A/N: Sorry I didn't upload this last night. I literally fell asleep while typing this. I got writer's block and forced myself to keep plugging but just zonked out. But I guess that was a good thing because when I looked at this chapter today, I was able to finish it and I feel pretty comfortable with it now. I'm putting the MLA formatted citation for one section this chapter at the end of this Author's Note. I used a section from an online article for this chapter. You can find the same article yourself, in fact I encourage it. It's very interesting. Anywho, you can find it and read it by following the character's Google searching in the order specified in the fic. Things are beginning to ramp up. Oh dear.

MLA Works Cited (parts were edited to remain visible despite this site's efforts to censor and remove "spam."):

Hill, J. Set (Seth). Ancient Egypt Online .uk .co. Ancient Egypt Online: 2010. Accessed 16 Oct. 2014. Web.

Secrets Hidden in Plain Sight

"Oliver," Walter said, taking in the tense atmosphere with an impressive level of calm.

Kaiba studied the man who would soon be his kohai's stepfather closely before sighing and gesturing for his bodyguards to stand down. He met Oliver's eyes sternly. "Your family, your decision," he said. Oliver nodded gratefully.

"Kaiba," the Pharaoh said warningly. Blue eyes glared at the Dark monarch until Yami shrugged. "Fine. On your head be it."

"Could someone explain what's going on here?" Walter asked still radiating calm despite the situation. "And who might you be?" he asked Yami specifically. "I don't remember letting you in the house."

Oliver hesitated, watching Kaiba and Yami before stepping towards his stepfather-to-be. "It's a long story and this probably isn't the best place for it," he said. "Too many ears." He raised an eyebrow at the slightly taller man significantly who did not react to the implied insult.

"Kaiba," Oliver said, still watching Walter. "Diggle and Felicity vouched for him and you promised your protection for them as my family."

"I did."

"And I told you I consider Walter and Thea my family, as well." He could not hear the response to know Kaiba nodded. Green eyes narrowed. "Then I want your protection to extend to them."

"What about Moira?" Walter asked, still confused but willing to be patient for the time being. He was a businessman, after all, and knew how to encourage a result that was mutually beneficial to all parties involved.

Kaiba nodded. "Done. But if they betray you or us, I won't hold back."

Walter did not like the sound of that or the way Oliver's eyes hardened.

"Understood," his future stepson said. Oliver stepped back from Walter and turned around to face the others in the room. "I'll text John and we can get something to eat."

Kaiba stared at his kohai blandly. "At a time like this, you think of food?"

Oliver shrugged. "Food is good."

"It is indeed," Yami said with a smile. "You know this city better than we do," he said. "Do you know a place that could handle an eclectic group like us this late at night?"

Oliver made a show of thinking, a cheeky grin spreading on his face. "I can think of a place, but I'll have to take you in the back way so you don't get carded."

"Oi!" Yami balked.

Kaiba snorted, resting a hand on Mokuba. "Fine by me."

"Yes," Walter said. "But that still leaves me out of the loop."

"Walter," Oliver said. "Trust me. Not here." Green eyes flickered to the hallway outside the living room indicating the chances of another person walking in on them. "I'll tell you everything, I promise. Just not here and not now."

"I'll call the driver then, shall I?" Walter said pulling out his cell phone.

"Don't bother," John Diggle said, walking in on the curious tableau without batting an eye. "Car or...?" he gestured vaguely to Kaiba. He blinked at Yami, noticing him for the first time. "You... Are you Yuugi's brother?"

"Brother?" Yami repeated, on the verge of laughing.

"Ra forbid," Kaiba groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose and fighting back an intense blush at the thought.

"They are not related," Mokuba said in his best, if heavily accented and somewhat stilted, English. "They are together."

John blinked. "I don't get paid enough for this."

"At least you get paid," Yami said, with a grin. Suddenly, he tensed eyes glazing over.

Kaiba noticed first and reached out with his Shadows, following where Yami's Shadows went. He felt Yuugi dimly through the King's raised shields. "He's shielding?" Kaiba muttered in confusion. A moment later, he blinked back to reality when he felt a surge in Yuug's Shadows. "He summoned Mahaad."

