Taking Over

“You know, Jonathan. Rustam chases fireflies.”

Matt blinked in the mirror, adjusting his silk tie. “Does he?”

“I have never been in the mafia or the underground. But I know people who have. If you go to a place called Zetta’s, there is a man there—his name is Diante.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because there is something you need, isn’t there, Jonathan? You spent this whole time staring at my mirror, but your eyes tell me you are elsewhere.”

“Maybe I’m contemplating.”

“That could be so. But I do not believe it is. You speak Russian like I speak Russian. And as you’re English, I’m impressed.”

Matt looked at him in the mirror for a moment. Then he nodded. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“That does not surprise me.”

Matt smiled a little.

As Rustam finally finished, Matt picked out himself a sturdy cane and a cap. “How well is your store doing?”

“Well as can be expected for a Russian immigrant in New York.”

Matt turned back around, taking out cash to pay, pressing the money into the old man’s hand. “Then I hope it flourishes for you. Can I leave my clothes here? I’m short on time.”

Rustam paused and looked down. “This is--” He paused and nodded. “Of course, Mister Wright.”

Matt smiled and nodded back. “Thank you.” He put his clothes in a bag, putting the cell phones in two inner pockets, his wallet in another, and strapped the guns back on, closing up his new, long coat.

Zetta’s turned out to be an Italian restaurant in a darker part of the city. He was greeted by a beautiful Italian girl who introduced herself and then Matt raised a hand. “I’m looking for Diante.”

The girl paused, suddenly sober, and then nodded. She went into the back of the restaurant, and returned with a man of average stature, though older looking. He looked Matt over, muttering in Italian. “Is there a problem, young man?”

He glanced at the girl, then back.

Diante tensed a little, narrowing his eyes, suspicious. He looked at the girl. “Go, Marietta. There are customers.” He turned back and raised his eyebrows.

This time, he switched over to Italian. “I’ve heard that Rustam chases fireflies.”

He blinked and stared at him, then he nodded. “Come with me.”

Matt was tense but he followed Diante into the back, passed the bar, into the kitchens and to the back offices. Diante sat down and gestured for him to sit.

Matt did so, taking out both cell phones and turning them off and placing them on the desk next to him.

“You have met Rustam?”

“Yes. A Russian who runs a tailor shop. Got this suit from him.”

“He is an old friend.” Diante eyed him. “What do you need?”

Matt paused. “Professionals.”

“Those are hard to come by.”

“I assume that’s why Rustam sent me to you.”

“And what if I just kill you right now?”

“Now why would you wanna go and do that?”

“Professionals don’t work for wannabe criminals in suits, it’s insulting.”

Matt nodded. “That’s not surprising. I didn’t think I’d get so lucky as to get a tip-off though.”

Suddenly Diante was springing up, Matt moved at the same time. The edge of a knife was under his ear but he had stepped into Diante, a SIG against temple and the Berretta jammed into his throat.

Diante smiled at him. Matt raised his eyebrows.

The man pulled away. “So you are not a faker? What are you?”

“’Fraid that might be telling.”

“You’ve never entered the underground.”

“No.”

“You were going to go in anyway though?”

“Yes.”

“You must have something very important to do then.”

“Yes.”

Diante looked at him for another moment, twirling his knife in his fingers. “You must be able to speak Russian.”

Matt smiled a little and nodded.

“What can I call you?”

Matt just said the first name that popped into his head. “Nickolas.”

“An alias? Different from a name you might have used with Rustam?”

One nod.

“Right. I suppose then I will help you. You must give me three days. What are you looking for?”

“Two people who can do anything and everything.”

“Everyone wants that.”

“Get close then.”

“Those types of people will only work for a lot of money.”

Matt nodded. “That isn’t a problem.” As if to emphasize that, he took out his wallet, plucked out a wrapped wad of cash, about an inch thick, and pushed it over to him. “I’ll be at the Hilton. Call this number.” He gave him the number for his first cell phone.

Diante gave the money a look, nodded and took it. “All right then.”



Shidoh followed Ryuuk back into Light’s room.

Ryuuk pointed at Light. Shidoh sighed and went to his Death Note and touched it, officially binding himself to the notebook.

And as luck would have it, Light just happened to pick up the notebook and turn around and to stop short. He looked at Ryuuk.

Ryuuk grinned.

“What is this?”

Misa was looking around. “What’s going on?”

“It’s another shinigami. Touch his notebook,” Ryuuk told her.

Misa touched it and shrieked, running to hide behind Light. “EW!”

“That is my notebook,” Shidoh told him. “I want it back.”

Light stared at him, dead silent, for probably a full five seconds; then his gaze shifted to Ryuuk. “What?!”

Ryuuk shrugged. “I found that notebook in the shinigami realm and I gave it to you. Turns out it’s actually his.”

Light stared at him, then back at Shidoh.


“Misa! Light! Are you two okay! Hey!” It was his father’s voice, and Matsuda’s. They’d heard Misa’s scream.

