Chapter 17- Showdown
"The choice on what to do is still yours. You can choose whether your little friends live or die." Pegasus said.
"How do we know that you'll let them go if we surrender?" Heba asked. He already had an idea in mind. He just hoped that he could convey it to Joey, Ryou, and Malik without speaking to them.
"I guess you don't know that." Pegasus admitted.
"We can't do it. He'll kill them and us." Malik said.
"We might have a chance to still save them if we go along with it." Ryou said.
Atemu, Yami, and the others were all gagged, so they couldn't speak.
'No. Pegasus plans to kill us all.' Yami thought.
'Damn it! There has to be a way to stop them.' Atemu thought.
'No! Ryou, you can't do what he wants.' Bakura thought frantically.
'Come on. You guys have to keep fighting and forget about us.' Akefia said silently.
'Puppy, don't give in to him. You have to keep fighting.' Seto thought.
'Stop him. You have to save the people that he might kill or have killed later on.' Seth thought.
'Come on. You guys are better than this. You have to stop him.' Marik thought.
'You can win this. You can't just give up.' Mariku told himself.
Heba thought for a few moments. He caught Ryou's eyes and let his eyes fall to a device at Ryou's side.
Ryou, at first, didn't understand and then he realized what Heba was trying tot ell him. He gave a slight nod, saying that he understood.
Heba then looked back up at Pegasus. "Drop your weapons, guys. He's won." Heba said.
"What? We can't just give up." Joey said.
"Yeah. There's no way that he is going to let anyone go." Malik added.
"Just drop them." Heba said. He looked at them and added, "That's an order." He then threw his gun to the floor.
Grudgingly, Joey and Malik also threw their guns to the floor.
Ryou was the last to throw his gun down.
"Well, I would say that you made the right decision after all." Pegasus said.
'Not likely. You have no idea who you are messing with.' Heba thought.
Ryou slowly inched his hand to a device at his side. He knew he had to be discreet as he did this, or they could lose everything.
"You know, it's too bad that I didn't meet you before. You would have been the better assassins to have working for me." Pegasus said.
"Sorry, but we don't work for anyone." Heba said.
"It doesn't matter now. You'll have to be killed now." Pegasus said.
"Heba, I knew that this was a bad idea." Joey muttered.
Ryou was finally able to get his hand on the device. He then moved one of the dials onto full blast. "Guys, do you have your earplugs in?" Ryou asked.
"No." Malik said.
"When I give the signal, cover your ears." Heba said.
Joey and Malik realized that Heba had a plan in mind, so they decided that they would go along with it and hope that the plan worked.
"Now, I think that it's time for you to watch your friends die." Pegasus said, looking up at where his prisoners were.
"Pegasus, do you know why no one has ever heard of our organization?" Heba asked.
"No, and I do not care." Pegasus retorted.
"You might want to care." Malik said.
"And why's that?" Pegasus asked.
"Because we always have more than one way to win." Heba said.
"That's preposterous! I have a; ready won this little game!" Pegasus said.
Heba smirked. "Not yet." Heba said.
Ryou then slipped on the device.
Heba, Malik, and Joey all covered their ears a loud, screeching sound filled the entire room.
Everyone else screamed as the annoying sound was so loud that no one could think. They all covered their ears as they tried to think through the sound.
Atemu, Yami, Marik, Mariku, Seth, Seto, Akefia, and Bakura were all unable to cover their ears and were having trouble dealing with it.
Heba, Malik, and Joey put in their earplugs like Ryou had wisely done beforehand.
"Come on. We help them first." Heba said.
The four headed up the balcony as the device continued blaring.
The assassins that had held Yami, Atemu, and the others captive were on their kneed, unable to stand the noise.
Quickly, Heba and the others untied their lovers and pulled them away from the assassins.
A nod from Heba had Ryou turning off the device.
Pegasus and his assassins ewer still stunned by the noise.
Yami, Atemu, and the others were also still stunned by the noise.
From other places on their uniforms, Heba and the others took out other guns.
