Chapter 20

Kaiba-boy? Aria couldn't think of anyone who would be so bold as to call Kaiba by that name. She would have to remember to ask the gang about it later.

"You still haven't told me why you demanded this call," Riku said gruffly.

"Oh yes, how rude of me," the man answered, flipping back his long hair. "I wanted to send over the data on our latest development. My technicians have finished the preliminaries and now we just await on your software."

Riku grunted in response.

"If you insert the USB I gave you, I'll transmit the files," continued the sing-song voice.

Riku's hand ruffled in his suit pocket for a second, pulled out the USB and plugged it into the computer.

"The files are quite extensive so it may take awhile," the man continued. He added in a low tone, "I'm taking a big risk on you Ito, don't make me regret it." Then the screen suddenly went blank.

Aria quietly closed the closet door, she only hoped that her stepfather wasn't going to wait around for those files to download. If she could get her hands on that USB drive, then she would definitely have some hard evidence to take to Kaiba. Curiosity gripped Aria at what could possibly be on those files. What development could Riku and this man be working on together? She knew it had to do with something with Duel Monsters Online.

Aria listened intently for any signs of movement in the room. Maybe if Riku left to go back to his club, she could wait for the files to finish downloading and then take the USB drive. She grimaced at the thought of Riku discovering the files missing. Would he suspect her? She'd need to act fast lest he come looking for her. Her body stilled as she heard muffled movements move about in the room. She could feel perspiration begin to form on her forehead and the back of her neck from being stuck in such close quarters. Then she heard footsteps become gradually louder. Her stomach leapt up into her throat as she saw a shadow fall underneath the door.

Seconds passed. Aria waited for the door to be flung open. Just as she was bracing herself to get ready to run out the door, a sharp ring pierced the air.

"What?" Riku growled.

Aria held her breath. Who would be calling him at this time of night?

"What do you mean our main server is down!" he yelled. "I just got the files tonight! We were supposed to start programming first thing in the morning!"

Silence ensued, which Aria guessed was the person on the other end trying to offer up reasons for the setback.

"You're all useless. I'll be in immediately. You know how much is riding on this, so you better start working on a solution!"

The shadow fell away from the door as loud footsteps thudded away, followed by the slamming of a door. Aria didn't move, making sure first that Riku wasn't coming back. After a few minutes, Aria slowly opened the door, pausing halfway to listen for any sounds in the house. When she found nothing but silence she walked fully back into the study.

Heading over to the computer, Aria leaned over to read the pop-up on the screen.

Downloading...5% Estimated Time: 1 hour

Aria frowned at the amount of time until the download was complete, but knew it could've been much worse. It could've been all night. She reached for her cell phone and immediately called Téa. She picked up on the first ring.

"Thank heavens!" Téa exclaimed, causing Aria to pull her ear a little away from the phone. "What happened? We were freaking out when we saw Riku suddenly pull up the street. And then you didn't you come out or answer our text-"

"Slow down Téa, I'm fine," Aria reassured her. "I'm guessing by your tone that you saw Riku leave the house again?"

"Oh, yes, he just left. Joey was ready to go busting down the door after we saw him drive away. He thought you might be caught and tied up or something. And for once, I think we were actually going to let him. That's how scared we were for you Ari."

Aria smiled at her friend's concern. "I'm sorry to worry you guys, but I'm going to ask you to let me stay in here a little bit longer."

"You mean you're not coming out!" Téa yelled back. "Ari, you need to get out now while you have a window. No amount of evidence is worth this."

"Téa, I can't just sit by and let my stepfather get away with this. It's not just about me anymore." Aria paused and took a breath to steady her voice. "Look, I overheard Riku getting called away for a big emergency at Fenrir. He might be gone all night, and all I need is one hour. Then I'll be right out."

The phone had gone so silent that Aria had to check the screen to make sure that she was still connected.

"One hour Aria," Téa finally answered. "The second we tell you that Riku is coming, you better be getting out of there."

Aria sagged in relief. "Definitely, you have my word."

"Stay safe." The phone beeped as the call ended.

Aria pocketed her phone and went to check again on the progress bar. 7%. She huffed in annoyance at the speed of the download. She bet one of Seto's computers could download it in a quarter of the time.

Aria's breath suddenly hitched at her mental slipup. After all the things he had said to her, how could she just think about him so nonchalantly? Now feeling even more frustrated, Aria dropped down onto the floor, getting comfortable for a long wait. Although the desk chair looked much more inviting, Aria didn't want to touch anything that might tip off Riku that she was here.

