(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

[dead_black_eyes]

The thing about Matsuda seems to be that he doesn't try, that needing to put on affectations or make attempts to be friendly, warm and interested in the mundane details of other people's lives is utterly alien to him. When Caesar says that he wants to go and sounds like he's actually making plans to, down to asking for recommendations, Matsuda's quick and eager to answer.

"Yeah! Actually, there's a local specialty that everyone should try! It's..."

"Mr. Matsuda," L cuts in. "Caesar's not going anywhere tonight, or in the foreseeable future. He seems to have forgotten that he's to be under my supervision at all times in light of recent events."

"Oh..." Matsuda falters, clearly having not been aware of this. "But... Ryuzaki, if you don't trust him, why is he here with us?"

"Why, indeed..." L mumbles around a tootsie pop. "Your invitation is kind and I'm sure he appreciates it, but it's like I said. He's staying with me."

[evowhisperer]

Caesar turns in his chair, studying the man again. Quiet suspicions are confirmed, and now he's presented with the problem of how to address this without disturbing an already shaky position. Should he acquiesce and try to regain more freedoms as time goes on?

... He's still exactly as precarious as he was several hours ago. Just because Ryuzaki is probably watching him on the screens instead of directly doesn't change that fact, and Caesar knows that this current reprieve is only until he finishes his transmitter.

He'll push later. For now he leans back in his chair, turning back to the table.

"Sorry, Matsuda. Maybe we could go some other night." He offers another small smile, more to be pleasant than out of any real cheer.

[dead_black_eyes]

Whatever Caesar's suspicions are, it's possible that there are some he hasn't guessed at. Chiefly, the consideration that L might be jealous of the affable young man so easily asking another to join a group for drinks, the very activity they'd discussed recently and the detective had expressed abhorrence over.

He's precisely as precarious as he was a few hours ago, yes. Possibly more so, now that the ghoul in the computer chair might have begun to think it's getting personal.

"OK, yeah... sorry, I shouldn't have asked," Matsuda apologizes earnestly. "I should have realized you were busy."

"We're all busy," Soichiro replies gently.

"...yep," Aizawa says shortly.

L's silence is as frigid and stiff as the grave.

[evowhisperer]

The silence behind him radiates chill like a tangible feeling, but Caesar doesn't turn around again. Instead he nods slightly, offering Matsuda one last smile. "You couldn't have known."

Literally. Apparently no one's been told of what happened, yet, so they wouldn't have any context.

He looks down at the remaining parts on the table. There's not a lot he can do without the rest of the parts, but until then maybe he can at least try to do the side-tasks that would otherwise take up time later... Hopefully it'll keep him busy, and out of the line of fire for trouble.

It hasn't occurred to him in the slightest that L might be thinking back to their earlier conversation. Most of his bosses have not only been socially gifted enough to never have had this issue, they've also never seemed to resent the distances between them and their employees.

[dead_black_eyes]

It doesn't change much, that chill and silence, over the next half hour or so. There are some attempts made at small talk, but they die quickly. Watari finishes his business preparing an acceptable living space for the next few days that will please even the most finicky constitutions, and then leaves unannounced on an errand that no one is informed of except, perhaps, for L.

Then Mogi returns. "Caesar, here's everything else you asked for. Sorry it took so long, some of it was kind of tough to track down."

He glances around at the other faces in the room, and L's curved back, clearing his throat as if to say oh, right, got it. He's in a bad mood.

"Bet you're anxious to get cracking, huh? The sooner you get to it, the sooner you'll finish."

And not get to go out for drinks with the others, Matsuda's sad half-smile hints at when Mogi's eyes turn his way.

[evowhisperer]

The next half hour is significantly more pleasant for Caesar than it is for everyone else. Matsuda might still carry the emotional sting of being denied what he'd asked for, but Caesar had already moved on by the time Matsuda turned away. The designs he'd been thinking of are brought to the forefront of his mind. He marks circuit boards where cuts can be made and unneeded sections can be trimmed. He scribbles equations and numbers down on the back of a discarded set of pages, pausing from time to time to stare at the ceiling. It's been a while since he's worked with these types of signals, especially without references to call on, but theoretically these parameters should work...

He's been in his element, and with this kind of pressure his focus is total.

