KaibaCorp US Headquarters
Arlington VA
Remember when TBS was a thing? UPN? Time Warner, Fox, NBC, ring any bells? Well for today's youth they shouldn't. They'd been long gone before they were born, and it was all thanks to KaibaCorp.
KaibaCorp had been a powerhouse in the military-industrial complex since its inception, with Gozaburo Kaiba's father laying the groundwork as a weapons manufacturer right after World War II. By the late 1950s, the company had already expanded its portfolio from small arms to tanks, aircraft, and even early prototypes of unmanned drones. But it wasn't until the early 1970s that Gozaburo himself took control and truly transformed KaibaCorp into the formidable private military contractor up until the 90s. Through ruthless business tactics and strategic buyouts, and a lot of sadism inherited from his father, Gozaburo ensured that KaibaCorp was at the forefront of the Cold War arms race, supplying weapons and training to both sides under various shell companies, and raking in the profits and reputation like a gluttonous pig. The Vietnam War and subsequent conflicts across the globe might as well have been pay raises for Gozaburo and those that were loyal to him, and with KaibaCorp's influence growing as they funneled arms into conflict zones, amassing wealth and power by the truckload, they were getting a lot of raises.
The demand for high-tech weaponry surged by the 1980, and it was here with the advent of so many technological breakthroughs that KaibaCorp's research and development division flourished. They pioneered advancements in battlefield simulations, but it was around this time that Gozaburo saw an opportunity beyond the battlefield, coincidentally around the time his son was born. The media world was the next battlefield, and like any other battle he won it with gusto and broke the opposition's morale into tiny specks of nothing . In the early 1990s, Gozaburo, with the help of his son, executed the numerous buyouts that turned KaibaCorp into the global power it was today, and they started with America. Go big or go home, am I right?
Time Warner was among the first casualties, absorbed into the ever-growing KaibaCorp machine, its studios and broadcasting networks dismantled or restructured as the Kaibas saw fit. UPN and TBS were swiftly taken over next, followed by NBC and Fox in the mid-90s, swallowed up and digested. What had started as a very powerful and efficient PMC had now evolved into the juggernaut it was today, controlling vast swathes of global media, shaping public opinion as effortlessly as it built its tanks and drones tanks and drones, dealing death on one side, and entertaining their would be victims on the other.
Then he took notice, and it was with one impromptu meeting with him in the mid-90s that Gozaburo, for the first time in years, was humbled in the most horrifying and humiliating of ways.
By the end of the 90s, KaibaCorp's tendrils extended into every conceivable industry thanks to him. Pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, and fashion were not safe from its reach,and thanks to that man. Their rule was permanent. From the very shoes people wore,like Nike and ASICS, to the TVs they sat in front of like gibbering idiots, like Panasonic and Sony, all had KaibaCorp's DNA forcibly, painfully, injected into them. What people watched on TV, the phones they used, the cars they drove—all had some component, some vital part, produced by a KaibaCorp subsidiary. Even the simplest aspects of everyday life were now intertwined with the company's empire, and though life continued as normal, the slop and drek was as propaganda less as it always was, everyone knew and worshipped the name of Kaiba, whether they wanted to or not.
But like always with these types of things, KaibaCorp got too big for it's britches, and not only did he find out. Took the driver seat away from the Kaibas, and send their goals into overdrive, a young upstart, actually young unlike the aging fossil with the looks of a handsome 20-something, with hair as white as silver and an eye made of gold, 'helpfully' interjected himself into the KaibaCorp Storm, as those in the big business liked to call it. His 'hel[', combined with his holographic technology, helped boost KaibaCorp's business and military divisions to heights unimaginable, and all this man requested was for his mediocre card game to be lifted up to the same heights as everything else KaibaCorp touched. How could Gozaburo say no?
…Especially after that fop of a man read him like a book using that damn eye of his. Maximillion Pegasus, head of the entertainment company known as Industrial Illusions. He was the same age as Gozaburo, had the same immaculate sense of attire and the same love for the color red, much as the Kaiba patriarch loathed to admit it, and unlike Gozaburo, he didn't even look his age.
