Currents- Chapter Three

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 The training room was empty the next morning, with most of his subordinates already out on a mission. In fact, the whole compound had a barren feel to it, Yugi meeting no one as he traversed the corridors with Atem.

“This is the sparring area. We use this space to keep our skills honed. Only seasoned warriors are sent to this place, so there’s no need for basic training. I’m assuming you don’t need it either.” Yugi rambled on, glancing back at Atem to get a nod of agreement. “Well we might as well get started then. Do you have a weapon preference?”

“I am trained to be proficient in all weapons, sir.” Atem responded.

“Then just pick any to begin with, and we’ll move through them all. If I see you’re better at any one in particular, we’ll use that one in the next exercise.”

“Yes sir.”

They went through the basic weapons. Yugi made him fire guns, swing swords, and throw knives. They would have to schedule mecha practice for another day, since Yugi still had to deal with e-mails and paperwork. He didn’t have time to watch Atem twirl around all day.

Atem was true to his profile, showing skill in all fields. Every one of his shots hit the mark, and his knife throwing was deadly accurate, enough that Yugi felt a tug of fear at the thought of going up against someone like Atem. It was no stretch to imagine how powerful Atem would be on the battlefield, how many men he could destroy in mere seconds. Yugi had to supress a shiver at the thought. He knew all too well what that feeling was like, and those were memories he would rather not visit again.

But he still didn’t have any answers as to what to assign Atem’s weapon as. Unless he could get away with saying ‘Atem’ as the weapon. Why not, the guy is practically a walking arsenal, just give him the guns and point at the enemy, Yugi scoffed to himself. This wasn’t getting him anywhere though; he needed to assign something to the android.

“How about we try this instead. Instead of me picking weapons for you, I’ll take you to the room and you decide what you believe will work best for you. Sound good?”

“If that is what you wish, sir.” Atem paused in his actions, dropping the gun he was holding back on the rack.

Yugi sighed in response. He wasn’t going to get the verbal response he needed, but he felt like that was a given with Atem. There seemed to be a way to get through to the android, though, and Yugi suspected this would be it. It was worth a try, anyway.

He led Atem to the far side of the training ground, opening a door with his key pass before continuing. Down the corridor and through another door the path opened up into a massive storage room, the walls lined with weapons. They were arranged by types and classes, Yugi already knowing exactly what was on what wall.

“Go ahead.” Yugi gestured forward, stepping back.

Atem gazed at all the weapons on the walls, walking slowly to examine them all. Yugi meanwhile was examining him, watching Atem reach out to brush a hand against the metal of several objects. He completely passed over the guns, seemingly drawn to the more traditional weapons. Strange, not many fight with those kinds anymore, Yugi noted.

Atem plucked a sword from a barrel, twirling the blade around as if he was forging the weapon himself. His reflection shone in the blade, the surface completely polished. He gave the blade a swing, slicing through the air effortlessly.

“Do you like the sword?” Yugi came closer, watching Atem’s reaction.

“They feel lighter than guns.” Atem responded, testing his grip.

“Would you feel more comfortable using them instead, then?”

“I believe I will be able to perform my tasks to better proficiency with these.”

Yugi paused for a moment, digesting what he had said. “So… you prefer swords?”

Atem turned to him, nodding. “Yes, sir.”

“Oh, good. Swords it is then. What about throwing knives? I wouldn’t feel good sending you to battle with just swords, especially with mechas and guns littering the field.”

“Daggers would serve well, sir.”

“Well good. We’ll do a mock-up of your gear to test how much you can carry for long periods of time, then we can-”

Yugi heard the sound of a door opening, and he whipped his head around, hand resting on the handle to his pistol cautiously. He relaxed when he recognised the figure that walked through. It’s just Ryou. He allowed his hand to slide off the gun. He crossed his arms to keep them still, waiting until Ryou had approached him, turning back to Atem.

“Continue with your task Atem.”

“Yes sir.” Atem nodded, and Yugi turned away.

“Ryou, what’s wrong?”

“Just received word that Mazaki’s team is heading back. She said they should be back sometime tomorrow.”

“Finally, I sent them out a week ago, it doesn’t take long to survey the desert,” Yugi sighed, nodding to himself. “Good timing actually, I could use people to spar with Atem.”

“I’ll leave you to it then.” Ryou nodded, scurrying off.

Yugi let out a groan, thinking about all the work he had ahead of him. There would be formalising the details of Anzu’s patrol, and anything that might have showed up while they were out on the field. And that meant paperwork, not to mention arranging enough weapons to be distributed to them in the next shipment, allowing leeway in the budget to order Atem’s weapons too.

