A/N: Same gig, y'all. It's late so I'm posting this and crashing. I'll edit it thoroughly tomorrow when I wake up. I apologize if this is a bit short but I'm seriously tired.

Oh! By the way, the confusion with last chapter: that was the beginning of the convention that serves as the setting for the iBonds Beyond Time/i YGO movie. I suggest y'allwatch it. It's awesome and both Yugi and the Pharaoh are in it. That's actually where Paradox is from.

Lastly, I have a funny story. I left the on-campus dining hall at midnight. The place was haing a special where they were serving free pancakes and stuff from midnight to 2am for anyone with a student ID. The line for the pancakes looped the entire inside of the place, into the foyer where people hadn't even been able to get in, and out the door. I'm not even kidding. Midnight...on the first day of Finals. ...wow... I'm glad I left when I did. Yeesh. It would've gotten seriously loud in there and the wifi was already getting overloaded.

Chapter summary: In which Shayera is furious, the Darks get theatrical, and the Regent throws a temper tantrum.

Rebellion and Hunting

She had to admit, the set-up was impressive. Apparently, Carter had received some reinforcements after the discovery of the tomb's entrance proved its existence to his investors. Lovely.

She landed in the center of the encampment knowing she would be seen. She walked straight through the crowd of archeologists to the where Carter stood speaking to a well dressed man who was in all likelihood one of his investors come to inspect the "merchandise." Ishizu stood nearby glaring at Mr. Hall. She nodded to Shayera when they locked eyes. They may not see eye-to-eye on all subjects, but they respected each other as the rare woman in a primarily male dominated business.

"Carter," Shayera called sternly startling the man. "What are you doing?"

A smile burst onto Carter's face. "Shayera!" he exclaimed. "It's so good to see you."

He rushed up to her, hands extended to grasp hers. But she deliberately crossed her arms and refused to acknowledge the gesture. She simply glared at the man. "I said, what are you doing?" she said coldly.

Carter dropped his hands in confusion. "Shayera," he said. "What's wrong? Aren't you here for this too? I found Set's grave, Shayera! I found it!" His enthusiastic smile returned and Hawkgirl felt her heart drop. "I kept telling them it existed but they always laughed at me. Now I've found it! Imagine it. This will rewrite what they know about Ancient Egyptian history. The truth will finally be known."

"Yes," Shayera said snidely. "And I'm sure the money had nothing to do with it."

Carter had the grace to blush. "Well," he said awkwardly, "a man's gotta put food on the table somehow, right? And anyway," he added hurriedly, "I'll be famous because of this. I'll be in the high echelons on society. People will respect me. And imagine all that we can learn from this. With their technology we could recover the old ways." He practically vibrated with excitement. "I can't wait to show everyone."

"And have you thought about the consequences of this?" she asked, studying the man before her. "Has it occurred to you what kinds of affects unearthing this place could have?"

"It's a tomb," Carter said sarcastically. "No one's seen this place let alone been inside it for millennia. It's completely undisturbed. Do you know how rare that is? A pre-dynastic tomb of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Not just any pharaoh, but Set, the Lord of Storms." A manic gleam flickered in Carter's eye. "With this discovery we can show the world Set and Isis and the other gods were real, they were people. This could be the discovery of the century!"

Shayera grabbed Carter's arm and yanked him away from the dig to a more secluded area where they could talk relatively undisturbed. "Do you have any idea what your actions here are causing, Carter?" she demanded. "Kaiba is suffering because of this."

"Kaiba?" Carter asked in confusion.

"The Regent," Shayera said forcefully. "Set reborn. Did you really think unearthing the tomb of his previous incarnation would do no damage?"

"What do you mean 'damage?'" Carter said incredulously. "I'm on the other side of the planet. And anyway, Set is dead. Kaiba isn't Set, he was Set. Besides," he added regaining some of his enthusiasm, "this could propel him into the spotlight, highlight his career, give him an edge. Think about it: a god living in the modern world, walking among us. People will flock to see him, to buy his merchandise, to listen to him speak, maybe even worship him."

"You think he even wants that?" Shayera exclaimed. "If he wanted that, he would have exposed the Shadow Court. He knows what coming out and revealing who and what he is could cause and has decided not to do it. He doesn't want to be worshiped, Carter. He wants to be left alone. Which means you have to stop this."

