I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters.

"Hey, Wil!" I heard Yusei's voice coming from outside my door. I put down the helmet that I'd picked up from the securities, I'd been doing a few modifications.

Yusei popped in through the doorway, leaning against the frame, "Whatcha working on?"

"Turning off the explosive power of my duel disk without removing the chip. I figured out that a security's helmet would be connected to the disk and chip, so I went through and modded the software to work with mine."

"Then why all the parts laying around?" he continued.

"I don't want it to look like a security's helmet, do I? That ugly green stripe down the middle is killing me and I can't afford to be targeted by them." I replied.

"Suit yourself, but we've got a runner to build. Anna did a fine job with the engine, by the way. Feel free to send my regards to her at the bike shop." Yusei jerked his thumb in the direction of the runner he'd parked outside.

"Right, right. I left the parts I was going to connect to it in a box on the shelf. If you could grab it and take it outside then I'll be out in a moment with the tools. Did you install the side-armor doors that we'd talked about?"

"Of course I did. We don't have the luxury of coating our cards in the magnetic lamination that the pros use, and I'm not about to risk losing any of my cards for the sake of speed."

"Awesome, Like I said, I'll be out there in a moment." I grabbed a few of my tools off my desk while Yusei grabbed the box full of leftover parts. I got the the runner and Yusei and I began work, fitting the pieces into the cutouts and sections that Yusei had built into the frame, then tightening the screws and getting the electronics connected. The entire process took a few hours of work, then we wheeled it just far enough inside my home that we could connect it to my computer and get the software running.

When we were finished, Yusei said, "Do you think that we could take on security, now?"

"Sorry, but I don't think so. We need speed spells to work through the field spell and duel properly." I said.

"Then we shouldn't get Kalin too excited."

"I'm not sure that we should tell Kalin about the runner at all."

Yusei looked confused, "Why not? He's our leader and our friend."

"He's obsessed, Yusei. I mean, it's totally cool that he wants to conquer all of Satellite, considering how the vast majority of the duel gangs are a bunch of sick psychos, but what are we going to do when we're done, take on Sector Security? There are only five of us, we have no infrastructure or power base beyond our decks, and quite frankly we need to slow down." I sighed.

Yusei smiled, "Are you sure that this isn't just because you've got a girlfriend who doesn't like duel gangs?"

"She isn't my girlfriend, we were just supposed to be pretending to get that creep who works at the shop off her back."

"Supposed?" Yusei smirked.

"Caught that, did you? You guys always do." I chuckled.

"Just because you keep planting that sort of thing when you get excited about something. I'd recommend you learn how to stop the double-speak." he ruffled my hair. I knocked his hand away.

"Just shut up and plug the cord into the runner, will you?"

"Sure, buddy. Sure." He laughed.

"Like I said though, we have to establish ourselves as more than just a local duel gang if we want people to stand with us. We to have some sort of rapport with the people as the good guys if we ever want to get bigger. Maybe even recruit a bunch more guys and the four of us become captains over smaller groups, us reporting to Kalin. We go out, do good, help people, get support. Give the common guy or girl a bit more hope than they had before, you know?" I daydreamed while I was typing in commands and uploading the program.

"Pipe dreams, unfortunately. We do our best to help our friends, and we welcome anybody to being one of them, but some people just don't want to be friendly with us. You're thinking just a bit too big. We'll talk to Kalin about it soon, alright?" Yusei calmly responded.

"Done, now we just wait for the load to finish." I hadn't really heard him, I'd been a bit busy. "Hey, Yusei, do you think you can manage the rest of this?"

"And why in the world would you ask me that?" he smirked.

"I want to go see my favorite mechanic, see if I can get her to give us a second opinion, make anything else about the runner better," I said.

"I'm not your favorite? You wound me, Wil! However can I go on with my devastated pride, torn asunder by the treachery of my best friends?" Yusei feigned fainting against the wall, his wrist against his forehead.

"Drama queen," I said. Yusei faked wincing as though he were hit. "I'll be back, later." I said.

As I was walking out I ran into Crow. I didn't say anything but he flashed a wry grin. "If she isn't your girlfriend by the end of the day tell her I think she's hot!" he said.

"Only in the dark hole of your dreams!" I yelled back, smiling and shaking my head.

