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.

Sneakpeak: Shadow Treaty Chapter 15

‘Three down, ten to go.’ Atem mused as he darted between the shelves full of prophecies. It hadn’t taken long to start thinning the herd. Even before he had explained the rules, two of the Death Eaters had tried to hex his friends and another had aimed his way. All three had earned a Penalty for doing so.

He hadn’t had time to weave anything more complex so the rules were really quite simple. Magic was banned for the duration of the game bar, of course, what held the game together and all the Death Eaters had to do to ‘win’ was catch him. If they managed to do that, his life was forfeit.

However there was no way for the Death Eaters to interact with the world around them, the Shadows were ensuring that and if Atem made it to the door, the ten remaining Death Eaters would lose and be trapped in this limbo forever.

That was if they didn’t cheat.

                                                                                                                   

Atem didn’t expect them to play fair. They were Death Eaters, vile disgusting scum who preyed on the weak and ambushed the strong. He couldn’t know for certain but he wouldn’t have been surprised if some of the men he was facing had been involved in the attack that had claimed his Grandfather’s life or had been there the night Kari had been murdered.

“Easy Yami.” Yugi’s voice echoed in his head, trying to soothe him as he heard footsteps heading his way and darted down the aisle, “We’ll win and then they won’t be able to hurt anyone else. But we need to keep our heads in the Game for that.”

The Pharaoh let out a quiet huff at his other half’s words. Yugi was right, getting riled up over what they had done would distract him from the Game at hand. They were horrible wastes of space, worthless rotten souls with power they didn’t deserve but the Death Eaters were his opponents and while he would much rather have sent all of them to Shadow Realm without a second glance, Yugi had insisted that this would give their friends, who could have been caught in the crossfire if the Death Eaters had tried to fight back, a better chance at escaping.

He could hear the Death Eaters trying to co-ordinate. Their voices carried well in the silence that had fallen over the room once Joey had dragged Harry and Hermione out of the door. They seemed to lack a way to communicate quietly without magic, but he wasn’t going to complain. Every time they tried to get a plan together, Atem could hear them and prepare to counter it. It was, worryingly, almost laughably easy.

It was almost, Atem realised with a grimace, as if the Death Eaters he was playing against were the stupid ones, the cannon fodder, the ones that were sent out first to wear down the enemies before the big guns moved in.

“You don’t think...?” Atem could sense Yugi paling as the hikari worked out what was going on in the same moment he did.

‘This is just a diversion.’ The Pharaoh nodded as he changed direction, narrowly avoiding being spotted by a pair of Death Eaters, ‘We need to end this and get to the others. They could be in trouble.’

‘Could be’ was wishful thinking and they both knew it as they darted towards the entrance to the Hall of Prophecy, only to find that three of the remaining Death Eaters were covering the door, blocking their exit.

“We need to lure them away.” Yugi’s thought bounced across the link as Atem pulled away from the door, backing up behind a bookcase so he couldn’t be seen by the guards. “Or we’re not getting out that door.”

Atem was fully aware of that, the question was how. They couldn’t take anything off the shelves to break them and cause a noise, there were spells in place to prevent just that even if they’d been able to interact with the world around them. He didn’t really want to show himself to the Death Eaters, not when he expected them to attempt to hex him on sight, despite the rules in place to try and prevent it from happening.

The choice was taken out of his hands though when a Death Eater came from the other direction, called, “There he is!” and he had to dart out from behind the shelving unit before the call attracted too much attention.

It wasn’t entirely successful. The call had drawn at least three of his opponents to the nearby aisles and Atem’s earlier suspicion was confirmed when he had to duck a bolt of green light that narrowly passed over his head as he rolled under it and struck the Death Eater behind him, killing the man on the spot and sending the caster into a Penalty.

The third Death Eater tried to tackle Atem as he rolled to his feet and kept running, only to miss and tumble into the shelves, which didn’t register the impact in the slightest.

The Pharaoh kept going even as he heard the Death Eater who had fallen calling to his comrades. They converged on the sound, giving Atem a chance to get several aisles away and regain his breath, listening carefully and grimacing when he realised that his opponents had finally gotten smart and were talking in low enough voices that he couldn’t hear them.

