Currents- Chapter Four

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  Yugi guided Atem back to the training room the next morning, pen and notebook in hand, listing the events the day would entail.

“You’ll be sparring with Lieutenant Jounouchi and Honda today. Jou will start you off. I want you to go all out and show us everything you can do, but don’t hurt either of the Lieutenants. You’re aiming to capture them, not kill them, do you understand?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good.” Yugi grunted, swiping his card for access into the room.

Jou and Honda were already waiting inside, poking and examining the racks of weapons set up. Jou was jabbing a sword around and Honda was eyeing a rifle.

“Jou you’re up first, I’d like it if you could use swords against him for this fight, and then Honda can use guns. Help vary the response we get from him. Can you manage swords and throwing knives you think?”

Jou gave a hum, tapping his foot. “It’s worth a shot. I’m a bit rusty, what with the lack of practice and us using guns instead most days, but what the hell, I’ll give it a shot!”

“Good,” Yugi nodded, flashing him a grateful smile before addressing Honda next. “And Honda, when you get your turn, try not to get carried away would you? I’m trying to test Atem’s powers, not see how much you can show off, and the training room can only take so much of a beating on our budget.” Yugi waved at them, stepping away.

“I… I don’t show off.” Honda muttered, crossing his arms. Yugi turned away, allowing himself a small smile at the reaction, hearing Jou snicker behind him.

He saw Anzu on the observation level, leaning forward over the railing to get a better vantage point. He took the stairs up, joining her.

“Shall we place bets, Mutou?”

“You know I don’t gamble anymore, Captain. My record has been clean since my promotion.” Yugi said smoothly. “Besides, I have no doubt Atem will win.” He flicked his wrist in consent when Jou gave him a questioning look, and the two started.

Jou selected a set of throwing knives, strapping them in runs down his chest and around his legs. He grabbed a sword as well, a thin, long blade that sat loftily in his hand.

Atem just picked up two swords, not looking twice at the designs, his eyes glued to Jou’s form.

“He doesn’t seem to care what kind of weapon he uses. And dual wielding swords too, that’s rare.” Anzu remarked, clearly picking up on this as well.

“He doesn’t, no. But I believe his programming covers all matter of weapons.”

“Were his results from yesterday that good?”

“Let’s just say I think even I would have a tough time fighting him.” Yugi muttered. Anzu stayed silent after that.  

Jou moved first, twisting down to pluck one of the knives off his belt and toss it at Atem. The android dodged easily to the side.

Jou used the moment of distraction to lunge forward, but Atem was already waiting for him. He stabbed a sword out, forcing Jou to step to the side to avoid being sliced. While one arm was stretched out, Atem used the blade in his other hand to jab at his side, where Jou had just moved.

Jou gave a grunt of surprise, dropping down to roll along the ground. As he came to a stop, another knife flicked out from his wrist.

This time the blow forced Atem to move, and he stepped to the side rapidly, keeping his attention on Jou.

Jou threw another knife for each step he took forward, putting Atem under an assault of blades. Most of them the android could side step, but some he bounced off his blades, swinging them this way and that to protect his legs.

“Damn it you’re a tough bastard, I like that!” Jou laughed, launching himself forward.

Atem looked up just in time to cross his blades in front of him, trapping Jou’s sword between them.

“Still think the android will win sir?” Anzu asked.

“He will. This is almost over.” Yugi said. He already saw the means for Atem to pin Jou down, and he had no doubt the android saw them as well.

Atem raised his foot, kicking Jou square in the gut. Jou’s eyes went wide, not having seen the move, and he staggered backwards, momentarily winded. It was all the time Atem needed.

He rushed forward, driving his arm into Jou’s neck, pushing him backwards. Jou toppled to the ground, spinning mid-air and landing on his stomach. Atem put one of his feet down on Jou’s back, pressing the tip of his blade between Jou’s shoulder blades.

“Yield.” He said, his other blade moving to rest over Jou’s neck.

“I yield.” He said, and Atem looked up at Yugi, who nodded in consent. Atem moved off Jou, swords returning to their position at his sides as he walked away, giving Jou room to get back up.

“Impressive. You were right.” Anzu commented.

“It’s a gift.” Yugi chuckled, scrawling down some notes on his pad. Peering down at the trio below, he raised his voice. “Good job Jou! That was some useful data! Now Honda if you could try something with guns, I’d like to see how Atem reacts to being shot at!”

“Not something you hear every day, I’m sure.” Anzu said.

