I'm back from my weekend trip. I did get some writing done.
Enjoy the new chapter!
Chapter 8- Turning the Tide
Heba starred at Zorath, thinking about the best way that he could handle this. He knew that he had to be very careful since Atemu and Yami were there. One wrong move could end in one of them being hurt or killed, and he didn't want Shimore to get wind of the fact that he was free.
"What do you think Dad will do?" Yami asked Atemu quietly.
"He'll try and get the money. The problem is that he could only get maybe half of it before the time limit is up." Atemu said.
"Meaning that someone else may die." Yami translated.
"Exactly. I wish that there was something we could do." Atemu said.
Heba moved one of his hands to his back where the dagger he always had was and he gripped the edge of it tightly. He looked over and said, "Yami. Atemu."
The two looked over at him.
"When I tell you to, I want you to duck down to the ground and stay there no matter what happens." Heba said quietly.
"Why?" Yami asked.
"You'll know later. Please just trust me." Heba said.
Yami and Atemu had found themselves starting to trust Heba, so they decided that they would trust Heba on this one. Both nodded their understanding and agreement.
Heba then looked at Zorath, who was walking back and forth.
Zorath wasn't paying much attention to them as he paced, thinking that he was safe.
Heba slowly pulled the dagger out of the sheath and held it in his hand, making sure that if Zorath looked over his way that it would appear that he was still tied up.
Atemu noticed the slight movement and was ecstatic. 'He's free! We might get out of this yet.' Atemu thought happily.
Zorath turned his back to them to look at the door, wondering if he could leave them alone for a moment.
Heba seized the opportunity.
"Now." Heba hissed.
Understanding, Yami and Atemu ducked down to the floor.
Heba lunged forward.
Having heard something, Zorath turned only to have Heba's dagger plunged into his throat. Zorath immediately started to bleed out as his eyes went wide before he slumped forward, dead.
Heba pulled the dagger out and let Zorath's lifeless body fall to the floor.
Yami and Atemu looked in shock at the sight. Neither had seen someone die before, so it was a shock for them.
Heba walked over and cut the rope that tied their hands together. "You two okay?' Heba asked.
"Yeah." Atemu said.
"What's wrong?" Heba asked, seeing that the two were rather shocked and place.
"Um, well, we've never seen a person die before.' Yami said.
"Not even an execution in Egypt?" Heba asked.
The tow shook their heads.
"Sorry, but I had no choice. I'm sure that the only way we can stop the others is to kill them as well." Heba said.
"Heba, why are the demanding if it is a war they want?" Yami asked.
"To disguise the real reason. My father doesn't want anyone to know the real reason for all this. He wants a war, but he wants the Pharaoh to declare the war." Heba said.
"Did he think that this would work?" Atemu asked.
"I don't know. It doesn't matter right now. We need to get to the others and get them free." Heba said. He went over and searched Zorath, finding two laser guns from the Millennial Kingdom. He turned and said, "Atemu, take this." He handed one of the guns to Atemu.
"Heba, I have never used a Millennial gun before. I have no clue how to work them." Atemu said.
"Don't worry about it." Heba said. He hit a greet button on the side of Atemu's gun. "You're ready. All you have to do is aim and shoot." Heba said. He pointed to the meter on the front. "The green shows how much power is left. It's full. When it gets all the way red, you're out. Trust me. It would take a lot to make it go all the way down." Heba said.
"So, aim and shoot?" Atemu asked just to make sure.
"Yes. Yami, stay behind him. You'll safer that way." Heba said.
"And Atemu, stay behind me. Just don't shoot me." Heba said.
Atemu smiled. "I'll try not to." Atemu said.
"Come on." Heba said.
The three went over to the door.
Heba peered out the door and down the hall. He saw that no one was around. He started out with Yami and Atemu behind him.
The three crept down the hall since it was deserted, but they weren't taking any chances with it.
Heba peered around the next corner and saw that Bram and Kent were outside. He got back behind the corner. "We're close, but Bram and Kent are outside the door. We're going to have to be careful." Heba said.
Atemu and Yami nodded.
Shimore had gone into the room where he had the others.
"Where are Atemu, Yami, and Heba?" Seto demanded.
"They're not dead if that's what you think. They're fine. For now." Shimore said.
"What do you want, anyway?" Joey growled.
Shimore glared at him. "That's my concern. Yours is to hope that you're not the next one to die." Shimore said.
