You Just Lost the Game

It was still dark when Kaiba started awake, sharp blue eyes wide open. He was fully aware of everything around him and the Shadows dancing the corners of his senses. A Shadow Game had just begun. Kaiba leapt up and pulled on his dark long sleeved shirt and black pants before grabbing his long purple trench coat. He was pulling on his shoes when his gun appeared in front of his face. He looked up to see Fuguta, unflappable as ever, holding the .9 mil gun with an attached silencer and took it with a nod of thanks.

He snatched his phone from its charger pad and double checked to be sure he had everything. When he was absolutely sure, he turned back to his bodyguard. "If you don't heard from me within four hours, call the Pharaoh."

Fuguta nodded, his eyebrows pinched forward in the only outward sign of worry. Satisfied, Kaiba felt reached out to the Shadows which readily responded to him. They gathered, swirling up around him until they devoured him and he floated in a sea of writhing Shadows. He felt through the Shadow Paths of Starling City for the largest and most active cluster of Shadows and pulled it to him.

When next he opened his eyes, he was standing on the rooftop of a high rise. The Shadows were focused here and he could feel the intense writhing of Shadows that did not belong in this city and were not /his/ swirl just a few building over from him. The interference from the other Shadow user's Shadows had kept him from appearing at the exact location. That meant the user was strong and trained.

Fantastic. A trained, murderous Shadow user. Just what he needed.

Kaiba scanned the distance between the building he stood on and the others around him looking for the most direct route to the Shadow Game. He only had so much time. He had to stop the Game before it could reach its completion if he wanted to save anyone.

Decided, the brunette, took several steps back before running to the edge of the building and using his momentum to leap over the gap. One of the good things about having long legs and being taller than the average Asian was the ability to run and jump farther and faster than the average Asian. He used his Shadows to keep a steady lock on the Game so he never lost his way or got turned around by detours.

He finally came to a skidding stop when he felt the focal point of the Shadows shift from in front of him to directly below him. He scanned the gravel rooftop for a door of some kind. It was not obvious, but the light reflected slightly different from the rest of the rooftop in one particular place. He hurried over and knelt down to see a trapdoor. Naturally, it was locked from the inside.

He could pick locks, but that would take time which he did not have. Thinking quickly, Kaiba ran to the building's edge and leaned over to see a window. Good, he could work with that. He sat back to pull out his gun and fired a single bullet at the window. The glass shattered and Kaiba replaced his gun before climbing over the edge and lowering himself to the window ledge, bracing himself on the sides. He hopped into the interior of the building to find it a cluttered office.

Ignoring his surrounding, Kaiba homed in on the Shadows' focal point. He had to run down a few flights of stairs before he felt the focal point come even with him. Cautiously, he leaned against the wall of the stairwell and pushed the fire-door to this floor open. He glanced through the crack and saw nothing in the immediate vicinity.

Carefully, he slipped through the crack, easing the door closed behind him before slipping into the shadows. He felt his own Shadows rise and swirl around him. Apparently, the user had not expected anyone to breach the initial ring defense and thus left the area behind that ring accessible to Shadows. Not that Kaiba was complaining.

He took advantage of the user's slip and faded into his own Shadows' embrace, slithering through the walls and shadows, tracking down the Game. This floor was empty and abandoned. The business that once occupied this floor must have moved or been foreclosed on. It made it much easier to spot the Shadow Game.

There, in the corner were the room's only other occupants. Two women, one blonde and the other a redhead, and a man. Their voices gave them away before Kaiba saw them. One of the women, the blonde was obviously angry about something. The man was standing so his body separated the redhead from the blonde aggressor. His hands were raised in a beseeching manner but the blonde was having none of it.

That's when Kaiba noticed the black sludge-like ropes holding up the redhead like a demented spider web. So that was the game's manifestation. But how was the man involved? He moved closer focusing his Shadows on the Game players, being careful not to touch the user's Shadows lest he alert them to his presence. He could hear the conversation clearly now and was surprised to find it was a silly lovers' spat.

A Shadow Game started over a fiancè, no husband, seeing another woman. No, the redhead was the fiancè and the blonde thought the redhead was not good enough and believed she should be the man's wife. Women, always so complicated. But that threw Kaiba for a loop. Shadow Games were never played over a simple fight like this that he knew of. And something about the blonde Game Master felt off. The Shadows did not swirl around her like they would if she was their mistress. It was more... They tolerated her.

So then she was not the /true/ master but the puppet. That would explain a pathetic reason for a Shadow Game. The woman may have had a weak latent talent for but Shadow magic that had never been tapped and therefore been left dormant. Someone must have seen that dormant talent and seeded it with their Shadows. The sudden influx of Shadow magic must have driven her to insanity leading to this Shadow Game.

It was a deliberate set up. But for what? Why go to all the trouble of forcing someone else to play a Shadow Game? All it would do was attract unwanted attention. Unless the attention was wanted. If numerous Shadow Games were played in one area the Shadow Court would send someone to investigate. Normally, that person was the King and, by extension, the Pharaoh, or whoever was nearest.

But this time Kaiba had come. Had the Regent just walked into a plot to kill or capture the leader of the Shadow Court?

