"…And we're gonna do camping, like in a tent!" Mokuba was bouncing up and down in his seat, excited about his school's class trip. "Please, Seto? We might see wolves!"

Yami bit back a laugh and kept his gaze out the window at the sparkling buildings passing by the limousine's tinted windows, sipping his coffee idly while Seto sat beside him, scrolling through his phone with a frown on his face.

"If you see a wolf, you're dead," Kaiba growled, and Yami was quick to add, "not if you kill it first."

"Which is a bad mindset," Kaiba shot back, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Leave the animals alone."

Mokuba glanced between them and let out a sigh, holding his hands above his head in a prayer gesture to continue begging, "PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE?! Everyone's going except for me! Think of all the jokes I'll be left out of! I'll be an automatic loner!"

"Give me all the websites, pamphlets and locations, and I'll think about letting you go," Kaiba replied stiffly, and Yami shut them out the moment he saw a crowd of police cars parked along the street, and traffic slowed to a grinding halt.

An officer was moving down the line of stopped cars, knocking on everyone's window to lean in, say something, and sometimes, someone would get out, leaving their car in the street.

Seto and Mokuba were still lightheartedly arguing about how to set up a tent, and Yami gripped his knees tightly, feeling himself sweat.

Five cars ahead, a family of four got out of their sedan and made a dash for the sidewalk.

This made Yami reach for his other phone that had Anzu's number, and sure enough, it buzzed the moment his fingers closed around the edge.

The officer was now four cars away, evacuating another couple out onto the sidewalk, and Yami slowly answered the phone, feeling an odd numbness spreading through his arms and legs he recognized as dread.

"Go," Yami said quietly, and to his mild surprise, it was Joey, panting heavily and whispering.

"H-Hey buddy… Uh…I kinda took this phone and unlocked it without her permission so I might die later. A-Are ya free right now?"

Seto and Mokuba fell silent, watching Yami's face darken eerily as he gripped the old phone and replied with a stoic, one-word answer, "no."

Uh oh, Kaiba grit his teeth and wondered why the car had stopped.

Looking ahead, he saw a line of police cars parked against the sidewalk, all with their lights still on, and people were being evacuated out of their cars. What the fuck…

"Work call, Yami?" Mokuba asked perceptively, eyeing the police cars and Yami's whitened fingertips over his knees. "Are we in trouble—"

There was a firm knock on the limousine's driver side window, and an officer leaned in to announce, "sir, there are dangerous suspects parked up ahead with ranged weapons that could possibly harm you when it goes through the car, so could we please have you take safety on the side of the road?"

"No!" Yami raised his voice to address the officer, barely hearing Joey on the other end, panting, running, and firing off two shots. He heard the shots echoing faintly in the distance and knew several things to be true:

One: it was safer in the car with Kaiba's quadruple-reinforced wheels, doors, and windows.

Two: their driver was an ex-racer who could maneuver them out of tight spots if speed was needed.

Three. A stray bullet could hit anyone on the side of the street.

Four. Being in the car meant he could protect the car and the perimeter around the car. Putting his family out in plain sight, without proper cover on the street's sidewalk was stupid.

"Your lives will be in danger if you stay in the car," the policeman said tensely, sweating when he thought he recognized Domino City's golden boy billionaire seated inside with a child. "This is not a debate."

"It's not." Yami replied icily, keeping the phone closer to his ear so Joey could also hear what he was saying. "Officer badge number 1145… Oh. I see. Matsuda Souta. Likes pizza… I don't care about that, Joey, he's trying to clear the Kaiba family out of a reinforced car, and we're not moving. The conditions of my help are that I get to secure my own perimeter for my family ….first. Then we'll talk about you and your team."

Seto stared numbly at Yami, who had eerily changed faces again, and his skin crawled.

Mokuba sensed it too and had gone quiet, glancing between the officer and Yami who was still on the phone.

