Taking Over

He stood before a large group with the head of the FBI, Director Mason. The man, who was on in his years and pudgy, gestured to them. “This group will be under your command. You realize, of course, we cannot rely on the fake L.”

“No. He’s done nothing. If anything,” and here Matt tapped the side of his glasses, “public approval has risen.” He looked carefully over the assembled men and women. “How many of these people have unsealed files?”

The older man looked at him.

“If their files are unsealed and Kira finds out about this then he could wipe them out. If he already knows about FBI agents, which wouldn’t surprise me, and gets wind that the American government has taken action then he might already know about them and kill them anyway.”

“There are only a few….”

“Dismiss the ones whose records haven’t been sealed. Seal everyone’s records as soon as possible. Looks like it’s you guys.” He looked them over. “Anthony Carter, Stephen Loud, and Hallie Bullook.”

“You only want…such a small group.”

“Better then a large group. Less chances of spies or leaks.” I’d work alone but…I’m not match with L at this point and I don’t have someone like Watari around. I need more experience. Just figures that my first job is one this chaotic.

The three of them stepped around him; he surveyed each of them. Hallie, pretty woman, a blond, slim but serious-looking. Stephen looked like he could be an actor, he had a mostly unreadable face, and looked capable. Anthony, a big man, huge and muscular.

“Think up some alternative names.” He glanced at Mason. “Get some fake IDs printed up for them.”

Mason had looked at him for a moment and then turned away.

He looked at them and nodded. “My name is Matt. I’m gonna start setting up. You three go with Mason.”

They had all looked at him for a moment. He probably looked like just some punk kid to them. He ignored it and went into a large, empty room.

My headquarters. Christ. I’m a joke. Haha.

He did all the wiring and bugging himself. He set up the security system himself. Damn, L sure did have some cash on hand.

He sat down in a cold, metal chair on wheels and spun in a slow circle, thinking. These goody-two-shoe government types who stick inside the law are only going to be so helpful…I may need other sources…just in case….

The call had come not long later.

When Director Mason had picked up the phone, he’d blinked. He put a hand over it. “It’s the fake L, he’s asking about other Kira investigators.”

Matt nodded. Good job, Roger.


Matt had made that precaution two years ago. At seventeen he’d come to a thought. If he were to keep his identity a secret…he could use their names….

The call to Roger.

“Roger, I need you to do me a favour.”

“Matt?”

“Yes. Is anyone in the room with you?”

“No.”

“Is the line secure?”

“Of course...”

“Good, I’ve a request. Kira or this fake L is bound to find out, eventually, that there are others investigating the Kira case. And if he’s too slow to catch on, I’ll let the information slip. I don’t know much about this new L except that he’s useless but Kira is smart. If anyone comes asking around about L and Watari or the Kira case, don’t tell them Near and Mello are dead.”

“Matt, it shouldn’t matter. L, Watari, Mello, and Near are dead. I don’t see the purpose—“

“If they think that those two disappeared—the top of the class, next to be L’s successors—right after L’s death, Kira would likely assume he was going to be hunted on two fronts considering the competitive nature of the two of them. If L number two finds out, he’d probably want to contact them, as he’s got nothing on the real L. No one needs to know the dates of their deaths. None of the other orphans know what really happened that night, right?”

“Correct. We didn’t tell them…”

“Good. Keep it that way. Don’t mention me and, if somehow my name is forced to come up, tell them I took off to be an engineer or something but don’t tell them I was friends with Mello. Got it? I want the new L to contact me first. I want to see how he works and how long it takes him to pick up on it.”

“I understand.”

“Thanks Roger. Don’t forget.”

“I won’t.” And in England, Roger had set the phone back in its cradle and smiled, a little sadly. So, L, you were right. He just needed time.

Still, when Mason looked at him and he looked at that phone, he’d felt a second of rage. This stupid fake L. Far inferior. How dare he—and he’d calmed himself and gestured for the phone. He leaned back, put his feet on the desk and said, “L number two, what’s up?”

There was a second of dead cold silence.

Matt smirked, slightly bitter, but went on. “Yes?”

“What are you talking about? Who are you?”

“Please don’t fake this. We know the real L is dead.”

“Who are you?”

“Another taking on the Kira case, like you.”

Another beat of silence. “Then you know about Watari.”

“Quillish Wammy? Indeed I do.”

“So you must know he founded an orphanage for gifted children to become the next L.”

“Yes.”

“The top of the class were two competitive boys. Near and Mello. We heard through different rumors and sources that there were other investigators. I can only assume these two might also be looking for Kira as revenge for L.”

“Yes, that’s certainly possible. Very likely in fact.”

“But no one seems to know where they went.”

“Well, L number two, I’m assuming you decided to look into this recently and thought that, perhaps, other countries had taken up the hunt for Kira.”