The assassins recovered enough and were reaching for their guns.
Heba, Ryou, Malik, and Joey all fired at them, hitting each assassin and killing them instantly.
"WHAT?!" Pegasus shouted.
Heba turned to look at Pegasus. "As I said, we are good because we always have a back-up plan." Heba said.
"I'm not out of ideas yet!" Pegasus spat.
Out of nowhere, gunshots were fired.
Heba and the others pulled their lovers down, and they all crawled to the hallway where they were out of range.
"Damn it! Pegasus is going to get away!" Joey growled.
"Not yet." Heba said. He looked around and saw where the gunshots were coming from. "I know what to do, but it's dangerous." Heba said.
"Heba, everything that we have done today is dangerous. What is it?" Malik asked.
"We have to fire at where the gunshots are coming from. We should be able to hit a few of them at least." Heba said.
The four readied their guns and came out of hiding to fire in the directions of the gunfire.
Soon, several men were found falling.
The opposing gunshots stopped.
"I think that we go them all." Malik said.
"Yeah, but that bastard Pegasus got away!" Joey growled.
"Not for long. We're going after him." Heba said.
"That's too dangerous." Bakura said.
Ryou then whacked Bakura in the head.
"OW! Ryou! That hurt!" Bakura said.
"Good. Because you deserve it! You all do!" Ryou snapped.
"What were you thinking?! You could have gotten yourselves killed coming here!" Joey growled.
"How did you even get here?" Malik demanded.
"Enough!" Heba said sharply.
Everyone turned to look at Heba.
"I know that you're all upset with them, but this is not the time to act like this. We have to get Pegasus first. We can kill them later." Heba said.
"We can't leave them here." Ryou said.
"We're not. Get their guns." Heba said, motioning to the dead assassins.
Yami, Atemu, and the others did as they were told.
"Use them on anyone you see other than us." Heba said.
The eight nodded their heads in understanding.
"Come on." Heba said.
The group made their way toward a hallway that Heba felt Pegasus may have went down.
Pegasus had managed to get out of the room while Heba and the others were dealing with being fired upon. He was now running scared.
'Damn it! I don't know what they did, but they are much better than I thought. I thought for sure that I had them when I had those fools as my captives. Now, I am at my wits end.' Pegasus thought.
"Mr. Pegasus, what is it?' Croquet asked when his boss entered a large showroom.
"We must act quickly, Croquet." Pegasus said.
"What about the captives?" Croquet asked.
"Those assassins are much better than I thought. They had some sort of device that produced such loud sounds that I could not stand it. It was too loud for any person to stand. Once those idiots that I hired heard that sound, they dropped to their knees and dropped their weapons. Once those assassins that came here got to them, they were dead." Pegasus said.
"We still have a few of the men that were hired here alive. We can use them to try and bring an end to these assassins." Croquet said.
"We may need them, Croquet. I don't know how these assassins are this good. I have never seen anyone with the skill that they have." Pegasus said.
"We need to get ready. We have no way of knowing when they will be here." Croquet said.
Heba led the others down the hallway.
"It's odd. I thought Pegasus would have had assassins hunting us down." Malik said.
"Pegasus isn't stupid. He's seen what we have the ability to do. He's beginning to run scared. Any assassins that he has that are still alive he has with him to protect himself." Heba said.
"It's smart when you think about it." Atemu said.
"He's probably planning an ambush." Ryou said.
"I know. That's why we're going to be careful." Heba replied.
The group crept along the hallway, keeping their guns aimed ahead as they readied themselves in case they were attacked while they were in the hallway.
Soon, the group reached a pair of large double doors.
"Think that he's in there?" Joey asked.
"Most likely. Be on guard. We don't know what we're up against." Heba said.
The group opened the door, but stayed out of sight.
There was nothing but silence on the other side of the door.
"What do you think?" Ryou asked.
"I think that Pegasus is up to something." Heba replied.
"What should we do?" Joey asked.
"Keep your eyes open. Shoot at anyone you see other than us." Heba said.
