Walls Came Tumbling Down

"How's it going?" Salvo asked.

He was immediately countered by Deontic's question. "What are you doing up?" She wasn't looking at him, but at Chrissie shuffling alongside, holding onto his arm.

Chrissie looked grimly past her to Mello. "If he can be up and helping, then so can I."

Mello sat sprawled in an easy chair, carried in from the common room below. This was Luigi's favourite laboratory and it was festooned with his own work and chemicals. His dissertation lay open on Mello's lap, but it was Deontic and Matt who wore the white coats. They moved about Luigi's test-tubes and bunsen burners, mixing and distilling at Mello's direction. Across the room, Linda pored over sundry notes and experiment reports, trying to make sense of them to add to their total sum of knowledge.

"Then put a mask on." Linda warned. There was a heavy stench of nitrites in the air. "There's nothing too toxic, but it stinks."

"No thanks." Chrissie found a smile. "I think I can cope with bad smells, after over a year of changing nappies." She sat gratefully down on a wooden backed chair, while Salvo hurried out to collect another, the twin of Mello's. "What can we do to help?"

Mello peered up over the tome. "Luleka with Ann?"

Chrissie surveyed him carefully for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. He is."

Mello smiled warmly. "Then he'll be spoiled rotten."

"Dee." Matt spoke softly, "I'm ready for the methemoglobin now."

Mello inclined his head at Chrissie. "Excuse me while I immerse myself again into the fascinating world of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrides." He returned his attention to the dissertation.

A long silence descended, through which Deontic and Matt counted drops and Linda rustled paper. Salvo returned with another easy chair. Chrissie was happily being transferred to it, when Linda called out, "50-70% metHb. Random note here, but it appears related." She sniffed. "At least it's in the same section as he's scribbling shit about saturation."

The information was received in silence, though it wasn't antagonistic. They were all merely assimilating it amidst all that was already known. Salvo asked quietly, "So what do you need us to do to help?"

It was Mello who replied, "Not a lot to be done now. Just need to wait for that to distill and see what readings we get from it."

Linda added, "I think this is a dangerous level of saturation. It might be what he took."

"Evidence?" Deontic demanded. Linda cast a withering look in her direction and pointed towards Mello.

"I'm reading as fast as I can." Mello commented, drily.

"Fag break." Matt declared, at the same instant as Deontic said, "Done." The redhead looked to his husband, but Mello was scanning pages, trying to take it all in as fast as possible. "I'll be right back."

He was near to the door, before Mello spoke up. "Have one in our room." He wore a faint smile, as Matt met his gaze. "Te amo." Matt smiled back and left.

Deontic moved around the work-station and approached Chrissie and Salvo. "Any sign of Century?"

Salvo shook his head. "Ran a check on all arrivals and departures from Southampton, all the London airports and Cardiff, on every one of his pseudonyms. Lauren's still working on it. She's been," He pulled a wry face, "very helpful."

"You think he's left the country."

"Yes." Chrissie responded. "He'll have gone to Wales."

"You don't need an airport to get to Wales." Deontic sneered, still scarred by her own recent foray there. "So you think he had a lead on Fenian."

Salvo shook his head. "No. We hoped that he did. But it looks like he just simply freaked out and fled."

Mello coughed for attention. "Linda, you might have something there. 50-70% metHb saturation would lead to comas, seizures etc. He's mentioned it here." He swallowed. "Some really interesting stuff he's uncovered. I really want to see the results of this experiment, but if his conclusions are correct..."

"And they will be." Linda fiercely interjected.

"It is going to save a lot of lives, especially in heavy industry."

Deontic sighed, "Reckon Century will just head home? To your place or wherever he goes?"

"Hopefully." Salvo radiated reassurance, but Chrissie merely looked worried. "He hasn't left the country, so it's likely he'll end up back home." He nodded towards the work-station. "Will those saved lives include Luigi's own?"

"That's the plan." Deontic answered, curtly.

"It's a nice dream." Salvo wandered across to inspect the distillation, while Deontic sat down beside Chrissie. "I'll add it to all of the rest."