“Yes. So I contacted the director of the FBI—“

“—and came in contact with me. I am in charge of the group here looking for Kira.”

Another beat of silence.

On the other side, Light Yagami had two drawn pictures in front of him of this apparent Near and Mello. According to Matsuda, a girl named Linda had drawn them up, telling them about the two of them suddenly disappearing one night. L’s heirs…so this guy…

“So are you Near or Mello?”

In New York, Matt smirked. Heh. “I’m Near.” Sorry guys, I’m guessing wild. I dunno what they might have said about your personalities….

“Where’s Mello?”

“You want to contact him too? Why’s that?”

“I had hoped that we could all work together to capture Kira.”

“Mello went up in thin air. No one has seen him since he left. But I will tell you that I have no intentions of working much with you. Unless, of course, it becomes necessary.”

“Why not?”

“You’ve made hardly any progress over the last four years. You’re far inferior to the real L and he died while working in Japan. I have no reason to trust you.”

“You assumed that I would call you at some point.”

“Catching on a bit quicker now, aren’t you? Yes. I did assume you would call.”

“So you’ve prepared for it. So there’s a chance you may not be Near at all, or Mello, you could be someone else entirely.”

“If you want to believe that then do so. Of course, attempting to investigate me will only cause problems for you.”

“Is that a threat, Near?”

Inwardly, he winced a little. Being called by that name…he hoped Near would forgive him for using him as an alias. “Of course not. What good would that be? I don’t know who you are either. But you would only cause further mistrust in relations between Japan and the Unites States. Not to mention yourself and me if you really want to cooperate together. Which, from the sounds of it, you don’t want to that badly.”

“I do.”

“Then let’s negotiate,” Matt said, taking a quick drag on a cigarette before setting it down again.

“What?”

“Negotiate. I know the Japanese police are in possession of the murder notebook. I want to know about it.”

“Then I want information on Mello.”

“What makes you think I know where he is?”

“I think you’re lying.”

Oh, touché.

“Careful, faker. All right. Tell me about the notebook and I’ll tell you what I know about Mello.”

He gestured to Stephen—who was calling himself Gevanni—looking up a bit to make sure this all was being recorded. The man nodded.

On the other side, Light scowled. This guy was annoying. But if these two, Near and this Mello guy were both on the hunt for Kira…he’d eventually come under fire from two fronts….it would only be a matter of time…the Shinigami, the Eyes, and the details on the ownership of the notebook…this Near didn’t need to know that.

On his own side, Matt quirked an eyebrow. If Kira truly does need a name and a face to kill…then this information doesn’t cut it. Those people that started dying when there’s no way Kira could have known their names….then how… “That’s all you can say?”

“That’s all we know. Now, what do you know about Mello?”

“I’ve heard rumours about his location. That’s all. I’ve heard everything from Las Vegas to Canada to France.”

“I thought you’d said he’d disappeared?”

“He did. But you don’t get into the position I am without picking up a rumour here and there. Just like you.”

“What do you mean, ‘just like you’?”

“Well, you are calling on rumours and leads, aren’t you? If you had hard leads, you wouldn’t bother calling me, would you?”

“So you basically know next to nothing.”

“Precisely.”

“Then that exchange was for nothing.”

“You have some leads now, don’t you?”

“You talked about my raising tension between us when you’ve just done so.”

“You’re the one getting angry. You didn’t technically ask how much I knew. You just asked for what I knew.”

He hoped the faker was grinding his teeth.

“What’s your most recent lead?”

“Canada. I’ve been looking for him too, to be honest.”

“Why?”

“As we were in competition to succeed L, we both worked hard but he is very, very smart. I was going to attempt to convince him to work with me.”

“You can’t work on your own, Near?”

“As I recall, you called me first.”

Light bit his tongue. Calm down. I’m losing my cool. He’s walking me in circles. I got too emotional with L and he cornered me. I can’t let that happen now.

“Is there anything else, L two?”

“No. Not for now. I’ll keep in touch.”

I’ll bet you will. Go on your little side quest. Enjoy Canada, its got some nice scenery.

Matt hung up the phone. He stood, paced for a moment and then wandered away, walking back into his room. He flipped on a few monitors to keep an eye on the proceedings downstairs and dug out Near’s little Lego man and Mello’s picture. He smiled a little. “Sorry about that, guys.”

It was later, after Mason had left, that Rester, aka Carter, asked who Near and Mello were. Matt had looked at him. “I made them up.”

“Why?”

“We’ll have to see…I want to know who they put in as the new L but I doubt the guy will just hand over the information. And if Kira finds out, then better to think he’s got two people who don’t exist to deal with rather then one person who does.”

Matt tapped his glasses, blowing smoke at his computer screen. Christ, I wanna go outside. It’s fucking claustrophobic in here.