“Aye sir!” Honda shouted back, already scampering off to the weapon bay, selecting the biggest gun he could find. Typical, Yugi snorted, amused.

“If you don’t mind me asking sir, what are you trying to get out of this one? There’s already proof of Atem’s abilities from his fight with Jou, but dodging bullets? You don’t want to hurt him, right?”

No, I don’t, he thought. He suspected that a bullet to the head or heart would kill Atem, despite all the work done to turn him into a cyborg. Mainframe or not, no amount of technology could replace a human heart.

“Just testing some theories I have.” Yugi said, gripping the railing in front of them. “Besides, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t want to see him dodge bullets.”

“All right, you have me there.” Anzu said.

Below them, Honda had returned to the main floor, guns in hand. “Ready, android?” He called.

“Yes sir!” Atem hollered back.

“Good! Here I come!” Honda let out a cry, and pointed his guns, the oddly reassuring sound of bullets ringing in the air.

Yugi smiled at himself at the thought. Only he would find gun fire to be comforting.

Atem’s movements were graceful, his body snapping to the side just in time for the bullets to sail past him into the metal paddings on the walls. He wasted no time with a counter attack, plucking a knife from his belt, whipping his arm around to send it towards Honda.

Honda smacked the knife out of the air with the side of his gun, and Yugi made a sound, impressed.

“I didn’t know he could do that.” He commented.

“He’s been practicing. Something about the cool factor of it.” Anzu giggled, and Yugi allowed himself a small laugh as well.

Watching Atem fight, so graceful and elegant and deadly with those swords had Yugi’s fingers twitching, itching to wrap around his pistol. He reached down to brush them over the base, feeling the bumps along the metal pieces. He wondered how quickly Atem would react if he shot at the android right now. Would the bullet pierce? Was Atem quick enough to dodge Yugi’s aim? His hand longed to grip the handle, finger on the trigger, to have that weight of the recoil slam into his hand…

He turned to the side, noticing Anzu staring at him. He didn’t miss the worry clouding her eyes. She had been one of the ones on the field, fighting close to Yugi, in many of the same battles. She had seen him at both his best and worst.

“I’m fine.” Yugi said, letting out a shaky breath, taking his hand off the gun as he did. He chose to fiddle with his dog tags instead, pulling them out from under his jacket and smoothing a thumb over the metal.

“Are you sure? I am perfectly capable of managing Atem’s results here.”

“No it’s fine, I should be here for it all anyway. What do you think of him so far?” Yugi asked, changing the subject. Thankfully Anzu went along with it, nodding.

“He’s good, for sure. I can see why we’ve been so drained of money and supplies recently, if that’s where the government has been pooling it all into. He’s a fine specimen. It would be interesting to see what he would be like on the battlefield.”

“Perhaps.” Yugi nodded, turning back to watching Atem.

Most of Honda’s bullets were gone, but he kept the assault coming, setting Atem at bay with dodging the bullets. Occasionally Atem would be quick enough to throw a dagger, but he was running out of supplies, Yugi noted, keeping track of how many the android had thrown.

Atem couldn’t get close enough to swing his blades at Honda, but none of Honda’s bullets could hit home either. Atem either dodged them or reflected them off his swords, catching them on the edge with deadly accuracy.

Yugi had no doubt now that Atem had proven his skills, merely waiting for Atem to finish the job so he could get to writing up the reports.

Honda feinted running out of bullets, and Atem took the bluff, running forward to assault Honda head on with his swords.

Damn it, he’s not going to… “Honda stop!” Yugi called, but it was too late.

Honda fired, but Atem was too fast. A flash of red and grey, and Atem had swung around behind Honda, swords raised and crossed, sitting right under Honda‘s throat. Yugi could see the way his adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, so close to the deadly steel.

“Yield.” Atem said.

“Fine, I yield.” Honda grumbled, barely audible. Atem nodded, pulling his swords away.

Yugi and Anzu moved down to the lower level to meet them. “How was your first taste fighting against millions of dollars’ worth of government funding?” Yugi smirked.

“We should have a sparring dummy like that in here! He must be able to go for ages! Does he ever stop? Does he even need to eat?” Jou was fluttering around Atem, head twisting to observe him each and every way. He even poked Atem’s arms on occasion, and Yugi had to suppress a snicker.

“You’re annoying the android, Jou, quit it.” Honda snapped, slapping Jou on the back of his head.

“On the contrary, Honda, he doesn’t have the means to be annoyed.” Yugi supplied, and Jou grinned.