Slowly, the group made their way into the room.
In the rafters were two assassins who had their guns trained on them.
Atemu and Bakura saw the shine of metal above and fired.
"What the hell are you-" Joey started until he saw the two bodies that had fallen.
"Well, better than I expected."
The group looked to see Pegasus on a raised platform with Croquet at his side.
"Pegasus, give it up. We're not going to be defeated that easily." Heba said.
"I didn't expect you to be. Granted, you're much more skilled than I would have thought you would be. You have impressed me." Pegasus said.
"Flattery will get you nowhere." Joey said.
"No one said I was trying to flatter you." Pegasus said.
From nowhere, ten assassins appeared with guns trained on them.
"I think that you're the ones in need of help, though." Pegasus said.
"Is that so?" Heba asked.
"Of course. You can't really expect to win in a battle like this. You should know that when you're surrounded, there's no way out but surrender." Pegasus said.
Ryou, Malik, and Joey waited to see how Heba would respond.
"We don't know the meaning of the word surrender." Heba answered.
Joey, Ryou, Malik, and Heba all turned to start firing at the assassins that had surrounded them.
Four went down right off.
The other six started to fire only to be shot as well from the guns of the other eight that were in the room.
"What?!" Pegasus exclaimed, shocked.
"Pegasus, you're facing all twelve of us." Heba said.
"You didn't figure that in to your math." Seto added.
'Damn it! I didn't think that those eight would be a threat to me.' Pegasus thought.
Croquet saw that things were going downhill. 'I must do something now before we lose everything. I cannot allow these people to kill Mr. Pegasus.' Croquet thought.
"I am not going to let you win this." Pegasus growled.
"Pegasus, every assassin that you had is dead." Heba said.
"There's not much that you can do now." Malik added.
"This isn't over yet!" Croquet said. He then threw a live grenade down at them.
"Scatter!" Heba ordered.
Everyone ran to get out of the way as the grenade exploded.
Everyone was thrown by the exploded and thrown into different directions.
"That hurt." Seth said.
"No kidding." Akefia agreed.
Pegasus looked at Croquet in surprise. "Where did you get that?" Pegasus asked.
"I knew we might be in for some trouble when I heard that there were intruders on the island, so I decided to be ready." Croquet said as he took out a pair of guns and handed one to Pegasus.
"I must thank you, Croquet. You certainly do think of everything." Pegasus said as he took the gun.
Heba stood up and turned around to raise his gun at Pegasus.
A gunshot was heard.
Everyone looked forward.
Both Pegasus and Heba had their guns raised.
To everyone's surprise, the gun fell from Heba's hand as Heba collapsed.
"Heba!" Ryou, Malik, and Joey shouted.
The others were shocked senseless at that.
"Well, it would seem that this great assassin can be killed after all." Pegasus said.
"You bastard!" Joey snarled.
"I doesn't matter. You'll be joining him very soon." Pegasus said.
'No. This can't be happening.' Yami thought frantically.
'Yugi. No. He can't be dead.' Atemu thought, getting angry.
"Mr. Pegasus, we should kill them now before they get the upper hand on us." Croquet said.
"There's no need, Croquet. With their leader lead, they are lost. I have nothing to fear from them now." Pegasus said, feeling that they had won now.
No one noticed Heba's hand moving, slowly inching for his side.
"We have to kill him now." Joey said.
"You're right. Heba would want it this way." Malik added in.
"I think that now, it's time for all of you to die." Pegasus said as he got ready to fire his gun again.
Heba then jumped up and fired the gun.
Croquet pushed Pegasus out of the way and was hit in the chest, immediately going down.
"Impossible?! You should have been dead!" Pegasus shrieked.
"Pegasus, not everything is as you want it." Heba said.
Croquet got back up and fired again, but Heba moved out of the way, and Malik fired his gun, hitting Croquet between the eyes.
Croquet immediately fell to the ground, dead.
Pegasus, realizing that he was in danger, ran for it.