By the time Mogi arrives he'll have wound down, and will be re-laying the pieces on the table, tracing paths over them with his fingers. Mogi's arrival will cause him to drop the hand, turning to look.

The room's mood rushes back in a gentle wave. Ryuzaki is still in a bubble of quiet. Mogi's cheer is like a wedge chipping away at ice. Cesar grins only a little bit, nodding by way of answer.

"Thank you. This should be fine." He takes the grocery sack, looking down at its contents. It's what he expected, and now he can finally figure out the details.

"Hmm?" He looks back up. "... Hah, I suppose I am. It's been a long time since I've had a project like this. Would any of you happen to have a knife, or a small saw I could use to cut these?" He picks up one of the marked circuit boards, holding it up.

[dead_black_eyes]

"Ah, I'm glad," Mogi says. "Like I mentioned this isn't exactly stuff you can walk into the hardware store for in some cases. I had to call in a few favors from friends who work in intelligence for a few of these parts. I think they cannibalized a signal scrambler between the call and my arrival."

"Signal scrambler?" Aizawa asks, brow furrowing. "Huh. Just what are we running from? Does someone care to fill us in? Do I need to call my wife and tell her that I might be dodging missiles later on?"

"I'm sure that's not necessary," Matsuda says as he offers Cesar a swiss army knife. "Ryuzaki would tell us if we were in any real danger, right?"

No answer from Ryuzaki, but Watari replies "Precautions have been taken. For the time being, we should be quite safe. Isn't that right, Mr. Salazar?"

[evowhisperer]

Caesar looks over to Watari with a small smile that doesn't reach his eyes. He nods.

"We're in no danger of dodging missiles right now. I'm 100% certain. Once I finish this, there won't be anything to worry about but our original threats."

It's a weak reassurance, and Caesar is acutely aware of the danger he's put the team in. An honorable thing to do would be to escape his current situation and advise them from afar.

Instead of plotting any attempts, he looks down at the tool and picks out the biggest knife it has. Its blade has a serrated edge, and when he holds it beside the board it's still obvious that this is woefully unideal. He doesn't complain.

"Do we have any clamps?"

[dead_black_eyes]

Watari, for all that he's kinder and more approachable by far than the younger man he chaperones and assists, is almost as unreadable as Ryuzaki. He nods back, approaching the still and silent detective and working to clear away some of his discarded wrappers, glancing over his shoulder at the computer screen.

"The original threats are what we are focusing on, now," Ryuzaki says. "The rest of us, at least. Please don't let Caesar's project distract you, everyone, I really need you to focus while you're all still here."

"Y-yes sir," Matsuda says, reaching for a manila folder, any manila folder, and rifling through its contents.

"I'll get the clamps," Watari volunteers, going and returning shortly with the requested items.

[evowhisperer]

Cesar thanks him, and spends the next twenty minutes sawing strategically through as little material as he can afford. He has to replan from his original expectations, since without power tools this task is unreasonable, but he still manages to prune the different board pieces to a total object the approximate size of a matchbox.

Two little boxes with readouts are turned on. Another one is hooked up to the device, and Cesar carefully turns the power supply to a fraction of a volt.

The readout does nothing. He turns the voltage up, eyes cemented to the screen.

Here's the difficult part. Cesar knows that his device could plausibly interfere with Ryuzaki's monitors and surveillance equipment, but he doesn't want to let the man know that this is in his plans. Who knows what would happen to him if the device's abilities came to light? No, it's best to leave it unmentioned, and to point to the hardware restrictors he's included if he's asked.

Nevermind that they're installed in a way that he expects to be able to break off if there's an emergency. He feels a little guilt at this level of distrust, but at this point he's been given no reason to assume otherwise.

Caesar very deliberately inches the signal until it just starts to interfere with his nanite's signals, and he feels it even before the screen registers the difference. It's like a compressed jar full of bees has been sunk painlessly into his chest, and the faint buzz sets his teeth on edge. He twiddles dials and settings immediately. The interference (and discomfort) subside, and he relaxes.

A few minutes later he nods to himself and starts disconnecting everything. A set of coin-shaped batteries are pressed onto the device's back, and he cuts a string that he'll use to hang this by his neck. It's already switched on. He should already be safe again.

