Disclaimer: I do not own YGO 5Ds
A/N:
Aka: To Get A Machine That Could Destroy The World
Parts of previous chapters were altered. The basic plot's the same, I just feel like it flows better now.
"I have a plan," I announced proudly to the assembly of basically every person I could trust in the Satellite, this plan would need everybody. "We're going to steal the Momentum."
The Momentum had been all I could think about since the idea came to me. I even went as far as hiring Blitz and Tank to lead a team of bodyguards to Zigzix, to make sure the ideas leaks to somebody like Roman Goodwin.
Blizzard sprayed the tea he was drinking onto the table.
My announcement was met with mixed reception, ranging from 'are you okay' (Galen) to 'are you crazy' (Felice) to 'what the hell is wrong with you' (Vincent).
I had underestimated the effect even the idea of Momentum has, it was the disaster that defined this generation. I lost control of the room almost immediately, which erupted into a sea of protests.
"Guys, let's hear it out first," Yusei said, his voice cut through the commotion in the room. Frankly, I was a little disappointed that he didn't say 'I'll do it, I'll take the ring to Mordor."
"What do you have in mind?" Ara asked before anybody could complain about Yusei's presence let along involvement.
"Well," I grinned, sincerely proud of the idea. "It's not as difficult as it sounds. We only need about half an hour to disassemble the Momentum and an hour to transport it somewhere safe. Half that time if Akiza helps out." I nodded to the no-longer-(as)-insane redhead.
She smiled gently, no sign of that woman who almost ripped half of Sector Security to pieces last night when she thought she was going to lose a children's card game. Yusei had talked her through it and she won in the end. Though from what footage I had of that duel and her subsequence duels that night, I can't help noticing that her opponents weren't exactly playing at their best after that, whether consciously or subconsciously.
"The Momentum is at the heart of the Dark Signer's lair, but there're only two Dark Signers guarding it, Roman and Demak." Carmine was still a junior reporter and Misty was doing a world tour. "I need two people to challenge either of them and draw them away from the Momentum, stall as long as possible, then we'll get somebody to force an end to the duel when the time is right."
"How?" Cyril asked skeptically, he was familiar with the powers of the dark duels first hand.
"We have a lot options," I scratched my head, "like explosives to destroy the duel arena, knocking one or both of the participants unconscious, breaking a duel disk, even temporarily cutting off reception to the Momentum, the possibilities are endless, but we'll decide on the exact mechanics depending on who's dueling whom."
"If we can get the Dark Signers away long enough, this might actually work," Felice nodded, "And if anything goes wrong, Dark Signers aren't bullet-proof. Are they?" She asked as a second thought, turning to Kalin sitting silently at the end of the table. The ex-Dark Signer shook his head silently.
"All your plans aside," Vincent interjected, "Why are we doing this?"
"What do you mean?" Nobody here had asked me that yet, which come to think of it, is a little odd.
"Why are we doing this?" Vincent repeated, "Why are we trying to steal a machine that decimated half the city 17 years ago?"
"The Dark Signers are going to use it," I paused, not sure how much I can say and still be able to explain away my knowledge, or sound believable for that matter, "For some really bad stuff. So we have to get it out of their hands."
"If you wanted to destroy the Momentum, I'm behind you all the way," Vincent twirled his red ponytail between his fingers, "If you want to steal it, you'll need to explain a little more."
"I need it," I hesitated. I don't know if either or both of the magical deities in this world are omniscient, but even if they're not, I definitely didn't want the information getting into the hands of people like Goodwin. "I just do."
"For what?" Vincent refused to let the subject go. "What do you need a machine that can blow up a city for?"
To destroy powerful monsters that can blow up cities and also gain leverage against Goodwin and Yliaster by being able to blow up cities. Obviously. But I can't exactly explain things like that. "Power is power," I said instead, "And power like that is much better in our hands than the hands of our enemies."
"That's ridiculous!" Vincent protested, "You can literally say that about anything, that's not enough reason to start a war with these Dark Signers, especially not if they're as powerful as you say they are."
"We're already at war with the Dark Signers," I presume my duel Kalin essentially declared war with the Dark Signers. In retrospect, it probably wasn't a good sign that almost nobody in the Zephyrs knew that, "What we can choose now is what to do about it. The Momentum will be our strongest weapon against the darkness."
