Taking Over

Matt looked back at Rester, Gevanni, and Hal. He blinked a little. The vibe from them, the look was different.

“It is very likely that I will be suspected of being Kira—if L and Kira are the same person. They may even take you all in for questioning. I didn’t tell you where I was going because I assumed you wouldn’t agree with what I was going to do. And, frankly, I wasn’t sure I could trust you all yet, but, I think I can now.

The two people are professionals of the underground. I can’t work entirely within the law to break this case, so I figured I may need a few under-handed backups.”

“Can we trust them?” Hal asked.

“I want to be sure of that. That’s why I’m keeping them under surveillance. If you all are taken in for questioning, tell them I was checking up on a tip L gave me about the Canadian border and I was afraid that if I told you, you might tell Mason and he would be suspicious if I left. I’m well aware that not everyone trusts me yet. With any luck, they will put you all on to start watching me. If they ask you to, agree to it.”

“And if we actually do give them reports on what you’re really doing or just tell the truth?” Gevanni asked.

“Then I might get arrested, especially if L has a hand in it, charged as Kira, and probably given the death sentence, and the real Kira wins.”

The three of them nodded.

“I trust your judgment,” Rester spoke up. “Without your system we may not have found this and having those two may help.”

Hal looked at him, then at Matt. “I do too. I’ll admit. We didn’t trust you at first. To be honest,” and here she smiled a little, “you looked like just some punk kid but, I’ll do as you’ve said.” She looked at Rester and Gevanni. “We all will.”

Gevanni nodded, then grinned. “What’s with the suit?”

They trust me…finally…I need them right now…and I can really trust them in return now…

Matt laughed. “I went to get it fitted. I was intending to go underground to find people myself, but it turns out I didn’t have to.”

“You made a connection?”

Matt nodded. “Luckily enough, I did.”


The next day, Shidoh gave Light another forlorn look. “I just want my notebook back or I’ll die. I haven’t written in it in a while.”

Light glared at him.

Shidoh writhed his spidery fingers. This human is creepy.

“I can’t do that. I’ll lose my memories.”

“But I might die!”

All the better if you did. Damn shinigami. He glared again at Ryuuk, who was hanging out on the ceiling, grinning at him.

They were in his room, speaking privately. The others had been creeped out by him, but had accepted Light’s explanation of him and how they’d have to keep the notebook around as bait for Kira.

But ever since then, all he heard was the incessant asking and begging and nagging for the return of the notebook. It annoyed him.

“Shut up. You’re just going to have to deal with it for now. I can’t screw things up by dealing with you. I have to keep this notebook.”

“But—“

Light took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead. “You’ll have to wait. I’m sorry for my temper. I’m stressed.” That wasn’t true. He just wished he could kill the damn thing, and maybe Ryuuk too. “You’ll be able to have it back very soon.” That was a lie too, of course.

“I will!”

“Of course. It’s only practical. How long until your lifespan runs out?”

Shidoh seemed to have to seriously stop and think about this. “I only have a few months.”

Ryuuk sniggered. “You really haven’t been keeping up.”

“You stole my notebook in the first place, Ryuuk.”

“You’re the one who dropped it.”

Light could have torn his hair out. Add insult to injury, Ryuuk was enjoying this. “I’ll be sure to do something, Shidoh. I’ll be able to give it back. A few months is plenty of time. Don’t worry.”

This was worse then he’d hoped. He wasn’t neutral like Ryuuk or at least moderately intelligent, like Rem had been—he was an idiot. And while he was used to dealing with idiots, he wasn’t used to dealing with ones of this caliber, except maybe Matsuda. Still, maybe there will be some way I can use him if I can sway him to my side. Get him as devoted to me as Rem was to Misa. Then get him to kill someone for me.

“Whoopie!” Shidoh said.

“Okay? I have to go outside and talk to my team and then I’ll start working on how I can get you your notebook back properly.”


When he approached everyone, they were working.

“Stop for a moment.” They did, looking up at him. “The director of the FBI and several agents have all died of heart attacks.”

“Kira…how could he have found out about them?” Aizawa was standing. “Don’t they seal their files?”

Light nodded, adopting a serious look, putting his chin in his hand. “I would assume so and if they did…there would only be one person besides Mason that could access them.”

“M,” his father said.

“Right. There is a possibility that he may be Kira.”

“Just like I thought!” said Matsuda, jumping up.

“It may be possible. I have informed the United States of his contact with us because, as it turned out—his team had no idea where he was. The timing is just too perfect. He leaves and suddenly all those people die.”

“But why would he do something like that? It could have been so easily put together,” Ide muttered.

“He probably assumes that everyone trusted him, as he is the head of the SPK. Now, it’s only a possibility, of course, but it is one I strongly suspect. I’m going to contact him.”



Matt jerked his gaze up when the beep came in. So, you’ve decided to call in…

He pressed the contact button, watching the log codes stream in the little orange box. “L.”

Light smiled. “M.”

“As, so you’ve come to that conclusion, have you?”

“Well, I assume you aren’t Near or Mello—but both of them. Made up aliases and you are someone else entirely.”

“Fair enough, though it took you a while.”

