Joey led Yami down the hospital wing crowded with officers, and he kept his hands protectively out around Yami's shoulders, marveling at how much smaller the other man was. He shouted at the top of his lungs while helping Yami move down the hospital's hall.

"Special package comin' throuuuugh! Special package!" Joey yelled, knowing Yami hated being referred to as an 'asset', so he had to crack a joke to make sure Yami wouldn't be angry about being called a special package. "I should put a bow on ya forehead, bud. Or maybe some angel wings. A little halo?"

"I am very far from an angel," Yami replied with a chuckle, but he understood how Joey would see it that way.

Joey elbowed his way in through a door that had two officers standing guard, and he was stopped by the one on the left who held his hand out and stared suspiciously at Yami.

"Excuse me. Badge or identification please?" The man nodded, and Yami opened his mouth to insult the man, but Dartz came rushing up behind him and darted in front, shoving the man's arm aside and dragging the doctor beside him breathlessly, "This man is a doctor's assistant. Let us through, I'm a defense lawyer…" he dug his ID out of his pocket, and Joey let out a frantic cry, "...What's wrong with her?!"

All heads turned to see Anzu coding in the bed, and Yami's heart dropped to his stomach.

Of course Marik had put something in her that would cause this effect, right after being 'returned'... 'safely'.

"Let me in, right now!" Yami wanted to kick the man in the shins, but thankfully, both officers stepped aside to let him in, and Yami burst into the room, ignoring the nurses and doctor shouting at him to get out while he zeroed in on her chart by the computer and dragged the mouse down the list of toxins in her system.
Cool.
Marik had poisoned her too much, and she was shutting down as a result of the overload.

He was going to kill Marik and Isis together if Anzu didn't survive this.

Joey was standing in the corner of the room, biting his nails while his eyes were wet with tears as he watched Anzu shaking on the bed, and Atem was casually on the phone.

"Honda good morning," Yami said calmly because he was aware that his background noise spoke for itself. "I know you just modded your bike to go illegal speeds. You're going to do some shopping for me, and know that Anzu's life depends on it. Fail, and she dies. Got it?"

Honda pried his eyes open and palmed his face, eyeing the clock. What the fuckkkkkk, it was 4:45 AM! Why was Atem griefing him about his bike mods?!

And threatening to kill Anzu?

"HONDA! Listen to me and wake the fuck up!" Yami hissed, eyeing Anzu in the bed, having been stabilized by the doctors…for now. She would go again in another 15 minutes. Again and again until she sustained brain damage, and he wouldn't allow that to happen.

"Go fetch this list of drugs. I'm serious! …..YES I am serious!" Yami cried, shoving a hand through his hair and wishing he really did have a gun that could shoot through phones. "Get on your bike, and get here, now. Anything less and Anzu is… Yes that is what you heard! See you in 10 minutes. YES, 10! Don't fail."

Livid, Yami hung up and turned to see the tired faces of the three nurses and doctors staring at him and he blinked angrily in return, "I gave a long list to the paramedic on the phone. Who wrote it down?"

He received slow head shakes, and he couldn't believe this incompetence.
Nothing was ever done right unless he did it himself.

"I need access to all your cabinets," Yami said through numb lips, noticing Anzu's hand twitching on the bed, looking like she was awake, so he rushed forward and clamped his hands down on either side of her face, prying her eyes open and seeing them sharpen briefly.

"Anzu. Hang in there. Can you hear me? Anzu!" Yami cried, feeling a real pang of fear shoot through him when he saw her eyes roll back and she lost consciousness again. A couple officers stepped forward to pull him back, "please don't touch her…." and he lashed out in a fit of rage, reaching for the first gun he saw and pointing it at everyone in the room.

Everyone ducked except for Dartz, who pinched his brow and set his briefcase down on an empty chair that Joey just vacated because he was cowering under it.
Atem….

