Chapter 12: Brainsworking
Pain tore through her head and she felt distinctly odd. She felt too heavy, as if her body was being held down by heavy weights, although she felt nothing on her. Her senses returned at a sluggish pace and she smelled stale air and felt hot, as if she were in a warming oven. Slowly, she got her eyes to work and forced them open, squinting into darkness. She heard deep breathing next to her and forced her neck to move. She spotted a body beside her, and after a few confusing moments she realized it was Tea. That was baffling, as she hadn't seen the girl in months, not since school ended. Pushing her arm under herself she tried to see through the gloom and spotted several other people including Bakura and a young redhead she'd never seen before. They were in a small room made of ancient looking stone blocks. There was sand on the floor, and sticking to her skin where she had been laying on it. She felt gritty as sweat made her clothes cling to her, which made little sense as it had been a pleasant fall day in Domino. As her cloudy mind tried to work out what was going on she heard a door opening somewhere and voices, very angry voices.
She recognized two of them at once. One was Kaiba, who was snarling like an enraged hyena. The other was Joey, who was simply shouting what she thought were obscenities, but the words were muffled so she couldn't be sure. Still, it seemed like something he would do if he was angry. "Get the rest of them in the cells." She heard much more distinctly. "Before they wake up like the others."
Hearing another door open, this one closer, she laid back down at once and went totally limp. She had no idea what was going on, but if some nameless someone thought she was unconscious and Seto was yelling like that something was certainly going on. The fact that she had been knocked out and kidnapped in her own apartment really reinforced that. She needed to figure out what was going on before she did something stupid, like getting caught being awake. No sooner did she lay back down than a line of light filled the shadowy room and a footsteps echoed around. Someone stopped next to Tea and picked her up and she felt her adrenaline start to climb, pushing the fogginess away. Cracking her eye open she saw a large man throwing the other woman over his shoulder and walking out. Before she could think of what she should do another one walked in behind him and came right over to her. She closed her eye at once and made herself stay pliant as she was hoisted into the air.
She was tossed uncaringly over his shoulder and had to force herself to stay quiet as her stomach was compressed rather painfully. Once she was secured, with her top half hanging over his back, she opened her eyes again and spotted a key ring peaking out from under his jacket. Reaching down she quickly and slyly lifted the keys, forcing her fingers to work, and slipped them into the palm of her hand as she hoped they were going to be good for something. A moment later, with the voices getting ever louder, they had walked into another hallway, this one substantially brighter but still oddly dim, and Kaiba abruptly stopped yelling. They went a few more feet and then she was being put down. As she went she slipped her hand stealthily into the man's front jacket pocket, knowing where they were sewn in, and her fingers just managed to wrap around something thin and flat before she was on the ground.
He dropped her the last few inches onto hard cement and she simply let the impact happen, hoping he didn't notice she was palming things in her hands and trying to keep them flat down while still looking like she was unconscious. "Hey! Careful!" Mokuba shouted angrily. "You're going to hurt her!"
"Shove it, kid." The man told him, clearly unbothered by him or her possible injury. "You're all going to be hurting soon."
Joey began to curse even more viciously and she realized that the first man that had brought Tea was back with the petite redhead. "My sister? You clowns kidnapped my sister? You better hope I don't get out of here!"
Listening over the throbbing in her head she remained motionless in an attempt to be ignored while she worked out what was happening. "Ahh, the boys are upset." The new man mocked. "What a shame."
"Get the hell away from them, you bastards!" Tristan was snarling, and she wondered who else was here, and why. Another curse came from Joey and she heard the sound of metal clicking as a door was shut. Cracking her eye open a slit she saw the three of them, and Mia, who was off in a corner also unconscious, were all crammed into a small jail cell.
The man that had moved her came back with Bakura, who he threw uncaringly in another cell where Duke was knocked out cold and Mokuba was looking for a way to dodge past him, but wasn't finding one and was shoved back, which had Seto snapping a warning to the man. She closed her eye again when he began to turn back around, not wanting to draw attention to herself. "That's the last one."
"The boss will be happy. We got all of the ones on his list."
