "That's temporary. Just some problems with Momentum supply."
"Problems –"
"We should get going, Nagisa-san. Have you got all your belongings?"
Carly nodded slowly. Ruka and Rua advised her to leave her car with Martha, as it would be impossible to explain how she managed to get the car into Satellite in the first place. She grabbed her bag tightly and opened the door of the Security vehicle behind the driver. Her reporter's instincts, already warmed up with analysing the recent events, started to go into overdrive.
Momentum had never been known to fail. It was the stalwart bastion that held up all of Neo Domino's energy supplies, the inexhaustible fount of power that quenched all of the City's demands. To hear that Momentum was not being reliable was... unsettling, to say the very least, especially for a City-dweller like herself.
Carly didn't know if she should probe this issue deeper. She looked at the deep frown that covered the officer's face as he drove her back towards the station and decided not to.
But that resolve didn't last long. It wasn't long before she noticed that the officer's Duel Disks was still lit up with the iridescent lights of Momentum, despite the claim that Momentum was failing.
"Um, sir." Carly ventured to question. "Didn`t you say there's less Momentum supply around? But that Duel Disk…"
"Huh. You noticed? No wonder you are here on a special mission." Carly didn't know under what pretext the twins mobilised the Security forces, so she decided not to interject. "Cars haven't got Momentum, but the Duel Disks still have the most reliable Momentum supply. You'd think Duel Disks wouldn't be so high on the Momentum priority list." But then the officer grinned, with a bitter, resigned expression. "Weird, isn't it? At least the lads have some entertainment. Things would be worse if you can't even play Duel Monsters anymore."
"So, there is no Momentum to power any vehicles for Satellite Security now?" Carly cautiously offered.
The officer gave her a careful look. "Look, missy. I don't know exactly how you are, but to be honest, the Momentum situation in Satellite is pretty bad. If you know people and won't mind putting in a word for us, I would appreciate it if our higher-ups back in the City can address it ASAP. Are we good about that?"
Carly nodded as if she really was a secret agent sent by the City – it was starting to sound like that was the cover the twins gave to her. "I understand."
"Good." The officer nodded back emphatically. "Because I appreciate the Duel Disks, but that itself is a part of the problem. None of those thugs with their black Duel Disks are affected by this outage. It's hardly reasonable that our own vehicles are not powered up when those crazy folks can still run around with their better Duel Disks causing havoc. It does make the job really hard."
"I see." Carly kept nodding, as if she was making a mental record of everything the officer was complaining about.
"Look." The officer sighed. "I know we shouldn't expect much, with being posted over here in this dirt hole." Carly surmised the officer was most likely born and raised in the City. "But after that business with that hospital, and the people starting to report some ghost or witch, and the gangs all of a sudden started carrying magical Duel Disks – we are working at full capacity here. At least my station hadn't run into anything too funny, which is why I can still drop you off. We will arrange for a car from the City to take you, me, and the other lad at the station back. Some stations closer to the City crossing got hit pretty badly. Some of the people here actually tried to storm across into the City during the mess."
Later, they pulled slowly into a small gate, which Carly assumed to be the station. There was a yard between the gate and the main doors of a low, grey building, bearing the symbol of the Security force. Despite the diminutive features of the building, it still held some sort of presence and authority over the nearby houses, which have all kinds of holes and broken windows riddling their facade. It was obvious that some sort of riot happened here, evidenced by the large amount of broken stones and concrete littered around the building. The one other Security officer stationed there was peeking out fearfully from behind the small, bullet-proof window on the iron-cast front door, his eyes just barely visible as the car pulled into a car port with a rather bent roof. Carly thanked the officer sincerely and got out of the car with him. After a careful look around the perimeter, the officer ushered Carly behind him and then carefully walked her over to the door of the Security building.
"Open up. This is the young lady we were told to fetch from Martha's." The officer who drove them here spoke briskly to his colleague. With one more careful look around them, the colleague turned the lock from the inside.
