Chapter 3. A Glimmer of Hope

A/N: Well, I have finally, finally updated. For those of you who have been following this story, I made a few small additions to Chapter 1 and 2. Just gloss back over where Mokuba is wishing they had their jet and where Seto is remembering his conversation with Madeline Ohhira.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Gi Oh

Seto watched his little brother sleep. He wasn't going to let Madeline Ohhira get anywhere near Mokuba or their company. They had been through so much in order to stay together and worked far to hard to make Kaiba Corp what it was presently.

The stockholders' meeting was a couple of months ago. Since then, Madeline had drastically stepped up her campaigning tactics for her proposal. She did not take Seto's refusal well. It had gotten to the point where she seemed overly determined, if not driven to make what she wanted into a reality.

"Mr. Kaiba, war technology, especially at this point in time, would be very profitable. You would be a fool to not realize it."

"Yes it would be profitable Mrs. Ohhira, but that is not the point."

"I'm not asking you to make tanks, just some specific computer software. KC has more than enough capacity to support this venture. After all, such technology is this company's heritage."

"Precisely. Now if you do not have any further business, I am going to call this meeting to an end."

The idea of producing war technology did not sit well with Seto as it reminded him too much of Gozaburo. He had worked very hard improving KC's image and had no intention of reverting his company back into what it once was. Moreover, it didn't fit into his and Mokuba's vision of developing games and building amusement parks. Profit or not, he wasn't going to accept the offending proposal, and his stubbornness infuriated Madeline.

In light of Madeline Ohhira's attitude, Seto decided that he and Mokuba should spend some time at their US office in California. One thing Gozaburo taught Seto was to always keep one's enemies close, and Seto felt the need to keep an eye on her. The past had made him wary of other's trying to gain influence in his company so Seto had Isona plant a spy in Madeline's own business. A few days later, Isona reported back with some rather grave news. Their informant had overheard urgent discussions of obtaining Mokuba-sama's stocks to gain control of the company. The conversations smacked of kidnapping, but there was no concrete evidence – certainly not enough to involve the police. Seto wasn't going to take such threats, even vague ones, lightly. Mokuba had been kidnapped one too many times, and he was determined not to let it happen again. If Madeline was going to kidnap Mokuba, she was going to have to find him first.

Seto made a general announcement thathe and his brother were returning to Domino and ordered their jet to be made ready. However, they were not on it as it took off. Seto took advantage of the crowd that gathered to watch the jet to sneak way to the airport where hepurchased a small, nondescript plane. He hoped this diversion would throw Madeline off their scent long enough to hide Mokuba. His plan was to take a roundabout flight to Professor Hopkins' secluded home and keep his brother there while he went out to gather more information on Madeline. The Hopkins had no idea they were coming, but Seto was willing to chance inconveniencing them in order to maintain the utmost secrecy. He would make sure the Hopkins were duly compensated.

No one would expect him to make such a move; it was out of character, and he hardly believed it himself. His justification was that he absolutely could not leave Mokuba alone,and at least he wasn't seeking assistance from Yuugi of all people. Seto had struggled greatly with the idea of leaving Mokuba somewhere even with someone, but he knew he would be placing his little brother in greater danger by keeping him by his side as he would be in close proximity to Madeline Ohhira. He also felt a little guilty keeping Mokuba in the dark. The only reason why Seto had not yet told his little brother of the kidnapping plot was because he didn't want to worry him unnecessarily.

Seto watched as Mokuba roused himself from his nap. He turned and blinked sleepily at his big brother. "Is the VOR fixed yet?"

"Not yet."

"I'll help you. What do you need?"

"I brought in all the manuals from the plane last night but left them in our room. Maybe also bring the map. We need to plan our next course of action."

"Sure Niisama. I'm on it!"

Seto's eye's followed Mokuba out of the room then turned his attention back to the instrument he had torn apart. For the life of him, he couldn't find anything wrong with it.

Mokuba was passing the kitchen on his way back into the main room when he heard muffled noises. He paused by the door. Was someone talking in there? It sounded like Sloan. The door was open just a crack so Mokuba peaked in. Standing on the opposite side of the room was Sloan talking on the telephone. "I thought the lines were still down," Mokuba commented softly to himself. He quickly ducked away as Sloan turned to face the kitchen door, but he didn't leave. I wonder what he's talking about. Mokuba knew he shouldn't eves drop. It certainly wasn't polite, and there really might not be any good information anyway. Sloan was probably just a harmless coot like Seto said, but…. something about this situation seemed suspicious. Mokuba crept back closer to the door and strained his ears. Sloan's half of the dialog was difficult to make out so he only got bits and pieces of what he said.