Joey glared at him. He wasn't scared. He knew that if he wasn't tied up, he could easily take down Shimore if Shimore would let him go.
Mahado bit his lip nervously. 'Please don't do this. You need to leave him alone so that he won't kill anyone else right now. It's going to be hard enough saying good-bye to Ansu. I don't want to have to say good-bye to anyone else.' Mahado thought.
Shimore walked on past them and went into the cockpit.
"Listen. Don't say anything else to him." Mahado said.
"Why not?" Malik demanded.
"He's already killed Ansu. I wouldn't put it past him to kill someone else, Right now, we need to just be quiet and try not to ruffle his feathers at the moment. We need to stay alive." Mahado said.
"He's right, guys." Ryou said.
"Ryou, we could easily take him down if we weren't tied up." Joey said.
"I know, Joey. I know that any one of us probably could, but we are tied up, and we are sitting ducks. If we try him, one of us could end up dead as well." Ryou said.
"I just hope that Prince Yami, Prince Atemu, and Prince Heba are all right." Isis said.
"If he wants something out of the Pharaoh, then he will keep Prince Yami and Prince Atemu alive." Karim said.
Shimore walked into the cockpit. "Where exactly are we, Hinomi?" Shimore asked.
"We will enter the Mahjong airspace within the next half hour." Hinomi said.
"Good. Since the Mahjong Kingdom is a Millennial ally, by having an Egyptian plane in their airspace, Emperor Kenshin would have another way to have a war. After all, a threat against the Mahjong Kingdom would be like an attack against the Millennial Kingdom." Shimore said.
Hinomi smirked. "I think that Emperor Kenshin will win regardless of what happens." Hinomi said.
"That's the idea." Shimore said.
Heba had told Atemu and Yami to stay around the corner while he went on ahead. He darted forward and his behind a stack of boxes. He peered around the corner.
Bram and Kent were talking to each other, not looking Heba's direction.
Seeing a chance, Heba darted toward the other side of the hall where he would be hidden by a pillar.
Kent turned and looked. "Did you hear something?" Kent asked.
"No. I think that the stress is getting to you. Everyone is tied up, and there is no way for anyone to stop us." Bram said.
"True. I guess I'm a little paranoid because I know how skillful Heba is." Kent agreed.
Heba moved on down the hall and hid under the staircase.
Kent looked again.
Bram rolled his eyes. "Stop worrying. No one is here." Bram said.
"Still. I can't shake the feeling that someone else is down here." Kent said.
"I think that you're beyond paranoid." Bram said.
'Not likely.' Heba thought. He moved forward a little and peered out, seeing Bram and Kent weren't really paying attention to too much. He pulled out his dagger, knowing it might be easier to use than the gun. Since Kent had his back to Heba, Heba knew that his chances were good because only one would be aware of his presence.
Atemu and Yami watched as Heba made his way down the hall.
"He is good." Yami said.
"I know what you mean." Atemu replied.
Heba climbed out from under the staircase, making sire that he was quiet in doing so. He slowly made his way forward.
Kent and Bram were still unaware of Heba's presence.
Heba went forward, grabbing Kent's neck and swiftly turning Kent's neck so that his neck snapped, killing him.
Bram turned, but before he could use his weapon or even scream, Heba rammed his blade into Bram's throat, killing Bram the same way that he killed Zorath.
Bram and Kent fell to the floor, dead.
Heba turned and motioned for Yami and Atemu to come on down the hall.
"How did you-" Yami started.
Heba held a finger to his lips, signaling for the two to be quiet.
Atemu and Yami nodded, understanding that it wasn't over.
Heba opened the door to the room quietly and looked inside. He could see all his friends tied up, but he didn't see Shimore anywhere. He turned to Atemu and Yami and said in a hushed whisper, "We'll go in, but be quiet. Signal for them to be quiet when we get in. I'm not sure if Seto and the others will listen to me."
Yami and Atemu nodded.
Heba slowly opened the door, and the three made their way inside.
Hearing the door open, everyone looked toward the door and was surprised to find that Heba, Atemu, and Yami were at the door.
Joey opened his mouth, but Heba quickly put his finger to his lips, signaling them all to be quiet.
Getting the message, no one spoke.
Heba, Atemu, and Yami quickly untied their friends.
"What now?" Ryou asked lowly.
"We have to take the plane back." Heba answered.
"Cane we manage that?" Bakura asked.
"We're about to find out the answer to that." Heba answered.