Linda frowned. "All of what rest? Because if you're talking about dreams, then relocate it please. This will save him. We're certain of it! Mello has already said that he thinks it's the case." Behind her Mello glanced up, reached for his recently discarded chocolate bar, then went on reading. "It's too awful to imagine the future if he succeeds." An awkwardness hung in the atmosphere. She broke it by bending back over Luigi's notes, hissing, "So enough of your dreams, Salvo. Let's stick with realities."

"Mmmm." Salvo had been crouching to view the formula collecting in the last test-tube. He stood again now. "As the token black man in this house, I think I have some kind of racial claim to 'I have a dream'."

"Ha. Ha." Linda said, pointedly. "Ha."

Matt returned, sauntering through the doorway and across the room, until he reached Mello's side. The Slav looked up and received a kiss. "That was a quick cigarette." Mello commented, but Matt just shrugged. He'd had one. They could smell it on his clothes. He crouched to collect his PSP from beneath Mello's chair, then sat on the floor, switching it on.

"I have a dream," Salvo intoned suddenly, trying to match the diction of the great, late Martin Luther King. "That one day this Institution will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'Wherever universal protection is not compromised, the best interests of the individual child must be paramount.'" He referred to article 3 of their Resolution and it elicited a few smiles, but he wasn't finished. "That children taken from a war-zone will not be placed in another of their own making." He stared at Mello, who looked up and locked eyes with him. "That the civil wars of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the former states of Yugoslavia will never be forced to be relived over and over, because their sons cannot find security." Salvo nodded, patently warming to his role. "Nor that the historical struggles of the Republic of Ireland will not find expression in the persecution of one of its latter day heroes."

"What?" Linda sat back, staring incredulously at him. "Fenian brought this upon himself! He's the one who compromised the universal protection!"

"I have a dream that widows, in this bitter and bloody conflict, will never be forced to sit back and endure the degradation and injustices of a system, which cannot bring her emotional recompense." He was looking at her now and she shut up. "That those within the Watari system will never be mown down in bullets in cold blood; or, if they are, then justice will be their right."

Mello smirked. He quoted Martin Luther King directly, "'We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.'"

Salvo grinned and para-phrased another part, "There will be neither rest nor tranquility in Wammy's House, until its children are granted their citizen rights."

"You're still not arresting Mail." Mello blithely warned with a smile, "So fuck off from that line of thought."

"I have a dream," Salvo continued, suddenly more serious than he had been before, "that hard work will earn you a place in this world; one of safety and dignity, where second place doesn't mean losing your identity and becoming beneath a system which holds no regard for you. Where meeting with my peers does not mean that I fear for the lives of my family. Where no brother need ever flee; nor lose himself, injured and afraid in the cities of North America; nor attempt to take his life, to gain the attention of those who were supposed to hold a duty of care for him." His gaze lingered on the test-tubes. "Where endless suicide attempts are not viewed as part of a personality, but as a signal for proper and complete psychiatric evaluation." He shook his head, sneering, "Wammy's House is not set up to be a psychiatric hospital. We did not, and do not, have what was necessary to keep Luigi safe."

"Hear, hear." Deontic muttered. She'd been half-smiling at his efforts a moment before, but this cut too close to home.

"Neither should it be the job of its resident geniuses, Deontic and Linda, each battered with their own legacies and carrying the baggage of their past, to stand guard over him. To keep him alive simply by being there. No." Salvo unwrapped a stick of chewing gum, extracted from his pocket. "It should never be a case that value for money and universal protection should be by-words for letting a disturbed, young man suffer, to the point where he sees no future. Where the best efforts of duty are not enough against the Goliath of his needs."

Linda sighed, "He was not a burden."

"Where love," Salvo was looking at Mello now, not Linda nor Deontic, "should never be forced to be a substitute for getting him the help that he so desperately craves and deserves." Mello stared, wide-eyed and unspeaking, but his sidewards glance took in Matt watching Salvo with a blank expression. Mello reached down and touched Matt's collar, guiding his head to rest against the edge of Mello's knee. "Where panic and fear don't become so engrained that there is no quality of life." His gesture took in the whole laboratory. "Or no life at all."