He was also the one who was calling Gozaburo after the man spent the last 50 minutes trying to sleep.
Gozaburo Kaiba's bedroom was a stark contrast to the cold, militaristic aesthetics of the rest of the KaibaCorp empire. A man born in a different era, this room, like his private bedrooms in many of his KaibaCorp offices around the world, exuded old-world luxury, a relic of a time when wealth was defined by the weight of materials and the craftsmanship of wood and stone, rather than the sleek, cold lines of steel and glass that now dominated everything he touched.
The walls were paneled in dark, polished wood, and the floors were covered with thick, Persian carpets that muffled even the heaviest of footsteps. High-backed leather chairs and solid oak furniture filled the space, the aesthetics harkening back to KaibaCorp's younger days, an era where Gozaburo and his father and his father's father had first built his empire on sharp, ruthless deals, raw ambition, and so, so many little people. A massive oak desk sat in the far corner, its surface scattered with physical documents, contracts, and plans. It looked out of place, as every employee that worked for him rarely, if ever, used paper and pencil thse days, But tradition still held sway in Gozaburo's private headquarters, and he was the one who controlled every product that went in and out of KaibaCorp. If he wanted to keep these precious documents on paper, who was going to stop him?
On the opposite side of the room, a towering four-poster bed dominated the space, its velvet curtains pulled back to reveal rich, dark sheets made of silk. The bed had barely been touched—it was more of a symbol than a place to rest, and it's where he would have been resting under normal circumstances, if it wasn't for a certain business partner interrupting his hard earned sleep. . Above the fireplace, a large oil painting of Gozaburo as a younger man hung, his expression stern and commanding, painted by his own flesh and blood. Truly he was worthy of the Kaiba name.
Despite the old-fashioned opulence, the room wasn't entirely free from technology, Gozaburo wasn't as foolish as his grandfather could be. Everything here was dated by modern standards, like the early 1980s-style video phone, reminiscent of those old sci-fi movies, sitting on his desk, its screen displaying the visage of the young upstart who had dared to interrupt his slumber. Unlike the holographic projections and integrated systems that ran the rest of his compound, this bulky, outdated device was a personal reminder of the time before KaibaCorp had become the global military and media juggernaut it was today.
And who else would be on the screen other than Maximillion Pegasus, wearing his usual obnoxious grin? His eyes gleamed with his rather poor attempt at boyish mischief and something else that Gozaburo noticed that put him on edge. Was the man nervous, perhaps? Despite the grainy quality of the older tech, Pegasus's features were unmistakable. His silver hair and the distinctive golden eye on one side of his face all came together to form one obnoxious package that was right now interrupting his hard earned sleep.
"{Gozaburo!}" Pegasus's voice came through with a slight static, but the arrogance was clear as day. "{I do hope I didn't wake you at such an... inconvenient time.}" The smirk on his face widened as he leaned back in his seat, clearly enjoying the fact that Gozaburo had no choice but to respond to this call in his pajamas.
'He couldn't be more forced if he tried.' Gozaburo's jaw tightened as he loomed over the device, refusing to sit. Whatever frightened this fop bad enough that he called him certainly warranted his attention. "Pegasus," he said curtly, his voice a low growl. "What is it this time?" So he'll play along.
'Oh thank goodness!' That decrepit old fool couldn't detect facial features for the life of him with his software, and Gozaburo, loathsome as he could be, was way beyond their shared foe. Keeping up the act Pegasus waved a hand dismissively, as though he were discussing something trivial. "{Oh, nothing major,}" his tone casual. "{I just have a teensy-} Major, Gozaburo noted. {Issue regarding our upcoming meeting. I wanted to remind you of the importance of compliance in our joint ventures. I'm sure we both wouldn't want any... misunderstandings to arise, would you?}
Gozaburo's eyes narrowed. The thinly veiled threat wasn't lost on him; his lawyer Johnson used it plenty of times, 'cliche but fun' as the man put it. At any other point he would have mistaken it for a threat towards him, but the elder Kaiba got the message loud and clear. "Get to the point, Pegasus."
