#passes the mouse over to ryou all YOU TAKE CARE OF IT!! and then he makes fun of me. like the meanie he is | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rwhalzili-a · 5 years

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Ryou inched closer towards Marik and he raised a knife, his hand shaking. It was foolish, no doubt the shadow already knew he was there, but he had to do it. To protect himself.

|| unprompted || @collectionofethics

Such a precious little bunny, all for his own. It was an ENDEAVOR to get a hold of the slippery bunny, but he had succeeded. All to himself, a little bunny to call his own. He hums, already hearing the hikari’s approach, though he doesn’t turn or show signs of knowing–up until the other gets close enough. “Don’t be so RECKLESS my little bunny bunny~” Marik chuckles, quickly turning and taking hold of the wrist with the knife, “It would be such a shame to have to end you so quickly. Alas,” the grip grows tighter, cutting off circulation–enough to get the knife to be released. It doesn’t clatter to the ground as the shadow takes hold of it, “You’re going to leave me no choice…” The blade slices across Ryou’s shoulder before being tossed away–FAR out of reach.

A dark chuckle rises out of the madman, using his grip to pull Ryou closer, his grin EXPOSING sharp teeth that SNAP near the pale face, “I’ve been nice to you, gave you a place to stay and treated you so fairly. I could have treated you so wrong, not let you feel such pleasures–” his free hand snakes down, slipping between fabric and skin to tease at sensitive skin above Ryou’s crotch, “–as being touched in ways that make you scream out my name in pleasure. I could have no cared about your desires, just keep you in a small cage and feed you scraps. Oh no no no, I am nice to you little bunny,” his fingers plunge in deeper, closer to the other’s manhood, “and this is how you repay me, tsk tsk so rude.” The nails on sensitive skin dig in, piercing the skin and leaving open wounds as they travel up, stopping just below the navel, “Here I thought Shujikaku-sama was STUBBORN and FOOLISH yet here you are…” An aggressive kiss is forced on Ryou, biting down hard on the lower lip to make it bleed. Many other marks are scattered across the pale skin, bruises, and bitemarks in varying levels of freshness cover skin. All marks to make the bunny his, to mark for others to know if he had ever decided to let the creature come out with him. Too bad he made a mistake. Marik muses, lifting the hand to caress Ryou’s cheek as his tongue laps up some of the trickling blood from pale lips, “I’m sorry my dear pet… I would have enjoyed keeping you longer, but I told you, there was no ROOM to be messing up anymore after your last ESCAPADE of trying to flee from me.” His voice goes low, a DANGEROUS growl slipping out, “I am nothing but hospitable and you return my kindness with trying to escape. NO MORE.” The hand that once caressed the cheek shifts to wrap around the frail neck, squeezing to burden the windpipes and reduce the oxygen flow into the lungs, “I’m done dealing with you… I’m going to dispose of the little bunny–” his tongue trails over his lips, “–like a little bunny should be: piece by DELICIOUS piece.” He had tasted Ryou before, a mix of innocence and corruption from his interests in the supernatural, something that brought the shadow to him. Poor little fool, so ignorant of what his dabbing into the Shadow Magic could do. At least he’ll know in his final waking hours. Now, he wants that taste in greater portions. Marik pushes Ryou, letting go as the smaller mortal falls onto the ground. He looms over a moment before going down, straddling the poor male’s lower body, “I won’t be nice anymore, I’m going to take all the pleasure in this…” He chuckles before leaning closer running his teeth along the neck, hands working to tear away the shirt covering the pale torso, “Tearing you apart piece by piece~ Devour the flesh…” He can feel the body beneath him shiver and begin to thrash at those words. It only makes the chuckles grow into insane cackling. The moment the laughter dies down teeth digs into the flesh of the shoulder, tearing out a chuck before swallowing it whole. With just a TASTE the RAVENOUS desire grows. Tear into the flesh, tear it apart. Consume it, consume it all! He giggles, tearing off more flesh–sometimes chewing other times just eating it whole. The screams accompany each tear, music to his ears. Shiverings and movements begin to slow the more is torn away, the chest cavity torn into to expose the vital organs. Violet eyes watch as his actions PAUSE to watch the BEAT of the heart. It’s slowing down, signs that the body was dying, and with that would be the end of this poor little pet. An enjoyable toy while it lasted. Bloody fingers with bits of flesh stuck beneath the sharp nails reach out, brushing an ODDLY gentle touch. Such a beautiful body, such a waste. He muses, stroking the organ a few more times before taking it into his grip. A groan of pain is the only response he gets from the dying mortal. “Goodnight little white bunny, I’ll make sure the next victim will know of your fate… Don’t worry, hopefully, the little mouse will be more OBIEDENT than you, otherwise, you’ll have a partner as your soul is slowly eaten away… even if your body dies you can’t escape me. All of you is MINE, mine to devour… to enjoy.” With the last word, Marik gives a ROUGH yank to the heart, tearing out the organ from the chest. He watches as the beating grows weaker, bits of blood trickling out where the arteries would bring the blood to the body. A purr rises, savoring the slow rhythm. Few more moments pass before he takes a large bite out of the heart. It tastes as WONDERFUL as the rest of the flesh… perhaps even better. Another bite and he consumes the rest of the heart, licking his lips to clean away some of the blood that drips from his mouth. The poor little bunny’s body is mostly eaten, bones being left picked clean. What remains of the flesh he’ll store away… He’ll PRESERVE that perfect beautiful head, a reminder of his precious bunny.

#collectionofethics #❝ ᴬ ᵍᵒᵈ ᵃⁿˢʷᵉʳˢ ᵗᵒ ⁿᵒ ᵒⁿᵉ ❞ ; answered #❝ ᵗʰᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵏⁿᵉˢˢ ᵒᶠ ᵈᵉᵃᵗʰ ⁱˢ ᵛⁱˢⁱᵗⁱⁿᵍ ʸᵒᵘ ❞ ; ic #tw: death #tw: cannibalism #tw: gore #(this is long and dark as hell oops)#❝ ᴿᵃ ᶜᵃˢᵗ ʸᵒᵘ qᵘᵉᵘᵉ ᵘᵖᵒⁿ ᵐʸ ᶠᵒᵉˢ! ❞ ; queue

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ninja-librarian · 6 years

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Commission for @craftingandcats, a fic featuring Ryou and Zakuro going on a family walk that goes wrong. Told from the POV of her OC pet for Zakuro, Taka the Cat!

For info about commissions, click here!

Taka believed himself to be a reasonable cat, with simple needs that even the dumbest of humans with their stupid opposable thumbs could understand and meet.

All he wanted was two cans of food a day, the exact middle of the bed, every inch of the couch, his Mr. Mouse squeaker toy, the little-human-kitten’s favorite blanket, the entirety of Zakuro’s lap, uninterrupted napping, the acknowledgement that Zakuro belonged solely to him, and exactly twenty pets a day. Really, it was not too much to ask for. Simple demands, easily met.