"Aibou!"

Kaiba reached out to his fellow monarch to snap him out of it. "No, Pharaoh wai- Kuso!" he cursed viciously when Yami vanished. "Bakayarou!" he snapped in furious Japanese.

Mokuba blinked up at him. "Ni-sama?"

"What in God's name?" Walter murmured, caught off guard when one of his admittedly unexpected guests vanished right before his eyes.

"What happened?" Oliver said, grabbing his wallet, and cell phone hurriedly anticipating a hasty departure.

"No time," Kaiba said. "Yuugi was attacked."

Oliver ran to foyer nearby to grab his and Kaiba's coats when he saw Thea coming down the stairs dressed to go out.

"Oliver?" she asked, confused by her brother's unusual behavior.

"Thea, do me a favor," Oliver called, hurrying back towards to the living room, "tell Mother I'll be going out tonight."

"Okay, and if she asks where?" Thea called back.

"The Verdant!"

"Verdant?" she said, heels clicking as she walked down the hallway after her brother.

Meanwhile, Kaiba pulled Mokuba closer making sure his little brother was holding onto him tightly. Then he grabbed Walter's arm forcing the man to focus on him. "Whatever you do, do not speak of this to anyone," he said firmly.

Blue eyes darted back to the living room doorway as his kohai reappeared tossing him his trench coat. He released his grip on Walter and swept his coat on, unhappy with the lingering dampness but willing to deal with it. He felt Oliver place a firm hand on his shoulder and grabbed Mokuba's hand again.

"What is going on here?" Walter demanded, confused by the rush.

Ignoring the man, Kaiba turned to Roland. "Take the car and pick us up from the location I send you," he said in rapid Japanese. "Fuguta, go with him."

"Hai, Kaiba-sama," Roland said, echoed by Fuguta. They both bowed and hurried out of the room to start warming up the car in preparation for the large group they were likely to pick up.

"Oliver?" Kaiba heard a young woman's voice call from the hallway. Damn, they could not afford to be delayed any more than they already were.

"I'll tell you later, I promise," Oliver said in answer to Walter's question. "Don't tell anyone. Please."

"Kohai!" Kaiba hissed.

Oliver yanked Diggle closer and Kaiba glanced down at Mokuba, assuring himself his brother and Keeper was with him before focusing on his Shadows. His Shadows welled around him, reveling in their Regent's essence. They caressed his soul like the lover his current incarnation never had. They snapped at him for cutting himself off from them, but forgave him because they understood his reasoning. They too desired to keep the balance.

Kaiba fought back the urge to revel in his Shadows, this had to be fast. He yanked himself back into control before drifting too deep into the Shadows' clutches and reached out with his Shadow senses, searching for the Pharaoh's strong presence and the King's weaker, shielded presence. Yuugi, it turned out, was too hard to focus on in a rush, due to his shielding, so he grabbed the Pharaoh's presence instead.

Kaiba's Shadows gripped him tight, snaking around the others linked to him, and enveloped them. His eyes rolled back in his head as they Traveled, fighting to maintain control of himself. Breaking his connection to the Shadows, while necessary, had been painful physically, mentally, and spiritually. Shadow Traveling so soon after renewing his connection may not have been one of his better ideas, but it certainly felt good. Too good, to much, too soon.

He was gasping when they reappeared in the real world, collapsing onto his hands and knees. The Shadows eased their influence on him but their affects remained, making him dizzy. It had definitely been the wrong decision to use so much power so soon after renewing his connection. He felt like an addict finally getting his fix after days without. He was losing himself to the intense feedback loop.

He distantly felt hands grab his shoulders and shake him, muffled voices calling his name, but it all felt fuzzy. Then two smaller hands cupped his face, lifting it so a blurred something filled his vision and two words rang through him, wrenching him back to reality.

"Ni-sama."

Straightaway, his sight began to clear, his harsh breathing eased, and his body calmed its violent shaking. When he finally felt in sufficient control of himself, he lclosed his eyes and eaned forward, pressing his forehead to Mokuba's.

"Thank you," he whispered softly in Japanese. Mokuba said nothing, just held his big brother close, waiting until Seto felt up to standing.