"Knock-knock," I said as I entered the shop. One of the guys at the counter, the same one identified as the creep the previous night, gave me a dirty look.

"How can we help you?" asked the other guy.

"I've got a bike that I'd like some help getting set up. A friend of mine and I have done all we can, I'm just wondering if I can pay your best mechanic to see if there's anything that could be done better. A third set of eyes would be invaluable."

"The standard fee for a tune-up is 900 DP." said the creepier of the brothers.

"500. This isn't a tune-up, it is just taking a look at it and giving an opinion." replied. It wasn't healthy for my wallet to keep spending the way I had been this last week.

"You just described a tune-up sans labor. 750, upfront." said the other brother.

I pondered it for a moment, "Tell you what, I do maintenance and some other custom work on your duel disks, pay you 200, and we call it even."

"300, and we'll want the work done on our disks within a week."

"250, and I'll throw in doing the work for the disks of any employees you have."

"What work exactly would you be doing?" asked the creep.

"Standard maintenance, getting all the parts in prime working order, reapplication of a paint job or addition of a new one. Nothing too fancy, that would cost extra." I said.

"Sounds like the negotiations are done here. Take me to the bike, Wil." Anna walked in from the garage in the back of the shop. I had never heard anyone call me Willy before, I was stunned.

"What makes you think that you're the best mechanic to send out?" said the creep.

"I'm the best and we all know it. Wil, be a dear and convince them of what we both know is right." she huffed, putting on a pair of tight leather working gloves.

I was still stunned by what she called me, "Uh… I'm sure that you gentlemen can hold down the fort on your own for just an hour. Besides, she'll be a walking advertisement and I'll put in a good word about this shop to everyone with a motorbike that I know."

I didn't like the way that the creep was looking at her, so I added, "I'll pay an extra hundred to have the prettiest face you've got be the mechanic doing the work."

The other brother laughed, "Sure, I'll be right with you, unless you mean Anna there, in which case the deal is struck. We'll have Anna bring you the disks tomorrow. How long will we be without her?"

I smiled, I actually liked the creep's brother, nice guy, should be able to keep his brother in line. "No longer than an hour or two, I suspect. Here's the cash." I put a wad of DP on the counter before walking out with Anna.

"So what have you boys cooked up for me to fix this time?" Anna asked

"Again, ma'am, not fix but get your professional opinion on - see if we could do anything better. Yusei is a genius and all, but even a genius needs someone to be a second set of eyes, and I'm just not qualified."

"Alright. Do I at least get to see the whole of the beast?" Anna skipped along beside me.

"Of course you do, thats what I paid your bosses for anyway." I smiled. I liked watching her walk, or skip, or whatever form of motion she had taken after. It was nice to see the smile too.

"I really can't thank you enough, the older brother isn't bad but the younger one just wants to lock me away in the garage the whole work day." Anna said.

"I can kinda understand why he'd want to, keeping beauty for yourself and all." I said.

Anna looked at me incredulously, "You know, we don't need to keep up the charade anymore."

"What charade ma'am? So long as there is a creeper I consider it my solemn obligation to keep my end of the bargain."

Anna laughed, "At least you look me in the eyes when you talk to me."

My laughing mood was over, "And where does he look at you?"

Anna stopped, "That, Mr. Jernigan, is none of your Ra-Forsaken business. I believe that I can handle the situation as it is now by myself."

"I have no doubt about that, but I still want to protect you."

Anna grabbed the neck of my shirt and scrunched it up in the ball of her fist while she looked up at me with rage in her eyes, "I don't need your protection, Mr. Jernigan."

"I… Alright, I'll accept that under one condition, alright?"

"I refuse your terms, whatever they are. Accept that I am capable on my own, now." The fires in her eyes were almost enough to scare me.

"Let me treat you to dinner."

"Like I said, I ref- what?"

"Umm… Let me take you out for dinner sometime, tonight maybe?" I scratched the back of my head.

"Seriously? Did you pick that up from an old recording that you scavenged? There are few, if any, good restaurants around here. We're in Satellite!"

"Then someday, when we're both off this rock and in Neo Domino, or maybe I could get a friend of mine to host us for dinner, or maybe I could cou-" Anna put a finger against my lips, shushing me.

"Let me do the job that I'm getting paid for. I'll only consider talking about this again tomorrow when I drop off their duel disks. Am I understood, Jernigan?" she said, stern-faced but no longer angry.