What did he not need?

Oh, let him count the things he did most definitely ruined the most perfect of kitty cat existences on the face of the planet: Ryou, the vet, Ryou, the word ‘diet’, Ryou, the not-so-little-human-kitten, Ryou, the little-human-kitten, Ryou, the nail clippers, Ryou, the vacuum cleaner, Ryou…

Yes, Ryou is listed a lot. There’s a reason for that.

See, years ago, life was perfect for Taka. He was the top cat and he had his loving, dutiful human Zakuro. It was just the two of them and he couldn’t ask for anything better.

Until Zakuro started coming back home, smelling like another cat. A male cat. But a weird type of cat, because this cat smell was mixed with human smell. There was no distinct cat and human smell, just cat mixed with human, and he couldn’t figure out why. All Taka knew for sure was that it was his duty to cover Zakuro in his own scent to erase this other man-cat. He’d roll all over her clothes, sleep close to her in bed, rub up against her legs. No big deal.

Except she kept coming back smelling like this man-cat.

And then, finally, just when Taka was at his wits end trying to figure out how to stage an intervention for his human, she brought home him.

Ryou Shirogane.

Taka’s nose twitched, the man-cat smell stronger than ever as he followed Zakuro into the apartment.

Taka met Ryou’s eyes.

They stared at each other, unblinking, for several moments.

Taka refused to be anything but alpha cat to this stupid weird-scented human.

Despite repeated and frequent attempts to get rid of the man-cat for good, he just kept coming back. Eventually, he never left. Poor Taka was cruelly forced to live with his second-least-favorite human full-time. And even the vet’s position as least-favorite-human was starting to tip down compared to Ryou.

Even more terrible things began to happen.

He had to share the bed with Ryou, and rarely got the exact middle that was his rightful place.

Then Zakuro’s scent changed, her familiar scent now blended with that of Ryou’s. How dare he tarnish her precious, perfect scent! The monster!

Then his favorite salmon-flavored cat food was switched to chicken—chicken!—for some unknown reason. He finally got his fish-flavored food back… Along with a stupid hairless kitten who would grab his ears, tug his tail, and pet him the completely wrong way. A few years later, just as the stupid human-kitten was starting to become a proper human and respect Taka as she should, the entire cycle began again, starting with the chicken-flavored food and ending with the second human-kitten.

So when the chicken-flavored food came out for the third time, Taka knew what was going to happen: there was going to be another human-kitten. He did not want another human-kitten. They did not need another human-kitten. Taka was king of this household and what he says goes!

His royal decree was not obliged, despite his many speeches consisted of meowing and yowling. His particularly riveting speech at two in the morning only ended with him being locked out of the bedroom. Taka couldn’t believe it. The peasants were rebelling against him, their wonderful, gracious, loving ruler!

With the arrival of the next human-kitten imminent, Taka resolved that at least he still had his naps. Naptime would never fail him, never betray him.

So when his least-favorite human (yes, with the forthcoming third human-kitten, Ryou had officially usurped the vet’s position on Taka’s list) came over to where Taka was peacefully napping and rudely woke him up, Taka yowled and kicked and scratched.

“Hey, I’m all in favor of letting sleeping cats lie,” Ryou said through gritted teeth as he held Taka out at arm’s length. “But Zakuro wants the whole family to go on a walk. And what she says goes.”

Taka hissed but he settled down. That, at least, he and Ryou could agree on.

Which was why he growled the entire time Ryou put him in the front-facing baby carrier but didn’t put up a fight. He was rarely put in the front carrier, and had tolerated the human-kittens slightly more as they were also subjected to a similar one when they were smaller for family outings, to include searching for a new apartment (which earned the family confused looks from the realtor and the fact that a supermodel was her client was the only reason she made no comment about Ryou and Zakuro claiming they needed the cat’s approval).

The not-so-little-human-kitten—whom Zakuro and Ryou called ‘Sayuri’—was up at the windows, hands pressed to the glass.

“The sky is really cloudy,” She said, looking over her shoulder at her parents. “Are you sure it’s not going to rain?”

“The weather forecaster said that it’s not supposed to, just is cloudy today,” Zakuro said as she slid shoes onto the feet of the little-human-kitten, Masaru. She stood up, wincing slightly, her hand going to her lower back.

“You alright?” Ryou asked as he adjusted Taka and the front carrier.

“Yep, just, living the dream, loving every moment of motherhood,” Zakuro said flatly, gently rubbing her belly with her other hand. “We ready to go?”

“Yep,” Ryou said. “Sayuri, will you get the picnic basket?”

“Yes, but should I grab the umbrellas, too?” Sayuri asked, tilting her head slightly.

“We won’t need them,” Ryou said. “Let’s head on out.”

Yes, let’s go, Taka thought. The sooner we get back…

Personally, he thought that this was well worth a can of salmon cat food.

*****

Taka grumbled to himself, glaring at the passing walkers who gave them strange looks.

That’s right, humans, keep on walking… He thought. You don’t know how I have suffered…

They made it about three blocks before Sayuri said, “Mommy? Daddy? Can we stop and eat lunch now?”

“You’re hungry already?” Zakuro asked as she pressed the button for the crosslight, resting her other hand on her belly.

“No, the basket’s really heavy,” Sayuri explained.

“Really?” Ryou asked. “It’s just a few sandwiches, a large bottle of water, a bag of chips and some cat treats.”

“You sure?” Sayuri asked. Then she shrieked as her little brother jumped into a puddle beside her, drenching the bottom of her jeans. “MASARU!” she yelled as he giggled.

“Masaru!” Zakuro chided, frowning down at him, which shut him up quickly. “Apologize to your sister, now!”

“Sorry, Sayuri…” Masaru said in a small voice.

“Here, Sayuri, I’ll take the basket,” Ryou said, taking the picnic basket from his oldest. He frowned. “Huh. You’re right, it’s heavier than I thought it would be.”

“Only one way to make it lighter,” Zakuro said, taking Ryou’s free hand.

Ryou nodded. “Lunchtime it is. Let’s duck into the park.”

The happy little family (and the very grumpy cat) entered the park and went directly to their favorite picnic spot. They were the picture-perfect family, doing picture-perfect things, like having a picture-perfect picnic in the park. With a cat in a front-pack carrier. Because why not?

The blanket was spread, the family was seated on the ground, the cat was glaring at everyone while aggressively grooming his paw. A bird fluttered in the trees and Taka’s irritation grew. If only he was free from this infernal carrier, that little bird would be his lunch.

No, wait. That would mean hunting. Hunting was a lot of work.

Never mind, the birdie was safe.

“Alright, kids,” Ryou said, opening up the picnic basket. “Let’s…” He stared at the contents of the basket, brow furrowed. “Uh…”

“What’s wrong?” Zakuro asked, leaning over. She blinked. “Oh.”