"Will he be alright?" a voice Kaiba recognized as Diggle's asked.

"I'm fine," he answered. "This..." he winced, staggering as he pulled away from Mokuba and stood. "I shouldn't have done that," he muttered in Japanese. "It was too fast."

"Hey, take it easy," Oliver said, instinctively reaching out to steady his Regent.

"I thought you were taking us to Yuugi," Diggle said looking around.

Kaiba blinked, forcing himself to focus and finally looked around. He muttered a curse when he realized he had dropped them short of the mark. He could feel his fellow monarchs' Shadows a few streets over. Apparently, Kaiba's survival instincts had activated, severing his control of his Shadows during the Travel and depositing them in a relatively safe location when he began loosing himself. If he had let himself fall any deeper under the Shadows' intoxicating influence, he probably would have been unable to guide the group safely. He could very likely have released them into a wall or some other horrible thing.

"That way," he said, dismissing his morbid thoughts and pointing to the lighted intersection a block away. "He's a street or so to the right." Kaiba began to move when he was pulled back by Oliver's grip on his arm.

"Hey, I said take it easy," the vigilante said.

"I'm fine."

"Bullshit," Diggle said.

"I have more important things to deal with then my balance," Kaiba said.

"Like what?"

"Like dealing the sick son of a bitch who's behind the recent series of Shadow-related deaths in this city," Kaiba said, already walking towards the intersection with Mokuba at his side. "I suggest you come with me unless you want to be left alone here." He was not in the mood to be talking. He had a bone to pick with the Pharaoh.

"Aibou!"

Yuugi jolted at the unexpected voice. He had just enough time to step out from Mahaad's protective stance and stutter, "M-mou hitori no boku?!" before he was wrapped in a crushing hug.

He did not move for several seconds before his mind recognized it was Yami holding him and he lifted his arms to cling to his other half. "I'm alright, Yami," he said, soothing the shaking Pharaoh. "I'm alright. Bu-"

:You were gone!: Yami said through their shared mind link. :I felt you get sick and then you shielded. From me! You shielded from me. Why wouldn't let me in? I only knew where you were because you summoned Mahaad.:

:I'm sorry,: Yuugi said, relaxing into the embrace and resting his head on Yami's shoulder. :It wasn't meant to block you.:

:Then why?: Yami pleaded, digging his fingers into his partner's back.

"The Shadow Thief," J'onn said, shocking the pair from their conversation. Both looked up at the Martian gliding down to join them on the sidewalk. "It's possible he was preventing you from suffering the negative affects from exposure to the creature."

Crimson eyes narrowed in disapproval while Yuugi stared at J'onn in surprise. It was Jounouchi, however, who spoke.

"Ya know, it's considered rude t' listen in on stuff that don't concern ya," he said to the alien.

"My apologies," J'onn said after a moment.

That snapped Yuugi back to the present. "Yami," he said, pulling his other half's eyes back to him, "he took Marik. I wasn't...I'm sorry. I wasn't fast enough."

"If anyone wasn't fast enough, it was me." The group turned to the Dark Magician kneeling submissively before his two masters, eyes downcast. "I failed to stop him and for that I sincerely apologize."

"You speak English?" J'onn asked curiously.

The summon turned to regard the alien with suspicion. "I am not of this Realm. Your languages are nothing to me. I speak whatever language my masters speak."

"Not yer fault, buddy," Jounouchi said, startling the magician with a heaty slap on the back. Eerie teal eyes lifted to meet Jounouchi's ochre. "I was right next to 'im and couldn't do anything. 'E was just too fast," Jounouchi said, pushing his hands into his pockets and slouched, his eyes burning with determination. "We'll get 'im back though, don' worry. Well," he added as an afterthought, "unless the crazy Thief gets to him first." He winced in a wave of sympathy for anyone unfortnate enough to suffer Bakura's and Ryou's combined wrath.

"How long do you idiots plan on standing in the middle of the sidewalk? You do realize you're attracting a crowd, right? Stupid lapdog."

"SHUT UP! I am not a dog, ya bastard!" Jounouchi yelled, waving a fist and advancing on the newly arrived Kaiba threateningly.