The officer received a radio warble, and he leaned out of the window to take it, then he walked away.

"Open the sunroof," Yami instructed the driver, and he grabbed Mokuba by the arm, pulling him to sit in the farthest corner of the car while telling Joey, "And I want vests and gear. Now."

Seto blinked, wondering if his life was ever going to be normal again.

But it felt better to be prepared with Yami than to be unprepared without Yami.

To his surprise, the police officer was walking back to their car with two other men, and they were carrying vests and a large briefcase.

Yami leaned over Seto's legs to open the door, and accepted the smaller one, walking back through the car to put it on Mokuba, who was eyeing him fearfully and obeyed silently by raising his arms and letting him buckle all the straps around his body.

Seto's mouth dropped open, and he watched his driver get out of the car and silently let the officer help him with the bullet-proof vest too. UM?! He was looking forward to a nap at home after picking up Mokuba from school. He wasn't ready for…urban warfare?!

"Explain what's happening," Seto said tensely as Yami approached him with the vest with his angular eyes narrowed handsomely.

"According to Joey," Yami grabbed Seto's arm and put it through the vest and lovingly helped it over the CEO's head, setting it snugly down over his suit and tie. "A group of trigger-happy morons are holding several people hostage inside the grocery store. A couple of them are also running through the tunnels underneath us and Joey is in pursuit. Stay in the car where it's safe."

Yami buckled the last strap around Kaiba's front and gave him a gentle brush on the cheek with the backs of his knuckles and turned to pick up the silver briefcase the two police officers had brought for him, and he didn't hesitate to kneel in the middle of the limo to open it with a click!

Mokuba eyed the police insignia on the briefcase with wide eyes, and Seto came to sit beside him, pulling him into a protective hug as he watched Yami open it with ease.

The case fell open to reveal rows of guns, and Yami scanned them all before he shook his head and addressed the first officer who was standing beside the open limo doors, "are you serious? I'm not strapping these to my body. It'll slow me down. Either I join in unarmed, or you give me what I asked for."

The officer grimaced, and Mokuba clutched Seto as he watched the man talk into his earpiece and Yami's phone vibrated again.

"MAN! C'mon! I can't get you that gun! The paperwork for it doesn't even exist!" Joey cried, sounding like his situation had calmed down a bit because he was no longer panting and running. "I'm not an army official and I ain't god! Can't ya just make do with what we got?... Pretty please? Anzu will already kill me for callin' ya and stealing her phone."

"What the fuck is this shit? Is this standard issue?" Yami cried, lifting his gaze to eye the officer and his fully armed vest. "This is trash. Kaiba's security personnel carries better than this—"

"We're public servants! We ain't got millions'a yen ta' burn on gold bullets!" Joey yelled, his voice echoing down a long hallway. "Do we have your help or not? ….There are 16 guys and we got 4 in cuffs and cars."

"You're joking," Yami snarled, having half the mind to call Isono to bring his gun, but he didn't want to endanger the family manservant by calling him to an active scene. "I demand 6 officers to stay by this car, and that's my final request."

"SIX?!" Joey cried, and Yami shouted back, "I do the work of 6 men! Is that unreasonable?"

Mokuba huddled closer to Seto, completely shocked by Yami's rough demeanor. He was used to happy, cheerful, smiling, soda-in-one-hand, video-game-in-other-hand,chill Yami.

This was… Scary Yami.

Scarier than Seto when he was on a work call.

"Fine, fine, I'll ping you coordinates and will ya wear our wire, please?!" Joey begged, and he was huffing again as he was up and running. "We got a guy! …GET 'IM! CIRCLE AROUND BACK! GO GO!"

The line went dead and Yami hissed at it. Fine. He'd had to make do with worse.

He began strapping a few onto his body, picking small guns methodically.

Another officer leaned his head in through the open doors and handed him a stack of gear. Bullet proof vest, radio, earpiece, gloves, hat, sunglasses…

They were really trying to integrate him into city law enforcement. Kaiba had been right.