“That’s why it was so heavy!” Sayuri exclaimed.

For inside the picnic basket was several cans and boxes full of food.

Ryou realized something and looked at his son. “Masaru, when Dad asked you to put the food in the picnic basket… You didn’t grab the stuff that was sitting on the counter, did you?”

“You said grab the food,” Masaru said, looking up at his father with big, innocent eyes. “You didn’t specify what food.”

“He’s got you there,” Zakuro said, with a pointed look of ‘yep, that is most definitely your kid’.

Ryou got those looks often.

“Are you sure it’s not supposed to rain?” Sayuri asked, looking up at the sky.

“Very sure,” Ryou said, frowning at the various cans. Taka straightened and meowed at recognizing one of the cans as the Holy Grail of Cans: a can full of tuna! Oh, how he had missed tuna! But before he could get his paws on it, Ryou asked Sayuri, “Why?”

Taka’s ears twitched with annoyance as something dripped on his head. He tilted his head back. He yowled as lightning flashed in the distance.

“Well, because it’s raining,” Sayuri explained as rain began to fall.

“Ah.” Ryou and Zakuro said together.

“That is a good reason why,” Zakuro said, nodding slightly.

They quickly put the cans back in the picnic basket, then Ryou helped Zakuro to her feet. Taka’s ears twitched at the combination of the rain hitting his head and the grimace Zakuro had on her face.

“Meow?” He said to Ryou.

“I know, we’re getting out of the rain soon,” Ryou said, lifting the blanket to use as an umbrella.

You useless human, I could care less about the rain! Taka thought. You’re so stupid, you don’t even understand a basic ‘Hey, something is wrong with Zakuro, maybe you should find out what’!

With Sayuri and Masaru squealing slightly, they family moved under the blanket to the nearest picnic shelter. They had barely made it under cover, and Ryou was folding up the blanket as Zakuro slumped onto one of the benches, her face in a pensive frown.

“We’ll just wait until the storm lets up, then go back home, I guess,” Ryou said.

“Maybe not,” Zakuro said, an odd lilt in her voice that made Taka tilt his head to the side.

“You want to stop somewhere?” Ryou asked.

“Well…” Zakuro said, looking up at her husband. “Yes. Considering I think my water broke.”

*****

Taka yowled as he was bounced around by Ryou rushing up to the front desk, declaring to the receptionist, “MY WIFE IS IN LABOR!”

The young woman blinked and her eyes trailed down to Ryou’s chest and the growling Taka.

“Sir?” She said nervously. “Is this your wife?”

Idiots. Taka thought, hissing at the woman. I’m surrounded by idiots.

“What?” Ryou asked. “Of course not!” Twisting and using both hands, he gestured to Zakuro behind him, each of her hands holding on to those of Sayuri and Masaru. “This is my wife! And she’s in labor!”

“Hey,” Zakuro said, giving a nod of greeting.

“Oh!” The woman said, rising to her feet. “Come with me, ma’am…”

“Mint, Ichigo, Lettuce and Pudding are on their way,” Zakuro told Sayuri and Masaru. “Behave for them, okay?”

The two children nodded and Zakuro went with the woman, who whispered, “You know, we usually see that kind of reaction in husbands having their first baby…”

“Yeah, he’s usually a lot more together, I swear…”

Taka glared at everybody who gave him and Ryou odd looks. He didn’t want to be here, he didn’t deserve this treatment, didn’t deserve their judgmental states. He didn’t deserve to be practically tossed across the hospital lobby as Ryou ripped off the carrier and threw him at Ichigo. (He was actually passed over at arm’s length and gently but quickly handed over, it just felt like a longer distance and much faster in kitty-cat measurements.)

Taka was grumpy because he was still in the front carrier, the can of tuna still wasn’t opened, and he was surrounded by idiots. All humans were idiots, he decided. They had no idea what they were doing at any given time. Not even the presence of his second-favorite human—Ichigo, who also smelled a lot like a cat and always seemed to know exactly what he was saying, but he couldn’t exactly figure out why—being there and scratching him in all the right places was helping.

Finally—FINALLY!—he was released from the infernal prison…

Only to be immediately put in a bag.

“Merow!” Taka demanded.

“Sorry, Taka,” Ichigo whispered before she zipped the bag partway closed. “But we can’t let anyone see you just yet.”

Taka couldn’t think of ways his day could possibly get any worse. First he was carried around in that humiliating front carrier, now he’s being toted and jostled around in a handbag—a handbag! Like he was a Chihuahua or some other type of dog!—going who-knows-where…

Finally, he felt the bag be set down on something soft. The bag was unzipped, Taka was lifted from the bag, he was placed on the bed.

Taka blinked slowly, his nose twitching at the array of smells. It smelled too clean, and like a lot of unfamiliar humans.

But it also smelled like…

He turned then crawled up the bed towards Zakuro, rubbing his head against her elbow. Zakuro smiled sleepily at Taka, scratching his head.

“Good to see you, too,” Zakuro said. “Now come say ‘hi’ to the newest member of the family.”

At that, Taka looked over at the bundle wrapped up in Zakuro’s arm. The newest human-kitten, sound asleep.

From beside the bed, Sayuri squealed with delight. “She’s so tiny!”

“What’s her name?” Masaru asked from Ryou’s hip.

“Mai,” Ryou answered, grinning broadly before he pressed a kiss to the top of Zakuro’s head.

Taka felt his heart melt a little. Whether he like Ryou or not, he made Zakuro happy, and that was important. And if these furless human-kittens were what made Zakuro happy, well, then he guessed he could be happy with them, too.

Besides, they were starting to grow on him. This third one was kind of cute. For a human.

Taka curled up against Zakuro’s side and purred.

The day had gotten off to a great start.

But it was certainly ending perfectly.

#Tokyo Mew Mew #Mew Mew Power #Zakuro Fujiwara #Mew Zakuro #Ryou Shirogane #Writing Commision #Commission

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kohakuhime · 6 years

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The Reluctant Guardian, ch. 14

Hey folks~! Here’s our next installment! As a heads up for this particular chapter, I am backtracking just a smidge - the previous installment had a time skip of three days, so...think of this like a rewind. Expect the next update by 1/13/18!

Disclaimer: this takes place post canon, and this refers to events that take place in an alternate verse. Isabel, Kazuo, Mikomi, and Travis belong to @mpuzzlegirl; Darien, Alana, and Risa belong to me; Yumi Mutou, who is referenced, belongs to @wizqevelynart; and YGO and its associated characters belong to Kazuki Takahashi

Three Days Earlier...

It had not been a good night.

Joey had spent nearly the entire night searching the city, ranging from old haunts from his teenage years to the corporate side of town, and yet he had not found any sign of the twins. Tristan and Ryou had helped as much as they could, but they too had come up empty handed.

