Edit update: asinine author used the wrong name (Chaz from GX) instead of Kaz for Trudge's number two.
If you didn't laugh at 'number two', I don't know how you're still reading.
Investigating is hard. False leads, dead leads, leads that petter out, leads that go nowhere, leads that just turn back on themselves and, if you're very lucky, leads that actually go somewhere. And that's only if you have leads to begin with. Without leads, you have to deal with people. Leads are bad enough, people are far worse. While the three Kings of Games made their plans for where they would each end up, he had made a few vague excuses and slipped away. There was little he could contribute to the discussion and it was time he made some progress on his own crusade.
Crow had exactly one lead on saving Robert Pearson: Shadow Cards. They had sent both him and his friend to the Netherworld. If he could figure out how they worked, he might be able to figure out how to get Pearson out. There were two places he might find the information he needed. One for if he was desperate and the other for if he became really desperate. The first was;
"Trudge." Earning a few filthy looks by those who felt he hadn't earned the familiar greeting (and a few perked ears from those who knew he had) Crow inadvertently made a splash just by being setting foot in the department. Kaz had been walking through the lobby when he entered and brought Crow right up.
"What's a good, honest criminal like yourself doing in a place like this?" Shaking his hand warmly, Trudge made sure to secure one cuff about the wrist as he did so.
"Not much." Using the keys swiped from the officer at his side, Crow suddenly had the cuff attached to Trudge's wrists instead. "Just dropping by." Looking at his boss, Kaz seemed surprised at the speed the exchange had gone down by.
"I don't suppose that you'd consider keeping this between us?" A surrounding area of very busy officers discretely looked in every other direction as Trudge freed himself from the restraints. "Appreciated." Returning the keys to Kaz, he had his grimmest expression on. In police faces, it was practically a smile. "Watch out for this one," Jerking a thumb at the convict, he cracked another scowl. "He'll hound you once you've got my job."
"That's not true." Examining a wall of records on the other side of the room, he appeared decidedly unimpressed by the lack thereof. "Kaz won't need my help as often as you do." The team around them even more pointedly ignored the trio as Kaz prudently withdrew.
"Why're you wasting my time today?" Folding his arms, the air of disinterest abated at will. Police always eavesdrop if it might be relevant. "Cat stuck up a tree?"
"Can we talk in your office?" Recognising that grim seriousness usually on Yusei's face instead of Crow's, the ageing police officer led the way without a second word.
Inside was a seething swarm of paperwork. Heads of divisions were typically assigned luxurious office spaces. Trudge and Mina shared one so cramped the bathroom down the hall was probably bigger. There was just enough room for their two desks, a handful of filing cabinets and the endless piles of paperwork overflowing from every surface.
"Busy?" As the co-leaders of Special Investigations division, the pair had fewer and fewer responsibilities of late. Anything supernatural had started to dwindle since Ark Cradle had vanished. It was a busy week if they got ten cases and even three of them lasted more than a few hours. It made the pair perfect for picking up jobs nobody else wanted.
"Organising the big police training gig in a few months." Picking up stacks of paper and dumping them elsewhere revealed a chair for Crow to fold himself on. "Not much work coming our way recently so the powers that be decided I was suitable for the job. Gotta organise a million officers from all over the world to take training in breaking up dangerous and criminal Duelling activities."
"Sounds like Sector Security." Physically lifting the corner of his desk so that he could slide behind it, Trudge muffled a few choice words as he smashed his knee into the corner anyway.
"Yeah, well. The old tactics were solid. We just needed to figure out who the real bad guys were." Forms and manuals had also invaded his seat and Trudge just wedged himself in where there was space. "It'll be the largest training convention in police history if I don't kill myself first. Mina's usually the brains of the operation but she's got appointments this week." Everything from food, shelter and showers to Duel Disks, visas and authorisation was being organised by the tiny office. A mammoth undertaking that nobody else had wanted to do so the dubious 'honour' had been assigned to the joke department of the police force. "Lab monkeys say they're working on some upgrades which will impress the foreigners no end. If they can find the magic materials nobody seems to have."
"Let me know if you need a dummy for target practice." Crow had already heard about the problems plaguing his old friend. He had shared them with Yusei back when they had still been waiting for Akiza to return to Japan. It seemed so long ago but couldn't have been more than a few months. "I can always show them how to actually get things done." Other than a wry grunt, Trudge acted as if he hadn't heard the latter sentence.