"Sure. Anyway, My place and the runner are just around the corner." I said. We turned the corner and saw the back half of the runner sticking out the door of my place. To my dismay, all of the other Enforcers were there, including Kalin, who had a giant grin on his face. Crow and Jack just had pensive looks and Yusei was leaning against my doorframe. Then they all saw Anna and I. I quickly gave Crow a look to shut him up before he could say anything, but that didn't stop Kalin.

"Wilhelm! Do you realize that having this thing means? We really could take over, we could do it all, kick out security and free everyone here!"

I turned to Anna, "Go with Yusei and see if there's anything that can be done to make it work better. I need to talk to Kalin for a moment." Anna nodded and Yusei took the clue. Crow and Jack leaned against the side of the building.

"What is this about, Sergeant Jernigan?" Kalin asked, looking confused.

"We need to slow down, Kalin. We've been moving too fast. If we go any faster then we'll have securities on us and we can't take them on." I said.

"But we've got the duel runner now, shouldn't that be enough for guerilla warfare?" Kalin said.

"No. It isn't. They have tech that we just don't have access to, and our public image has been suffering because of how quickly we've been hitting the other gangs." I warned.

"What public image? This isn't about that, its about freeing the people of Satellite from the oppressors!"

"And what do we replace them with? Say for a moment that we actually do it, conquer all of Satellite as our territory. Then what do we do? People are going to be looking at us as though we're saviors or villains, and right now we're looking a lot more like villains."

"So what do we care about all of them? If being hard and ruthless is what gets the job done to get the scumbags off the streets then I'll do what I have to in order to protect the innocent." Kalin ground his teeth against one another.

"Can't you hear what you're saying, Kalin? You're starting to sound just like that sort of scumbag that we're here to take down."

"You know, sergeant, there's an easy way to settle this." Kalin grinned.

"I suppose so, sir." I said sir with as much vile as I could muster against my adopted brother. "Crow, go get my disk and my helmet, please."

"Why the helmet?" Crow asked when he returned with the items.

"Just in case I win." the gravity of my statement suddenly pounded through their minds. Even Kalin had a miniscule look of fear on his face, but all he did was silently activate his duel disk and draw five cards. I did the same once I'd put on the helmet. The inner aspect of the visor was amazing, I could see the data of a card by looking at its image instead of having to remember based on trial and error.

Wilhelm: 4000

Kalin: 4000

Turn 1: Wilhelm

I drew my sixth card and played before Kalin had a chance to object. "I activate Allure of Darkness, drawing two cards and then banishing a dark monster from my hand." I held up Twin-Sword Marauder and put him in my pocket. "Next I summon Cliff the Trap Remover and set a face-down, ending my turn."

Cliff the Trap Remover: 1200/1000

Turn 2: Kalin

Kalin drew his sixth card then said, "I summon Armored Zombie, and he's going to attack Cliff."

Armored Zombie: 1500/0000

The shambling mound of flesh dressed in Samurai Armor clawed at Cliff, who shrieked in silence as he was obliterated into fragments.

Wilhelm: 3700

Kalin: 4000

"Then I'll set two face downs and end my turn."

Turn 3: Wilhelm

I drew and said, "I activate Reinforcement of the Army to add Vengeful Shinobi to my hand, who I will then discard with the effect of Dark Core to remove your zombie from play. Then I'll summon Dark Crusader, who will attack you directly!"

Dark Crusader: 1600/0200

"Not so fast, Wilhelm, I'll activate the Fire of Doomsday to special summon two Doomsday tokens." Kalin revealed one of his face downs.

"Fine by me, I'll activate my face down, Call of the Haunted to bring back Cliff, and together they will destroy both of your tokens." I said in response, showing my trap card by tapping a button on my disk. With his tokens removed I said, "I end my turn."

Turn 4: Kalin

He drew, "I summon Headless Knight, and he'll attack Cliff." The knight swung his sword and Cliff shattered into a second death.

Headless Knight: 1450/1700

Wilhelm: 3450

Kalin: 4000

He set another face down before saying, "I end my turn."

Turn 5: Wilhelm

I drew another card and smiled, "I'll activate Soul Exchange on your Headless Knight, meaning that I now get to sacrifice him as though he were my own monster. So I'll sacrifice him and Dark Crusader to summon Dark Horus!" The dragon erupted onto my field in a fit of flames, its expression grim just like my own.