The door did not open immediately, and the sound of latches and bolts being removed could then be heard from inside the room. Slowly, carefully, the door swung inwards and allowed Carly admission. The new officer who opened the door was much younger than the driver, who was approaching middle age. This younger officer was almost Carly's own age and looked worriedly up and down the courtyard, and there was so much fear in his eyes that Carly couldn't help but look around too. There were two youngsters, no older than mere teens, who were loitering outside the gate aimlessly and kicking the loose stones on the ground, but they fled as soon as they saw the officer looking straight at their direction.
"Little brats. They are better off staying at home." The officer who drove Carly here muttered under his breath and sank into a sagging sofa in the reception area. "We'll have to turtle here for a while, Nagisa-san. Hope you don't mind."
"Not at all." Carly smiled politely and gazed around.
The Security office was a sorry excuse of a law-enforcement facility, one that would never be allowed to exist back in Neo Domino. The front reception area looked like it was boarded up at one stage. Furniture was overturned and piled up haphazardly against the main front-facing window, the crisscross of chair legs blocking out much of the view. The hard floor hasn't been swept for a long time, and a thick layer of dust was building up around the corners and underneath the furniture pile. The air conditioning was obviously broken, and the windows have most certainly not been opened recently. Abundant dust particles floated languidly in the air, together with a particular scent of mouldy and stale enclosures. Carly suppressed her instinctive need to cover her nose and mouth and forced herself to turn her eyes to the small tea table in the middle of the room, where the only signs of someone living in this mess could be seen.
Many Duel Monster cards were strewn carelessly over the low table, and Carly had to admit she was intrigued by the choices. Many Security officers prefer tougher, more intimidating monsters due to their line of work. She didn't know of any Security staff who would use a Fairy-type deck. In fact, her own Fairy-type deck was sometimes criticised for being too childish and frivolous. She was very, very pleasantly surprised to see a respectable Fairy deck amongst the cards scattered over the table here.
"Is that… a Fairy deck?" After putting her bag down on one of the few clean spots she could see on the floor, she cautiously pointed towards the cards on the table.
The younger officer instantly perked up. "Sure it is! Do you know much about Fairy cards?"
His tone and demeanour instantly changed, going from a stiff and scared Security officer to a Duel Monster enthusiast, as if mentioning the game suddenly lifted his spirit way into the clouds. Carly grinned even among the mess in the room. Duel Monsters always incited this kind of contagious joy in people, one of the reasons behind why it was the biggest game in the world. "I do. Fairies is my own favourite Type."
The two of them quickly sat down on the couch – after the older officer moved away to a chair with an amused grin – and Carly started to share the cards in her deck with the officer, who was a fellow lover of Fairy-type cards. The bond they shared was spontaneous and mutual, like nothing else in this world mattered for the moment. Duel Monsters was so popular that there was probably not a single person who had not heard of the game or possessed absolutely no cards of their own. Everyone played the game to some degree, and it wouldn't be rare to see total strangers engaged in earnest discussion over some aspects of the game. The same thing was happening with Carly and the officer here. While they were engrossed over cards and strategies, the older officer made a phone call to the Security station closest to the land bridge. Upon receiving word that a petrol-fuelled vehicle will be sent to fetch them, he let the other two know that it would be a while before they get to leave the station.
"I told them to get us out of here as soon as possible." The older officer grumbled as he put down the phone, but the other two occupants of the room were far too absorbed in their own conversation to hear. Sighing, he lifted his voice, and tried to offer some gaming advice of his own.
"Hey, you Duel Monster masters, if you are so interested in each other's deck, why don't you just duel each other? It's not the Duel Disks are offline or anything."
Carly and the younger officers looked at each other, then nodded enthusiastically like little children.