With only silence to fill the room, Aria tried to think of ways in which she could occupy herself to help pass the time. She was too afraid to surf on her phone and possibly drain the battery. Sighing, she reclined back on her hands, accepting that there was simply nothing to do but wait.

A pair of cold blue eyes flashed in Aria's mind, but she shoved the unwanted image away. She was not going to sit here and pine over Kaiba. Whatever trust she thought they had created was obviously not real. She still couldn't believe that Kaiba thought she could betray him like that. But then again, she was the one who fell for the cold-hearted scoundrel. How did she ever believe differently?

Just as the thought left her mind, another one came unbidden. Mokuba. Aria buried her face in her hands, not wanting to think about the little boy who was all things good and pure. And the fact that he was Kaiba's little brother. How was it even possible that they were related?

But Aria knew the answer to that too. Kaiba had taken it upon himself to become the parent, the protector. Which meant that at a very young age, Kaiba was thrust into adulthood, while Mokuba was shielded from having to carry any of that burden. Aria could see how having basically no childhood would turn Kaiba into a cold, unfeeling human, while Mokuba got to thrive and enjoy his time of youth. Was still enjoying.

And that's the side that shook Aria's prejudices against Kaiba. Seeing him take Mokuba out for Friday night pizza when she was sure Kaiba would have rather been at work. Or taking him to the carnival, when it must have irritated him to no end to be on such a tacky outing. Kaiba not only worked hard to make Kaiba Corp the most successful gaming company in Japan, but he also made sure that Mokuba got to experience a proper childhood. The one he never got to have.

Aria hunched up knees and laid her head down on top. What did any of it matter anyway? Kaiba had made it perfectly clear what he thought of her. It looked like Mokuba was the only exception to gaining Kaiba's affection and trust. And even in that she could see that Mokuba didn't spend as much time with his big brother as he would like.

Aria stood quickly, her frustration mounting. She needed to get over this infatuation with Kaiba. It obviously didn't work and it wasn't going to work. She walked back over to the computer and looked at the screen.

Downloading...75% Estimated Time: 15 minutes

One thing Aria did know for sure; she couldn't take the stolen files to Kaiba herself. She would have to get it to him anonymously. It no longer mattered if he knew of her innocence or not. Aria would find a way to become a programmer, even if it meant leaving the country. Except for her friends, there was nothing tying her to Japan anymore. From now on, she would make her own destiny.

"Wait! I think I see her coming out of her bedroom window!" Téa exclaimed, pointing up at the house. Sure enough, a small figure had emerged from a second story window and was making their way down the trellis. "Any sign of Riku?"

"We're good," Tristan replied, looking through a pair of binoculars. "Street is totally dead."

In a few minutes, Aria was up the drive and across the road where she was captured in a bone crushing hug from Téa. However, once Téa had let go, she was immediately shaken by the shoulders.

"What were you thinking staying so long in there?" Téa shouted.

"Easy Téa," Yugi said, trying to get some space between the two girls. "The important thing is that Aria is here safe and she got what she came for." Yugi looked at Aria. "Right?"

Aria nodded and held up the USB key that held the illicit plans. "We don't have much time. I need to see what's on these files before Riku sends out the hounds."

"Then let's hightail back to the apartment where there's a computer," Joey interjected.

Aria shook her head. "I don't want this anywhere near where it can be traced back to us. For all I know, there could be a tracker placed on it."

Tristan snapped his fingers. "I know! There's a little 24-hour internet cafe not too far away that we can take it to."

"Perfect!" Aria exclaimed.

"Not too shabby Tristan," Joey said, wrapping his arm around Tristan's neck and rubbing his fist into his hair. "I knew there was a brain in there somewhere."

"Cut it out!" Tristan said, shoving Joey off while everyone else laughed at their antics.

Walking a few blocks over, they hailed a cab, driving to the address that Tristan gave to the driver. Within ten minutes, they were standing outside a drab-looking cafe with a green neon sign that read "Cyber Cafe".

"Not exactly what I was picturin'," Joey said scratching his head.

"No, this is perfect," Téa said. "No one would think to look for us here." She approached the front door and held it open for everyone to enter.

Aria took in her surroundings as she walked in. One side of the small room had a counter space with a cash register and a sparse assortment of baked goods. One lone coffee machine sat behind. The opposite side held three ancient looking computers, two of which were already occupied. A mishmash of tables sat in between. Aria rushed over to claim the final computer.

