Oddpart: Y&H and the Broken Chains: Redo

“Giving up Mutou?” The men asked as Yugi struggled in his companion’s grip, trying to break free and escape only for the grip to tighten, pinning Yugi securely.

Boh watched in horror as Yugi dropped his wand, his head falling forward and his gaze staring blankly at the floor. “You’re going to wipe my mind again, aren’t you?” Yugi asked, defeated.

“No.” The leader shook his head, causing Yugi to look up, startled and slightly hopeful. “Oh it’s not a good thing, Mutou.” The leader continued, causing panic to flare up in Yugi’s eyes, “It’s been decided that you’re too much trouble to keep around anymore. You’ve broken through the programming one too many times. We’ve been ordered to ‘remove’ you.”

Yugi started struggling again, crying out for help only to earn a backhand across the face that had him reeling. Boh went to help only for a swift mental command to keep him in place as Yugi hung limply in his captor’s grasp and the leader continued talking, “Silencio.” The leader commented with a lazy flick of his wand. Yugi’s voice vanished the moment the magic settled, leaving the young man unable to protest, just listen, “You have yourself to blame. If it had just been your own head you’d fixed, it might not have come to this, but you insisted on restoring the memories of the others too and well...”

He pulled a vial of some liquid out of his pocket and showed it to Yugi. “We were ordered to get rid of you, they didn’t say how. Just that you had to be unable to reawaken everyone again. So you have a choice.”

Confusion warred with fear in Yugi’s eyes as he took in the vial then glanced at the man.

“It’s really quite simple.” The man explained, “Either you drink this, go to sleep and you’ll die painlessly in an ‘accident.’ Or we’ll obliviate you until there’s nothing left in that head of yours and we’ll make everyone believe your brother did it. It seems like something his ‘Shadow Games’ could do after all.”

It was, Yugi was fully aware of that fact and he didn’t want to choose between either option. Either he was going to die, or they were going to destroy him and make Yami take the fall. Before this had all started, he would have taken the second option, trusting that his friends would be able to return his memories to him and that they would never think that Yami would do such a thing.

Now, however, he couldn’t trust that. He couldn’t even trust that they would be there for him when he was a vegetable. All because of the men who had captured him and the people they were working for.

At least if he was dead, his friends wouldn’t blame Yami. Nor would they wreck vengeance on the Pharaoh for something they hadn’t done. And if he got Boh to take his notes to Mahado or Kisara, there was still hope of the others getting away, even if he was gone.

“Well Mutou?” The leader of the group asked, “The potion or the wand?” He flicked his wand again and Yugi let out a soft sigh before speaking.

“The potion.”

“Smart boy.” The leader chuckled. Yugi could still feel a wand pressed into the back of his head when the guy let go of him and didn’t try and escape as the leader offered him the vial.

“Hey Boh?” Yugi thought at the Kuriboh, knowing the little fuzzball was watching, “Tell everyone ‘I’m sorry.’ Please? And make sure my notes get to Mahado or Kisara.” With that he downed the potion in two gulps.

Boh panicked as Yugi’s mind swiftly faded out and his partner slumped, unconscious, into the waiting arms of one of the Obliviators. His partner had made him promise not to tell anyone about the memory wipes and the fact they were being manipulated, but if he didn’t they were going to kill Yugi and make it look like an accident.

He had to break his promise to Yugi. He just had to. He didn’t like it but he couldn’t just let them end his partner’s life.

“Mahado!”  His mental call went unanswered to start with, causing his panic to increase, “Mahado, please! Yugi’s in danger!”

That got the Dark Magician’s attention. He felt the Dark Magician snap into focus as he tried to follow the men who were levitating his Deck Master’s unconscious form down the corridor. “Boh? What’s going on? Where are you?”

“Heading for the exit.” Boh replied, desperate, “Yugi made me promise not to tell you but they’re going to kill him.”

“We won’t let them.” Mahado promised, helping Boh calm down slightly, “Who is it?”

“Yugi...” Boh hesitated, he had promised after all but this was important, “Someone’s been messing with the memories of the Pharaoh and his friends.” He felt Mahado’s mind stall for a moment, then anger flared up, encouraging Boh to continue, “Yugi’s been trying to work out a way to get everyone out and regain the lost memories for months, but they kept rewiping their minds every time Yugi managed it. Now they’ve decided it’s easier to get rid of the problem then keep brainwashing everyone over and over again.”

“We’re on our way.” Mahado promised, “As are Yugi’s friends.”

“But...”

“They’ll come together for this, or they’ll lose their friend.” Mahado pointed out, “We’ve seen lesser miracles happen because of Yugi.”

That was true at least and as Boh continued to follow the men, heading out of the school and down towards the Forbidden Forest, he just hoped they could put aside their arguments quickly enough.

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 27

“What?” Speedster asked, having not been aware for any of that.

“They took blood and dna samples from all of us, you included.” Luna informed Speedster, “We’ve been taking bets as to what they’re using them for. Currently top theory is super soldier army.”

“You guys are such nerds.” Speedster chuckled, easily able to see the group arguing over such things. “So if we’re all here, why aren’t we out already? There’s no way they should be able to take us if we work as a team.”