"Stop?" Carter gasped. "What do you mean stop? We found the door, Shayera. The door with the lock still in place. The others are working on removing it without jeopardizing the possible archeological significance of the find. Then we'll be inside the main chamber. Just imagine when we find the sarcophagus!"

"You can't do this, Carter," Shayera said. "Don't you see? You aren't helping Kaiba, you're hurting him. This- what you're doing isn't going to 'propel' him anywhere except back here."

"You mean he'll come visit?" Carter breathed. "In person?"

"He won't be able to at the rate he's deteriorating," Shayera said darkly.

"Wha- deteriorating?" Carter repeated, unable to understand.

"As I understand it, by unearthing his tomb, you're causing his soul to be pulled back here," Shayera said. "You're literally ripping his soul from him. You're killing him, Carter. Not helping him. He's fighting it right now, but last I heard he very nearly lost himself. You have got to stop."

"But..." The archeologist stumbled over his words. "I-I can't. This is the find of a century, don't you understand? I doubt my investors will let me stop now that we have something to show for it. Do you realize I have a representative here from the Louvre? The Louvre! And Mr. Bakura is here for the Museum of England. I can't stop now. I'm so close!" He grasped Hawkgirl's shoulders causing her wings to flare and her feathers to fluff out defensively. "So close I can taste it!"

"Even knowing you could kill Kaiba?" she demanded, emerald eyes hard. "Knowing you could kill Set reborn?"

"He'll be fine," Carter said, waving her words aside. "You'll see. Everything will be fine."

With that, he patted Shayera's cheek like he used to back when his soul inhabited Katar Hol's body millennia ago, and left. Hawkgirl fumed in frustration. She wanted to smack the man but protocol prevented her. For a member of the Justice League to attack an unarmed civilian would not be a wise thing to do. Just managing to control her temper, she tapped her communicator.

"Hawkgirl to Watchtower," she hissed.

"Superman here," came the response. "Hawkgirl, are you alright?"

"I'm fine but I'm seriously considering throttling Carter," she snapped. "He thinks he's doing Kaiba a favor. That and he wants to be rich. Which brings to mind," she said, glancing to the suited man who calmly picked up his conversation with Carter she had rudely interrupted, "he brought up a good point."

"What's that?"

"They found the tomb's door," she said, calming down as she thought things through. Her wings fluttered before settling against her back comfortably. "In other words, they found solid proof which is all he really needed to convince his investors and museum representatives to consider backing him and getting a share of anything they unearth."

"Good point," Superman said dourly. "At least you tried."

Shayera hummed in thought. "Maybe I can do more," she said softly.

"How?"

"We know unearthing this tomb and more specifically the mummy inside it could end up killing Kaiba and we know the Shadow Court is on the verge of taking things into their own hands," she said, eyes narrowing. "I think we should back them up."

"We'll have to discuss this with the others," Superman said. "I do agree, the idea of letting someone die, even if it's Kaiba, isn't a good thing. But we have to tread carefully."

"You do," Shayera said. "I don't have to. I'm not from this planet and the Egyptian culture closely mirrors my own. I take offense to this."

"Don't do anything you'll regret,, Superman warned.

"I won't."

She cut off the communication and took flight, landing directly on top of the tomb door, wings spread and eye blazing. "I demand you stop this dig at once," she said loudly. "I personally take offense to this. You're disturbing the dead. I call that tomb robbing and where I come from that's punishable by death."

Ishizu stepped forward from her place in the Shadows and stood next to Hawkgirl. "I agree," she said. She turned her eyes on to the crowd that was gathering before them. "Know this," Ishizu said proudly, her voice carrying well through the air, "I and my clan will do everything in our power to fight this. If we have to, extreme measures will be taken."

"Are you threatening us, my dear?" the man in the suit asked. His hair was streaked with white and his English accent made his words sound clipped and disdainful.

"Threatening?" Ishizu repeated, midnight blue eyes wide. "You misunderstand," she said, smiling gently. Shayera blinked as Marik stepped from the Shadows behind his sister followed closely by Ryou. "I'm promising you," the Priestess said kindly.

Shayera fluffed her wings proudly, glad she had support.

"Ryou!"

Shayera turned to face the suited man again and was stunned to see the man staring astonished at the white haired Scribe by Marik's side.

