Chapter 45: Implant

After Joan got back from lunch, she handed an appreciative Mokuba a paper bag containing burgers and fries before getting back to her research. She found herself going in the same fruitless circles until Tamara said, "Heads up."

Joan looked up to see Mokuba approaching with what looked like some sort of ray gun out of a 1950s science fiction movie. "What's that thing?"

"It's a duel disk injector," Mokuba said. "Remember when Seto conjured holograms out of thin air while dueling Kayla?"

"Yeah." Joan waited for Mokuba to go on.

Mokuba pulled up a spare chair and sat down. "Well, most duelists still prefer the old duel disks like Kayla used, but Kaiba Corp. now offers implanted ones to anyone who can afford the upgrade. If you ever get into dueling, you'll be able to use the duel disk feature too, but for now its main function will be to hide those glowing gems, or to make it look like you're in control of the glowing."

"Wait, so you're going to put it in me? What if someone hacks it like Seto's got hacked?"

"Don't worry about that. Rebecca Hawkins did the hacking, and she's actually on our payroll, so she knows all the ins and outs of our systems. She's a computer genius, practically the only person in the world who could do it in the first place. She was upset that we asked her to hack into Facebook just so Seto and I could share a relationship status with you, but after that duel, she decided to cooperate."

"Oh, so she's on our team now?" Joan asked.

"Yeah."

"And you're sure the implant is safe?"

"Yep. I've got one too. It hurts going in, but once it's in, you'll barely notice it."

Like an IUD, Joan thought. "Will it give me headaches?"

"No, this isn't a neural implant like Seto's. This goes in your arm and it's voice-activated."

"In my arm?" Joan smirked playfully. "Isn't there somewhere else you'd rather put it?"

Mokuba's cock twitched. "Uh, can we be serious for just a minute longer? I don't want to risk that ring going off if it perceives danger. I need to know if you're OK with this."

"Yeah. Put it in me." Joan held out her left arm.

Mokuba held her forearm and aligned the gun between the proper muscles with the help of a deep tissue scanner. He met her eyes and counted to three before depressing the trigger. An odd thrill crossed Joan's face as the pain hit. Was she actually getting turned on by this? "Whore," Mokuba whispered on a whim.

Joan grabbed Mokuba's tie and pulled him in for a kiss, sliding her tongue deep into his mouth. Mokuba stifled a moan of pleasure at the unexpected sensation. He prayed that none of his employees were watching but couldn't pull himself away.

When Joan finally broke the kiss, Mokuba sat back in his chair panting and too blown away to complain. What difference would it make anyway if anybody saw? She'd already kissed him on live television, in front of her husband and boyfriend no less, so why should he worry what a few employees might think?

Then Mokuba recalled the incident with Pegasus. Someone had blabbed, and with so many people connected to Super Kaiba Megacorp in some form or other, there was no telling who. It could have been Seto himself, simply trying to brag, for all Mokuba knew. The story probably got twisted into the form Pegasus had shared after several retellings. Mokuba wondered if the same would happen over Joan's magic ring.

Joan's voice brought Mokuba back to the present moment. "So that's it? Can we get out of here now?"

"Almost," Mokuba tapped a control panel on the injector. "We need to calibrate it first. Start by saying, 'Let's duel!'" Mokuba's own duel disk projected out from his arm.

Joan giggled at the sheepish expression on Mokuba's face.

"Cancel duel," Mokuba commanded. The hologram dissolved. "OK, you do it now."

"Let's duel?" Joan tried.

"You've got to say it like you mean it."

"Let's duel!" An electric blue hologram popped out of Joan's arm.

"OK, now cancel it."

"Cancel duel." The hologram dissolved.

"Now for the special features. Start with, 'Cancel all glow effects.'"

Joan repeated after Mokuba and looked down at her ring. The gems appeared dull, like plastic toys she'd played with as a kid. "It needs some work."

"I know. It should put off the casual observer for now. I'll see if Marc can upgrade it over the weekend. Now try, 'Activate multi glow.'"

Joan did, and the gems still looked plastic, but they now flashed at regular intervals like Christmas lights.

"OK, now try, 'Activate random glow.'"

Joan repeated the command, and the gems returned to normal except for a soft glow in the ruby.

"That's what to say when you want to check on the actual status of the ring," Mokuba said, confirming Joan's guess.

Joan nodded. "Cancel all glow effects." The dull replacement appearance returned. "This is actually a big relief. Thanks."

"The relief is mine too. This has all been so weird. I mean, I've already been through enough magic for one lifetime, and I was hoping I'd never have to deal with it again. We're not out of the woods yet, but at least we can relax this weekend. Anyway, let's get going."

Joan shut down her laptop, packed it up, and headed out with Mokuba and the bodyguards. They dropped by Mokuba's condo so he could change into something more casual. Joan plopped onto the couch and poked her phone while Mokuba stuffed a few things into a backpack. The bodyguards also changed into casual attire so they would better blend in with the hippies at the Blooming Planet Festival.

Normally, Joan would work on her laptop during the two-hour Amtrak ride to see her friends, but with friends in the car, she wound up teaching them more songs instead. Tamara had a few good ones to share as well. Mokuba's bodyguard joined in the singing but offered no new songs to Joan's growing repertoire.