Crush You, or Crush Your Enemies (Part 3)

DIMENSION: ANIME (The One Who Pays to Save the Day)

Serenity's Apartment

When Serenity opened her door, she saw Mokuba and . . . "Umm?" Her brother had told her about this strange situation.

"Masika." Masika had no problem talking to her. "Hello."

Serenity glanced toward Mokuba. "Hello." Not this again. Mokuba and Seto Kaiba. They were really adamant on getting her to change her mind. She just told them unless the goddesses themselves made her pregnant, then there was no way it would happen. She had her brother's stubborness, so they really should have known to back off.

Mokuba tried the hardest, trying to appeal to her how he could. Telling her all about Egypt and what the goddesses could do. There was a difference between Myth and fact, and she'd seen god cards before. Amazing, but god cards wouldn't dictate things to her. She had to, according to Yugi, give up a card to sacrifice what she would bear.

There were always ways to make other things happen. This whole baby with Seto Kaiba wasn't set in any old stone to her. A different thing might come along. Maybe the other dimension won't need it after all because they will have enough power. Serenity never gave up on hope.

Mokuba pointed at her. "Look, you are going to be carrying my little nephew or niece soon. My only other family than Seto. Why won't you come to our home?"

Oh. Boy, they never learned. "Marriage is more than about children. It's love too, and I don't love Seto Kaiba. I love . . . I have a boyfriend."

"Boyfriend, schmoyfriend, this is family." Mokuba gestured to Masika. "Talk with her."

///Shizuka: Talk with her?/// "There's no need to talk," Serenity told him. "I'm not going to flip my whole life over for him."

"Hm?" Masika stared at her. "Serenity."

"What?"

"I just realize it rhymes with stupidity."

What? "That wasn't nice," Serenity said to her. It also sucked as a comeback, this woman would be a waste of time.

"The deities Bastet and Sekhmet will's must be followed, or you will find yourself in ten times as much pain for not listening to them. If they state a babe, so must it be. Seto Kaiba shines brightly as fire, and anyone associating with him must accept the risk of being burned. No one commands him except for deities," Masika said to her. "Forget your dawdling affair and go to your husband, foolish woman."

Oh, Serenity knew now she did not like Masika at all. "You can follow your own beliefs, but I will follow mine. The world has changed since you were alive. I have options."

"Not against the rich."

Serenity wasn't expecting that phrase from her.

"The all mighty and powerful, they will step on those below them without a second thought. Even in this world, I know this fact has not changed." Masika sounded different now. "The poor are pawns to the rich." She turned toward Mokuba. "If she decided to not let your brother see his child in the future, what would he do?"

Mokuba looked grumpy. "That isn't helping. She isn't even pregnant yet. I thought you would help me out."

"If Bastet and Sekhmet state it will be so, then it will be so. Assume it will be so and answer."

Mokuba had a strained expression.

"Look at his face," Masika instructed as she gestured toward Mokuba. "Then ask yourself, does anyone win against Seto Kaiba?"

Hmph. "Yugi did."

"Yes, and he did it with the help of a sacred Pharaoh. Even with that, did that affect Yugi well?"

Um. Hm. Mm?

"And who else has won? Who has challenged him and won?" Masika asked.

"Not many I suppose." Still, she wouldn't give in like that.

"Do you feel he is evil?" Masika asked.

"Masika, you really aren't helping," Mokuba scolded her. "You're supposed to help us bring her to our side, not further away!"

"Do you, Serenity Wheeler?" Masika asked again. "Is he nice and sweet? Calm? Reassuring?"

"No, he's none of those," Serenity answered. "I mean, that I've . . . well, when I was with him . . ." How hard to answer. "The things he's done to others isn't nice, and he was always downright cruel to my brother."

"Then with that kind of power, that kind of evil, and that kind of reputation? He could also take out someone with evil power and reputation." Masika folded her arms. "Joey has a dear friend he can't get over trapped with a crime boss so evil he went after their dearest friends just to prove a point. Mai Valentine will never get away from him. Joey will never win without a desperate choice. Good men don't make good choices with bad men. He'll either end up dead, or wish he had been because he will never give up on a friend."

" . . ."

"You know this to be true. He gets careless with his life if it means saving a friend."

Yeah, Serenity knew that. It hurt Joey so much that he couldn't save Mai Valentine from that evil . . . ///Serenity: I know my brother. He'll never give up. She's right!/// "Mokuba?" She glanced toward Mokuba. "Do you think you could get someone innocent away from a crime boss?"