"What on earth are you doing?" he asked in the tired way a parent would. Parent? Shayera's eyes widened. This could not be...

"What I want, Father," Ryou said simply. "Not that you care."

"Get down from there, son," Mr. Bakura said dismissively. "You're making a fool of yourself."

"Yes," Marik purred, slipping an arm around Ryou's waist. "You would know, wouldn't you? You are an expert in that area, after all."

"I'd appreciate it if you only spoke when spoken to, Egyptian," Mr. Bakura said, causing Marik to bristle furiously.

"Well, well, well," a new voice snickered. "A fool and a racist. That's quite the rap sheet you've got there." Bakura faded into existence next to Ryou, leaning on his partner and propping his other arm on his waist. "Tell me, Mr. Fool-"

"Who the hell-"

"Silence mortal!" Bakura snapped. "I'm talking and I'll hardly allow myself to be interrupted by an idiot like yourself. Despicable." He straightened and grinned. "Tell me, Mr. Fool, do you know what you've got here? Hm?"

Mr. Bakura opened his mouth to speak when Bakura said something in Ancient Egyptian. The next instant, he suddenly yelped, jumping up and down and clutching his bleeding foot as a tiny red, high heel shoes darted away. It hopped into the open hands of Ryou who knelt and petting it. Shayera stared at the shoe shaped creature in both horror and a sick kind of fascination. The place where the foot should go to put on the shoe was lined with razor sharp teeth.

"Did you know your son had me?" Bakura continued. "Did you know he had me for years? Did you know Ryou's almost died on several occasions and only I and his close friends were there to save his life? Did you know he could do magic?"

Mr. Bakura's eyes grew large.

"Of course you didn't," Bakura answered, waving his hand in a dismissive manner. "Not that you cared anyway. That said, don't think for a second we'll step out of your way. If anything," he grinned fiendishly, "we look forward to fucking you up."

"Yes," Marik said gleefully. "It has been a while since I could cause some sanctioned mayhem." He leaned close to Ryou who seemed caught between smiling helplessly and staring at his two companions in horror. "You think Shayera and the Justice League can cause trouble, just wait until you deal with three Darks."

"Not to mention the others," Bakura chimed in. "You didn't honestly think we would stand by and let you mess up everything we've worked so hard to accomplish."

"Indeed," Ishizu said, her voice smooth. "From this moment forth, you are our enemy and we don't take enemies lightly. I'm sure you understand."

"The hell is this?" Carter exclaimed. "Shayera!"

"Don't blame her!" Ryou said, finally speaking up. "We were going to do this anyway. You're hurting my friend. You're killing him by doing this. We have permission to do what we want." His soft chocolate brown eyes gleamed. "And rest assured, we will."

"This is your warning," Ishizu said loudly. "Cease and desist, or deal with us."

Shayera did not get the chance to so much as squawk in surprise before she felt the Priestess snatch her wrist and drag her into the Shadows. They reappeared in the shadow of a tent on the edge of camp. Shayera gasped and staggered in surprise.

"What-?" she started. "Why did-"

"Yes?" Bakura asked, examining his fingernails absently and leaning on Ryou's shoulder. "Do try to form a full sentence so we can answer."

"You all but revealed yourselves," Shayera exclaimed.

"Do keep your voice down," Marik said, petting Ryou's hair. "I love dramatics and that was a rather spectacular exit. Wouldn't want to ruin it by giving away our position, now would we?"

"Marik's right," Ryou said, smiling shyly at Marik's attentions and petting the Bite Shoes fiend in his hand. "I've never spoken up against my father like that before," he said slowly, his grin growing. "That felt...good."

"You're just a little late blooming into your rebellious phase, yadonoushi," Bakura said, pleased. "See to it you stay that way."

"You revealed yourselves," Shayera tried again, this time to Ishizu who was standing calmly watching the chaos that had erupted after their theatrical exit in the distance. "I thought you wanted to stay in the Shadows. I'm glad you offered your support," she said quickly, "but I'm not sure Kaiba or the King and Pharaoh will agree with your methods."

"On the contrary," the Priestess said serenely, turning to face the Thanagaran. "Both the King and the Pharaoh have given us their blessing. As for Kaiba, he will not approve and will likely lecture me and the others for doing so. But he'll be alive to do so," she said, her dark eyes blazing. "And that's good enough for me."