Yami disregarded them all and only picked up the earpiece, clipped it to his shirt collar and placed the comm into his ear, breaking out into a cold sweat while his hand slipped in the cool barrel of a gun. The urge to go on a furious rampage was high, but his entire world—Seto and Mokuba—were sitting ducks in this fucking mess, on a regular sunny afternoon.

He'd fix it.

On second thought, he shed the blazer he'd been wearing and strapped a gun onto his bare left arm.

He bent down to re-tie his boots and shook his head to himself, willing himself to remain kind, remain human. The floor of the limousine was a beautiful speckled black. He had to stop blinking and visualizing blood staining it.

That would not happen.

He heard a quiet pop in the distance again and tensed, trying to hear over the sound of the policemen talking and milling around the sides of the limo, so he put his foot on the limo seat and propped his elbows up on the car's roof, shouting at the officers surrounding the car, "shut! up! I hear something! And when you're on guard, you're silent!"

All the officers quieted down instantly and lowered their heads respectfully.

Fuming, Yami dropped back down into the limo and briefly caught a fearful look on Mokuba's face. Ah, damn, he was scaring the kid.

Anzu was giving coordinates in his earpiece, because a couple of the men had gotten into cars and were driving onto the highway. Not his problem.

Joey was in pursuit, and a group of 5 armed men were approaching the shops closest to the limo. Shit.

"Everyone inside the car," Yami called at the officers. "Windows up, doors closed. Driver, can you move up on the other side of the street?"

Mokuba felt Seto's hand grow cold over his as the officers climbed dutifully in the car, spacing themselves apart and eyeing Yami who was still standing on the seat, with his head sticking out of the long sunroof.

The car slowly pulled out of the line of stopped vehicles and drove down the other side of the road, parking right in front of a gift chocolate shop that had been evacuated.

Yami eyed the street signs and listened to Joey's chase happening around the street corner.

They were close.

"Joey, there's a Meji chocolate shop east of where you are right now," Yami instructed, hefting himself up to sit on the edge of the roof, his legs hanging over the window before he hopped off and landed on the sidewalk, throwing a protective glance at the car behind him. "Do you want them alive?"

Mokuba heard Yami's voice carry down the quiet street, and his heart froze.

He knew Yami killed people while on the police force, but hearing Yami say it was something different entirely.

Kaiba kept his hand over Mokuba's much smaller one, trying not to squeeze his fingers too tightly when he saw Yami take off running down the sidewalk and disappear around the corner.

"We're gonna be okay, right? Seto?" Mokuba whispered, and Kaiba could only nod.

He followed Yami's spiky-haired shadow through two store windows, seeing Yami paused on the street corner as five other figures came running from the other side, and the building blocked the rest of his view, but Yami didn't even throw a punch.

A few tense minutes passed, and Yami was seen dragging an unconscious man by the shoulders to prop him up against the wall of the chocolate shop. He circled around the corner again and dragged two more bodies out, calling over his shoulder and into his earpiece, "need officers 115 and 116 over here!"

And two policemen dutifully climbed out of the car and closed the limousine doors with a thunk!

The sound of sirens was shrill as Joey and his men came whizzing up the street corner and parked haphazardly by the sidewalk to help drag the unconscious men into the cars.

Mokuba pressed his nose to the window, fascinated. The blond cop who he'd seen hanging out at their house clapped Yami on the shoulder and Yami shrugged him off with an angry glare, talking quietly before turning back to walk towards the limo.

None of his guns were drawn and he wasn't even dirty.

"Is Yami a police ninja?" Mokuba asked seriously, and Kaiba let out a strangled huff of laughter.

The complete opposite.

Sirens were still going, but they were coming from behind, and Yami froze when he saw a ragged car come skidding down the blocked street before it came barreling down the middle, hitting a few door mirrors of stopped cars as it swerved when the driver and passenger leaned out the window to return shots to the police cruiser that was pursuing them.