He could feel a headache beginning to throbbing behind his eyes, and just thinking about the stack of paperwork he now had to fill out and e-mail to his superiors had his mind swimming through what felt like mud.

His eyes trailed over to Atem, watching the android test out the different swords. He had a small dagger in one hand, and a basic pistol in the other. He tried the weight of them, flicking the gun upwards to slice forward with the dagger, the momentum pulling his body sideways, his arm outstretched to catch the gun in his palm.

Smooth, everything he does is so smooth, Yugi lamented, wishing he had that type of grace. While he might not be as nimble, he still had his own way of tackling things that got the job done, and done well. He just… wished he was more stylish about it. Or had he been graceful? It was hard to remember at times, the battlefield far away and those memories scattered to the corners of Yugi’s mind, not in places easy to reach.

It was for the best.

He shrugged, calling out Atem’s name to get the android’s attention.

“You’re going to spar with some of my team tomorrow. I want to see how you move in a fight, against another person.” Yugi waved to him.

“As you wish, sir!” Atem saluted, and Yugi nodded. He watched Atem continue to work his way through the weapons, the day stretching by at an almost leisurely pace.

~~~~~~~~~

The hanger bay was musty and dirty at best, but it had a certain charm to it. Yugi wasn’t down there often, thankfully, except to visit Yusei when he needed to talk and couldn’t get Ryou to pass along the message.

He leaned against a thick metal support pillar, Atem ever present at his side. They watched the side of the wall that marked the entrance open, rusty metal groaning as it shifted.

Three mecha machines pulled in, the giant doors closing shut behind them. Yugi was relieved to see the paint jobs of his companion’s along the sides, the comforting sight of Jou’s crude doodles and Honda’s jagged shapes a welcome sight. He never told them, but he loved the way they drew all over their mechs, even though he knew Anzu scolded them for it, and he was supposed to as well, with how it risked the mech’s visibility during stealth missions. But he liked how it showed their individuality, when his superiors would prefer that they remain featureless soldiers.

The blonde lieutenant jumped down from the first mecha, shaking his hair wildly.

“Jounouchi! Welcome back!” Yugi called to the man, pushing off the pillar to greet his companion.

“Yugi! Hey bud how’s it going?” Jou ran forward, surprising Yugi with a bear hug.

“Jou please, let’s keep it professional here.” Yugi pushed away, smoothing out his jacket.

“Yes sir General Mutou sir!” Jou gave him a mock salute, body snapping straight upwards.

“All right Jou, no need to be that formal. Just got to keep you on your toes.”

“Leave the General alone, Lieutenant, I’d hate to scold him for the third time today.”

Yugi turned around, beaming a smile as a woman walked up to him.

“An- uh, Captain Mazaki, you’re back!” Yugi waved the woman down, strutting over to greet her.

She scooped up his small form into her arms, giving him a tight hug.

“Mazaki, protocol.” Yugi wheezed, scrambling to get out of the other’s grip.

“Oh hush Yugi you know it’s only us. Everyone here knows we’re old friends, stop being a sourpuss.” Anzu scolded him, giggling.

“Just trying to do my job.” He grunted back.

“You’re doing great, and everyone thinks so, so don’t worry.” She mussed up his hair, finally releasing him.

He swatted her hand away, smoothing out the strands of bangs that clung to the frame of his face.

“Just use more gel, then it’ll stay up.” Anzu shrugged, grinning.

“I’m not gelling my bangs back. Hair, yes, but the bangs stay.” He curled back the stubborn piece that refused to move from his forehead, giving him the strangest fringe. He swatted it to the side, turning to Anzu.

“So how did it go?”

“Same as every other scouting mission,” Anzu rolled her eyes. “We found nothing, no trace of soldiers from the other side, no evidence of anything.”

“What took so long then?”

“Jou got his mecha trapped in a ditch.” Anzu replied smugly.

“Hey! It wasn’t ‘stuck’ I’ll have you know! Just mi-”

“Misplaced, right.” Anzu rolled her eyes, and Yugi chuckled.

“I believe you, Jou.”

“See! The General has my back!” Jou called as he bounded away, over to where Honda was talking with Bruno.

“Will you guys be up for a sparring match tomorrow?”

“These two? Of course they would!” Anzu scoffed. “What for, though? Physical testing was two months ago; we’ve already done it this year.”

“It’s not so much testing them as I need to evaluate the Commander’s new ‘weapon’.”

