Chaos Effect

Seto didn't even look at his deck as he locked it away in his safe. A part of him was demanding that he go over it and figure out what card he was going to insert into it to bring it back up to legal status. It was wrong to leave it with 39 cards. He had plenty of monsters that could go into the final slot. Spells and traps too, if he wanted to try something different. Work on the ratio, tinker with the balance. While there was something to be said for a 20/20 split on Monsters vs Spells and Traps sometimes decks worked better being a bit heavier on one or the others. More monsters if the deck had a lot of summoning. More spells if it revolved around a few monsters that needed to be protected. More traps if you wanted to burn and hurt your opponent.

He had plenty of cards that would do that. Monsters that could trip up a foe. Spells that would power up his attacks. Traps that would wipe out all his opponent had on the field.

But none of that mattered because his mind went back to one card that belonged in his deck. One single card.

The Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

The safe door shut and Seto reached for the dial to turn it only to pause. 'Does it matter? Ishizu was able to get to Obelisk the Tormentor with ease, even with this safe locked.' But even as he thought that his mind went to another cold hard fact: Ishizu wouldn't break in again.

He had nothing she wanted.

"I've been looking into it, Seto!" Mokuba said, bursting into his office, papers grasped in his hands. "I don't think Ishizu properly entered the Battle City Tournament! I'm looking over the documents that she had to sign in order to be a part of the Tournament and I think she made an error on Form 11-B. We could call Martin and have her disqualified! That would mean that she would have to-"

"Let it go, Mokuba," Seto said, voice firm and quiet.

"But Seto, if you look at-"

"It doesn't matter," Seto growled. But the moment he did so he looked at his little brother and forced himself to take a breath, to calm himself. The last thing he wanted to do was lash out at him. "It doesn't matter, Mokuba. She still has Obelisk the Tormentor. She was right about that… she only let me borrow the card, not keep it."

"She gave it to you in your office though, right?" Mokuba said. "If we pull up the camera footage we can see if she actually made clear that you were only getting it temporarily! If she didn't make that clear than the Japanese Possession Law-"

Seto just held up his hand. "Mokuba… just stop."

"But she stole your card!" Mokuba declared. "And destroyed the Blue-Eyes White Dragon! She has to pay for that Seto!"

In the past he would have agreed with his brother. Told him that he was right and that Ishizu needed to suffer for what she had done. But… it felt as if all the fight had been torn out of his body the same way that the Blue-Eyes White Dragon had been torn apart. That there was nothing left. No drive. No desire for revenge or to even the score.

Nothing.

"Seto?"

"I'm… tired, Mokuba," he said. "I'm very tired."

"Well… go to sleep then!" Mokuba declared. He pointed to his sleeping quarters, which were just to the right of his office. "You can have a nap and I will look over these forms!"

Seto was suddenly struck with the sensation that him and his brother had swapped places. That Mokuba was the one being told to keep working, to do this lesson or that for their stepfather, and Seto was the one forced to watch.

He hated it.

"Mokuba… I think we need to take a step back."

"What do you mean?"

Before Seto could answer though the blimp began to shake.

"Seto?"

"Mokuba, stay put," Seto said, moving towards his desk only to nearly be sent flying when the blimp violently trembled. His brother cried out in horror but Seto caught himself before he fell, looking to Mokuba who had braced himself in the doorway. He had been planning to check the KaibaCorp Blimps' systems, to see just what was causing the ship to behave as it was, but after that last jolt he knew he didn't have time to dig through the systems. So instead he touched the communicator built into the collar of his coat. "What is happening?"

"Sir!" Captain Simmons called out, his voice strained. "We've lost control of the blimp!"

"What?" Seto asked. "What do you mean you've lost control?!?"

"Something has taken over all our systems. We descending… I'm trying to get back in but nothing is responding! Something has taken control though… they are piloting us!"

"Call Edwin!" Mokuba cried out. "His Key-"

"This isn't the time for fairytales, Mokuba!" Seto snapped as he once more made his way to his desk. He sat down in his chair and began to type away. "Let's see what's gotten into the systems…" Already his mind was going to worst case scenarios, however. 'If they are moving to crash us then we'll need to consider where. So long as it is over the ocean we should be fine… the KaibaCorp Blimp, unless it lost every safety feature, can't descend rapidly so it would be a rough but controlled crash. The parachutes would still be available and the doors have manual overrides not connected to any system that would allow us to open them and jump out, if need be.'

He narrowed his eyes as he continued to type, pulling up log in screens and, when those didn't work (he hadn't been surprised that they wouldn't) he began to seek out back doors.

