A cool darkness welcomed Yami as he was marched into another room, and he heard gasps of other officers as he was walked by their desks, and his stomach twisted.

"Can you please take the hood off?" A woman's voice sounded clearly across the room, and Yami's heart leapt with hope.

"Sit down, agent, and don't advocate for a dangerous criminal," the annoying chief was standing somewhere in the middle of the room, and Yami couldn't pinpoint the shape or size of the room until he was shoved into an office chair that spun a bit when he sat down.

Yami could see the glow of a computer screen through the fabric of the hood, and he bit the inside of his cheek. Okay, what was happening now?

"Please take the hood off, you're being inhumane," the woman was relentless, and Yami tried to place where he'd heard her voice before. It sounded familiar...

And he jumped in fear when the man raised his voice so suddenly, he felt the person sitting beside him flinch too.

"THIS MAN!" The chief shouted in English while the Japanese translator spoke hoarsely in that trembling voice. "This man right here has a higher kill count than the entire Mossad. I am not uncuffing or letting him see any part of this room until we need him to do his fucking job. Tell that bitch to sit down."

The Japanese translator shakily apologized for translating it after saying the world 'bitch' and the room fell deathly quiet.

Yami clenched his fists in anger, and he saw a hand with a pretty manicure from the agent beside him rest atop his and give his knuckles a squeeze. His heart leapt.

What? Did he know this woman too?

There was an engagement ring on that hand.
The hand quickly shrank away after touching him once.

Footsteps came from behind, and his chair was swiveled around so forcefully, Yami had to plant his feet apart, and a hand clamped down atop his hair, making him freeze in anger. H-Hey now...

"Okay you monster, listen the fuck up," the chief said coldly. "I read your file. I know you can understand me. Tap your foot once and make no other movement, or I'll discharge my weapon on you without hesitation."

Okay, Yami growled and he tapped his left foot once.

Being called a monster, being cussed at, hearing loud yelling, being threatened.

His list of anger-triggers was going up.

Once they hit 10 triggers, he might just call it a day and go home without helping.

He heard a knock on the door, and the chief shouted over his shoulder, "keep the lawyer outside! I want two minutes with this pile of filth!"

The hand left his hair and the chief took a step back.

Yami clenched and unclenched his fists, and heard more silence.

That was immoral, wasn't it?

Denying him council?

He could see rows of chairs beside his, and legs, so people were sitting all around him but were terrified.

"Okay, Atem," the chief said loftily, and Yami clenched his fists again, his palms sore from how his nails were digging into them. "We are running a deal on an arm's dealer named Allister. He's been a pain in my ass since I started this job and this is the closest I've ever gotten to getting him. Now..."

Yami felt the chair being swiveled back around without warning, so he had to shoot his hands out to brace himself for the edge of the table, his wrists hitting the edge of a keyboard while a hot breath in his ear made his blood run cold with rage.

"I hear you're a great keyboard monkey," the chief growled beside his face, grabbing the keyboard and bringing it closer until Yami could feel the keys dragging against his fingertips. "You're head monkey. It's looking up for you."

Yami was about to ask how he was going to see the screen with a hood over his head when the hood was yanked off his head and the brightness from the screen made him wince, so he raised his hands to briefly cover his eyes, freezing when he heard a weapon click beside him.

"No sudden movements." The chief growled, eyeing the spiky hair.

His fury was bubbling as Yami slowly extended his fingers and held his palms up in a defensive position, still cuffed, and his cheeks burning with a mixture of humiliation and hatred for the man.

Mai said his name was Rafael?

Maybe he ought to shake this man by saying his name.

A loud knock sounded on the door again, and then the door swung open. Yami didn't dare turn around, but he could hear the lawyer hissing in a contained anger, "this is an obstruction of rights for a citizen with a full immunity contract! I represent him!"

Yami cringed when the translator had to relay that to the chief, and the chief argued with the lawyer, "this man is a terrorist. Not a citizen of anything other than a dark hole with his name on it. What do you want?"

"To read you... a list, Commander Rafael," Dartz growled, glaring at the muscular man towering before him, thinking the jobs he took for Seto Kaiba always presented these irritating challenges that made his job fun until it wasn't. "He is going through a therapy treatment, and saying certain words to him will cause him to react. I'm here to remind you that he has full immunity, and any actions he performs here while 'helping' you fall under that contract."

