Rock Bottom: Season One

Helicopter

"Seto?" Ryou was a few steps inside the garage with a cell-phone to his ear. The brunette looked up and couldn't help but wonder how long his hesitant friend had been waiting for them.

"Yes, what do you need?"

"My mother is wondering when we'll be arriving in Domino," Ryou said, trying to hide a slight smile of amusement. "She also asked, 'Where on God's good earth does he plan to land that thing?'"

Seto couldn't help but laugh. "We'll be arriving in Domino around three o'clock, give or take a half hour. As long as no bad weather pops up, we should be good to go. Duke, did you find the sonar equipment?"

"Oh, right, I was supposed to do that." Duke grimaced apologetically. "I'll get right on that when I'm done with this. It'll be mostly computers, though, so once I get it booted up, it's up to you to figure out what it says."

"And, where we're landing?" Ryou prompted.

"Industrial Illusions has an office building in Domino," Seto answered as he stood and dusted off his hands. "The roof has a helicopter launchpad for the use of company helicopters, like this one." He pointed to the I-squared logo on the tail. "We'll radio the Industrial Illusions air-traffic controller, assuming they have one on duty at the time. If we can't get in touch with them, we'll look for the next best thing, which will probably be the nearest empty field. We're loading enough fuel to get us that far in case we need to."

"Okay, thanks. I'll tell her." Ryou stepped out of the garage for a few moments to finish his call. When he'd hung up, he stepped back inside and walked closer to the aircraft. "She's relieved that everyone's okay. She panicked when Mokuba disappeared. Called the police and everything."

"I'm grateful that she cares."

"She's probably telling the police right now where Mokuba and Adina are. I hope Pegasus gets what he deserves." There was a tone of bitterness in Ryou's normally peaceful voice.

"I do too, but that's probably not going to happen." Seto's blue eyes narrowed in bitterness. "Millionaires like him always manage to buy their way out of an arrest."

"Not just that," Duke added, looking up. "But this island is in international waters."

"Are you sure?" This news bothered Seto for reasons Ryou couldn't understand.

"Yeah, he mentioned it my first day here."

"Damn it!" Seto kicked the side of the helicopter and turned away to pace in the other direction, tense as he ran a hand through his hair, which was becoming messier the longer he was in the garage.

"Why is that a bad thing?" Ryou asked slowly, facing Duke with his eyes still fixed on Seto.

"Because it means that unless he reenters Japanese waters or lands, he can't be arrested, charged, indicted, or prosecuted," Duke informed him, looking sour. "In other words, he gets away with everything, because he can stay here forever and have food shipped in from the outside."

"That's awful. Isn't there anything they can do?" Ryou's eyes darted between the two of them, Seto's previous exclamation making perfect sense now.

"Not unless we deliver him bound and gagged at the doorstep of the police department," Seto growled.

"Is the gagging really necessary?" Duke asked, eyebrows raised.

"No, but I'd still prefer it." Seto huffed with annoyance and went inside the helicopter, now out of Ryou's sight.

"Do you think we can take on the extra weight?" Duke asked, and Seto popped his head out again, looking thoughtful.

"I don't know off the top of my head, but I could check the numbers." Set hopped out, snatched the second manual off the floor, and flipped to the page where he did those calculations.