End Transmission

AN: This fic is now officially longer than Choices :P

Suggested Listening: Favorite Fantasy by Karmina; The Foreboding Sense Of Impending Happiness by HIM

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Warning Sign

"I suppose that you know about L announcing his intentions to the NPA then?" Yagami sounded tired and just the slightest bit annoyed, though Mello had no idea if the latter was directed towards himself or not.

"You're correct. I have a request of you and your partner..." Mello trailed off, distracted by the way his lips still tingled in the aftermath of kissing Matt. That boy was hazardous to his work ethic in a way nothing else could ever come close to.

"I want the two of you looking into L as much as possible without getting caught. You have far more resources than I do even with my hacker, or at the least a different type of resources. If you do get stuck on something, send it here and I'll see what we can do. My hacker is one of the best."

"What you are really saying, is that you want me to hack L if I get the chance and report to you anything I find out and if I get something I cant crack just hand it over to you?" Yagami sounded incredulous.

"At least we have an understanding." Mello smirked.

"No we don't and the only reason I'm even entertaining working with you is-"

"Because no one else inside the law will listen to you." Mello finished for him, his smirk gone. Yagami was silent though Mello could almost see the man frown at him through the phone. It probably was hard for the police officer to work with him, a Mafiya boss, but Mello knew there wasn't time for petty squabbling and the like. L wouldn't wait for them to sort themselves out, and neither would anyone else.

"We are on our own Yagami, and the sooner you deal with the fact that you are helping a criminal arrest another criminal we can get things settled." Mello knew that he was a criminal, but he had never dreamed of a life in the Mafiya.

He had wanted, to a small degree, to become a detective, all those years ago. It hadn't all been about being the best and beating Near. He had loved learning, loved the challenges the classes gave him and the thought that he would bring people to justice despite having come from a criminal background. He had wanted to arrest the person who had murdered his family... but he had long since learned that there was no such thing as justice.

There was the law, bound by so much tape that it made a bondage fetishes dream look tame, and then there was outside the law, where anything could be accomplished if one had the right tools and enough luck.

L straddled both of those lines, and did it well. Had become so influential that everyone in the law took him for his word so long as there were credible facts presented, and everyone outside the law answered his beck and call because of blackmail.

He had the best of both worlds, and with Yagami's help so would Mello.

"Oh and Yagami, if you ever have the chance to work with L, take it." Mello told the brunette before hanging up. He knew he had pissed Yagami off with his attitude, but it couldn't really be helped all that much. He wasn't there to reassure Yagami that what he was doing was right, and he wasn't about to hold his tongue to make things easier. It wasn't his style and the quicker Yagami learned it, the quicker they would get along, even if only tentatively.

He tossed the phone onto the table and rolled onto his side. There was so much to do and yet Mello wasn't sure he would be able to do it anytime soon. He needed a way into L's system and he needed to find him.

Sure, they could find Wammys again, but L wasn't there, he wouldn't be stupid enough to be there as even those who didn't want to kill him for something he'd done in the name of justice wanted to find him.

He was the worlds greatest detective and everyone wanted to know where he was. He probably still visited about as much as he had when they had been there, but he wouldn't stay there.

Which lead back to Mello the need to know where he was. And so far the only way to that he saw was through L's 'cooperation' with the NPA and other agencies. But even that angle was riddled with problems. L's system was no doubt going to be heavily guarded and Mello didn't know enough about Yagami's abilities to ascertain if he could pull it off, or even get into a position to do so.

There were a lot of what if's and uncertainties that made Mello want to pull his hair. Why couldn't L be one of stupid villains out of Matt's games? The ones who made horrendously stupid mistakes and got themselves caught easily?

"Because that would be too easy..." he muttered into his hands. He was closer than he had ever been, and yet farther away than ever at the same time. It was paradoxical. It was ridiculous.

And he knew he would need to take risks he never wanted to take. He was sure that Matsuda could find a way to get someone inside the building long enough to set up a few things of surveillance, or perhaps even simply get a feel of the buildings own surveillance and add a patch into the system.

And for things like that there was only one person in the world he would trust.

He sighed deeply in attempt to calm the irritation swelling inside himself as he snatched up the phone. He had only gotten in contact with Yagami not all that long ago and already the shit was hitting the fan. And what if that hadn't been the first meeting, what if the NPA were one of the last to be informed? Who was L already after, who had he already taken out of the picture and swept under the rug? Mello hated not having such important information at his immediate disposal.

Mello typed in some numbers and pressed the phone to his ear and waited two rings before the call was picked up. "Are you in a position to speak freely?" he needed to ask Matsuda some things but had to make sure the man would be able to answer.

"No mother."

Mello rose an eyebrow at the choice but figured it was better for him to say that than anything else as Mello doubted that he would be believed, with the personality he was using, if he told whomever was with him it was a girlfriend. He had to wonder though, why Yagami had been able to talk and not Matsuda, unless they were doing separate projects at the moment.