With five of the original thirteen down and three more guarding the exit, covering all three direct routes to the door, that left five who were actively chasing him and most likely involved in the quiet conference that was going on a few aisles over. He was doing well to have taken it down by that many, but he wasn’t going to relax yet. It only took one to catch him and then he would, most likely, be killed and Yugi would die with him.

He needed a way to get the guards away from their posts so he could slip through the doors but unlike the Death Eaters he wasn’t going to cheat and use magic to aid him.

“Hey Yami?” Yugi asked as they heard the sounds of movement, the enclave of Death Eaters breaking up to enact whatever plan they had come up with to trap them, “I have an idea...”

Clanverse: Trouble at Tenshi's School - A Clanbrat section

“By the Gods.” Tenshi breathed, “There’s too many.” She wheeled around, staring at her, well they were joking called the ‘Princess’s Guard’ by those in the group who could now hear the Duel Monsters. She was all too aware that, unlike her older brother, Atem, she would be the one to take her Father’s Throne. She loved games, and was skilled in all of them, but she worried, secretly, that she didn’t have what it took to rule over the Duellists, the Shadow Realm and the Monster Realm.

“I’m telling you now, some of us might not survive this.” Tenshi admitted, “I was hoping some of the Obelisk Blues might be here too, but perhaps they’ve already started getting the dorms sorted.”

“We’re here, Princess!” Ruby Dragon swooped out of the sky to inform them, four of the five Obelisk Guard racing towards her, she shook her head, she was even beginning to think of the teaching group as Guards. She had to stop that, everyone knew Guards were often the first to be killed.

“Where’s Ayumi?” Tenshi growled.

Kent was ready to answer, “Kaiba Ayumi has started getting the dorms set up, Princess.”

Tenshi let it go this time. “How many of you can feel the enemy pushing at the Mirror Wall we set up a couple of weeks ago?”

All of her friends put their hands up.

“Can any of you tell me how many without sending a Dragon to look?”

Only Dawn nodded, “There’s forty of them, Tenshi, and at least two thirds of them are Dark Duellists.”

“That’s over thirty.”

“How many do we number?” Kat asked.

“There are twelve Guards, thirteen if you include Ayumi.” Faith Wheeler answered for Tenshi, “Princess, we follow your orders.”

“Not you too, Faith.” Tenshi looked despairing.

“I think it’s time to be honest with who you are, Pharaoh’s Child.” The Harpy Lady Sisters scolded her, “Now is not the time to fight it.”

“Fine, I’ll play Princess for now.” Tenshi growled at them, she turned back to the group, “The orders from the Pharaoh are to go to ground somewhere safe. They’ve gone after Hogwarts too so we’ll have no Auror backup for at least an hour. I’ll have to hold them until then…” Tenshi looked pale at the thought.

“Please,” Michael growled, “You expect us to go into hiding while you do the fighting, what sort of Guards are we then?”

“Sod what sort of Guards, what sort of friends are we?” Faith growled, “If you’re fighting, Tenshi, so am I.”

“I can’t ask you to fight with me.”

“You don’t have to ask.” Dawn said, “I’m fighting, and you’ll see everyone else will too.” Dawn looked across the group and they all stilled, “Listen to me carefully, if you choose to fight, there is a large chance you could be killed, these Duellists aren’t like the ones you face in school or in Tournaments, the Dark Wizards and Witches coming won’t hesitate to attack, torture and kill you if they get the chance. Tenshi won’t ask you to fight, but for her sake, I’m asking, no pleading with you, to help us fight to protect the lives of all of our friends on the island.”

The Sliphers all grinned at each other, “Please.” Jake said with a laugh, “House pride, right? The Slipher Guard will fight with you.”

“As if we’re gonna be outdone by a bunch of Slipher Slackers.” Kent laughed, joking, though if it had been anyone other then a Guard who’d said it, there would have been trouble, “I think I speak for the Obelisk Guard when I say we’ll fight.”

“Ra Yellow Guard are awaiting your orders.” Faith said, looking at Tenshi.

