Painful Memories: Part III: Consequences

Fans

The four of them emerged from the tunnel into a barren lobby. The stewardess beside them wished them a lovely day, but Kaiba didn't really notice. He was on high alert. The fact that the place was empty here only made him tense. This part of the airport would never be so empty. Especially if a tournament was going to be starting soon.

"Look at that!" Joey called from behind, "I don't see anything to worry about. You guys worry too much. I don't even see a-"

Kaiba held a hand up, "Quiet!"

For once, Joey did as he was told. Over the sound of the stewards sorting paperwork for the plane they just left, there was the sound like a busted air pipe. It was a noise Kaiba knew well. He lowered his head, pushed his briefcase under an arm, and put a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "We'll try to move quickly," he whispered.

Yugi had gone several shades paler, and managed a slow nod. "Is that-?"

"Uh-huh."

They hugged the wall and stopped at a sharp corner that turned toward the security checkpoint. The low roar had grown in intensity with each step, and now they could clearly hear the screams and excitement of many fans. Kaiba couldn't tell by the noise itself how many there were. He guessed based on the flat walls and tile flooring that there were hopefully not as many people around the corner as it sounded, but he didn't like uncertainty. Over his shoulder he saw that Joey had finally gone quiet and was walking very close to Pegasus. It looked like he planned to keep an eye on the mutt at least. Good, because Kaiba was going to have his hands full.

He caught Pegasus' eye, "You want to go first?"

"I probably should. They'll hopefully be too distracted by me to notice you as much."

"Oh, I'm sure they'll notice," Kaiba gave a pointed look at Yugi.

"Wait," Joey muttered. "Maybe I should go with Kaiba and Yugi instead..." He started to head over to join them, but froze when Pegasus clamped a hand down on his shoulder.

"No, you're staying with me. You're going to get introduced to these people, and you're going to put on a good show."

Joey blinked, "I... what?"

"We need to distract them, or else even Kaiba's best performance isn't going to keep them back."

Joey looked between Pegasus and Yugi.

"It's okay, Joey. How often are you going to have a room full of duelists hanging on your every word, right?" Yugi smiled, but it wasn't very inspiring.

Regardless Joey nodded and stepped back beside Pegasus. "Alright, let's do this."

Pegasus flattened his hair over his Millennium Eye, flung the other half over a shoulder and sauntered forward.

Damn, Kaiba admired the man's flair. He had a strange taste in fashion, but he knew how to own a crowd. When you watched him turn on the charm, so to speak, it suddenly didn't seem like such a stretch for the man to own the biggest gaming company in the world.

"My, my, look who all is here!" Pegasus called around the corner and the crowd went absolutely wild. The noise within the chamber was nearly deafening. Even if he had tried to talk, neither of them would have been able to hear it. He took a deep breath and held himself a little straighter, a little taller. He had to look like a complete prick to prevent anyone from getting close, something he had become quite an expert at. He mouthed down at Yugi, "Ready?"

Yugi nodded, and they turned the corner.

Kaiba wasn't sure what kind of numbers he had expected. Maybe a hundred, maybe two. When you led tournaments and talked before arenas full of people, you got a pretty good handle on guessing the numbers of people around you. When he looked out over the sea of faces and excitement before them though, he knew he was way off. There was likely over three hundred people here, and that was merely what he could see.