Joey passed the metal detectors at the front after putting it through the scanner, and his buddy saluted him, "cake? And some homework?"
"Yeah, fer Anzu," Joey replied with a nod, and he swept the items back up, standing in the elevator to head back to his office, still sweating. God, he was sweating so much even though Shizuka was okay.
When he arrived on his floor, he was accosted by the department manager who looked panicked and nervous, sweating at the brow.
"Answer your phone!" The man breathed, his eyes wide. "About to send search units out to find you. Anzu wonders if you have her notebook in your car, but you left for lunch."
"Oh yeah, she always leaves her stuff in my car when she rides shotgun," Joey said loudly, holding up the notebook. "I remembered ta' bring it back up. I'll go give it to 'er."
"Yes, do," the manager said, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him towards the interrogation rooms down the hall. "She's in a little bit of trouble."
"Why?" Joey asked loudly again, and inside the interrogation room, Anzu winced when she could hear Joey speaking loudly. Oh god…please god… Joey did everything right.
Smart guy, he even took her notebook.
She was right to trust him when everyone always underestimated him.
The man in charge had long white hair cut stylishly at shoulder length, and he snatched the notebook out of Joey's hands.
"Thank you, agent. Wait on the bench outside. You're next," the man said with a threatening gleam in his eyes, and Joey laughed nervously.
"Aaahhaha, I'm always next," he said stupidly, and he shut the door quickly behind him but not before catching a panicked look on Anzu's face. Crap. What was that?
He slipped his phone out to text his sister, kicking himself when he realized he'd forgotten to get her new number. Sheesh. Whatever, she was active on social media.
"Ey," he sent her a private message. "Kaiba might wanna get a lawyer for Anzu bc she gave me a look that said 'I'm scared'. Lett'im know."
And he deleted the message after sending it.
Thankfully, Shizuka had the same reaction.
"OK big bro! love you" -message recalled-
Smart girl, Joey praised her and heard the door open beside him, and Anzu walked out of the room, looking harassed.
"Okay. You," the interpol guy pointed at Joey. "Chief assistant?... Katsuya? Come in for interrogation please."
"Ey hang on," Joey held his hands up defensively after putting his phone back into his pocket. "Am I bein' charged fer anythin'?"
"That's what I said," Anzu replied coldly with her arms folded across her chest.
"No, but we need to clear something up," the man replied icily, standing by the doorway and patting the chair. "If you have nothing to hide, why don't you come sit down and talk about it?"
"Ehhhh, cuz I don' wanna waste my time?" Joey kept his volume up, knowing it was attracting attention from their other coworkers. "If you wanna ask me somthin' you can ask me at my desk. Why ya makin' me sit at a table like I'm a criminal? I work here ya'know."
"That's. What. I said," Anzu replied through gritted teeth.
The interpol officer's face changed eerily and he glared at the agent. Fine.
They wanted to play hard mode. He would retaliate.
"Then you want me to formally charge you with suspicious activity?" The man challenged, and Joey blinked, feeling the floor dip underneath him. W-What….
"Yes, that'll look good on your record, seeing as how you've been in this position for less than a year," the man continued, knowing exactly how to push buttons, and Joey swallowed thinly. Uh oh…
"If you're formally charging him, then he can call a lawyer to keep his name clear," Anzu threw a protective hand across Joey's chest. "And everything we talked about in there is inadmissible in court. You misled me going in."
"You all sound like criminals already, lawyering up in your own interrogation room," the interpol officer goaded, and Joey felt his eyelid twitch.
This guy reminded him of Seto Kaiba.
He knew exactly how to deal with this guy.
"Itsa'kay Anzu," Joey shrugged, grinning brashly and flashing her a thumbs up. "Dis guy's right. We did nothin' wrong, so we aint got nothin' ta' hide. He can ask me all day about where I took a poop."
And he walked into the interrogation room, sounding more confident than he felt.
The door closed ominously behind him with a clack! and the video camera propped up by the tableside was giving him chills.
Man. He was used to being on the other side of these things.
"Okay, first order of business—" the interpol officer slapped Anzu's notebook down, and they were interrupted by a loud knock on the door. "Occupied! Interrogation in progress!"