Even though his interrogation with Ryuzaki looms like an impending stormfront, Caesar can't help but feel lighter, and he turns in his chair to see what the rest of the room is doing, holding the new transmitter in one hand.

[dead_black_eyes]

Though the others try not to stare, Watari is paying closer attention out of the corner of his eye on behalf of L as Caesar works. He says nothing, allowing it to happen, and about halfway through the process, the monitors flicker very slightly from almost imperceptible interference, leading L to turn and stare, himself even though it's gone unnoticed by everyone else in the room.. He doesn't seem particularly pleased, and when he's finished with the transmitter, he clears his throat loudly.

"Everyone else can leave. You're done for the day. Mr. Salazar, please come here so I can take a closer look at the finished product."

Despite the etiquette markers present, it's not a request.

[evowhisperer]

Feeling remarkably like a child bringing an assignment forward for evaluation, Caesar stands, crossing the room with his project in his hands.

"It's already on," he explains, putting it down in the space by Ryuzaki's mouse. "It works by creating a small localized field of signals that directly clash with internanocommunications. It's not enough to interfere with my own, but it'll cause any signals travelling more than fifteen feet to decay almost instantaneously."

[dead_black_eyes]

Ryuzaki's eyes follow him, slowly and steadily as a snake watching a frog move through grass. He stares at it where it rests on his desk, and if Caesar's paying attention, he might notice that Watari tenses very slightly, as if preparing to make a quick movement if defending his ward is necessary. Whether that means incapacitating Caesar or throwing himself over Ryuzaki to shield him from a bomb blast, he's clearly prepared to do it.

"What is it doing to our machines?" Ryuzaki inquires, lifting it in his delicate grasp and viewing it from multiple angles. "I noticed that it was affecting the internet; I'll need to see evidence that it's not interfering with our security on that front."

Even though he told them they could leave, the others are lingering, seeming to be intentionally taking their time gathering their belongings. Whether this is because they're curious or because they genuinely fear to leave Ceaesar alone with L and Watari is anyone's guess.

[evowhisperer]

"It should be doing absolutely nothing," Caesar assures him. He senses Watari tensing in his peripheral vision, but he doesn't know how to interpret it. Taking a shot in the dark, he makes sure to relax, trying to seem as nonthreatening as possible.

"There may have been some minor interference during calibration, but it's definitely not affecting anything now. Most computers and wi-fi connections use completely different frequencies than what this is targeting. I can show you a diagram for its design and a spectrum map, if you'd like to see for yourself."

He sounds both calm and reasonable, and his back is to the rest of the detective team. They can probably tell that it's a deliberate front, but whether or not he wants them to stay is a little more ambiguous. He's stressed over the meeting that's just started. He's not asking for help.

[dead_black_eyes]

L cants his head to the side, considering the offer.

"No," he decides, turning back toward his own console. "I still have questions, of course, but it won't be necessary for you to explain it in that level of detail. Your willingness is proof enough for me and there comes a point where time wasted could translate to lives lost."

He glances over his shoulder. "You can all leave now," he repeats sharply, this time with somewhat more of a result as they start to filter out.

[evowhisperer]

Caesar waits for the detectives to leave with the tension of a mouse who's no less safe from a house cat even after the lights have gone out. This is a discussion he would just as soon not have the rest of the team watching, if he can avoid it.

As the last man passes through the door, Caesar asks in English, "I would like to verify certain frequency ranges with data on my phone sometime soon, for maximum safety's sake."

Polite. Respectful. He's testing the waters while making a show of the fact that Ryuzaki has every power to turn him down.

[dead_black_eyes]

The switch to English is easy and fluent for the detective, and very likely preferred over the textbook formal Japanese he has to speak around the other task force members.

"Maximum safety should be a priority 100% of the time," he says, only mildly chastizing. "Watari, I'd like to grant him use of his phone back, but only under very close supervision. How long should it take?" He asks Caesar, producing the phone and offering it with his spindly fingers.

[evowhisperer]

... Success? Caesar considers looking contrite at the light rebuke, but the insincerity would be too obvious, so he simply raises his eyebrows.

"Not long at all," Caesar replies, taking the phone and tapping its password in. "Less than a minute."