“We were waiting for you to come around.” Snap replied, “One less person to worry about and one more butt kicker available. Except you’ve been out longer than the rest of us, like hours and hours longer.”

Speedster sighed and struggled to her feet, wavering for a moment before stumbling over to the door. “Yeah, I got hit by three darts.” She informed them, managing to look up and down the narrow, whitewashed corridor full of identical doors and see a couple of faces. “Also someone’s going to need to break my chains.”

“And this is why super strength is better than super speed.” Mako informed her, her door practically exploding out of its hinges as Mako hit is so hard it went flying across the corridor. “Guys?”

One door changed shape and opened of its own accord, another opened in a burst of purple light, yet another was knocked off one of its hinges and swung forlornly in the corridor.

In moments the other doors had been busted down, restraints broken and Speedster was scouting the base as best she could.

“The doors to this corridor are locked. I did find an office though that probably should have had someone in considering it was linked to security cameras monitoring our cells, but we got lucky and they were just coming back from a bathroom break.” Speedster informed them. “They’re currently in a supply closet.”

“Locked doors aren’t much of an issue.” Mako flexed her muscles, confidence radiating off of her as Luna started flicking through a bunch of cards she had pulled out of a hidden pouch she kept close to her chest, her eyes already shifted from purple to red.

“No, but we don’t know what’s on the other side.” Sparks pointed out. The tall, broad shouldered male with hair in various shades of purple, looked around, a thoughtful expression on his features, “We shouldn’t just break the doors down.”

“I have a question.” Shorty piped up, the Alchemist had a manic expression on his features, a slightly evil smirk that had the others worrying. “Why don’t we just go through the walls? I mean they’re expecting us to go through the doors. I can make holes, Luna’s creatures can make holes, hell I bet Speeds could bust through a thin enough wall if she was going fast enough.”

“Or I’d go splat.” Speedster pointed out, “But I get your drift. Going through the doors when we can go through the walls is a bad idea. And if we get lucky and hit an outside wall, we can just leave.”

“Exactly.” Shorty grinned at her.

“Alright then, this is going to seem daft but pair up.  Each pair is to watch each other’s back. Buddy system, got it?” Speedster asked, looking around. When everyone nodded she found herself with both Luna and Tails waiting to pair with her.

“Okay, no, I can’t pair with both of you.” Speedster shook her head, not wanting the pair to get into a row about it, “So you can pair up with each other, that way I can keep an eye on both of you.” She smirked at the startled and slightly irritated look the two girls shot at each other. “In fact,” She looked around, “Can everyone make sure that they have at least one offensively powered member in their pair?”

Several already prepared pairs split up, changing so that everyone had someone who could back them up.

“Speedster?” Sparks asked, stepping up, “I’ve got magic, but no really offensive spells, so if you’re not taking Luna or Tails...”

“Sure.” Speedster nodded, irritated slightly by having to have someone with her, but knowing it was both right and fair. Even if the person she was partnered with couldn’t keep up. She and Sparks took point, Mako and her partner bringing up the rear.

Speedster scouted ahead, Sparks watching her back as she moved up the corridor ahead of the main pack. While it was Speedster who found the release switch for the electrically locked doors, it was Sparks who saw the movement from one of the side rooms.

“Speedster!” He yelped, purple glow surrounding the man who leapt at them, stopping the attacker in their tracks by floating them in midair.

The speed freak wheeled around, glowering at the startled man. “What do we have here?” She asked, looking him over.

“Ha, hahaha, hahahahahaha.” The captured man started laughing, “You’re all screwed. So screwed.” He managed as the horde caught up, “They’ll pump this area with sleeping drugs in a minute and...” There was a hissing noise, “Hahaha, there it goes.”

“Shit.” Speedster yelped, darting for the electronic switch, only to get a nasty electric shock when she slammed her hand down on it. Mako went the more direct route, smashing down the door, only to find another door beyond it, and another door beyond that in an airlock system.

“Screw it.” Shorty snarled, clapping his hands together before pressing them against the wall, transmuting a doorway that led out into a corridor, only for them to dart into what they thought would be clean air to find more of the same tainted smelling air waiting for them.

“We’re underground!” The guy Sparks had captured cackled, “You won’t get out. Not unless you find the stairs before you all pass out.”

“What’re we in, some kind of bloody dungeon?” Mako grouched, even as Shorty swiftly worked out angles and transmuted his way through walls, trying to find a passage to the surface, and Speedster left Sparks behind to dart around the underground level to find the doors upwards.

The air grew thicker the longer they took, a couple of them trying to get answers from the manically laughing guy. The smaller members of the party collapsed before the bigger, the ones exerting themselves following quickly. Speedster had just found the door marked ‘exit’ when she finally succumbed to the poison in the air.

When she came round, she was back in her cell.

“Damn it.” She hissed, noting the fact her door had been fixed and this time her ankle shackles were attached to the floor. “Everyone okay?” She called.

Not everyone answered to start with, but slowly over the course of the next hour or so everyone role called in.

“So that didn’t work.” Mako sounded surprisingly cheerful considering what had just happened.

“No, no it didn’t.” Sparks spoke up, “So what’s the plan now?”

