(no subject)

[evowhisperer]

  

-----

"Stand aside, please, I'm a doctor!"

 

Chaos. Pure, grainy, cheaply recorded chaos. The cellphone trembles violently with its owner's hands, and frightened shouting in Spanish from all around threatens to drown out the wails of a child. The dirty sidewalk is no place to treat the wounded.

 

The seven people bleeding out on the ground may not be alive to care, soon. The child screaming at a young couple's side is unhurt, but rightfully frightened.

 

Several someones pass in front of the camera. The owner moves to the side, and a loud male voice blares out, 'Are they alright? Are they alright?' when no one answers. The owner continues to move, and a frilly sleeve is pushed out of the way.

 

There's a man in a white labcoat kneeling over one of the bodies, pressing a cloth flat against a puddle of red.

 

'Hey, are they going to survive?'  the phone owner repeats. The doctor snags the cuff of someone standing too close, and orders them to keep pressing down. They step forward with shaking hands and kneel also, and soon the doctor stands and moves on.

 

Someone's voice is rising and falling hysterically. There's shouting about police, and an ambulance. The camera turns to look, but it doesn't seem that either have arrived, and when it looks back several people have begun to grab shirts from the store's open sidewalk display, following the doctor's example. 

 

The doctor is wearing a large woman's hat with a tag sticking out of it, now, conspicuously snatched from a knocked-over shelf. He's facing a direction that would normally let the camera see his profile, but the hat is big enough to hide all but his neck. He slows as he reaches a body that stares vacantly away--it's not the first he would've reached, but it is the first the camera has seen--and moves on.

 

Finally, there's the body that no one seems ready to approach, curled up and with its back to the crowd. Broken glass litters the ground around it, and when the doctor pushes it onto its back, he kicks a gun further out of reach.

 

Someone passes in front of the camera. "Hey..." The owner complains. No response, and the owner moves around. "Hey, why's he helping that fucker when there's people here who need help?"

 

The doctor's back is to the camera. It's impossible to see what he's doing until he glances towards the crowd, loops the hat's strap tightly around his jaw, and starts CPR.

 

No one stops or helps him. The camera continues to watch, eventually panning over the wounded, and the unhurt victims still milling around. Someone shouts about the police again, and more people are kneeling over the wounded victim's bodies, pressing down more cloth. The child has climbed into a sitting woman's lap, face buried in her hair.

One of makeshift medics calls out to the doctor tearfully, but they are ignored.

 

There's an outcry. The camera snaps back to the doctor, who's lifting his head from the shooter's chest, pushing down arms that have begun to move sluggishly. More shouting, with more than a couple of screams. The crowd is starting to shuffle back, and the doctor throws up a blood-soaked hand, shouting urgent assurances. The camera glimpses part of his face, and he's young, and very clearly aware of the new dangers--both from revived shooter, and the crowd.

 

"He's not armed!" Triple checking. The doctor kneels on his wrist, shifting the man to check underneath. Quadruple checking. "He has no more weapons! He's unconscious!"

 

The shooter's eyes are glazed but open, and the confusion in the crowd eddies and swirls. Before anyone can do anything, there's armed men in uniforms of the law shoving through the crowd, taking control of the situation. The crowd's din reaches a new high, and the man with the camera is forced back. It becomes impossible to see anything else, as people move back and shake the camera every which way.

 

There's only a glimpse left of the doctor left in the clip, and it's from one last ditch effort. The phone gets held high in the air, and it shows a white coat turned to one of the uniforms, hands forward, bloody, and earnestly reassuring.

 

The clip cuts out.

 

Comments

[evowhisperer]

The swipe is too fast for him to react. All at once the phone is out of his control, and although he darts towards it again, he restrains himself from following through. Rylander's words spill into hearing range like sand through fingers, and Caesar lowers his hand, glaring.

L speaks. The first answer is a profound silence on the other end. It doesn't last long, and when it breaks the other voice has an angry edge. "Who is this? Caesar, are you still there?"

"I'm here," Caesar replies. "And before you ask, I'm alright. This is my new coworker, and there's no need to worry about anything." The metananite is secure, he says without saying. Until this whole mess is resolved, that's what really matters.

[dead_black_eyes]

Ryuzaki pointedly turns away, as if anticipating an attempt to grab the phone back and actively working to circumvent it. He rolls his eyes at the way the other man's voice carries an edge. Whatever authority Ryuzaki imagines Rylander to have, it doesn't seem to intimidate him.

