Walls Came Tumbling Down

It was morning before Hal returned to the infirmary. She looked rested and graciously composed once more, though her demeanour was grim. Alarm bells rang in Mello's mind, as soon as he saw her expression. There was none of the sassiness, which he had come to associate with her. Just a work-a-day attitude, emphasised by the fact that she carried a closed laptop under her arm. Moreover, she was trailed by an anxious looking Ann.

"Shit just got real." Matt mumbled, eliciting a glance from Mello, which forestalled the latter's greeting to Hal.

Matt's PSP was in his hands. His broken finger was sticking out, as his thumbs moved across the controls. He'd also slept and, to Mello's surprise, his husband had devoured a bacon and cheese omelette for breakfast. Mello had rarely seen Matt eat before noon, if he could possibly help it. Things just felt wrong about this morning and that put Mello on edge.

"Duck." Century commented, showing Luleka a website displayed on his own laptop.

"Uck!" The infant shrieked in delight, jabbing a stubby finger at the screen. Hal watched them in pensive concern, but continued on into Madeleine's office without saying a word. "Uck!"

"Hwyad." Century went on. "Hwyad." But his gaze had sought out the child's parents. Salvo now lay, gently snoring, on the bed vacated by Matt a couple of hours before. Chrissie just looked watchfully drained.

Ann bustled around to Luigi's bedside. She laid a hand on his forehead, as if that could wake him from his coma; and perched on the edge of his mattress. "Oh poppet, what are we going to do with you?" She brushed his hair back, with her fingers to his temples, too close to tears for the comfort of any of her onlookers. "I wish you would wake up."

Luleka made a valiant attempt at the Welsh for 'duck'. "Ooo!"

"Hwyad."

Ann shook herself and stood, looking around the room. "How are you all today? Chrissie love, you look terrible. Lauren, you have a bit more colour in your cheeks this morning." She grimaced as she inspected Century. "I'm going to ask Mrs Carnegie to get you something with iron in it. You never look well." Her gaze swept across to Matt. "At least you seem better." Then landed on Mello. "If you're well enough to brush your hair, you'll survive. Your eyes look a bit peaky though, Mello. You need to behave yourself today and get more rest." Finally she found Salvo and wrinkled up her nose. "The quilt is falling off him." She marched across to rectify the situation.

"He was hot." Chrissie quietly stopped her. "He's kicked it off."

They all turned to see, as Deontic and Linda joined them. Neither woman seemed to have slept. Deontic carried herself with icy decorum, but there were bags under her eyes. Linda openly yawned. "How you all doing?"

Mello watched her with amusement. "My eyes feel peaky, but my hair is fabulous."

"What?"

Hal emerged from the office, before he could explain. Ann stiffened at the sight of her. The alumni took their cue from the housekeeper and waited to see what the news would be. "Ok," Hal began without preamble. "I've arranged for Mrs Evans to stay on for another week. Madeleine needs the assistance in here." She placed the laptop carefully down on Lauren's bedside cabinet. "Near would like to speak with you all."

No-one said a word, until Mello told the ceiling, "He has my permission to speak."

Hal ignored him. "This is why I asked Deontic and Linda to come in here. It's easiest to speak with you all together." She was poised and unflappable beside the opened laptop now. Her finger rested on a key, but she didn't press it. "I got the sense yesterday that there was a definite vote of no confidence in my position as Watari. You need to know that I'm strongly considering..."

"Wait!" Mello frowned. "What? No. You're not resigning. Fuck that." He shook his head. "Some new ground-rules perhaps, starting with rescinding all powers to arrest my husband. Beyond that, great job. Stay."

"Mello, hear me out." Hal reprimanded him. "I cannot do this job without the co-operation of everyone present and I have never had that. As Matt so bluntly reminded me, everyone here has their hidden agendas." She pressed the key and they heard the tone ringing Near. It only sounded once, before his initial filled the screen. "We're all here, Near."

Linda called out, "Hi Near. Are you well?"

There was a pause. "Yes." They were all listening, waiting for the big news to be delivered. Ann had settled herself into a seat beside Salvo. Her nerves were getting to them all. "Hal is coming to work with me again."

"She fucking isn't." Mello countered. "Not until this is discussed; and then she still isn't."

Chrissie turned her head. "Sal. Wake up." He didn't stir. "Ann, he needs to wake up for this." She watched the housekeeper rub Salvo's shoulder. "He sleeps like a bloody log!"

Mello wasn't pacified. "Absolutely nothing happens without a vote. Committee not L. We have a Resolution," he barely skipped a beat, "for all its apparent flaws." He didn't look at Matt. "Hal stays."