“We would suggest,” A voice spoke up from speakers embedded in the ceilings of the cells, “That you don’t try anything else funny. You see we have people watching you carefully and should you try to break out enmass again, we’ll just knock you out again.”

“Who are you?” Mako demanded, fuming.

“That’s not important.” The voice replied, “We have a game for you all. A simple game. And if just one of you win, you can all go home free.”

“And if we lose?” The Other Luna was in control now, unsurprising considering they were being challenged to a game.

“You can keep trying, one after another, after another, in the order we choose.” The voice informed them, “But each time you lose, we get to run an experiment on you.”

“I’ll play.” The Other Luna spoke up, “I’ll go first.”

“No.” The voice disagreed, “You won’t.” Speedster heard one of the doors slid open, “Mako will.” There was a pause then, “Oh, and if you try to break your friends out, the game is over, for everyone and the deal is off.”

“I get it, I get it.” Mako grouched, “Guys, I’ll be back for you.”

“Good luck.” The Other Luna spoke up, sounding like she was pacing her cell.

“Thanks.” Mako started down the corridor and vanished out of audio range.

Speedster couldn’t help the half grin, half grimace that appeared on her features when someone started singing the words to ‘Still Alive’ from a popular game. The whole situation felt very ‘Aperture Science’ she had to admit.

“I spy,” She spoke up, lying back against the floor when she had finally had enough of tugging on chains that wouldn’t move, “With my little eye something beginning with S.”

“Seriously Speedster?” Chi complained.

“Why not? It’s not like we have anything else to do for now.” Snap commented, “Is it speaker?”

“Yup.” Speedster nodded, despite the fact the only person who could see her was the people watching the cells through the security cameras. “Your turn.”

“Okay, I spy with my little eye, something beginning with...” Snap trailed off as there was a loud crash and a bunch of men stalked past, carrying something. There was the sound of something hitting the floor hard and a door sliding shut and then the voice spoke up.

“Next.” It called, another door sliding open, “Gold.”

“You know,” He said as one of the men entered his cell and unshackled him, “I’m really beginning to regret giving them our Club names.”

By the time it was Speedster’s turn, she was beginning to seriously wonder if they were ever actually going to let her have a go. The moment she was loose, she shot off, speeding up the corridors until she found the ‘exit’ sign again, breaking through the doors.

She shot up to the next floor, only to find another maze of locked doors and corridors.

“We’re bloody rats in maze!” Speedster hissed, narrowly avoiding a trap, one that had blood on, suggesting one of the others had run afoul of it. Her reaction times saving her where others would have failed, only for her to run afoul, just shy of the second set of ‘exit’ doors, of a horrible sticky substance that caught her feet the moment they impacted with it, gluing her feet to the floor. A substance her mind insisted was MegaMuck.

“Ewww.” She complained, the MegaMuck making a horrible sucking noise as she managed to pull one foot free, only to fall on her rear and end up glued down completely.

She did, however, get the delight of watching three men in hazmat suits attempt to traverse the MegaMuck coated floor and end up just as bogged down as she was. 

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 26

“You’ve changed. You’re not as strong or fast as you were.” The guy commented, trying to look tough though it was hard to take him seriously with a frog on his head, “And the Doc’s building something that could...”

“If you mean that metal rip-off, I’ve already trashed it.” Speedster smirked at him, “When I rescued my little brother. Thanks for the details by the way. Shame you couldn’t be bothered to actually help.”

“I had better things to do then get myself caught again.” The guy retorted, “Or watch you get yourself killed. You’re not Sonic.”

“No, I’m not.” Speedster happily admitted, “I’m not him, I will never be him. I might have some mad, Sonic like moments, but I’m not him.” She looked at him for a moment, then offered her hand, “You want a hand up?”

He considered the hand for a moment, before grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the water.

Speedster let out a startled yelp just moments before she hit the surface, the part of her mind that wasn’t her own panicking when the water closed over her head, only for the rational, human mind to kick that part in the nuts and get her to surface calmly. At least as calmly as it could while plotting homicide.

The guy looked rather pleased with himself for the three seconds it took for Speedster to launch herself at him, the brawl he had been trying to instigate while they had been on the roads, now shifting to the water.

She was actually winning until he use Chaos Control to freeze her in place, circling her for a moment, before sending her crashing into the trees back on shore.

“C...cheat.” She spat out, glaring at him as he moved towards her.

“What? You think we’re all gunna play by some handbook?” The guy demanded, circling her again, “Yeah, the Doc knows about that.”

“You’re not a villain.” Speedster pointed out, her memories playing up again as she tried to keep her front to him, refusing to let him get a sneak attack in, “You’re not a hero either, but you’re not a villain, so what’s your part in all this?”

“My part?” The guy asked, looking thoughtful for a moment before smirking slightly, “I suppose it’s making sure this world we’ve been dragged to and Fused into doesn’t crumble around our ears.”

“What do you...?” Speedster let out a sharp gasp as the guy shoved a crystal into her hand, a sphere shaped one with images flickering around the inside ball, and it dragged her into its stored images.