The chief huffed and crossed his arms.

Blah blah lawyer talk.

The criminal was immune. Figures.

Dartz shook his hair back and read loudly off his phone in Japanese for the whole room to hear, "sudden, loud shouting will trigger an incident. Rude language, calling this man a 'monster', a 'terrorist', or any derogatory name for a person with dark skin will trigger an incident. Asking this man to 'hit' someone, will trigger an incident—"

"Okay, I've heard enough," Rafael held up a beefy hand and rolled his eyes. "He's been neutered. I got it."

Yami couldn't unclench his teeth. An odd ringing was building in his ears.

"Quite the opposite!" Dartz raised his voice to match the man's loudness. "Treat this man the way you would a veteran with extreme PTSD. I'm stating for this entire room to hear: that he is not fit for service. He is not fit to help you, and he is not fit to give or receive intel. His inaction is covered by his immunity contract, because he's peaceful. If this man gets up and walks away, you will not stop him."

Rafael glared at the long-haired lawyer and waved him away, "alright alright. Anything else?"

"The list of his triggers has been emailed to you, and you all signed a consent form of assuming risk of working with him, earlier today," Dartz said coldly, gripping his electronic pad with a tight fist. "That is all. I will sit outside."

With that, Dartz closed the door behind him and shook his head. He'd read the list and he'd studied up on what to do if that man inside would have an episode and hurt someone.

He wasn't looking forward to it.
Because that man was going to have an episode.

"Yami... Are you okay?" Someone whispered beside him, and Yami snapped out of his inner turmoil to stare.

It was a familiar, round face, dark hair cut in short layers around her chin...

Ah, one of the ladies from his self-defense class. Red Team Leader.

"Ohara-san, nice to see you again," Yami breathed, bowing his head in a quick greeting, and he received one in return.

"Don't mind him. Kujaku-san has been fighting with him since his arrival," she whispered, leaning away to sit facing her screen, her mouth barely moving. "She was extremely against bringing you in for this job, and...seeing that he put a hood on you, I'm very sorry—"

"DON'T ENGAGE WITH THE ASSET!"

The chief shouted from behind them, and Yami jumped in fear again, his ears rushing with a hollow sound, barely registering that the woman beside him also got frightened by the sudden yelling.

She clenched her fists over her keyboard too and lowered her head.

Yami slowly swiveled around to face the chief and raised his hands defensively over his head again, making sure to speak English. "She was asking when I'll be let out of these and I told her I don't know."

"Well good, because you can type and hack shit while handcuffed," Rafael replied with a sneer, pointing at the giant screen rolling down from the ceiling, and a projector was turned on overhead, lighting the darkened room with a pale blue glow. "Listen up! We have agents on the ground right now! You are to coordinate the team's seamless entry and exit out of the building. Comms in."

There was a quiet shuffle, and people picked up headsets to place them on their heads.

Yami glanced around his station.

He didn't have one.

Fine.

Inaction was covered by his contract?

He'd fuck off then.

Standing slowly, he received another barking order.

"Asset, where the fuck are you going?" The chief spat, and Yami decided to speak Japanese so the entire room could understand him.

"I'm leaving because you're mistreating me and everyone in here," Yami said slowly, keeping his hands raised, tugging his wrists playfully against the handcuffs. "I'm still like this and you want me to help? You're yelling my ears off and my lawyer just said I have reactions to loud yelling. Let me go. I'm going."

The translator paused and then relayed it quickly in English, making the chief even angrier while people shifted in front of their computers.

"Well tell him to speak English!" The chief said arrogantly, pointing a thick finger at him. "Sit. Down. You're not going anywhere, bucko."

Yami blinked and dared to take a step forward, and his blood ran cold again when the chief drew his standard issue from his belt and pointed it right at him.

The tiny hole from the barrel of the gun was making his rage bubble up again.

A weapon was pointed at him in a room full of innocent people!

"If you miss, you're shooting someone beside me," Yami said calmly, and he felt the woman beside him slowly inch away, getting ready to duck. "Please lower it. I am unarmed. You are the only one making it unsafe here—"

"I said, shut up. Sit down. Start typing," Rafael threatened over the barrel of his gun that still had the safety on. "Alpha and Delta team are on your screen."