"Really? Could have fooled me with your constant yapping," Kaiba said cooly dismissing the ranting puppy to glare at the Pharaoh still holding Yuugi close.

"You, I will have a word with in private," he hissed in hieratic. Yami blinked in surprise at the dark tone.

"Why don't we stop the fireworks and go somewhere a bit less picturesque," Diggle said, stepping forward. "This is hardly the time or place for this."

"Who's 'at guy?" Jounouchi asked.

"Talk later, move now," Kaiba said, already walking. "Where's Marik?"

"I thought you said talk later?" Jounouchi snarked, earning him a particularly venomous glare.

"He got taken," Yuugi said, stepping out of the embrace as far as Yami would let him and joined the group as they walked.

Kaiba tensed, eyes darting to the King in surprise. "Taken?"

"I'll explain later."

Oliver bit back a sardonic grin. "We can go to my base and work from there," he suggested.

"Hotel's betta," Jounouchi countered. "Mai should be there soon."

Kaiba's shoulders visibly relaxed at that piece of news. "Good to know. Now," he gestured to Yuugi, "dismiss Mahaad and you," he turned to J'onn, "look human. We don't need any more odd looks."

With that, Kaiba turned a corner and began walking in the general direction of his hotel. Mokuba had not spoken throughout the exchange, choosing instead to grip Seto's free hand and keep a close watch on his big brother's state of power. Kaiba could feel his balance slowly beginning to stabilize after the fiasco that was Shadow Traveling. He still felt slightly light headed from the overload of sensations and the jet lag that insisted on lingering. It had been one hell of a long day, a nap and refueling from Yuugi's Mystical Elf had just not been good enough. And judging from the slightly haggard appearances of his companions, everyone else was on the same page.

"Kaiba," Oliver said. "I suggest we deal with this at my base. I can bring food down and we can update the others through my communications. If worst comes to worst, I can lay down mats for everyone to sleep on."

Kaiba eyed his kohai carefully. "You don't think the hotel would be best?"

Oliver glanced at their group. "Honestly, you're hotel room was cramped with eight people there. If the rest of the Justice League decides to show up, which I'm sure they will at some point, then that would be at least eleven people."

Kaiba glanced back at his following, pausing to count heads before turning back to the vigilante. He considered his kohai a moment. "That's not what this is about, is it?" he said, eyes darkening. "You want to bring Walter in on this and you're worried about causing a scandal if he was caught entering a local hotel alone at night." The subtle tightening of Oliver's lips was confirmation enough. "How far is the Verdant from here?" Kaiba asked.

"Walking? About twenty minutes," Oliver said.

Kaiba sighed and pulled out his phone. "I'll call Fuguta and Roland and have them drive Walter to the Verdant as well."

"Thank you," Oliver said gratefully.

Kaiba met green eyes with his own hard blue. "I stand by what I said: if he betrays us, I won't be merciful."

"I accept the responsibility," Oliver said seriously.

Kaiba turned away to speak to his bodyguards on the phone in Japanese leaving Mokuba to watch his brother in concern. Oliver could not help but feel sympathy for the younger brother. It must be hard having an older brother who not only ran a multimillion dollar corporation before turning twenty, commanded powers the likes of which Oliver and his fellows in the Justice League had never even heard of before, ruled as a Regent in a triumvirate of Shadow rulers, as well as who knows what else.

"You should be proud," he said, causing Mokuba to look at him. Oliver gazed down at dark gray eyes warmly. "He's a great young man."

Mokuba smiled. "Yeah, he is," he chirped happily in heavily accented English. "He is the best Ni-sama ever."

Oliver smiled in fond amusement.

"Has something changed?" he heard J'onn ask.

Oliver turned to address the rest of the group as a whole. "Kaiba's telling Fuguta and Roland to meet us at the Verdant."

"Who? And the what now?" Jounouchi asked in confusion.

"Kaiba's bodyguards," Oliver answered.

"You know their names?" Yami asked in surprise.

"You don't?" Oliver countered curiously.

Yami shook his head but it was Yuugi who answered. "We know the surname of the one who's been with Kaiba-kun the longest, but he never told us his first name."

"So what's this Verde thing?" Jounouchi asked.