"Come on! We have to stop him!" Ryou said.
The group started after him.
"No!" Heba said, turning.
"Why not?" Ryou asked.
"You guys go back to one of the planes. Bring it back here. We're going to need to make a fast getaway. I'm going after Pegasus alone." Heba said.
"But-" Joey started.
"No! Believe me! I know what's about to happen, and it's not good! Now go!" Heba said.
"Heba-" Malik started.
"That's an order!" Heba growled.
Ryou, Malik, and Joey realized that Heba was very serious about.
Heba then took off after Pegasus, jumping up to the platform in one leap before running after his target.
"We have to go after him!" Atemu said.
"No. We're doing what Heba said." Joey said.
"We can't leave him like this." Mariku protested.
"Heba is the most experienced one here. He'll be fine. If he thinks he knows what's going to happen, he most likely does, and for him to act like this, it must be something big." Malik said.
"Are you sure?" Yami asked.
"Yeah. Heba will be fine. Pegasus has no idea who he is dealing with." Ryou said.
Reluctantly, the group agreed, and they headed out of the castle.
Pegasus ran into a computerized room. 'If I have to die, then I am taking them with me.' Pegasus thought. He went to a computer and started typing in a series of commands.
"Pegasus!"
Pegasus turned to see Heba in the room.
"It's time to end this." Heba said.
"I agree, but it's not going to end the way you would like it to." Pegasus said.
Heba fired at Pegasus, but Pegasus moved out of the way. Pegasus the fired at Heba, but Heba ducked behind a computer for cover.
"You're not getting away, Pegasus!" Heba said.
"I'm not trying to do that! I am just going to make sure that I take you all with me!" Pegasus retorted.
"What are you talking about?" Heba demanded.
"This." Pegasus said. He came out and hit a red button.
A computerized voice then said, "Self destruct sequence activated. Island will self destruct in ten minutes."
"Are you crazy?! You'll die, too." Heba said.
"It would be better to take you with me that to let you live while I die!" Pegasus said.
Heba came out. "Pegasus, you have spent the last decade killing innocent people all because you wanted your company to take off, and the only way to have that was to kill the competition." Heba said.
"I don't care! Industrial Illusions will still be the best!" Pegasus said before he hit a button.
An explosion happened behind Heba, throwing Heba forward.
Heba screamed as he felt his leg take the brunt of the blast.
"At least I'll have the joy of killing you!" Pegasus shouted.
"How fast can we get to one of the planes?" Joey asked.
"It'll take a little time. We need to find one of the boats." Ryou said when they reached the castle doors that led outside.
"Listen. I-" Seto started.
"We don't have that much time. There's no telling what Pegasus has in mind." Malik said.
"If you'll just-" Seto tried again.
"We don't have a choice." Ryou said.
"Hold it1" Seth shouted.
"What?!" Malik growled.
"Look. I have this." Seto said, taking out a small remote.
"That's the remote control to the jet we have. We don't use it that much, though." Ryou said.
"It's the plane that we used when we came here." Seto explained.
"Ryou, can you use that to get the plane here fast?" Malik asked.
"Yes. I can. Give it to me." Ryou said.
Seto handed the remote to Ryou, who started to hit a few buttons on it.
"Why did you bring that, Seto?" Atemu asked.
"I knew that it was a remote control to the jet. I didn't know how it worked, but I thought that it might come ion handy." Seto replied.
"It's on it's way." Ryou said.
"How long before it gets here?" Yami asked.
"We're going to have to go to the end of island. It'll come up to shore." Ryou replied.
The group made their way toward the shore.
"You are going to die." Pegasus said.
Heba looked up, pure hatred in his eyes. "I don't think so." Heba said. He fire his gun and hit Pegasus in the hand, knocking the gun away from Pegasus.
"You bastard!" Pegasus shouted, holding his bleeding hand.
"Pegasus, there is no way in hell that I am going to let you do this." Heba said. He managed to get up onto his feet despite the pain that radiated through his injured leg. He knew that he was going to need medical attention. Not to mention the fact that he had been hit in his shoulder from before.