It was such an ordinary decision, and the movement to strap the standard Duel Disk onto her arm was so familiar. It was something that Carly had done thousands of times since she was a small child, and always with her trustworthy Fairy deck. Sure, the setting was a little weird, in the middle of Satellite in a dilapidated Security station, but the spirit of the game remained. She stood face-to-face with the young officer, and the latter made a little bow to indicate that the lady can go first. Carly nodded and cast a quick look at her hand, then made a selection and placed the card on the Duel Disk.
"I summon Fortune Lady Firey, in attack mode!"
And yet, that was when things went horribly wrong.
There was a strange, almost imperceptible shift in the air at first, a kind of distortion, a mirage one might see in the middle of a summer day. She paid no attention to it, thinking it might be an issue with the hologram technology. But when her monster finally materialised, she swore she felt palpable heat emanating from her little fire fairy, waves of scorching air coming off the monster and tickling her skin.
Terrified, Carly stiffened, her eyes not leaving the Duel Monster for even a second.
And the two officers... they noticed it too.
"You are... You are..."
The younger officer was evidently as confused and conflicted as Carly was. He stood still, his face a shade of deathly white as he gazed open-mouthed at the monster that was rendered into flesh and bone, a monster giving off heat that started to scorch the upturned chairs into charcoal black. The older officer was slowly standing up, his expression a mixture of shock and disbelief. Carly could feel her heart beating unbelievably fast in her chest and she felt dizzy, as if all the oxygen departed from her brain and left her without enough mental capacity to process what was happening.
"Wait... This isn't what it looks like... I can - Ahhhh!"
Her attempts at explanation turned into an incomprehensible scream. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the older officer rushing out to stand protectively in front of the younger officer, his arms outstretched to shield his inexperienced colleague from danger. But Carly couldn't really pay attention to them anymore. Something was burning - no, eating, scratching, gnawing! - into her left arm, and it hurt so much, as if a thousand burning hot brands were all placed upon her skin at the same time, and every single one of them burnt all the way into the bone.
"Ahhh!"
Carly stumbled and fell from the unimaginable pain drilling into her arm. Her hands were shaking, and she mustered all the energy left in her to unbuckle the Duel Disk on her left arm. It fell off as she desperately rolled up her sleeve to figure out what was happening. But if anything, freeing her arm only made the pain even worse. She scratched at her own flesh, clawing against the burning skin like a madman, but there was nothing there to scratch. Her skin looked completely normal, but it hurt, it hurt so so so damn much.
"How..."
But just as she watched, a dark, inky, violet stain started to form on her skin, a rigid seal glowing with an ominous purple sheen.
"What... What is going on?"
The dark purple lines solidified and linked with each other to form an unnatural form, one that could look like two hands, or a bird, or something completely out of this world. Carly pulled and rubbed the skin in disbelief, but the mark was not going away. What was more horrible was that it was glowing - actually glowing - as if someone had placed some light bulbs underneath her skin.
"Psychic... Psychic Duelist...!"
The terrified gasps of the officers brought Carly back to reality. Looking up, the two officers had both drawn their guns, and were pointing the hollow, black barrels of their weapons straight towards her.
"No... No, I can explain...!"
"BAM!"
The bullet barely missed her face, impaling itself with a desperate violence into the wall behind her, breaking open a dark hole with no return. The younger officer's hand still quivered as small tufts of smoke wafted out of his upheld gun. The Fairy type cards he held just moments ago were now discarded onto the ground, trampled by their own master in his overwhelming fear.
Shaking, his teeth cluttering, the younger officer gave out a horrified, wailing cry.
"Psychic Duelist... You are a Psychic Duelist!"
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
"NO!"
Carly's reply was more of a scream than anything else. The two officers remained standing in front of her, their eyes open wide in fear even though she was the one kneeling on the ground, and they were the ones holding guns to her head.
"NO! I am not a Psychic Duelist!"
But who would believe her? Her little fairy gave one last spark of its flame before it disappeared, as Carly's cards fell off the Duel Disk and landed on the ground. She gave up on trying to hold on to the cards and simply let them drop too. The mark had thoroughly burnt into her skin. Even as she tried to cover up the mark with her other hand, the strange purple light was shining through the gaps of her fingers. She saw some movement out of the corner of her eye but had no time to pay attention to what might be happening in the courtyard outside. She did not dare to move. She did not know what to do at all.
