Serpent's Vow

5: Meeting

He blinked and suddenly he was somewhere else with guns in his face.  His body reacted before his mind caught up with him. He batted the  muzzle of the closest machine gun out of his face, riding the momentum  so his back was almost touching his assailant's body. Then he jerked his  elbow back, slamming it into the gunman's stomach and knocking the wind  out of him.

The gun slipped from the guy's limp hands and  Jounouchi snatched it. His left hand caught the black handguard while  his right gripped the pistol grip. He slammed the butt of the gun  against the man's head before bracing it against his shoulder. Swinging  the barrel up so a comfortable position, he adjusted his stance and  prepared to shoot.

Only then did he begin to panic. Adrenaline was  rushing through his veins giving him energy and the kind of hyper  awareness that made him so efficient on the streets before he met Yugi.  He'd never handled a gun like this, that was restricted to the older  members of his gang. But he was ashamed to admit he did know his way  around a handgun. Luckily, he never had to use one.

Yet.

He  could tell he and Kaiba were outnumbered. If they didn't get the heck  out of this room, they'd end up cornered and very likely dead. Then a  strange sound accompanied by a strange red-gold glow flickered in the  corner of his eye. Instinctively, he glanced over his shoulder and did a  double-take when Kaiba blasted three gunmen into the wall hard enough to leave dents.

Lowering his silver gloved left hand, Kaiba's eyes flashed gold and vicious. "You dare," he snarled in an inhuman voice.

The  room suddenly felt darker and more oppressive. The same primal fear  Jounouchi felt when Kaiba first flashed his eyes at him tingled across  his skin again now. It wasn't as bad as before, though. Maybe because  this time, it wasn't focused on him. The gun wielding cultists, however,  seemed to be feeling the full force of this terror.

Was Kaiba creating this sensation?

"Where is Setesh?" Kaiba demanded, his voice still unnaturally deep and echoey.

Setesh? Who was that? Seth? Geez. How many names did that cult leader even have?

A  cultist charged Kaiba, raising his gun to strike Kaiba on the side of  the head, but Kaiba was faster. The rich duelist tilted his head to  avoid the blow and parried the second strike, sending the cultist  stumbling into Jounouchi's range. Jounouchi planted a foot firmly on the  man's back, pinning him on the floor with his gun between the  floorboards and the cultist's white clothed chest and pressed the barrel  to the man's head.

This would only work if these crazies valued their comrade's life. If they didn't-

He  blinked and barely had time to react when someone else appeared on his  right. Kaiba reacted faster. The metallic hum buzzed near Jounouchi's  left ear and the attacker was blown back against the far wall by a  golden shockwave. The cultist blinked dizzily, dropped his gun, and  slumped to the floor unconscious.

Dude.

Jounouchi looked back and saw the red jewel in the center of Kaiba's silver glove dim. That dinky little thing did that? Woah.

Movement behind Kaiba.

"Behind you!"

Whirling,  Kaiba brought up his hand and the strange metallic hum came to life  again. This one was slightly different than the one that created the  shockwave, but that red-gold glow was identical. What Jounouchi could  only describe as a funnel of energy bridged the gap between Kaiba's hand  device and his attacker's forehead.

Instantly, the man froze,  eyes wide in pained horror. Jounouchi had no idea what Kaiba was doing  to the guy but as long as it kept them alive and didn't kill the  cultist, he was okay with it. Mostly. He'd have nightmares about this  later but what else was new. He watched as Kaiba's former attacker  dropped his weapon from nerveless fingers and thudded to his knees,  gurgling half formed words and pained moans.