FicWad

Mai looked up as a sudden sound of static filled the room. Crossing the short distance towards Kaiba she knelt down beside him eagerly trying to see what was going on.

It had been about fifteen minutes since Seto had begun work on the intercom system and in that time they had both continued to sulk in silence although neither would have admitted to such a thing. Now though the hope of finding a way out of the situation, away from each other, brought them to both be huddled together in the corner of the lift staring hopefully at Kaiba's hand held computer which was making the scratchy sound of static.
Seto lifted the small microphone that had made up part of the lift's original system. He tapped a button on his computer and leaned forwards.

'Hello?' he tapped a button on the computer again, switching the feed from transmit to receive... nothing.

'Hello?' he repeated, louder this time. 'Can you hear me? This is Seto Kaiba. Come in.'

Click the button... nothing.

'Damn,' Seto said softly.

'Try again,' Mai urged looking at him encouragingly, all thought of animosity briefly pushed to one side.

'Hello? Can you hear me? This is Seto Kaiba. I need assistance. Come in please.'

Click the button...

Seto's thin fingers were poised once more to switch back to transmit when Mai stopped him.

'Wait,' she said softly. 'Listen'

They both leaned in closer and Seto suddenly heard what Mai had - a quiet tinny voice.

'It must be the frequency,' Seto said quickly adjusting something on the display. He pushed another button.

'- read me? Mr Kaiba? Can you -'

Seto grinned at Mai who smiled warmly in return.

'Yes, yes I can hear you. Who is this?'

'Murdoch sir, from the security team. We sure are glad to have located you sir we've been -'

'Never mind that, tell me what's going on up there. Was there some sort of lift malfunction?'

'Err no sir. It's all a bit chaotic at the moment sir, but it seems like there has been some sort of explosion.'

'I could tell that' Seto snapped, 'what caused it?'

'Err. We're not certain at the moment sir, but early indicators imply that it could have been a bomb sir.' Seto and Mai exchanged looks. 'On the upper duelling level,' Murdoch continued, 'It was placed in the lift foyer. I can tell you, the place is quite a mess sir.'

There was a long silence.

'Err, sir?' Murdoch's questioning voice broke the silence.

'Yes I'm still here,' Seto answered the unasked question. 'Tell me Murdoch, are there any casualties?' His voice suddenly seemed tight and his hands, still gripping the microphone and his computer, showed white knuckles.

'Err, only reports are of minor injuries sir. Not everyone had been accounted for yet though. The emergency services are on the scene.'

'What about Mokuba?' Mai looked at Seto, startled by the sudden emotion in his voice.

'Oh err, Mokuba Kaiba is fine sir. He's helping evacuate the building. He's been pretty keen to find you sir.'

Kaiba's shoulders visibly slumped in relief and he lowered his head. Mai reached over and took the microphone from the now limp hand.

'Murdoch?' she said softly.

'Err yes, umm, who's this?' He seemed surprised by the sudden change of voice.

'Murdoch, this is Mai Valentine. I'm stuck in this lift too and I need you to do something for me.'

'Yes?'

'I came here to see my friend, Yugi Moto, duel. He would have been with a group of people. A tall, dark haired guy, a guy with a dice in his ear, a blond guy and two girls,' she paused almost scared to ask the question, 'do you know if they're okay?'

'Err well,' the reply came after a moment's pause, 'I'm not sure about everyone you're asking about but Mr Moto wasn't near the blast at the time. He's been helping Mokuba and there were a whole bunch of them who seemed to know each other. I'm sorry I can't be more specific Miss Valentine.'

Mai smiled, 'That's fine Murdoch, thank you.' She said sweetly and handed the microphone back to Kaiba who seemed to have recovered.

'Murdoch?' he said sharply.

'Err yes Mr Kaiba sir?'

'Have you got the video feed from this lift?'

'Err well, I just came in here to check that sir on Mr Kaiba's - err Mokuba's instructions to find you. Then I heard you on the intercom.'

'Turn on the monitors Murdoch.'

There was a brief pause and the noise of scrabbling from the other end of the line. Finally Mordoch's voice came through.
'Oh, there you are! Hi!'