"ACCESS! To cabinets! In the next 3 minutes!" Yami shouted, itching to fire into the ceiling but he knew he couldn't because they weren't on a top floor or a basement. He saw movement at the door, and he lowered the weapon to point it at the guard who was pointing one at him, and his ears hummed. This was a familiar, toxic pattern.
No one would do anything unless he had a gun.

"Put it down, or your director dies," Yami pointed the gun at Anzu in the bed behind him. "Early. Cabinets. All of them." He no longer had the capacity to use full sentences. He was at a limit.
She was on a timer and people were still denying him access!

The doctor at his side rose to his feet with both hands up, and shakily unhooked the keys from his belt.

"2nd floor… and 6th floor, and…supply closet," he said helpfully, so Yami snatched the keys from him and tucked the gun away for himself, calling for Joey. "Jou. Let's go."

Joey crawled out from under the chair and nodded. Yep. They were going.

The officer was still pointing a gun at him from the door, and Yami hissed at him, about to shoot him when Joey patted him on the arm and said, "bud. Anzu needs us. C'mon. Fuck with this guy later, okay? Dildos, remember?"

Yami let out a huff of cold laughter and nodded.
Nice to know Joey had been paying attention to his livestream threats. Wait.

"You can read english?" Yami asked curiously as they jogged down the hall and took the stairwell, their footsteps echoing.

"Only the bad words," Joey replied with a boyish grin. "And your pad was full of 'em. I could read almost all of it."

Yami let out another laugh and didn't feel any better, but he was glad that Joey was on his side.

Kaiba had locked himself in the study with Isono and Mokuba, with quadruple security at the doors, he'd managed to trace the whereabouts of Marik and Master Shin.

They were indeed together like Yami had predicted.

And they were getting ready to infiltrate the Kaiba mansion–to kill him and Mokuba. Again.

As if they didn't learn anything from their first attempt.

Kaiba picked up two laptops and instructed Mokuba to grab the other two.

They were moving to the basement, and he wasn't going to tell Yami about this to stress him out further until the situation with Anzu had stabilized.

He knew how much Anzu meant to Yami, having heard Yami refer to her as 'his queen' multiple times, he had a feeling everyone was assigned a chess piece role in Yami's head.

As Yami's partner, he was the king in the shiny tower, he knew that.

Mokuba was probably a rook, since he was soon-to-be-king.
Isono was probably their bishop, and their knights were people like Joey, and the irritating ex-interpol officer, Pegasus. Pawns were all the sitting ducks in uniform outside, so Seto picked up his satellite phone and called the nearest van, glad that they were still hanging around outside.

A man picked up on the other end, sounding sleepy. "Encrypted agency line, I see you're calling from an inner-agency connectio–"

"Two hostiles are about to ruin some bushes on my property," Kaiba said coldly, standing by the elevator knowing the signal was about to go out, so he handed the two laptops to Isono. "They're coming with firepower so I suggest your men wake up and gear up. Good luck. Don't die."

And he hung up.

"Two hostiles?" Mokuba was wide-awake and excited.

"Don't be so happy," Kaiba growled, stepping into the elevator and deciding they were going to use the firing range bunker instead of the basement. "Did you pee and eat something? We're hunkering down for a bit. Yami is helping Anzu so he can't help us right now."

"I know," Mokuba said with his head lowered. "Auntie Anzu got hurt. I saw."

The elevator sank lower, and Kaiba whipped his head around in shock to ask, "how did you see? That was on the dark web."

"Someone put it on thelight web, obviously," Mokuba replied sarcastically and Kaiba felt his mouth corners twitch upwards. Cute.

There was a loud, echoing boom outside, and Kaiba cursed. That better not be his fountain.

"Are they bombing us?!" Mokuba shrieked, almost dropping the heavy laptops in his arms. "Visuals now!"

He dashed over to the nearest lab table to pry the laptop open to access their front door cams, already seeing Seto had it established, so he watched in horror as three cars shot tear gas out of cannons at the officers in vans. W-WHOA. War on his front step!