But as his commands failed and he slowly found all his back ups and the backups for the backups being deleted… Seto felt what was becoming a familiar emotion well up inside of his once more.

Fear.

~MC~MC~MC~

"What's going on?" Yugi called out as the empty plates and bowls that had once been filled with our breakfast went crashing to the ground. Pretty much everyone who had been in the tournament, save for the Kaiba Brothers and the Ishtars, had been sharing a meal together, with Yugi and I getting some playful ribbing over being one half of the final four, when the blimp had begun to tremble and shake before we felt it change directions.

The blimp suddenly tilted forward and Serenity let out a cry, grabbing onto her brother's arm. "Joey!"

"Its okay, sis! Probably nothing to worry about!" He said and for once his forced bravado was welcomed. Panic would only make things worse.

"Edwin," Mai whispered, "is this…?"

"Yeah," I muttered. "I don't remember if it was this extreme but… yeah…"

"What is going on?" Solomon asked, glancing at me. "What do you know?" His tone made it clear that he wouldn't broker any lies.

"…okay then," I said, grabbing the table to steady myself when the blimp suddenly lurched left, nearly sending us all sliding across the floor. It wasn't 'The Titanic is Sinking!' bad but rather 'The Enterprise has been hit, shake the camera while everyone throws themselves in one direction' bad. "So this is all that 'future knowledge' stuff that I try to be REAL careful with since my very existence has fucked up the timeline." I swept my eyes over the group, daring ANY of them to whine that I should have warned them ahead of time about this. "I'm going to do all I can to stop this but most likely some of us at minimum are going to end back in…"

I paused.

"Edwin," Yuri said gently, looking down.

My hands were shaking.

"Ed?" Joey said, startled to see me reacting like that. "What is it?"

"The Virtual World," I got out, the absolute TERROR of what was about to happen filling me again.

'Trapped. Trapped and it never ends. No sleep. No eating. Just existing. Forever and ever. You can't escape. You are all alone with smiling dolls that chirp the same five sentences. Trapped. Trapped. Trapped. Tr-'

Mai grabbed my face and forced me to look at her.

"Edwin… get us out of here now," she said firmly. "Use the Key, make a door, get us all out."

It was… so tempting. So fucking tempting. Just tell the filler arc to go fuck itself and get the hell out of there. Grab Seto and Mokuba and drag them kicking and screaming through a portal, Seto the entire time coming up with excuses to explain how what I was doing wasn't 'magic'. Staff too. Leave him just an empty blimp.

Except… it wouldn't be an empty blimp.

There would be two on board that would be impossible to ferret out.

Marik and Ishizu.

"No…" I said, wincing at how shuddery my voice was. "No… we have to stay." I swallowed a thick wad of phlegm that had suddenly become caught in my throat. "The Virtual World is being controlled by Noah Kaiba and the Big Five."

"The Big Five?" Pegasus asked, wanting to make sure he'd heard right. "Are you sure?"

"Very sure."

"Whose Noah Kaiba?" Tristan asked.

Once more it was Pegasus who spoke. "Edwin… that is impossible. Noah Kaiba is dead."

"Who is Noah Kaiba?" Yugi pressed.

"Gozaburo Kaiba's son," Pegasus stated. "But he is dead."

"Honestly… it might be better if he was, rather than what Gozaburo has done to him," I muttered. "He's trapped in the Virtual World. He's seeking out a body."

"So… us," Koyo said dryly. When the others looked at him he shrugged. "Seems pretty obvious, honestly."

"For us, sadly," Yuri muttered. "And I'm guessing the Big Five want the same thing?"

"They cheat death," Brom said and his eyes went utterly black, shadows crossing his face. "We stay."

"Like I said, we have to," I stated.

"No, we don't," Mai said firmly. "We get out of here… Brom can stick around and handle this but we need to leave."

But I shook my head. "Mai… there are weapons."

"Weapons?"

"The Legacy of KaibaCorp," I replied. "Gozaburo's secret toys. Weapons of mass destruction. They are on the ship we are headed for. Do you want to leave them in Noah's hands? How do you think a boy who has been trapped in a Virtual Hell for thousands of years will react if his targets disappear? He'll target Domino or some other city and begin smiting them like a vengeful god-"

Mai's eyes flashed and Selene took control, sharing a look with Brom.

"Then we will stay my love," she purred, grabbing me by the back of the head and pulling me into a searing kiss before pushing me back just as quickly. "And he will learn to fear the gods he mocks. And should he harm you I will rain death upon him."

"Well… that is something," I muttered before looking to the others, Selene leaving so that Mai could only blink before pouting when she realized she'd missed out on another kiss. "So I'm staying. I need to try and lock Noah out of the weapons. And… lock everyone else out."

