Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Nor do I own Batman. I just noticed that Kaiba is a lot like Bruce Wayne, and decided to run with this story. So sue me (on second thought please don't)!
Author's Note: I just re-read all the comments on this story… and I feel uber pumped now for some reason. I just hope it keeps going ;P Oh, and Mana returns in this chappie! (I love her so much) Plus, slight!Yami x Mana
Anyway, here's the 15th chapter of Dual to the Death.
The slender shadow leaped and spun past the lighted basement window. Inside, the basement had been outfitted as a small gymnasium. A young woman in a leaf-green leotard practiced her routine on a balance beam in the center of the matted floor, while lively strains of Mozart issued from a portable cassette player. A set of uneven parallel bars stood to one side. The young woman was barefoot and her medium-length, blond hair was tied up in a bun at the nape of her neck. As she executed the last of a flawless trio of cartwheels on the narrow beam, she spoke to the purple-haired man who stood at the foot of the basement stairs, watching her in open admiration.
"Y'know, Dad, if you and Yami keep nailing bad guys like this" - she slid smoothly into a back walkover - "people are gonna start thinking you two are Batman and Robin." She concluded with a back tuck that brought her an inch away from the end beam.
"What can I say?" Commissioner Mahado Gordon moved to his daughter's side and lifted a hand to help her down. "Yami is a godsend - whoa!" He ducked as Mana did a front tuck neatly over his head, landing behind him with a mischievous smile on her attractive face. She did a last cartwheel to the cassette player and switched off the music.
Shaking his head, Mahado handed his daughter a towel.
"Thanks." Mana wiped the perspiration from her face, then grabbed a pair of worn gray sweatpants from the banister. She draped them around her neck as the two started up the stairs. "And you know," the commissioner stated, "he's not bad looking, either…"
"Really?" Mana said, her face expressing exaggerated puzzlement. "Hmmm, I don't think I've ever noticed."
Her father snorted and swatted her lightly with the towel. "All right, all right," he said. "None of my business…"
"Honestly, Dad. I finally get you to stop treating me like a kid and now you're trying to marry me off. It was like only one dinner." Mana held the door for her father at the top of the stairs. The two went into the living room, where the commissioner switched on a table lamp by the sofa while his daughter collapsed into an easy chair.
"Hey, don't think I didn't see the two of you at that fund-raiser last week. You were thick as thieves," Mahado said. "You know, you could do much worse. Yami's got a great future ahead of him with the department."
The doorbell rang before Mana could reply, and Mahado headed to answer it. When he opened the door, deputy commissioner Yami Mason was standing on the front steps.
"Yami!" Mahado gave his deputy a big smile. "Speak of the devil - we were just talking about you." He stepped back from the doorway. "Come in! Come in!"
Two uniformed officers stood on the steps behind Yami. They followed him reluctantly as he entered the hallway.
Mana had slipped into her sweatpants. She looked up as she tied the drawstring. "Hey, Yami. Excuse the evening wear. What's up?"
"A business call, by the looks of it." Mahado looked back and forth from Yami to the two officers. "What is it, Yami? Another tip on a case from our mysterious informant?"
Yami stood in the living room doorway, his eyes downcast. He ran his fingers through his tri-colored hair. "Believe me, Mahado, I don't want to be here." He took a deep breath. "But I thought it would be best coming from me."
"What would?" Mahado was baffled. "What's wrong?"
Yami squared his shoulders and reached inside his coat. He unfolded an official-looking document and cleared his throat. "Mahado Gordon, I have a warrant for your arrest."
The two officers moved quietly to stand on either side of the bewildered commissioner.
"This is a joke, right? Yami?" As the commissioner studied his deputy's downcast face. Mana slid between the nearest officer and her father. She slipped her hand into her father's and squeezed. "What are the charges?" she asked Yami calmly.
He looked across the room to the curtained windows, avoiding her gaze. "Accepting bribes," he said softly.
"What!" Mahado took an angry step toward Yami. The officers restrained him gently. "Yami, you can't be serious!"
Mana marched up to Yami, who held the warrant out to her. She snatched it angrily from his hand and snapped it open.
"The department has reason to believe you've been taking money from Rupert Dartz, Mahado," Yami said while Mana read the document. "For years. They see this release as one more example that he's got you in his pocket."
"Dad has never taken a bribe in his life!" Mana hurled the warrant to the carpet, her voice trembling with outrage. Yami bent stiffly and retrieved it, returning it slowly to his coat pocket. He turned to the commissioner. "I'm sorry, sir." He cleared his throat again. "You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right, anything you say-"
Mahado raised his hand. "I know my right, Yami." Stonefaced, he allowed the officers to snap handcuffs on his wrists and lead him out of the house. A mob of reporters converged on them as they headed for the squad car. Flashbulbs exploded like bursts of gunfire.