"Stay safe, get to the other basement," Kaiba aimed this order at Isono who nodded gravely. "I'll join you shortly. Mokuba, call Yami's Grandpa as backup."

He eyed Yami's long-range gun mounted on the wall and decided those fuckers wouldnt get any closer than this fountain. This was his home, dammit!
And Yami already let three cops bleed on his rug.
He was at a limit.

"Master Kaiba, no," Isono was about to overstep. He considered the young masters like his sons. He would not allow this!
Yami doing these activities was fine.
But Seto?!

"I gave you an order. Keep Mokuba safe," Kaiba narrowed his eyes and saw Mokuba staring fearfully at him and also looking at Yami's long-range gun on the wall. "Get to the other basement. Establish a connection to my earbud, and be my eyes. Mokuba?"

"Be your eyes, got it," Mokuba chanted, watching Seto stride over to the wall and take the gun off the wall. Ohhhhh shitttttttt oh shiiiit!
Badass Seto with Yami's police sniper!
He couldn't wait to tell Shizuka this later!

"M-Master Kaiba, you've only ever shot at paper," Isono began shakily, and Seto gave him a heart-stopping smirk with a cold reply, "then I'll just pretend they're paper. Get moving."

I'm not a useless king even though I can only move one space, Kaiba growled as he looped the gun over his shoulder and opened the three gun safes, deciding to strap as much as he could to his body to stay mobile, but armed to the teeth. His workouts had helped.
A gun he thought was heavy 6 months ago now felt manageable.
Hell, even Yami's gun over his shoulder felt like a reassuring weight.

He heard another boom! outside and saw Mokuba giving him a frantic nod as he climbed into the hatch on the floor, and Kaiba decided to say the good-luck charm Yami always said to him.

"Love you. Nothing bad will happen," Seto said easily, aware that his body strapped full of weapons gave the complete opposite message.

"Love you too, and I'll be your eyes," Mokuba nodded seriously. "Yami's grandpa says he's 3 minutes out. And he asks you to 'stay tactical or else'."

Or else what? I'll die? Kaiba laughed and watched Mokuba sink into the floor, hearing the lock click on the other side, and he nodded. Good. His family was safe.

He dashed into the elevator and rode up in silence, his heart pounding low in his chest.
It wasn't fear or even anger.
It was…anticipation. Excitement.

Kaiba rode all the way up to the top floor and locked himself inside the gym.
The doors here were reinforced too.

He walked through the gym equipment to get to the balcony, and he stayed low, hearing shouts and pops of gunfire happening below and he prayed he wouldn't have to replace all the windows on the first floor. If so, he'd bill the agencies responsible. He'd match all the bullets to the casings if that's what it took.

Setting up the tripod, Kaiba was pleased to see Yami had kept everything smooth and oiled. He had it set up in less than 15 seconds. Damn.

Propping it up with the tip poking out through the one divide in the glass balcony, Kaiba eyed the screen attached to his scope and was pleased to see that it was easy to use. It had 800x capabilities and he could see more chaos on the ground after the tear gas smoke cleared.

Hit officers were lying by their cars, while Marik and a team of men were tactically advancing. Ah. This was what Yami's Grandpa meant.

Their formation was obvious, and Kaiba counted the heads, knowing Yami always did this to account for every moving body before he started.
Marik was one. He had 5 dummies, and…where was Master Shin?
Yami wanted him alive…
Whatever.
Kill the dummies

Mokuba's voice crackled into his ear at the perfect time, "Seto? It's the guy from the match-the-face game!"

"Yeah…and… We have to keep someone named ….Master Shin alive for Yami," Kaiba said as he followed one man with the tip of his gun, seeing him make quick, violent attacks on the police officers who were trying to defend the mansion's front doors, and Mokuba's voice was shrill in his ear, "SETO! He's getting too close!"