Yami blinked and said in Japanese, "lawyer please."

Rafael's eyes narrowed when the translator relayed the message, and Yami planted his feet apart, ready for the man to come striding up with the gun still pointed at him.

Yami received a rough shove that made him take two steps back, and he fell into his seat, was swiveled back around to face the computer, and heard another hostile hiss in his ear, "hands. Moving. Or you can type with one hand."

Grinding his teeth, Yami poised his hands over the keyboard and tried to control the violent churning in his stomach that felt like he'd eaten something bad.

He was barely present when his screen loaded with security camera footage, and he was given an order to look for 'red flags', whatever that meant.

He wasn't going to do it.

Hands were flying over keyboards, typing loudly while Rafael was talking into his headset, sounding angry, "...well? What floor are you on? ...16th?"

Yami accidentally saw the tiny number 16 on a small square on his screen and cursed himself for being curious. He did see something interesting though.

Mai.

With her flowing blond hair and curvy figure, wearing a tight-fitting black dress, standing alone by the champagne fountain.

Oh.

She was the agent they were watching?

Now he might need to pay a little bit of attention...

They were in a restaurant, and someone was the man with slick-backed hair being escorted through the dining floor, and Yami's heart stuck in his throat.

This man looked familiar.

He was Mai's ex...something.

They had met in a casino counting cards or something of that nature. He was a fun guy, pretending to be a celebrity.
Jean-claude was his name…?

Definitely not helping, Yami crossed his arms and watched the man sit down at the table, with his entourage of security.

Mai's ex-boyfriend spotted Mai at the fountain and whispered to one of his men, and Mai was being escorted to sit at the table with them. He leaned in to smile at her, resting his hand atop her's and she did the same, gripping his hand and giving him a smile which Yami couldn't see.

Oh boy. Was Mai going to double-cross the agency? Because... That was typical-Mai.

"What do you mean he doesn't have it?" Rafael growled, sounding angry from the back of the room. "Who has it then? ASK!"

Yami winced and he felt Ohara-san beside him wince too.

He had no comm so he couldn't know what they were saying, but he could read the lips whenever they turned their heads enough for the camera to catch it.

The ex-boyfriend was saying...

"Darling... You know I'm just the guy who delivers. Speed demon, remember?" He chuckled, and Mai gave him a tense smile, her lips saying, "...I thought you always meant drugs when you said that."

"No babe," The ex-boyfriend was laughing loudly with one hand draped casually around the back of her chair. "Talking about a bike. Hey, heard anything about our mutual friend lately?"

"Which one?" Mai asked testily, trying to get back to the subject. "Who's your supplier? Let me know and I'll go to them instead. I'm not trying to endanger you, babe."

The ex-boyfriend leaned forward in his chair to touch her hair, giving her a fond look, "I'm always in danger when you're around, baby."

Mai grimaced and swatted his hand away.

"Seriously. The person is asking me to deliver now and...my name is on the line, Claude" Mai said quietly, giving his arm a nudge. "Name. Now."

"He's right over there," Claude tilted his head at a man dining across the way with a small child sitting in the seat. "Alister and his lil' bro Mikey."

Ah, the face to my weapons-man, Yami leaned forward, intrigued, and slowly inched his hand towards the mouse to zoom in on the short-haired man laughing with the little boy. Awww... He had a child?

And that was why he was always faceless.

Except for now...

"We're kinda...desperate right now," Claude admitted, and Yami barely caught what he said next, because he swore the lips moved to say, "...because Atem vanished, people are running scared. They said he flipped sides. Like can you believe?"

Mai shook her head and her long hair covered the sides of her face, making it impossible for Yami to read her lips. DAMMIT. They were gossiping about him.

This was juicy, he wanted to say 'hi'.

Something was happening behind him with Rafael growling into his headset at another agent on the ground, "take the shot."

Yami spun around and stared in shock. WHAT?! Who was taking what shot? WHERE?!

With Mai sitting right there?!

He used both his cuffed hands to clumsily maneuver the mouse around to see around the entire dining room, seeing no one. No windows either.

It had to be the floor...

"You're cleared for collateral damage!" Rafael roared into the headset, his face turning red from all the shouting, "I don't care if there's a kid in your range! Take. The shot."