His racing thoughts and heightened anxiety were cut off abruptly by a scream that was silenced too quickly to be natural. Damn, he had let himself get distracted. He narrowed his eyes and focused his mind on the problem at hand, dispelling the now fully functioning Shadow Game. He was so focused, he never noticed the living shadow detach itself from a wall nearby and hide behind a nearby column.

Instead, Kaiba forced his Shadows to cover his body with a film that shaded him from lights and human eyes so no one could see his features. Unless direct light shone on him, he would remain a shadow, the Regent of the Shadow Realm and Shadow Kingdom. He took a calming breath, and stepped away from the column resuming his physical form, surrounded by his wild Shadows. Blue eyes left free of Shadows, focused on the scene in front of him.

Where once the three stupid humans stood, a dome of purple and black darkness whirled, wild and without purpose. This Game was not summoned by a master or anyone even remotely familiar with Shadows. If he did no stop this Game now, the Game starter would lose their soul as would the others if they were lucky. He reached out a hand and brushed his fingers against the Shadows, making contact with the other user's Shadows for the first time. They responded to him readily, as if they were already familiar with his unique Shadow signature. They acknowledged him as someone much more powerful than their current temporary summoner. They wanted him to command them, not that stupid woman.

Who was he to deny them?

Kaiba stepped directly into the dome, passing through it easily. He appeared behind the blonde woman and saw the monster Ammit holding the red haired woman in its arms. This had gone on long enough.

The man was trying hard to pull his companion free of the monster's grip. He turned to face his blonde captor to plead for his lover's release But stopped when he saw a Shadow standing behind her. All the man could see was a mass of shadows in the vague shape of a human with glittering blue for eyes suddenly appear from the darkness behind the crazy blonde. Considering the other things he had been forced to endure tonight, including the behemoth purple crocodile monster holding his fiancé captive, he was not about to put a crazy shadow monster out of the realm of reality. He still screamed like baby.

The woman whirled surprised by the change of focus from her monster to something behind her and finally saw the human Shadow. Her confidence from moments before faded, replaced by shock and fear. Kaiba merely lifted a hand, pulling the Shadows up with him, mimicking his movements. He swiped his hand to the right and the Shadows obediently tossed the blonde aside.

He stepped forward and said aloud in commanding hieratic that demanded obedience, "Hear me Shadows, I am your Regent and you will obey me." The Shadows seemed to calm their frantic racing and swirling and shrank towards him. Even Ammit in all its monstrous glory bowed its head to him. "You will release the mortals and return to the Shadow Realm. I hereby dispel this Shadow Game. This is the word of Kaiba Seto, formerly Seth, High Priest of Egypt, and current reigning Regent of the Shadow Realm and the Earthbound Shadow Kingdom. Begone!"

The Shadows raged and whirled, ripping Ammit into nothing but colors that faded away into the darkness. The Shadows that had been forced into forming the dome broke free of their bindings and fled back to the Realm where they truly belonged through the only permanent link they had at their disposal: their Regent.

Kaiba Seto felt the Shadows rush into him, filling him to the brim then flowing out back to the Shadow Realm. He never noticed his eyes close, his head fall back, or his hands raise to even with his waist in acceptance. He was too focused on maintaining a firm hold on his consciousness and soul as the dizzying euphoria flooded his senses. He could not lose himself to it or he risked losing his consciousness or his soul to the tide. He had no recollection of how long it lasted, only that it felt debatably better than he imagined sex to be.

He knew it was over only when his body took a huge convulsive breath in. He staggered slightly at the loss of the extreme emotions. It felt much like the shaky aftereffects of an adrenaline rush. He blinked and looked down at his feet where the redheaded woman lay sprawled in the man's arms. The man quaked and cradled the woman close, protecting her as best he could in his position with his body.

"Does she live?" he asked, the lingering Shadows wisping around him. The man only clutched the woman tighter. Kaiba stepped forward, kneeling before the couple, and placed two fingers against the woman's throat. He felt the faintest pulse. Two fingers against her lips revealed a shallow flow of air, and when he placed a hand on her forehead and felt for soul, he found it. It was weak and fluttering from abuse, but she would recover, possibly with a latent ability to touch the Shadows. But the chances of that ability blossoming into a gift were slim.

Satisfied, Kaiba looked over to the quivering blonde currently crawling across the floor in a pathetic attempt to escape. He had more important business to attend to, punishing the Game Master. Kaiba stood and caught up to her with three long strides. He caught a handful of her blonde curls and yanked her up so she hung in front of him. Her hands scrabbled at his fist trying to free herself.

"You stand accused of initiating an unsanctioned Shadow Game with the intention of harming and/or killing another human being," he said in hieretic. "You will be judged as such." He called upon his Shadows and activated his own Shadow Game. "Game start."

He waited until the familiar dome rose around them before tossing the woman back. She was caught by Ammit who rose from the coalescing Shadows at Kaiba's feet. The monster held the former Game Master's arms out on either side of her body, preventing her from struggling. Kaiba patiently, held up his right hand and summoned the familiar golden Millennium Scales emblazoned with the Eye of Ra into being before him. The pan on his left was empty and the pan on his right held a single, small, white feather.