Fucking…! Kaiba let his breath out slowly and squeezed the trigger, bracing extra hard because he'd never fired this gun before. The sound was loud and it pounded back into his shoulder once, sending a numb shock through his arm, and the man crumpled.

He realized this was why Yami always preferred to be on the bottom.
If he kept his arms up like this while having sex, it would hurt–

"SETO! ANOTHER ONE! By the maple trees!" Mokuba was screaming too loudly, and Seto hissed, "I can hear you even if you whisper, kid!"

And he saw one of Marik's dummies trying to rappel up the side of his garden wall, making him a super easy target. Kaiba shot him in the spine and saw him fall off his rope and crumple to the ground, leaving a single blood splatter on his wall.
GODDAMMIT!

He didn't want to pay for a wall cleaning either!

"I see Master Shin, probably," Mokuba added as his eyes roamed over the computer screen, with the heavy headset on over his ears while Isono stood by quietly observing beside him. "Guy wearing a beige, head-to-toe …robe thing. You see him?"

Kaiba hunkered down lower and scanned the area with Yami's gun, seeing a man sitting calmly in the car in the passenger seat while the chaos raged on, and he replied, "I see him. Tell Yami's Grandpa."

"Yami's Grandpa, your 3 o'clock, right by our road," Mokuba announced proudly, eyeing the black car that had parked along the outside road and he saw the old man get out with a…bazooka hefted on his shoulder.

"Holy FUCK! Seto, he has a bazooka!"

"Tell him I don't feel like remodeling!" Kaiba cried, his stomach twisting with rage. "Long range only! Fuck, I don't want to be knocked out of my perch!"

Mokuba picked up the other phone he had by his elbow and stammered into it, "g-grandpa! Seto is in a perch, and says you'll knock him out if you bazooka something!"

"...Where is he?" Grandpa's grating voice filtered through the speaker.

"Seto, where are you?" Mokuba scanned all the cameras in the house, seeing the chef in his room, and the maids quarters all evacuated and he added with a guilty pang in his chest, "maybe we should've picked up Chef Kan? He's peeing his pants in his room."

"Chef Kan will be okay. He knows how to cook, they won't kill him," Kaiba breathed, understanding Yami's monotone voice, because talking…took effort…when he was trying to follow a rapidly running target who was stabbing an officer through the vest.

The moment the man pulled away, Kaiba braced, aimed, then fired at the man's upper shoulder, accidentally hitting him in the neck when he moved at the last minute, and seeing him fall back with a messy blood splatter, his head hanging onto his body by a few tendons.

OOPS.

"FUCK! SHIT!" Kaiba went numb and heard Mokuba let out a similar cry.

"OHHHHHHHHHHH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDD EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! SETO! Are you going to JAIL FOR THAT?! It was a bad guy though?! AUHG IT'S GETTING ON OUR PAVEMENT! Does it come out?! It's a lot! Y'think he's bleeding BRAINS?!"

"Mokuba! Please!" Kaiba squeezed his eyes shut and thunked his forehead on the ground to take a deep breath. Calm. Calm….

Yami's Grandpa's voice grated into his ears, making his bones cold, "Pets, stop screaming. Location? This line is secure?"

"Yes, basement!" Mokuba chirped. "With Isono."

"Top floor balcony, I see you," Kaiba replied, chafing at being called a pet as he watched Yami's Grandpa lean against a tall bush with the bazooka propped up between his knees, so he had to repeat his request.

"Can you please leave the heavy fire at home, old man?! I like my first floor!"

"I'd like you alive too, Pet," Yami's Grandpa replied callously, aiming the bazooka at Marik's car. "Cover your ears–"

"No! Master Shin is in there! Yami wants information from him!" Kaiba cried, and he finally saw Grandpa set the bazooka aside and begin to expand the metal legs of a long-range rifle tripod. Oh thank god. Sheesh.

A pop echoed from below and the light fixture above Seto's head exploded, raining glass down on him, so he cursed and rolled away, calling out, "position compromised!"
Worst video game ever!