Mai had found the shared phone the twins used on the roof across from their workshop, after dialing and hearing their ringtone. It had not been far from the alleyway where they had found the smoke bomb they had used. Joey for now was taking it to mean that they had gotten away—he did not want to think about the alternative.

It was not until the early hours of the morning when Joey trudged back into the apartment, leaning against the door. Mai was waiting for him, phone in hand. “Anything?”

“Nothin’.” Joey crashed into the nearest chair, hanging his head. “No sign of them. Either they did a real good job of hiding, or someone got to them.”

He did not have to look up to see the uncertainty on Mai’s face. “Joey…I don’t think it was just Sora and Claire who’ve disappeared. Nor Rowen or the other kids.”

Joey’s head snapped up so quickly he popped his neck, and he cursed sharply. “Mai, where’s Risa?” he said urgently, his heart crashing to a halt. “Is she—“

“No, hon, she’s okay,” she said hastily. “Risa got home around midnight. She took a cab.”

Maybe it was because he had been up all night, maybe it was the stress, but it took Joey a full minute before his mind processed what Mai had said. “Why’d Risa take a cab? Wasn’t she supposed to go back to the Game Shop after she was done at the amusement park?”

Mai’s features were grim. “Joey, Risa said that she was supposed to meet Yumi there…but Yumi never showed up, didn’t answer the phone, and when Risa stopped at the shop to check on her it was closed.”

Yugi didn’t close business during the day unless there was an emergency or a tournament he was involved in. There shouldn’t have been a reason to close the Game Shop.

He had not been able to get a hold of Yugi at all, come to think of it. At first he had thought it was because of the signal strength from different areas, but now…

“Mai, when was the last time we heard from Yugi?” he asked very quietly. “Or Téa?”

Mai did not get to answer. Joey’s phone started ringing and he jumped, pulling it out of his jacket pocket. Spotting Isabel’s caller ID, he answered it. “Yeah? Anything?”

“Joey, Noa and I were wondering if you and Mai wanted to come to breakfast with us.”

Joey blinked. He shot Mai a bewildered look, and Mai motioned for Joey to put the call on speaker. “Uh, Isa? Say that again?”

“Noa and I wanted you and Mai to join us for breakfast this morning.” Isabel’s voice was cheerful over the phone.

“We’d love to,” said Mai brightly, making Joey jump. “What time would you want us over?”

“You know that one café over by KaibaCorp? Do you mind meeting us there?”

“Sure! Hey, you don’t mind Risa tagging along do you?”

Joey, who was only seconds from protesting, stopped speaking at the look Mai was shooting him. Oh—he got it. He shot a thumbs up and rose to his feet.

“No, not at all! Mikomi and Kazuo are coming too—Noa wanted some testers for a new piece of tech he’s working on, and he apparently has standing permission from Kaiba to use his laboratories.”

“Okay, sounds good! How soon do you want us, Isabel?” Joey said.

“As soon as you can. I know it’s only six AM, but—“

“Nah, we’re up anyways and I’m hungry anyways. We’ll be over as soon as we can. Thanks, Isabel!” Joey hung up, reached for a broom, and started for the closed bedroom door. “I’ll get Risa up.”

+++++++++++++++++++

When they arrived at the café, Isabel was already standing outside waiting for them. As Joey and Mai drew closer, Isabel held out a paper bag and a cup of coffee towards them. “I ordered for you guys already,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind.”

On the front of the bag were four words written in sharpie: Play along. Being watched.

Joey took the bag, keeping the side with the message hidden. “I eat anything, Isabel, no worries. So where’s Noa?”

“Oh, he’s over at KaibaCorp already. We can walk over,” she said, already crossing the street. Mai and Risa tailed after Joey; their daughter had taken the cup of coffee, looking puffy eyed and grouchy.

Travis was standing inside the entrance to KaibaCorp with Mikomi and Kazuo. The moment Risa reached them Travis whisked her away and into a stairwell off the right. “Travis is their guide to the labs today for their work with the product testing,” Isabel said aloud, and then in a lower voice, “Cover story, in case.”

Joey and Mai discreetly gave a thumbs up, following Isabel through the front lobby, into the elevator, and then raised an eyebrow when Isabel stuck a keycard into the slot next to the buttons. The doors closed and the elevator went up.

“Noa’s office?”

Isabel did not answer, stepping out once the elevator reached its destination. Joey did a double take when he saw the sign for the floor. “Uh—“

“Executive suite?” Mai said, and her eyebrows arched. “Oh my.”

Isabel walked all the way to the end of the hall, pushing one of the doors open and motioning for them to go inside. Joey stepped through the door, staring at the large business office around him. Noa was in the office chair behind the desk, his eyes fixed on the computer.

Joey couldn’t help but grin when he saw the desk. “Of course that nerd would have a Blue Eyes paperweight—and wait, is that a Blue Eyes computer mouse?”

“Yeah, well, Seto is predictable in that fashion,” Noa said, leaning back into the office chair. He rose from the seat and moved to the right side of the room. “Don’t worry about the kids for now—Travis is downstairs with them. Come on over with me.”

“Darien and Alana?” Mai asked, looking around. “Are they already here?”

“They said they were staying behind and out of Domino,” Noa said. “They felt they would get in the way.”

Mai exchanged looks with Isabel. That didn’t sound right for Ellie’s parents, especially considering how much they loved their family. Isabel offered a small, helpless shrug in response to Mai’s questioning expression. Something must have changed since last night.

As they approached, Noa flicked a light switch. Instead of turning off the lights, however, the switch plate lifted completely up and disappeared into the wall, leaving only a finger scanner and a pack of alcohol wipes.

Noa used one of the wipes on the scanner, then pulled out a safety pin and sighed. “I hate this part,” he muttered, and then he pricked the point of the pin into the flesh of his thumb. He squeezed his thumb until a small bead of blood welled onto his finger, and then pressed it against the scanner.

No one had time to protest. There was a small beep and the wall to the right of the switch suddenly slid open. Noa motioned for them to step inside, cleaned the scanner plate off with the wipe, and then stepped inside, the door hissing closed behind them.

“Seto insisted on DNA specific identification in addition to scanning fingerprints,” Noa said irritably. “Anyways, welcome to Seto’s panic room.”

The room inside was different from the spacious and well-furnished office. There was not as much space in here, Joey noted. A smaller sofa was pushed against the wall; on one side of the wall were several monitors and another office chair. There was a small refrigerator in another corner of the room.

“We’re being watched by someone unfriendly?” Joey asked without preamble.

“Yes,” said Noa. “I’ve already swept Seto’s office for visual and audio bugs, and checked his desktop for unwanted guests. I’m just being extra careful—only a Kaiba can get into this room, so the chances of anyone else getting in here are non-existent.”

“What's goin’ on?” Joey asked. “You wouldn’t have called us all here unless you found something.”

“First thing’s first,” Noa said, and he looked as if he had swallowed something distinctly unpleasant. “Dartz came by our house last night.”