"…Marik!" Yugi exclaimed.

"And Ishizu," Tea added. "There is no way that witch doesn't see this as an opportunity. Probably to cleanse the earth so that only Egypt remains."

"That does sound like her MO," Tristan admitted.

"Then we'll stay too," Yugi declared. "Joey and I have experience in the Virtual World."

Brom though leaned forward. "Edwin? How exactly does Noah and the Big Five plan to steal the bodies of others?"

"You want the complicated details thought out answer or the bullshit real one?"

"…both."

"Complicated is that they engage in battles involving our minds and theirs so that they can overwhelm our brain patterns and then copy their patterns onto it while a copy is left in the virtual world to suffer like they did."

"And the bullshit one?"

"Play a children's card game and winner gets body."

Brom frowned. "That… is not how the human soul works."

I gave a helpless shrug.

"So dem creeps think they can duel us and then take our bodies, huh?" Joey said. "Well, then we'll just have ta take them down."

"Depending on how much prep time they've had…" Pegasus said, "that might be very easy or very hard. The Big Five put a lot of stock in Duel Monsters… part of the agreement for me taking over KaibaCorp was that I had to be the Top Ranked Duelist in the world." He looked at Yugi. "While I always planned to seek out you and your puzzle the other reason you were targeted was because you managed to defeat Kaiba-Boy." He returned his gaze to the rest of us. "But they were never much of duelists themselves. That's why none of them attempted to simply do the deed themselves."

"But now they've had possibly thousands of years to practice," I warned the others. "From what I remember some were decent duelists while others… sucked."

"Oh?" Renard asked.

"One gave Yugi trouble because he didn't understand the rules of Deck Masters. Another did well against Tea… but it was a Tea who never went to Earth-2."

"So basically he was around Joey's skill level BEFORE Duelist Kingdom," Tea replied dryly.

"Hey, I wasn't that bad!" Joey complained but it was clear from his own features that he knew that was a lie.

"Others," I said, wishing we could remain teasing and playful and not serious, "were able to handle three duelists at once, even if one of them had never dueled before. And one was able to go blow for blow with Kaiba." I paused. "And Noah won't play fair either."

"What will he do?" Duke asked.

"Use hostages. Human shields. He makes Seto's little 'Attack me and I'll fall to my death' look like the most honorable move a Duelist can do."

Yugi's mouth was pressed into a firm line at that. "Then we have to stop them. Even removing all that if they've managed to take control of the KaibaCorp blimp… they can keep coming at us. Noah might be willing to take over a hospital and use the patients as hostages. Or attack people's bank accounts. Maybe even take out an airplane or two! He was able to hijack this blimp!" He narrowed his eyes, growing far more determined. "We have to stop him. Right here! Before he hurts anyone else."

I looked across the table. "Anyone want out? Say the word."

Rex, surprisingly, was the first to speak up. "From the sounds of it that little brat would make life unsafe for all of us! No way am I going to go off and wait for him to find me. Survival of the fittest!"

The others also chimed in with agreements.

"…okay then," I said slowly. "We meet this head on."

~MC~MC~MC~

Marik frowned as he felt the blimp descending.

But it was more than that… it was the fact that he could taste in the air raw fear and panic. Oh, there was determination from the Pharaoh's little friends, he would have been shocked if there wasn't, but the KaibaCorp Blimp Staff were scared and trying to figure out what to do. Even without knowing exactly what had happened Marik could sense that something important was occurring.

'And that… will give me an opportunity,' he thought to himself with a dark smirk. 'Odion is the key… if he awakens then the ritual tattoo he gave himself, the one that bound my emotions and prevented me from embracing my hatred and anger, will activate once more!"

It was something he couldn't allow.

It felt like Marik was truly seeing the world for the first time. Everything before Odion had been struck down by Ishizu had been… muted. Food tasted sweeter and spicier now. Colors were more vibrant. He was a blind man who could see, a deaf man who could hear songs once again. The tearing away of the veil had been utterly painful but he had come out of it with a freedom he'd never known… and he would NOT give it up again.

'It is a pity that Odion will need to die,' Marik thought to himself. 'He held me back but he didn't realize what he was doing…' At first he had been angry at his brother, believing that Odion had done it on purpose. All his little comments and complaints about what they had done had come flooding back to Marik and he had been convinced that Odion had been hiding the ritual from him in order to manipulate him; he had always been weak, falling for the lies of his father and remaining on the path of the tombkeepers.

But seeing that Ishizu had also been affected by Odion had made Marik realize that no… it had been a mistake. Something done out of caring for him. So he could forgive his brother for his actions…

…but Odion would still need to die. Because Marik would never allow a risk to his freedom hang over his head.