Yami leapt to his feet and cried out, "DON'T!" and received the gun being pointed at him again.

"Asset, sit the fuck down, last chance!" Rafael snarled, with one hand clapped to his ear while he was bent over another agent's computer. "They're getting on a plane and you need to hack the black box, so shut up and sit down before I put one in you!"

"You're going to kill a child, that's what I'm hearing," Yami said slowly, with his handcuffed hands clenched in front of him.

"That kid is gonna grow up to take his place, so yeah, two birds, one stone," the muscular man replied icily, angling the gun downwards at Yami's feet. "Sit."

The translator was now translating both of their words, and the entire room raised their heads to watch the fight with fearful silence.

"If you shoot a kid, I will shoot you," Yami said with conviction. "You don't know their situation. What if the kid doesn't know about his older brother's operation? And even if he did, what can he do? He's younger than 15! You're going to kill his older brother in front of him? You have no heart!" And he received a furious glare from Rafael.

"That's rich coming from the most heartless man on this planet!" Rafael sniffed, leaning down to give the same command, "take the...DAMMIT!"

Yami turned around to glance at the screen, noticing them getting up to leave, having finished their meal.

Oh thank god.

Crisis averted.

"And you were going to shoot them in a roomful of crowded people? ...Eating?!" Yami continued to berate the man, unable to believe a professional agency was running his operation. "You're more criminal than me! What the hell does it mean to be 'cleared' for collateral damage? You're hurting another person who doesn't need to be your second target!"

"The kid won't die from it, and fuck! It's your fault they're gone!" Rafael snarled, stalking over to him with the gun pointed, and Yami braced himself.

He was shoved backwards again and made to sit facing his screen, and the butt of the gun tapped the back of his hand while Rafael growled in his ear, "...keep your mouth...shut...and hack their flight, or I will beat you to death with this keyboard."

Yami snapped.

He used both his cuffed hands to grab Rafael's weapon, wrenching it upwards while standing up fast, knowing his shoulder would collide painfully with the man's chin with that upwards movement. That gave him a brief second to twist the gun out of Rafael's hand and his thumb was depressing the safety, his body moving on autopilot when he saw the man stumble back in pain with his hand clapped over his chin.

"You fuck!" The man growled, palming the bruise under his chin and hissing. "Green asset my ass! You just attacked me!"

Yami bit the inside of his cheek and slowly turned around to sit back down, with the gun in his lap, shaking.

He was going to kill this man...

Resisting was hard.

His screen had fallen asleep from how long it had been untouched.

He heard the chief growl and lunge at him again, clearly eager for payback, his beefy arms coming to him in a chokehold which Yami could see in the dull reflection of his monitor, so all he did was angle his body to the side and his hand went automatically to the gun again, and this time, he wasn't successful in stopping himself from reacting on instinct.

Yami's hand wrapped around the cool surface of gun, and he saw Rafael's burly chin come forward beside his face again when his chokehold missed, so all he had to do was press the gun upwards underneath the man's chin and fire once while rolling his chair backwards away from the body as Rafael crumpled against the desk and slumped forward over keyboard, a tiny puddle of blood growing bigger until it dripped down over the edge, soaking into the carpet.

The metallic scent of blood and gunpowder was in the air.

The man was twitching and groaning, so Yami stood up and carelessly fired into the back of the man's head, and then he went silent.

Finally.

Ohara-san was cowering under the desk, and other agents were also ducked under their desks, no one treating him like a hostile person even though he had just...killed someone.

"Lawyer please," Yami said easily, turning to face the door, seeing no heads at desks. "And a handcuff key. Who is next in charge under his man?"

No one moved.

Yami held his breath and saw the door swing open, because of course, Dartz would've heard the gunshot.

Glancing up in the ceiling, Yami tilted his head and saw a tiny hole. Oops.

"I hope no one was up there," Yami said quietly, and to his surprise, Ohara-san replied quietly, "we're in a reinforced basement. Above is the parking."

Dartz froze when he saw the commander's body bleeding over the spot Yami had just been sitting, and the gun in the man's hand, and he sighed, feeling a rush of tiredness.