Joey felt rather than saw Mai stiffen at his side.

“He’s confirmed all the missing kids are with him and wanted us to pass it along to you. Apparently Darien saw him last night when we asked, so he knows.”

Momentary relief briefly flitted through Joey’s thoughts. His sister’s kids were safe…or as safe as they could be, considering who had the twins. His small smile vanished as suddenly as it appeared and his mouth turned down at the corner. “Why the hell are we letting Dartz keep them safe?”

“Not by choice,” said Noa, his own voice dark with anger. “Dartz has found a way to stay off the radar, likely with magic. In true fashion, he decided to tell us what he was doing after he did it. I don’t like it any more than you do, but at this point he’s out of reach unless he comes to Domino again.”

Mai folded her arms. “Also true to form, he doesn’t talk to you about important decisions face to face,” she retorted irritably.

“Dartz was under the impression you’d castrate him with a rusted fork if he came by,” said Noa, sounding skeptical and amused at the same time.

Mai raised an eyebrow, then reached into her purse and in one smooth motion pulled out a rusted fork. “Like this one?”

There was a long pause. “Mai, holy hell, you actually have one,” Joey said at last, unable to take his eyes off of the utensil.

“I do not break my promises,” she said airily, only the smallest bit of malice in her voice. “I’m only sorry Dartz didn’t test me.”

Noa cleared his throat. “Okay, Mai, you can sheath your sword. He’s not here,” he said. As Mai put away the fork, Joey tried not to grin at the relief across Noa’s features when it was out of sight.

“Joey, Mai, do you have your duel decks with you?” Isabel asked suddenly. Noticing Joey pulling out his deck from the belt holster he carried, she added, “Do me a favor and go through your cards real quick.”

Joey complied, shuffling through his cards as Mai leaned over. He was near the end of the deck when he came across the Red Eyes Black Dragon and—

“What the hell?” he blurted out, staring at his trademark card with horror.

Green lettering was glowing across the face of the card, from top to bottom and almost hiding the dragon from view. Joey looked up from the card to Noa and Isabel. “Did you two do this?”

“We didn’t,” said Isabel reassuringly. “Mikomi caught it this morning—something similar was on one of her cards as well. Read the message.”

Joey looked back to the card. “’You’re being watched. Do nothing suspicious. You are not safe at this time.’”

The moment Joey had finished reading he gasped as the message disappeared off the card. “Is Dartz behind this?”

“Yes,” said Mai and Noa almost in unison. They shot each other startled looks, but it was Mai who kept talking. “It was how Dartz reached out to us in areas where we didn’t have cell reception. The message fades the moment you finish reading it.”

“I’m taking it to mean that this will be how Dartz keeps in touch with us, then,” Joey said, eyeing his Red Eyes worriedly. “As long as it isn’t permanent, I’ll go with it.”

“That message was verbatim what we got this morning off of Mikomi’s card,” said Isabel quietly. “You know as much as we do about who this person watching us is—which is why we’re in here and not out in Kaiba’s office.”

Noa gestured around the room. “This room is pretty much tamper-proof and you can’t get access to anything in here to place bugs. I turned off the Wi-Fi hubs and disconnected the computers in here as a precaution, and Seto doesn’t keep any separate webcams in here.”

“We bring this up because yesterday there were two break-ins during broad daylight, while Michael was almost kidnapped in the middle of a crowd in front of security guards. Yet somehow, there’s no footage or audio recordings of any of these events anywhere. We got lucky with some footage of Rowen on a bus, and even a glimpse of one of the men at the mall chasing Michael, but that’s all we have,” Isabel said grimly.

Mai rummaged in her purse again and pulled out the twin’s phone. “It’s out of battery now, but I found it on the roof of the building across from their workshop,” she said. “I thought maybe they had been caught, now that you said we’re being watched I have to wonder if they didn’t leave it because of that reason.”

“And that’s probably why Dartz left Michael’s phone behind when he took Michael from the mall,” Noa said grimly. He held out his hand for the phone. “I’ve got Michael’s already, and I’ll take that one too. Maybe there’s a tracking app somewhere on their phone that I can use to backtrack to the one who sent it.”

“Rowen’s is back at our apartment,” Joey added. “You want that one?”

“When you get a chance, yeah.” Noa took the phone carefully, inspecting it briefly before setting it down.

Noa’s features promptly darkened. “Right, here’s the other thing I’ve found out,” he said as he passed over a stapled together print out. On the front was the picture of a cruise liner, but Joey’s eyes had caught the headline:

Duel Monsters Tournament To Take Place On Private Cruise

“I heard about this tournament!” Joey said sharply, looking up at the others. “I got an invitation for it a while back, but I turned it down after reading the rules for it. It sounded shady as hell. Yugi got one too and he turned it down, but that was because it’s supposed to be almost two weeks long and he didn’t want to be away that long.”

“Enlighten us on the rules you received with that invitation, Joey,” Isabel said. “I couldn’t find anything aside from what that article was saying.”

“No outside electronics, no outside phones, nothing that could access the internet allowed. If anyone leaves the boat while it’s in port for any reason, it’s instant disqualification and barring from the next three tournaments. It’s ultimately why I said ‘nah’—I make my living from tournament earnings, and being banned would take a hit on us I can’t afford,” Joey said flatly.

“I heard about this tournament’s rules in the news. It sounds downright ridiculous,” Mai remarked with a frown. “What if it was an emergency that you had to get off?”

Joey pointed to Mai. “That was why Yugi wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t leave his family cut off from him for the duration of the tournament, since you were only allowed to take one person with you onto this boat.”

Noa’s face looked troubled. “Seto said something similar when he got an invitation. I talked to Mokuba last night about it—Seto said he wouldn’t do it because it would be almost two weeks without contact with his company, but read between the lines and it’s the same reason as Yugi.”

Joey looked back to the article and started reading aloud. “Exclusive and private Duel Monsters tournament welcomes veteran duelists Yugi Mutou and Seto Kai—what?!”

His head snapped back up to look at Noa. “Yugi wouldn’t change his mind on something like this! If he did he never said anything to me.”

“And Seto was supposed to be at a business conference yesterday, but instead Mokuba got a call from Roland saying Seto never made it there. Mokuba’s acting as representative for Seto at the conference now and doing what he can on his end, but Seto would never put off work for Duel Monsters. He wouldn’t,” added Noa when Mai shot him a look. “Not when it comes to something like this.”

Isabel nodded, her mouth a thin line. “Plus Seto’s kids and wife have completely disappeared. No one can reach them or find them.”

Ice traveled down Joey’s spine. “No one’s heard from Yugi’s family or from Yugi and Téa, and Yumi was supposed to meet Risa yesterday—she never showed up.”

Mai swore sharply. “I think I know why they’ve signed up for this tournament now,” she snarled. “This Mystery Bastard got to their families.”