Ann finally succeeded in shaking Salvo awake. He peered blearily at her, then twisted to check first on his son, then Chrissie. "What?"

"The King's speech." Century replied. He gestured towards the laptop. "Hal resigning. Mello kicking up. All you missed so far."

"Papi, uck! Tyn Tyn, ooo!" Luleka added.

Salvo rubbed his eyes. "Right." He sat up. "Hi Near."

"Hello Salvo," replied Near, his voice masked electronically. "Are we at war?"

There was a stunned silence. Salvo swung his long legs over the side of the bed. "Not me, mate. I've only just woken up. I need at least one coffee before I go to war."

Near was undaunted. "To avert a civil war, we need to know Matt's intentions."

Mello frowned deeply, "Mail's current intention is to find a load of invisible penguins in some pixel snow, armed only with a sheet of pixel paper. Hal's not resigning."

"I got Frostee." Matt informed him. "It was only one penguin. The rest are different."

Chrissie interrupted before anyone could go any further. "Near, most of us have slept in the same room last night. No-one is fighting. Everyone has too much else going on to even countenance fighting. This is not a civil war." She signalled for Salvo to sit back down, certain that he was going in search of coffee too early. "Do you have any news about Fenian yet? And I add my vote to Mello's. I think Hal is the best thing to ever happen to Wammy's House."

Ann burst out suddenly, "Hal has asked me to be Watari!" She looked terrified. Every eye in the room was drawn to her. "She wants me to run the house, while she goes working back with Near!"

"Wow," said Century, staring.

Matt finally dragged his attention away from his game. He contemplated Hal, whose cheeks had turned a little pink. Then he smiled, "Clever girl."

Mello frowned. "No. Just no!" He grimaced. "Ann, no disrespect. But no."

"Why not?" Hal challenged him and finally there was a flicker of a smile.

"Because..." Mello floundered. He found a reason. "She's approaching retirement and she's looking forward to it!"

Hal didn't look convinced. "Ann is past retirement age. She doesn't want to go."

Mello pulled a face. "She doesn't look old enough for retirement. She's only about forty."

Ann appeared startled. "I'm 68 in January!"

Hal interjected, "You don't want Ann sitting in that chair for one big reason. She actually does run Wammy's House. The last thing you want in a Watari is someone who really is in charge. Fact!" She surprised a few more smiles, but no dissent. "I further propose a separation of warden and Watari, as there was when Mr Wammy was alive, and he and Mr Ruvie held the positions."

Mello glared. "Well that might make it a little better, but still no! This is not a situation that she needs to be in. For fuck's sake, Hal, you pick your bloody times!"

Unruffled, Hal maintained a calming tone. "What Wammy's House needs most of all is a warden with the confidence and trust of every ward within it. No-one here believes that I'm not Near's mole. I merely observed, aloud to Ann, that she has the required impartiality." Hal gave a half-shrug to indicate that she did too, though she wasn't expecting that to be accepted now. "If she looked after the House, then quarrels might resolve themselves a little more readily. It is a consideration."

"Near's already agreed to this." Chrissie observed. "That's why he's so quiet."

"Near just wants Hal back!" Mello growled. "And it's never going to work. Everyone here knows how to wrap Ann around their little fingers. She..." He stopped, pondered the point for a second, then plunged on, "Mail, is this part of your fucking plan?"

Matt winced, but replied quietly. "There is no plan. I'm not running this show. I just flicked a domino."

"This is not V for fucking Vendetta!" He glared at the ceiling. No-one said anything. Mello seemed to deflate. "It is, isn't it? You've based your entire game plan on Anonymous."

"Fuck off." Matt sneered, his professional pride injured. "I mentored half of Anonymous!"

Salvo rubbed his mouth. "If I might make an observation. These are big issues, which most of the people here are too ill to deal with right now. I say we leave everything as it is and schedule it all on an agenda for the next committee meeting." He sighed, reaching for his chewing gum. "Hal, there are probably some residual issues left over from the Aberystwyth case here. Please don't take anything personally, until that has properly been debriefed."

Hal gestured, both palms wide before her. There was a curtness to her mannerisms, which told them more than her words, just how irritated she was by recent events. "I know that I did what I could to the best of my ability."

Before anyone could respond to her, Near interjected, seeking clarification. "Matt is passively trying to destroy Watari. He is not a current threat." There was a clatter of small items being upturned onto a hard surface. "He has already made his move and he is waiting to see where the pieces fall now." They heard him pick up something plastic from the pile. "But will Matt shoot anyone else? He has attempted to murder Mello and he succeeded in killing Neuron."