Yami winced when he heard Anzu screaming for her driver to turn left, leaving the rogue car to come zipping by the sidewalk where he was standing.

A man was hanging out the passenger window with a deranged smile on his face, a snake tattoo curving up his neck. He waved a heavy, semi-automatic gun with a strap in the air, and Yami swore the car passed by in slow motion. The man grinned at him, saluted, and raised his weapon to point it at him, making a sweeping motion across the sidewalk where Joey, and the other police officers were standing, spraying the windows behind them with bullets, all of them missing their targets, but causing chaos nonetheless, leaving the scent of gasoline and gunpowder as they continued speeding down the road.

Any of those bullets could've hit the limo with Mokuba and Kaiba inside!

Furious, Yami drew the police-issue pistol and planted his feet apart to take aim, bracing, letting his breath out in a steady huff as he shot the guy in the back of the head three times, seeing him instantly drop his gun as the car swerved again, and his body hung limply out the side of the window.

Turning around to check on Joey, Yami saw him cowering behind a thin, parking meter pole while other officers were also hovered around the ground by the wheels of their cars.

"Sorry. Killed one," Yami said emotionlessly, his heart racing when he heard a grief-stricken yell echo up the street, and he knew they were coming back for revenge. "Make that two."

Aiming for the back of the limo, Yami leapt up onto the trunk and shouted, "sunroof up! Mokuba, Seto, get down!"

Kaiba helped Mokuba off the seat and they knelt on the limo floor by the officers who were also on their knees around them, sweating at the brow, but calm while the electronic sunroof whirred and closed overhead, just as Yami's footsteps thumped on top when he ran past, and Mokuba could hear Yami shouting, "Joey, cover! Hit their wheels!"

And loud, continuous pops echoed in the distance, way too close.

Kaiba winced and didn't dare look up.

There was a loud screech, and something crashed heavily into a car right beside them, because shards of glass sprayed the window near the limo driver's seat, which was empty.

Their driver was lying flat on his chin in the middle of the limousine's walkway with his hands over his head in a defensive pose, and Kaiba felt the roof shaking as Yami ran across the length again. He had to admire how light and nimble Yami was given their situation.

"LOADING! ... Cover!" Joey's voice could be heard faintly, and Yami dropped down behind the limousine, thinking this was his best hiding place while the angry delinquent returned a spray of automatic fire at the police. The bullets kept destroying the poor chocolate shop windows.

The violent thugs thought the police had shot their man, and Yami was thankful he didn't accept the police vest. That would make him a target

Yami leaned his head against the wheels of the limo, catching his breath from all the running. He was pretty sure he'd hit the other passenger inside the rouge car through the back window.

The deranged driver had staggered out of the car and was advancing towards the cops on the sidewalk, also waving a semi-automatic weapon but the chamber was empty.

"YOU KILLED MY BROTHERS!" The man was shrieking, completely ignoring Anzu who was creeping up from behind him with her gun up. "ALL OF YOU—BITCH!" He swung the gun down at Anzu, she dodged him gracefully, the gun's strap swinging wildly when he missed.

She backed up a few steps and tried reasoning with him.

"Put it down…and come with us. We'll be respectful with his body," she began, and her words had an opposite effect. The man rushed at Joey, who yelped and put his gun away to barrel forward in return, shouldering the man to the ground.

Anzu spun around to find Atem but was unsurprised to see no one on the street aside from a familiar, long, black limo with an angel ornament on the hood.

Nice. He showed up like a private citizen, saving her paperwork.

And that meant he had none of his usual weapons, which meant he'd used their guns. Shit.

"We still have a hostage situation, highway situation contained," Anzu breathed into her earpiece, calling out into the empty street. "…Yami? …We're clear!"

Nope, Yami shook his head and stayed where he was sitting, against the shade of the limo while facing the road.