"I warned him and I could hear his yelling outside the door," Dartz said loftily, turning to address the two other agents rushing inside from the hallway, talking fast into their shocked faces. "Our guest had a reaction to being treated unfairly. He was handcuffed upon arriving, that is one strike, and he was wearing a hood, being treated as hostile, strike two. Strike three is this man cursing and yelling insults, which I could hear through the door, I'm sure any surveillance tapes can confirm."

Yami was barely listening to the lawyer rant.

All he could see was the screen flickering on and it was receiving many audio frequencies, meaning...

The headset was bloody on the chief's head, so Yami took Ohara-san's headset instead and pressed it to his ear, still not letting go of the gun while the two agents approached him cautiously from behind, unsure how to treat him, but trying to reach the body.

So Yami stepped aside and thought he heard Mai's voice in his ear.

"Mai? It's me." He asked quietly, and she sounded relieved to hear him.

"Hey...! Hey babe! W-Wow uh...This is not a secure line!" She said quietly, her voice echoing, sounding like she was in a stairwell. "And did I just hear a gunshot or two, from...your side?!"

"Yeah..." Yami said dryly, watching more agents waiting at the door with a medical stretcher. "The keyboard was collateral damage, but I'm sure the chief won't mind since he's dead."

He heard a huff somewhere that sounded like laughter, and he couldn't find the source of it, because too many people were entering the room and someone was trying to take the headset and weapon away from him.

"Wait! Don't interfere!" Yami hissed, elbowing away the agent who was trying to disarm him. "They want a man named Alister, but not his kid brother, right?"

"They?" Mai asked quizzically before huffing in reply. "You mean, me. This is my op now."

"Oh," Yami shrugged and finally let the agent at his side take the gun away from him with a gloved hand. "Then have fun catching him. Don't punish the kid."

"I won't. Who do you take me for, seriously? ….Go home!" She replied, her voice getting farther away when someone took the headset away from him and shakily asked him to get on his knees and put his hands behind his head.

The lawyer was ranting furiously behind him, and he was asked to stand up.

A man wearing a yellow badge that said "handler" bowed and asked in both English and Japanese, "we need to ask you to leave the premises since you are acting unstable."

Great! Yami thought cheerfully as he turned on his heel and followed Dartz out the door. If he had known shooting the man would've gotten him out of it sooner, he would've shot the man earlier.

Instead of the police van, he was uncuffed, put in the passenger seat of Dartz's Mercedes, and driven right off the intelligence headquarters.

The car rolled down the wide city roads and they paused at a traffic light.

Yami blinked, staring at the shiny buildings above while he rubbed the corners of his wrist where the cuffs had been bumping.

So... What was happening now?

"Where are we going?" Yami asked delicately, wondering if he could relax safely.

"To your home," Dartz replied in monotone. "You reacted exactly as I predicted, and I have much paperwork to submit on your behalf. Stay where I can reach you, because I need you and Mr. Kaiba's signatures."

Got it... Yami thought and wondered if he ought to apologize for killing the man.

Nope. He didn't feel sorry.

The black gates of the mansion appeared and the car was let in without Dartz even needing to roll the window down to call anyone. Which meant someone was watching the cameras very closely.

Dartz parked around the fountain, and Yami climbed out slowly to stretch, seeing Seto come dashing out of the house, dressed down in his plain black turtleneck and dark slacks, phone in one hand and coffee cup in the other.

"That was fast! You're back! That was only two hours," Seto exclaimed as he shoved his feet into the slippers Isono put down by his feet, and was about to hand off the coffee mug so he could hug Yami when Yami walked up the front steps and dodged his hug with a quick side-step.

H-Hey! What the fuck!

"Excuse you, sure, don't hug me," Seto snapped, eyeing the lawyer who was digging around in his briefcase which was resting atop the roof of his car and then noticed Yami had hurried up the steps, clearly avoiding him. "What happened?! ….Yami?!"

He was about to follow when Dartz walked up the front steps and shoved a thick manilla file under his nose and nodded gravely, "your...friend...grabbed a weapon off the commander and shot him twice in the head. Sign those."

Seto blinked, his grip weakening on the files. W-WHAT?!

Isono trembled and stayed behind the door, eavesdropping openly.

"Okay, but he was provoked, right?" Seto cried, circling Dartz as the lawyer sat down on the lounge in front of the low coffee table and began arranging files out across it, nodding gravely.