"Yes... Yes, you are a Psychic Duelist...!" The younger officer answered in a shaky voice, his hand not letting go of the weapon. "That's why you're here... That's why you are here!"
"Is that why you are here?" The older officer answered in an equally disturbed voice, his eyes narrowing in concentration and fear. "Is that... is that why you are so special? Why we have been asked so specifically to fetch you?"
"No. NO!" Carly reached out, trying to explain herself again, only to have the two grown man visibly flinch away from her.
"You are a woman... You had a Fire monster... Are you – are you the Witch who's been haunting Satellite?!" His whole body shaking with mortal terror, the younger officer turned relentless with his accusations. Visibly shaken, the older officer glanced repeatedly between Carly and his colleague, obviously allowing his imagination to embellish Carly with all the horrors they heard about regarding the Witch of Rosewood. "Are you that Psychic woman who has been targeting Security officers throughout the entire district? Is that you? Is that you?"
"No. I'm not - "
"BAM!"
A second gunshot followed, but both officers were so terrified that the bullet completely missed Carly and flew off in an entirely different direction, hitting the window instead and puncturing a hole in the glass. A yell could be heard. Carly was vaguely aware of figures outside and the older officer yelling back. It sounded like the teenagers were back, and the older officer was trying to put on some last semblance of power and control in this place.
Carly was not paying any attention to them. Her ears still rang with the echo of the gunshot, and with the horrified shouts of the officers who were so amiable only moments before. She could not take her eyes off the gun pointing straight at her, at the death and judgement it promised. Her brain worked feverishly to try to understand her predicament. She tried to think what would happen to her, but nothing she could think of would leave her intact. She would most likely be arrested by the City as a potential danger to the populace, locked up, her career in ruins, and never be able to see anyone she knew again.
She would never see Yusei again, or the twins, or Jack...
"Hey! Get back! I said get back!" The older officer was yelling something towards the window, leaving the younger officer alone to guard Carly.
A single tear meandered its way down Carly's cheek without her realising it.
She was only vaguely aware of the windows cracking and shattered into pieces, of how a multitude of people seemed to have come through the window – how did they do that? – and overpowered the officers, together with a cacophony of howls and screeches. She was almost comatose, only aware of the unceasing pain on her arm. She looked down, oblivious to the rest of world, and she could only see that purple light on her arm, promising her incomprehensive power, foreshadowing an unimaginable future.
She must have sat like that for a long time. She only dimly saw what was going on around her when she felt hands were laid on her, pulling her, trying to get her to get up and move.
She lifted up her eyes and saw men all around her, and instinctively reacted.
"Get off me!"
She lashed out violently, but the hands did not let go. She resorted to whacking the hand using her Duel Disk, but that only resulted in more people starting to pull her. She opened her eyes wide and tried to focus on the faces of her attackers, only to realise her eyes was actually so clouded with tears that she could hardly see even behind her glasses. The lack of knowledge made her heart race even faster. They might be the Security convoy from the other station. They might be locals who have been hurt by Aki and Kiryu. The purple light still shone on, bright as a beacon, and there was no way that anyone would think of her as normal.
"NO! I'm not... a Psychic Duelist! Go away!"
"You are a Pyschic Duelist, my lady. And don't worry, we are here to save you."
A completely alien voice answered her as Carly sobbed between her strangled cries, and whoever spoke patted and rubbed her back in a smoothing away. Confused, Carly blinked hard and wiped her tears away from her eyes, trying to bring the world back into focus.
The two officers were now lying in a heap on the ground. Carly gasped audibly and tried to move towards them, but more hands grabbed her and stopped her. Shards of glass littered the room, and there seemed to be a draft coming through the window now. Carly looked dazedly towards the window, only to find it was completely smashed to bits. The piled-up chairs attempting to blockade it were pushed aside and crashed against the wall, as if something or someone had forcibly broken the windows and shoved its way in.