'You stood against me, Odion… but you also stood against Ishizu. You were weak, brother… weak and pathetic and you will be punished for your crimes against me… but I will also show you mercy for you did have enough strength to see her as a threat. Your death will be quick and painless for that.' His smile twisted into something far larger and cruel. 'Unlike YOURS dear sister. You have become far more ruthless but you still cling to your precious Pharaoh. I will enjoy hearing your wails as I take him from you.' He paused, tapping his fingers lightly against the Millennium Rod. 'Hmmm… perhaps that is what I will do, sweet sister. You long for the old ways? And the Pharaoh is a dead man who doesn't realize his time has already come. So I will correct that error.'

At once he saw it in his head.

Ishizu struggled against the chains that held her to the wall, tugging on the manacles before looking back to him. "Marik! You must release me! It is not too late!"

"I think not, dear sister!" Marik said before looking down at the body of the Pharaoh. He had been stripped bare, just as Marik had been for the ritual that had maimed his flesh all in the name of 'aiding' the king. "It is important to you witness this!" Marik gestured towards the tools that were laid out beside him. The ceremonial knives. The rubies and emeralds and sapphires. The clay jars topped with the heads of animals. The long rod with a small hook at the end.

It was this last one that Marik picked up, looking it over with a smile before he suddenly grabbed the Pharaoh by the forehead, twisting his head so that Ishizu could see the blood that crusted the Pharaoh's mouth from the messy business of hacking out his tongue as well as the scooped out eye sockets that were awaiting the gems that would replace them.

"Now then… I think it is time to remove that needless brain." He paused. "But do not worry, my sister…" He narrowed his eyes. "A Pharaoh MUST have his servants in the afterlife… so you are next."

Ishizu screamed in terror.

Marik cackled.

'Yes… yes this will be glorious! A fitting end for them both!' The Shadow Realm magic crackled around him as he felt the power flowing through him, begging to be used.

And soon… it would be.

~MC~MC~MC~

"I can't stop it!" Mokuba cried out, hands pressed against the control panel Seto had asked him to command. Others might have found it odd to have a child take over the running of the Duel Blimp but I knew that Seto wasn't a one-off when it came to the brilliance of the Kaiba Family.

'And despite what Ishizu says,' I thought as Mokuba struggled to find some way to regain control of the blimp, 'it is the Kaiba Family. That is the name Seto and Mokuba have claimed for themselves and it will be the name that I will continue to refer to them as.' My mind flashed back to Ishizu tearing up the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. 'Ishizu… I will save you from your madness… but that doesn't mean I will forget what you did… or the legacy of your family.'

 I placed my hand on my chest, remembering the sensation of the spirits of Kul Elna briefly taking over my body and giving me the power to drive her back. They had thanked me… a multitude of souls had thanked me for finally allowing them to rest but had begged me to do the same for their mothers. Their fathers. Their brothers and sisters.

Their children.

They had sacrificed children.

And now their souls were tormented every time an item was used.

'I'll save each and every one of you.'

"You can't beat them," I said, placing a hand on Mokuba's shoulder. "But there are other options than fighting."

"We headin' towards that pile of junk?" Joey asked, pointing out the window to the island in the distance.

"That's no junk," I said, "it's a space station."

Everyone turned to stare at me.

"What? Star Wars? A New Hope?"

More blank stares.

"This universe sucks and now I want to go back to Earth-2. I bet they get my references."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Let the hate flow through you!" Aiden declared.

"Uh… okay?" Earth-2 Aria said with a confused shrug.

The Angel of Death sighed. "Sometimes I really don't like this universe."

~MC~MC~MC~

"That is no 'pile of junk', Wheeler," Seto said. "That is where the Kaiba Corporation started!"

"Where is started?" Yugi asked, surprised.

"Its where our stepfather, Gozaburo Kaiba, first began work on the weapons of destruction that helped him build his empire. When I took over I oversaw its full destruction and turned the remains into a dueling arena for the end of the tournament."

'People forget that for how cruel Seto can be… he has his limits,' I thought before glancing at Brom and Mai. "Either of you feeling anything?"

Brom stared straight ahead. "There is death near that island… and a perversion of death. It is… blasphemous."

Selene took control and laughed. "Oh… this will be FUN!" I glanced at her but she wiggled her finger. "You aren't startled, my love… you expected this to happen." She cuddled up to me, teeth latching onto my earlobe and tugging on it before she whispered, "I might stick around and… play with whatever is waiting."

That… was either going to be very good or very bad.

