Ally of Justice Kaibaman 2: Red vs Ra

Chapter 9

Tristan had an unusual start to the morning too. He stirred as the morning light peeked through the curtains and onto his eyelids; he buried his face into the crook of his elbow and tried to fall back asleep when the hair of the back of his neck stood on end. He slid his hand under his pillow and clasped the butt on his handgun, whipping it out and pointing it at Duke.

"YIKES!" the dice duellist shrieked. "The hell do you think you're doing, Tristan?"

"You scared the shit out of me!" he sighed and relaxed, gently laying the weapon on the floor. "I think I need a change of underwear now."

"You need a change of underwear!?" Duke let out a breath.

"What were you doing just standing there anyway?"

"I...urm..." He scratched the back of his head. What had he wanted? "I...can't remember; but do you have an internet connection here?"

"Yeah, the router is in the spare room; the codes are on the side of it." Tristan gestured to the room and swung his legs off the couch. "Breakfast?"

"Sure," Duke agreed as he made his way to the room. "Coffee too, please."

Ten minutes later, Tristan placed a plate of bacon, eggs and toast next to Duke's laptop. "All set up?"

"Yup, thanks..." He took a sip of his coffee and concentrated on the screen.

Tristan took a bite of his own toast. "New game?"

"No, I remember going to the museum so I thought I could retrace my steps by looking at some of the exhibits online."

The brunette rounded the counter to look. "Is it working?"

"Not yet – no, wait..." Duke paused and stared a picture of a row of sceptres.

"That one on the end looks like the Winged Dragon of Ra," Tristan noted and Duke nodded, clicking the interactive image for more information.

"The Apostle of Ra."

"What's an Apostle?"

Duke leaned back on the stool. "A disciple. It says here the sceptre belonged to him over two centuries ago, around the time of the nameless Pharaoh."

"Atem? Hey, maybe Yugi knows something about it?"

Duke looked to the taller brunette. "Either him or Gramps; he might know who found the sceptre in the first place."

Tristan grinned. "It's my day off – let's go see them!"

-Spinning Mokuba Head Scene Change!-

Mokuba yawned and watched the numbers above the elevator door. It had been a long morning of business meetings with various investors and he'd missed Seto and Joey in action because of it! He pouted and watched the doors open, planning to get every little detail from the super hero duo; he passed Laura's desk and stopped, noticing a blonde girl sat there. Their eyes met and she smiled.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Kaiba." She beamed and returned to her work.

The young CEO felt his face redden. "H-Hi..." He continued to the office, his eyes never leaving her, and walked into the door. Before the girl could look up, he had whipped it open and slipped inside.

"Hey squirt!" Joey greeted with a grin as the young Kaiba eased the door closed.

"What was that bang?" Seto asked without looking up from the computer.

"N-Nothing..." Mokuba shook his head, willing the red to fade from his cheeks. "Who's that outside?"

"That's Cassie, the girl from the other day – I told you, right?"

"The beautician!?" Wide eyes looked back to the door. "What is she doing here?"

"Long story," Seto muttered. "But with Joey working downstairs a lot, she'll be Laura's assistant."

"What!?"

Seto finally looked up from the computer. "Is that a problem?"

"N-no, but is she even qualified? Has she done this kind of work before?"

One blonde and one brown eyebrow rose. "It was my idea," Joey admitted. "Plus with Hirutani still wandering around somewhere, I think she'll be safe here." He tilted his head to the side. "Are you feeling ok, Moke?

"Yeah, of course – why wouldn't I be?"

The blonde's lips pulled into a thin smile and a wicked sparkle flickered in his eyes. He stood, slowly approached the young CEO and threw an arm over his shoulders. "Pretty, isn't she?"

Pale cheeks reddened again. "I guess so, didn't notice..."

The blonde was almost nose to nose with him. "Your cheeks say differently."

"Shut up!" Mokuba lightly shoved him away. "I just met her – we barely said two words to each other!"

"She's an employee, Joey," Seto reminded him. "As her boss, Mokuba couldn't legally date her anyway."

Joey looked to the brunette and scowled. "Technically, I was working for you before we started dating."

The rhythm of the typing seemed to skip a beat for a split second. "That was a completely different circumstance."

Joey grinned at his little victory and patted Mokuba on the back. "Don't worry too much about it, ok?"

Mokuba nodded. "Is Duke alright?"

"I haven't called Tristan yet...I probably should..." He made long strides to the desk and began dialling.

"You said it yourself, it doesn't seem right," Seto pointed out.

Joey nodded, resting the receiver between his ear and shoulder. "But you also made the point about it not being as strong; there could be some merit to that – oh, hey Tristan, it's Joey!"

-Spinning Mokuba Head Scene Change!-

"I'm afraid that particular item is new to me," Solomon said while rubbing his chin. "What's so important about it?"

Duke sighed. "I was just telling Yugi that my little trip ended a bit strange; while trying to retrace my steps I came across this...it...feels familiar somehow."

"I see. I'm sorry I can't be more help."

"I could contact Ishizu for you," Yugi suggested. "She probably knows the Curator."

Duke nodded. "I think that might help. Thanks." He looked to Tristan as a tune played. "Is that yours?"

"Yeah." Tristan pulled his cell out. "Hello?"

"Oh, hey Tristan, it's Joey!"

"Hey man, what's up?"

"Just checking in. How's Duke doing?"

The brunette grinned at the dice duellist. "Good, I think we found something and was just asking Gramps about it – he's stumped so Yug's gonna call Ishizu."

"Why her? Is it something from the museum?"

"Yeah, The Apostle of Ra; it's some kind of staff thing."

"The Apostle of Ra, huh? Hey, Seto, could you-" He heard the blonde chuckle. "Beat me to it. He's looking it up. Hey, is that the Winged Dragon of Ra?"

"Looks like it," Tristan agreed, remembering the picture.

"Hey, Seto...you ok? Seto!" Tristan tensed and Duke edged nearer to hear what was going on.

"I'm ok..." they heard the CEO say.

"Geez, don't scare me like that. I gotta go Tris', keep me updated."

"Will do." The brunette ended the call and stared at his cell. "Well, that was weird."

I cannot thank you guys enough for the support, and I apologise again for failing to finish this T.T

Well, for those interested, the Manga is currently available on smack jeeves and comic fury; it's called To Stop and Empire and I just recently published the mini novel/e-book on lulu dot com under the same title, it covers the prologue of the Manga and carries on from there.

The Manga is very rushed; my artist/business partner/best friend had to redo them because the originals were misplaced - but I've seen some of the pages for the next chapter and it looks so much better, much more like his work :)

Please do leave comments and reviews; I always appreciate them.