Noa nodded, tight-lipped and eyes flashing. “That’s the best assumption to make at this point. Seto’s kids have tracking beacons literally sewn into their clothes—those beacons have been offline for almost twelve hours,” he said, his voice low and furious. “Whoever this is not only bold enough to go after Kaibas, they managed to make even Seto comply with them.”

“So what do we do about this?” Joey asked. “I’m not just gonna sit around waiting for something to happen, especially—“

“We may have to, hon,” Mai said quietly. She did not seem to enjoy saying it, and she looked over at her affronted husband. “If we’re being watched, it means they’re wanting to see what we do. If we get too busy or get too close, this guy could go after us next. I don’t care about me—I don’t want these bastards going for Risa,” she finished, and Joey blanched.

“For now, as much as it pains me to say it, we’ll have to stay largely out of suspicion’s way,” said Isabel. She hesitated, and then added. “Dartz feels like there’s a chance the Orichalcos is involved.”

Noa stiffened in place, sucking in a sharp breath. “I’m fine,” he muttered, though his eyes were filled with quiet horror. “Keep talking, Isabel. You’re fine.”

Isabel reached over for Noa, her hand resting gently on his shoulder and squeezing it. Her husband reached up to take her hand, and Joey saw the distinct tremble in his shoulders. Isabel looked back over to them. “Without confirming it’s back, without knowing how many active stones are in play or who’s using them, we can’t do anything without endangering ourselves and our families.”

“The Orichalcos should be useless,” Mai said, looking distinctly pale. She leaned subconsciously against Joey and his arm moved around her shoulders. “It shouldn’t have power.”

“Dartz seems to think it does in spite of everything that happened,” Isabel said quietly. “I’d be inclined to listen to him—if he of all people is worried about it, I would be too.”

“So someone got a hold of the Orichalcos again?” Joey asked. “How? I figured Dartz guarded those things pretty religiously. Unless an auction was held after Dartz was defeated and someone was like ‘hey, yo, can I bid on the suspicious glowing candy’ I don’t see how—“

“Joey you genius!” Noa’s eyes lit up as he snapped to his feet, startling Joey and Isabel. “Can’t believe I didn’t think of that sooner!”

“Liquidation sales,” Mai murmured, understanding why Noa was excited. She was grinning herself. “Whoever bought Paradius property or items in bulk has to be a suspect.”

“Isabel, tell Travis to ask Pegasus about any businessmen who’ve been interested in magic. He’s the one most likely to keep track of that number,” Noa said, turning to his wife. He blinked, already noticing Isabel smirking and holding up the burner phone.

“Got that, Travis?” she asked aloud.

“Copy that, Isabel,” Travis’s voice came over the speaker. “Just need a number, that’s all.”

“We’ll get it to you later. Keep that phone with you.”

As Isabel pocketed the phone Mai leaned forward in her seat. “I’m still thinking about that tournament. Who’s sponsoring it? We find that guy, we find the ones responsible for all this.”

“We have a name, but I’m certain it’s not the right one we’re looking for,” Isabel said slowly, and she shot a wary look at Noa. “Yuri Lee Dum. That’s the so-called head of the tournament.”

“Yuri Lee—oh that complete—I can’t—!” Joey knew the look of dark murder on his own face matched the one on Noa’s. Under different circumstances, he would have found it funny. “He’s playing with us!”

“The only names we’ve been able to find that aren’t aliases are on the duelist’s roster—including the one representing Dum,” Noa said acidly, practically spitting out the last name. “Either of you ever hear of Miracle?”

“No, but if that’s a stage name that’s in really poor taste if the Orichalcos is present and working in this tournament,” Mai said darkly. “And let me guess: no connecting companies, no word on who’s sponsoring it other than this clown?”

“Not a thing. I have no idea how they’re hiding everything they’re doing,” Noa said angrily. The amount of venom in Noa’s voice was palpable. “This whole thing is really…really…stupid.”

Although no one spoke after that statement, everyone in the room could not help but silently agree.

“If we can’t do anything outright without proper information, then we need to focus on what we can do,” Mai said at length. “I for one don’t think we’re fully safe from this guy. Protection for the remaining kids needs to be our priority. No going anywhere without one of us, among other things.”

“And the kids are crafty buggers too,” added Joey. “Risa for one probably isn’t gonna sit this out if Yumi and her cousins are in trouble.”

“Let them try to come after our kids,” Noa said, his voice deceptively smooth. The look in his eyes, however, spoke volumes. “Just let them try.”

“Travis did not just come here to visit Michael, either. He’s got a show here in town for the next week, and we’ve figured he’s our loophole. We’re taking a gamble on him,” said Isabel firmly. “I already gave him a burner phone and he’s going to be doing some digging for us, since we’ve got unfriendly eyes on us.”

“In the meantime, I’m going to keep digging and keep trying to figure out who this guy really is. You all are welcome to do your own work, but try not to get caught doing it.”

“Keep our ears to the pavement and our eyes open. Gotcha.” Joey saluted, a shark’s grin stretching across his features. “They’re forgetting I grew up on these streets. I can do plenty of detective work without getting caught. You just gotta know what to ask and where.”

+++++++++++++++++++

“Okay, anyone have a Sharpie pen?”

“I do. I carry, like, three of them on me at all times.”

“…Why?”

“Hey, someone falls asleep in class, you gotta draw on people with bold and fine detail.”

“…Right.” Kazuo handed the Sharpie pen to Mikomi, eyeing Risa warily. “Remind me not to nap around you.”

Although it had been Mikomi who had found the message on her Hitotsu-Me Giant card, Kazuo had the idea to try reverse-messaging to the one who had sent the warning; with Mikomi’s ability to contact Duel spirits, it was a chance to find their cousins that was near impossible not to take. Risa, meanwhile was watching the computers run a custom search for Yumi’s Duel Disk—an idea she’d had the moment they had stepped into the lab.

“What should we say?” Mikomi asked, holding the pen hesitantly above the card.

“Maybe start with ‘knock knock’. No, I’m kidding,” Risa added when Kazuo shot her a look. She sobered, taking another sip of coffee, and then said, “What about ‘are you there? Please answer’ to start with? I get the feeling this Dartz guy may not answer right away, and you don’t want to write a novel if he isn’t going to respond to begin with.”

Mikomi nodded, carefully writing in neat, legible writing on the card. She touched the card after she had finished and added a silent, Please take the message to Dartz.

She felt a gentle brush on her shoulder, and though the card did not change she felt the presence of Hitotsu-Me Giant fade away.

“Now what?”

“We’ll have to wait and see if Dartz answers us,” Kazuo said, sounding anything but happy. “Meanwhile, let’s see what we can do to help find out what’s going on…”

+++++++++++++++++++

The next three days seemed to pass without incident, though they did pass ever so slowly. Either Isabel or Mai kept watch over the kids if they went anywhere, escorting them to and from their destinations; Risa, Kazuo, and Mikomi were not pleased by this development, but none of them protested terribly.