"I see him!" Mokuba screeched. "He's standing on a car!"

Then he saw Yami's Grandpa take that guy out with a headshot from the back. The man collapsed onto the trunk and rolled lifelessly to the ground. W-Wow…

"You're okay to resume, pet," Grandpa growled into his phone, and he kept it hooked onto his vest. "Take out my 5 o'clock because here he comes… Seto? I'm down and reloading!"

Fuck! Kaiba dove stomach-first for the gun and grabbed it to aim at the man who was running and shooting at the bushes at the same time, not really knowing Grandpa was down low, flat on his back with the gun aimed at the sky, the bullets passing him completely. Holy shit…

Kaiba exhaled and was about to fire when one of the injured officers on the ground sat up and killed the hostile man with three shots to the back.

Then the officer laid back down to continue bleeding while clutching his leg and shoulder at the same time.

"Messy! And you only needed one shot, lazy boy!" Grandpa berated him, and Kaiba's mouth dropped open in fury.

"That wasn't me! It was a pig on the ground. Step on him as 'thanks' when you walk by!"

"Oh, I will then," Grandpa chortled, the sound of his gun clacking echoing in Mokuba's receiver. "Little Mokuba, eyes on Marik or any of his babies?"

Mokuba pointed diligently at his screen, having kept his eye on the alpha leader the entire time.

"One injured guy with him, all of them are now back in their car with Master Shin, and…some more cops are arriving," Mokuba said as he saw sirens coming up their front road. "Oh boy, a lot of them. Better hide, Grandpa."

"Then I'm coming in. Seto, cover me," Grandpa huffed, leaving his weapons there by the bush.

"Wait! Mokuba, clear Grandpa's exit with a police van! We don't want any cops shooting him!" Kaiba cried, digging out his phone and hating how he'd left the satellite phone in the basement. Mistake. Dammit.

Thankfully, Mokuba was really on top of all the comms.
He could hear his brother calling the front van, and from his vantage point, he saw two cops press a finger to their ears and wave Yami's Grandpa through.

Uniforms were advancing on Marik's car while Yami's Grandpa popped his head up from the bushes and ran towards the mansion, keeping close to the wall and casually hopping over the man bleeding by the trees, then circling the mansion's garden entrance and kneeling by the keypad.

"Code?"

"00-133 is override with no biometrics," Kaiba replied anxiously, seeing Yami's Grandpa type it in lightning fast and slide into his back garden with a clang of the gate.

Safe.

"No one is hit? I am okay," Grandpa announced, and Kaiba could hear the sound of his glass doors sliding open. "Good gods. What happened in here? Whose blood is this?"

"Pigs," Mokuba replied cheerfully, and he received a sharp look from Isono. "Whaaaat?"

"Language, Master Mokuba," Isono sniffed and he had to turn his head away from the screen Mokuba was looking at.
It sure reminded him of Mokuba playing his usual tactical video games with his friends on multiple screens, but this was with real people on the other end.
This family was truly something else.

"Sweeping. No one move," Grandpa breathed as he slowly climbed the stairs. "I'll make sure the house is clear–"

"No, just take shelter," Kaiba began, and he winced when Grandpa lectured him.

"Are you telling me what to do?! Sit down and eat a snack!" The old man yelled in his ear, and Kaiba winced. Sheesh. Fuck. Alright.

Leaving the gun where it was, Kaiba sank back against the wall and stayed crouched behind his leg press machine, thinking there was adequate cover in this gym, with enough metal to disrupt the sensor so no one could shoot at him from above unless they had godly aim… like Yami.

"Hey, check it out! Marik is being arrested!" Mokuba said gleefully, making sure he was screen-recording all the footage on top of downloading it all. "He's face down and they have Master Shin. Oh well. Guess Yami will have to talk to him in a cell."

"Dammit," Kaiba thunked his head back against the wall.
Yami would not be happy about that. Now the other side had him. Fuck.