"So, what's going on?" Bracing himself against the cramped chair, he tensed against the coming problem. "Yusei? Sparky? Jack?" His grip tightened on the edge of his desk at the last one. Jack was the most devastating, least capable man he knew.
"No, they're fine." Waving away the three most dangerous members of their friends, he could practically see Trudge relaxing. "I wanted to talk to you about Shadow Cards." Nothing could have brought the stress back so fast. New lines seemed to edge themselves into the crag of Trudge's face at the words.
"The New Domino Police Department neither knows of nor deals with the unauthorised creation of counterfeit Duel Monster cards." Folding his arms, he seemed to rub away a chill that had grown in them.
"Yeah? And I'm a pig in a wig." The words took away part of the tension but the rest remained. "Don't forget, you came to me for help with them once. Turnabout's fair play."
It appeared as if Trudge was mulling over the idea for a minute. "As a... 'special consultant' on the Crimson Mefist case, you have a right to know how it turned out." Shuffling papers until he could lean on the desk, Trudge pretended not to see his young friend wince at being labelled a help to the police.
"As Mina and I told you back then, an off-books branch of Sector Security had been conducting experiments into ways to materialise Duel Monster holograms. We presume the research was ordered by Rex Goodwin a few years before he died." Of course it had been. There was no end to reasons he had needed the power. "We don't have a full list, even now, but at least a handful of cards were presumed missing. Of course," A slightly uncomfortable look crossed his face. Not 'bending the rules' uncomfortable. Closer to 'I don't believe in this stuff' uncomfortable. "It appears that the data chips in these 'Shadow Cards' were liable to 'overheat' and 'destroy the card' if the 'Duel Disk' detected a loss." Leathery fingers skipped quotations around so many words that he nearly sprained a digit.
"Explains why you never turned up Crimson Mefist." Nor Hook the Hidden Knight or any of the others. As soon as their owner lost, they dissolved back into the shadows from which they drew power.
"Sure, whatever." Like Crow, Trudge knew the real reason. He also had to maintain the official story which – while wishing it was true – he knew to be nothing like reality. "We can manually check records to see if any are used but we can't set a filter for cards we don't know about. I mean, we tried once. It didn't work out." With new cards released every year, they had hundreds of results each week. The program lasted a month before it was cut. "Our only leads were a few researchers who never saw the project to its end. Maybe they took a couple of cards, maybe they didn't. Nobody wrote their names on anything so we can't even be sure how many people worked on the project."
"Let me get this right." Trudge had talked a lot and said very little. "You don't know how Shadow Cards were made, who made them, where they are, how many there were or who could have them?" Put like that, the entire investigation was practically a joke. "What can you tell me?" If he hadn't been so desperate, he might have noticed Trudge's lack of ire at the slight.
Reaching into his breast pocket, he pulled out the notepad he habitually kept there from his days on the streets. "I've bent the rules as much as I can." Scribbling words onto the slip, he tore it from the notebook and slid them back into his shirt pocket. "You knew about Crimson Mefist before you came in here. Anything else, you'll have to get lawyers involved. A lot of lawyers." The meaning was clear: the police weren't about to share any information they had.
"Thanks for the tip." Standing up, they performed a similar awkward dance to get back out of the room as they had to get in. "Give Mina my best." Wedging the door open with Trudge behind it only left a narrow gap to slide through. Crow practically had to hump the partition and grab his friend to maintain balance as he wriggled through.
A few faces turned his way as Crow walked back to the lift. Most didn't. His meeting with Trudge was over and the drama had ended. The only course left to take was to ride the lift back to the basement.
Few cameras actually operate in parking lots. Strange yet true. A few good cameras on the entrances and generally a couple of lousy ones per floor for the rest of the structure. Leaning against his Runner, Crow checked around for any lurking figures as he pulled the note from his pocket. Even Trudge would admit that Crow's criminal skills had their uses on occasion. For instance, when he couldn't share confidential information in police headquarters and needed to pass a note without anyone realising. Even a bad pickpocket could have pulled the note while sliding through the narrow opening.
Only a few lines were written on the slip of paper in the dim light.
Project head vanished with data after shutdown.
Suspect Yliaster was involved.
Good luck.
Luck wasn't what he needed. Crow had already asked Yliaster what they could do. No answers were coming from there. Trudge had been his second chance only to fail.