But before I consider how bad having Selene mess around with the Virtual World could be… the blimp went into a nose dive.

"HOLD ON!" one of the blimp pilots shouted.

I felt my stomach lurch and began to fall forward only for Selene to grab hold of me. The moment she did it was like gravity had switched so it had to obey her and I watched as everyone else was tossed about. I lashed out my hands and grabbed Yuri's hand and the back of Renard 's jacket, the moment I touched them to two stopped their fall and found their feet also clamped firmly to the ground. It was the oddest sensation, to see from my point of view everyone suddenly being yanked forward while I remained still.

"Well done, my love," Selene purred. "Our priests must be protected."

"Normally I'd be annoyed at that…" Yuri said with a groan, "but I'll take it this once."

"Can… can I get in on that priest thing?" Tristan moaned as the blimp leveled out again.

"We have to try the Emergency Control System Zeta!" Mokuba shouted.

"Its no use!" the pilot called back. "I'm completely locked out."

"Let's yell some more for no reason!" I shouted, rolling my eyes.

Seto grit his teeth and stared out at the island before us.

But all our focus switched to the main monitor as it distorted, revealing a shadowy silhouette.

"Greetings duelists," a young voice declared, "there is nothing wrong with your television set." It flicked again… and Noah Kaiba appeared on the screen. "I'm in control now."

"Noah Kaiba…" Pegasus stated.

"Ah… I was wondering if anyone would recognize me," he said with a dark smirk. "Yes… it is I. Noah Kaiba… the true heir to the Kaiba Corporation… and I do believe it is time I corrected a few wrongs! I am calling the shots here and the first thing I will be doing is putting an end to your little card game!"

"And let me guess," Yuri said with a roll of her eyes, "you'll be doing that while having us compete in your OWN little card game?"

I huffed. "Seriously, at least Duke switched it up to dice."

"Uh, please don't bring me up to the kid that can crash us into the ocean," Duke asked me.

"I must admit, it is rather nice to see some unexpected faces. Tea Gardner was going to be a prize but Yuri Gardner as well?" Noah chuckled. "Your father's failure has been a sticking point for me and my associates so we'll look forward to discuss his errors with you."

"Oh, I know all about dad's mistakes," Yuri said dryly. "And believe me… I want to discuss somethings with you and the Big Five as well."

"Know about that as well?" Noah said, sounding not truly surprised by rather bemused. "Well, that ruins some of the dramatics… but it also allows us to get to the main event!"

And that's when, from under the waves of the Pacific, a structure began to rise from the depths.

"Calm yourself, my love," Selene said, trickling her fingers along my side. "You are a god waiting to be born. You fear nothing."

That didn't bring me any comfort.

"What is that thing?" Serenity gasped.

"Looks like some kind of underwater fortress!" Joey cried out.

"I don't like the looks of that," Mokuba said.

"I don't think he cares," Rex muttered.

"Its huge!" Joey called out. "And its still growing!"

"That's what she said," Selene replied. I shot her a startled look and she raised an eyebrow. "I remember the modern day, lover. All of your little Mai's memories-"

"Right, right, you are her and she is kinda you." I shook my head. "Still weird having you quote The Office."

"I preferred Parks and Rec," Brom murmured. "Ron Swanson would have made a fine god."

"We all know that," Selene said with a chuckle.

"He's activated our landing function!" the pilot cried out. "There's nothing I can do!"

'Okay…' I thought nervously as we began to descend, '…here we go.'

~MC~MC~MC~

Ishizu, standing on top of the KaibaCorp Blimp, looked down at the aquatic fortress of Gozaburo Kaiba and shook her head. "I can see it now…" she said as she pressed her hand to the Millennium Necklace, gazing into the past. She saw Gozaburo commissioning the creation of the structure, the nightmare of his body rapidly wasting away as the world moved on without him, leaving him a feeble wreck causing him to build the structure. "He attempted to become like the gods, so fearful was he not of death but being forgotten. This entire structure of wire and cable is designed to try and cheat Anubis of his prize. A blasphemy!"

She focused even as they descended into the darkness, the glow of the Eye of Horus and of her Millennium Item creating a point of light in the black depths of the quiet structure.

"You will attempt to take the Pharaoh's vessel, along with 5 others. While I feel nothing for the children that have corrupted the Pharaoh… to take their bodies is to go against the natural order of things. And to try and steal away the Pharaoh's form in this life?"

Ishizu's eyes flashed.

"You have made me your enemy, Noah Kaiba," she whispered softly. "And for that I will see to it that Anubis has plenty of hearts to weigh before this day is done!"