Pegasus chuckled softly, his mismatched eyes gleaming in the dim light. "{Very well,}" he continued. Gozaburo had never needed to be humbled in his old age, but listening to Pegasus almost—almost—made him reflect on his own arrogance. The man reminded him too much of himself in his prime, only Gozaburo wasn't so disgustingly flamboyant when he was as young as Pegasus looked. "{It's about the latest update to the virtual systems we've been integrating into KaibaCorp's military training programs. I've made a few... improvements, if you will, and rather than waiting for you to get your beauty rest all by your lonesome, I figured I'd come to share the good news.}"
Pegasus paused, his playful tone gone, and Gozaburo's gaze sharpened. 'Improvements. All by his lonesome' He already had his suspicions with the way this call was going, but that confirmed it: Something had gone wrong, and Pegasus wanted to discuss it in person rather than leave any trace over the phone. Every time he dealt with Pegasus, he was reminded that Industrial Illusions was responsible for KaibaCorp's most critical systems. KaibaCorp was, to put it bluntly, their bitch, and a symbiotic, often parasitic relationship, kept both companies alive and thriving.. Gozaburo had made his empire through ruthless ambition and bug stomping, and cowing to those whose power eclipsed his, but Pegasus, despite his eccentricity, was unfortunately no fool. Gozaburo could see it in his body language: Maximillion was terrified, and if he was risking a telephone call, secure as it was, it wasn't because of their shared master.
Still, the fop's smile never wavered. If there's one good thing his son Noah took from the fop, it was his sense of showmanship, keeping cool under pressure, and the tolerance for little people the elder Kaiba was slowly losing as he aged. "{I'll be seeing you at the conference shortly, Gozaburo. We have much to discuss.}"
The screen flickered off, leaving Gozaburo standing in the dimly lit room, his hands clenched. Even for an act, Pegasus had a way of getting under his skin like no one else. The holographic technology Pegasus had developed revolutionized KaibaCorp's business model, but the reliance on him was like a bullet to the stomach that dug itself deeper the more you tried to get rid of it. And now, the fool had a real reason to call, which meant Gozaburo had no choice but to interact with him, and without his biological son to act as a buffer, because Noah genuinely enjoyed that man's company for some inexplicable reason, he was going to have one hell of a headache after this was done.
Shaking his head, Gozaburo walked to the window. His empire stretched far and wide, KaibaCorp tanks, KaibaCorp soldiers, KaibaCorp technology, all made and trained by him and Nesbitt, and it was all in danger because someone else wanted control. Control. It was always about control, control over the world's military, control over the entertainment industry, control over the very lives that suckled on their teats, and now Pegasus was telling him that someone was threatening that control, both of theirs!
The call had been brief, but its implications were clear: someone had fucked with the both of them, and if Pegasus was coming all the way here from his office up north, then it was a problem that required that damned eye of his. Gozaburo cursed inwardly. Whoever it was had just lost their rights as a human being, and depending on how good they looked after a stint in the basement, he might get some nice pocket change off the right buyer who got off on that. And though he hated the younger man, Gozaburo couldn't wait to see what Pegasus would do to the perpetrator with that golden eye of his.
Pegasus let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding. "Good lord, that was exhausting." Having to use his own Shadow Magic to keep a straight face was hell on the noggin, let me tell you! He sighed in aggravation. The Millenium Eye was good for business…well not too kid, everyone had their masters, even him and Gozaburo, but this was not the thing Dartz or the Doma organization would want to waste their time on, despite the ease they would have crushing this upstart. No, this was a problem for mortal men, and a mortal man using the same power Pegasus now wielded was the exact problem that needed correcting. "Oh I'm going to need a nice long bath after this." After calling Croquet to prepare a bath for him in the next few hours, Pegasus's golden eye glowed with a bright light, and seconds later he disappeared from his office in sunny old San Diego California.