Speedster struggled to stay afloat amongst the tide of memories that attempted to wash her away. Getting bits and pieces of the big picture but not the full details. When she finally managed to pull her metaphorical head free, the guy was gone, but he had left her a small brown bag and a note.

“The bag’s for the crystal, don’t lose it Faker. Shadow.”

“Great.” Speedster complained, still trying to piece together exactly what she had seen, regaining her footing and glowering around at her surroundings, trying to see if she could work out where the pest had gone.

When she couldn’t see him or any hints of his tracks, she let out a frustrated grumble and headed for home, still puzzling over the images she had seen in the crystal. Some things had been obvious, World Spheres and robots, herself fighting. Others less obvious, some giant monster coming through a portal, a giant mechanical clocklike spider with time seeming to go backwards around it, an entire world being coated in Shadows...

She couldn’t know if they were real or not, if the images were past of future. It wasn’t helpful and all Shadow’s actions had done was give her the mother of all headaches.

“Stupid bloody faker with his stupid bloody orb of headache inducing plus seven.” She grouched as she shoved the crystal in the bag and then in a pocket, scowling as something pulled up the gravel, headlights on full beam, blinding her. “Ow!” She yelped, covering her eyes momentarily as she tried to get her sight back.

By the time she had someone had exited the vehicle and so had at least three others. Blind to what was going on but not deaf, she was still blinking sunspots away when the first of the men tried to grab her, causing her to duck under his attempts and dart away, only to crash into a second man.

She floored him, using tricks her sensei had taught her in order to escape, and was just about to leave, leaving the third one standing, when the fourth fired something and she felt something hit her in the back of the leg.

Dizziness and drowsiness instantly washed over her as she pulled the dart out, but rather than lie down and accept what was happening, she fought back, managing to knock out the two men and escape the backup. Darting home as fast as possible in order to both get somewhere safe and ensure the safety of her friends before she passed out.

She reached the house only to find her door was hanging off the hinges.

“Luna!” She darted in, adrenaline keeping her awake, fear coursing through her, “Tails!”

“Speeds?” Luna’s voice was wavering from the back room, “Is that you?”

“I...I’m here.” Speedster shot into the back room, trying to ignore the way her house had been trashed in her concern from her friends. She stepped into the backroom to find Luna looking absolutely exhausted, shielding Tails despite the fact the goons who had gone after them were unconscious. “Are you alright?”

“I...no...” Luna admitted, exhausted beyond reason after challenging all twelve men. “My Other Self’s out...” She admitted, wavering on her feet. “We took them all...Tails is awesome by the way. Her booby traps? Totally cool.”

“Good. I’m glad you feel that way.” Speedster was pleased, even as her world spun and her legs started giving out. “Glad you’re okay...” She fell forward.

“Speeds!”

“Sonic!”

Both of her friends darted forward, moving to catch her and neither quite getting there. Speedster glanced up, trying to work out how she had ended up on the ground. “I...hi?” She asked.

“Speeds, what happened?” Luna worried at her as Tails started examining her for injury.

“Puncture wound.” Tails stated, noting the rip in Speedster’s trouser’s and checking the injury, “Speeds?” Tails asked, “Did you get tagged?”

“Yeah. Goons in cars.” Speedster nodded, “I don’t... we need to move...”

“I’m phoning Rowena.” Luna mumbled, pulling out her phone only to pause when she heard footsteps storming the building, “I haven’t called her yet.”

“Round two.” Speedster forced herself to her feet, “Go. Now. I’ll hold them.”

“No, I won’t...” Speedster’s glare cut Luna off. Once Luna was settled, Speedster looked to Tails.

“I’m trusting you to get her out, little sis.” Speedster saw Tails’ back straighten and her reply was a short, sharp nod, “I can hold them while you escape out the back. Now go.”

“Be careful.” Tails nodded, before helping Luna out the back way. Speedster had only just lost the sound of Luna’s disagreement with the plan when the first men came around the corner.

She managed to take down three before they tagged her again, twice, and had just managed to take down another two before they pinned her long enough for the sedatives to kick in. Despite her best efforts she spiralled away into darkness, chased by the words, ‘About bloody time, she’s got enough drugs in her to knock out an elephant. Now where’s that second group? They have to have grabbed the other two by now.’

When she came around again, it was to the sound of low whispering and frantic plans. It wasn’t just Luna and Tails talking either. There were other voices, other Club members present. She let out a groan as she tried to move, only to find out she was hampered by a combination of her own body, which was still recovering from the sedative they had pumped her full of, and the metal around her wrists and ankles.

“Speedster!” She let out another groan as the call echoed around her sore head but her head turned in the direction of the call, even if she couldn’t see them through the wall between cells. “Aw man, they got you too?”

“R...role call.” She managed, though her tongue felt heavy in her mouth and she felt like she hadn’t had a drink in far too long.

She sat up and experimentally tugged on the chain connecting her wrists, scowling as she found that she had no real give in the bindings. Something started bothering her the moment the list of her captured friends started. Every one of them in the cells were hero or neutral Fused, not a single Villain had been caught.

In fact as they all listed off their names, she noticed that it wasn’t the all of the hero or neutral Fused, in fact there was a disturbing pattern and she wasn’t the only one who saw it.