~MC~MC~MC~

Selene leisurely stretched as she waited for the ramp of the blimp to lower. Honestly it was rather fun to have her full set of memories when simply around the mortals.

She knew that most of them did not fully understand the situation she had created. They saw her and Mai as like the Pharaoh Atem and Yugi Muto. Two distinct personalities living in a single body. But… that wasn't the case at all. Mai was merely a creation of hers to make life easier when living in the modern world. To tap down her natural reactions. After all, Mai would merely curse out a rude drive that splashed mud on her… Selene would smite them and their families. And that would create so much paperwork.

But Selene WAS Mai. She had every memory Mai had. She remembered what she'd had for supper the night before. She remembered dueling Edwin and the searing kiss that had made her toes cruel. She remembered coming up with the perfume trick at Duelist Kingdom. The fear that PaniK had inspired in her. She remembered it all.

Oh, she would have done things differently than Mai, that was true, and it did amuse her to remember her own terror at what she was like with her full sets of memories. Her Mai persona did view them as two separate beings but Selene? The moment all the memories flooded her and she remembered she wasn't merely Mai but Moon, Titan Goddess, she laughed at her foolishness, even as she knew she would be foolish again.

"Now… I should suggest that all of you descend and follow the light," Noah said, every word dripping with arrogant mockery. "Though, I must warn you, if any of you think of doing anything foolish…"

A shot rang out and the teens around her leapt as a bullet struck the ground just at the base of the ramp.

"The automated defenses are quite ready to activate and ensure that this fortress becomes a tomb if you do not."

"It already is a tomb," Brom muttered darkly under his breath. "An ill made one and from which horrible events have occurred." He glanced at Selene. "This place is wrong."

"I know… this is going to be blast!" She flashed a sly grin as she glanced up into the darkness, wondering where Noah was at that moment. 'What camera are you watching us from, little boy? Which device holds your gaze? I can't wait to find out where you are hiding and turn this game on you.'

"What do we do, Seto?" Mokuba asked softly, tugging on his brother's jacket.

"We find whoever is doing this and make them pay for thinking they could interfere with me and my business," Seto said, stepping off the ramp and into the cone of light that the spotlights were creating.

"Why Seto, you almost sound like your old self," Noah taunted. "But what self is that, I wonder. The one that viciously took the Duel Monsters world by storm? The one that was able to steal KaibaCorp from its rightful owner? Or the scared little boy trembling in the dark?" One of the lights suddenly shrank down to half its size and they could all hear in the darkness the automated turrets turning. "I'm thinking the last one might be the correct one!" Noah said with a laugh.

Edwin narrowed his eyes before stepping out onto the floor. "So… you have an issue with Seto. Get in line. And I'm assuming the rest of us aren't just collateral damage? We all have reasons for you to hate us?"

"Not me but my… associates," Noah said. "But you'll be learning that soon enough."

Selene rolled her eyes and confidently made her way down the ramp. "Children using the dark as if it is a toy they can play with in the bathtub. I'll enjoy showing him how wrong he is." People assumed that because she was the Goddess of the Moon that was the start and stop for her domain: the moon. But what they failed to realize was that their sciences were right: everything was connected. She had limited control of the oceans. The night. Darkness. The shadows around her were like beloved nieces and nephews, running to her and asking if she'd brought them a present.

Thus she walked through the darkness without a single concern, following the light along with the rest of the group just behind her, their footfalls far less assured than her own.

"Such bluster from such a little thing," Selene commented.

"He gets it from his father," Edwin said softly.

Selene merely nodded at that as the lights suddenly flared out, illuminating the hanger the blimp had been forced to land in and revealing a tunnel that was just in front of them, made up of the exact same metal as the rest of the fortress.

"Now then, if you'll just continue down there here we can continue this party," Noah demanded. Seto growled at that, hating that he was being led around by the nose, but did what he was told to do, the rest of the group following after.

"I suppose it would be hopeless to ask for the innocent members of our party to be left on the blimp?" Edwin called out. "Serenity is no duelist and Solomon Muto is an old man with a heart condition." The man in question huffed at that, clearly not liking what Edwin was implying, but Edwin whipped around and glared at him, causing Solomon to shut his mouth.

"I'm afraid not. After all, you know what they say: you can't make an omelet without taking a few hostages!" Noah cackled at that.

"Cute," Edwin grumbled.

"What is it you want from us, Noah?" Yugi shouted, clearly not pleased that his grandfather was being put in danger. Selene had to admit she was impressed; back in Duelist Kingdom Yugi had been far too weak willed and meek, relying on the Spirit of the Puzzle to be his spine and backbone. But now he was talking back to someone who had an automated defense system? Making demands of them too? Oh, she loved how strong he was getting.