He quirks a brow when Caesar answers before he can, then he speaks crisply.

"I'm Caesar's new employer, actually, and this phone was set in airplane mode. I watched him do it. How are you contacting him?"

[evowhisperer]

"I have my ways," Rylander hedges, sounding unconcerned by L's flexing of authority. "When you get to be as old as I am, you learn a few tricks."

Not that he's as old as he's implying, or actually as unworried, but he can pretend. Caesar can pick up on the strain in his tone, and he presses his lips together. He wants to have a long talk with him. Neither of them have that chance.

Rylander continues. "I can't talk for long, for obvious reasons. Caesar, are you sure you're alright?"

It's a warmer tone than Caesar used. Earlier, Caesar had brushed away anticipated concerns with the blase haste that people have when there are much more important things to worry about. Rylander, on the other hand, is still talking with obvious concern. It's personal. He must've known Caesar's family, if not been part of it himself.

[dead_black_eyes]

Age is something that Ryuzaki very clearly lacks; his voice, while not youthful, certainly doesn't sound mature. He's clearly a young man in his mid-twenties, but that's not what he would consider a disadvantage, necessarily. Ever since becoming the world's premier child-detective over a decade ago, he's used his tender years to slice down others' expectations of him until his reputation needed no condescension.

"'Your ways?'" he repeats back at the other man. "You'll have to be a little more specific than that. Because while Cesar is all right, that can change if I think you're trying to sabotage my operation in any way."

[evowhisperer]

It doesn't take a lot to awaken Rylander's protective instincts: the Salazar kids have always been his favorite nephews, blood-related or not, and this man is talking about the one who gave Rylander a second chance at life. He's talking about harming someone who's only had good intentions, and who's already been forced to make terrible compromises for his employer's sake.

He's also talking about the one person who knows where the last metananite is, and on a practical level this is unacceptable.

"There's no need for that," he protests. "I'm not calling to start anything. Really, interfering with your team is the last thing either of us wants."

Not that he couldn't if he had to. If this employer makes any move to harm Caesar... Well, he doesn't know how he'd find out about it, but he'd discover a way. There's more than one way to reach out from beyond the grave, after all.

Caesar knows Rylander more than well enough to guess where his thoughts are going. This conversation is still salvageable, but he's trying to find a place to cut in before this changes. Who knows what would happen? Electronic sabotage? A cold room with a steel chair, and this time questions he couldn't answer? Unacceptable. Better to head both of them off and run damage control in Rylander's wake.

[dead_black_eyes]

Ryuzaki cannily recognizes that the masked threat, while certainly extreme, has given him some undeniable leverage in the conversation.

Well then, let's see where this is going.

"I want to believe you," he says, affecting an odd and even unnatural tone of empathy and concern. Then it flattens into his more typical monotone as he glances Cesar's way.

"Convince me."

[evowhisperer]

There's a shocked silence, and Caesar knows things are about to get out of hand. He steps forward before Rylander can find his voice.

"If you're looking for a character reference, then I can easily provide one. Dr. Rylander has been a friend of my family for over a decade."

"Don't, Caesar. You and I both know that's not what this man is looking for--"

"On the contrary." He looks at Ryzaki, still speaking to the phone. "There's nothing you can say that he can take as guarantee. My word, on the other hand, is significantly more substantiable at this time."

"Caesar..."

[dead_black_eyes]

"I want to know why you didn't mention him before," Ryuzaki says coolly, covering the mouthpiece so Rylander can't hear. "But we'll have plenty of time to talk about that later."

He uncovers the mouthpiece again.

"Caesar's got a point, Dr. Rylander. This is the first I've ever heard of you. Stay on the line, please, and tell me what you think I'm looking for. Aside from the obvious."

[evowhisperer]

"More than a character reference," Rylander growls. "You want what men like you always want: the world on a platter. Nevermind that my holding this call puts all of us at a terrible risk. Nevermind that if they find Caesar because of you, then you'll dream of the days when Kira was the only problem you had."

[dead_black_eyes]

L's hairless brows raise, out of interest rather than surprise or fear. The resulting expression on his mix of somewhat awkward features is further widening of his already-round eyes.

"All men want that," he answers softly. "What risks, and who are you worried about finding Caesar? My people have access to the best security measures and technology available, and I'm alive precisely because I'm very good at not being found. Of course I would extend the same courtesy to anyone working under my employ."

[evowhisperer]

Rylander laughs darkly.

