(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]

Soichiro takes off his glasses, rubbing at his temples. "We could be at this for a long time, Ryuzaki. I'm sure you're aware, since you've dealt with situations like this before."

"I haven't," L contradicts. "Not beyond a certain degree, at least... this individual recognizes he's backed into a corner and would probably say anything to get out of it. If that means telling us exactly what we want to hear, I think he's determined to do just that. I will confess that this much is a familiar scenario."

"So... what about it is new to your experience?"

L sighs. "The fact that he's working with technology that's potentially decades beyond what we have access to, to the point where he can restart hearts that have stopped beating. I admit, I want to see where it goes, even if it's not linked to Kira. I should say, even if it wasn't linked to Kira prior to the Argentinian shooter. By this point, there's no separating him from that association."

"I can't tell if you're suggesting what I think you are, Ryuzaki, but I must tell you that I have serious misgivings about involving a man who attacked you in our investigation."

"Friends close, enemies closer," L murmurs, turning on his microphone and scrambler again for Caesar's benefit.

"No one person can account for everything, but experts in different fields can often assist one another in shedding additional insight on a matter. As someone driven by the pursuit of knowledge, by your own admission... you must recognize that you're at a disadvantage, working alone."

He switches off the microphone.

"What if he's not working alone?" Aizawa asks.

"Then he might very well tell us that much, but it seems likely that he is."

[evowhisperer]

"... I am." The smile was never very large, and it doesn't take much for it to subtly fade.

His mind leaps ahead, trying to guess where the voice is going by bringing this up. Will the next question be cajoling him to share his 'miracle cure' with a team? He can't. More than his morals chafe at the thought of someone like Kira having the power that he does, Caesar knows that there's no way he could willingly release nanotechnological know-how into this world.

If they ask him directly, it will be an extremely difficult question to tiptoe around. He probably won't succeed. What will the consequences be? Starvation? Another strangulation, this one that he doesn't wake up from? Release with all his possessions tossed after him in neat little baggies?

Torture?

He's holding up moderately well, but he hasn't forgotten the fact that he's tied to a solid chair by something much bigger than he is. If they don't like the answers they hear, no one has to ever find the body.

Perhaps he could steer this conversation so that when it approaches the subject, it will do so on his terms. (Would they let him? Could the attempt at taking control from is captors only make them angrier? He doesn't know.)

"If you've seen footage of the shooter's revival, then you may have also seen the later talkshow presentation by Dr. Montenegro."

He knows this feeling. It's been plaguing him since he saw the camera, and he's felt it before; he's on a rollercoaster, and it's jumped the tracks. Each step is a gamble, and if he could think of any alternatives, he might try for a less reckless approach. Unfortunately for him, he can't.

[dead_black_eyes]

"Ryuzaki..." Watari's voice, stronger and clearer than most of his age, draws L's attention. "So far, the search results are turning up nothing for this Caesar Salazar, either."

"So it's either a fake name, or he really is just that good at staying off the grid," L muses, staring at the face his monitor shows him, propping his chin up on his knee and sighing. "I guess we'll see when Mogi calls telling us what he found in the hotel room."

He switches on the microphone again.

"Yes, we saw the talkshow presentation with Dr. Montenegro. What did you think of it? If anything, it must have driven the point home that if Kira was able to catch you at work, you'd be in serious danger."

[evowhisperer]

Was that a threat?

"It did," Caesar agrees, and he means it. "That's why I never stepped forward."

It's not quite how he hoped the conversation would go, and he can't redirect it now.

[dead_black_eyes]

"In all honesty, I'm surprised you didn't. As unwise as it would have been, it must have been at least a little infuriating to see an imposter passing off your work as his own."

L turns off the microphone.

All eyes are on Caesar, waiting for him to respond... or, at least, react.

[evowhisperer]

He thinks it over, and then carefully lifts his shoulders.

"I was angry. Then I remembered the danger Dr. Montenegro was putting himself in, and decided to wait and see." The shoulders go back down, and a crease forms between his eyebrows. The expression is fleeting, fading to something closer to his nervous neutrality. Normal people would be distressed by the doctor's execution. Caesar was affected, and he did react, but the memories just aren't attached to the emotion.