Shayera backed down, studying the woman before her with new respect. She saluted Ishizu in Thanagaran style. "You are an honorable woman," she said boldly. "You can count me your friend. I will convince the League to back me up on this, but as of now I am acting on my own."

"As you yourself said," Ishizu said grinning, "any help is welcome."

"Careful, sister," Marik's singsong voice wafted over. "Shaadi will get jealous."

"And if you don't shut your mouth, brother mine, I will have to be forced to drain the gasoline form your motorcycle," Ishizu said.

"What?!"

"Hush, dear brother," the Priestess said, holding a finger over her lips. "We don't want to ruin our exit, now do we?"

Marik fumed and Bakura cackled. Even Shayera found herself snickering.

"I am going to fucking murder him! I'll tie him down and beat the living shit out of him! The Osiris fucking bastard!"

"Oh, finally decided to curse in English so the rest of us can understand, I see," Green Lantern said mildly, lifting an eyebrow and watching the infuriated Regent pace back and forth.

Seth had retreated from Kaiba's soul room and was standing beside Lantern with a decidedly put upon expression as he watched Kaiba fume. He sighed gustily. "Just give him a moment," he said.

Sure enough, less than a minute later, Kaiba rubbed his hands over his face and huffed in frustration. Then he removed his hands and steepled his fingers, his glacial eyes focused on the middle distance. John could practically see the wheels in Kaiba's mind spin as he began planning around whatever had happened.

"What happened?" Lantern asked.

"The King and the Pharaoh have traveled to another reality," Seth said. "And they did not warn us or inform us of where they went." The ba sighed. "This could cause problems we cannot even begin to imagine."

"Maybe not," Kaiba said suddenly. He had regained control of his temper but the embers still fizzled in his eyes. "He's not too far from our home reality. Actually, I'd almost say he's closer to it than we are. It should not be too difficult to find him should we need to." He massaged his temples in annoyance. "Yet another wild goose chase. Osiris blast him."

"You know, I'm curious," Lantern said. "Why do you always curse in the name of Ra or Osiris but never Obelisk? Isn't he your god?"

"He is. But he asked us not to. Besides," Kaiba said with a smirk, "I enjoy teasing that overgrown snake and pet bird."

Seth huffed but even he was smiling. "Have you calmed down now?" he asked.

"For now," Kaiba replied. "Now let's get this over with before yet another idiot fucks up."

"Yeah, about that," John said, stepping up to the Regent as they continued down the road. "Why did you drop us here instead of closer to our destination? Wherever that is."

"Because something is blocking us," Seth said, crystalline eyes narrowed. "Something powerful and unrelated to the Shadows." He tilted his head as if listening to something far away. "It feels..."

"Fuzzy," Kaiba finished. "Like I'm being suffocated."

"Or drowned," Seth said softly.

"So not friendly then," Lantern said grimly.

"That is not necessarily true." Seth stepped close to Kaiba who paused, staring straight ahead and tilting his head carefully. "It could be a defense of some kind." He gazed at his ka closely. "You feel it," he said softly.

Kaiba nodded almost imperceptibly. "Someone is aware of us," he said just as quietly. "I'm using the Shadows to dull our presence but it won't work against physical eyes. Lantern," Kaiba said as the superhero adopted a ready stance, "if something happens, fly directly ahead. Whatever this is, it's protecting something up there. If Mokuba is here, he'll be in the center of this. Get him out. We can handle anything here."

"Why don't you go and I stay?" Lantern countered. "He's your brother. He'll trust you quicker."

"True," Kaiba agreed. "But you can fly and I can't unless I summon Kisara and doing that would give away our position. Not to mention the trees would make it difficult for her to maneuver."

"Understood."

They moved forward slowly in silence for several minutes before Seth stiffened, crouching instinctively. Kaiba followed suit. :What is it?: he demanded.

:Something is coming towards us,: Seth replied. :It...unnerves me.:

"Remember what I told you, Lantern," Kaiba said aloud.

"Got it," came the clipped reply.

For a moment, silence reigned. Then a bird flew out of the bushes startling them. Kaiba cursed colorfully and Seth flushed.

"Yes, birds can certainly be unnerving," Kaiba said, glaring at Seth who winced and vanished.

"Don't be too hard on him," Lantern said.