“Is there anyone here,” The Other Luna asked, her tone frustrated, “Who didn’t sign up to Rowena’s consultant thing?”

No one answered except for Tails.

“Knew it was too good to be true.” Gold sounded like he was grimacing from a couple of cells down. It was hard to tell when the only way to see out into the corridor was through a tiny, barred window in the rather thick looking door that was above her current head height and she didn’t trust her feet. “I mean seriously? Being paid to be a Superhero?”

“It might be a leak.” Chi spoke up, “Someone in her department leaked our details to the bad guys who grabbed Luna and Speeds, and they acted on it.”

“Whichever it is, I’n totally going to bust some heads when we get out of here.” Mako growled, “I don’t appreciate being used as a lab rat.”

NaNo2013: Speedster's Secret: Part 16

When she came around she had no idea where she was. The plain white walls were unfamiliar, the ceiling just as strange, the room was almost silent besides the radio playing quietly on her bedside table and she would have assumed she was in hospital if it hadn’t been for the lack of a window, the lock on her door and the handcuff chaining her right wrist to the metal bed frame.

“Hello?” She tried calling, pushing herself sitting and looking around. She felt stiff and sore still, suggesting that either it hadn’t been very long since she had passed out or she had hurt herself rather severely. Possibly both.

Still trembling from the electric shock she had received from the fencing and noticing that she was wearing a plain set of blue scrubs, she looked around the room for her stuff. She was grateful to find that the costume was hung up on the back of the door on a coat hanger, the mask with it.

Snap would have killed her if it had been missing or damaged. Not that she was sure if she was going to be seeing her friends for a long time.

She heard the door unlocking and twisted so she could see the door open. A man in a smart, black suit walked in, his hair immaculate, his entire body held so taunt and his body language so neutral that she couldn’t help but wonder if he was a robot.

“Ah, Miss Rhodes. Good to see you awake.” He commented, sitting in the chair by her bed and turning down the music to the point where it was barely audible.

“You know who I am?” Speedster paled, having hoped to keep her identity and by extension the identities of her friends secret.

“Juliet Rhodes,” The man nodded, “Age twenty three. Born in Sherwood, living in Leicester. Recent graduate of a Music Technology BSc at DeMontfort...”

“I’ll take that as a yes..." Juliet groaned, one arm covering her eyes as she slumped back onto the bed. “What are you planning to do to me?”

“We’re not...”

“Don’t. Just don’t.” Juliet cut the man off midsentence, still not looking at him, “You’ve obviously got no intention of letting me leave.” She lifted her right wrist as far as it would go, causing the handcuff it was attached to, to clink against the metal bed, “So you have some sort of plan for me...”

“Miss Rhodes, you’re being kept here for your own well being.” The man explained, sympathy tainting his tone as she lowered her arm, “The greater majority of those who saw your actions on TV are concerned for your wellbeing and wish you well. However, there are a few who think otherwise. And Sawyer did get away. We would be remiss in our duty to the public if we sent you to a normal hospital and he tried to attack you while you were recovering there.”

The man sat forward, the chair creaking slightly and causing Juliet to look at him. “Can I ask why you decided to reveal yourself now? And you decided to fight him?”

“I couldn’t let him use innocent people as a shield. I had to get involved.” Juliet replied, sitting up so she could get the questioning over with as soon as possible, “Besides its Christmas. There’s a rule about being a douchebag at Christmas.” She grumbled under her breath, “He broke it.”

“Ah, yes, that ‘Villain’s Handbook’ you were carrying.” The man looked amused, having heard her, “That didn’t help your case, you know.”

“That’s not...” Juliet shut up but the damage was already done.

“Yours?” The suited agent of some government agency or another smiled slightly as he asked, a sharp, shark like smile that suggested she had just taken his bait. “If it’s not yours, whose is it?”

Juliet just shook her head. Shade may not have been her friend, but Michael and Luna were. She wasn’t going to rat them out.

“Protecting them won’t help you, Miss Rhodes.” The agent pointed out, “And we’ll be looking into your friends and family anyway. It’s better to give us names now then have us rip your life apart looking for clues. Just tell us who owns copies of this Handbook. Because it’s quite obvious from reading this, that not only do they have powers like you, but they’re not as self sacrificing as yourself.”

“No.” Juliet’s reply was short and sweet.

“Let me make this clear before I leave, Miss Rhodes.” The agent said as he stood up, “You’re a guest of a secure government facility. If you ever want to leave here again, you will provide names, powers, locations, the full list. And we’re playing nice at the moment. Don’t make us play dirty.”

“The moment I’m free, I’m leaving.” Juliet stated calmly, her left hand covering her right wrist, anger warring with fear for the safety of the Club, “And I won’t be coming back. I can promise you that.”

“Even if you could break free and escape, where would you go?” The agent asked her, amusement obvious, “We can track you down, no matter where you go.”

“I hear Italy is nice this time of year.” Juliet considered, “Maybe China.”

The agent didn’t reply to that, just chuckled and exited the room, locking the door behind him. The moment he was gone, Juliet started fighting with the cuff around her wrist, trying to slip her hand out of the loop or break the chain between her wrist and the bed.