“I had to wait for the opportune moment, you understand, to find out.”

“Oh yeah,” Matt put his cigarette down and leaned forward on his chair, “and what was that?”

“You told us Mello might have been in Canada. You tried to throw us off for some reason. Then Takimura gets a strange call from the United States, from the SPK—someone calling themselves M. I called on you to ask about it and, strangely enough, you are gone. And then, of course—the deaths of Mason and the other FBI agents.”

“And by their deaths, you assumed M was me?”

“Yes and by your actions, M…I cannot help but suspect that—as you were gone—you might be Kira.”

“I might be Kira?”

“It is only a suspicion. No hard proof, of course. Unfortunately, as I had this suspicion, I called on David Hoope.”

Matt jerked his gaze up. So you will be the reason I’ll come under suspicion. You only solidify my conclusion. How convenient for you.

“Is that so?” Matt let an edge of anger in his voice.

Light nodded to himself. Yes, he is someone else. But who… “Yes. I can only believe so. It is far too convenient.”

Matt smiled. “My people are listening to you right now, L. Are your people listening?”

“Why do you want to know that?”

“Because I’ve got something to say.”

“I don’t keep secrets from my team, unlike you.”

Matt smirked. Heh. “Well then, as you suspect me of being Kira—I suspect you, L.”

Light jerked, staring at the Old English M on the screen. “What are you talking about?”

His father and the rest of the task force all looked up. Matsuda, looking angry, opened his mouth to speak but a gesture from Soichiro shut him up.

“You see, L—every time you contact me, I log your system. Your connection is encrypted, unhackable—it would even be hard for me. But that is not my objective. Every time you connect, I log you and get your encryption codes and they are the same every time because even if you have multiple servers, they must all go through at least one master server.”

“Get to the point.” Although, suddenly…Light started to straighten. He knows more about computers and programming then I do…

“As you wish. After Mason’s death, I was told he had sent the files of all the agents who died, including himself, through an email. I set up Mason’s computer with the same program I use to log your system. I wanted to make sure there was a save, just in case he was ever contacted by someone suspicious. I managed to get that system and look at the program and what would you know, L—the encryption codes were exactly the same. Meaning that Kira contacted Mason, and L contacts me and they come from the exact same place. Which, if you’ll excuse me for saying—only leads me to the conclusion that you or someone in your group, is Kira.”

Light went dead quiet for about two seconds. He had a logging system…but it never showed up…it never…I checked to see if we were being tagged or pinged…and we never… “Where would you get a program like that? You have no—“

“I wrote the program myself.”

“Send it to me.”

“Now why would I go and do that?”

Why you--! “I want proof. I’ve heard of nothing like that—logging encryption codes and not leaving a trace.”

“Well, you have now. Although, as you have contacted the president, no doubt I’ll be under suspicion for being Kira and I cannot show them the data.”

“Why?”

“Because I set up Mason’s computer to wipe spare data. The logging code was, unfortunately, deleted. So, unfortunately, my proof is gone. But consider, L and the rest of your team—Kira is probably among you. I’m very certain of it. I had wondered before if Kira had possible ties to the Japanese police. This solidifies that and, haha, the fact that at least one of you must have seen the original L’s face.”

He got me. It completely backfired. I didn’t know about that system…it’s completely backfired. And now he’ll be able to—the rest of them are listening. They all knew L suspected me…

“Your data was deleted. You have no proof. You’re lying to put doubt in my people.”

“Why would I have any reason to do that?”

“Because you’re suspected now of being Kira.”

“Yes, because you contacted the president. They probably wouldn’t have thought to without a nudge from the fake L, who—I have to admit, must have some acting skills of a pretty good caliber.”

“I can see speaking to you is useless. You are only going to make accusations.” He disconnected.

For a few moments, he just stared at the screen. He’s dead. He’s dead. I have to kill him.

“There’s no way you could be Kira, Light!” Matsuda declared. “There’s no way. He said his data was deleted. He has no proof.”

“Yes. Exactly right.” Light’s father was, however, looking at the ground, elbows on his knees. The second time now, this is the second time my son is under suspect again…and this M…possibly one of L’s heirs… He rubbed his forehead.

Aizawa watched him, then looked at the back of Light’s head, having similar thoughts.

Light turned around. “This should be obvious to all of you, a ploy to raise doubt. I don’t know why he believes I’m Kira—likely just to get suspicion off himself. We didn’t exactly get along.”

Matsuda nodded firmly. Soichiro did too, but his was more tired. Light’s eye lingered on him for a second before looking over Mogi, Ide, and Aizawa carefully.

Mogi showed no expression, per usual. Ide was looking at the table, seeming troubled. Aizawa was looking at him, obviously thinking, then looked away.

Matt smiled. “Before anyone gets down here to investigate me or you guys—I need to make a quick run to a friend. I’ll be right back. Get the two upstairs down here as soon as I get back. If anyone comes to question you before I get back, shut down all the systems and cameras. Forewarn them incase that happens and lock all the doors on their floor.”

He looked at them. “Their first job has come up, after all. I’m going to need them. The FBI can not know about them and I need to explain the details. I want you all to know about it.”