"Clear means we can get up?" Mokuba asked hopefully, and Yami knocked three times on the backside of the wheel well, giving Kaiba a fright when he heard the thumping beside his hip coming through the thick seats.

"Stay down!" Yami called, unsure if Anzu's team had everyone.

They said 16 men.

4 were in cars and cuffs, assuming they hadn't escaped, and on the sidewalk, there were currently 5 unconscious, two dead in the rogue car, and one driver.

That was only 12 men.

There was another team of men somewhere, and he wasn't trusting they were all inside the grocery store, taking hostages. For what reason? Did they need all the oranges? A grocery store was a low-level hit for desperate thugs trying to pay off gambling debts.

Why did they need 16 men?

16 men. That was a crew.

Why did that number rub him strangely the wrong way?

Adjusting the holster to a tighter length on his thigh, Yami stared at the silvery building in the distance, barely able to see the grocery store on the first floor since it was covered by cop cars.

What was in that 10-story building?

He yanked out of his phone and searched quickly, his blood running steadily colder when he saw a little diamond icon on the 9th floor.

Diamond exchange.

16 men? There had to be at least 20.

Hostages on the grocery floor meant the entire building was evacuated and then secured by police who did all the work for them.

Great. He knew this tactic well.

Amateurs.

Was this Marik's men stealing to make his bail?

Seemed like it. It sure felt like it.

His other phone buzzed, and Yami could hear Anzu talking audibly from the sidewalk beside the car.

"Hey. You can come out. We don't bite," Anzu said quietly, seeing her reflection in the tinted windows. "Are you in there?" And she tried to peer into the car but was unaware that she was looking right into the back of someone's head.

Kaiba leaned away in annoyance and hissed under his breath, and Yami's low voice could be heard coming from his left.

"You said 16 men. There are at least 20 men, and they're robbing the Diamond Exchange," Yami answered smoothly, not standing up from his position by the back wheels. "You secured the first floor for them, how nice."

Anzu rolled her eyes and hung up the phone when she heard Yami's voice coming from behind the car, so she circled the back and found him sitting on the ground, leaning casually on the wheels of the car, looking completely at ease.

"You knew about this?" She asked accusingly, wondering why the assassin didn't just tell her when they had brunch last Tuesday. "Keep this up and I won't show up for Thursday Spa Days anymore! I thought we were friends! A warning would've been nice."

"Don't take that tone with me," Yami replied defensively, folding his hands in his lap as he stayed sitting on the ground. "I have no idea who is behind this. It was merely a guess, and you think I'd be driving by in Mokuba's school-pick-up car, with Seto and completely unarmed, if I had known? Look at this trash you issue your men." And Yami raised his arm half-heartedly to show off the arm-holster. "Your department would get a donation, but I know it won't go to the right places, so I won't even try."

Kaiba listened to this conversation through the car doors, aware that Mokuba was also eavesdropping with bright eyes, holding his breath excitedly.

"Right well, they're asking for bags of money, so I know you don't have any personal contacts in there," Anzu said with an eye roll, and Yami was quick to fire back, "what is that supposed to mean?!"

"Means I think you—no, I know you only know the high rollers with silent money," Anzu replied, leaning against the car with a cross of her arms. "Why would you know anyone trying to rob a bank for diamonds? That's dumb as fuck."

"Yeah, they're a bunch low-level grunts," Yami huffed, keeping in the shade of the car, knowing the sun would drain him since he was strapped with so much heavy gear. "You could clear out the grocery store to trap them on the 9th floor. How long has it been?"

Anzu grimaced and checked her watch.

"25 minutes."

"Then they're about done," Yami said with a sigh, finally standing up to dust himself off. "Send me inside with bento boxes filled with money, and put a gun in the last one at the very bottom. I'll get your hostages out."

"Uh, no you won't?" Anzu replied with her eyebrows raised in alarm. "We have a negotiator. You're not needed."
Then she would have to explain his involvement all over again!