“Damn it,” She hissed as she found she wasn’t strong enough to break the chain and her hand refused point blank to fit through the wrist cuff and all she successfully managed to do while trying was tighten the metal bang further until it cut into her skin. “Superspeed is crap when you can’t move!” She slammed a hand onto the bed, glowering at the cuff as she did so.

Taking a deep breath, she paused and considered her options. She couldn’t move too far from the bed, getting up and standing on the right side was about the limits of her range. If she were Brawl, Chi, Mako or Gold, the cuffs wouldn’t be an issue, as all of them had gained super strength when they had shifted. But she wasn’t and she was rather glad they weren’t in this mess with her.

For a moment she considered trying the tornado stunt again and swinging the bed around in the wind created until the chain snapped or the cuff came off but she had a funny feeling that her arm would be pulled off long before the chain gave. Even if it wasn’t, she could do herself more harm than good. Especially if the bed, which would probably break horribly, ricocheted off a wall and crashed into her.

“Think, think, think.” Juliet muttered to herself, wishing she could pace the room. She thought better on her feet than she did lying down. “There has to be a way out of here.” She tugged fruitlessly on her chain again before slumping back onto the bed, “At least it’s soft.” She muttered, frustration seeping through her.

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to play her options over in her mind. Handing over the names of her friends and fellow Club members wasn’t an option. She refused to go that route. So she needed another option. Another route. Something that didn’t involve her betraying her friends or being stuck in this room for the rest of her life.

She would go crazy if she was chained for too long, she just knew it. So that was the first thing she had to change.

An insane thought popped into her head. She couldn’t pull her hand out of the cuff, nor could she pull the cuffs free of the bed. But could she break the railing off of the bed and either slip the cuff off of the broken end or take it with her and worry about the rest of the railing once she had left the building?

She sat up and swivelled herself around, putting her feet against the railing. She took a deep breath, well aware that if this worked she had a very limited time before someone tried to stop her. “Three,” she whispered, “Two, one...” On one, she slammed her feet into the railing, over and over, faster and faster until she could feel the vibration through the bed and the metal around her wrist and the metal started bending.

Then there was a crack as something snapped and the bar along the middle, the one her wrist had been attached to and that had taken the worst beating, snapped. Juliet let out a pained yelp as her leg shot past the broken end of the metal bar, causing a long cut, but she didn’t let it stop her as she slipped the cuff off of the busted bar.

The door slammed open but she was already in motion, zipping to one side of the door and allowing the guys in suits to pass her before she shot down the corridor at as close to top speed as she could manage. Pain was a constant companion as she tried to push herself faster than her injured leg would let her go. She just needed to get out of the building and somewhere safe, then she could deal with the cut. She was just glad she hadn’t impaled herself on the damn bar at the same time.

To top her problems off, she had no real idea of where she was going. She couldn’t exactly stop and ask for directions. Instead she shot down the corridors she hoped led to the outside, finding three dead ends before having to skid under a closing security shutter that was coming down from the ceiling only to find herself face to face with one that had already closed and several armed men with their guns pointing at her.

“Damn it!” Speedster complained at them, forcing herself to her feet and trying to ignore the way the torn blue scrubs were turning purple, “I’ve done nothing wrong!”

“Get down on the ground.” One of the armed men shouted at her.

She wasn’t doing this. She had no patience for this crap. In the space of far too short a period of time, she had been shot at, choked, electrocuted, knocked off of a building, taken prisoner, had her friends and life threatened, and now they wanted her to just give up? It wasn’t happening.

Still they were human. Normal humans. She couldn’t attack them. At any sort of speed she could seriously injure them and she was in no fit state to fight them without that speed giving her an advantage.

Options. She needed options.

She hesitated for just a moment, but that moment was all that was needed as something fired behind her and her leg buckled, sending her tumbling and the tranquiliser dart soaring over her head. As she rolled to her feet, she used the movement to aid her acceleration. Though much slower than usual with her leg giving out again, what speed she had was enough to get her around the armed guards and smack the button to raise the security shutter.

“Bye guys.” She called as she rolled under the shutter and into the grounds. “Oh for...” She mumbled as she beheld the sight of more armed men, several dogs, who were pulling on their leads to get to her and a barbed wire, electrified fence around the complex.

“Miss Rhodes,” Speedster flinched at the sound of the man from earlier, “You really shouldn’t be running around on that leg. Come back to your room and...”

She didn’t give him a chance to finish. Having spotted dumpsters that she could use to get the height to allow her to leap the fence. She shot over, the lack of gunshots confusing her as she bounced off the lid of the dumpster and went soaring over the fence, landing just well enough to prevent her leg going again, and darted away.

Clanverse whatif: Yugi and Harry and the Broken Chains: Part 3

By the time the pair of them had been through the chest, Yugi was pale and shaking and Yami was ready to slaughter someone. They had tendered their resignation from Hogwarts twice before, once before they had even started at the madhouse Dumbledore had the audacity to call a school. The way they had remembered it, though, the Headmaster had shown up, given them the basics about the school and they had jumped at the chance without a second thought.

In hindsight it was so out of character for them he should have been wary, but it just hadn’t occurred to him.