“Me? Lead?” Tenshi yelped, “But I’m…”

“You’re the best one for the job.”

“Rhodes Sensei!” Tenshi bowed. “What’re you?”

“You asked Snow to get all of the Guard, am I not included?” Alexis laughed, “Besides, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Alexis?”

“Sorry, I forgot, are the Teachers…?”

“Wands drawn, Duel Monsters summoned through Wand Magic, but they’re spreading themselves too thinly, our Mirror Wall won’t hold them forever.” Alexis bowed to Tenshi, “I await your orders Princess.”

“I can’t deal with the Princess thing right now.” Tenshi growled, “Fine, but I still think there are better leaders among you lot.” She closed her eyes, thought for a second, then decided, “Slipher Guard, you’re to evacuate the Slipher dorms to Ra Yellow’s, Ra Guard, you’re to protect Ra’s dorms along with half of Slipher Guard, choose among yourselves who’s  to stay and who’s to join Obelisk Guard, Dawn, Lily and me at Obelisk Blue’s dorms. The school buildings aren’t important, not compared to lives.” Snow reappeared at her side, “Have you been to Ayumi?”

“She says the Teachers are aware that the Guard exist and have ordered us back to our dorms.”

“There’s a simple answer to that. No.” Tenshi growled. “We have to fight. There’s no way the Teachers alone can fight them.” She sighed, “Tell Ayumi that she may go back to the dorm but the Guard will fight.”

Snow was back in less then five seconds, the Inaba White Rabbit seeming amused, “Ayumi says please, a Kaiba never runs and you should know that, she will meet us at Obelisk’s Dorms.”

“Alright, do you all know your places?” Tenshi asked.

“Tenshi, they’ve broken through!” Dawn screeched around the same pitch as her Harpies.

“Move!” Tenshi bellowed.

The Guard moved, summoning as they ran, splitting up and heading for their targets, hoping to reach them before the bad guys did.

Tenshi growled as she ran, summoning her strongest monster as she did so. “Please say we’re not too late, please say we’re not too late…”

Blue Eyes White Yearling was airborne and fighting broomstick riding bad guys.

“Attack!” Bellowed seven voices at the same time, their monsters attacking in synchronisation, the practice paying off.

Ennead: Past Troubles: Part 2

“You have about as much clue as I do.” Bakura grumbled. “And that is disturbing.” Honda let out a low, rumbling growl, frustration obvious. “You have no leads at all?”

“Nothing now.” Honda grumbled, “The last time we saw her, she was heading for yours to play games. So we assumed...”

“While I appreciate that someone remembers I’m the bad guy, I’m not actually at fault this time.” Bakura snorted, “I would be gloating a lot more if I was.”

“If you hear anything, anything at all...” Honda threatened.

“I’ll let you know.” Bakura promised, crossing her fingers behind her back.

Honda didn’t look like he believed her. She wasn’t surprised but she didn’t really care. She had much bigger things to worry about. Her Ring wasn’t working properly and no one had seen the Pharaoh’s brat since yesterday afternoon.

Despite her reassurance to Honda, she couldn’t be sure if Yugi was alive or not. Without some way of tracking the brat, she had no easy way to find out either. If the blasted Pharaoh had gotten herself killed she was going to get very, very drunk. She was pretty sure that Jonouchi and Honda would join her, possibly Mutou-san too.

If Yugi wasn’t dead however and had just gotten herself into some mess that had distracted her all night, she soon would be. Bakura would quite happily end her for worrying her Landlord and failing to check in with anyone.

Well. School could wait. Her Landlord had high enough grades that skipping a day of class wouldn’t do much damage and it shouldn’t take her long to find her target. She had been a Queen amongst thieves, she had found treasures and riches beyond a normal thief’s wildest dreams, broken into supposedly untouchable tombs, and discovered secret stores and hidden libraries long before she had ever gotten her hands on the Ring.

She didn’t need the Millennium Ring to find her treasure. It was just one of the many ‘cheats’ in her possession that made her life easier.

She would just have to do it the old fashioned way. Through research, footwork and hard graft. It would take her longer but with the Puzzle at the end of the trail it would be worth it.

