The Lift

The Rise and Fall

Seto Kaiba strode purposefully through the reception area of his office building. Around him he could hear the admiring comments of his employees and his lip twitched slightly in pleasure. Reaching the specific lift he needed, he turned and hit the up button, quietly enjoying the feel of his coat sweeping around along with his movement. It had been many years since he'd had the excuse to wear this outfit, the one he thought of as being exclusively for duelling these days. He felt good in it and enjoyed the memories that came with it, despite many of them having been difficult to live through at the time. Being consigned to ordinary business suits day after day was something that added to the sense of daily grind that his work was threatening to become. He had been right, he decided, to allow Mokuba to persuade him to hold one more tournament.

The tournament he was hosting today in the central New York offices of Kaiba Corp, was nowhere near the size and scale of those he'd resided over in the past, but it still promised to be entertaining. And, as host, it also meant he got to make a dramatic entrance; something that would wow the spectators and the participating duellists alike. It was something he had been looking forward to for a number of weeks.

The lift doors opened and he stepped inside. As he traced his finger up the rows of buttons (consciously resisting the habit of pressing the number for his office floor) a disturbance off to his right caused him to glance up. He saw a woman rushing towards him, waving a hand and calling for him to hold the doors. She wore high heeled boots, tight black trousers and matching jacket. Beneath the jacket a small purple top was working hard to keep her breasts in check as she ran.

Recognising her, Seto quickly pressed the floor button and then pressed it a few more times in the hope of speeding up the closure of the doors. However, the woman got to the lift just as the mechanism was whirring into action. She lithely side stepped through the narrowing gap and then propped herself against the wall, breathing heavily.

'I guess you didn't hear me calling, huh?' she said, face still towards the ground.

The man remained silent and the woman finally looked up at him as the lift began its ascent.

'Kaiba!' she said in surprise. 'Well isn't this…nice.'

Seto Kaiba noted the slight hesitation and sneered. 'Duellists should have registered over three hours ago, Valentine,' he said coldly.

'Not a duellist today, hon,' Mai Valentine said, straightening herself at last after regaining her breath.

'Then spectators and random cheerleaders should have arrived an hour ago.'

Mai narrowed her eyes at the cheerleader comment. 'Worried I'm gonna get in the way of your big entrance?' she asked coldly. 'What's it going to be today? Jet pack? Holographic dancing girls?'

Seto opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of an explosion. The lift lurched wildly, throwing them both to the floor. Seto landed awkwardly, his shoulder slamming against the wall, but he was quickly back on his feet, reaching automatically to his collar and activating the communications device he wore there. 'Hello? Roland, come in.'

Mai got shakily to her feet. 'What's going on?'

Seto ignored her. 'Hello? Hello? Can anyone…' he stopped and looked upwards.

Above them, the lift was making an ominous sound, like metal scraping against metal.

Mai swore softly, instinctively moving closer to him whilst also staring up at the lift ceiling. She blinked as a thin line of dust drifted down onto her upturned face. Seto moved to a corner and gave Mai a quick glance. She took his implied instruction and stood backwards quickly to place herself in the opposite corner. A moment later there was a noise like a metallic whip and a lift cable sliced through the centre of the confined space. Mai screamed and Seto held his arm up defensively as parts of the ceiling panels fell about him.

Then the lift jolted and started to fall, slowly at first but with increasing speed. After what felt like an eternity, but must only have been a second, a high pitched screeching noise filled the air. The lift jolted again as the brake mechanisms kicked in. There was a smell of burning and the lift began to shudder wildly.

Mai could feel the lift slowing, and she took in a gasp of air, realising that she had been unconsciously holding her breath. She looked at Seto, and he quickly glanced at her, the smallest of smiles on his face, as if to tell her they would be alright – and then the lift hit the bottom of the shaft.

OooooO

All Mai could remember about the impact was the sensation of being lifted off her feet and then thrown to the floor with incredible force. The lights had given out completely but she had heard the noise of something shattering and had felt a sharp stinging pain in her shoulder.

Now, as she lay motionless in the darkness, her senses seemed heightened. She could hear electrical sparks and the groan of twisting metal. Closer-by she could hear heavy, ragged breathing.

'Kaiba?' her voice came out in a soft, throaty rasp. 'Kaiba?' she managed again, stronger this time.

'Yeah, I'm here.' Came the reply, as gruff and cold sounding as ever.

'You okay?'

There was a pause and a rustling movement as if Seto was checking for something. 'Never better,' came the caustic reply. He made a grunting noise as he got to his feet and there was a quiet burst of static.

'Hello?' he said. These was another sound of static.

Mai opened her mouth to respond when he swore softly and she realised that he had been speaking into his collar again. Mai scowled at him the darkness. I'm fine, thanks for asking, she thought bitterly. She too began to get to her feet although, in the darkness it was difficult to see what she was doing and the pain in her arm flared up again suddenly causing her to wince and bite her lip in pain.

A soft light illuminated the space as Seto activated his phone. His features were under-lit in blue, the shadows emphasising his frown. His face was marked by a number of small cuts and a larger gash above one eye. He brushed away the blood irritably with his free hand and tapped at the phone with increasing ferocity. He swore.

'Check your phone,' he instructed.

Mai raised an eyebrow, her sense of panic being replaced by anger. 'Oh, talking to me again are we?'