"I was right, unfortunately. I'd hoped Kira wouldn't, but his method of execution was unmistakable. Montenegro was a hack, but he didn't deserve the death he got."

It wasn't Caesar's fault, and for once, it wasn't even his direct responsibility. It hit home how much danger he could be in, certainly, but wasn't he in much more danger right now if being imprisoned and tortured indefinitely?

[dead_black_eyes]

"He sounds honest," Soichiro says. "I admit, I want to believe him."

"That doesn't surprise me," replies L. "He reminds me of your son, Chief Yagami."

"Ryuzaki, just what are you implying?" Soichiro asks, a dangerous edge in his voice.

"He's clever..." L starts, trailing off as the older detective sets his jaw but says nothing in response.

Matsuda and Aizawa both look his way uncertainly as L turns the microphone on again.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, Caesar, how would you say you rate your ability to prevent your emotions from influencing your actions?"

[evowhisperer]

"Prevent?" Cesar repeats, slightly surprised. Are these questions connected? And how? There's no clock inside the cell, but a distant ticking in the viewing room will tick four or five times while he thinks it over.

"Eight," he says finally. "In favor of high ability."

He wants to say ten. He knows what it's like to take his fears and loves in one hand, like a soft bird, and to slowly smother them with what's important, and perhaps even what's right. There was nothing else the research group could have done in the time they had, not without an unacceptable amount of risk, and at the time, they hadn't known...

That's not all the question is asking, though. The question said 'actions', not decisions, and people unaffected by themselves don't do the things he's done.

[dead_black_eyes]

"Interesting..." muses L, as he presses the pad of his thumb against his lip.

"Ryuzaki..." Soichiro says, a note between stern and pleading tugging at his voice. "If you're trying to peg him as a sociopath, know that I also rank my ability to keep my emotions out of my decision-making process very highly."

"Most people do," says L mildly, "but consider that you rush to arms every time the possibility of your son's guilt is even broached. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but... most people don't rate themselves accurately at all."

"What about you, Ryuzaki?" Matsuda asks timidly.

"A ten, of course," is L's immediate response. Aizawa makes an impatient sound as L turns on his microphone again.

"What about remorse? On a scale of 1 to 10... how strongly would you say you feel guilt for what happened to Dr. Montenegro, and why?"

[evowhisperer]

He needs an honest answer. Too bad his honest answer isn't a good one.

"I would say that guilt is difficult to quantify, especially when there's a wide separation between you and what you're supposedly responsible for."

'Supposedly'? Dr Montenegro wouldn't have died if it hadn't been for his trying to play hero with those nanites. Caesar killed him in a way, even if he didn't pull the trigger. Or is he trying to sidle out from responsibility to play with his toys, again?

Caesar never forced him to step forward. He never asked him to take the credit, and no one could have saved him after he decided his own fate. It wasn't him.

Caesar's head may be high, but he feels slightly sick, and wonders if he's failing some kind of empathy test.

"Three or four. It depends on the timing."

There's a pinch at his eyes, and signs of discomfort. What scale is he using? There are microexpressions indicating a fluctuation of guilt before their very eyes, stronger than Caesar is describing, but there's also something else L may find interesting: repression. The guilt is inconsistent not because it doesn't exist, but because he's shunting it off where he thinks it won't hurt him.

Maybe someday Caesar will realize that he's just storing it for a rainy day.

[dead_black_eyes]

"It is not an accusation, Cesar. Just a question." The voice sounds as gentle as it possibly can with its current harsh, scrambled quality. L cuts the microphone, however, to answer a phone call.

"Yes, Mr. Mogi?"

"Ryuzaki, I'm here at the specified hotel room. I found a passport, but... well, I know what I feel about it, but you'll have to see it when I come back. Something doesn't seem quite right to me."

"I'm familiar with your thorough nature, Mr. Mogi. Thank you for the update, I look forward to seeing the passport." He flips his phone shut, reporting the results to the rest of his task force. They seem less than pleased, but L is decidedly more animated as he returns to the microphone and the voice scrambler.