"What..." Carly tried to talk. What happened to the officers? What happened to the window? Who were these people? How was she not harmed?
"There is nothing to worry about anymore, lady. We will bring you to our Leader. He will need your assistance as powerful Psychic Duelist."
"I –" Carly turned to look at the young man standing next to her, and her eyes finally fell on his arm.
A sleek, pitch-black Duel Disk was strapped to his arm, identical to the one she had glimpsed in Crow's possession.
"We heard you screaming and we went and got these guys to help you!" Another unfamiliar and energetic voice piped up, and Carly saw one of the teens who was previously loitering around the station. "Those Security pigs have no idea how Psychic Duelists like yourself should be treated. Now we've got you, we'll take you to where you belong. Our Leader told us you should be worshipped at that special place, and you will be kept safe there!"
"Where... No!"
But they, too, like her previous wardens, were deaf to her protests as she was bodily lifted up and carried in their arms. Carly was too scared to even feel embarrassed or flustered. The hands on her were not violent, nor were they offensive. If anything, they were actually reverent. However, one thing that terrified her was how forceful those hands were. She could not resist; she was not allowed to resist. Much like how it was with the two officers now lying on the floor, her new guardians paid no heed to her desire for independence, and only dragged her to a destination of their choosing.
Carly couldn't help but think she was simply being transferred from one prison to another.
She was literally carried to a D-Wheel despite her struggles and made to sit at the back of the vehicle, instructed to hold on tightly to the rider in front. There were other similarly coloured D-Wheels all around her, all of which had black Duel Disks strapped onto the driver's dashboard. Carly didn't want to admit it, but she knew she was definitely in a group of people who have allied themselves with Kiryu and Aki's cause. They were evidently using the power of the black Due Disks to oppose the forces of the City.
Carly shut her eyes tight and tried hard to fight the urge to cry.
That strange mark on her arm still burnt with an arcane intensity, and she could hear the young men around her mentioning her mark with stunned awe, comparing it to 'Lady Izayoi's mark'. She knew that Izayoi Aki's birthmark was considered to possibly be associated with her power, but instead of thinking of Izayoi's mark, she found herself thinking of a similar birthmark on someone else.
She had seen Jack's mark when he moved about her house, the scarlet lines peeking out from underneath the edge of his sleeve when he stretched his arm or when he didn't put on a jacket on time to cover it up. He never spoke of it and she never asked. It perhaps signified some old memories for him, things that he didn't want to remember. But now she wasn't so sure. She wasn't sure of anything anymore. She didn't know what was true about the City, about Momentum, or about anything she had ever believed. All she could recall was that Jack's birthmark had somehow resonated with Ruka's dragon when the two of them duelled. Psychic Duelists, birthmarks, dragons, Satellite, the City... Carly bit her own lips hard.
"Let's head to Old Momentum with her. Lord Rudger would know what to do, and he would be able to protect her."
"Old... Momentum? Rudger?" Hearing the names of places and people that were just in her mind, Carly blurted out in frank surprise.
Rudger... It couldn't be...!
"Yes, we are heading to that Tower of Light maintained by Lord Rudger." The young man sitting in front of her turned and grinned genuinely, confidently, joyously. "He is leading an army of powerful Psychic Duelists like yourself and will soon attack the City to liberate us from Security forever!"
The group of D-Wheels started to move off then. Like an inky black stain on the already dark land of Satellite, the group inched forward towards the Old Momentum site, carrying their unwilling cargo. Carly was too scared to struggle, or to even contemplate jumping off the D-Wheel and escape. She felt despair slowly taking over her heart like a heavy, contagious plague, weighing her down until all she could think of was the still-burning sensation on her arm. Meanwhile, the cohort of black D-Wheels marched on like an encroaching blight, heading closer and closer towards the place where the very core of Domino once stood.