The second time they had tried to withdraw was worse. Most of the broken and damaged memories weren’t actually the fault of the wizards doing the sealing. No, that had happened because Yami had failed in his most important task and Voldemort had gotten into Yugi’s soul room in an attempt to possess him and the pair of them had fought.

It was a net loss of about three years worth of memories, most of them from between the time Yugi had solved the Puzzle and gone to Hogwarts. Thankfully though there weren’t many of them that were in a huge chunk together and with the ‘fuzzy’ memories regained, Yugi was easily able to piece together his history a bit better.

Yugi had been in a lot of pain after the fight. Voldemort’s attacks on his soul had left him in a dire state. It had only been through Yami’s intervention that he was still here. The wizards would have removed him from Yami’s side if they had had their way, placing him in St. Mungo’s long term care ward where he would have been kept sedated ‘for his own good.’

Yami, of course, had said no. Firmly. So firmly in fact it had ended in a Shadow Game between the Pharaoh and the Headmaster. Though Yami didn’t remember the Game, suggesting that it had been wiped from his mind, it had obviously ended in their favour. It was after that game that they had tried to withdraw from the school.

They had remembered none of this before they had found the chest. The memories that they had had before hand spoke of a swift recovery and little to no interact with healers or teachers.

The final set of memories they had found were of events that had transpired over the last school year. Things like Yugi’s Shadow Game against Draco and the battle against the basilisk had been hidden away in the chest. Yami had seen the memories before, Yugi had shared them with him after he had come round from the petrifaction. Yugi, however, felt like he was seeing events for the first time.

“They have to be doing this to the others too.” Yugi mumbled as he tried to settle down, the truth of how close he and Harry had come to dying multiple times and how little Dumbledore seemed to care for the safety of his students seriously worrying him. Yugi’s eyes widened he thought about the fact that most of the memories that had been sealed away involved Harry. “Harry!” Yugi yelped, “We promised we’d check up on him!”

“I know.” Yami nodded, having caught the man in the process of editing the duplicate of that particular memory. “But I was more concerned about...”

“Yami, we left him with the Dursleys.” Yugi interrupted, “The Dursleys! We know what they’re like. Harry’s told us multiple times, apparently. And they took our memories of that away!” Yugi paused, determination creeping into his features, “We have to go get him.”

“How?” Yami asked, not disagreeing with his other self, but trying to think through the logistics of kidnapping their friend and bringing him to Japan. “And are we bringing Hermione and Ron too?”

“Ideally.” Yugi was thoughtful, “There’s no way their memories haven’t been tampered with somewhere along the line. But I’m not sure how to do it without worrying their families or alerting Dumbledore.”

“Even if we just go and get Harry we’re going to need help.” Yami admitted, “We couldn’t smuggle him back on a plane and we don’t, exactly, have any way to get to England without...what?” Yami asked warily as Yugi got a speculative look.

“Mahado, the Dark Magician.” Yugi explained, “He’s still hanging around right?”

“As are the rest of the Duel Monsters we accidently summoned.” Yami nodded.

“He might have a way of travelling we haven’t considered, or a few spells we could use.” Yugi pointed out, “And even if he hasn’t, he might be able to help us find one. He’s a fully trained magician after all, we’re still students.”

That was a surprisingly good idea and Yami couldn’t help but wonder why they hadn’t gone to Mahado regarding what he could teach them before.

“Let’s talk to the others, then we’ll make rescue plans.” Yami grinned at him, a vaguely vindictive smirk that spoke of trouble ahead for their adversaries. “Don’t worry. Now we know that they’re doing, they won’t be getting away with it again. I won’t let them.”

Clanverse whatif: Yugi and Harry and the Broken Chains: Part 2

Yami didn’t answer, he didn’t need to as he searched the room for magicks that shouldn’t be there. Yugi swiftly joined him, not sure what his darker self was looking for but very aware that it had to be something bad if Yami was this ticked off. Between them it didn’t take long to discover the locked chest hidden away under the bed in the corner of the room.

“Don’t touch it. Not yet.” Yami cautioned when Yugi moved to drag it out, certain that the chest, which looked a lot like the one he used in real life for his Hogwarts equipment, was not something he recognised. The hikari moved back, allowing his dark first access to the storage trunk.

Yami scowled as he defused the trap that had been set, his anger only getting worse as he realised that someone had not only changed things in Yugi’s soul room, but had been setting up traps against the room’s own owner. Once it was safe, he and Yugi pulled out the heavy wooden box.

“I didn’t set that up.” Yugi worried at his darker self, his hand brushing the wooden surface. Under normal circumstances he would have marvelled at how real the texture was, despite this all being in his head, but right now he was too worried to consider it.

“I know.” Yami was focused on the lock as he tried to break the spell holding it shut only to look chagrined when Yugi reached under the bed, felt around for a bit and then pulled the key out.

“Wizards are lazy.” Yugi reminded his darker self as he put the key in the lock, “And they wouldn’t want to spend ages casting the spells if they were worried about getting caught. You terrify them, remember?”

Yami just looked smug at that, even as he took Yugi’s hand off of the key and turned it himself, expecting a trap. Shockingly there wasn’t one, but when they looked at the items in the chest it was rather disturbing to discover over half of them were broken or damaged.