Before anyone else could do anything, the door to the cockpit opened, and Shimore walked out, looking rather smug. His expression soon turned to shock. "Bloody hell!" Shimore shouted as he took out his gun.
Heba fired his gun at the same time that Shimore fired his.
Shimore's blast headed for Atemu, but Mahado moved in front of him.
"MAHADO!" Atemu screamed as he went down.
Heba's blast his Shimore in the chest right through the heart, killing Shimore instantly.
"Mahado!" Isis exclaimed as she got down beside him.
Having heard the commotion going on from inside, Hinomi walked out of the cockpit with his weapon ready. He aimed and was about to fire.
Ryou took out his dagger and threw it at Hinomi, hitting Hinomi's hand.
Hinomi screamed and the gun fell from his hand.
Joey darted forward and tackled Hinomi to the ground, starting to wrestle with him. Malik went forward to help Joey when Hinomi threw Joey off of him and into Malik, knocking them both down.
Heba then lunged forward and threw a punch at Hinomi that hit Hinomi in the chin and threw him backwards. Hinomi then went at Heba again and kicked out at Heba, but Heba caught Hinomi's foot and threw him backwards.
"We need to move him back." Ryou said, referring to the injured Mahado.
Karim and Seto moved Mahado back out of the way of the battle.
"I don't know if I can help him." Isis said.
"We can, and I know how, but I need you all to trust me." Ryou said.
"Why?" Bakura asked.
"Is not the time to question who to trust?" Yami asked.
"I meant why do we need to trust him to help him?" Bakura retorted.
"Listen! I have a healing magic. I can't heal him completely, but I can get his life out of the critical zone. I can't guarantee that it'll buy us enough time to get him medical help, but it's better than the alternative." Ryou said.
Isis looked down at Mahado.
Mahado was bleeding fast, and he was already unconscious.
"Lord Ryou, please. Do what you can." Isis said.
Ryou nodded. He held a hand out over Mahado's injury and closed his eyes. Ryou started to glow a soft white before the energy seemed to flow from his hand over the wound. The wound stopped bleeding.
"Now what?" Atemu asked.
"I can't replace blood loss. If you know his blood type and someone here has it, a blood transfusion could buy us the time that we need to save Mahado's life." Ryou said.
"I know his blood type." Isis said.
"So do I, and we have the same blood type." Karim said.
Heba ducked as Hinomi drew out his dagger and stabbed out at Heba. Heba grabbed Hinomi by the wrist before slamming Hinomi's wrist down as hard as could into his knee.
Hinomi screamed as his wrist snapped with an audible crack.
Heba then drew back with his own dagger before ramming it into Hinomi's chest.
Hinomi gave a loud gasp at the immense pain that suddenly flooded his body.
Heba pulled out the dagger, and Hinomi dropped to the floor, dead.
Joey and Malik saw that it was over, and the three went over to where everyone else was.
"How is he?" Joey asked.
"I've used my magic to heal his injuries, but he needs a blood transfusion now." Ryou said.
"I know where the medical stuff is." Seto said before running out of the room.
"I hope we can save him." Isis said, looking at Mahado worriedly.
Heba saw the flash of deep pain and love. 'Isis and Mahado are in love with each other.' Heba thought.
Seto returned a few moments with the stuff that they would need.
Isis took it and started the transfusion between Karim and Mahado.
"Emperor Kenshin, we have word on the Egyptian Royal 2 mission." a soldier said.
"What is it?" Kenshin asked as he walked into the computer operations room.
"The plane is heading right for Mahjong Kingdom airspace." the soldier said.
Kenshin frowned. "I didn't give that order." Kenshin said.
"Perhaps this will work to our advantage, though." the man from before said.
"What do you mean, Matsumoto?" Kenshin demanded.
Matsumoto smirked. "The Mahjong Kingdom is an ally of ours. If the Egyptian Royal 2 were to enter the Mahjong Kingdom territory, it could be seen as an act of war from Egypt against our ally, giving you reason to declare the war. To aid your ally. Even the Earth's kingdoms can see the logic in that." Matsumoto explained.
A smirk spread slowly across Kenshin's face. "I see. I knew that I did the right thing in making Shimore the leader of that mission. I knew that he would be able to come with something that would allow the war to commence." Kenshin said.
"Yes. All we need now is for the Mahjong Kingdom to declare that they were in their airspace, and the war can begin. After all, the king in the Mahjong Kingdom would do anything to stay in your good graces." Matsumoto said.