Chrissie watched him fondly. "You're really getting into this, aren't you, dear?"

"Nor is Wammy's House set up as a court of law." Salvo winked at her. "We do not have what was necessary to keep ourselves safe from Beyond Birthday, and Manetti, and Hollow, and Neuron. And here I return to what was said before. 'There will be neither rest nor tranquility in Wammy's House until its children are granted their citizen rights.' Until an artist is free to paint, without fear of a shot to the head upon answering her front door."

"Low!" Linda warned. "That was fucking low!"

"Until a polymath genius is encouraged to realise his worth. Until a lawyer can stand up before the United Nations Court of Justice without feeling like a hyprocrite. Until a..."

"That was low." Linda had her head in her hands and her voice cracked. "I know that you're having a laugh, but that was wrong. You shouldn't say such things to me, with Jonny barely cold in his grave." A sob broke through, rendering indistinct the next thing that she said. But they caught the next sentence. "... miss him and you still have your Chrissie. Mello and Matt still have each other. But what about me? What about my Jonny? I lost him. I lost him to this fucking civil war, which never ends, and never..." She didn't go on. Salvo had her in a bear-hug and she sobbed on his shoulder.

An awkwardness spotted the room. Chrissie took Deontic's hand and rubbed it. Unexpectedly, Deontic didn't throw her off. Mello smoothed back Matt's hair, while his husband simply stared into space.

"So yeah." Salvo concluded more quietly. "I have dreams; and I may not be as eloquent as the great man, but my dreams start with Wammy's House realising its limitations; and doing its best not to kill its alumni in trying to deny that those limitations exist." He held Linda close, as her whole body wracked with grief. "I have two proposals. The first is that, after working together to see if we can save Luigi's life, we all make a treaty of peace. Every one of us present here; and I will guarantee Century and Fenian in absentia. All past hurts forgotten and gone. All slights resolved or a line drawn under them. My back as watched by Mello as it is by Chrissie." He paused and his face cracked into a sudden grin. "Well, not exactly and precisely the same." He looked across at their confused expressions, quickly becoming blank under his scrutiny. "Sorry, very bad and inopportune thought, which is now erased."

Mello's eyes brightened. "Oh! Homosexual reference. Sorry! Bit slow on the uptake there." He wrinkled up his nose. "I'd work on the punchline if I was you."

"Totally fucked up my big speech, didn't I?"

Mello shrugged. "It would have got you the Republican vote in LA."

"Then I'm truly damned."

"If I call you a nigger, will it cancel it out and get back to the peace talks?"

Chrissie's jaw dropped. "Mello! That's really..."

But Salvo just nodded. "It'll be our own Dayton Accords."

"Let's hope it goes a little further than that." Mello winked. "You won't come after us, Sal. You're too ethical for that."

Linda sniffed and leaned back, reaching into her pocket for a tissue. Salvo let her, but continued to watch Mello. "I would lose my ethics in a flash, if I thought my wife and son were in danger. They would waver if I saw a threat to Century and probably Fenian. Probably even Deontic and Linda too."

Mello inclined his head. "I would take out anyone who touched Deontic. She's got a greater moral compass than the rest of us put together, and she's earned my respect during this last case."

Deontic stared at him, startled. She blustered out her words, "But I ordered the arrest of Matt!"

"And now we get to it." Mello smirked, turning to look at her. She turned pale and flinched backwards. Matt surveyed her with a faint smile. Mello didn't blink. "A greater moral compass than the rest of us put together. Even in the face of perceived danger. Of course you were calling the shots, Dee. You were the highest ranking Wammy still standing; and this Institution has always been so rigid in its rankings." He glanced around. "Do we have a majority?" His gaze fell upon Linda and he whispered, abstractly, "Three missing. One possibly disenfranchised." He looked up brightly. "Trials now. Lines drawn under everything. Peace treaties to reconvene afterwards; and binding."