Initially there had been talk of mounting a rescue, or at least having someone try to find Seto or Yugi, but that option was shot down by Noa: “They’re using cloaking technology to hide their global position, and it would take at least weeks to find them. Apparently they got special permission on that one—go figure—but flying blindly out there is potentially endangering them and their families.”

It was an uneasy stalemate that they had fallen into over the three days. No leads, no answers, and mounting frustration on all sides.

Mikomi, Kazuo, and Risa, when together, spent a good deal of time huddled and speaking in whispers. What they were discussing or talking about was anyone’s guess, but as long as they did not try to set off on their own the adults let them be. A small part of Isabel was even hoping perhaps the kids could see something that the adults didn’t.

Noa was glued to a computer screen, rarely taking his eyes away as he moved throughout multiple screens of coding. Per Isabel, her husband had been doing digging in just about every website in the city that he could reach. Noa still could not find names, or specific evidence of anything shady going on.

Joey also rarely came home at night, tracking down virtually every lead he could find. He deliberately did not take a phone with him when he went out, making Mai wait up for him. Mai often found Joey trekking back in the early hours of the morning, covered in bruises and dirt. He too was striking out in terms of information.

Not one of them heard from Dartz in all that time and the silence was deafening.

+++++++++++++++++++

On the fourth night, just before she went to bed, Mikomi checked her cards. When she got to Hitotsu-Me’s card, however, she gasped. “Kazuo!”

Her brother, who had been passing in the hallway, stopped in mid-motion and ducked into his younger sister’s room. “What is it?”

Mikomi was staring at the card, one hand covering her mouth.

“Mikomi?” Kazuo felt a spike of concern. “Komi, what is it? What’s wrong?”

Wordlessly she held out the card to Kazuo. The Sharpie was gone, replaced by glowing letters. Impossibly, the message seemed to radiate with an intense fury, nearly blinding Kazuo before his eyes could focus on the five-word message:

Do nothing. Stop everything.

NOW.

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#kohaku writes #au: reluctant guardian #oc: risa #other's oc: isabel #other's oc: travis

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musicprincess655 · 5 years

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Wakana had been sleeping when she got Nori’s call, something she didn’t get to do often. So it was entirely reasonable that she wasn’t thrilled to be in the Hall of Justice right now.

“Sorry for calling everyone in so suddenly,” Ryou said, calling them to order. “We got some intel that’s time sensitive.”

“Time sensitive as in…?” Jun asked, voice carrying easily over the crowd.

“Time sensitive as in we move our asses or our asses get left behind,” Ryou said. “We’ve got a couple of things to hit, so I’m assigning multiple squads to go out for them. So. Who here isn’t attracted to women?”

Jun, Bart, and An raised their hands.

“Alpha squad.”

Great. Two human disasters and a scientist. Wakana could already see that ending in tragedy, no matter where Ryou was planning on sending them. Although, if he needed people who weren’t attracted to women…

“Anybody have a strong preference for men?” Ryou asked. “Preferably someone who actually has hand-to-hand experience?”

“Hey, fuck you!” Jun growled.

Wakana raised her hand. She was only interested in girls every so often. It would probably be fine.

“Oh thank God,” Ryou said. “Alpha squad leader.”

“Alpha squad for what?” she asked.

“You four are going in to Bialya,” Ryou said. “For those who don’t know, Queen Bee can control the minds of anyone attracted to women. We have reports of human trafficking moving through Bialya. We also have concerns about how easily Queen Bee is annexing territory around her. This is a covert fact-finding mission. Emphasis on the stealth. We can’t have an international incident.”

Wakana rolled her eyes. An would probably be fine, even if she wasn’t much of a fighter. She worried about the boys, though.

“So when you say stealth, you mean-” Bart started.

“I mean this place will be heavily guarded, surrounded by tech that can intercept radio transmissions, and carefully monitored,” Ryou said. “Listen to Oracle. She knows what she’s doing.”

Damn straight, Wakana thought.

“You four are on your own, because I’ll be going with Delta squad to follow another human trafficking thread,” Ryou said. “This one’s connected to Black Manta.”

“Why is the Light interested in human trafficking?” Wakana asked. Not that she didn’t believe they were awful enough to do it, but every leading member was the kind that didn’t do anything unless it benefited them.

“They, specifically, aren’t,” Ryou said. “Their partner is.”

A hologram popped up behind him, showing some gross alien-looking thing.

“This is the Reach,” Ryou said. “According to the one Green Lantern we have left, they’re a colonizing force, and they’ve set their sights on Earth. As far as we can tell, they’re just trying to get set up, so the more we can disrupt them, the better.”

“And aliens want humans because…?”

“Experimentation.”

Wakana gulped. It was something out of a bad science fiction movie. That made it even worse.

“Delta squad will be infiltrating a shipment to follow them to wherever their base is,” Ryou continued. “We’ll be more or less completely off the grid until we get back, so don’t do anything too stupid.”

“What a vote of confidence,” Jun complained, but he looked pleased. Wakana rolled her eyes again. Bart was easy enough to control, if you knew what buttons to push. Jun could be a wild card, and one she’d want on her side in a firefight, not a covert mission.

Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers, and she wouldn’t leave behind a teammate to the mind control of Queen Bee.

She got the fly the plane, and that was the way she liked it. It was so much easier to sneak in by air than by any other manner of travel, especially if you knew how to fly. And she did.

“So, since I’m the only one that doesn’t know about it,” An started delicately. “Nightwing seems to be dealing with Kid Flash’s absence well.”

“Not my team, not my problem,” Wakana said. She cared about Ryou and Kuramochi both, but they’d spent enough time dancing around each other. It was something only the two of them could solve. She wasn’t touching that with a ten foot pole.

“My team, but not my problem,” Jun said. “Nightwing fakes being okay well. If he wants to keep pretending, well...it’s not like we have time to sit around and talk about our feelings. We have a job to do. We can’t worry about anything else until we’re not so slammed.”

“Kid Flash is doing okay in America,” Bart chimed in. “He texts me sometimes, and Grandpa tells me stuff too.”

Wakana was never going to get used to anyone referring to the Flash as Grandpa. He was barely older than her, really. Only just barely an adult.

“Not that I’m not enjoying the gossip about our teammates, because I am,” Wakana said. “But we’re about to be there.”

The trip had really gone by fast. Wakana loved her plane.

“So how’s this for a game plan?” Jun asked, leaning up from where he’d been conferencing with Bart, and Wakana prayed for patience. “I transform into a mouse. Impulse here runs very fast and throws me as hard as he can, and in midair, I transform into an elephant, taking down all bad guys instantly.”

“What about no international incidents did you two miss?” Wakana demanded, rubbing between her eyebrows. This was going to be a disaster.