"And yet here we are, talking out in the open on a phone more advanced than most of your supercomputers. You have noticed, haven't you? Caesar could build himself a localized damping field, but you're preventing him from doing so as we speak. That doesn't sound like you're ensuring your employee's safety to me."

[dead_black_eyes]

That laughter causes L's own expression to flatten into something dour and unamused.

"Your job is to convince me, Dr. Rylander. I don't think I'm asking for that much... for starters, it's not unreasonable to request some kind of proof that we are in fact in a dangerous and compromised position at this time."

With a car running at their side in the deserted back lot of a morgue, there doesn't immediately appear to be cause for concern, and L actually sounds bored as he calls what he believes to be a bluff.

[evowhisperer]

"Proof? ... How about the fact that I've been able to track you for the last hour?"

He has the grim audacity to sound amused.

"You're standing somewhere along Nishigotanda, in Shinagawa-ku. Honestly, it was much more difficult rigging up a transmitter with no hands than it was to locate you. Not that I'm complaining, of course..."

[dead_black_eyes]

Lazarus grinds his teeth.

"All that really proves is that Cesar's cell phone wasn't actually in airplane mode," he says. "I take it you're the only one tracking it? If you've shared your information, you're only further endangering your man, and I doubt very much that's in your best interests."

[evowhisperer]

"Well you're right on one account," he says, and the humor is gone. "I haven't shared this with anyone. However--"

Silence. It stretches on for seconds, as though he'd been distracted by reading something. When the silence breaks he sounds clipped, with renewed unease.

"This conversation has gone on long enough. I can't do anything to convince you without evidence and trust, and right now we have neither."

[dead_black_eyes]

"On that, we can agree," Ryuzaki replies, stare level, vaguely predatory, and intent on Cesar. "If there's nothing more to say, I'm hanging up, and we'll talk again before the end of the month when I've found you."

He removes the phone from his ear, punching the "end call" button and pocketing it.

"Sorry, but this time, you can't have your phone back. Get in the car."

[evowhisperer]

For a wild second, Caesar considers cutting his losses. Would it be so hard to run now, and evade L for the indefinite future?

Yes, actually. The thought isn't anything more than a fleeting impulse, and he presses his lips together in a granite-like line, following the single order. This is just like Rylander, to lose his temper when he should've just followed his head. Even if he does realize the mess he's just made for Caesar, he'll never have to deal with the consequences.

L's gaze burns a hole in his back as he steps towards the car, and it's hard for Caesar to not let his imagination run wild. A white cell with nothing but a chair, cold air, and a camera to watch him suffer. A hood over his eyes, and shocks he's seen delivered to mammoth-like EVOs to persuade him to speak. L's investigation team is in charge of uncovering the likes of Kira. What wouldn't they do to him?

The rest of the team wouldn't let that happen. No, they wouldn't--assuming they ever knew. Even if they did, how much authority do they really have? He'd been confident earlier, but years of working for the consortium has shaken any faith he's ever had in authority.

Caesar fastens his seatbelt and returns L's gaze, trying to make himself seem like an equal predator. All he manages is the look of a gazelle watching a lion for the slightest sign of attack, though he doesn't know it.

He speaks as soon as Lazarus enters the car.

"I will need the phone later, for my investigation."

[dead_black_eyes]

Even if Ryuzaki doesn't have the whole picture or the entire story, he does seem confident enough that Cesar won't make a break for it even after being told that he can't have his phone back. The extent of that rule isn't being disclosed yet; in Ryuzaki's experience investigating, it's better to give those being tortured a tantalizing sliver of hope that things might yet go their way if they behave, and so after Cesar is seated beside him and the car begins moving, he doesn't even make a noncommittal noise of acknowledgment when the man makes a bid for his instrument.

"Watari," he says to the driver, "we'll need to change hotels sooner than I'd anticipated. Please notify the others and make arrangements."

[evowhisperer]

Caesar hears the driver murmur assent, picking up his own cellphone once they're out into the street. He hears the man relay the message, but doesn't pay attention while he does.

He has his own problems to think about. Damage control, wasn't it? Rylander ticked off his assigned babysitter, and it's up to Caesar to diffuse the situation.

"I'm sure you must have a lot of questions," Caesar begins, taking a conciliatory tact. "If you ask them, I'll answer to the best of my ability."

[dead_black_eyes]

Ryuzaki is silent for a few long, heavy moments that probably seem to drag on far longer than they actually do.