Dark Horus: 3000/1800

"You're lucky that I can't attack in the same turn that activated Soul Exchange. I end my turn." I said. The black dragon on my field nodded in agreement.

Turn 6: Kalin

Kalin drew a card and said, "I'll set a face down and end my turn."

Turn 7: Wilhelm

I drew, "What a cowardly move, Kalin."

Kalin tapped a button on his old model of a duel disk, "I'll show it to you then, I activate Coffin Seller, so you take an extra 300 points of damage whenever a monster is sent to your graveyard."

"Fair enough, but here's my answer. Dark Horus, light him on fire!" Horus shot a solid beam of purple flame at Kalin, which would have burned him and the entire street if it wasn't a hologram.

Wilhelm: 3450

Kalin: 1000

"I'll set a card and end my turn." I said.

Turn 8: Kalin

"How much do you like your ace in the hole?" Kalin asked as he drew.

"I like him a lot, actually, but he's just one of my aces." I replied.

"Then I'll just set another face-down. and end my turn." he said.

Turn 9: Wilhelm

"What game are you playing?" I drew another card.

"Duel Monsters, you?" Kalin smiled grimly.

"I summon Strike Ninja, and he'll attack you directly." a tall ninja dressed in deep purple, red, and gold faded into existence on my side of the field. I gave it a nod and it charged, drawing a kunai to strike at Kalin's heart.

Strike Ninja: 1700/1200

Wilhelm: 3450

Kalin:0000

Kalin looked completely afraid for a moment, but I didn't notice because of the pop-up that sprang onto the visor, asking whether or not to destroy Kalin's disk. I shook my head as a firm no. Kalin's disk turned off, but it didn't explode, it only shut off with enough force to shake his arm.

"I guess I see your point, Sergeant Jernigan. We'll slow down." Kalin grumbled.

"That's not good enough, Captain. We need to show people that we're on their side. We need to go around doing good things for the people in our territory, anything that we can do to help we should do, at least a week or two before we get into a turf war again, got it?" I tore off my helmet and looked him in the eyes.

"Understood, Captain Jernigan." Kalin said. I was stunned.

"No! I'm not the leader here, you are!" I protested.

"You beat me in a duel, don't you want to be recognized as our strongest?"

"No, Kalin," I shook my head. "That is exactly what I don't want. We can't run like the other gangs. Keep your commission. I never wanted to be leader, and I'll report in tomorrow ready for whatever service project you've got set up by then."

"Then I've got some work to do," Kalin stalked off. I walked inside my house, taking in the smiles of the rest of The Enforcers but not wearing one myself.

"Such an eventful lifestyle, Mr. Jernigan, I wonder how you do it." Anna slid out from underneath the runner.

"How's she looking?" I asked.

"Mighty fine with a nice -!" Crow hollered from outside before I cut him off with "Shut up!"

The blush on Anna's face was evident from her cheeks and her smile, "Would it kill you to give a compliment like that every once in awhile, Mr. Jernigan?"

"I don't know yet. I don't care what pain you inflict on Crow for insulting your ladyship but I'd rather avoid the suffering entirely." I said. Yusei and the others just stared hard at the interaction between Anna and I as though it were the most bizarre, alien thing in the world. Well, maybe not Jack, who was just smiling.

Anna turned to Yusei, "The bike looks just fine, almost perfect given the condition of the parts. I wouldn't change a thing about it. I might even have to recruit you for some time with my baby, Charlotte."

Yusei looked confused until I filled in the blank answer in his head, "I bought her an old motorcycle yesterday to fix up, it was a sort of test for her to pass to get the job at the shop."

The look on Yusei's face as it dawned on him was hilarious, I just turned to Anna and said, "Thank you kindly, ma'am. I'll fulfill my end of the bargain to the shop just as soon as I'm given the disks."

She smiled sweetly, "I'll deliver them personally tomorrow afternoon. Please have lunch ready."

"Of course. See you then." I said. Anna walked out of the small house.

"See you tomorrow, Willy." she said as she walked back to the shop.

All the assembled Enforcers burst out with laughter as though it ruptured their very souls.

"Willy?" was all Jack was able to ask through his gasps for breath. My blush had never been brighter.