"Erm." Deontic spoke shakily. "Luigi." She gestured towards the work-station.

Mello closed the dissertation. "Takes twelve hours to distill." He inspected Chrissie. "Taken as read that you're representing the entire known world and all its fucked-up population?"

"In what?" Chrissie gasped. "You can't ask me to..."

"Lilac." Mello fixed her with a serpentine stare. "Be brilliant." He raised his chocolate bar in the air. "Court in session. Item one. The terrible and utterly unavoidable tragedy of Neuron's accidental death."

Chrissie sighed, "Leading the witnesses; and didn't Sal already state that Wammy's House is no court of law?"

"Motion to rule that Mail acted in self-defence and therefore..."

"No." Deontic swallowed. "Motion to rule that Mail acted in revenge, in circumstances of diminished responsibility, taking into account also the shooting of his husband." Both Mello and Matt were glaring, she didn't look at them. "Factors to include psychotic, violent episodes, in the first instance as a side-effect of long-term, self-medicated Seroxat abuse; in the second instance exacerbated by likely fairy activity at a property in Aberystwyth." Her hands twisted in her lap. She stood and paced to Linda's side, where she snapped up a piece of blank notepaper and began folding that instead. She continued talking throughout. "I can't believe I'm saying 'fairy activity' with a straight face, but Century made a case for it. And in the third instance, probable possession by a malignant spirit. And in the fourth instance, chronic effects of infant neglect, coupled with childhood trauma through being raised within the Watari system." She had nearly made a flower. "Line drawn under it, if we see some clear evidence that these issues will be addressed domestically, thus attending to the duty of care to which Matt is eligible; and some strategy against future lapses." She turned over the last petal. "We need to know that we will always be safe around him."

Mello had snapped off a sliver of chocolate. He held it between his teeth. "Ok. Pek Wan be brilliant instead. And yes, all assurances made here. Our domestic issues will be resolved domestically. Never get between me and Mail again, and no-one need ever fear getting hurt. Strategy planned and passed. All in favour of line drawn say 'aye'." Mello paused. "Aye."

Matt scowled. "I thought we'd done this. Aye."

"It's a fucking mockery." Chrissie began, but finished with, "Aye." She was joined by each of the other three. "Wonderful. Let's hope we all have the same compassion over my item. Motion to absolve Fenian of all penalties, so that..."

"Aye." Matt interrupted.

Linda still leaned miserably against Salvo's chest. "He's committed the biggest security breach in all of Watari's history. Why the Hell should he get away Scot free?"

"Because we let him." Chrissie countered. "He did absolutely nothing that wasn't permissible under the Resolution that he signed. Even now there is no secondary amendment, for which a penalty could be grandfathered onto. What Fenian did was morally debatable and intellectually a gamble. But he broke no laws within this Institution." Her gaze was steely as it met Linda's broken expression. "You cannot invent laws to counter past actions that you found reprehensible."

"Conditional aye." Mello ruled. "The condition being that Fenian and I never have to be alone in the same room, nor working on the same case, ever again." He grinned, showing liquid chocolate sucked through his teeth. "Our personalities are not compatible."

Salvo gestured compliance, "Motion already passed. Century and Fenian will vote with it, and so do I. That's six ayes."

Linda bristled, "You can't speak for Century! And we have not ruled that Fenian has the franchise!"

"Aye," said Deontic. They all turned to look at her. "It's Fian. He's running scared and he's probably being punished enough. The machinery of Watari closed behind him; and I'm genuinely afraid to ask what happened to O'Neill." She snatched up another sheet of paper. "If we're going after Fenian for being a pain in the arse, then Mello would have been thrown out years ago. If we're after him for endangering the whole of Wammy's House, then let's drag Near in too, for that stunt with the cameras." She looked ill. "But anyway, I voted 'aye', so that's five to four. Motion passed."

Linda emitted a frustrated sound. "Why am I always the only one to...?" But she was too defeated to continue.