"I need to get my associate into the NPA building to survey its security systems and possibly tamper with them, can you do so?"

"You need me to pick up some milk? Alright I can do it." Matsuda answered him cheerfully and Mello grinned despite himself.

"How soon can you get it done?"

"Mom you know I'm at work now, why are you making plans for next week? I'm sorry but I need to go, you will get me into trouble if I'm caught on my phone." Mello wondered if Matsuda was in a meeting but decided it was of no importance.

"Thank you Matsuda. I will expect your call sometime soon." he hung up and despite the good news, his grin faded. He had almost hoped it couldn't be done. But it could and so he would deal with it.

"Matt!" he called as he heaved himself from his position on the bed. He wasn't sure if Matt had heard him or not, the lack of movement in the apartment meaning nothing, but he wasn't about to wait on the off chance the redhead had indeed heard him..

He spotted him laying on the couch with a game controller in his hands and a cigarette in his mouth. "Matt-"

"Just a sec." Matt muttered and Mello watched with a slight raise of an eyebrow as a blond haired character leaped across the screen and shot at men in suits. He was eerily reminded of a job, a year or so ago, that he had wanted done right and had taken upon himself to complete. Whatever Matt was playing he should have figured the character would either have red, white or blond hair.

He watched for a few more minutes before he grew tired of waiting and leaned over the couch to pluck the cigarette from Matt's lips. At the very least he would gain the redheads attention. He stared down at the burning stick in his hands and with a sudden bout of curiosity he placed it between his lips and sucked in a bit of the poisonous air.

Mello felt the sudden urge to cough but beat it down violently and wrinkled his nose at the taste that was only good on Matt's lips. "These things are fucking disgusting, I have no idea how you ever got into them- what?" he muttered the last part as he found Matt staring at him intently with an odd look.

Matt shifted a little under his scrutiny and Mello instantly translated the look, glancing downwards a moment to confirm it. Matt was aroused. Him smoking a cigarette was arousing?

Mello shook his head slightly and decided to file that information away for a later time. Instead he rolled his eyes and put the stick back in Matt's mouth. "Do I have your undivided attention now?"

Matt frowned and rolled the cigarette to the other side of his mouth and simply stared at him.

"I have a job for you." he smiled a little at the bright look of excitement Matt got out of those six words. "It's not hacking." he watched as Matt's gaze turned curious and Mello wondered how to phrase his request, how to get it past his lips at all.

"In a week or so, if Matsuda is true to his word, I want you to sneak into the NPA and manually tamper with their surveillance systems and perhaps plant a few bugs." Mello knew that he wouldn't need to explain that L would be watching the system for attacks now that he was 'working' with the NPA.

"You know I have no problem with field work." and that was Matt's way of accepting, along with the face eating grin he wore.

"Any electronics you place there can not be detectable by any normal means or those shown to us at Wammys. I don't care if you have to create something new in only a weeks time, or find someone who can, but you have to get it done."

Matt looked a bit more interested at the mention of getting to tinker around without being told to get to work or rest and Mello shook his head. Fucking geek. Though what did it say about him? He was the one getting fucked by said geek.

"You know making things isn't my area of expertise so I might not be able to make it all that small, but I'll figure something out." Matt shrugged and turned back to his game, though by his thoughtful expression it wasn't what his mind was on at the moment.

Mello looked at his lover for a few more minutes before heading back into the bedroom to nab a few sheets of paper. He needed to make plans. Just because they had a vague idea of what they would be doing didn't mean they, Matt, were ready to go in.

He wouldn't know everything until Matsuda called him again in a week but he could fill it in later. And short of mulling over what he did and didn't know about L, and the problems invading his Mafiya, he wanted to spend his time at least attempting to flesh out a strategy complete with worst case scenarios for the night Matt would go into the NPA.

Mello rummaged around one of the broken kitchen draws, the one they had to struggle with to get away from the counter and manhandle back into place, and found a pencil to work with. He sat, unnaturally dim lighting reflecting off the blank paper, and sighed.

It was going to be a long, long week.

.

.

.

Mello had just taken the food out of the oven and set it on the stove top when he smelt smoke. "I'm finished." Mello glanced at the redhead, who wore a lazy smirk, and sighed. At least the food was too hot to be eaten right away anyway.

"Alright, let's see what you are so happy about." he muttered and slid the pot holders off his hands. He saw the amusement dancing in Matt's expression and snarled. He used pot holders, so fucking what? He wasn't about to burn his hands touching a hot pan. It didn't mean he was going to be wearing frilly aprons next.

He followed Matt into the spare room that the redhead had turned into his workspace. It had been just over a week, nine days, since he had contacted Matsuda and he had yet to hear back from the man. Mello wasn't worried as things like that took time, but he would only wait another few days before he contacted Matsuda again.