"A crime boss?" Mokuba looked uncomfortable. "I mean, those are gnarly things."

"Have you heard about my brother?" Serenity asked. "Has anyone asked you for help for Mai Valentine?"

Mokuba sighed. "No one's asked for help from me. Yeah, of course I know about the deal, but it'd be a bad idea from me. First, it doesn't matter how much money you use to hide. People like Skeezy have weasels beneath him too. You can't just hide and watch your back the rest of your life. It's no way to live."

Serenity paused, holding her breath lightly. "Could Seto Kaiba?"

Mokuba didn't answer back right away. " . . . yeah. It'd take a little time, but yeah. Seto could definitely get rid of the guy. As long as . . . I mean, you don't ask how anyway."

Oh. Serenity was starting to see what Masika meant.

Mokuba smiled. "Mai Valentine could walk free and live her own life without every worrying about Skeezy again if Seto got involved."

"I don't suppose, you could just ask nicely?" Serenity tried to smile. It was obvious though.

"Seto doesn't get involved in stuff that doesn't concern him. Especially something like this, it would take a lot of resources. Bodyguards. Security systems. Cover-ups. Bribery. But, if his Brother-in-Law was involved, I'm sure he would!" Mokuba winked and gave Masika a thumbs up.

"Goddess Bastet and Sekhmet will still make it happen against you in some way. That is up to no compromise and Seto Kaiba knows this. You are being given the luxury of an option as to how Seto Kaiba will treat you."

Masika held up two fingers. "This will go one of two ways with someone like Seto Kaiba," Masika warned her. "If you say no to him and do not work with him? He will never help your brother or Mai Valentine. He will come after your apartment. He may even just buy it in order to kick you out. I know how the greed of the rich works. He will make sure that you lose your job by donating money to the company in some way. He will fight you in court with the best lawyers he has, and with them? You will be lucky to hear your child's first cry before you lose rights to it and never see it again. Except? On maybe a magazine cover."

Ah?! "That couldn't be true!" Serenity looked toward Mokuba. "That's not true, right? He wouldn't use his money against me like that?" Would he be that cruel?

"Kaiba's do anything for family," Mokuba told her with a grin on his face. "Seto's been really nice so far about this. He's not thrilled about it either, but it's going to happen no matter what, and he will secure his family. Kaiba's are only nice for so long."

"If you say yes and work with him, you will have peace of mind," Masika finished. "Save your brother. Save your friend. Live well with your child and never worry about money again."

"Or worry about what Kaiba has up his sleeve, because Big Brother never loses." Even Mokuba was embracing the reality with Seto Kaiba.

Were those really the only options? "It's so . . . hard to decide." To say.

"He could crush you," Masika said to Serenity, "or he could crush your enemies. Decide."

It was cruel, but probably true. Even Mokuba didn't deny it. Seto Kaiba always got what he wanted. "I won't marry him," she decided. She couldn't just lay out like that for him, and she needed time to discuss this stuff with Tristan too! "I'll . . . I'll move in with him, if he can find a way to save Mai Valentine."

As soon as she said that, she could see her words having an instant effect. Mokuba didn't smile, didn't say 'thanks for the chance', nothing, he went straight to his phone. "Seto? Serenity Wheeler needs you to help Joey with a crime boss problem involving Mai Valentine, and then she'll move in. She won't marry yet though." He grinned and hung up. "Seto will be right down."

Wow. Seto Kaiba was at her door in less than a minute. Was he working with Mokuba and Masika the whole time?

He leaned in and looked straight at her. "Information."

No choice now. "Joey wants to save Mai Valentine from marrying a crime boss," Serenity said. "He's too attracted to her, and it's too dangerous to leave him. This guy finds others that leave him, no matter how far they go. They met playing cards."

"Card player. Skeezy?" Kaiba asked. "A constant suspect in money laundering, murder cases that are never solved, human trafficking, and torture."

He did all of that? "I guess? He went after Téa Gardener in New York just because he suspected something."

"Got it." Seto Kaiba glanced toward Mokuba.

"I know, Big Brother," Mokuba simply said. "I told her not to ask for details if you took it."

"Hm." Kaiba looked toward her again. "If I save Mai Valentine's pathetic life, and your even more pathetic brother, then you'll move in?"

"Not marriage," Serenity insisted again. "I would consider moving in with you." She would agree to that. It seemed okay. It really did. "I need to . . ." She felt dizzy. She needed to tell Tristan before anything, but she was really dizzy.

Then the world faded away.