He checked his phone again and saw a text from Yami that made his heart flutter.

"I'm okay. Anzu about to be okay. Waiting it out until it leaves her system completely."

Aw, Kaiba typed slowly, "all okay here. Cops have M ster Sh-n though, so…sorry about that."

Yami sat by Anzu's bed and kept the spare syringe in his other hand while he read the message, frowning. What? How did that happen so quick?

"How do they have the m ster?! You found him?!" And Yami stared at his phone, his heart swirling in his stomach. Too many scares today!

Seto's reply took a while, and it was a large paragraph

"Don't freak out, we are all OK. Your grandpa came to help, and Mokuba + Isono + me, all in the basement now with Chef Kan. Marik and his dummies tried warfare by my fountain. M-ster Sh-n was in the car and got arrested together with him. I can send visuals on…not these phones. Or come home to watch the footage.
Also… don't freak out.
…I used Mana."

Yami blinked and nearly dropped his phone.

SETO HAD USED MANA?!

He grew cold all over and almost felt like laughing when he read Seto's next text.

"She's okay, 100% serviced with the help of gramps and she's back to sitting pretty on the wall."

Yami's phone buzzed and it was an encrypted number, giving him a sudden chill because the text was, "SETO SHOT SOMEONE IN THE NECK WITH YOUR GUN! Btw love you hope you're ok w auntie anzu! Ok self-deleting in 20 sec!"

And the message vanished as quickly as it came.

Yami felt a headache coming on so strong, the entire room spun.
That was Mokuba!
Seto had shot someone in the neck?!
Mokuba knew how to send encrypted self-deleting texts?!
What was happening in this family?! Was this his fault?!

Anzu cracked her eyes open and felt a warm hand squeezing her hand, and she closed them again. Oh…god… Everything hurt…

Yami jumped to his feet when he noticed her eyelashes fluttering, and quickly emptied the second syringe into her arm, hearing the officer by the door freak out, "he put something in her!"

The door slammed when Joey kicked it shut in his face, and Yami sank back into the seat to hold Anzu's hand, watching her wake up again briefly, so he hovered over her and gave her a tender pat on the forehead.

"I've got you. You're okay, still numb?" Yami brushed a strand of matted hair out of her face and saw her shake her head and then nod. "It's okay. It's wearing off. Give it 2 hours. We'll change your IV bag every 30 minutes, I'm sitting here to watch it."

Anzu nodded gratefully and drifted off, gripping Yami's hand again, feeling warmth emanating from it. Damn. Saved…

She gave his hand another thankful squeeze and felt him squeeze her back with reassuring strength.

Honda sat in the corner with his bike helmet in his lap and the criminal lawyer at his side, watching this interaction with mild fascination.
He'd never seen Atem display an emotion that wasn't anger or more anger.
Here, it looked like he really cared about this woman.
Like damn, the guy had feelings for Anzu.

Officers were peeking at them from the viewing window in the hallway, so Joey stood up to draw the blinds.

Joey sat on the other side of Anzu's bed and held her other hand, feeling her squeezing back weakly. He rested his forehead on the edge of the hospital bed, finally letting out the breath he'd been holding, his eyes watering with tears. Holyyyy shit. Close call.

"Thank you, bud," Joey raised his head to give Yami a grateful nod, and he received an equally stressed nod in return and a small smile.

"Thank Honda for the speedy delivery," Yami threw the gangster an approving smirk. "Great riding there. Clocked 150 on the highway."

"Shit, really?" Honda exclaimed, flushing pink and pleased with himself. "Wait. How do you know?"

"I put a tracker on you," Yami replied truthfully, and Honda turned white as a sheet.

Joey let out a bark of laughter and felt Anzu squeezing his hand again in response.
This further confirmed for him that even though Atem was a ruthless killer, he cared about them individually as people and would always help them out no matter what.

Author's note:

ch 71 of yami being a mary sue, am i sorry? not in the least :D
3 more chapters until the end