Matt flicked the lights back on in the small space and Mello grimaced at the sight. He hadn't set foot in the redhead's workspace, after being warned many times to watch where he was walking and could he not bump into that highly important equipment again?, since the second day and was rather annoyed at the clutter that had taken root. Discarded and crumpled pieces of paper, food wrappers and water bottles never mind all the wires and tools. He was not going to be the one to clean it.

"I have a few things ready, mainly enhanced bugs. And though they are strung together and look kinda shitty they are better than anything on the market and otherwise."

The moment he set eyes on Matt's creations he understood why Matt had told him that. They looked like something one would find in a junkyard, and they were far from the pin sized ones he was used to working with. "It's not what's on the outside that matter, but the insides." Matt told him as he noticed his expression.

Mello rolled his eyes. "Take your shoddy workmanship and put it somewhere they wont get broken. I need you to be ready to go when he calls. You may or may not have time to gather your things."

Matt nodded to him and Mello leaned against the wall as he watched the redhead work, the muscles moving beneath the tight fabric of his shirt. His eyes instinctively latched onto the pale skin of Matt's back as the shirt rode up.

Matt had nasty scars there, just barely hinted by the touch of raw pink on his skin, from his abduction but they had healed nicely for the most part. Though Mello would never forget how bad they had looked the first few days, weeks, that Matt had them.

Matt squatted beside a small bag and placed his creations inside before righting himself and stretching languidly. "Hurry up, dinner's ready." Mello reminded him. Matt laughed and jogged from the room before Mello could hit him. He would never hit him hard, but there were times when he needed a good smack to the back of his head.

Mello had to wonder just how long it had been since Matt had eaten as he practically inhaled his food, though Mello knew it couldn't have been more than nine hours. Mello ate at a much slower pace, wanting to actually taste the food, but still smiled in appreciation as Matt held out a bar of chocolate as he lit a cigarette.

With the thought of chocolate, the taste rich and smooth, filling his mind he grudgingly concentrated on finishing his food until he was satisfied he had eaten more than enough. He left the dirty plates in the sink and tore open the bar to snap a piece off.

Matt had disappeared, though from the sounds he'd gone into the main room, and Mello found him digging around inside the couch cushions to retrieve a buried game or pack of cigarettes. It was hard to say with Matt sometimes which he lost more often.

"Enjoying the view?" Matt mumbled as he straightened up, pack of cigarettes in hand and goggles slightly askew.

To be honest, Mello hadn't even been looking at his ass. "Not really." he drawled teasingly as Matt came to stand in front of him with a smirk gracing his lips. Matt might have said something along the lines of 'then I will have to give you something else to enjoy' but Mello was distracted as Matt pushed him against the couch, tongue in his mouth.

He sucked in a breath, the bitter taste of smoke crawling into his mouth, and allowed himself to be placed on the edge of the couch and Matt to slide between his parted legs. Matt's hands were at his hips holding him in place as he ground their forming erections together.

He had just slid his hand up Matt's shirt when his phone began to ring and they both groaned as he pulled away and maneuvered his way away from Matt's warm body to grab the offending piece of technology. "What?" he answered gruffly.

Though he would never admit it, he was horny and he wanted sex. Matt had been tinkering around with the requested bits of technology for the last week and they had hardly seen each other outside of meals and sleep, and sometimes not ever the latter. Mello completely blamed Matt for his lack of control over his hormones. Completely.

"Mello, I'm sorry if I interrupted something but this was the only time I had to get away to speak to you." Matsuda's voice held genuine apology and he signed in irritation, his hand going through his hair. Why, of all times, had Matsuda had time to call?

"Well get on with it. I'll need time to work things out." he attempted a slightly less demanding voice though he doubted he had succeeded.

"Your partner will have to come in during the day. Security has been increased at night to an almost crazy extent. I believe L might have suggested it, and perhaps even funded it."

Mello cursed silently. During the day? That was insane...

"He'll have to be careful not to attract too much attention, but we called in maintenance for tomorrow to fix problems we've been having with leaking pipes that are causing damage to the floor below, getting files wet and so on. He just needs to look the part and sound like he knows what he's doing and he should have no problem..."

Mello grit his teeth. He didn't like the idea of Matt in there at all, and during the day was worse with the cameras and all the detectives... just the thought of Matt getting caught was as effective as a cold shower.

"What time is the company scheduled to come by?" he glanced at Matt and the redhead sighed softly, knowing that it was time for work.

Mello may not have liked the situation, but it was really the only option they had. The only thing that was of any form of comfort, was that Matt would be wearing a disguise.

He ended the call minutes later and closed his eyes. He wondered if that was some sort of warning of things to come. But he had never bowed to fate, and he would make sure that things went alright, he couldn't accept an other outcome than success with Matt's life at stake.

-End Warning Sign-

AN: Bwhahah so good stuff is coming up right? This chapter was originally supposed to end with Mello listening in on Matt as he did his stuff at the NPA but I didnt want a 6,000 word chapter. XD