Sadly, he still had one more avenue left to explore. The one person he personally knew had possessed a Shadow Card. Even if Trudge hadn't exactly been subtle about it, he would have had to go down the route eventually. Screwing the note into his pocket, Crow slipped onto his Runner and edged out into the day.
Typically, the Detention Centre only held criminals related to Duel crimes long-term. Conventional convicts were relocated to more typical prisons elsewhere once they had been processed. Of course, no legal process is perfect and there were a few oddities.
Take, for example, the secured floors at the lower levels of the institution. The inmates there were a unique breed. Dangerous, malicious, underhand. Underground Duels could have all sorts of unethical conditions attached and yet – since it was legally impossible to force someone to Duel – the organisers were kept in the Detention Centre instead of bleaker confines.
Even outside the outcasts, there were still oddities in the system. Like Crow. In his earlier life, he would have been sent here himself if Sector Security had caught him. Or the person he was here to meet. Technically in on a manslaughter charge, he had avoided prison since the incident had taken place during a Duel.
Only a handful of people knew that the death had been neither accidental nor natural. It was because Robert Pearson cared more about his kids than a paycheck. And his partner hadn't.
"I didn't expect to see you for a while." Years of incarceration hadn't done him any favours. Colour had faded from his skin and hair while the scraggly beginnings of a beard permanently adorned his face. No sharp objects included clippers at anything but monthly haircuts. "My parole hearing isn't for another two years. Congratulations, by the way." Even in prison, the guards had broadcast the final rounds of the Pegasus Trinidad. Criminals Duellist were still Duellists. "Finally on the same footing as Atlas."
"Told you I'd get there one day." Shrugging off the compliment, Crow hadn't spoken to Bolton in four years. And three more before that. "Do they treat you okay in here? You look like shit." As a low-risk prisoner with no violent incidents on record, Bolton was allowed to meet visitors at a table instead of from the other side of reinforced glass. There were a couple of other visits going on in the large room. All little fish in the criminal hierarchy.
"Heh. Better than I deserve." Brushing back the fringe of hair, he inadvertently displayed a fading bruise for a moment. "Oh, that's nothing." He had caught Crow's glance. "Bumped it on my bunk." Even if there had been a bigger truth buried, it was nothing Crow would be learning. "But you didn't come here just to ask about my health."
"No." He said heavily. "I didn't." It was true that the Crimson Mefist Bolton had used might have clouded his mind. But Crow couldn't shake the idea that it hadn't driven him to things he wasn't capable of already. "I want you to tell me everything you know about Shadow Cards. And who gave you yours."
Just like with Trudge, an overwhelming tension seemed to fill Bolton from within. "Guard." Turning to flag the guard in a corner of the room, he was already done with the conversation. "Guard, I need to go back to my cell."
"You can't just turn you back on me like this!" Slamming his hands on the table only brought the jailer coming that much faster. "You owe me, Bolton."
"That card ruined my life." Stepping back into the steady presence of the guard only highlighted his anxiety. "First, it took my best friend. Then, it took my company. Stay away." Fear started to surge inside him as Crow watched his last and best lead head towards the far door. It would be impossible to get another visit if he walked through it.
"Pearson's still alive!" Exactly why he had chosen to share that information was unclear. He could just as easily said someone else was in danger. That he was tracking down another Shadow Card. "Help me save him." But they had been friends, the three of them. Role models that had taught Crow the sort of men he wanted to be.
Pausing before the doorway, Bolton exchanged a few words with the guard. Shrugging indifference, he let the prisoner return to the table and slowly seat himself back down.
"How can you be certain?" They had attracted a few prying ears and he was careful to keep his tone low.
"America. There was another Duellist who used one." Bolton didn't need to know about Yliaster if he didn't already. "I tagged with my friends. Lost my Duel to save theirs. Saw Pearson. They got me back." Short, honest, succinct. "The more I know about them, the more I can do for him."
For a long time, Bolton just stared until hopeful tears began budding in his eyes. "I don't know much." Wiping the water away, he gave a slight sniff. "Got mine from a man, about three years after Pearson and I started making engines. Said he was an assistant on a secret project to make Duel Monsters real. Didn't think much of it at first."