She had no idea what that meant or why she would be on any sort of list. Especially one that also had Joey, apparently his sister, Tristan, Tea, and Mia on it. This was all very bizarre. She had no clue what was happening but she was sure they were in a really bad situation. That was reinforced when Kaiba abruptly broke his silence. "Leave the girls alone." He snapped forcefully. She heard shifting near her and could only assume one of the men had been lingering too long in front of their cell. Her stomach filled with cold dread and it took all her self control not to move, change her breathing, or open her eyes.
"This one thinks he's still in charge." One of them commented, goading him, and his voice was vaguely familiar, tugging at something in her memory. "Money won't do much for you here will it?"
Kaiba said nothing and she could only imagine the glare he was giving the other man. The strained silence didn't last long as Joey broke in. "Looks to me like the only thing making you big and bad are these bars between us. Why don't you open up and we'll see if Kaiba needs money to kick your butt into next week."
A new voice sounded, one she didn't recognize at all. "Stop talking to them." The order was firm, with no room to argue. "They aren't to be bothered by you. They're here to be judged."
"Judged?" It appeared Yugi was also here, and at this point she wasn't overly surprised.
"Where are we?" Tristan yelled at them right before the door they'd come through closed. She heard a series of odd beeps and then everyone that was awake began to argue.
"What the hell did you drag us into this time?" Seto demanded.
"I have no idea what's happening, Kaiba." Yugi told him, his own voice strained with impatience.
"You never do." Seto replied sarcastically.
"I refuse to get into an argument with you." Yugi told him, sounding tired, as if this continual cycle of aggression with Kaiba was simply too much at the moment.
"We both know this has something to do with you!" Seto snarled, and she again wondered why these two didn't get along. Clearly something was up, but she figured it wasn't the best time to get to the bottom of it. "It always does! I haven't dueled in over a year and yet here we all are!"
"Back off, rich boy!" Joey snarled, and she wondered what duel monsters had to do with anything. "Yug had nothing to do with this!"
She opened her eyes to be sure the kidnappers had gone, and when she saw that the only ones here were all of them in cells she slowly pushed herself up. Her head spun sickly, her stomach rolling, but she managed to keep herself from throwing up. She saw that Joey, Tristen, Yugi, and Seto had all been placed in the cell directly across from the one she was in. In the cell next to them Duke and Bakura were both starting to stir, no doubt due to all the yelling, and Mokuba was standing against the bars, close to Seto, but still separated from him. All of them looked the worse for wear, their clothes askew, pale, and Tristan and Seto both had bruises. Seto's cheek was dark purple where Tristan had a black eye. She assumed that they hadn't been snatched as quickly or easily as she had.
"God, what the hell?" Duke groaned, obviously thinking he was in his own home. "I only had like, four drinks."
This comment was ignored completely as the argument began to escalate. "For once don't act as stupid as you are!" Seto ordered Joey. "He's constantly the cause of every scrap of nonsense Mokuba and I get dragged into!"
"Oh, right." Joey threw back. "You certainly never contribute in any way to any of this!"
Getting to her feet she swayed, having difficulty getting her limbs to fully obey her, but she saw little choice in the matter. Opening her hands she saw she had managed to steal not only keys, but some sort of generic looking security card. It looked like the one she had to get into Kaiba Corp, but it was just plain white where her's had a logo and her name on it. Getting to the door of the cell she reached through the bars and began trying the keys, as there were half a dozen of them, hoping one would unlock it. As she worked to free herself Tea groaned softly and Mia jerked her head up, coming awake all at once.
"Back off, Kaiba!" Tristan snapped, shoving him backward.
"Don't touch me!"
"Calm down, nii-san." Mokuba tried to soothe, grabbing his trenchcoat through the bars and holding him tightly as it was clear he was more than ready to start swinging. She figured it was really Mokuba's steady presence rather than his physical prowess that would stop a fight. It seemed the only one Seto ever listened to was his brother.
However, she figured them getting into a brawl wouldn't be overly helpful and tried to help prevent it herself. "Will someone tell me what's happening?" She interjected loudly, trying to cut over the yelling. "Where are we?"
