Disclaimer: I do not own YGO 5Ds
"How did it go?" Yusei greeted his friends with a smile as they climbed down the stairs a few hours after sunset, "did you find him?"
Rally hang his head. Tank and Blitz quickly exchanged a look between them, "We'll try again tomorrow," Blitz said. Technically, he reminded himself, he was not lying.
"How is the runner coming along?" Tank changed the subject. They had a pretty good idea of Nervin's whereabouts, but approaching the Magicians now that Yusei was alone may be dangerous. Duel gangs in general are not overly fond of ex-Enforcers. Rally doesn't know of course, that kid is too young to keep secrets from his hero.
"It was a good haul," Yusei motioned to the mosaic of metallic pieces in front of him, "there were a few damaged runners and I was able to get enough parts between them."
"Wait, does that mean?" Tank looked at Yusei expectantly.
"Does that mean you can complete the duel runner now?" Blitz finished the question for him.
"I think so," Yusei replied with a smile, "it should only be a couple more days."
"That means you can finally go to Domino City! And win back your card from Jack!" Rally said almost jumping with excitement.
"Yeah," Yusei looked off into the darkness of the tunnels. Just you wait Jack, I'm coming for you.
Rex Goodwin shut off the monitor on his desk with a click. He couldn't get an audio feed but he could read lips reasonably well. Looks like it wouldn't be long now before the clash of the Signers. Jack still requires a little extra training, but of course, Yusei wouldn't make it anywhere near Domino City except under his plan.
I waited until almost midnight before sneaking downstairs to bring Kalin some food, optimistic that he was still alive and well.
And that's when reality caught up with me.
In the past year and a half, Kalin had been locked in a cell, his spirits crushed, until he literally starved to death. After his rescue and revival, he was used as a vessel and energy source for a powerful monster of evil. As can be expected, he's not at his prime physical condition. That, coupled with poor diet from living underground in the Satellite (even Dark Signers have to eat), the cold from staying in our storage shed, external injuries, lack of sanitization of said injuries, and massive blood loss, he wasn't doing very well. The wound looked infected, and he was running a serious fever. Normally, we'd find doctors to prescribe some broad spectrum antibiotics to prevent the infection from spreading to the brain and call it a day. We didn't have doctors, nor did we have antibiotics.
I sat down next to Kalin's bed with a cold bowl of sterile water (now available thanks Nervin's modified dehumidifier) and placed the cold compress on his forehead. The blood on his wound had long stopped bleeding, and I made the mistake of carefully wiping the caked blood off his face, revealing pale but still handsome features underneath the gory exterior.
It was a mistake because I had underestimated the instincts of people who survived the streets of the Satellite.
"Chaos! What are you doing here?" I looked up at the creaking of the door to see Chaos walking in with what looked suspiciously like a gun.
"I saw the bloodstains when I came in. Cyril was very vague about what happened," the purple haired duelist explained, "so I got a little worried and followed you."
Darn it. In my defense, disguising bloodstains not exactly a skill one would normally acquire in a civilized society. I stood up so I was blocking Kalin's face.
"Right, umm, no, I'm fine. See? No threats here. Just, you know, well, it's a more, personal, right, personal problem," I'm becoming an accomplished liar, but I still have a lot of room for improvement, "so I'd rather not involve you guys. I'll take care of it." I said so reassuringly I almost convinced myself. I walked up and turned him around, pushing him towards the door, "I'll handle it, just give me a bit of time."
What I had forgotten was the height difference. You see, I'm not used to being this short. Being the height of Yugi Mutou, I was around 4'8", barely the lower border of a healthy height for a 13 year-old girl. Chaos was 7'1", meaning as I moved closer to him, I could block less and less of what was behind me, revealing the man lying face-up on the bed/table.
"You're harboring Kalin Kessler?" Chaos saw Kalin's face and recognized the bane of Satellite duel gangs immediately. He grabbed me aside, doing his best to keep his voice at a whisper. "What are you thinking? That's Kalin Kessler!"
"Harboring is such an ugly word," I said weakly, "I'm giving him a place to rest until he wakes up. Just make sure nobody else knows about this, okay?"
"You can't keep him here," Chaos said as though talking about a vicious racoon I'm trying to take in as a house pet. "It's far too dangerous."
"He's not dangerous," I lied convincingly, "he's delusional, but not that dangerous anymore." I took away Kalin's deck and duel disk, so I hoped what I said was true.
"I'm talking about the Sector!" Chao replied in a hushed whisper, "You think they wouldn't at least nose around here after we hand out the water generator designs? With Kessler here, we might as well all take a bus to the Facilities."
"He wouldn't survive if we tossed him out now!" I defended my decision.
"Do you know what's going to happen once Domino finds out?" Chaos raged, his normally tranquil emerald blue eyes now looking like an ocean storm. I cowered, I've never seen him like this. "Are you ready to rot in a cell and never see the light of day? Or have the City brand all of the kids we just hired?"
I stuttered as the very real threat of death and imprisonment washed over me, my instincts of self-preservation battling my sense of morality. Kalin had died in the Facilities, I don't think I'd be lucky enough to be saved by a Dark Signer too.
"I can't just let him die..." I argued even as I felt my resolve wavering.
"Why not?" Chaos pressed.
"I-"I hesitated. It was perhaps a very rudimentary idea of morality kicking in, or just the simple fear of another human dying by my hands. Plus, he does play a minor role in the plot, and I've been trying to avoid disrupting the continuity of this timeline. That's it, I convinced myself, for the sake of continuity. "He plays a role the grand scheme of things," I finally said, deciding 'fate of the world' sounded too wishy-washy.