Ennead: Ancient Bit 3

Part 1
Part 2

“What’re you going to do now, brat?”

Ba-Khu-Ra tried to twist free of the man holding her, only to stop when his blade bit into her throat and her right arm was twisted further up her back, causing her shoulder to ache. A grimace worked its way across her features as her Ka beast stopped, mid-attack and turned to glower at her captor.

“You thought you’d finished me off, didn’t you?” The man sounded like he was smirking as he forced her to move forward, towards his boss who was watching her like she was a puzzle. “This is what you get,” He twisted her arm further, forcing a hiss of pain out of her as her shoulder went from aching to screaming, “For being such a smug...”

“Menes.” His boss snapped at him, “Don’t taunt the mage brat.” The woman came forward, one eye on Diabound, who was hesitant to try anything with his summoner held hostage, and one eye on the thief girl who had wiped out six of her seven goons.

“So, who are you kid?” She asked, looking Ba-Khu-Ra over, “One of the priest spawn? An illegitimate brat of the Pharaoh’s?”

“Don’t insult me.” Ba-Khu-Ra snapped at her, pain mingling with disgust at the suggestion to make her voice sharp and her eyes narrow. “I’m not related to any of these assholes.” Especially not the blasted Princess, who had fled at the first opportunity.

“So who are you?” The woman asked again, amused by the vehemence shown by the kid, “Because I’d like to know your name before I kill you for ruining my heist.”

“Me?” Ba-Khu-Ra let out a bark of laughter despite her irritation, “Ruined your job? You have any idea how long I planned this job? You’re the one who ruined mine!”

“You’re a thief?” The woman seemed to do a double take, “A mage brat? I don’t...”

The woman was cut off by an agonised bellow from Menes. He dropped the knife, allowing Ba-Khu-Ra to pull free and turn to find out what had happened.

To her shock Menes had a dagger sticking out of his side and the Princess, who she had thought long gone, was stood there, anger obvious on her features.

Menes, when he realised what had happened, lashed out, punching the Princess in the face, causing her to go crashing to the floor where she slammed her head against the marble stones and blacked out. Before he could advance on the unconscious girl, Diabound had picked him up and chucked him into the huge stone doors, which he hit with a crack.

The woman thief who had ruined Ba-Khu-Ra’s plans backed up, suddenly looking rather worried as she stared at the huge, grey skinned naga like creature.

“I’m not only a thief.” Ba-Khu-Ra informed her, smirking despite her plans having gone completely to pot, “I’m the best there is. Now, Diabound!” She gestured forward and the woman had time to let out a shriek before Diabound blew her away.

“Damn it.” Ba-Khu-Ra grumbled as the smoke from the blast dissipated, revealing all that was left was some ash, “She made me melt some of the treasure.” She knelt down by some of the melted gold and grimaced at the mess that was left as she collected a small bag of gold and jewels that she hid in her tunic, planning on coming back for more later.

“Wake up.” Ba-Khu-Ra nudged the Princess with her foot, wanting to rub in the fact that they had gotten into the treasury without getting caught by the guards. “Oi!”

“Halt!” Ba-Khu-Ra scowled as the guards finally arrived, having missed the action but in plenty of time to still catch her. She looked around for her Ka beast only to find it had dismissed itself and she didn’t have the energy left to call it up a third time this evening.

There was a pack of them at the door, headed by one of the Priests, a short, broad man with hair in three shades of grey that seemed to fly out in almost every direction under the headpiece, Millennium Rod in hand. Two of them checked over the mook that had crashed into the door as the rest entered the room, swords pointed at Ba-Khu-Ra.

It was the priest who reacted the most though as he spotted the form collapsed on the floor. “My Prince!” He shoved Ba-Khu-Ra aside, into the waiting arms of the guards and knelt by the girl, checking her over carefully and shaking her to try and get a response, “Wake up! Please!”

A pained groan emerged from the false Prince, causing relief to cross the priest’s features. The elderly man turned to glower at Ba-Khu-Ra as one of the guards scooped up the girl on the ground. “Who’re you?”

