Ally of Justice Kaibaman 2: Red vs Ra

Chapter Seven

Joey splashed his face and ran his hands across his eyes and cheeks, honey orbs meeting his reflection in the mirror; he continued to stare and thought his saw a quick flash of red. Blink and you'd miss it.

"Red?" He placed his hand on the glass. "Red, if you're there...Shit. You feed off pain – I'm in pain!" The hand curled against the glass into a fist, he squeezed his eyes shut and hung his head. "Where the hell are you?" He raised his fist, intending to slam it into to mirror, but another hand grasped it; a free arm slid around his stomach and his back met a firm torso.

"Don't hurt yourself," Seto whispered in his ear.

Joey opened his eyes and watched Seto in the reflection as he gently rubbed his wrist with his thumb. "I..." he trailed off.

Seto kissed his shoulder. "I miss you."

The blonde shot him a confused look. He hadn't been anywhere – unless he meant he was spending too much time on the D-Wheeler project. "Miss me?"

"That sparkle in your eye," the CEO explained. "That playful tone in your voice; it's gone. I miss it."

Joey sighed. "I'm sorry...it's..." The brunette let his arm fall to his side and linked their fingers. "He...I..."

"I'm not going to say I understand – because I don't, however...could you try to be you again? The idiot mutt I fell for." He paused and met Joey's gaze in the mirror. "Could you try to explain it to me so I can understand?"

The blonde turned and leant back against the sink. "Apart from Mokuba and Tristan, I was alone, and when Serenity died it felt like the world was crumbling around me; then he appeared, he promised me he could never leave." He gaze fell to the tile floor. "I should hate him, he almost killed you – he could have killed Mokuba – but...he was right, part of me had become weak and he made me stronger."

"I thought we agreed duelling hadn't weakened you?"

"It didn't, but back in the day I wouldn't have wallowed in self pity; I didn't care if I had friends. Duelling didn't make me weak but..." He rubbed his face with his hands again. "I think I'm contradicting myself..."

Seto smirked. "That's a big word for you."

Honey eyes hardened and met blue. "Are you taking this seriously?"

"Yes." He kissed his forehead. "When you were fighting Odin, there was a part of you I'd never seen before; for a moment I wasn't sure if it was you or Red. I believe that's the strength you're talking about? No longer depending on someone – or something – else's strength, just your own?"

The blonde nodded. "Yeah, that's it." He wrapped his arms around Seto. "Thanks, I'm glad you understand; but when he left...he left a hole...I miss him, he wasn't all bad."

The CEO nodded. There had been a few, short moments when he and Red managed to get along; he believed the being was trying to act tough, the way Joey used to be in his gang days.

"Um..." a voice shyly interrupted and the pair looked to Mokuba in the doorway. "I hate to break this up but...there's another loony on the loose."

-Spinning Mokuba Head Scene Change!-

"Home sweet home!" Tristan announced as he opened his apartment door. "Until I get the spare room sorted, you can have my bed."

"Are you sure you should be doing this," asked Duke as he lugged his suitcase in behind him. "You heard what Joey said..."

"I'm just following by their example; Kaiba took in Joey when Red was still a bother, so I'll do the same for you." He grinned. "Now, I'm going to shower and shave. Make yourself at home."

Duke watched the tall brunette enter the bathroom and looked around the room. The walls were mostly bare, there was two pictures above the TV and Duke stepped closer to study them; one was from Tristan's academy days and the other was of him with Joey, Yugi and Tea, taken sometime during high school, he guessed. They were in Yugi's room, grinning from ear to ear and flashing the victory signs. He smiled and stepped back. The floors were bare wood with a single old rug under the coffee table by a brown leather couch; he picked up the remote, sat in the black fabric armchair and turned the TV on.

"We're live in the centre of Domino, where the villain known as 'Mad Mod' is terrorising the citizens with his 'Mod Bots'," the female reporter stated as the camera panned to an army of robots designed like Coldstream Guards you would see outside of Buckingham Palace. Duke twisted in the chair to look at the bathroom door, wondering if he should tell Tristan.

"'Ello Duckies." Mod stuck his face into the camera lens. "Moddie here. I hope you're ready for a revolution!"

As Mod took a step back, Duke saw something white flash past in the background and settled into the chair. "I hope you're ready for an ass whopping." He smirked. He hadn't really paid much attention to Kaibaman and Red before, but now he knew their true identities, he wanted to see them in action. An explosion off camera ruffled Mod's red hair and blew soot onto his Union Jack suit.

The camera panned to the battle and Mod rushed towards the group of robots. Kaibaman and Red were spinning and twirling through the air to avoid the robotic fists flying at them, which reminded Duke of the time in Noah's virtual world. He shuddered slightly at the memory but kept his eyes fixed to the screen. Red dropped something in the middle of the army and another explosion followed, knocking the group backwards, some of them losing an arm or a leg.

"You little snot! Have some of this!" Mod seemed to press something on his cane and one of the fallen robots sat up and fired a net from its fist; the net flew across the sky and over Red then the heavy weights pulled him to the ground. Mod approached and began to beat him with the cane.

"Are you watching a movie?" Tristan asked when the door opened and paused to watch. Duke looked at him over the back of the chair.

"Is there anything you can do?"

Tristan slowly shook his head and sat himself on the chair arm. "The others will be keeping the citizens as safe as possible, but they're the only ones who can really do anything. I learnt that not too long ago."

Duke turned his head back to the screen just as a blue object cut Red free; Mod turned and ran but didn't get very far. Red threw two sphere's tied together at the villain, they caught his legs and Mod fell to the ground; Kaibaman landed next to him, snatched the cane from his hands and snapped it two. The robots stopped moving and those in mid stride fell over, creating a domino effect until all of them were lying in the road.

Something flashed in front of the dice duellist's eyes, but it disappeared before his mind could hold onto it. He shook his head.

"You alright?"

Green met brown and Duke nodded. "Yeah...I thought something was coming back to me then."

Tristan placed his hand on Duke's shoulder. "Don't dwell on it. It'll come back to you." He stood with a sigh. "Now, I have to go down and sort out the clean up...will you be ok for a few hours?"

Duke tried to keep the worry from his voice. "Hours?"

The brunette titled his head back to scratch the rash forming under his jaw line. "If I bring the paper work back with me, it'll be less – but I'll be as quick as I can."

Duke twirled a strand of hair around his finger. "Of course I'll be ok for a few hours, I mean, I'm not a child – I don't need a babysitter."

Tristan grinned, seeing that Duke was trying to act tough so he wouldn't worry. "I'll be an hour and a half – two hours at the most."