"Oh, just what I wanted to hear," Yami answered cheerfully, already unbuckling the heavy arm holster and thudding the weapon onto the trunk of the limo. "Here, take your shit back. Seto, let's go home. I need a drink." And he rapped his knuckles on the limo doors. "Clear. You can all get up now. Seems like they're not coming out of the building just yet."

Inside, the driver slowly climbed to his feet and Mokuba rose up off his sore knees to sit back into the seat, trying not to shake.

From what he heard, it sounded like Yami worked with criminals too, and was a cool 'intel' guy! Like in movies!

When Mokuba sat up, he saw the windows of the stores across the street had been completely shattered, and he let out a shocked gasp. W-Wow.

Kaiba also noticed the carnage and was thankful there was no blood or bodies lying around.

Yami was just about to take his earpiece out when he heard a man address Anzu through it.

"Miss Mazaki? They're demanding we send 'a regular person' or the delivery boy inside to give them the bentos… The delivery boy is 17. We're not doing that. Do you have a yakuza contact you could use?"

Yami grit his teeth furiously and continued to take off the earpiece, thigh holster, ankle holster, and heard Anzu reply, "….I've got a guy…maybe. Are they watching from the windows?"

No. No. I already offered and she refused, Yami chanted, and he'd just unbuckled the final gun from his waist when Anzu gave him a grimace and rested her hand shakily on his shoulder.

"Please?" She said quietly, and Yami ground his teeth furiously.

"What are the chances they recognize me?" Yami challenged, crossing his arms.

"He's a double agent!" Mokuba crowed from inside the limo, and Seto flicked his brother on the leg, hissing at him to be quiet.

Yami heard this faintly and cracked a smile. Cute.

"Amazing. They don't know what you really do, huh?" Anzu muttered under her breath, and Yami repeated the story he'd been using the entire time.

"I work security for the Kaiba family. You of all people should know that."

Anzu bit the tip of her tongue as she received another message in her ear, "Miss Mazaki, they want their money and they're getting impatient."

"Coming up on 30 minutes. They're planning to be done in 40," Yami commented, waving over his shoulder as he opened the limo door and gestured for the policemen to get out. "I'm going home. Everyone get out."

The officers climbed out silently without making eye contact, and Anzu stuck by his elbow, outwardly begging...again. "Please, if they recognize you...say I'm—we're …. blackmailing you!"

"With what?!" Yami cried, daring to laugh. "What could you possibly have over me? That's a horrible lie. I'm going home."

"Someone's grandma also wants to go home," Anzu said loudly, her voice echoing inside the empty car.

Yami climbed inside to sit on a plush leather seat that was already very warm, and Kaiba nodded approvingly. Yeah, fuck the police.

His phone buzzed with a notification, probably from Isono wondering where Mokuba's school car was, so he pulled it out to read the messages.

ISONO_Phone1: master kaiba, no alarm as I am fine. But there are men with guns in the grocery store I was shopping in, and these men are demanding money. In the phone bin, they found my device and commented that they'd never seen a Kaiba Phone such as this, and that led them to asking me to unlock it.

ISONO_Phone1: They also have my wallet and know I'm a Kaiba employee, and that I address you as 'master' in my messages, so they know I am close to you. They demand ransom, and I told them I'm worthless and that you wouldn't pay a yen for me, but I'm being made to write this number: ….

"Yami…" Kaiba said hollowly as the driver climbed into the seat, so he called out, "don't start the car yet! … Yami, look at this." He handed his phone over and Yami took it with a polite nod to read the messages.

Yami's heart skipped a solid beat as he glanced up at Anzu through the lowered window and said, "Fine. I'll do it."

Mokuba frowned, wondering why the sudden shift, and he saw Seto take his phone back and secretly keep the screen facing away from him. What was that?!

Author's note:

ohNoooooooo! Poor isono!