'Check your phone,' Seto said slowly, as if he were speaking to a small, idiotic child. 'Mine has no signal.'

'I don't have a phone.'

There was a silence that was only punctuated by a small shower of sparks above them.

'What?'

'I don't have a phone,' Mai said again, slower this time, as if she were speaking to a small, idiotic child.

'Who the hell doesn't have a phone?!'

'Me. I left it back in my apartment.'

'Why?!'

'Because I'm meeting the people I would usually use it to speak to. Why would I bring it?'

'Because there might be an emergency?'

Mai gave this a moment's thought. 'Well,' she muttered petulantly, 'It's not like your phone is much use, is it?'

In response Seto turned the back of the phone towards her and tapped a button to turn on the torch function. A bright white light shone directly into Mai's face, forcing her to turn away with a grimace. He turned the torch upwards, illuminating the ceiling and then he clamped it between his teeth so that he was able to reach up with both hands and start pulling at some wires that were hanging from the roof.

Mai blinked to remove the ghost image of the torch light from her vision and then backed away to the edge of the space, avoiding the dust and falling debris that Seto was dislodging. She watched him with irritation; he was clearly doing something useful, but he was also clearly not going to deign to explain it to her. She looked around in the dim light and considered what she could do. The last thing she wanted was for him to save them both whilst she stood around uselessly. Her head had started to throb painfully, but the pain in her arm had lessened. It felt almost numb now, which she supposed was good. She looked beyond Seto towards the lift doors that were dimly visible in the gloom. If she could just prize them open, she thought, it might prove a little more actively useful than messing around with wires and whatnot. Perhaps she would be able to slip through and leave him to it? She wondered how long it would take him to even notice.

As she slowly shuffled her way around the space, hugging the wall as she went, she was aware of crunching beneath her and an irritating wet, sticky substance on her hands. When a brighter than usual spark flared briefly into life above her, she saw that she was leaving a dark trail along the wall wherever she had touched it. Weird, she thought. She reached out and felt the doors in front of her, their cool metal a contrast to the jagged wood. As she traced her fingers across the buckled metal she heard Seto give a small grunt of satisfaction which was followed by a low humming noise that grew slowly in strength before a series of electronic pings signalled the arrival of light. A neon tube light that angled down from the ceiling on exposed wires, blinked a few times as if unwilling to illuminate the scene. Finally it came on and stayed on.

Mai, who had both been staring, transfixed at the light above them swapped a brief glance with Seto who was twisting two wires together. He glanced at the light and then back at the wires making sure that she recognised his achievement. Then he released the wires and unclenched his jaw to let his phone drop neatly into his hand.

'Lucky I had my phone or I wouldn't have been able to see what I was doing,' he said pointedly.

'Lucky you were able to point that out or I mightn't have realised what an arrogant jerk you can be,' Mai replied.

With a small flourish that made Mai want to slap him, Seto put the phone is his pocket. He took a moment to look around, acting for all the world as if she had suddenly ceased to exist. Seeming to spot what he wanted, he bent to pick up a length of twisted metal that had once been a part of the ceiling. He knelt down, close to the doors and prised away a small metal panel from beneath the lift's number display. It revealed a new mass of wires that Seto immediately began to investigate, all consideration of Mai long forgotten.

Mai narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, contemplating whether she was more annoyed by his arrogance than she was impressed by his handiwork. His logical, clear-headed approach should have been reassuring and a part of her did feel relief that he seemed to be so in control, but she wasn't used to being so completely and literally overlooked, and his strength just served to make her feel weak and useless. She looked from him to the doors. In the light she could see just how badly buckled they were. In fact they were buckled so badly that she could actually see between them, onto a black expanse of wall. So much for that idea, she thought.

She looked around the small space. For a lift it was relatively large, she estimated about seven foot by six. The floor was littered with debris. The dark walnut panels that had been an indication of the luxury of the building they were in, were all either splintered or completely shattered. The mirror that had hung at the rear of the lift had been smashed, some of it still hung precariously in its frame but most of it was littering the floor, explaining the crunching under her feet.

She wanted to lean up against the wall but she feared it would collapse. She considered sitting on the floor but that was covered in shards of glass. She stood for a long moment, completely at a loss of what to do. She looked again at Seto.

'So, what do you think happened?' she asked hoping some conversation would lighten the mood.

'Shh,' he said.

Mai raised an eyebrow. Had he actually just shushed her?!

'Kaiba –' she started.

'Valentine. I'm concentrating,' he didn't look up but waved a hand at her dismissively. 'Be quiet.'

Mai's face went red. 'Jerk,' she muttered darkly. She walked the few paces to the opposite side of the space. It wasn't much but at least it was a little bit further away from him. As she fumed she glanced at her own reflection in the remains of the shattered mirror. She saw a stain on the arm of her jacket, where the dull throbbing pain persisted. She looked down at it.

'Kaiba?' she almost whispered.

'Honestly, what part of-'

'Kaiba,' Mai persisted, and something in her voice made Seto turn.

The first thing he noticed was her expression. Her face was pale and her usually confident expression had been tinged with fear. She looked down again at her arm and Seto followed her gaze. His eyes widened. Blood was welling through a large tear in her jacket. It ran down her arm and was dripping off the fingertips of her limp hand.

'I think I have a problem…' she managed to murmur before consciousness slipped away from her and she was falling to the ground.