Five heads swiveled toward her. "Sarah!" Mokuba said with real relief. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, other than feeling sick." She said as the key she was trying clicked in a very satisfying way. The door came open and she shoved it so she could get out. Stepping out of the cell she walked over to the one Seto was in, figuring the guys could at least distract the kidnappers if they came back in, and started trying keys as the four young men crowded to the front.
"How did you get keys?" Tristan asked, clearly impressed as Seto looked her over critically .
"Oh, you know, I asked all nicely." She replied sarcastically.
"Who cares how she got them." Joey said. "As long as she gets us out."
She managed that on the third key she tried and handed Seto the security card as she went to the last cell and began to try the remaining keys. Joey and Yugi rushed into the cell she had been in to check on the other women. Within moments the redhead was crying and clutching at Joey and she did her best to ignore the girl. She knew she was frightened, but crying wasn't about to help. Tea looked completely disoriented, and she sympathized with that, and Mia was simply furious. She began ranting almost at once, enraged that anyone had the gall to kidnap her. Listening to the blonde she also wondered at it, thinking she wouldn't want to mess with this woman given the option.
Getting the last door open she let Mokuba out as Duke shook Bakura fully awake. "Bloody hell. What's happening?"
"Oh, you know, the usual." Duke replied, not looking nearly as bothered by all this as the others. "Getting into mischief and finding mayhem." His green eyes turned to her and he gave her the most flirtatious smile she'd ever encountered. "Thanks, gorgeous. I've missed seeing you around."
She sent him a surprised look, not used to anyone flirting with her, but was distracted by Mokuba. "How did you get the keys?" He asked curiously.
"I stole them." She told him. "They thought I was still knocked out and weren't paying attention."
Seto was looking at the door they came through as he tapped the card against his leg, holding it between his fingers. There was only one way out, the way they came in. After the last cell all there was to see was a crumbling stone wall, which was identical to all the other walls she had seen. Kaiba made up his mind quickly and walked passed everyone else as they tried to orient themselves. She followed him with Mokuba close behind after sending Duke one last confused glance. Kaiba was clearly as interested in calming Serenity down as he was in going on a date with Joey and ignored the sobbing girl. Getting to the door he began to study a flat white panel, where the key was clearly supposed to go. She saw him flip it to see the small metallic part that you were supposed to run through the electric panel. Mokuba came up behind them and asked his brother a question. "Can you get it open with that?"
"Yes, but if I do I'm fairly certain the security system will alert someone as soon as we use it. If I can get into the machine I can stop that from happening. I need a screwdriver to open the panel though."
She hummed, knowing she could help with that, and reached up to her hair. Pulling out her bobby pins a few strands of her hair fell about her face and she went to opening it. "I can do that I think." A minute later and the panel was open.
Seto pushed her aside with an astonishing amount of gentleness for him. She let him have space as Mokuba watched critically. It took Kaiba twelve seconds to get them out. She knew this because she was counting. There was a beep and a series of green lights lit up after he moved a few wires about, then there was a click. Reaching over she opened the door a crack and looked out. She didn't see anyone. "I don't see anyone but they have to be somewhere."
She could see he agreed. He handed her the card back and put a hand on Mokuba's shoulder before moving his brother carefully behind her. She understood at once he was asking her to protect him and nodded to him, but not liking at all what was about to happen. He was going to go check to see where the men were. He met her eyes, his gaze unwavering, before he opened the door and stepped out, clearly ready to meet their kidnappers. Mokuba let out a frustrated breath and shifted his weight back and forth unhappily behind her. The others were starting to gather, noticing she and Mokuba were watching the door anxiously and Kaiba was gone, and slowly the chatter died down.
After what felt like a small eternity Seto reappeared, opening the door fully. Relief washed over her when he came back in the same condition he left in. "No one else is here. At least not on this floor."
She shifted out of the room as Seto put a firm hand on Mokuba and got them out of the way as the rest of the teens piled out of the celled hallway. Joey was complaining loudly and the rest of the boys were grumbling. Tea looked terrified but determined not to say anything as Mia seethed over what happened. Serenity was now clinging to Tristan as her brother ranted. Her eyes darted around and she snapped at Joey, knowing his hotheadedness and impulsivity could easily get them back in the cells. "Joey, would you shut up? You're going to get us caught if they hear you."