Chrissie groaned, "Matt you have the right to remain silent. Near, wait please. I can't defend him like this!" She looked anxiously at Salvo. "I thought you said he'd already been cleared!"

"Yes." It was Century who spoke out now. "Matt was possessed. You both saw the case for that. Hours I spent, putting that together. The circumstances which led to the possession have now been secured." He removed Luleka's fingers from the keypad of his laptop. "With thanks to Deontic."

Near replied, "Century should allow us to see the unadulterated evidence."

"Tyn Tyn, ooo uck!" Luleka demanded. Salvo sighed and jogged across the room to reclaim his son. Century relinquished him, but the toddler reached back, wanting the bright pictures on the laptop screen. "Papi! Uck!"

Century stared at the screen before him, unable to keep the hurt from his eyes. He silently handed the whole thing to Salvo, who refused to take it. The African sighed. "I think that was unintentionally disparaging of Century's detective skills, Near. I haven't studied the case in minute detail, but from what I saw of his evidence, it did point to possession." He reached for Boo Boo Bear and distracted his son with that instead. "This seems to me a highly emotional case, which has affected a lot of people here. But please don't intimate that Century doesn't know his stuff. Especially when so much of it is related to history and Welsh culture. I'd argue that he was possibly the best person in this room to have investigated it."

Mello opened his mouth to challenge the assertion, but Chrissie spoke over him. "There should still be justice." Chrissie hissed. There was a hopelessness to her tone, which caused several glances in her direction. "There should always be justice."

Mello glared at her. "Let me tell you right now that there is no prison on this Earth, which will lock my Mail away from me. Get your justice where you can, but not on mine and not in my name." He grit his teeth, his expression fierce. "Whoever needs to hear this - I drop all charges. I am the injured party and I do not wish to prosecute."

"And me?" Deontic asked quietly. "Do I get justice?"

"I promised you justice." Mello growled. "And I am aware there is one left. You'll get justice."

"Vigilantism." Deontic spat. "I don't like it."

Ann was worried. "Justice for Deontic? What...?" She left her question hanging in the air, as she looked between Mello and Deontic. "Have you been hurt, darling?" Across the room, the Malaysian woman look stricken. Her lips moved soundlessly, while her eyes begged none of those previously present in Aberystwyth to tell the housekeeper. Ann blinked. "Oh no! What did they do to you?" She rose and moved between the beds to reach Deontic. Ann's arms opened and Deontic, for want of any better options, just stepped into the hug. Shame hung heavily across her features. Her cheeks were flushed with it. "Is somebody going to tell me what happened?" They could tell in Ann's expression and tone that she suspected the worst.

Matt was apparently lost to his game. Mello fixated on the ceiling. Lauren bit her lip and lowered her gaze. Century alone seemed genuinely not to be paying attention, though nobody totally believed that. It was Hal who replied, "There was an incident. It was taken care of."

Ann nodded. "You and me, Deontic. We'll have a little chat over a nice cup of tea in my cubby hole later, eh?" In her embrace, Deontic was trembling. Ann stared at the wall behind her. "Then Mello. When you're better."

"Huh?" Mello blinked to attention.

"We'll have a chat."

Matt risked a quick glance at his husband. Mello was just frowning. Chrissie exhaled loudly and turned her head away. Salvo just looked sick. Neither of them had known about Deontic, nor the subsequent retribution. Salvo turned to carry Luleka back to his mother, but Near chose that moment to break the awkward silence. "Century, when can I see the evidence?"

Century was visibly resentful. "When I've got it all together, but you've seen the meat of it! Everything that I sent to clear Matt, that is all of it really. Just the tying in of everything else, is it?"

Luleka was trying to press his teddy bear into his father's face. Salvo gently brushed it away and reached to place a hand onto Century's shoulder. Salvo asked aloud, "Why do you have to see it, Near? This is neither your concern nor your case."

"No." Mello growled. "It's mine; and I haven't even seen the case that cleared Mail yet."

Century gave him a haunted look. "Haven't got it, have I?" He spat. Salvo cast him a swift frown, but said nothing. "Get it when I return home. Safely now."

Matt softly responded, "Maybe it could turn up sooner, if we could make a deal." He smiled, as Century turned warily to survey him. "And bear in mind, that I didn't have to say that. If it's on your computer, I can remotely access it. I SubSevened it in Aberystwyth. I'll tell you that for free, in return for the research you have already done."

Century's eyes narrowed. He took out a lollipop and carefully unwrapped the top. "Already knew that!" He was disdainful. "I didn't use my computer. Fucking useless now, is it?"

"Did you plug it into your network?" Matt's smile grew. Uncertainty edged both Century and Salvo's features, which instantly grew blank. Chrissie gave a loud groan. "Just asking."