Seto had the impression that Murdoch was waving at them in the monitor and he rolled his eyes.

'Murdoch, listen carefully. The intercom system in this lift is broken and the only way I'm able to contact you is through the use of my computer and I can't risk the batteries running down so this is what we're going to do. You're going to stay there and watch the camera feed, if I need you I'll make it clear and I'll then link up to the intercom again. If you need me just turn the camera feed switch on and off. The red light will act as an indicator that you have some news. Got that?'

'Oh umm yes. On and off - got it.'

'If I don't respond straight away just keep doing it - right?'

'Right.'

'Meanwhile, let Mokuba know that I'm okay and tell Miss Valentine's friends the same about her. Miss Valentine has an injured arm,' he indicated for Mai to show her arm to the monitor which she dutifully did, giving Murdoch a little wave that caused Seto to roll his eyes again, 'it's bandaged up for the time being but the wound needs to be properly looked at. Make sure you have doctors on hand when you get us out.'

'Yes sir.' Murdoch sounded like he was trying to write all this down.

'And one last thing Murdoch...'

'Err, yes sir?'

'Get us the hell out of this lift as soon as possible!'

'Oh! Yes sir!'

Kaiba snapped his computer shut and disconnected it from the wires being careful to keep the necessary wires separate for later use.

A silence fell on the room again as both Kaiba and Mai took in what they had just heard.

'He seemed nice,' Mai said finally.

Seto rolled his eyes again. 'Do you feel the need to flirt with everybody?' he asked caustically.

Mai gave him a sweet, sarcastic smile. 'I've never felt the need to flirt with you,' she said matter-of-factly before twisting cat-like to her feet and walking back to the other side of the room.

Seto shifted round and sat with his back against the wall, his knees drawn up towards his chest. He frowned.

'So, is this a regular occurrence in your life?' Mai asked looking at him curiously.

'What, getting stuck in lifts with someone who can't stop talking?' Kaiba snapped pointedly.

'Nooo,' Mai said choosing to ignore his comment, 'is having someone try to kill you a regular occurrence?'

Seto looked up at her in surprise. 'There's no proof that bomb was meant for me,' he said defensively.

Mai raised her eyebrow at him and Seto held her look for a few moments before shrugging and saying nonchalantly, 'I'd be lying if I said this was the first time.'

'Huh' said Mai, unimpressed.

'No one's ever used a bomb before though,' Seto continued, 'that's a novelty at least.'

Mai looked hard at him. She couldn't tell if he was joking or not. She'd only been teasing him when she'd suggested that the bomb had been an assassination attempt, she hadn't expected this.

'So, err,' Mai struggled to appear as cool as him; act like she hadn't been wrong-footed by the whole conversation. 'Who do you think it was then?' she asked calmly.

Seto's brows furrowed in thought. He'd been wondering that himself.

'Well,' he said finally, 'there are a few possibilities.'

Mai looked across at him incredulously, all pretence at nonchalance gone. 'Are you trying to tell me that someone is trying to kill you and it could be a NUMBER of different people?' she asked, stunned. 'Jeez, Kaiba I mean, I know you're obnoxious and rude and all but seriously - a NUMBER of people?!' She slid down to the floor opposite Kaiba and shook her head in wonder.

Seto was confused. By her tone he had assumed that she had reached the same conclusion that he had - a bomb, that had been rigged up by the exit of a lift he was travelling in and primed to go off at almost the exact time that he would have stepped from it, at an event that it had been widely publicised that he would attend... He could be wrong of course but it seemed like a bit of a coincidence. He looked across at Mai and felt uncomfortable under her shocked gaze.

'Well you have to understand,' he started, slightly irritated at the apologetic tone in his own voice, 'my adoptive father used to have contracts with all sorts of clients. He used to deal in weapons so you can imagine the pleasant clientele he was dealing with. When I took over Kaiba Corp I took it in a different direction and cut off our dealings with the less savoury side of the business and that didn't go down well with some people.' He shrugged again.

Mai continued to stare at him as if she didn't understand what she was seeing or hearing. 'So,' she said finally, 'it's not all fun and games being the richest kind in town, huh?'

Kaiba gave her a long look. 'No,' he said shortly.

They lapsed back into silence.