The girl glared back. The man before her held a Millennium Item, that meant he was one of those who were benefiting from what had happened to her home and her family. If he wanted to take her in, or take her down, she wasn’t going to let him do so easily. Tired or not, she would summon Diabound again and destroy herself to kill him if she had to.

“Abasi...” The priest paused, half turning to the dazed looking ‘Prince’ whose eyes were half open, unfocused and staring at him. “She’s one of the magic students.”

“My Prince?” Abasi asked, confused, “I don’t believe...”

“Are you questioning me?” The ‘Prince’ snapped, regal authority in her tone despite her current position. “I know who I study with. She IS one of Mahad’s students.”

“I understand, my Prince.” Abasi nodded, herding Ba-Khu-Ra out of the treasury, the guard carrying the Princess following, “Though you might want to inform Mahad of that fact.”

Better Shadow Treaty Preview

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright herding this lot around?” Yugi worried at Tristan as he watched the last few refugees gather their bags and suitcases and head for the rooms they had been assigned.

“I should be asking you the same thing.” Tristan scowled at him in reply, “Are you really sure this is a good idea?”

“Taking in the refugees?” Yugi blinked at him, confused.

“No, heading back to England.” Tristan rolled his eyes, “Especially with only the four of you.”

“Five.” Yugi reminded his friend, who had been adamant that he should be going with them, “I have Yami too.”

“You and Yami only count for one again now, remember?” Tristan grouched in response, causing Yugi to let out a huff.

“Yes, but we’ll have Harry, Joey and Hermione for backup.” Yugi stated, counting them off on his fingers as he did so, “And we went over this last night, something’s bound to go wrong and we shouldn’t take too many people in case it does.”

“I still don’t think you should be going at all.” Tristan poked him, catching the attention of the last stragglers, who stopped to watch the altercation. “You should be here, dealing with this lot, keeping Industrial Illusions afloat and…you’re not going to agree with me, are you?”

“As long as Voldemort is hunting Shadow Touched, he’s my problem.” Yugi shook his head. “It was our,” He gestured to the Puzzle, “Screw up that created them, it’s our responsibility to protect them.”

“You couldn’t have known that Bakura was there.” Tristan pointed out, poking Yugi again, “Or what he was going to do. You’re walking into a trap because of something that wasn’t your fault!”

“Tristan…” Yugi trailed off. He knew his friend was just worried about them but they had hashed out every idea and talked them over to death. This was the plan that allowed for the greatest margin of success.

Harry had to go, no one else could get the orb out of the Hall of Prophecy. If Harry was going, so were Yugi and Yami. With his link partner going into danger and the enemy able to summon monsters equivalent to the Egyptian God Monsters, Yugi had to go, if only to ensure Harry would return.

There had not really been any question of Joey not going. He had had Yugi’s back for nigh on a decade, there was no way in hell he was going to let Yugi and Harry walk into danger without him now.

Which left the debate over the last spot.

Tristan had put himself forward before anyone else could and was still fuming over how quickly he had been shot down. It was his own fault, he knew that. He had had no magic before the gang had been split up by the Ministries of various countries. He hadn’t practised with his Shadow Magic since he had gained access to it. He didn’t have a wand, or any training with one and he was not used to the Magical Community in England.

He had the physical strength, but in this, just as he had been in every other battle his friends had fought, he was utterly useless and it was driving him to distraction.

With Kaiba taking himself out the running, since he needed to run his company, Ombre refusing to risk the safety of anyone else by going with them while her control was shot and Ryou stepping back for much the same reason, that left Mokuba, Luna, the Weasleys and Hermione.

Kaiba had nixed any thoughts his little brother had of going. Mokuba was needed to help prevent Kaiba Corp falling into complete collapse. Unspoken was that Seto refused to let Mokuba go into battle without him there to fight at his side. There was no way the elder Kaiba, who was his little brother’s guardian, would allow Mokuba to go. The elder Kaiba knew Mokuba would eventually forgive him for the oath he had extracted from his little brother to prevent just that.

If Mokuba wasn’t going, then it was decided that no one under Harry’s age should go, much to Ginny’s outrage, though Luna looked as if she had expected it.