"Let me take him then." Chaos said rather than asked. "It's too dangerous to keep him here, it could ruin everything if he's found." I was glad he didn't question me on the equally flaky 'grand scheme of things' premise.
"Where are you taking him to?" I asked, suspicious Chaos might dump the younger man into a ditch somewhere.
"Let me worry about that." Chaos answered, "If you say he's important, I'll find him a doctor and keep him alive. Other than that, the less you know, the better."
"…" I was at a loss for words. With all the Security around, getting Kalin safely to a doctor was fairly unlikely, the alternative being permanent bed and board on Domino City budget. "Chaos, are you sure you want to do this?"
"It's too dangerous for you with him here, I can't let you put yourself at risk like this." Chaos grabbed my arm, his blue eyes fixated on me like he was trying to penetrate my soul.
I blushed and looked away, embarrassed at the frank display of emotion, unsure what he meant.
"Since Zero Reverse 17 years ago," Chaos noticed my discomfort and let go, flashing me a forlorn smile, "I've spent the first dozen years trying to make life better for myself, and the last couple of years trying to make life better for other people. I've seen heroes come and go, villains rise and fall, only the Satellite stayed exactly the same."
And it would, the problem with this place is far more fundamental than what a single person could fix, it was restricted in practically every way possible, population, migration, education, resources, production, transportation, even communication. Frankly, the Satellite didn't need a hero, it needed a (half-decent) government, and that takes a lot more than spunk and guts.
"You have something here, Yuki. It's only been days since you started, but you may have done more fixing up this city than most of us in the past decade." Seeing that I obviously didn't look convinced, he continued, "There're a lot of people in the Satellite, good people. We had people who pleaded with Domino to help us, we have people who steal from the rich and give to the poor, we even have top duelists who might just escape this place." He paused and laughed quietly, "I've been all three and more. But what you created might be the only chance for everybody in the Satellite, a chance for the average person, that if they're willing to work hard, they can get ahead. If we lose you, I don't know if we'll ever get that again."
I nodded, beginning to understand him. Essentially, Satellite needs to achieve economic self-sufficiency, not exactly the forte of teenage anime heroes.
"When I heard Nervin today, I knew you may actually have a chance in this fight against Domino City. So I have to go. I have to get Kessler out of here. Satellite would do fine without me, but it can't afford to lose you."
"B-but, if you go," I sputtered as the realization finally hit me, he has a better chance of not making it out alive than the other way around, "What if you don't come back?"
"Then I don't come back." He replied candidly. "Think of all the lives in the Satellite you have already changed, think of all the lives you will change." Chaos smiled broadly, without even a hint of unease, "It's been a while since I've seen anybody with a vision for this town, this entire town, instead of trying to escape the hellhole it is. Maybe a smarter man can find a way out of this, I'm not that man. I can only do whatever it takes to protect you, this thing you started, it might be the only chance this town has."
"Why me?" I studied him skeptically, gathering my wits about me. "We met yesterday, literally. You know nothing about me."
"I don't," Chaos admitted, "And I don't know if you will change the Satellite for the better, I probably never will. I was never a good judge of character." His smile was downright depressing, "But this is a chance. Opportunities don't come along often in the Satellite, so if you see one, you snatch it before it's gone.
I scratched my head, feeling a little embarrassed. I've never been called an 'opportunity' before, I kind of like it.
"You've pointed out a way for the Satellite to get out of this mess, Yuki-sama." Chaos got down on one knee, pressing his forehead to my hand as though praying to a god I couldn't see, "And I would gladly pave that road with my bones."
I backed off instinctively at his gesture and the horrific imagery. Chaos got up and stepped past me.
He refused to let me touch anything as he cleaned up any evidence of Kalin's visit, going as far as grabbing a shovel to dig up all the blood stains on the ground, putting the dirt into a separate bag and smoothing to ground over.
"Here," I took out my (his) deck, "I fixed it up a little, hope it helps."
"Best of luck, Yuki-sama." Chaos took the deck in one hand, carrying Kalin with the other, and set the unconscious man onto his electric scooter with the tools and dirt he gathered containing all traces of Kalin Kessler. "The fate of this town is in your hands."
I watched as he rode off silently into the night (electric vehicles are much quieter than their gas-powered counterparts), risking his life to save a man he didn't remotely like because of a whim of mine.
I guess I'll won't be leaving the Satellite in quite a while.
Darn it.
"Yes Director Goodwin," Lazar stood at attention in front of the telecom, the digital display showing a large 1:01AM. "This inspection of the Satellite is going well, we have several leads. In fact, I'll be going over to pursue one of them myself first thing tomorrow morning. Yes Director. Of course Director Goodwin. I'll report to you as soon as I hear anything."
And get a little revenge of his own in the process. Lazar sneered down at the picture of the tall redhead on his desk, taken that morning when he was blatantly selling Satellite goods to Sector Security, with that idiotic smile plastered on his face as he received ramen as payment from Sector officers.
Lazar had started off in Neo Domino the old fashioned way, climbing the ranks through flattery, deceit and whatever else necessary. So it wasn't too long ago that he was a junior field analyst sent regularly to the Satellite, where he was equally regularly robbed by Vincent and his savage crew, all teenagers then, but still a full head taller than him. They called it robbing from the rich, when his salary would barely put food on the table without the repeated mishaps he had to pay out of his own pockets.
Now he has the perfect excuse to get what he was owed. Well, what goes around comes around.
Moving up the totem pole has its perks.
A/N: Goodwin obviously has cameras where Yusei lived (disturbing much?), remember that very well-placed photo he used to threaten Yusei?
Read and review? I'm not good at this sentimental stuff and I'm trying to round out Chaos as a character, not sure if it's working.