Three years after meeting with Pearson. That made it a couple of years before Goodwin had introduced the Signers to their heritage. The timeline certainly fit. "What did he want for it?" Sherry had interrogated Team Catastrophe at the WRDGP. They had told her Primo had simply wanted them to win the tournament. Which would have eliminated the Signers as threats to Yliaster. The idiots hadn't even known they were being used.
"One of our best prototypes, fully kitted out." The news took Crow by surprise. Pearson and Bolton had made some astounding engines yet he couldn't imagine the exchange had been worth a Shadow Card. "I don't think he really knew what he had. The guy was probably a technician or something. Certainly didn't strike me as a Duellist. But the instant I held it in my hands." Looking down at trembling fingers, he seemed haunted by the recollection. "I knew. I knew exactly what it was."
"Do you know what happened to him?" He didn't care for whatever remorse Bolton had. If Pearson could be freed, he'd be able to put together a case for release. Difficult to be imprisoned for manslaughter when the victim was still alive.
"Took the engine out to the B.A.D. area for a test-drive. Word was, he never came back." Murky news at best. The B.A.D. (an acronym for Barbaric Area after Damage) zone was ground zero for Zero Reverse. Roman Goodwin had hidden out there after his macabre return. Either the technician had been working for the Dark Signers all along or ended up prey for them. Either way, the lead was dead.
"Can you think of anything else?" Their time was almost up and he accidentally raised his voice. Previously bored eyes turned to their conversation as he lowered it again. "Anything at all? It might be important."
"There was one thing I found odd." Bolton's gaze grew distant as he tried to remember the specifics. "Crimson Mefist wasn't registered anywhere. It worked. Damn it, it worked." His tone grew bitter as the mystery behind his eyes continued to grow. "But no record of it until it landed in my hand." While the visit had given Crow a glimpse of insight, it had left him without a trail to follow. This was as far as he could go.
"That can't be everything." Leaning across the table, he let the intensity of the request be made clear. He had been in the Netherworld. That left a certain mark on people. They kept it hidden most of the time but there was no disguising the damage if you knew where to look. "There has to be something else." The guard would be taking Bolton away any minute now. He needed more to go on.
"It might sound... silly, I suppose. But there's this old story in the Duelling community." Every vocation had stories. The submarines lost decades ago still on patrol. Computers which wrote useless programs without anyone touching keyboards. Just campfire tales. "About cards that nobody makes. No creator at Industrial Illusions, no data entry at KaibaCorp. Not unique cards, like you have." Black-Winged Dragon had a marked history between them. It certainly hadn't dropped from the sky. "Cards that come from nowhere and just work."
"Ghost stories." Yet there was a prickle on the back of his neck. Crow could hardly deny the impossible after living it.
"Perhaps." A bell rang to signal the end of meeting hours and Bolton rose to his feet. "But I was bunked with an ex-card designer during the WRDGP. Claimed he was on the team that finalised the Morphtronic range your young friend uses. Said there were never any plans for Life Stream Dragon."
That pulled Crow up short. Nobody could have told Bolton how the card had come to Leo aboard the Ark Cradle. Not registered with Industrial Illusions or KaibaCorp. And it certainly hadn't been involved in any promotional materials before that day. Like it had come from nowhere.
"One more thing." A guard was gripping Bolton's elbow but he was a model prisoner. That had earned him the right to finish his question. "How are you going to help Pearson? That card killed him, dead outright."
"You said in your confession that a lamp knocked over during the Duel." The horror of that situation made his own journey to the Netherworld infinitely preferable. At least it had been swift. Trapped in a burning building as the life drained away... "It didn't kill him directly. That's the only reason he isn't entirely dead." Like his rescue in America being due to the Duel not having been resolved, Pearson had eluded utter annihilation by sheer chance. Any other victims of Shadow Cards had certainly died outright.
"Still a killer, then." Smiling bitterly, Bolton knew he was exactly where he was meant to be. An accident of fate, a freak chance of destiny. He had been ready to kill his best friend. Nothing would ever change that. "Let me know if you succeed." Walking out of the room, his back was bowed with fresh knowledge. "I could do with a win."
"Yeah." Walking out of the room, Crow went to collect his belongings. It wasn't until he was free and clear of the building that he finished his words. "You and me both."
Hello, wonderful people of the internet. I'm not properly back but the US presidential election being sorted was so exciting that I felt like posting a new chapter for you to enjoy.
Mayhaps the chapter was so exciting you feel like posting a new review for me to enjoy?