Light cast around for about two seconds, thinking. I switched over the ownership of the notebooks between Rem and Ryuuk. Ryuuk is attached to Misa, my notebook wasn’t attached to any shinigami after Rem died. This notebook is actually this shinigami’s. Which means…now that he’s touched it…now that’s he touched it he’s attached to it and me…and he wants it back…but if I give it to him…I’ll lose my memories again. He glared at Ryuuk.

“Oi! Light!”

“Yes! I’m coming! Misa, hide the other notebook and get the door.”

He looked at the floor. “There’s nothing I can—no…they don’t….” Should I let them see Shidoh or not? They all know about this notebook and that Rem is dead. I could just say that another shinigami has come and attached himself to this notebook because Rem is dead. That’s the truth. But even if they know he just wants the notebook back, I’ll tell them we still may need it as bait for Kira. We all know that there are two notebooks…I’ll have to switch over ownership of the notebooks…but…no…I need Misa’s eyes…unless I just have Misa make the trade again with this shinigami….or…no I don’t know how long her life span is after being cut twice, she may not live long enough to be useful anymore.

He could have thought up something much better—but Misa had already opened the door and when Matsuda asked what was wrong, there was a terse, awkward silence.

…maybe I should switch owners….but if this shinigami is more like Ryuuk or can be manipulated like Rem, I may not need to…

Light turned around. “There’s another shinigami.”

The others had come around now. “Where?” Ide said, looking around.

“Here,” Shidoh answered, raising a hand, not that any of them but Light and Misa could see or hear him.

“You’ll have to touch the notebook to be able to see or hear him.”

They did and they recoiled.

“I’m Shidoh,” said Shidoh. “That’s my notebook.”

They stared at him.

Three days later, a day before Light would contact his team in search for him and the death of Mason, Matt got a call on his phone. He’d been pacing the room. He’d had his cell phones on—but nothing important had come up from his team. He dove for it.

“We’re in the lobby.”

“Come up to room five-twenty-two, it’s unlocked.” He hung up.

He tossed his coat and suit jacket on the couch, took out a new cigarette and loosened his tie, unbuttoning the top three clasps of his dress shirt. He was strung out. He hadn’t slept at all.

However, when the door opened, he straightened, cigarette going to the corner of his mouth. He nodded to Diante and surveyed the two people who followed him inside.

One was an older man with his hair in a long, sleek black ponytail. He was wearing a black suit and a monocle. He smiled a little and nodded his head to Matt.

Matt exhaled from the corner of his mouth and looked at the other.

It was a scrawny woman with a patch over her right eye. She didn’t smile. She was wearing jeans, a simple black t-shirt and a ratty, dirty overcoat. She just kind of gave him a once over. “So this is the guy?” She looked at Diante. Her voice was gravelly, tense.

“It is.”

“And what service may we offer?” The older man’s voice was smooth, steady and calm.

Wow, talk about direct foils.

“What can you two do?”

Diante suddenly chuckled. “I came as close as I could get. A bit of everything.”

He looked at them. “Your names?”

“Matthias,” replied the older man.

“Cassandra,” said the woman.

“And you’re certain about them?”

Diante nodded. “They are professionals.”

“What about you?”

Diante looked at him. “You have my word. And if you really have the cash you claim, then no doubt you could have me hunted down.”

Matt nodded. He looked at them. “Come with me then.”

The next day, he entered his building to chaos. His team was practically scrambling.

“Matt!” Gevanni ran up to him. “Mason and the other members that had been considered for the SPK were murdered!”

Matt stared at him. “Come again.”

“Just today—we got the call from the President. All heart attacks!”

Kira…. “Son of a bitch!”

Gevanni looked behind him. “Who’re they?”

“The reason I left.” He turned to them. “Rester will take you up to private rooms. I’m afraid you’ll have to stay there for now—I didn’t expect this. You’ll be provided with anything you need, just call down here.”

Matthias nodded. Cassandra tongued her cheek. Rester perked. “Which rooms—“

“Any room! Now! Go!”

He turned as soon as they left, following Rester on the cameras, turning on the surveillance for the rooms he put them in.

He whipped back around. “Is there any trace on how Kira could have gotten the names?”

“An investigation wasn’t going to be started until you ordered it…but…as you weren’t here…” Hal looked away.

“Shit—have they taken his computer?”

“They did say it was through an email,” Gevanni put in.

“But they couldn’t ping the computer it went to, right? If they tried to trace it it would’ve come up from lots of places?”

“Yes…”

Rester returned. Matt snapped a glance at him. “Keep an eye on those two, inform me of anything suspicious.”

“Who are they?”

“I’ll fill you in when there isn’t a goddamn crisis.” He turned back to Hal and Gevanni. “Have they confiscated his computer?”

“Well, yes…”

Matt ran over to the phone, dialing. “Yes. I need Director Mason’s computer immediately. Has anything been done to it besides looking through his email?”