The rest of the meeting went more or less as I planned, verging on less rather than more. But Yusei agreed to duel Demak and I would duel Roman Goodwin. Akiza and Nervin would head the effort to extract the Momentum. Akiza because she's the brawns of the operation, and Nervin because he's the only one who can control Zigzix.
"That's crazy," Blizzard whispered to Cyril after the meeting, he hesitated "Isn't it?"
"Yeah," Cyril agreed, "Insane."
"Then why did everybody agree to it?" The blond asked.
"A couple of them are crazy themselves," Cyril looked at Yusei askance, the crab-haired duelist sensed his gaze and returned a smile, "And the rest of us don't have a choice. I mean do you think Yuki's going to stop just because we don't go along with her schemes?"
"With Galen and Chaos applauding her every decision," Vincent added darkly, "We couldn't stop her if we tried."
Had Yuki heard, she would have pointed out the usefulness of having their new security team under control.
"I'm sure Yuki has her reasons," Chaos defended indignantly.
"I agree, but after everything, aren't you at all concerned what these reasons might be? Don't forget the last group," He corrected himself when he saw Crow, "The last person who went power mad and wanted to rule this town."
"Maybe if we just got rid of Kessler," Chaos mused out loud, eyeing the ex-Dark Signer.
"I don't think Kessler is to blame this time." Vincent shook his head.
"I've never liked it when Yuki has a plan," Felice added thoughtfully.
"Jack, wa-wait for me!" Carly chased after the Duel King of Domino City.
Said Duel King of Domino City paused in his steps without turning back, until Carly was about a foot behind him, before walking quickly again.
The brunette chased after him, panting heavily with effort.
She never imagined when she drove her car into the burning wreckage that Jack Atlas would be amongst the people she would save. Though that information was kept strictly confidential to protect the reputation of the King (a decision that Carly whole-heartedly supported), Jack had deigned to let her hang around in the last couple of days.
Jack figured he needed a distraction anyhow.
That's why they had just come from Jack's last turbo duel, and Carly had convinced Jack to skip his interview with her old school rival Angela and come out to the city with her instead.
Carly had already churned out three articles on the private life of Jack Atlas, except her boss wouldn't believe a word of it, calling it a pile of plagiarized gibberish not fit for the tabloids. She needed something deeper, some inside scoop on what's going on with Jack Atlas. But she can't just ask him, he'd think she's after him because she wanted a good story. Then he'd never return her feelings.
The reporter noticed Jack was twenty feet away and had stopped again, trying not to make it too obvious that he was waiting for her. She took a deep breath and started running again.
"What are we doing here again?" Tank asked Blitz while staring at the clearly-insane scientist running on a hamster wheel. That's right, not in, on top of the hamster wheel.
"We're bodyguards, and we're here to make sure he doesn't say something he shouldn't," Blitz answered to the best of his abilities.
"How do we know if he's said something he shouldn't if we don't know what it is that he shouldn't say?" Tank questioned, yawning. It's a good job, definitely much easier than the factories, and pays more too. Except he wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to do.
"Nervin wouldn't tell me," Blitz replied a little resentfully, "Who cares. We're just here so we don't get on Tono's bad side, remember?"
"Hm," Tank continued to wonder.
"Eureka!" Zigzix suddenly jumped off of his exercise wheel and towards his desk, "I got it! Even with what we have in the Satellite, I can convert the Momentum's powers to be used for destruction! We'll rule the world!"
"That." Blitz said finally, after the duo stared at each other wordlessly for a minute, "That is what he shouldn't say.
I wasn't particularly interested in meeting Roman, but I needed to drag him away from the Old Reactor. Yusei was going to challenge Demak, to ensure the Dark Signer headquarters would be completely empty for the theft of the Core of the Momentum.
Chaos drove me to our agreed meeting site, away from both the Dark Signers hideout and our headquarters to greet Roman Goodwin who was waiting already.
Roman Goodwin, I smiled. The last Main Character, the favorite of Fate twenty years ago, until his fall into a common, barely adequate anime villain.
The silver blond stood at slightly over six feet. My eyes trailed broad shoulders down chiselled muscles to narrow hips and long legs that even his loose clothing couldn't hide. He had abandoned his cape since the Dark Signers went public and I must say, this 'dark powers from a wicked god keeping its victims immortal' thing has been very good for him. I've never been a huge fan of beefcakes but even I'll admit he's in better shape than anybody on my team.