Mello reached out a hand. "Baby, leave it for now. Century's been good enough to facilitate us leaving here without me having to raise Hell. He will..."

"Oh!" Salvo exclaimed. "Got it." They all shifted their gaze to watch him. "I know why Near wants the evidence. Nothing to do with the case. It's to do with who was there."

Matt had opened the V3 notepad on his PSP and typed in a message. He sauntered across to Century's bed and held it so that only the teenager could see. It read, 'I know you're only 17.' Century did not react. His lollipop was static in his mouth, but he didn't say a word. Matt winked, "Good fight." Then wiped the tiny screen. "All I want is a resolution. How quickly can you get hold of that evidence?"

Hal had moved her laptop to focus upon Century's bed. It was obvious that the webcam was activated and that Near was watching them through it. Salvo asked, "What did it say, Cent?" His gaze had hardened upon Matt. His whole stance made no secret of the fact he was preparing to defend Century. "Was it a threat?"

"It's here." Century took the lollipop from his mouth and laid it on the top of the bedside cabinet. He dejectedly added, "It's all in my room upstairs. In Wammy's House." Then he reached for the oxygen mask, but he didn't put it on. Barely audibly, he breathed, "Cachi."

"Thank you." Matt replied. "I'd like to get that evidence; and if this goes to trial, I name my counsellor for the defence as Mello." He returned to Mello's side and waited, with his expression studiously blank.

Linda frowned, "What the Hell just happened?"

Near sounded cross, "Century, I wish to see the data first."

Century started crying. It was furtive at first, hidden by hair and the mask held before his face. But he couldn't help himself. The sniffs grew louder and they could all see the onset of a panic attack looming. Ann gasped and rushed around Luigi's bed, where she had been holding Deontic, to Century's side. "Hey now, hey, come on." She engulfed him in a warm embrace. "No need for all of that. Come on now. Nothing is all that bad." In Ann's arms, Century simply sobbed. Lauren glared at Matt, but everybody felt tense. Ann twisted around and gave him a stern look. "Matty, whatever you just did, you say sorry right now. I'll not be having fighting."

Matt looked amused, but quickly discerned that he was in the minority. Even Mello seemed perturbed by this. Salvo was downright irked. "And this is why we don't have these sorts of meetings, while most of the people in it are so ill! Especially around the bed of a brother who is fighting for his life!"

Deontic added, "Is this all still about who owns the case? Really?" She looked ready to punch somebody.

"No." Salvo sneered. "It's about an eighteen year old, who has been under pressure for most of his life. Who has nearly died and is terrified that he still might. Who has seen one of his closest friends chased out of the system." In his arms, Luleka started wailing, frightened by the mood. "Is anyone worried about Fenian here?"

"Yes!" Ann snapped. "I bloody well am!"

Salvo gave Matt a scathing look. "Give the lad a bloody break! He cleared your name!"

Mello and Matt exchanged glances. With the near telepathy that came from long association, Matt could tell that Mello just wanted less things to worry about right now. He was close to the end of his own tether. "Ok." Matt leaned against the wall and switched on his PSP again. He spoke up nonchalantly, "Century, I have a job for you after this. Just you. No-one can attempt to steal it."

Salvo blinked, not expecting that. "What sort of job?"

"History."

"Paid?"

"Yep." Matt told the game. "Name his price and all expenses. Probably foreign travel."

Ann was stroking Century's hair. "Did you hear that, poppet? Matt has a case for you." He said something, but it was lost to her bosom. "What was that?"

Century lifted his head. His voice cracked, "I don't want it."

Mello's brow was creased in query, as he tried to catch his husband's eye. When Matt didn't look up, Mello asked aloud, "What job?"

Matt sniffed, "Tracing my roots. You never got around to it and it's his speciality."

Mello grimaced. He bit his lip and shifted his gaze back to the ceiling. In truth, he couldn't even remember promising to do that. He didn't doubt his husband's memory though. That often verged upon the uncanny. Everyone else was watching Matt with utter incredulity. Salvo articulated the question in their minds. "How is he meant to do that without you sharing personal details?"

"He can't." Matt replied. "So I'll just have to share the personal details. I know my father's name was Cisco Heras. He was a Basque freedom fighter in Navarre."

Mello flinched, but considered it. "Right."

Near was more direct. "Matt is still playing games. He is attacking the security system here through social engineering."

Century spoke shakily, "One million sterling and access to all of your records."

"Oh come on!" Mello roared. "Like that is going to happen."

"Done," said Matt. "And the Aberystwyth case evidence brought down now."