“We were going to wipe it, it has a timer on it to erase data—you wanted him to be sure—“

“How long does it have?!”

“About an hour.”

“Where’s the system!?”

“Here at the building, people from HQ want to come get it.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes! Don’t let anyone touch that fucking computer!”

He whipped around to Hal. “Get a car ready. Now!”

Hal stared at him for a moment and then hurried off. Matt went to the logging computer. “Have there been any calls?”

“L did try and get a hold of you,” Gevanni told him.

Matt blinked. “When? Why didn’t you call me?”

“Just today. Probably to ask about M contacting Takimura under the SPK. And…your phones were off…”

He probably suspects I’m Mello now or knows that there’s only one person. “Don’t do anything to this computer. I’ll be back!”

Matt grabbed the suit jacket and raced downstairs just as Hal was pulling the car out. He ran to the driver’s side and took off.

Thirteen minutes later he arrived at the building. He went in a back route, under cover, flipping open an FBI badge and raising an eyebrow to one who knew him and just who he was—and soon he had Mason’s computer. He hurried back to his car, put it in and raced back to his building.

He ran inside, put it on the counter next to his own system and, as fast as he could, set it up. He went in immediately.

Yeah. He’d set up Mason’s computer to erase all traces of his system to try and protect him. But he’d also installed the logging program in his computer. Not that Mason knew about that.

His team watched him from the other side of the room, confused and tense. He looked over the encryption codes on the trace back through the email. He couldn’t translate them. That didn’t matter. He wanted to know the code before it was too late. It could come in handy later. There was a timer. He had about twenty minutes.

“Gevanni—computer next to me—get over here!”

The man hurried to his side.

The screen came up, a box with an orange background and black lettering. He started to read off the numbers, characters and letters. “Five, pound, six, B—“

And just by chance, he looked at his own system, constantly running and saving the codes whenever L contacted him and froze. He looked at the two screens. “Five…pound…six…B…”

“Matt…?” Gevanni was poised, pen in hand.

Matt stared. “Son of a bitch…”

“What?” Rester and Hal asked at the same time.

“All three of you. Come here. Look at these two screens and tell me what you notice.”

They crowded around.

Hal blinked. “They’re the same…the codes…”

“But how—“

“L has encrypted his systems—yes, they’re practically unhackable. I can’t get his IP. But I can target his log codes every time he contacts me, which are more handy and solid anyway. But this means he’s smarter then I thought. Or someone in the Japanese task force is. But even if he has multiple servers set up for his group to use so that it comes from different places if tracking or an attempted hacking—it all still has to go through one, giant mother server. It gives the connections, the internet…to every computer—the different IP addresses—it wipes data. Even if there is more than one mother server, the codes could still be either exactly the same or very similar if the same program codes were put on mother servers. He wrote these himself. Just so happens that he used the same server to contact us as he did to get Mason. That son of a bitch!”

“Wait—what—“

“That, as suspected, Kira is not only in link with the Japanese task force, Kira is probably the new fucking L! And all the proof is going to be deleted right here and there’s nothing I can do about it! They won’t take our word on something as huge as this and that would mean revealing that the original L is dead. Son of a bitch!”

You got me. You asshole. But you didn’t know about this. You underestimated me, just like I did you. Fuck. I’ll get you for their deaths.

“So…what are we going to do?” Hal asked. Her voice sounded quiet.

“Get Kira back for their deaths.”

This means war, you son of a bitch. I’ll find out who you are. Suddenly, he stopped. …but if Kira is the new L and L contacted them and they told him I was gone and then Mason dies in my absence…. He stared at the wall. He just put me under suspicion of being Kira.

Light had contacted the President of the United States. At first, David Hoope had given the phone something of a look. The new L. Hn. But he picked up.

“Mister President. I had heard about the death of the FBI director and members considered for the SPK.”

Hoope blinked. “I have to ask, how did you find out about the SPK, L?”

“I received a call from someone who was calling himself M. He asked about my identity and those of the people I’m working with. But, and I am not trying to raise suspicion against the leader of the SPK, when I called them to enquire, I was told that he had left and not told any of them where he went and then, suddenly, Mason and all those other members…”

Hoope went very still, of course he associated M with Matt. “Are you implying that M is Kira?”

“It is very convenient that he takes a break, doesn’t tell anyone where he’s going and then Mason and the others die of heart attacks. It would certainly take care of any leaks about the SPK and he could pin it on Kira but his story is weak...his own team didn’t even know where he was…”

“So you believe they are innocent?”

“Well, probably. You should probably have them questioned. If he has returned, he may have given them some reason for his being away.” If I get him fast enough, he’ll never see this coming and he won’t be able to tell them what to tell anyone who questions them.

“It…does make sense…and…it may be safer…”

“Again, Sir, I am not accusing M…but it is timed…”

“No…no…it is better to be safe then sorry….thank you, L…” Hoope stared at the wall.


Light disconnected, leaned back and smiled.

But then, of course, he touched the Death Note, turned around, and found Shidoh at his feet.