"I am not going to die alone. If I am going to die, then I am taking you with!" Pegasus shouted. He then took a dagger out from where it had been hidden in his coat before he threw it at Heba.
The dagger imbedded itself in Heba's right arm, causing Heba to drop his gun.
"I am not going to die here alone! If I am going to die, then I am taking you with me!" Pegasus declared before he charged at Heba.
Quickly, Heba pulled the dagger out from his arm before he rammed the dagger into Pegasus's chest, hitting him right in his heart.
Pegasus looked at Heba in shock before he collapsed to the ground, dead before his body landed on the ground.
Heba panted. He knew that he was losing blood from his injuries. 'I need to try and get out of here.' Heba thought. He slowly made his way to the door.
The plane had arrived at the shore, and the entire group had boarded the plane.
"I really hope that one of you know how to fly a plane." Ryou said.
"Why?" Akefia asked.
"Because Heba's the only one of the four of us that know how to fly." Joey replied.
"Come on, Seth." Seto said.
The two headed for the cockpit.
"Now what?" Atemu asked.
"Fly the plane close to the castle. We have to get there for Heba." Ryou said.
Seto nodded. He got the plane into the air and headed for the castle.
"I'm going to jump out at the top of the castle and go in to help Heba." Joey said.
"I'll go, too." Malik said.
"No. It's better if I go alone. I'll contact you if I need help." Joey said.
"Be careful." Seth said.
"I will." Joey replied.
Once at the castle, Joey jumped down on the top level and ran inside.
Heba had barely made it out of the room and into the hallway before he collapsed. He was breathing heavily. He knew that eh couldn't get out of there. 'I can't make it. I just hope that the others get to safety.' Heba thought.
"Heba!"
Heba turned and was shocked to see Joey. "What are you doing here, Joey? You should be getting out of here." Heba said.
"Heba, what the hell happened to you?" Joey asked.
"Never mind. Pegasus has set the island to self destruct. We don't have much time." Heba said.
"I'm not leaving without you." Joey said.
"Joey, just go!" Heba ordered.
"I'm not leaving you here to die!" Joey retorted.
"Joey, you have to save yourself." Heba insisted.
"Heba, you aren't my leader. You're my friend. If you die, then I do, too. The plane is just ahead." Joey said.
"Joey, I can't walk. My leg is banged up. I've lost way too much blood." Heba said.
Joey reached down and brought one of Heba's arms over his shoulder. "Heba, I'm not leaving you. I am going to help you. We are both getting out of here alive. Pegasus isn't going to win by taking us down, too." Joey said.
"Joey." Heba said.
"Come on." Joey said.
Heba got up with Joey's help, and Joey helped him toward the exit.
"You're crazy, you know that." Heba said.
"So I have been told." Joey said.
The two made their way to the exit.
"There's the plane." Joey said.
Heba glanced at his watch. "Joey, hurry." Heba urged. They didn't have much time.
Joey made a break for the plane.
"Joey! Hurry!" Malik shouted.
Joey took a leap for it as he and Yugi fell into the plane.
The door was shut.
"Seto, move it! The islands going to explode!" Joey shouted.
Seto needed no more urging as he headed away.
A few seconds later, the island exploded.
"Seth, get back here now!" Joey shouted.
"Oh my god! Yugi!" Yami exclaimed.
"He's pretty banged up." Joey said.
"He's also unconscious." Ryou said.
Seth got back there to him and his instincts as a doctor kicked in. "Damn it! He's been through hell!" Seth said. He did what he could for Heba, hoping Heba could hold out until they got back to the base for him to give Heba proper medical attention.
"Seth, is he going to make it?" Joey asked.
"I don't know, Joey. I really don't." Seth said.
It was a question of whether there was too much damage done to Heba's body if he would live, or if they would run out of time before Seth could give Heba the proper medical attention.
Hope you liked it.
Next: You find out if Heba lives or dies. Also, other decisions are made.
R&R.