“Weapon? As in the big fancy weapon of war we’ve been getting nothing more than thin documents about?”

“Details were slim, yes, but admittedly I think I know why they didn’t want us looking into the process. The facility was under Dartz’s command.”

Anzu’s face screwed up. “Not that slime ball.”

“Oh yes that slime ball,” Yugi grunted. “And the list doesn’t stop there my friend.”

“Well shit, what else is wrong? Don’t tell me the weapon exploded when you got it or something?”

“No Atem works fine. More than fine actually, if the records are anything to go off. I’m waiting to get my own data, but he’s in tip top shape to destroy anything the Empire wants.”

“So what’s the problem then?”

“Dartz, ‘advanced’ androids, facility in some random ass area no one else can find without directions? Let’s just say Atem isn’t what he seems.”

“You’ll have to be more specific than that, Yugi.”

Yugi groaned, waving his hands in the space between them. “He’s not an android, not in the traditional sense. He’s… He was originally human, Anzu. They turned a human into a weapon.”

“You know this for sure?”

“Yusei ran tests for me; it’s official.” Yugi nodded. Anzu looked horrified.

“Did he volunteer for it?”

“I don’t think so. I think… I think they might have kidnapped people to experiment on, and Atem is the one they finally got right.”

“Yugi, that’s disgusting. Have you told anyone? The Commander?”

“Like Gozaburo’s going to give a shit about me advocating for human rights. He was probably fully aware of what Dartz was up to, most likely funding it too.”

“Then what can we do? Can we even do anything about that? I mean, if the damage is done, then…”

“Yusei and I have been working to fix the damage. Somehow, we’ll find a way. I’m not going to let Dartz get away with this, not when he practically handed Atem to me.”

Anzu let out a shaky sigh. “I didn’t expect to come back to something as serious as this.”

“Yeah sorry for dropping this on you.” Yugi attempted to smile, patting her shoulder. “Want to split a bottle?”

“Sure, but you should probably go rescue your android from the boys.” Anzu gestured behind him, a playful smile on her face.

Yugi turned around, groaning at what he saw. “Jou! Cut it out!”

Jou and Honda had somehow moved behind them, fluttering around Atem still beside the support beam. Jou was poking at Atem’s arm, wide, curious look spreading his face.

“Hey boss! Who’s the new guy? He’s so… stoic.” Jou asked as Yugi jogged up to them.

“He’s the new weapon of war, idiot.” Honda spoke up, slapping Jou over the back of his head, shaking his own.

“Honda’s right.” Yugi agreed.

“Wait wait wait, if he’s the weapon of war, does that mean he’ll respond to any command? He’s just an android right?” Jou said, eyes bugging with curiosity.

“Only from me. Go ahead and try if you want.” Yugi gestured to the android.

“Sweet,” Jou grinned, puffing his chest out. “Atem, tell me Jounouchi Katsuya is the best!”

Atem tilted his head, eyebrows knitting in confusion. He then completely ignored Jou, turning to Yugi. “Orders, sir?”

“Nothing for now Atem. Stand down.” Yugi replied, giving Jou a sympathetic smile. “Don’t take it too harshly. I still think you’re the best lieutenant.”

“Really?”

“At what you do, since you’re the only one under my command who does it.” Yugi laughed, seeing the dejected look that settled on Jou’s face.

“Cruel boss, so cruel.”

“Life is hard, yes,” Yugi nodded, pretending to look solemn. “Sadly I must take our new member back to my office, where I have a stack of paperwork waiting to be filled out and filed away.”

“Plus you have to make good on your offer.” Anzu reminded him.

“Got the bottle all picked out and all.”

“Oh some general on captain action tonight, is there?” Jou waggled his eyebrows, elbowing Honda in the side at the same time.

Yugi blinked innocently. “Actually we were going to discuss how long you two had been dating, and who tops more.”

At that Jou and Honda both reeled back, gaping at each other.

“No way man, have you seen the way this guy eats? He would put any partner out of business with the budget he would rack up.” Honda shook his head sadly, looking forlorn.

“Hey! I’m not that bad! Plus, a guy’s gotta eat!” Jou puffed his chest out, arms crossed angrily over them.

Yugi and Anzu just laughed, side glancing each other, a silent ‘well played’ passing between them.

“You shouldn’t assume two people hanging out together means they’re dating then! You know Anzu and I are old friends.” Yugi chided, nudging Jou’s shoulder.

“Fair point, fair point.” Jou conceded, throwing his hands up and stepping back. He and Honda both took off, eager to finish unpacking and relax.

Anzu cleared her throat, tilting her head towards the exit. “So that bottle?”

“Coming right up, Mazaki.”