He's never timed himself, but he's confident that he knows his phone through and through. Sure enough, there's about forty seconds of tapping tiles open, scrolling, reading, then tapping scrolling and reading some more.

Hell, twenty seconds left is enough that he could check his mail and send off a quick reply, if he dared. He doesn't, and instead locks the screen again and holds it back out. No changes necessary, and he's confirmed what he already knew.

By now the other detectives are well and truly gone.

Caesar says nothing to prompt the questions he knows will follow soon, letting Ryuzaki take the lead. If he could avoid the upcoming conversation at all, he would, and he's not going to make the conversation any more complicated by offering things that might not have even come up otherwise.

[dead_black_eyes]

The timeframe, at least, is acceptable to the man, and he watches carefully as Caesar does what he said he would, and fights the temptation to sneak in what he didn't. It's probably for the best, as any such attempt would likely be noticed and intercepted by Caesar's paranoid and eagle-eyed employer.

"Take a seat," he says, once he's satisfied. "We'll likely be here for awhile. I suppose the first thing must come first... it goes without saying that I need to know everything you can tell me about Rylander, as well as some of the things you probably feel like you can't."

[evowhisperer]

Caesar sits in the offered chair, resting his hands on his thighs. It takes a conscious effort not to try to dry his sweating hands in the same motion.

"Doctor Gabriel Rylander is an evolutionary biologist, and a leading expert in nanite technology. He was on the original team of scientists that developed the nanite prototypes that were used to temporarily revive the shooter in Argentina."

It's not everything that Ryuzaki wants, but it's a starting point. Caesar hasn't said anything that couldn't be found through judicious googling, but he's already sorting out what he plans to say and what he plans to avoid.

Lo siento, Rylander, he thinks to himself. It's necessary.

[dead_black_eyes]

If L is surprised at the ease with which Caesar's words seem to flow, he doesn't indicate as much; that poker face is sternly in place. No notes are being taken by Watari or L; the man's memory is perfect and is actually more reliable, at least for a starting point.

The trick from this point will be to keep Caesar from being able to map out the conversation too far in advance, and that means throwing a few curve balls his way. Just enough to keep the answers spontaneous and honest. What you just said sounds like it was memorized from rote and while I don't doubt the truth of it, I need more than hard facts. I need keys and weak points.

"I thought something didn't fit before, when you said that you were working alone," he admits. "This man is the one who put you up to going to Argentina to revive the shooter, or... you're estranged from him and have been for some time, even before we encountered one another."

What Caesar says in answer is important, but so is the way he says it.

[evowhisperer]

Cesar's expression changes more as L describes his second scenario, but not enough to indicate a direct bullseye.

"You're wrong in both theories." He folds his arms casually. "No one's put me up to anything, and though it is true we've gone a few years without speaking--" And isn't that a story. "--we're not estranged."

How did Ryuzaki know that much? Is he taking guesses, and is Caesar just confirming them for him? ... Has he been in communication with anyone from his homeworld? That's unlikely. Even most people there wouldn't know or care about the details of is personal life.

[dead_black_eyes]

"A few years without speaking? A few years is the time someone spends in high school or college," L points out, stretching out one of his legs before tucking it back under himself in his signature sitting style. "It's no insignificant amount of time, in other words. What kind of circumstances would prompt you to avoid contact?"

The word is carefully chosen. Avoid implies intentionally not contacting someone, even when it is an option.

[evowhisperer]

He looks uncomfortable.

"Nothing as dramatic as a fallout. I spent five years travelling, and he worked in a remote lab with poor communications." Half truths are dropping from his mouth like leaves in autumn. "We knew it was coming. We parted on good terms."

Too much, too much. He should have left this with much simpler details, rather than draping around all this rope around to hang himself with. Why did it matter to say this much? It hadn't, and now he can't unsay anything.

[dead_black_eyes]

L's nonexistent eyebrows raise; he seems to have caught something that Caesar didn't intend to say or show, and he's mulling it over behind his black-ice eyes. It's true, Caesar can't unsay anything, but he also doesn't have the option to just clam up here, either.

"I see. The communications problem appears to have been solved, judging by his ability to track us down to the precise location and contact you. If convenience was keeping your collaboration separate, circumstances seem very different now."