"The Verdant," Oliver corrected. "It's my club. You said someone was coming in. Mai, right?"

"Right."

"If I give you the address, can you text her so she can meet us there?"

Jounouchi hesitated. "Dude, she's been ridin' all day and most o' last night. She needs t' crash b'fore anythin' else."

"I can offer her a place to sleep," Oliver pressed.

"Don't bother," Kaiba said, slipping his phone back in his pocket. "Change of plans. Walter already left with your mother for dinner." He ignored Oliver 's groan of annoyance. "I told my men to pick us up at the next intersection by the bus stop there," he said, nodding to the covered bench just down the street. "We'll head back to the hotel and deal with this in the morning."

"But Marik-" Yuugi argued.

"Is a criminal mastermind and can survive one night by himself, even without his powers," he said. "Besides, Mai will need to rest."

"As will Shaadi and Bakura," Yami added.

Kaiba paused. "The Advisor and the Thief? Here? Together?"

Yami regarded him calmly. "Is that a problem?"

Kaiba's glared. "If I find out you ordered Shaadi behind my back again-"

"I didn't," Yuugi said quickly. "He felt you vanish like we did and left before I could do anything. Ishizu was planning on coming too, but I told her it would be best if she stayed where she was. She's looking into the Shadow Thief, if he has any connection to Luthor, and what the significance of the stolen dagger is."

Kaiba glowered for a good several seconds before relenting. "One of these days, you'll stop influencing my Triad."

"He's not influencing-"

"Shut up, Pharaoh. I'm not talking to you," Kaiba snapped. "Or at least not your half." He looked back at Yuugi. "Does my Advisor at least know where to go?"

"No," Yuug said guiltily. "I can't get a hold of him. I'm not as attuned to him as you are."

"Any idea when he'll be within range?"

Yuugi thought for a moment. "He's taking Bakura with him so he'll have to rest between Japan and Canada. I'm guessing, he'll rest in the Aleutian Islands or Alaska before continuing down the coast."

Kaiba did some quick calculations. "Then I have time." Satisfied, he stuck his hands in his pockets, pushing back the fabric of his now mostly dry trenchcoat. He was looking forward to putting on dry clothes. "Now that that's been taken care of, are any of you coming or not? You don't have to, but you'll be on your own otherwise. I'm not sending my men out again tonight."

"I think it would be best if we stayed together for now," Yuug said calmly, brushing his fingers over his Deck. "Ou enemies seem to prefer attacking us when we're separated."

"Agreed," Yami said.

Kaiba groaned. "I only payed for a room big enough for me, Mokuba, and you two if things got serious." He sighed gustily. "The bed's mine. The rest of you can sleep on the floor somewhere, if you can find room. Or better yet, get your own room."

"We'll head back to the house," Oliver said, stepping next to Diggle.

Blue eyes flickered to the two men. "Do you need me to take you?"

"After your reaction last time?" Diggle said incredulously. "Forget it. I'll catch a cab."

"Reaction?" J'onn asked, echoing Yami's and Yuugi's visible concern.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Jounouchi said. "I keep forgettin' yer there until you open that big green mouth o' yers. Er...I guess it's a brown mouth now." He shuddered exaggeratedly. "Shapeshiftin's weird as hell, man."

Kaiba rolled his eyes and started walking to the bus stop muttering under his breath. Mokuba kept pace with him and eventually the other Shadow users joined him. J'onn stepped up to Oliver and said quietly, "What reaction do you mean?"

"If I think it, could you see it?" Diggle asked.

J'onn nodded. "Yes."

"Then do it."

J'onn took a moment to do just that. When he was finished, his brown human eyes grew round. "Fascinating." He turned to watch the strange group of ragtag youths standing together at the bus stop with an unreadable expression. "I will retire for the night. Green Lantern and Flash are in the City looking for Kaiba still. I will join them and Hawkgirl for the time being and call off the search. We'll meet up with you tomorrow morning."

"Good idea," Diggle said. The ex-army Ranger gestured for Oliver to move. "After you."

"One last thing," J'onn said, not looking away from the group, specifically Seto Kaiba. "Did Kaiba ever mention the name 'Seth' by any chance?"