He leaned back in his chair. “Two things. I’m going to set up some fake records for ‘Mello’. They need to go to the Canadian border so if anything comes up and they take the bait, the new L will chase that. We can take advantage of him. See how long it takes him to figure out that ‘Mello’ isn’t anywhere there.”

“Why do that?” Rester asked.

“Just to see how he works.” Matt tapped his pencil against the desk and went on. “Secondly, we should call up the head of the Japanese police.” Matt took some papers out from under his ashtray and looked through them. “Takimura. Gevanni, try and get out of him what he knows about the group working with L. He can’t be working alone. Tell him it’s someone who’s under M.” Especially if…for some reason…they saw L’s face… “Or, if nothing else, who worked with the original L.” That was just common sense. It wasn’t as though they were just going to pick someone at random. It would had to have been someone who had worked under L.

Light Yagami disconnected and sat back, glaring at the screen.

Aizawa, Matsuda, Ide, his father, and Mogi all looked at each other. Then at Light.

Be careful.

“He’s either Mello or he isn’t either one of them.”

Matsuda blinked. “Really? Why do you say that?”

“From what we know about Near…,” he raised an eyebrow. “He was a studious boy. Quiet but still competitive. This guy was too laid back. But Mello was competitive too. It’s more likely that this guy is Mello then Near.”

“But why use Near’s name as an alias?” Aizawa muttered.

Light turned back around in the chair to the screens. “Good question.” So if he really is Mello…then where is Near? And why Canada? It was a strange set-up. And he definitely felt it was a set-up, although he wasn’t sure why or how it fit. What mattered more was that this guy had somehow found out that L was dead and he was investigating Kira and had blown him, Light, off completely.

But if he is Near, then he is a genius…L’s heir. He’s a liability. I’ll need to kill him as soon as possible. Mello as well, depending on which one he is—if either of them. That itself presents a further problem if he isn’t. If he isn’t really with either of those two, he would have to be someone who knows them. And if he knows L is dead, then they probably would too…damn…

Behind him, Ryuuk snickered.

“Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!”

Light closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

Misa came hurtling into the room like a canon ball and grabbed him around the shoulders. “Take a break and come out with me, okay?”

“Not now, Misa. I have work to do.” Canada. It’s probably a bluff…but…

He turned in his chair, Misa still hanging on him. The others suddenly found something else to occupy their eyes with. “Ide, I personally don’t think his whole talk about Mello being in Canada has much merit, however, we can’t refuse a lead at this point. Check with the officials at the Canadian border. Misa, go back to the room.”

She pouted at him. “I’ll wait for tonight then!” She flounced away.

“If you don’t trust…him…or…either of them…then why take it?”

“Because they are also looking for Kira and we need what cooperation we can get,” Soichiro answered for him.

Light nodded. “We’re not making much progress. If either of these two know something, then perhaps they will share it and if this guy, whoever he is—or if he is one of them—knows, then we need to try and win him over. We can try and meet them.” I need to kill him. “Did you trace the call?”

Aizawa studied the equipment for a moment. “We did…but we didn’t get much from it. The line was scrambled, of course, and we got hits all over the place. From New York to Paris to Versailles to Sydney. This guy definitely knew what he was doing.”

“He did anticipate the call.” Matsuda put in. “But why the secrecy? We’re all trying to catch Kira. Maybe he is Kira.”

The others looked at him thoughtfully.

Light inwardly rolled his eyes. It’s so frustrating working with these people. “I doubt that. He wouldn’t have walked me around like he had and what would be the point of asking about the Death Note if he already knew about it. And if he had once been classmates with Mello, why would he want to kill him? Unless their rivalry really was that extreme, which I doubt considering how he was described. Although, if he were Mello, he could be setting us up on purpose to keep us out of the way.”

“But why would he do that?” Matsuda again.

“Because he obviously doesn’t trust us.”

He turned away so he could grit his teeth. He may even be using the other as bait, calling him Mello so I’ll kill him instead—but that would mean he’d know I was Kira. There’d be no other reason to set up the other if I was just L looking for others also hunting Kira—except to keep us out of the way. This guy…I’ve either got two to deal with, three, or just one. I need to find him. Due to the way he blew me off, he’d probably refuse a meeting. Maybe…

Either way…I’ll think of something.

But inwardly he had to smile a bit. I do have to find them. If they are L’s heirs. Haha…things may get exciting again.