An angry and secretly terrified Gozaburo Kaiba strode through the sprawling KaibaCorp compound, each step a reminder of the empire he had built from steel, sweat, and sheer will, could come crumbling down today if he and Maximillion didn't sort this mess out ASAP. His eyes scanned the horizon. Pride was written all over his face as he gazed upon what he made. Rows of over 500 tanks, their armored hulls glinting in the light of the setting sun, 30,000 men relentlessly trained using his custom made drills. Their training regimen was grueling, meticulously planned by him -and his master- to take advantage of the contracts each and every soldier was bound by, designed to make the most elite forces on the planet—the U.S. Marines, Russian Spetsnaz—look like first time enlisters who hadn't even had a week on the battlefield!
These soldiers, these machines, one in the same for the Kaiba patriarch, everything in his light of sight, had been developed here, with his hands, at the helm of the largest military contractor on the planet. KaibaCorp didn't just sell weapons; it sold dominance. Every nation, from the superpowers of America and Russia to remote, forgotten corners of the globe, had come crawling to KaibaCorp for it's lucrative war machines and soldiers, signing away their security and sanctity to the control of Gozaburo Kaiba. If you owned a gun, it was KaibaCorp's, TV, KaibaCorp, even the biggest shoe brands from Nike to ASICS had been devoured by his mighty beast.
Also as an aside he had earned quite the reputation as quite the philanthropist. Noah would have earned a right smack for the level of backtalk he showed during those contract deals when he suggested mingling with the common folk , but he was already proving himself to be a Kaiba at age 8, and a loyal one at that, not like that other brat he bought for him.
Even countries most wouldn't bother mentioning—places that only that insufferable, turquoise haired, heterochromic freak seemed to know about—were under his thumb. KaibaCorp's grip spanned continents, his allies and enemies blurred into one. Everyone hated him and everyone loved him, and if his body even remembered the concept of sexual pleasure, then that fact would make a lucky hooker a very happy woman for the night.
But Gozaboro didn't get this far without remembering one important fact: nothing was forever. KaibaCorp wasn't always going to be around, some idiot in the future was going to ruin everything he, his son, and the Big 5 had accomplished, and someone would rise up to challenge him. He just didn't expect it to happen this far into his life, and he didn't expect to learn about it from Pegasus of all things. It was a ridiculous statement when you knew about the man and his powers, but Maximillion tended to use his gifts for party tricks and annoying people, 'trolling', as Noah and Mokuba called it.
Pray for the unlucky son of a bitch that got that fop to try.
Soldiers saluted him as he passed, office workers stood at attention, all of them loyal to KaibaCorp down to their bones. He treated these men and women like he treated his adopted kids, and unlike that ungrateful brat Seto, everyone here quickly wizened up and learned their place. Here at KaibaCorp HQ, the starting salary for a janitor was $10,000 per month, and the more you were allowed to clean, the higher your pay. They had a 401(k) plan with a 100% company match up to 10% of the salary, and potentially additional pension benefits as well, and housing assistance, with subsidized or fully covered luxury apartments near KaibaCorp HQ, and that was just for the rank and file. To the aging man, these 'luxuries' that these leeches lapped up were about as cheap to him as a Little Debbie was to some parent who wanted to get a snack to shut their kid up, pocket change. He could throw out a 1000 bucks from his pocket like it was a piece of lint, and it'd be worth as much to him as a nickel was to the average person. If you can manipulate and control with little effort and time on your part, then do so! It was a lesson Noah took to heart, it was a lesson Seto failed to learn.
"Good evening father." But Mokuba? Mokuba didn't waste the boons his adoptive father blessed him with. The boy had some rough spots, some 'Seto-isms' as Noah put it, but Gozaboro was proud of how he whipped -sometimes literally- him into shape. The little boy greeted him, and always showed the proper respect that Gozaburo demanded. Unlike his rebellious brother Seto, Mokuba understood the importance of obedience, or rather it was something Seto made sure he understood once that little smart aleck realized he couldn't outplay someone as powerful as Gozaboro, and that was precisely why Mokuba's body wasn't thrown back in the orphanage Gozaburo found him in like he did with Seto's worthless body. There was potential in the younger one, not as much as that lout of a big brother unfortunately, such a waste of a future vice president, but Mokuba's potential lay in his now moldable mind, one that he could craft into the perfect 2nd in command for his biological son.