"Hear me stupid woman," Kaiba intoned in English, "I will ask you three questions and you will answer. If the pan with the feather of Ma'at touches the base, you will be freed. If not," blue eyes narrowed, "then you will face the Penalty Game. My first question," he continued despite the pathetic pleas. "Did you or did you not activate the Shadow Game involving that man and woman with the intention of harming and/or killing them?"

"No! No, please, I swear. It was an accident."

The metal clinked but Kaiba ignored it. "My next question: was the ability to use Shadows your own or were they given to you?"

"Wh-wha? You mean the darkness? The...he said it was safe. He said I could use it."

"Answer the question," Kaiba commanded.

"He said it was mine. It belongs to me!" she screamed.

So the powerful unknown Shadow user behind this mess was a man. That limited the pool of suspects to only half the Earth's population. Promising. The metal clinked again.

"My last question: was it worth it?"

"What?"

"Was it worth it? All of this. Throwing your own soul away just to get even with someone you could easily have dealt with with non-magical, non-lethal means. Was it worth it?"

"...y...y...no...no...no please. Please!"

The metal clanged and this time Kaiba glanced at the expected result. The empty pan rested on the bottom of the scales with the pan bearing the feather dangling high above the other.

"You have been judged and found guilty of the crimes for which you are accused," he said in hieratic. "And now you will face the punishment." He held up his right hand and a gold rod emblazoned with the Eye of Ra and wicked looking blades on either side of the round top materialized in his hand. He raised the familiar tool and said clearly, powering all of his power into the words, "Penalty Game! Experience the fear, the agony, and the deaths of your would-be victims until your heart and soul truly repent of your sins."

A thin gold beam blasted from the Regent's Rod to the woman's forehead briefly forming a glowing eye before vanishing. Ammit returned to the shadowy pit and the woman collapsed to her knees, eyes vacant and mind lost in the beginnings of the Penalty Game. Finished, Kaiba dismissed the Millennium Scales and the Millennium Rod before dispelling the Shadow Game. This time, the rush was not as extreme or intense. It still left him dazed with power and shaking minutely from the rush but it was nothing a good night's sleep would not cure.

That's when he heard the creak of a bow and his eyes whipped to the side catching the glint of moonlight on the metal tip of a wicked arrowhead. His eyes instinctively followed the arrow shaft back to see the person holding the weapon. Arrow. He mentally cursed when he saw the other two Justice League members behind Arrow; the Martian kneeling by the terrified humans and Flash watching him warily. How could he let himself get so distracted that he missed their entrance? And more importantly, how did they know he was here?

"Move and I shoot," Arrow said, voice contorted by the electronic voice changer.

Kaiba narrowed his eyes and turned to face Arrow fully. This could be his chance to test out the League's abilities and how they meshed with Shadow magic. Just then, the blonde woman screamed as the Penalty Game began. Kaiba smirked at used the distraction to vanish in a whirl of Shadows, reappearing by the stairwell. He waited for Arrow and the League members to notice his change in location before bolting up the stairs, the others not far behind.

He vanished again reappearing on the roof only for the Martian to float up through the roof, solidifying in front of him. Now there was an interesting ability. The two watched each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.

"We finally meet," the Martian said, voice calm and even with no inflections whatsoever.

"You're the telepath then," Kaiba said.

The Martian nodded. "My name is J'onn Jonzz. We are not your enemy."

Kaiba smirked. "Maybe not. But you have to admit, this is fun."

He vanished when he felt Arrow arrive on the rooftop and fire at his back, reforming nearby so he could keep both League members in his vision. He felt Flash arrive behind him and try to sneak up on the him. As if the Shadows would let their Regent get caught so easily. Kaiba whirled, grabbed Flash's neck and slammed him to the ground before running across the rooftop in a reckless game of chase.

The Shadows informed him of each League member's movements, keeping him aware of his surroundings as he ran. He felt Flash come up alongside him, matching his speed easily and Kaiba deliberately stepped sideways and fell off the building's ledge to land on a lower level below. He snorted watching Flash streak past, unable to change direction as fast.

Kaiba ducked an arrow and changed his direction so he ran parallel to the vigilante. He could not see the Martian but he could feel him through the Shadows. Then his vision was blinded by feathers and he stopped, flailing in surprised. He caught sight of long hair and a feathered mask and cursed his luck. Hawkgirl was here. He had not counted on that and the Shadows had not warned him of her presence. So Shadows could not sense airborne non-users or non-potential users. Good to know.

The avian woman raised her mace and Kaiba had no choice but to call forth a Spell card. He brushed his Deck and called forth his chosen Spell. "Ring of Defense!"

Instantly, a spinning ring with four leaf shaped metal flaps materialized between Kaiba and Hawkgirl taking her attack and bouncing her back. Unfortunately, the distraction served its purpose. He never saw the person behind him until something pierced his chest causing his body to arch and contort in agony. He choked on a scream, eyes wide with shocked anguish. All they saw was a brief flash of sea green then the sensation of falling followed by nothing.