“If I punched him in the face, would he stop me?” Jou questioned.

Yugi shrugged. “Go ahead and try.”

“Right on!” Jou pulled back his arm, snapping it forward, aiming directly for Atem’s face.

The next few seconds saw Atem ducking down, hand whipping out to bring Jou down with him, where he promptly twirled Jou around in the air, forcing the other on his stomach as he impacted with the ground.

He stood over him, hands holding Jou’s behind his back.

“Ah, self-defence, should have known.” Jou muttered, wriggling under Atem’s grip.

“What would you have me do, sir?” Atem looked up at Yugi.

“Just let him go, he learnt his lesson.” Yugi waved him off, and Atem nodded, standing and letting Jou scramble to his feet.

“You should have a go boss!” Jou said excitedly, bouncing back from being tackled to the ground almost immediately.

“Not likely. I don’t do grunt work anymore.” Yugi smirked, enjoying the off guard looks both Jou and Honda gave him.

“Why don’t you show us how it’s done then?” Jou said.

“Some of that legendary Mutou flare we hear so much about.” Honda added.

“If you’re lucky, you’ll only ever have to hear about it,” Yugi grunted. “I’m off the sparring roster and you know that. I already have all the data I need, and besides, it’s not like Atem is about to be fighting me on the battlefield, not when he has an entire army to deal with already.”

“That sure sounds like a lot to pin on one guy. I mean, I could probably do it, but this guy? He’s so small.” Honda leaned down, squinting his eyes at Atem’s form, still towering over him.

“Atem just beat you both in a fair fight.” Yugi pointed out.

“In a fight where we couldn’t kill each other, yes,” Honda grunted. “But to the death? I know androids don’t have our human needs, but sooner or later he would run out of juice or someone would score lucky.”

“Couldn’t the same be said then for you?” Yugi counted. Honda blinked in surprise, looking away with a barely contained scowl.

“Well yes, but-”

“Ah let it go man! The guy’s a weapon of war, he’s made to be thrown out there and fight until he drops. That’s why they don’t bother with emotion chips and the like. He doesn’t have anything human in him.”

Emotion chips… Yugi’s eyes widened. That could be what he needed. He had to speak to Yusei tomorrow, see if the mechanic could arrange something. I never thought about those… They could… work...

“That’s all for today,” Yugi said, “dismissed.”

“Sir!” They called out, giving lazy salutes.

“Atem, you’re with me.” Yugi gestured, and the android fell into step beside him. They walked in silence for a moment, Yugi trying to word his next sentence well.

“How would you feel about an emotion chip, Atem?” Yugi asked.

“I do not feel, sir.”

Right, I forgot. “Well you can, I suppose, if we get you an emotion chip. The kind androids are given to appear more human.”

“With all due respect, sir, would that not contradict my original programming? I am designed for war, where emotions would hinder my performance.”

“True, but you’re not just for war,” Yugi hummed. “You’ll see what I mean in time, Atem.”

“By your command, sir.”

~~~~~~~~~

Yugi sat curled up on a chair by the balcony, watching the stars twinkle in the sky, the sliver of moon giving a poor source of light in the inky darkness. The crags and mountains around them were fuzzy shadows in the lowlight, he could barely tell what was the red of the rock, everything too dark.

“Have you ever wondered what it was like to live in a field of flowers?” Yugi asked suddenly, nursing the lukewarm cup of tea in his hands. He felt Atem’s presence behind him, swivelling his head to observe the other.

“I have not, sir.” Atem said, only his lips moving as his body remained stoic.

“Then humour me for a moment. What do you think it would be like? To wake up every day, walk out of your quaint little house and see nothing but field after field of blooming flowers.”

Atem tilted his head. “I am unsure how to answer that, sir.”

“Would you like to see a field of flowers?”

“If that is what you command of me.”

“No,” Yugi put his cup down, gesturing wildly with both his hands. “Would you like that? Forget me, I’m not there. Would you think it would be lovely to see a field full of flowers? Doesn’t matter the colour; blues, purples, yellows… reds.” He looked at Atem’s eyes, the tiny flickers of crimson light shining in them in the darkness, no doubt his night vision working to keep everything visible.

“I assume it would be a beautiful sight to behold,” Atem said slowly, “but it holds no bearing on what I am programmed to do, sir. I believe in times of war, my presence would be best suited to the battlefield, where I can be of use.”

“Yes I suppose it would.” Yugi sighed, arms flopping down the sides of his chair.