There was a loud doorknob rattle, and a man with a sleek ponytail tied back with a string of pearls bowed deeply in the doorway. When he straightened up, his cheekbones were so sharp in the harsh lights, Joey almost thought he looked like a villain.
"Dartz Paradius of Paradius & Doma esquire, and I am this man's legal counsel," the lawyer said silkily, flipping his ID out of his wallet before tucking it back into his blazer with a smooth movement, and the Interpol officer's cheek jumped with a tense muscle.
"Maximillion Pegasus," the Interpol officer reached his hand out formally, but the handshake was completely disregarded, so the officer clenched his fists and lowered his hand, offended.
The lawyer was unfazed, having gained the upper hand.
Joey watched this silent war with wide eyes. Oh yikes.
"First, what are you accusing my client of?" The lawyer was eager to start, and Joey knew better than to talk. At all. Ever.
This guy was sent by Kaiba, he was sure of it.
Sure smelled like it.
"Collaborating with an international…serial…most-wanted hit man!" Pegasus hissed, already losing his temper at the arrival of a defense lawyer who looked like an absolute comic book villain. Typical!
"Tall tale," the man replied, barely eyeing the camera set up by the table. "Next accusation. My client is an upstanding officer of the law, and has no reason to associate with the other side."
"He was outside, disposing of evidence while I dealt with his superior!" Pegasus snarled, pushing the thin notebook closer towards the agent who was completely unfazed, even sucking his teeth and picking his nose…like a criminal. "Clearly, I should've investigated from the bottom up. Who else is a part of this rotten scheme?"
The lawyer glanced at Joey and said, "you may tell him where you got this notebook."
"From my car where she always forgets it," Joey said flatly. "Now can I go?"
"Pages of this notebook is 255," the interpol officer was relentless. "Why are there only about 30 pages in here?"
"Dunno, she—" Joey was stopped by an upright hand under his nose, so he shut up.
"Who are you to criticize her note-taking habits? And why are you asking her partner when you should be asking her?" Dartz said cleverly, his eyes gleaming. "Let this man go. He's useless, clearly."
"Oh, yes, let's call her in and ask again, now that you're here, I can formally charge you both!" Pegasus almost shrieked, and Dartz smirked.
Joey sweat into the back of his shirt as Anzu was led back into the room and sat down beside him.
She looked absolutely furious as she glared at the officer, and Pegasus wasted no time, accusing her of tampering.
"Why does your call log show incoming calls from the Kaiba residence, but nothing in your records…" Pegasus picked the notebook up with two delicate fingers. "…Show otherwise? You're hiding evidence. You sent this man out to dispose of physical records, but ourdigital records will show…calls incoming. We will bring in Mr. Kaiba to confirm this. We will pull the recordings from your records."
"Cool, don't care," Anzu snapped, and she received a hand-raise from the lawyer beside Joey, and the man defended her smoothly.
"These incendiary accusations will not be taken lightly," the lawyer said with a dangerous gleam in his eye. "You are accusing a powerful woman sitting in the highest seat of our country's national security of colluding with a celebrity billionaire who could care less…about what goes on with her. Think about what you're saying, Officer. Even I think it's preposterous."
"That's what I said," Anzu replied flatly, and Joey shifted beside her, yawning.
The Interpol officer was grinding his teeth. Irritating imbeciles.
No matter.
He already suspected there wasn't a strong connection between Seto Kaiba and police of any kind, since that tech mogul was almost a criminal himself.
He knew Seto Kaiba was most likely in contact with Atem, his main target.
The country's police might know about Atem staying in Japan, but haven't done anything about it, mainly because they couldn't.
That was evident.
Now why this criminal lawyer was here defending those two, was a mystery, but he knew it would bring him closer as to…why.
He'd find out soon.
Seto Kaiba would be easier to bully.
He dismissed the two agents with a wave of his hand and watched them leave. He glowered at their backs, thinking they acted way too carefree for agents on the right side of the law, knowing they were in trouble.
Sitting back in his seat, he waited for his next victim to show up, more than ready to sink his teeth into Seto Kaiba.
Seto walked into the interrogation room, his blood secretly boiling, but he knew if he showed emotion, the officer would take that as weakness.
He needed to be stone cold. They were fine.
He was solid. He had a good lawyer.
There was a camera propped up at the edge of the table, but he paid it no mind.