He looked ready to yell at her then his eyes zeroed in on his sister. She realized he must be pretty close to her when he stopped yelling and he clenched his jaw shut. "Fine."
She nodded and noticed that Seto, Duke, and Yugi were all moving toward a staircase to their left. When they got to the base of it and Seto started up Duke spoke. "I'll go with you to check."
Seto ignored him as he made a sharp motion toward her to stay put when she took a step to follow. She stopped, frustrated, but also knowing she didn't know how to fight at all. The logical part of her told her that she would only get in the way if they ran into those men, which they inevitably would, and Seto meant to prevent that. Duke looked irritated but not surprised by Kaiba's behavior while Yugi was simply frowning up to the next floor. For his part he didn't bother to ask Kaiba's permission, only followed after both of the taller men as they disappeared.
They were all gone for a long time. For the first ten minutes they all stood in the dimly lit hallway in various states of anxiousness. Mokuba had his arms crossed, looking angry that he had been left behind and also extremely worried. She could fully sympathize with all of that and leaned against the wall beside him, rubbing her hand over her arm as she glanced between him and the staircase. Mia began tapping her foot and reached over to pat the redhead. "It's alright, sweetie." She assured her. "I won't let anything happen."
The younger girl nodded, believing her, and she figured the two of them must know one another fairly well since Mia was dating Joey. "Don't sweat it, Serenity." Joey told her. "We'll be out of here in no time, you'll see."
"We might want to work out where we are first." Bakura suggested calmly. "Does anyone remember anything about getting here?"
"I was auditioning in New York." Tea told them quietly, rubbing at her head. "Juliart has some open spots next semester."
She frowned at that. New York was much more than a stone's throw away from Domino. Bakura wasn't settled by that news either. "I was in London visiting my uncle."
Mia pressed her lips together. "I just finished with a tournament in Shanghai."
"Me, Yug, and Tristan were headed home from Seoul. We were at a conference picking up some rare merchandise for the shop."
"I was in my apartment in Domino." She supplied.
"Seto and I were at the mansion." Mokuba said, anger in his voice. "They jumped us in the kitchen."
Serenity leaned into Tristan, who had his arm over her. "I was on a school trip to Tokyo. The last thing I remember I was in a museum looking at a painting." She took a breath and went on. "And they must have gotten Duke in San Francisco. He was meeting some new client."
Tristan sent her a sad look. "Aw, why do you know that?"
She and Bakura shared a look and he said exactly what she was thinking. "They got us from all over the world. Why go to all the trouble?"
As she was trying to work that out there was a s sudden ruckus above them. She heard shouting and then Tristan and Joey rushed up the stairs. She caught Mokuba with both arms before he could follow, because he had been ready to run too and held to him tightly. "Seto would kill me!" She told him hurriedly, because she was sure if he wanted to he could escape her. "Please, just wait a second and we'll both go."
Mokuba let out a growl of utter frustration but stopped pulling at her. Thankfully, she didn't have to live up to her promise because Duke appeared within a few moments. He hooked his thumb up. "It's clear, no thanks to tweedledum and tweedledumer."
Mokuba raced ahead of her and she followed quickly after with the rest of the group. The old set of stairs led up to an equally old room that was sparsely furnished. There was a rickety looking table that had a few cups and a dirty plate on it and three chairs scattered about. In one corner was the only modern thing she could see, a refrigerator that looked like it was hooked up to a small generator. Moving through that room they came into a much larger one where everyone appeared to be. Well, she supposed at one point it had been a room, but now one wall and part of the ceiling was gone and the large opening looked out onto a vast, dark sea of sand dunes. She blinked, having not expected that in the slightest, and set her surprise aside to assess what else was happening as Mia came out behind her and saw what she had. "Oh, what in god's name is this?"
On the floor were the four men she had seen, all knocked out cold. Yugi and Tristan were tying two up as Joey dragged one closer so he too could be secured. "How convenient there are cells downstairs." Duke remarked as he sauntered back in behind all of them. "I really think those suits will look great behind the vertical bars."