"Evening, Mokuba." His gruff reply was all that was needed, especially when there weren't any paparazzi around. He wasn't one for unnecessary affection, especially for Mokuba, and the boy understood. Like Noah, he didn't need constant praise to know his place, and with Seto gone, the Kaibas were all he had, all he needed.
As they walked through the pristine halls of KaibaCorp, Gozaburo's eyes flickered over the holographic displays on the walls. His fingers twitched with a flicker of annoyance as one projection cycled through another promotion for a new line of KaibaCorp weapons systems, showing off sleek designs and highlighting the contract values signed with various governments. It was all a reminder of the one thing he hated to admit: Maximillion Pegasus had revolutionized the way KaibaCorp operated.
As much as Gozaburo despised that eccentric fool and those five nutcases he adopted, there was no denying the man's genius, or rather, the genius he helped foster. His holographic technology had been a godsend for KaibaCorp's weapons division. The ability to simulate battlefield scenarios in full 3D, with near-perfect accuracy, had transformed military training. Soldiers could now be trained on complex, real-world operations without ever having to leave the facility. Tanks and drones could be piloted remotely, with holographic overlays guiding operators through simulations as if they were in the thick of combat. It had saved millions in live-fire exercises and minimized risk to KaibaCorp's prized assets.
As much as it grated on him to admit it, Gozaburo knew that without Industrial Illusion's breakthrough in hard light technology, KaibaCorp wouldn't have risen to the monolithic heights it was at today, nothing more than a titan, rather than the god the company was today. The Duel Monsters holographic projectors Pegasus had invented? A novelty at first. Who would waste all that time and money on something like a Card Game? But Gozaburo, oh he saw the potential in it instantly, and used one of his many shell companies to help sponsor Pegasus's endeavors. The fool might be planning to use them for his silly little games, but being in the PMC business, Gozaburo had learned pretty quickly to turn crap into gold, or fake gold to get out of many a sticky situation, and this was one such times, as he he turned Pegasus' silly holograms into the heart of KaibaCorp's military training program.
He shuddered, that old intuition hitting him in the face. He had a creeping suspicion as to what exactly Pegasus wanted now….
Neural Scan complete
Optical Scan complete
Welcome Gozaburo. Welcome Guest.
Stepping onto the private elevator with Mokuba, it was a simple 2 minute wait until the two of them got to the conference hall. A few security checks later, and Gozaburo sat down in the center chair with Mokuba at his side. There were 30 other chairs here, with only one that was occupied. How the man got here was a mystery that terrified Gozaburo didn't want to figure out, but Maximillian Pegasus and one of his sons were situated across from the two Kaiba's, dressed in that tacky, bright red suit of his, and that strange, golden eye shining for Gozaburo to see. "Geez, it took you long enough." Pegasus said in jest with a fake pout. Gozaburo had to give Wakko or whatever credit; he at least knew to shut up during an important meeting. "I've been waiting here for-e-ver!" Maximillion was excellent at maintaining a poker face when in front of other people, and like any extrovert, he faltered when not in the presence of an audience. His kid however, the lanky little pretty boy behind him? A perfect mirror for the elder Kaiba to gauge Pegasus's true feelings. Scared was putting it lightly. All this did was make Gozaburo's fears even more prominent, and the lack of a certain 'higher up' magnanimously overseeing the proceedings was the only thing preventing him from sweating.
Gozaburo didn't dignify that with a response. Reading the mood, Mokuba produced the necessary papers from his briefcase and handed them over to his adoptive father. The soon he got this done and over with, the better. "So, to what do I owe the 'pleasure' of your visit, Maximillion?"
"You already know why." Pegasus's fake eye gleamed with a golden light as the world around them was replaced with a dark, purple void. "Let's get down to business shall we?"