Serpent's Vow

3: Accomplice

It took a full two hours to arrive at the gated cult complex. The moon and stars were completely hidden by clouds now and it had started to drizzle. It wasn't enough to cause too much trouble, but it was annoying. Seto's pristine white motorcycle would need to be cleaned after this. He should have known the roads in this area were dirt and not paved. Heathens. Cities were so much more civilized.

The gates visible in his headlights were locked shut because of course they were. Nothing was ever easy. Good thing he chose dark colors. If he'd gone with his lighter trenchcoat and it got dirty, he would've been very put out. Pulling up next to Honda's motorcycle, he slowed to a stop. His booted feet touched the dirt road and he straightened in his seat.

The clear plexiglass visor of his helmet was covered in streaks of water from the drizzle and his clothes were beginning to stick to his arms uncomfortably. Instead of a solid stone or brick wall encircling the cult's property, it was a simple iron pole fence broken by stone columns. Easy to break into, easy to break out of. Supposedly. Seto doubted anyone who went in ever wanted to come out. Setesh could be... persuasive.

Next to him, Jounouchi pushed up the visor of his helmet and nodded to the gate. "That's it," he said. "I parked just up that way," he pointed to a small side road to the left, "then climbed the fence in the trees over there," he nodded to the forested area along the left side of the gates. "Made it a good few hundred feet before I saw the guns and hightailed it out of there."

Seto sat back and crossed his arms as he considered his options. If he played his cards right, he could probably get away with walking right through the front door. Yugi and Jounouchi, however, would not be so lucky. Setesh would dose them with his nish'ta toxin as soon as look at them and unless Seto could come up with a legitimate reason to electrocute them -he could think of several for the mutt- then bringing them out of the drug-induced haze of obedience would be difficult.

Next option. Use the complex itself against Setesh. The Goa'uld weren't typically original. Even if they were, it was always a good idea to have an escape route hidden somewhere in case something unpleasant were to happen. Seto himself made good use of his own underground tunnel when Pegasus' goons tried to kill him. Seto may hate Setesh to Ammit's gullet and back, but the former System Lord wasn't stupid.

"When you were in the complex, did you find a tunnel anywhere?" he asked, turning to the two riders on the motorcycle next to him.

The mutt frowned. "No. Wasn't exactly looking though."

"Why do you ask?" Yugi ventured, shifting on the wet seat behind Jounouchi.

"I want you two to go back the way you got in the first time," Seto said. "Scour the place. Look for a tunnel entrance of some kind. It could be anything: a pile of logs, a sewer grate, an outhouse, anything. Find it and go inside but do not wander around. Am I clear?"

"You seem to know a lot about this sort of thing," Yugi said warily.

Seto rolled his eyes and looked back at the locked gates. "We have a lot in common," he said.

"What," Jounouchi said in a tone that was almost taunting. "You both kidnap people and force them to do your dirty work?"

"Jounouchi, stop it," Yugi groaned.

"We both think ahead, expect to be attacked from all sides, and have backup plans when the first ones fail," Seto answered evenly. He adjusted his stance, shifting the weight of his motorcycle to his other side. "He'll be expecting an attack from the sides, not the front and back at the same time."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Yugi said, the grin audible in his voice.

Seto matched it with a smirk of his own. "Most likely." He shot a sharp glare at the Pharaoh. "Lapdog-"