Chapter 99: The Fury of a Doting Brother
"Give Mokuba back!" After successfully knocking down two of the men in black, Joey and Tristan, having attacked while at a full sprint, lost their balance and tumbled to the ground. However, with years of experience in both fighting and taking a beating, Joey was the first to scramble up. He pounced on one of the men in black who was trying to get up, using his own body weight to pin him firmly to the ground.
"You annoying brats!" Seeing his partner pinned down, the other man in black tried to get up and help. But he had barely sat up when Tristan shoved him back to the ground. The two began to grapple. "Don't even think about interfering with Joey!"
The four of them became a tangled mess. Although the two men in black were well-trained, high-level security guards, Joey and Tristan were exceptionally gifted. It looked as if they were locked in a stalemate.
"As long as I'm here, you won't take Mokuba—urghhh—" Joey, having successfully subdued the man in black, spoke from his dominant position, putting force into his hands to completely restrain him. But he was only halfway through his sentence when he suddenly felt a strong, paralyzing sensation in his abdomen. In an instant, all the strength was drained from his body; he even felt like his tongue had gone numb.
Shoving Joey's limp body aside, the man in black he had pinned sat up, a taser in his hand. He glanced at Joey and snorted coldly. "Reckless brat, just charging forward like a gorilla. This isn't the mafia era from decades ago, where you could claim a street just by showing some grit."
"Joey!" Tristan noticed what had happened, seeing Joey collapse as if he'd fallen asleep. His attention wavered for a moment. The man in black he was holding down saw his chance and, following his partner's example, immediately pulled a taser from his waist. With a crackle of electricity, he pressed it against Tristan's chest.
By the time Tristan noticed the taser, it was too late. He couldn't stop himself from being electrocuted; all he could do was clamp his hands firmly onto the man in black's head.
*BZZZZT~*
The man in black who had dealt with Joey looked at his partner, who had also been stunned, with a bit of a headache. Although he had been in physical contact with Joey when he used the taser, their work uniforms were specially made insulated suits. His partner, however, had been in direct skin-to-skin contact, with no barrier in between. So while he had taken down Tristan, he himself was now twitching uncontrollably.
"Now this is a bit of a headache. I have to carry two people back at once." Though his words sounded troubled, the man in black looked down at Joey by his feet, kicked him disdainfully, and stepped over his body to walk toward the unconscious Mokuba. He had seen the file; this Joey kid was just a Third-rate Duelist who had only gotten on the ship by riding the coattails of one of Maximillion Pegasus's specially invited guests. He wasn't worth mentioning.
To his surprise, however, just as he stepped over Joey's body, his ankle was grabbed.
He looked down again. Joey's face was contorted in pain as he struggled to pull out a trembling hand and grab the man in black's leg. "I told you... don't... don't even think about taking Mokuba!"
"You...!" The man in black was stunned. The tasers they were equipped with were quite powerful; while not lethal, even a bodybuilding champion would be down for the count after a one-second shock. To ensure the brat was subdued, he had zapped him for a good four or five seconds. How could this guy still be moving?!
*CRACKLE~* Unfortunately for Joey, the taser in the man's hand had plenty of charge. Seeing that Joey still had the strength to struggle, he simply pressed the device against Joey's body again. This final shock was the last straw. Joey convulsed, his hand falling away limply. Through his blurred vision, all he could see was the man in black picking up the fallen Mokuba.
Though they looked like gangsters who regularly carried out hits, this was actually the first time these two men in black had ever done a kidnapping. After all, their company, Industrial Illusions, was a legitimate, publicly listed corporation. They had knocked Mokuba out when they grabbed him, but that was just something they had learned from movies and TV. Mokuba woke up halfway through and started screaming for help.
That was what led to Joey and Tristan giving chase. Realizing they couldn't let the kid keep yelling, one of the men in black had taken out a backup bottle of ether and poured it on a cloth. While it wasn't as magical as the "one whiff and you're out" trope from urban legends, ether could still be used as a deep anesthetic. After a brief struggle, Mokuba fell unconscious.
Joey and Tristan were incapacitated, and Yugi and Téa were still on their way. It seemed the men in black were about to get away with Mokuba. But just then, as the man holding Mokuba stood up straight, he saw an aluminum briefcase hurtling toward his face. "Wha—!!"
The sturdy metal corner was about to smash into his face. The man in black panicked. This was no joke; a blow like that could be fatal. Forgetting about Mokuba in his arms, he quickly let go and leaned back as far as he could to evade the incoming briefcase.
The briefcase whistled past his face. The man in black was about to stand up when a hand suddenly appeared on his face. In his awkward, back-bent position, he was completely powerless. He felt the hand on his face exert force, viciously slamming his head into the hard dirt ground.
*THUD!*
The man in black fell flat on his back. He tried to struggle and fight back, but before he could do anything, the hand gripping his head lifted it up and smashed it into the ground a second time.
*THUD!*
After having his head slammed into the ground twice in a row, the man in black was completely dazed. The large hand covering his face prevented him from even seeing his attacker. He could only hear a magnetic, masculine voice filled with rage: "I've found you, you scum who kidnapped Mokuba!"
"Not only did you attack me and scheme against KaibaCorp, but you also kidnapped my little brother. You people are unforgivable!"
The man in black now knew exactly who his attacker was. Mokuba Kaiba was his little brother, and he had been attacked by men from Industrial Illusions. There was no need to think; the person attacking him was the supposedly dead Seto Kaiba!
*Damn it, didn't those two guys in charge of kidnapping Seto Kaiba say he'd already jumped off a cliff and died?!*
That was the man in black's final thought. Accompanied by the crackling sound of electricity, a numbing sensation spread through his entire body, and he lost consciousness.
(end of chapter)