Sitting smoothly down in the uncomfortable chair, Seto got comfortable and crossed his arms and legs. Ready for combat.
His lawyer sat down beside him and eyed the interpol officer again, and the man with white hair across the table looked shocked and then confused.
"You again. Don't you have somewhere to be?" Pegasus asked, hating how he was once again facing off with this man. "Small pool of clients?"
Now this was annoying, but not impossible.
"Irrelevant," the lawyer answered stiffly, his eyes gleaming evilly under the harsh lights. "Get your accusation over with. Mr. Kaiba is a busy man."
Pegasus bared his teeth and pushed a stack of photos across the table, ready to tear the billionaire down.
"Gala, for a children's hospital fundraiser," Pegasus began, shoving a blurry image of two people running down through the stairway. "2018. Three years ago, this man was seen leaving with you. He is internationally wanted for multiple killings of high-profile…"
Seto rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. God, this again.
His lawyer turned to him and nodded, "do you recall this encounter?"
"No." Seto replied flatly. "Too many galas, too many faces."
Pegasus's eyelid twitched.
"But you work with computers, meaning you could wipe footage from anywhere, anytime, including…" he set photos down from the Domino Met Hotel, showing a man crumpled at the foot of the stairs, bleeding from a head wound. "Everything inside this building. Explain why you were shown in the stairwell where this man died in front of you, but all footage inside this building was destroyed."
The lawyer was quick to retaliate.
"There was an emergency with the VIPs at this event," Dartz said smoothly. "If you're questioning everyone in the stairwell, please call in to question the Prime Minister, who was right behind this dead man, according to my version of this footage."
Nice, Seto thought appreciatively, and he could see the interpol officer's cheek tense again.
Pegasus's blood boiled, and he decided to go balls-out on Seto Kaiba now. They were tiptoeing around it, and it was pissing him off. He'd throw everything he had and see what this slimy lawyer had to say about it.
The camera would catch every single one of Seto Kaiba's micro expressions too.
"Okay, let's stop talking about the past and start over," Pegasus said with a soft nod, ready to bare his fangs. "Who are you today, Seto Kaiba? How did you get here?"
"You called me in here you assho—"
"Mr. Kaiba, please," his lawyer gave him a cold smile. "I've got it."
He turned to Pegasus with the same smile. "Press formal charges or we're leaving."
"No questions," Pegasus said slyly, pulling out more photos of dead men to show. "Just a congratulations, to the deaths of these 5 men who have been causing you grief your entire adult life, hm? Their accountants and lawyers died as well. Did you know that?"
He splayed the bloody photos of the execs dead in their various locations, and Seto Kaiba didn't even blink.
"And?" Dartz prompted, sighing with an eye roll. "It was all over the news. Everyone knew. What does this have to do with him directly?"
"Are you serious?" Pegasus fumed, reaching into the file to pull out more photos. "This happens right after a mysterious pair of murderers nicknamed the JokerPair landed in Japan, and guess what? Their itinerary said, 'Seto Kaiba and Atem'. Got anything to say about why your names are together? –No, no need to answer that yet," Pegasus continued.
"Let's talk more about the 5 dead execs, since we had access to all their files, we discovered they were participating in many illicit activities such as…." He placed a photocopy of a bank transfer with a large amount across it, circled and highlighted, with the sender and receiver names blacked out. "A large transaction for a certain hit man, to dispose of Seto Kaiba. And yet, you're still sitting here. Why?" Pegasus asked gleefully, seeing the lawyer lean back with a sigh and give him an exasperated look.
"You're telling me, one of the world's most dangerous killers…just let you live," Pegasus made a flamboyant gesture around his face with his fingers wiggling. "When your head costs this much, underground," he tapped the zeros on the wire transfer copy, "why are you not…dead yet, Seto Kaiba?"
"Are you making a death threat against my client?" Dartz asked tiredly, eyeing the door. "Now we leave."
"No, hear the rest of my story," Pegasus pouted comically, his eyes glinting with meanness. "This man named Atem has killed multiple organizations of people, politicians of all ranks, along with police, civilians, crime heads…you name it! And yet Seto Kaiba is immune in Japan. Sitting pretty in his shiny tower. I'm not done."
