Ready?

You could never imagine a more unholy gang, thieves of the lowest kinds, pirates, gamblers, vagabonds, men that would slit your throat and stick a knife in you without flinching. Women whose sole purpose was to lull you into a sense of security, then bleed you dry. And among these criminals were three boys and a girl with purple hair and bright yellow eyes.

The stood slightly apart from the larger group of Mongrels, Marik himself was staring listlessly at the crowd of people, who were at the moment in a disorganized mess, people talking to each other and greeting old friends, and of course there was yelling and rough housing, things not really uncommon with this bunch.

They were in an underground base, it was built some years ago, when monarchies were fading and cars stayed mainly on the ground. It was fairly complex, with secret rooms and hidden passage ways. In order to get where you wanted to go, you had to know which sewage led where, what pipe handle to turn and which room didn't kill you. The place was run by the Bone Crusher gang. Their leader was Pandora; he pretty much controlled the doors entrances and traps with an interesting combination of dark magic and technology. Back when the place was getting settles he asked B to help him with the tech part. But considering they type of person she was now: cautious and reserved, she politely declined.

"Settle down you scum bags!" roared Murdock. He was the brawny type, with scars covering his body and muscles bulging out his shirt. The room went silent in 2 seconds. All eyes turned to Pandora's second in command. He smirked triumphantly. "Alright," he snarled "We're still in planning I want all the Airship pirates over there," he said pointing to the half open door on the right. "Technicians over there…"

"Hey B," Marik whispered in his friends ear, as Murdock went on in the background. "Thanks for coming." She ignored him and kept her eyes on tanned brute. Marik frowned and turned back towards the man. "I'm still not helping." She hissed, still looking forward. Marik grinned knowing full well she'd probably end up leading the thing. After begging and shouting and a whole lot of commotion that included pans flying, she agreed to at least come and see what was going down, just being there wasn't so bad was it?

Though as much as they fixed up the place, it was still a den of thieves and still a mess. As Murdock herded the people into semi-fixed groups, dust and dirt flew every where giving a musty feel to the underground headquarters. It also didn't help that it was, well underground even though there were airshafts, it was still pretty stuffy in the large odd square room.

"Thieves!" Murdock roared, "Over there!" He pointed to the far right room, and Marik looked up, a smirk on his face. "See ya B." He grabbed the Ryou's arm and hurried over to the room. Yugi sighed and moved into the space where the other two were. "I have a feeling I'll be creating some sort of diversion." He mumbled.

As though he heard his exact words Murdock swiveled over and pointed to Yugi. "Hey you, small child! Get over here, you'd make a good diversion!" he grinned. Yugi sighed. "Told ya." He mumbled walking towards him.

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The city was abuzz with news of the upcoming ball. Did you know that royalty will be there? Giggle. You mean the King's son?! Yes, yes and his cousins too! Maybe even Revlin. My my, she is beautiful. Whispered the citizens of Domininano, with growing excitement. The only things that ever happen there is crime and natural disasters. Apparently the cities honored guests seemed to agree with that too.

"Of all the places they could've had it." Seto said reclining on the fancy Victorian bed. It was HUGE and furnished with silk covers the color of blue skies of old. The designs were of an oriental nature and in pink red and yellow. "I have to agree." Revlin said softly. "It's not the cleanest of places." She was looking out the large windows that reached up to the ceiling. She sat on a red chair that was padded with cushions. Even though they were at the supposedly "clean" part of the city, evidence of its poverty was rampart. The streets though clear of debris was an off brown color, instead of the usual grey that cobble stones were. The river was also dark and murky, which pained the young Duchess; she guessed it must reek in the summer.

"Well maybe we should go exploring?" suggested Malik. The boy had a short attention span that could only be held, by women and imminent danger. Bakura's lips twisted a little, "He may have a point we should do something exciting. As much fun as Dartz's Manor may be, I'd rather be someplace else right now." The King's son who'd been playing some sort of game that involved cards against Bakura, smiled triumphantly as he placed a card with a strangely dressed man in magicians garb down. "Another win for me huh?" he laughed. Bakura snarled. "I agree with those two all these straight wins are boring me, how about some time out this stuffy old room eh?"

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The History of the city is thus: after the great dueling wars the three Egyptian gods had escaped the confines of the card reeked havoc upon the earth, those that could seek refuge did and those that were left to fend from them selves usually died. Countries choose sides, those that aligned with the gods, and those that chose to fight them. After a long century of terror, devastation, weapons, war and darkness the ancestors of our Royal heroes had sealed the terrors back into the card, locking the papers away from anyone that may use the cards with ill intention. Surprisingly not much is known about the original group that stopped the rouge monsters. There is currently a debate among the lower class as to whether or not the royalty could claim such ancestry, but who cares what anyone without money thought anyway?

Any who, the city was a slum. The water was simply disgusting, the only way to filter it were with Raynon Water Filters™, which were definitely more expensive that most could afford. Luckily evolution gave these street rats a tougher immune system that their previous homo sapiens. Schools were, well, what schools? If you were lucky enough to have a book then you were extremely lucky. Who had time to read when they needed to survive? As you can imagine most people's resources went to food, clothes, and trying to not catch some sort of super bug.

B was well aware of the city's past and present; she also had an inkling of the future: bad. The foursome was walking home from the meeting the heist would go down any day now. And guess what? She agreed to help organize it. Not surprisingly her best friend was right. She smiled. She'd known him all her life. She remembered when their roles were switched. He used to take care of her, and she would drive him crazy with her carelessness and general apathy towards safety. The times and changed them both, for better or for worse then.