Yugi let out a soft gasp as he beheld the sight. Each of these things, be them toys or games or trophies or pictures, held a memory or a group of related memories. If they were damaged or broken, it was highly possible the memory inside would be corrupted or worse, lost forever.

“Careful.” Yami murmured as Yugi reached for one of the few undamaged ones.

Yugi didn’t reply, too intent on regaining his sealed memories. Instead he just picked up the first item, a small, rather fancy looking mirror with some sort of message above it that looked like it should be in latin but was in fact just mirror writing, and let the memory sweep him away.

Clanverse whatif: Yugi and Harry and the Broken Chains: Part 1

It had been a long time since Yami had activated a Shadow Game. Most of his dealings with the dark realm in more recent years had been instigated by someone else. However the Shadows were more than willing to answer his furious call, descending upon the fool of a wizard who dared try to erase his memories of the previous school year.

The wizard didn’t stand a chance. The Shadows were hungry and Yami was more than willing to let them feast. The Pharaoh dragged the truth out of his attacker, that he had been hired by the International Confederate of Wizards to ‘encourage’ them to return to Hogwarts in September, before allowing the darkness to sweep him away.

He knew what had brought this on. They had sent letters to the school just a few days ago, withdrawing from Hogwarts. With everything that had happened there during the school year Yami had managed to convince Yugi that it was better for everyone if they stayed away. Of course if Yugi wasn’t going, Kari and Joey had no interest in disappearing for nine months of the year and Ombre went where her hikari went. If Kari wasn’t going, neither was she. Yami had also spoken to Kaiba who was refusing to go anywhere near that madhouse that they called a school and would not be sending Mokuba back either.

This was quite obviously the response to their letters and Yami was ready to destroy anyone who had agreed that this was a good idea.

For the first time he was glad that the Puzzle guarded its secrets so carefully. The wizard had been casting spells when Yami had found him, but the ‘memories’ he had been carefully editing had been fakes, generated by the Puzzle in order to confuse and confound anyone trying to find anything useful. All the spells had done was alert Yami to a foreign presence in his mind and give the Pharaoh some idea of what the enemy was trying to do.

He slipped out of his soul room, stepping over the body of the mindless wreck of a wizard and headed for Yugi’s bedroom. His hikari had to be told about this affront. He knew Yugi would try and talk him out of taking vengeance, but he still had to be told. When he reached Yugi’s room, however, he found his hikari led on his bed, pouring over his potions’ text book and frowning at a piece of parchment.

“Yugi?” Yami asked, confused.

“Can you check this for me?” Yugi asked, looking up at him with a hopeful expression.

“I thought we weren’t bothering with doing the homework since we aren’t going back.” Yami replied, dread sinking in as he realised that he hadn’t seen Yugi for a couple of hours.

“Ah... uhh, Yami...” Yugi trailed off, looking sheepish as the Pharaoh moved across the room, “I wanted to talk to you about...” He trailed off as he felt the Pharaoh’s anger flare up. It wasn’t aimed at him but he was in a foul mood and Yugi could feel the Shadows just waiting to lash out at the slightest provocation, “Yami? What’s wrong?”

“Yugi, I need you to come with me a minute.” The Pharaoh’s anger was obvious in his tone and Yugi quickly closed his text book, pushing his parchment to one side and scrambling to his feet.

“Sure, where...?” Yugi paused, confusion obvious as his darker self pushed him sitting. “What’s going on?” The hikari asked, worried now. Yami was acting weird and Yugi didn’t know what was causing it.

“Just come with me to your soul room.” The Pharaoh didn’t explain. Yugi didn’t need him to. He trusted Yami without question, acting weird or not, and he took a deep breath before mentally ‘stepping back’ into the corridor between his mind and Yami’s.

The Pharaoh was waiting for him, the powerful spirit’s anger manifesting as an aura of shadows that roiled and blazed like flames. Yugi didn’t understand what was going on, or why Yami was so furious when he had seemed so happy earlier, but he knew he had to try to calm him. He reached out, putting his hand on Yami’s arm, concerned confusion etched on his features.

“Yami. Please talk to me.” Yugi ignored the pins and needles in his hand and arm where they contacted with the dark energy, “What’s happened?”

“There was someone in my soul room.” Yami explained, hesitating at the door to Yugi’s soul room until Yugi preceded him and pulled him in after, shaking his head in amusement at Yami’s actions. No matter how many times Yugi told the spirit who had once shared his body that he was welcome in Yugi’s soul room any time, Yami always waited until Yugi had invited him in to enter.

Then what Yami had said actually sank in.

“Someone in your...” Yugi’s eyes widened, shock obvious.

“Well, in the maze that makes it up.” Yami shrugged, already scanning the room and noting that it looked different from how he remembered it being this morning, causing the shadows surrounding him to flare up once again for a moment before Yugi let out a sharp, pained hiss and pulled away from him. Almost instantly the Pharaoh pulled the power back within himself and opened his mouth to apologise, only to note that Yugi was looking around his soul room, implications already sinking in.

“You think they got in here first.” Yugi suddenly understood his darker self’s anger far too well.