Hmmmm… Beef… Cake... I haven't had beef or any kind of meat for almost a month now, except the burger that Vincent tried to convince me was meat but had the texture and flavor of an old shoe (I imagine).
I don't think I've ever gone this long without eating either meat or cake, not since I started eating solid food. Looking at Goodwin, I felt hungry. Not in a sexual way, it's an even more primitive desire.
Some thoughts flashed across my mind that would have immediately raised the rating of this story to NC-21.
"Yuki?" Chaos nudged me, "Um, Yuki, are you alright?"
"Right," I dragged my mind back from beef and cakes to our plans at hand. "Roman. Hi."
"I will admit, I have underestimated you," Roman said in lieu of a greeting, "Since the Battle of Light and Darkness began, there has never been records of Dark Signers being turned back to humans."
"That's not saying much," I chuckled.
The Crimson Dragon last battled the Ruler of the Netherworld five thousand years ago, back when writing first became a thing and were mostly done on walls with blood or something. I highly doubt any records about eight or so Dark Signers would survive to the present, for all I know, they could have all dueled naked*.
"But I can't help but wonder, if you have underestimated me also," He continued, ignoring my answer.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You're late," Roman said.
"Oh yeah, sorry about that," I scratched my head and apologized. I was late on purpose, trying to buy time for our break-in to pick up the Momentum.
"So, do you wanna duel?" I asked skeptically. I'm not that great at making conversation and it's not like people communicate through any other means in this messed-up world.
"I don't think that would be necessary," Roman replied smugly, "Though I understand that you're a Signer, and I would thoroughly enjoy destroying you when the time comes, our final face-off has not yet come to pass."
"So um…" What do you say to a brainwashed super villain? "If you didn't want to duel, why did you come at all?" I decided to ask a genuine question.
"Because you wanted me to come," the silver blonde replied naturally. "This is your plan, is it not? To get me out of the Old Reactor, so your team might sneak in."
"What?" My eyes widened in shock, "How did you know? Who told you?"
"My spiders are everywhere," Roman answered vaguely.
My brain went on hyperdrive trying to figure out who had access to this information and who might be brainwashed.
"Do you really think that I would neglect to protect the Momentum of all things?" Roman looked justifiably victorious. "The Old Momentum Reactor is the gateway that connects our two worlds, it shall welcome the invasion of the Shadows and usher in a new era of Darkness!"
It's the portal for the Ruler of the Netherworld to pass through, I translated mentally.
"It's beyond mortal reach, and you're a fool if you think you can destroy it and seal the entrance from which our Dark King would enter this realm!"
"Right," I nodded, "Yes, you're absolutely right."
Let's go with that. I knew he wouldn't suspect my ingenuous scheme of using his 'Dark King' as an energy source.
"I thought I'd humor you," Roman continued, "But it looks like your plan went poorer than I had envisioned." He gestured to the direction of the Old Momentum Reactor, I stared in horror at the smoke and light coming from that direction.
Zigzix assured me that once we got to the Momentum, he only needed half an hour, and he could remove the Core so quietly that even if Roman had been inside he wouldn't notice. We were about ten miles away.
Chaos put me on his motorcycle and rode towards the site of the explosion. I noticed Roman ride with us with a smug smile, pleased with my distress and not all all concerned about the safety of his 'Dark King'.
Maybe Felice is right and my plans aren't that great.
A/N: Sorry this chapter is a little short, I couldn't quite decide what should happen next.
*The last Signer/Dark Signer battle happening naked is a very real possibility, in fact, it's the most likely possibility. If we assume it occurs in Egypt (hence Yami & the original series), and look up basic Egyptian attire five thousand years ago, the conclusion is almost inevitable.
Clothing had been expensive and the weather warm, so Egyptian treated clothing like we treat formal wear, only worn on special occasions. Most people walked around more or less nude even by today's standards. Also they were hairless (all over) for sanitary reasons…
This also applies to any duel in the original series that happened in ancient Egypt. The Pharaoh might be dressed, his priests possibly, but the rest of the people would be naked most of the time.
The more you know.
P.S. if can anybody didn't get it, Yuki was thinking about cannibalism.