“It still counts as stealth if no one’s awake to see us,” Bart said.

“No, it doesn’t.” An gave Wakana a long-suffering look. Wakana returned it.

“Here’s the actual game plan,” Wakana said. “Beast Boy will be transforming into a mouse or something smaller, and staying that way to infiltrate one of the three warehouses. Bumblebee and I will take the other two. We don’t have blueprints from inside, so move carefully. Impulse will be lookout.”

“Aww, why am I lookout?”

“Because you’re fast enough to evade capture!” Wakana took a deep breath. “You know I’d want you on my side if this was coming down to a fight. But it won’t. We can’t let it. And we need a lookout. That’s not up for debate. You’re the best choice.”

Bart still didn’t look too thrilled, but he didn’t argue as the rest of them quietly slipped down towards the three warehouses. Wakana headed straight for the one of the left. She needed to hide in shadows to get in. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw two tiny shapes fly away. An had already shrunk down, which meant that Jun must have picked some other tiny flying thing to do his job. At least it was dark enough that his signature green wouldn’t be noticeable.

He could’ve been a master of stealth if he didn’t have that.

Wakana scaled the side of the warehouse to the roof, opening a ventilation shaft and crawling in. Lucky that places out in the desert like this needed such heavy duty air conditioning. It was a tight squeeze, but she could fit.

She crawled forward, moving her legs with a careful balance between dragging and lifting to produce almost no sound. She was just starting to get her bearings on the layout of the warehouse when an alarm sounded.

Goddammit. She was going to kill her team. Why couldn’t she have one mission go off without a hitch? Just one?

“Hey.” Wakana nearly jumped out of her skin. But it was only An, hovering in front of her. “This your escape route?”

“I didn’t even get to the actual warehouse,” Wakana said. “I’ve just been trying to map it out. What happened?”

“No clue,” An said. “We can’t go out through the ventilation, though. It’s closed up tight. We can only go between the three buildings.”

“Or down,” Wakana said. “My scans show the shafts connecting to a big room underground.”

“That’s ominous and terrifying.”

But An followed her without another complaint, dropping down into what looked like a cave covered in hieroglyphs.

“Is this some kind of ancient temple?” An asked. “Because I’ve seen Temple of Doom and I don’t like where this is going.”

Wakana ignored her, slipping down along the edge. Whatever the ancient temple was doing here, she wanted a better vantage point.

Instead she got a runway, and a plane.

“See that?” she whispered. “Bet that’s our ticket out of here.”

She could worry about tracking down Bart and Jun if she could get out.

Wakana didn’t wait to see if An was following her. She slipped down into the shadows, skirting along the edges of the temple to get to the runway. The guards didn’t see her, didn’t even hear her. Wakana just needed to get the door at the end of the runway open, and…

She’d stumbled into the human trafficking shipment.

Everyone around her looked like kids, probably runaways, and they were all out cold. Wakana didn’t know if they were drugged or worse, but one thing was clear: they weren’t running out of here with her.

Which meant she really needed to find a way to get that plane in the air.

Before she could even look for a way to do that, she heard a low sound pulsing in the back of her skull, so low that it hurt. She landed hard on her knees, struggling to stay up, but her limbs felt like jelly. Her eyes slipped closed, but she fought for consciousness.

“We can’t take her,” Wakana heard through the haze. “That’s one of the Bat brats. She’ll be missed.”

“Batman herself is missing,” someone answered. Wakana felt a jolt of panic. They knew Batman was gone? Did they know about the rest of the Justice League? “Bring the Bat brat.”

Wakana wanted to struggle, but her head was still ringing from whatever had hit her. She was dragged onto the plane, heaped with the other kids.

She didn’t know how much time passed, but she woke with a jolt as something stung her chest. Only years of training with the Kominatos kept her from crying out in pain.

“It’s just me,” An said. “I’ve got Beast Boy and Impulse. We have a plan.”

“Which is?”

“Get the plane in the air and we’ll handle the rest,” An said. “We’ve gotta get all these kids out of here.”

“Can do.” Wakana stumbled her way to the cockpit. The door was already open. All she had to do was fly the plane. “Wait, how will Beast Boy and Impulse get on.”

“Already here.” Jun scrambled into the cockpit beside her, taking the copilot seat. “I took out as many bad guys as I could on my way here. And also maybe caused an international incident.”

“Worry about it later, where’s-”

“Impulse reporting for duty!” Bart zipped onto the plane. “I started a lockdown, so no one should be coming after us. Get her in the air, captain!”

“We’re moving,” Wakana said. “Everyone buckle up.”

Naturally, the hanger door started closing, and something heavy landed on the roof of the cockpit.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Wakana sighed. “Beast Boy?”

“On it.”

Damn, she was happy to have Jun here.

As soon as the roof was ripped off the cockpit, Jun flew out, already transforming into a gorilla. Whoever had tried to get in got sent flying, and Jun kept moving, running forward to jam the doors open. He took flight as something, landing back in the cockpit just as Wakana took off.

Then the wings got blown off. Wakana instinctively reached for the remote at her waist, praying it could work in time.

“We’re gonna die!” Bart screamed, hugging An close. “We’re gonna die!”

Something clunked to the roof, and slowly the plane lifted from its nosedive to soar through the sky. The stealth plane had activated autopilot and made it to them just in time.

“I love my plane so much,” Wakana said as relief washed over her.

“We did it!” Jun cheered.

“We really did,” Wakana agreed.

They all stumbled out of the plane as soon as it landed. Wakana had called ahead to the Hall of Justice. Someone else could deal with all these missing kids.

“Are you kidding me,” she deadpanned as she saw Ryou.

“Beat you back,” he said, silky smile in place. She hated his smug look. “How’d it go?”

“Terribly. Sorry about the international incident,” Wakana said. “But we got the shipment of people out.”

“I’ll take that win,” Ryou said. “We found their labs. Most of the people in there were just traumatized or missing heroes, but a few of the average humans had something awakened.”

“The Meta-Gene?” Wakana asked. Ryou nodded.

“We took the four of them to S.T.A.R. labs,” he said. “Hopefully they can get whatever happened under control. Now I just have to tell Miyuki that his friends are the ones that got screwed by all this.”

“Fantastic,” Wakana said. Ryou just sighed. “Hey, are you...okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Lots of reasons?” She shrugged. “I know we don’t really do the touchy-feely bullshit, but if you need someone to talk to…”

“I’m already in the twilight zone, but thanks.”

“You should just apologize for real,” Wakana said softly. “Just say ‘I’m sorry’. It works for a reason.”

“I’m not sure if that’s enough anymore,” Ryou said. “And even if it is...even if he’s gone, this way, he’s safe.”

“That’s not what either of you wants,” Wakana said. “He’s a hero. So are you. Act like it.”

She left him with that. She really needed some sleep.

#kuraryou #miyusawa #daiya no a #dna #my writing #dc!au #inv

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