He placed more mug shots down on the table along with Shizuka's student ID photo, enlarged on the paper, and Seto willed himself not to react. Fucking…A. This man had all the pieces.
He knew exactly what the fuck was happening.
"Recently, there was a kidnapping of a student. Everyone knows because everyone watches the news," Pegasus said derisively, aiming this at the lawyer. "These men…" he swept his finger over their ugly faces, "…were caught on university feeds, dragging this girl out of her lab."
Dartz shook his head in exasperation. "This has nothing to do with my client—"
"Yet. I said listen to the story," Pegasus goaded, now enjoying tormenting the lawyer. "But then, mysteriously, miraculously, yesterday…" he slapped more bloody photos down on the table, and Seto Kaiba leaned forward to inspect them with interest, and that irritated him.
"They all died within the same time frame," Pegasus said darkly, staring at the tips Kaiba's cheekbones while he was bent over, staring at the murdered men. "Shells picked up, no traces of anyone else in the room other than maybe a prostitute? Because she left her dress, bra, and shoes."
He tossed another careless photo down of the red dress Seto had seen Shizuka wearing, with a lacy pink bra beside it, set together with high-heeled shoes. Okay. So what.
"A prostitute will perform strategic, headshot kills?" Pegasus prodded, tapping the bullet holes in the deceased men's heads. "At least 3 times, for each man? Hold on there's more…"
Seto did his best not to react.
"Atem's method is, usually one in the temple, or two in the back of the head, and maybe one in the face," Pegasus said calmly, lacing his hands together in front of him before the spread of bloody photos. "His kills are easy to spot, because he makes no secret hiding it. Now I won't even mention how I see someone on the police force—like Jounouchi Katsuya—taking out low-level criminals rampaging around downtown with this method. Did…Atem…take on an apprentice? Or is he working with the police here in Downtown Domino?"
There was a tense silence and the lawyer grabbed Seto's arm, so Seto stood up obediently.
"Okay. Nice story. Keep your speculating to yourself. We've stayed the obligatory 45 minutes," the man said, and Pegasus shrugged, still talking to the bloody photos on the table.
"Happy anniversary," Pegasus replied simply, and his heart leapt when he saw Seto Kaiba's eyes widen. Good…Good! This was correct.
He originally thought this angle was outlandish, but that reaction confirmed it.
Too bad he'd been standing, and no camera had caught that reaction.
"I'm referring to the anniversary of Atem meeting you in the stairwell of the gala, because this file was sent 3 years ago, down to the date—today," Pegasus's face split into a wide grin. "I know you like to play sick games, Seto Kaiba. Did you arrange for this girl to be kidnapped, shipped overseas, while you and Atem play rescue-the-girl? And let's not mention the mysterious mobilization of criminals who suddenly…banded together to find…Mokuba Kaiba. Why? Why are they so obedient? Who are they obeying with such…fear? Not even money can buy this much fear. It's almost like Atem is working for you, Seto Kaiba."
"Proof?" Dartz supplemented, and Pegasus pulled a fake, forlorn look.
"It was all erased…like magic!" He smiled coldly at his hands, still folded in front of him atop all the bloody photos, admitting he'd lost. "Like a couple of tech geniuses teamed up to hack many international security feeds without a trace, taking away even the evidence of this young woman here who was kidnapped and trafficked."
"Leaving," Dartz said simply, and he steered Seto to the door. "None of these accusations will hold, if they're even considered accusations."
"I will speak to this young girl, and she will tell me all of it, so better get your story straight right now, Seto Kaiba!" Pegasus barked, standing up out of his chair, his eyes burning with hatred. "There are records of you calling this station…!"
"You will find that the calls were all made in and around the time of the Domino Met Hotel incident," Dartz replied robotically, pushing Seto out the door in front of him. "Mr. Kaiba was worried for his safety, as he should be. His security is top notch. Good day, Officer."
Seto was marched down the hallway where Joey and Anzu were standing tensely by the doors of their offices, and he gave them a smirk. Joey was wrinkling the hem of his shirt which had come untucked, and Anzu looked visibly more stressed.
He stood in the elevator and his lawyer stood beside him, basking in the silence.
A win.
They had nothing on him. Only pure speculation.
All of which was correct, but there was no concrete proof.
Author's note:
ooo seto meets challenges! dartz and pegasus make an appearance!