"I'm not," Kaiba said stepping around a tree. "I'm just annoyed."

"Well don't take it out on him," Lapntern said. "He's trying. That's more than most people would do."

"Try living with him," Kaiba grumbled to which Lantern could only shake his head.

Suddenly, Kaiba stiffened. "It's gone," he murmured. "The muffling blocking my Shadows," he clarified. "It's gone." Immediately, he extended his Shadows ahead, searching for his brother. When he felt the souls of the people there, he stood ramrod straight, eye bulging in shock. "Impossible," he breathed.

"What?" Lantern asked, feeling distinctly out of the loop.

"That can't be," Kaiba muttered, eyes narrowing. "How...?"

"How 'bout filling in an ally?"

Kaiba's head twitched in Lantern's direction but his eyes remained set firmly ahead. "Shadow users," he murmured. "Potential, latent, and active, all in the same place at the same time." He shook his head slowly. "There's no way so many Shadow users could find one another that fast."

"It may have taken time," Lantern offered but Kaiba was already shaking his head vehemently.

"No," he said firmly, eyes cold and fierce. "They're too young. I'm probably older than most of them."

He focused his Shadows on the souls ahead, studying them curiously. They were indeed young and there were many of them. But interestingly enough, there were also several adults present as well. At least one adult had the potential for Shadow magic but the majority of what he felt emanated from the children. His Shadows were still muted by whatever was keeping this place hidden but not enough to completely blind him or prevent him from Traveling there from here. It would just prove to be a bit more difficult. Seth shifted in his mind, still wary but hoping to make up for his previous blunder.

"Lantern," Kaiba said. "I think I can manage to get us closer by Traveling but it will be rough." He turned and eyed the metahuman carefully. "Do you think you're up for it."

Lantern briefly resembled the color of his ring of power before groaning. "I don't suppose I have a choice, really," he said resigned.

"Actually, you do," Kaiba countered. "If you think you can get us close enough to see but not get caught then by all means. It's taking a lot of my focus just to feel that far ahead with my Shadows. I may be able to use them now but it's still muffled."

"That I can do," Lantern said, straightening.

He activated his ring and surrounded Kaiba and himself in a green glow before they both levitated and flew through the trees tops. Ahead, he could see where the trees parted in favor of several buildings and yards. He settled them down in the branches of a thick pine tree overlooking the larges building and studied the people on the ground.

"You said they're Shadow users?" he asked. "You're right, they are just kids. It almost looks like a boarding school."

Kaiba bracing himself against the trunk of the tree and crouched down to get a better look between the dense pine needles. "Not all of them, no," Kaiba said. "Some only have the latent ability but others have the potential talent and at least one has active Shadow powers. They may not realize it yet, but I can sense it. It's not strong but it could be with practice."

"Which means everyone here has been traumatized somehow," Lantern said soberly.

Kaiba narrowed his eyes at the reminder, choosing to remain silent. Instead, he drew his Shadows to him and began searching the grounds for his brother taking note of every hint of the Shadows that he could find. He felt the soothing Shadows of his little brother deep inside the building but wherever he was it was close to the source of the muffling.

"Looks like there was a pretty serious fight here," Lantern commented jolting Kaiba back to reality.

The Regent blinked, his eyes looking in the general direction of Lantern's nod and an eyebrow crept up to his hairline. Sure enough, the singed remains of several plants as well as damaged bricks and other debris lay scattered about the grounds.

:Something involving fire,: Seth whispered.

Kaiba nodded then froze. Fire. Helios! He quickly extended his Shadows again, searching for the distinct flame he associated with the Titan and found it missing. Cursing mentally, he stood.

"Helios isn't here," he said.

"What? What about Mokuba?" Lantern said.

"He's here but he's somewhere inside that building." The Regent shook his head. "He's close to the source of whatever's muffling my powers." He shifted. "I'll leave Seth here with you," he said. "Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary," he commanded. "If you see anything you think could be a problem, tell Seth and he'll tell me. Is that understood."

Lantern nodded as Seth materialized next to him. "Good luck," he said.

Kaiba nodded to the metahuman before gazing at Seth. His hand twitched almost subconsciously before he caught himself and vanished back into the Shadows. Seth felt a pang of regret but settled in to wait nonetheless. Whatever had bother him before was gone as if it had never been. But it had felt strangely familiar. He could almost place it...