The only hesitation Weasley twins had had was that they were looking for one person, not two, and while they were skilled at tricks and treats, they were not amongst the group that had trained for combat for the last year.

Finally it had been decided that Hermione, who had trained alongside the others, worked on her Shadow skills until they were second nature alongside Kari and knew spells far beyond her age level would take the last spot.

Ron had exploded with rage, launched a long, ranting and mostly rude tirade against the group, and then stalked off back to the castle.

Tristan, in all honesty, had wanted to do much the same but knew it wouldn’t have helped anything.

“I need you here.” Yugi reminded him, “You’re the most ‘normal’ person here. You saw how the refugees acted towards me, it was ‘Yes, Mr. Mutou’ and ‘thank you, Mr Mutou’ and ‘we’re really grateful for this, your highness.’ They’ll listen to me, but they won’t actually settle in if they think I’m hovering around. You can help them with that better than I can.”

Yugi did have a point, Tristan thought as the stragglers decided that the argument was over and started moving again. And that wasn’t the only task he had been entrusted with. Yugi was leaving the Millennium Items, all except his Puzzle and Draco’s Ring, in his care.

“Fine.” Tristan smirked slightly, “But when you get back, I’ll have full control over your people and your Millennium Items. Then you’ll have to duel me for them.”

“Don’t even joke.” Yugi groaned, even as a smile graced his features, “The last thing I need is you going villain on me.”

“Not that,” Yami appeared in his ghostly form at Yugi’s side, causing Tristan to jump out of his skin, “I’m too worried.” He said with a confident smirk, “You still can’t duel your way out of a paper bag and it’s been how long?”

“Damn it Yami! Warning!” Tristan snarled at him. When Yami continued to look amused, Tristan turned to Yugi, “You lot had better come back in one piece, because I refuse to be the one to tell the Ishtars they have to wait another five thousand years to send Atem on.”

He’d meant it as a joke, but Yugi flinched and Yami’s amusement fled at his simple statement. “It won’t be that long.” Yugi murmured, looking at the floor, “Just until the war is over.”

“Are you sure you can’t get Yami a new body?” Tristan asked, “I mean you managed it by accident last time.”

“We don’t know how the magicks merged back in first year.” Yugi shook his head, “We don’t know what Bakura was trying to do and Joey’s forgotten what he was trying to cast. Trying to recreate the effect could hurt more people than it helps.”

“But there has to be other ways.” Tristan pointed out. “Voldemort...”

“I am not using that ritual.” Atem snapped, more furious at Voldemort for his actions than at Tristan’s suggestion he try the same thing, “I don’t know where my father is buried for one and I wouldn’t disturb his rest again.” He looked at Yugi, “And I won’t ask Yugi to disinter his family for me.”

“And everything else we’ve had recommended runs the risk of the body being disenchanted during a fight.” Yugi finished, not entirely sure he could bring himself to do so, even if Yami had asked.

“So that’s it then?” Tristan asked, his own good humour fleeing, “You’ve made up your minds? Defeat Voldemort and then that’s it?”

“It’s not but I’ve been around long enough.” Atem nodded, slightly dejectedly, “Yugi doesn’t need me anymore and it’s not fair to ask him to host me.”

“I’ve never minded.” Yugi reminded his darker self.

“I know, but I can’t go back to living like this, not again. It was fine before I had my own form, but...” Yami trailed off for a moment and then, “If it wasn’t for Voldemort and the war, we’d have gone already.”

“We’d better go grab our bag.” Yugi’s comment came completely out of left wing, but Tristan could understand the need to change the subject, “We’ll see you later.” With that Yami faded into the Puzzle and Yugi fled the room.

“Shit.” Honda snarled, wheeling around and punching the nearest wall, “Damn Neos, damn Bakura and damn Voldemort!” With each ‘damn’ he punched the wall again, only stopping when he realised he was damaging the plasterboard.

He pulled his hand out of the dent and winced when he saw that his knuckles were bloody.

“Damn the crappy building work too.” He growled as he stalked off to get his hand treated.

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.