"All will be revealed soon enough," Noah assured him. "Just continue down the hallway where my associates are waiting. They are especially happy to see some of you… like Mr. Pegasus and Mr. Chaos."

"There wouldn't happen to be five of them?" Edwin asked.

"Oh, so you figured it out! How delightful… they wanted things to not be challenging at all. So easy and boring… but I must admit that is rather boring, don't you agree? No… far better that you give them a challenge!"

The group finally stepped into a large circular room, Yugi and his friends wondering where they were while Selene focused on the screens in front of them, half-hidden in the darkness. They suddenly flared to light and Seto growled as he saw five figures appear.

"So, Edwin was right. The Big Five are the puppet masters here."

"We are masters, Seto," one of the businessmen declared, glaring at Kaiba before sweeping his eyes over the group, his gaze cold and filled with brooding anger. "Or we were until you betrayed us. We were supposed to work to bring about a new age to KaibaCorp and instead you cast us aside."

"You had a place at KaibaCorp… the new KaibaCorp," Seto challenged. "One that didn't profit off of the death and misery of others. You only lost everything when you sided with Pegasus!"

"We haven't forgotten about him either," a tall tan man declared.

Pegasus, for his part, merely smiled. "Good to see you too, Leichter. I see that the reports of your death were exaggerated."

"No… the truly weren't," Leitcher stated. "We fled to the Virtual World when you revealed our crimes to the world… we thought it a place where we might remain free."

"Only we learned it was a prison," a third member of the Big Five said, adjusting his glasses. "We made another attempt to remove you from the equation, Seto, as well as take our revenge against Edwin Chaos for stealing what belonged to us."

Selene pressed her lips into a fine line. "You are the ones that sent Ken Gardner after Edwin, seeking to kill him."

"He should have died," a fourth member of the Big Five said and Selene decided that his end would be long, drawn out, and filled with screams. "But instead he ended up in the Virtual World as well where he delivered another blow to us."

"To be fair I thought you'd killed the people I loved," Edwin said, eyes flashing gold and white. "Want to see what happens when you try that trick a second time?"

"You are harboring some illusions about just who is in charge here," the final member of the Big Five stated.

"Oh no, I know exactly who is in charge," Edwin replied. "So Noah… this is your last chance. We can discuss this like adults, mature and rational. Come to an understanding that benefits us all. Or you can continue down this path. The choice is yours… as will be the ramifications."

"Heheh," Noah laughed, his voice filling the room. "I'm afraid I've been planning this far too long to set aside all I have prepared."

And with that the lights in the room began to strobe and even Selene was forced to cover her eyes as the assault occurred.

'It's a hypnotic pulse,' she realized. 'Most likely to put us all to sleep so they can then place us in those Virtual World pods. I could quite easily fight against it… but no. I want to see just how far down the rabbit hole goes!' She repressed her body's natural reaction to defend herself and found her mind suddenly beginning to spin…

And the next instant she was standing in a jungle.

Selene glanced up, watching as prehistoric beasts flew above her head. 'Interesting… it was almost instantaneous, but more likely I was instantly knocked out. And now I'm in the virtual world again.'

She smirked.

'And I am going to enjoy breaking Noah's little game.'

Selene focused, deciding she would start by adopting her true height. It had been a while since the titan had been able to truly stretch her legs. Crushing the jungle under her boot would be a fun start!

But when she opened her eyes… she was the same height.

"What?" she whispered, looking down at her hands. She tried to call forth some magic but nothing happened. "How is this… of course." She narrowed her eyes. 'Noah set this world up under the assumption I was Mai Valentine… and as such even though I am in control I am restrained by what he assumes Mai can do.'

Selene smirked.

'Oh… this is going to be delightful! A true challenge!' She looked about and saw that she was completely alone. 'First I must find my love and our priests… then we will set about finding Noah and the Big Five. They believe that they are gods in this world?'

Selene began to walk along the path and, had one been staring at her in that moment, they would have believed that just behind her a ghostly titan, glowing like the moon on the coldest night of the year, was following behind her.

'I will show them the true might of a god!'

~MC~MC~MC~

Chaosverse Omake

"I still say we can handle this on our own," Logan complained as the members of the Xavier Institute headed down the street. They were all wearing their street clothes, not wanting to alert anyone that they were the team known as the X-Men. "We don't need to waste good money… or good time… dealin' with this jerk."

"I don't like it either, Logan," Scott Summers said, "but he's our best bet for figuring out who this mysterious woman is and why she is so focused on Jean."