Sitting down, Aria became apprehensive that the computer would be able to handle the level of technology that sat in her coat pocket. With everyone else standing behind her, Aria reached into her pocket and plugged the key into the USB port. A pop-up immediately appeared. Aria groaned. "It says we need to input a credit card in order to pay for our time. That would be easily traceable."

"No worries," Tristan said, "I'll just pay cash at the front and the owner will give us a login password." Tristan turned around and walked back over the cash register.

"Do you think this computer will be able to read any of the files on the USB?" Yugi asked Aria skeptically.

"I don't know," Aria answered honestly. "I'm hoping we'll be able to open at least one file that will give us some idea of what kind of project my stepfather is working on."

"You never did explain how you got this USB of stolen files. Did Riku walk in on you?" Téa asked.

So Aria told them how she had hidden in a coat closet while listening in on a private video call. "That's why I needed one more hour. For the files to download," Aria explained.

"Did you not recognize the man your stepfather was talking to?" Yugi asked.

Aria shook her head. "He definitely felt familiar to me, but all I could make out was a red coat and that he had long silver hair."

"Not really a lot to go on," Téa said dejectedly.

"There was one more thing," Aria said, remembering, "He called Kaiba by a peculiar name. It was kinda weird."

"Do you remember what it was?" Joey asked.

Aria searched her memory. "I think it was something like...Kaiba-boy?"

Her friends suddenly went silent. Aria shrank back at their wide-eyed expressions. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Got it!" Tristan said, walking over waving a piece of paper. But when he saw the stunned looks, he too went quiet. "Did I miss something?"

"We just figured out who's been working with Aria's stepfather," Joey said, crossing his arms. "Don't we Yugi?"

"Mhm," Yugi said nodding his head, "The same person who calls me Yugi-boy."

"Woah, you can't mean Pegasus!" Tristan exclaimed.

It was Aria's turn to go wide-eyed. "You can't mean Maximillion Pegasus! Of Industrial Illusions?" Aria said incredulously.

"The very same," Yugi confirmed.

Aria leaned back into her chair, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. "I think this is way bigger than any of us realized," Aria choked out. How was she supposed to go up against one of the most powerful men in the world? A flash of white suddenly appeared in Aria's peripheral vision. Looking over, she saw Tristan holding out the piece of paper with the login password.

"Don't be discouraged now Aria," Tristan said softly. "We've dealt with Pegasus before and we can best him again. Let's finish this, like we said we would."

Aria looked into each of the faces standing around her, all looking back with a firm look of resolve. Aria may be in over her head, but she knew she didn't have to do it alone. She was backed by an amazing group of friends who have proven time and time again that they would support her right through till the end.

Aria snatched the paper from Tristan's hand and typed in the password. Once logged in, Aria pulled up the files on the USB. Hundreds of files appeared on the screen, most were encrypted or unable to be opened without the proper software. Then she saw one file titled "Visor Prototypes" and was in a JPEG format. Clicking it open, an image of what looked like a motorcyclist's helmet filled the screen. The helmet was more triangular than round, and had a transparent shield over the eyes. Clicking through the images, most were of similar content, with only a few deviations made to the helmet. The last image was different, in that instead of a helmet, it was a picture of what looked like an earpiece with a lens stretching over one eye.

"Any idea what we're looking at?" Téa asked, as she leaned over Aria's shoulder to get a better look at the pictures.

"I'm not entirely sure," Aria said slowly. "I know Kaiba wasn't going to use a Virtual Reality headset for his project, he instead wanted to expand on the holographic technology he's so well known for."

"I think what we're seeing here is Pegasus creating his own technology to use with Kaiba's project," a deep voice said from behind.

Aria glanced back to find herself staring into Pharoah's eyes. "I think you might be right."

"But why do that when he could've just used Kaiba's?" Joey asked.

Aria thought for a moment. "I think it may have something to do with that Pegasus wouldn't have access to the basic programming of Kaiba's holographic technology. The hologram programming I was working on was only an extension of an already existing scheme."

"Okay…" Joey said, looking like he did not completely understand everything Aria just said, "Then why don't we hightail out of here and get this USB key to Kaiba already?"

Aria turned back to the computer screen, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not taking it back to Kaiba."

A few seconds of silence passed, making Aria wonder if her friends had heard her at all. But then they all started speaking at once.

"What are you talking about?"

"How could you not after all that we just went through to get it?"

"Why?"

Aria waited patiently for everyone to quiet down. When they had finally exhausted their questions, Aria got up and motioned over to one of the tables. "How about some coffee? I don't know about you but I'm exhausted."