Spotting something odd on the one Joey just flipped over she took a step forward and frowned. The man had a nasty, jagged, scar across his eye, which was clearly no longer in the socket. Her eyes flew over his face and she knew this was the same man that had been after Mokuba, the same one she had hit with a bottle. As she staring at him Seto walked out of another room at the far side of the large open one they were in and saw her all but gaping at him. He came over to her and sent the man a single glance. "What's is it?"
"He was one of the one's chasing Mokuba that day. When we ended up at the game shop." She looked over at the other three men and pointed to one. "I think he might have been there too, but the one with the scar definitely was."
Seto said nothing to that, but did comment on something else. "They have a primitive security system, but nothing that would let us contact anyone. No radios and no phones. There's no way for me to contact anyone."
Yugi had gotten up and was gazing out at the desert, clearly listening. "How did they get us here? Do you see any tire tracks?"
For once Seto didn't seem completely appalled by Yugi speaking. Instead he appeared to be thinking the same thing. "I think it was a helicopter." Joey said. "I thought I was dreaming, but I was the first one awake. Maybe that was real."
"That would make sense." Tea said. "But it's not here now. What should we do?"
"We can't stay here." Bakura said. "Even if we have them in cells someone had to have dropped us all off. They'll be back eventually."
She sent a glance at the desert. "So we should what? Go out there?" She pointed toward the desolate expanse. "It's the middle of the night and already hot, what do you think it's going to be like once the sun comes up? We'll be dead by this time tomorrow. We have no supplies, no gear, and no sunscreen. Not to mention we have no idea where we are or what direction to walk in."
"There is some food and quite a bit of water in the other room." Duke said, walking back out of it. "It would probably last us a few days."
This was a horrible plan and it appeared that the group was suddenly split in half. "I'm with Sarah." Mia said. "We'd be better off waiting here."
Bakura shook his head. "Anyone that comes could easily kill us."
"And are we going to talk about what judging means?" Tristan asked. "Because that doesn't sound good."
"If they have a helicopter, and they likely do, they'd be able to spot us from the air even if we do leave." Yugi pointed out.
Seto looked between her and Mokuba and she saw him calculating their odds of survival. He spoke directly to her, ignoring the discussion around them. "Our odds of living through this are slim no matter what we do. I'd rather not stay here and wait to die."
She realized this was his way of not only recognizing her very real concern, but also telling her that he would stay here with her if that was her choice, even if that wasn't what he would decide to do. She stared up at him, feeling helpless as there was no good option. There was no way to make an informed decision, because there was nothing to base it off of except their individual instincts and the barest amount of details. Seeing that she and Seto were feeling opposite things, and neither of them had a real logical stance to get behind, which she felt would have swayed either party if they did, she turned her attention to Mokuba. "What do you want to do, Mokuba?"
Seto nodded in approval of her resolution to their debate. It was obvious he too recognized the problem and agreed that Mokuba could decide. His brother reached up and scratched the back of his head as he tried to pick. "I guess we should go." He said after a moment. "I hate just sitting around."
Seto reacted as soon as his brother spoke. "We need to gather up anything that we can use. We need to leave soon and get as far from here as we can while the sun is down. We'll need to rest during the day to avoid dehydration."
"Not all of us think walking into the desert is a great idea, Kaiba." Joey pointed out.
"Have I ever cared what you do, mutt?" Seto asked. "Me and mine are leaving. If you want to tag along I suggest you get yourself ready." With that he went to the nearest of their kidnappers and hauled him up with a muffled grunt, heading back toward the stairs to throw him in a cell. She went into the kitchen and started gathering up supplies as Mokuba went into the security room to see what he could salvage. In the large room she heard a heated debate start and wondered what the others were going to decide. Either way she didn't see this ending well and still wasn't sure what to make of any of this. She wondered if she would ever find out why they were all brought here, or if she would be dead before she did. Either way, she supposed at least she would be with Seto and Mokuba, and that was something. Then again, if they died with her she would be even more upset. After all, they were all she had.