"Yes, I did my due diligence, reading them the list of triggers," Dartz sighed and pinched his brow. "They signed all the waivers and documents I had before they put him in the van. I could hear the shouting through the door. Then, gunshots. I'm sure there are witnesses and even camera footage to corroborate that he was provoked into action. I heard cursing too."

Seto sank into the plush lounge, his knees shaking as he watched Isono quietly close the heavy front doors.

"Who was cursing?" Seto asked weakly, wondering how much abuse Yami sustained on his brief trip out of the mansion.

"The commander," Dartz said lightly, organizing the files into neat stacks. "But here is the dead man's...signature..." he pushed a paper across the way and tapped on it, "this is the golden ticket out. This was an, 'assume the risk' paperwork. And they obstructed my entry into the room for 4 minutes. They also..." Dartz grimaced and spoke fast, "...put Yami in a hood and handcuffs, treating him like a hostile prisoner. I took a photo of him walking out of the van..."

He slid out his phone and passed it across the table for Kaiba to see.

Kaiba picked up the phone and his blood ran hot with fury at the bright orange hood on Yami's head, his hands cuffed in front of him while he was standing before a muscular guy who was poking his finger into the chest of another guard.

Great.

He even looked like a douchebag.

But what really broke his heart was seeing Yami being treated like that.

"This guy?" Seto scoffed, tapping his pinky on the blond man's face. "Did you see it happen?"

"No, I heard it, and have my own recording from outside the door," Dartz said calmly, taking his phone back. "Which will match the incident happening inside. Clearing him is just a matter of putting the paperwork in, since we have an extensive record to prove his unstable psychological state from his doctor. Where is he? I found the papers he needs to sign."

"I'll...bring it up," Seto held his hand out and the folder was placed in his palm.

Setting his mug down, Seto stood wearily and walked up the grand staircase, his heart heavy, knowing he was going to have to console Yami for the next few nights. There might be some more night terrors, night sweats, tears...and maybe some sleepless nights ahead.

Sure enough, when he entered the bedroom, he could hear water running for the shower, so he sat on the edge of the bed and waited for Yami to come out.

Eventually, Yami did, and his face was puffy from crying.

Seto tried to smile but he knew it came off as a grimace.

"You heard," Yami said dully, wrapping the bathrobe tighter around his body as he stayed by the entrance of the bathroom. "Are those my prison papers?" He nodded at the yellow file on the nightstand.

"No, these are your, 'an asshole cussed at you, put a hood on you and then drew a gun on you,' papers," Seto growled, crossing his arms and giving Yami an up and down look before relaxing his stance. "Come here."

And he stood up with his arms outstretched, aiming for a hug. "Come on."

Yami's eyes welled up again and he barreled forward to throw himself into Seto's arms, biting the inside of his cheek as tight arms encircled him and squeezed him tightly, making hot tears leak out of his eyes again.

"H-He was going to shoot a kid..." Yami struggled through a hiccup as he tried to control his ragged breathing. "...He was giving an order to take a shot, and a kid, no more than 10, was sitting...right there...He w-would've seen his brother's head get blown off."

Seto's blood ran cold and replied through gritted teeth, "and these are supposed to be the 'good guys'? What the actual fuck."

"No, it was the arm's dealer," Yami replied, confused.

"No, the..." Seto bit the inside of his cheek. "The commander, giving that order. Deserved a round in back of the head. You're fine. Dartz can clear you. Just sign those and he'll drive them back over."

Yami nodded stiffly and pulled out of Seto's arms, seeing the CEO pass him the papers, and together, they walked over to the desk to grab a pen to slowly sign all the blank lines.

His hand was still shaking, and Seto noticed this, giving him a warm hug from behind as he finished signing the last one.

The papers were slipped back into the folder and he was given a light kiss on the cheek.

"I'll be right back. Get on the bed," Seto said kindly, tilting his head at the freshly fluffed pillows and changed sheets. "You'll hear the front door closing and I'll be right up."

Nodding mutely, Yami walked to the bed and fell into it, shrinking his knees up to his chest in a familiar motion as he breathed in the comforting scent of detergent mixing in with the floral lightness of the air freshener.

Home.

Safe.

In bed, back with Seto, where he always wanted to be, all along.

Maybe it was time for another vacation.

Author's note:

AO3 is down but i'll always update here too!