Everyone stared at her like she had just grown three heads, except for Pharaoh who wore an amused expression on his face. Aria didn't think anything surprised that guy.

After ordering some coffee and sitting down, Aria folded her hands in front of her. "I'm still going to get the USB drive to Kaiba Corp, just not to Kaiba directly." Aria took a deep breath, taking time to organize the thoughts she had formulated while in her stepfather's study. "Kaiba has made his decision regarding me. And I have decided that it no longer matters what he thinks of me." Aria could feel the tears begin to blur her vision, but she willed them away. This was not the time. "These files rightfully belong to Kaiba Corp, and I want to get them back, but I strongly feel that I need to cut all ties with Kaiba. After the things he said to me…"

Aria had to stop as a sob built up in her throat. It was too painful to say out loud. She felt a hand squeeze her clasped ones. Looking up, she saw Téa gazing intently at her.

"We get it Ari," Téa said consolingly.

"Did you have someone in mind who we could take the files to?" Tristan asked.

The question caused Aria to let out a humorless laugh. "I do actually and I don't think he's going to be too happy to see me."

Kaiba walked briskly down the dark corridors of Kaiba Corp's lowest level. Even though it was 2 a.m. in the morning, Kaiba was alert and ready to face whatever it was that Roland had found down in the mainframe. When his call had come through, Kaiba, as usual, was working away in his office.

Sleep had been pretty evasive for the CEO the past few nights and work seemed to be the only thing that could keep his mind from replaying the scene of him throwing Aria out of his office over and over again.

Although Kaiba looked his usual stoic character, internally his insides were churning. What if what Roland found proved Aria's innocence? But then again, it could also prove that she had been the guilty party all along. He didn't know which scenario was worse. Aria being innocent meant that how he had treated her was reprehensible, and that he hadn't believed her honesty. Aria being guilty meant that she really had betrayed him in the worst possible way, and that any feelings she showed for him were probably false. Neither option led to the restoration of their relationship.

Seto arrived at the door but paused when his hand reached the handle. Whatever evidence the room held, Kaiba knew that Aria never deserved his harsh words. Even if she had been playing him, Kaiba's feelings for her had been real. Maybe if he had dealt with the situation more delicately, he could have figured out why she chose to betray him. Kaiba almost let out a dry laugh. If Gozaburo could hear his thoughts now, he'd be rolling in his grave.

Kaiba pushed his way into the room, causing Roland and a technician to look up. Kaiba stood behind them, arms crossed. "This better be good Roland."

Roland nodded. "It is sir. It seems that we have discovered a second breach."

Surprise registered in Kaiba's mind but didn't allow it to show externally. "Explain."

Roland motioned for the technician to bring up a schematic of the computer mainframe.

"This is a replay of us trying to block the virus as it attempted to penetrate our systems." Roland pointed to a group of what looked like a complex maze of wiring. He pointed to a different group of code. "When all of a sudden the virus disappeared and a hole appeared with all of the secret project files missing."

"Spare me the recap Roland, what's your point?"

"Well sir, I found it odd that the files would go missing when it seemed that the virus never actually got through our firewalls. It just simply vanished." Roland turned to face Kaiba. "I had our technicians go through the network with a fine tooth comb to see if anything else looked suspicious. This is what we found."

The technician began to type fervently on the keyboard. Kaiba watched as the screen zoomed in on a cluster of coding, and then zoomed in some more and then again. Kaiba lifted an eyebrow in interest. "What exactly are we looking at?"

Roland pointed to a section on the screen that Kaiba had to squint in order to see. "We discovered a second virus, and this one was definitely successful in invading our mainframe."

Kaiba went totally still. A second virus? But that would mean… "The first virus was merely a distraction," Kaiba stated. He could now see the pieces begin to fall into place. "Do we know if another copy of the files left the system?"

"We do," Roland said. "However, it seems impossible to know where they exited. This virus is not something we have ever seen before. The size and intricacies of it are incomprehensible."

A second set of files were gone. Didn't Aria warn Kaiba that someone out there had the plans? She had been the scapegoat all along. Someone had been setting her up to take the fall, so that when the files went missing, Kaiba had someone to blame, and would no longer be looking for the thief.

Kaiba closed his eyes as all of these realizations took over. If people thought Kaiba had nothing but ice in his heart, it was nothing compared to the icicles that were now stabbing him in the chest. What had he done?

Aria...I am so sorry.