For the last few weeks Jean had been noticing that whenever they went out to deal with the Brotherhood of Mutants, the Friends of Humanity, or any of the other villainous threats that cropped up that a mysterious woman kept popping up. They didn't know who she was but sometimes she would do things to help… small things but still helpful… while other times she would prevent Jean from acting as she desired. Stop her from rescuing a person trapped in a car or confronting a fleeing criminal. All attempts to track the woman down had failed, leaving the X-Men at a loss at what to do.

And then Scott had suggested Kurtis Kaos.

"What's wrong, Logan?" Gambit said with a grin, playing with a deck of cards. "Worried that Kaos will steal your thunder?"

"I just don't think we need to get the gumshoe involved."

"Remember, Logan, Mr. Kaos doesn't appreciate being called a 'gumshoe'," Beast reminded him.

"He can appreciate the fact that I'm not slicing him a new mouth hole," Logan growled.

Jubilee frowned. "I don't get it… what's the big deal about this guy?"

Storm frowned. "Kurtis is an… acquired taste."

"In other words the man is more smug than a fox whose broken into a fried chicken plant," Rogue stated.

"…I'm gonna assume that's pretty smug," Jubilee said as they come to a stop before a brownstone building, a sign hanging about the door declaring that this was the home of the 'Kaos Detective Agency'.

Stepping in all the X-Men couldn't help but feel like they'd walked into one of those old pulp detective films. There was a bored looking secretary sitting at a desk, chomping on a piece of gum nearly as hard as Jubilee tended to. A ceiling fan was lazily turning overhead and while there was a computer in front of her none of the mutants would have been surprised if she had begun answering an old rotary phone.

"Hello," Scott said, taking a step forward.

"What do ya want?" the woman said, never looking away from her computer.

"We have an appointment with Kurtis," Scott said.

"No appointments I know about."

"Are you sure?" Scott pressed. "In fact I'm rather sure I talked with you…"

"Sorry but Kurtis isn't even in."

"Bev?" a voice called out from an office.

"…okay but there was no appointment."

"is that my 2:15?"

"…fine, I didn't want to deal with the paperwork I knew you lot would generate." She motioned towards the door and the X-Men made their way inside.

Kurtis Kaos was a tall man, with dark blonde hair and a neatly trimmed beard that was framed with blonde stubble. He was wearing a dress shirt and casual slacks, a thin brown coat slung over his chair. He pushed up his glasses as he looked at the group, a smirk slowly forming on his lips as he saw that he'd gotten all of the X-Men.

"So… Xavier sent his students to me," he said in a teasing tone. "I have to ask… did you bribe Logan to show up here, drag him here, or is this Morph disguised as him?"

"Listen here, bub," Logan growled, taking a step forward and popping his claws.

"Calm yourself, Logan!" Orora declared, placing a hand in front of the man known as Wolverine. "Your anger will do us no good here!"

"So… what has Logan's briefs in a bunch?" Jubilee whispered to Rogue.

"Kurtis is one of the best people when it comes ta figurin' out a mystery," Rogue whispered. "Logan went ta him, paid him some good money… and he wasn't able ta give him anythin' useful."

"To be fair," Gambit added, "his mutant power don't work without-"

"So I have to ask," Kurtis said, cutting Gambit off though he didn't realize he'd done that, "how the hell can you be a school when you only have one student?" He gestured at Jubilee who glowered at him. "Sorry, I'm just saying. Now then, what do you have for me?"

"We have a woman that keeps showing up around Jean," Scott said. "We want to know what her motives are." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a scrap of leather. "We managed to get this off of her the last time."

"Alright then," Kurtis said, accepting the leather and laying it out on his desk. "Alright Jubilee… they tell you how this works?"

"How did you know my name?" Jubilee asked.

"Its his power," Storm told her kindly.

Kurtis nodded after a moment. "Alright… so for the new kids in class… my power allows me to see the full history of any object. It just can't be alive at this moment and I can't see when it was alive. So I can't see when this leather was a cow but I can see from the moment it was taken off of Bessie all the way to you guys giving it to me."

"Not very impressive," Jubilee said.

"That so, Sparkles?" Kurtis snarked. "I know why Stonehenge was actually made. I know who really killed Caesar. I know the Colonel's 11 herbs and spices." Before Jubilee could say another word Kurtis touched the leather again and his eyes went silver with black irises. "And I know who your stalker is and oh boy is it fucking insane for you."

"What is it?"

"Her name is Rachel and she isn't a threat, Scott. She's your daughter."

Everyone just stared at Kurtis in shock.

"So… who wants to buy me dinner? I'm thinking Nimbus for supper?"

INTRODUCING KURTIS "SLEUTH" KAOS

THE CHAOS OF EARTH-92131