"Dad!" Mana stood on the porch, an anguished look on her face.
Mahado paused at the door of his squad car and looked back at his daughter. "Don't worry, Mana," he called to her. "It's all a mistake - you'll see." An officer guided him into the car and shut the door.
Yami had lingered by the steps. "I'm sorry, Mana." He gave a helpless shrug. "I really am." As he walked to the squad car the reporters turned their attention to Mana. She flinched under the snapping flashbulbs and shrank back into the house as the car bearing her father pulled away.
~*(KC)*~
Seto Kaiba lowered himself carefully into his seat at the head of the long table in the Kaiba Manor dining room. Beneath his silk bathrobe, his ribs were confined by a tight layer of white, surgical tape. Seto winced slightly as he reached for a tall glass of grapefruit juice. He took a long sip of the tart liquid and unfolded his morning newspaper.
"What?" He set his glass heavily on the tablecloth and stared incredulously at the front page. The huge photo of Police Commissioner Mahado Gordon being led away beneath a banner headline: COMMISSIONER MAHADO ARRESTED.
Seto scanned the accompanying story, then crumpled the paper and flung it down the larg table, narrowly missing an elegant flower arrangement. "We'll see about this!" he declared, charging out of the cavernous room past Roland.
"Do watch those ribs, sir," the butler said somberly. "We only have one roll of tape left."
~*(KC)*~
The ancient floorboard creaked and complained as Mana Gordon walked rapidly down the long main hallway of the Domino City courthouse. Several paces ahead of her was a woman with a bulging briefcase and no-nonsense expression on her suntanned face.
"But you're the DA, Ishizu! You've worked with my father! Ishizu-" District Attorney Ishizu Ishtar had a short temper and rather long legs. Mana found herself hurrying to keep up with the older woman. "Surely there must be something you can-"
"The evidence is solid, Mana." The DA swung around to stare sternly at the younger woman. "Money deposited to your father's name in laundered accounts, witnesses who swear they saw him take bribes-"
"That's not sufficient cause to deny him bail!"
"True," Ishizu conceded. "But we also found deposit receipts for a South American bank, and a plane ticket to Rio de Janeiro - a one-way plane ticket. The older woman shrugged. "We have no choice but to consider him a flight risk."
"This is crazy!" Mana fought to control her voice, conscious of the curious stares of passerby. "My father would never-"
"Mana." Ishizu's tone was icy. "Maybe you don't know your father as well as you think you do." She glanced at her wristwatch and looked down the hall. "Maybe none of us do. And now you'll have to excuse me. I'm du in court."
Mana stood with her hands clenched at her sides and watched the district attorney retreat down the long corridor. She remembered seeing a movie once where a man had punched a hold in the wall with his fist. For the first time, she could almost understand that sort of behavior.
"Hey, kid." The voice at her back was gruff and familiar. "Don'tcha believe her." Mana turned to see Detective Tristan Taylor standing behind her. The unkempt policeman was wearing his usual stained and tattered trench coat, and a well-chewed toothpick protruded from the corner of his mouth. "Your pop's the best there is." He lifted his unshaven chin and spat the fragment of wood in the direction of the DA. "The department knows that, even if the DA's office don't - and that's why the department's puttin' on a rally for 'im tomorrow night."
"A rally?" Mana's mood brightened. "That's a wonderful idea!"
"Yeah." Tristan looked off to the side. "Wish I could say it was mine?"
Mana turned to follow the detective's gaze and saw Yami Mason standing in the doorway of a nearby office. The young man walked hesitantly out into the corridor. "Just because I have a job to do doesn't mean I'm not a hundred percent on Mahado's side - and yours." He reached for her hands and gazed earnestly into her eyes. "I'm going to see your dad gets all the public support we can muster."
Tristan inserted a fresh toothpick between his teeth. "All the top cops'll be there, includin' yours truly," he said. "So don't worry your pretty little head. It should be quite a show."
"I'm sure it will be…" Mana looked off in sudden inspiration. "And I know someone who'd be quite a showstopper - if I can get him." She looked at the two men with a determined glint in her eye. "Gentlemen, this is the first time all morning that I've felt better than miserable - and I have you to thank for it. How about an early lunch on me?" She linked arms with the two and led them off down the corridor.
Author's Note: Uh, oh! What does Mana have planned? Lol The story should start picking up from here and Yugi will be here in another couple chapters. *bouncing with excitement* I just can't wait!
~*(Cazuuki)*~