Chrissie waited, then pressed, kindly, "How do you vote, Linda? You're as important as anyone here."

"A conditional 'aye' too. The conditions all being as to the scope of his repatriation. Are you asking for full rights reinstated?"

Salvo nodded. "Because otherwise you have a man out there, who has fallen between the cracks of everything. Not recognised by any nation. Not within our system. Someone scared and angry enough to do serious damage, whether that's to himself or wherever, whatever he targets. You really want Fenian going renegade?"

"Sal." Chrissie warned. "Don't paint him like that. He's not like that."

"Angry and scared?" Salvo clarified with raised eyebrows. "Sure about that?"

Chrissie pursed her lips. "Honestly, Fenian will fight back when he perceives his back to be against the wall. When have you ever known him to be actually malicious?"

Mello raised his hand. He gained their attention. "There were occasions in Aberystwyth and before, when Fenian came through for me. Sometimes when it was contrary to his own personal welfare or gain, he still assisted. Other times that I wanted to total him, but that's neither here nor there. Full repatriation."

There was silence. Salvo broke it eventually. "No-one else? Can we just agree that he can return to this sanctuary in safety, with no fear of arrest, confinement nor danger to his person?" That could be agreed and it was, with nodding heads all around. Salvo looked relieved. "Ok, thank you." He exhaled. "Now all we need to do is get that bloody message to him."

Linda looked up, her face smeared with tears and her aspect terrible. "Item three. Me providing the Japanese task force with artistic representations of Mello and Near."

Mello looked startled. Matt mouthed, "Nay."

Her hand shook, as she rubbed her forehead, knocking the hair back from her eyes. "I'm so sick of being punished over and over again for that. When Matt gets away with murder, and Fenian betrays the whole house and is welcomed back with open arms. My main crime was misreading what would help Mello; and God knows I've suffered for that one since."

"Because you nearly got me killed." Mello replied, smoothly. He wore a smile and it wasn't pleasant.

"So you're going to make me crawl forever?" Linda snapped. "Get that fucking cross from around your neck. You are no Christian, Mello. You've never even heard of forgiveness. And never call yourself an agent for justice. 'Extenuating circumstances' isn't in your phraseology."

Salvo left her side to sit by Chrissie. He did it under the guise of putting his arm around her, so she could rest against him, as she looked tired. They all perceived the politics at play. Deontic still stood in Linda's vicinity, but the origami came with some agitation. Mello surveyed Linda with lidded eyes. "Make your case."

"A fourteen year old boy walked out of here into a battleground. He was neither heard of nor seen again. There was no evidence that anyone was even looking for him. He could have been dead in a ditch for all that we knew." Linda's eyes were narrowed. Her fists were bunched. "Two police officers, who we believed had worked with L and were sympathetic to our cause, arrived having heard word of him. They knew his name. Roger, our warden and the man who raised us, was happily giving them information. I thought they might be able to find that boy and return him to safety." She didn't look away. "And I worried myself sick wondering what had become of you. Was that selfish? Did I act selfishly to find out? I don't know! But I provided those pictures in good faith that they were our allies; and I did it to assist them in finding you."

Mello stared at her for the longest time. Then he lifted his hand from Matt's neck and held his arm out towards her. The other four watched, as Linda emitted a sob and rushed forward. Matt shuffled out of the way, as Linda and Mello hugged; though the Slav never shifted from his seat to do so. She stayed there for a long time, sobbing against him. Mello merely stared over her shoulder, with the faintest of all smiles. Then he whispered, "You should stick to painting."

"I want to!" Linda agreed, her gushing tone tinged with relief.

"Do it." He patted her back and she gave him one last squeeze. There was something about it more akin to the Mafia than Wammy's House, though Linda seemed to see no difference. She appeared lighter as she stood. She appeared grateful. Mello brightly grinned at all present. "Any more lines to be drawn under?"

But no-one had anything at all; except Matt, who glanced sidewards at Chrissie. But he said nothing more.