Matt scowled. How the fuck am I gonna find people like Wedy and Aiber? L—how did he find them…? Tch. Well. Shit. They’re dead now. He tapped his notes. People die when you write in their names…forty seconds, bam, a heart attack. You can control the time of death, pages never run out…but the user has to write a name every thirteen days or they die and everyone who has touched it…if it’s destroyed…they die. He took a drag from his cigarette. People accidentally getting hold of these notebooks must happen more often then one would think if they have the goddamn rules written in English in them, only Kira has taken it to this extreme—and he’s smart enough to have lasted six years. The others must have been afraid or just weren’t as intelligent. But if they were caught, what happened to the other notebooks? And how the hell do you fucking get one? I mean you can’t just walk into a goddamn Wal-mart, fucking, ‘Excuse me, where can I find notebooks that kill people?’ Jesus Christ. He inwardly chuckled a little. Although Wal-mart killing people with them might not be as surprising. Haha, that’s bad. Seventy-five cents a heart attack.

He turned to Gevanni. “Did you contact Takimura?”

“He couldn’t tell me anything. He said the Japanese police had officially given up the search for Kira.”

“He couldn’t or wouldn’t? Did you tell him who we were?”

Gevanni nodded.

“Well, officially means that there’s probably someone else within the police doing it anyway. L squared and company, in other words.”

What would L do? Or…in this kind of situation…am I being too careful? The conversation I had with that fake was too laid-back. That was stupid of me. But…to follow a path Mello—no, why am I always considering what they do? I gotta do this my own way.

He looked at the three of them. “I need to leave for awhile.”

They stared at him.

“It’s not like I’m going on vacation. I need to find some people.”

“Some people?” Rester asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Yes. People. I’ll give you the details later. Can I leave the three of you here to continue? If anything comes up, get a hold of me immediately.”

“Where are you going?” Hal looked at him, cocking an eyebrow.

“Do you really think it’s smart to go outside considering the position you’re in?” Gevanni sat back, looking at him, a little incredulous.

Matt sighed. “Look, I know the three of you don’t exactly trust my skills yet. I’ll only be gone for two weeks at the most. In the mean time,” this time he turned his gaze to Rester. “Don’t contact Takimura again.” Back to Gevanni. “You told him it was the SPK. Did you give that name?”

“Yes, I told him it was M.”

Matt smiled and nodded. “Good. Good. If L contacts you, asking about it, tell him we don’t know anything about it, or connect him directly to me.” He wrote down a phone number. “Remember. Anything comes up, call me.” If he thinks Mello contacted him…of course, he might guess that I’m not either of them at all and get suspicious…but if he thinks Mello contacted Takimura…then the competitiveness that went between Near and Mello—who will catch Kira first would make sense. And he might be more baited to contact him—which means I need to hurry. Although…I might be over-thinking this if L isn’t persistent about pursuing them for information—he’s resorting to something he probably doesn’t want to do. Mello contacting Takimura and telling him it’s the SPK; if the new L found out about it, he’d likely assume that I lied and we really are in contact or that I’m actually Mello, or that Mello has a spy in the SPK.

But then again, I’m trying to think of this L in terms of the original L…and he doesn’t hold shit to the real L. It’ll all depend on the next few days and if Takimura contacts L. If he contacts here…and actually finds out that I’m gone…he might assume that I’ve gone to Mello.

“On second thought, if L contacts you, looking for me, tell him I’m gone but don’t know where I went. Then give him my number. But give him this one.” He wrote down a second line. He’d modified both his phones, naturally, scrambled them but the second he’d put in a voice filter, just in case. And he didn’t trust this L at all. Ryuuzaki had died there. Why should he? Common sense…

Fuck…Matt, don’t screw this up. There are a lot of things that could happen at this point.

“And by the way, don’t tell Mason about this. If he needs me, tell him to call me at the first number I gave you but don’t necessarily tell him I left for a little while. I’ll be back soon. And if L contacts you through computer rather then phone, do your best to log his systems. That’ll be hard, I know. He’s probably got his security and protocol addresses encrypted as fuck, especially depending on what programs he used—he may have combined a few different techniques—he’s useless as L, but he has to, at least, be a little intelligent, but anyway—use that computer. Never turn it off.” He pointed to one system on the side. “I built that one myself…try and do it with that one.” My best subjects were always mechanics and programming…the programs automatically scan…it may be able to get a short ways in, and if it does, it’ll self log and I can modify the program as I need to. That means I’d need to bait L into contacting me a few more times. I couldn’t get a clear hit on his location but he didn’t deny my saying he was in Japan. And messages aren’t what I’m looking for…I won’t be able to hack his system…but it will give me a place to start. I may be able to trace it back…or match. I dunno…it just seems…gut instinct. He shook his head to himself. But I also can’t forget that he may start investigating me as well. But that should be okay…I’ve set up my codes and encryptions and IP to reset every two hours and I told them not to contact him, let him contact us.

He went back to his room and set the computers and screens and a bug to record the control room. The regular screens only monitored but he wanted to know everything that happened in his absence when he got back. He didn’t necessarily trust them yet either and he sure as hell wasn’t going to tell them where he was going or what he was planning. They might tell Mason.

He’d leave in the morning.

When he slept, the nightmares returned.