Oliver paused. "Yeah, he did. Why?"

"The King also said that name. It seems to be important." Passive brown eyes met intelligent green. "Do you know who 'Seth' is?"

Oliver shook his head. "No. But I'm sure he's a friend."

"Why do you say that?" J'onn asked.

"Because Seth supposedly killed the guy behind all these Shadow Games," Oliver said. "Or, they," he nodded to the group still waiting at the bus stop, "thought he did. I guess he didn't finish the job."

"I see."

Instead of waiting for more questions, Oliver and Diggle walked out to the curb and flagged down a taxi. Tomorrow was shaping up to be an even longer day than this one.

Noa watched the superhero fumble his way through the computer. The man may be a fantastic hero with phenomenal powers, but his fingers just were not suited for a keyboard. It was kind of painful to watch. At least the guy managed to make some headway.

He was trying to do a Google search for the name 'Seth' and was coming up with quite a few miscellaneous hits. The majority of the results were related to pop culture, but the top choice was a page on Wikipedia. The hero clicked that page and skimmed it, but it proved to be nothing more than a short summary of the Biblical personality Seth who was related to Adam and Eve's more infamous sons, Cain and Abel. None of it was useful for the current situation, until he scrolled to the links under the 'See Also' subtitle. The second link under the subtitle was 'Set (mythology).' The bumbling hero clicked on the link which took him to the Wikipedia page for the Egyptian god Set.

"Egyptian pantheon," the hero muttered thoughtfully, remembering Wonder Woman's words, and scrolled down to read through the short article.

There was an image of an ancient Egyptian drawing of the god Set with the elements associated to his rule listed below: 'God of Storms, desert, chaos, and war.' The human's blue eyes widened as he scrolled down to the first paragraph of the article. The first few words of the first line immediately caught his eye.

'Set or Seth...'

"It can't be," the hero muttered.

He quickly typed, 'egyptian mythology set' in the Google search bar and pressed enter. The results were numerous, filling the webpage with links relating to the Egyptian god Set. The hero skipped the first link in the Google results which would have taken him back to the Wikipedia page and clicked on the second link listed with the header 'Gods of Ancient Egypt: Set (Seth) - Ancient Egypt Online.' The new website had a black background with white and gold letters creating a mysterious atmosphere. He read the first paragraph avidly.

"Set (Seth, Setekh, Sut, Sutekh, Sety) was one of the most ancient of the Egyptian gods... He was a storm god associated with strange and frightening events such as eclipses, thunderstorms and earthquakes... His glyph appears in the Egyptian words for 'turmoil', 'confusion', 'illness', 'storm', and 'rage.' He was considered to be very strong but dangerous, and strange. However, he was not always considered to be an evil being. Set was a friend of the dead, helping them to ascend to heaven on his ladder, and he protected the life giving oases of the desert, and was at times a powerful ally to the pharaoh and even the sun god Ra" (Hill).

The superhero sat back in astonishment. "Set," he murmured. "Seth is Set."

Blue eyes blinked, suddenly reminded of what he knew of the whole situation so far from the beginning. When J'onn first encountered Kaiba's Shadows, the Martian had described them as chaotic, untameable, and dangerous but not menacing or evil. J'onn had also been the only one absolutely sure of Kaiba's innocence regarding the crimes in Starling City.

From the hero's own meetings with the young man, he knew Kaiba to be arrogant, unpredictable, and completely disregarding authority, but ridiculously loyal and protective to a few close to him. One of those few called himself Pharaoh. The hero sat ramrod straight horror. "Set."

Without another thought, the hero bolted from his chair and ran in search of his comrades. This was much more serious than they originally thought.

This left Noa alone in the Control Room computer. He knew this was not the best way for the Justice League to learn what was going on. They could turn on his friends, his brothers. He could not let that happen.

He quickly tracked his little brother's phone and sent him a quick message. There was no immediate response, but Noa did not worry right away. Chances were Kaiba got the message but could not reply at the moment or he would get the message presently. Noa had no way of knowing that Kaiba had silenced his phone and set it face down on his bedside table in the hotel in order to conduct Court undisturbed and would not get the important message until the next day.