"Agreed. This is working out better than we thought." Kenshin said.
In a dark hanger in an underground base, a group of men was gathered around a monitor.
"This is terrible. We could lose everything because of this." a deep voice said. He was a tall, buff blonde with green eyes.
"There has to be something that we can do." a higher-pitched voice said. He was a man with short red hair and grey eyes.
"We need to go to Earth and take care of it." an Australian accent added. He had brown hair and green eyes.
"No."
All three turned to see someone standing in the shadows.
"We have to do something. Prince Heba, Lord Joey, Lord Malik, and Lord Ryou are all on that plane along with a group of Egyptian. If we don't do something, we could lose." the deep voice said.
"Rafael, I know what I am saying. Trust me." the shadowed man said
"So, we're not going to do anything?" the red-haired man asked.
"Alister, trust me on this. We watch, but we do nothing for the time being." the ma said again.
"So you think that they can get out if this?" the last man asked.
The shadowed figure looked at the screen. "Valon, Heba knows what he is doing. I am certain that they will manage to save themselves without out help." the man said.
The others did as they were told and waited to see what would happen.
Aknankanon paced nervously. "Why haven't we been able to raise contact with them?' Aknankanon asked.
"It's possible that they don't intend to contact us again until the hour is up." Michael said.
"But why? I thought that would have kept communications open in case we did get the money." Amara said, worried fro her sons and nephews.
"There could be any number of reasons for that. We just have to be patient. Once the hour is up, they will most certainly contact us again." Clarice said.
"I just hope that they contact us soon." Aknaudin said, wanting to get them all out of that mess as soon as possible.
"We have to wait. Pondering the possibilities will not help matters. We just have to trust that they are all right." Michael said.
"Well, Heba and the others are Millennials, and we don't understand everything there is to know about Millennials. Perhaps they can find a way out of that mess." Aknankanon said.
"Do you think that they would try and help them?" Clarice asked.
"Yes. I think that they would." Aknaudin said.
"We all do." Amara added.
"Well, I hope that it helps." Isis said.
The blood transfusion had been done, so all that they could do was hope that they could Mahado the medical attention that he needed.
"Your magic may have saved his life, Ryou." Atemu said.
"I was glad to do it." Ryou replied.
A thought then crossed Marik's mind. "Um, guys?" Marik said.
"What?" Malik asked.
"Our pilot was killed, and the guy who was flying the plane for them is dead, right?" Marik asked.
"Yes." Ryou said.
"Then who's flying the plane?" Marik asked.
It was a thought that hadn't occurred to any of them.
"Since we haven't crashed yet, I would say that the plane is on autopilot." Karim said.
"Who is going to fly, though? We can't leave it, though. Someone has to fly the plane." Heba said.
Isis turned to Karim. "Can't you fly us?" Isis said.
"Isis, I have only logged twenty hours of flight time. I'm not experienced." Karim said.
"Can you be co-pilot?" Heba asked.
"If I hadn't donated blood, yes. Since I have, it might not be such a good idea." Karim said.
Heba looked at Joey, Ryou, and Malik. "Well, no choice.' Heba said. He ran to the cockpit and got in the pilot's seat.
Everyone except Isis and Mahado followed.
"What are you doing?" Yami asked.
"I'm trained in Millennial flight, and since our air technology is more advanced than yours, this is basic stuff for me. Joey, I need a co-pilot." Heba said.
Joey sat in the co-pilot's seat.
"What about us?" Atemu asked.
"Give me minute." Heba said. He checked the radar to see where they were heading. "Where's the Mahjong Kingdom?" Heba asked.
"About halfway between Egypt and England." Atemu said.
"Are they allies, enemies, or neither to Egypt?" Heba asked.
"Enemies. They have allied themselves wit the Millennial Kingdom against us." Yami answered.
"We might have a problem." Heba said.
"What's that?" Atemu asked.
"We're about to enter their airspace." Heba answered.
"WHAT?!" they all shouted.
"If we enter their airspace, it could cause an international incident!" Atemu exclaimed.
"And since they're allies with my father, it would give him grounds to start a war with Egypt because an Egyptian plane, a known enemy of the Mahjong Kingdom, entered their ally's airspace." Heba finished.
Everyone grew silent as the direness of the situation hit them.
Hope you liked it. Just to clarify, Rafael, Valon, and Alister are good guys in this story.
Next: A battle in the air!
R&R.