"Yeah….Just about right…………..little one….easy……..humph no………..picky and proud as all hell……hardly eats anything……..can't….too much….too obvious…."

"Mokuba? What's taking so long?"

Mokuba clamped his hands over his mouth as he involuntarily gasped. He was concentrating so hard on Sloan that he didn't hear his brother walk up to him. "Niisama," Mokuba whispered as he put an index finger to his lips and placed his ear back towards the door. Seto gave his brother a questioning look. Then he heard Sloan's voice. His eyes narrowed. If Sloan was trying to pull something funny on them, he was going to catch the sneak in the act. Seto pushed the door open and stepped into the kitchen.

"Be here tomorra then…" Sloan gave a suprised look at Seto's abrupt appearance. "Uh huh…right then, okay…bye." Seto raised an acusatory eyebrow.

"I thought the phone lines were down," was his scathing remark. "Were you planning on sharing this bit of information?" Sloan bristled slightly.

"I'd watch your tone if I were you, son. You might regret your words."

"Is that a threat?" There was a tense pause as the two stared each other down. Mokuba looked anxiously from his brother to the older man and back again. After a few long seconds, Sloan bared a toothy grin and chuckled.

"You're wound so tight you're spring's gonna snap. The lines came back up only a half-hour ago. Turns out I did you a mighty big favor." Seto gave him a doubtful look and was about to say something when Sloan continued. "Yup, called around for those parts you need while you two very busy people were sleepin' away. They'll be here sometime tomorra."

"How?" asked Seto dubiously. "I thought you said two to three weeks." The whole situation seemed too good to be true, too convenient. There had to be a catch. Sloan polished his grubby fingernails authoritatively on his dirty t-shirt.

"Pulled some strings. Just goes to show it's who know that matters. Besides, truth is I wanna get rid of ya. I'm not one for playin' house." Sloan cackled and gave Seto a hard slap on the back as he walked to the door. "Lemonade's in the fridge if you want it."

"And you are sure we will have what we need by tomorrow." Sloan turned slightly as stepped into the hall. He face was completely serious.

"Absolutely," he said then walked way.

After Sloan left, Mokuba moved to the refrigerator and retrieved the pitcher of lemonade. Seto located two glasses. It was hot out, so the idea of lemonade promised to be refreshing. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Mokuba wrinkled his nose at the first sip. "Eeeww! It's bitter."

"You mean sour," corrected Seto. Mokuba shook his head vigorously. Seto sniffed the contents of his glass and took a sip. It was definitely bitter. "Somehow he has managed to mess up lemonade from a mix. Apparently Sloan has no cooking skills whatsoever." Mokuba shrugged.

"The pancakes were fine." He had spotted the canister of powdered mix on the counter and was in the process of improving his lemonade. Mokuba completed his stirring and took a second, tentative sip. He smiled. "Much better! Do you want me to fix yours Niisama?" Seto ruffled his little brother's hair affectionately before he moved to the sink.

"No thanks." He dumped out his lemonade. "I think I'll just stick with water."

Seto cast his gaze to the now open door and then back at Mokuba. "So…what exactly did you overhear Sloan say?" Though the story of the parts was the first straight answer Sloan had given them since they met, Seto wasn't sure if he was going to buy it. He didn't completely trust him.

A look of consternation washed over Mokuba's face as recalled the bits of conversation he picked up.

"I don't really know. It was hard to hear, but I'm pretty sure he was talking about us."

"About us? Try to remember, Mokuba." He was watching his little brother intently.

"I think he was complaining to someone about us – like you won't eat anything. I don't remember any exact words. It seemed weird at the time, but now I guess it's just kinda silly," Mokuba ended lamely. Seto's expression relaxed a little bit.

"He must have tried to use the pity card in order to get those parts." Mokuba smiled weakly. "Don't worry about it too much. We'll keep a close watch on him." Seto paused. "Who knows, Sloan might actually live up to his word. We will see what, if anything, shows up tomorrow."

Thank you very much for your comments!

Mariko and evil meg: I finally includedwhat their mission is: )

evil meg, I hope that I have been able to clear up some of your questions with this chapter.

TakagiNaoSama and Garowyn: Oh good! I was hoping Sloan would come across creepy and untrustworthy. I don't want to say too much about him just yet though……

Please review! I like to know how I am doing and if there are things I need to work on.