"You've got some nerve," he says finally. "You'll answer my questions, to the best of your ability which is perhaps better than you're currently anticipating. You're correct there. But I'm not asking them here; once we've moved, it'll be on my terms, and in an environment I control."

He falls silent, but glances Cesar's way, as if hinting that if he doesn't want to be thrown in a cold room and questioned relentlessly, he should start trying to convince him why he's wrong immediately.

[evowhisperer]

Caesar didn't make it to where he is by being blind, and he knows what L is suggesting. He knows it as easily as he knows what he's being invited to do: succeed where Rylander failed, and persuade L that he's not a threat. His mouth is dry, and his gut feels like lead. Adrenaline sings through his blood with each heartbeat, while his heart goes luh-dump-luh-dump-luh-dump.

Focus.

It's one word. He shoves rising panic aside as though clearing a workdesk in a single swipe, throwing books and lamps to the floor. What should he do? Build a damping field as soon as possible. Keep the metananite out of the Consortium's hands.

He needs those steps to survive. Everything else is secondary, including fear. This is no time to ask if he'll succeed. All he has left is 'where can he start'?

Options branch invisibly before his eyes, laid out with detail that's far better suited to exhausting every scientific possibility than it is to picking the fastest actions on the fly. He makes do.

"Of course it will be," he agrees, feeling out this choice. He's sick with fear, but his mind is sharp, and the adrenaline has a twisted, invigorating effect. He feels alive. Step one: give Ryuzaki enough to sooth the damage Rylander did. Get him back on Caesar's side. Show him that there's no option as beneficial to him as the one where they're allies, not enemies.

"Before we get there, there is one thing you should know. I'll willingly undergo any interrogation you like, but if you don't let me build Rylander's damping field before we start, then you won't have me in your custody for very long. Rylander wasn't tracking me by my phone, but through the nanites in my body."

"He's not the only one who can. If I don't build the field before my employers discover me, then you'll allow them to get their hands on what I've stolen from them. You'll have no cure, no leads, and most importantly, nothing to stop them from using their prize indiscriminately."

That should get his attention. He knows it's vague. He's trying to vent Ryuzaki's attention now, like burning a forest before its rotting vegetation turns explosive.

[dead_black_eyes]

If Caesar's thought process happens to be similar to L's own, that can only help him. In fact, it's likely the only thing that can.

"The nanites in your body?" he inquires, staring intently at the other man. "Tell me. When your hand passed under the sensor and it responded, you lied, didn't you?"

His gaze is patient, unwavering, and frightening in its iciness.

"Build your dampening field, but if you lie to me again, you'll pay for it before you know I know."

[evowhisperer]

He wants to lie, but he also knows better than to do so. Caesar nods once. There's nothing for it if L decides Caesar's blood might be a good harvesting ground to extract this strange new 'cure' now. Things are well and truly beyond Caesar's control.

Except for the damping field. Built-up tension in his chest releases in an inaudible gust of air, and he presses his lips closed, nodding again. He's not safe by any means, but he's bought himself time to address the biggest emergency. What next?

He starts planning a schematic in the back of his mind. Out loud, he says, "I understand completely."

[dead_black_eyes]

Whatever L might be thinking or planning, it's well-disguised by his frozen, placid features and unwavering, dark gaze. That is the thin ice Caesar's skating on, and anyone with a survival instinct worth a damn would know to tread cautiously when faced with it. He's not an agent or an actor, or even a highly trusted and regarded proxy; that much is clear by the self-assured, intimidating confidence he effortlessly broadcasts, carrying one reassurance only: my threats are not the empty kind.

If he wanted to, he could reach out and take the man's blood, after ordering one of the host at his beck and call to tie him down, of course.

"I would hope so. If you weren't at least that quick on the uptake, I'd have no use for you," he says shortly. "I'll want to know more about these nanites, of course; I'm very interested in knowing what you can survive and recover from in particular, but if they're drawing unwanted attention, building that field is the first order of business for you, and it should go without saying that you are my hostage and I will behave accordingly if you botch it and draw more."

[evowhisperer]

What could L do? He could shoot the hostage, of course. It's a common mistake to think that Caesar's survival instincts are gone altogether, but they're certainly still present enough to tell him that his own life means absolutely nothing to those glacial eyes.

"The field should effectively scramble the signal. It will take a few minutes to an hour to built something short term, but it will work." Nevermind about the percentages of possible failure. Nevermind how much of this depends on what materials Headquarters has on hand. Caesar is good at getting results, and right now he'd promise anything he thought he could conceivably reach.