"What's important to you, Cesar? What motivates you to get up in the morning, to keep breathing, to bury your identity so deeply?"

[evowhisperer]

Caesar is not reassured, not by the unspoken assurance or by the pause that follows. Why would he be? Black Knight always was at her most gentle when she was coaxing people where she wanted them.

The silence is broken. Caesar's brow is outright furrowed, but this is all starting to sound more like an interview than anything else. He knows how to interview.

"My goal has always been the betterment of mankind, but right now I just want to take away Kira's ability to kill people without consequences. I can't talk about why my identity is hidden right now--" He tries not to sweat. "--but I can guarantee that it's not something that will affect my work if I'm allowed to continue."

[dead_black_eyes]

If L had any context, along with a way to know who Cesar was comparing him to, he would have to agree that there were similarities, even very chilling ones.

L considers Cesar's answer, but his shoulder is being touched by Soichiro. "Ryuzaki..." the older detective says gravely. "Even if you believe him, what is your endgame?"

"I do believe him," L confesses. "He could be very useful in the right hands, and very dangerous in the wrong ones. If Kira had found him first, it could have gone badly for us, so... lucky us."

"Ryuzaki, you're not suggesting...!"

"Well, we can't let him go," L reasons, flicking on his microphone again and addressing Cesar.

"If that's truly your goal, Cesar, we have no real argument or difference. I've already seen firsthand that you're willing to do anything, to the point of abject recklessness, to achieve your goals, so... what if you were allowed to continue your work more effectively than you ever could alone? I think we can reach a mutually beneficial agreement here."

[evowhisperer]

"I would say that yes, I'm very interested." He was right. "I wasn't working alone earlier out of any aversion to working in groups; I just hadn't found anyone to work with yet."

Thank goodness. Does this mean he'll be let out of this cell soon? It's still cold, and the constant threat of torture has made it extremely hard to get comfortable.

[dead_black_eyes]

"Correct me if I'm under the wrong impression, but my feeling is that you have figured out that I'm working toward asking you to join me in working against Kira. I think you'll say yes, and that would benefit this cause greatly. That being said... are you expressing openness because you truly feel a desire to stop Kira, or because you recognize it might be the fastest way out of your situation? I only want to recruit people who are committed, 100%, to stopping this mass-murderer, even at the potential cost of your own life. I need strong wills and conviction."

[evowhisperer]

Laughter bubbles up somewhere in his chest, fighting towards his throat. Will you work with us? Why yes, of course. You aren't just trying to get out of being tortured, are you? Caesar swallows it back down before it can take voice, but the smile creases his face.

"Sorry. How else do you want me to prove my commitment? I've already flown to Japan and broken into morgues. I've proven my work is a step in the right direction, and I've been honest about everything you've asked."

[dead_black_eyes]

He's trying not to laugh, and not even trying to keep from smiling.

"Well, you have to admit, Ryuzaki... you're not actually giving him a choice," Matsuda points out quietly.

"I'm not intending to give him a choice," L replies levelly. "I intend to find out the truth about how he actually feels."

"Would you pledge your allegiance to a group who is holding you captive, who have not revealed their identities to you? It's fine if you would, I just need to know."

[evowhisperer]

He thinks about it.

"I can promise confidentiality, and full commitment towards upholding my end of a deal, if that's what you're asking."

It's a slippery answer, and Caesar's hoping he won't be pushed farther. He's in no position to say no, after all, but 'allegiance' rings ominously in his mind. What would it mean? Loyalty to the group beyond their immediate task? The fact that he's being asked at all means that there's probably something in all of this that's about to sign his soul away. How long can he put it off?

It smells of danger--again, the sort that Black Knight would leave waiting. He's been burned before; first they were little promotions he couldn't afford to refuse. Then there were more and more projects that nibbled away at the remains of his soul... He was good at whatever they gave him, but the part of him he'd hoped his parents would be proud of is misshapen from damage.

[dead_black_eyes]

"Ryuzaki, I still can't believe you're..."

"You're not seriously...?"

L waves his hand impatiently at his task force. "Quiet, please. No decisions are being made quite yet."

He turns on his microphone again.

"The men I work with have all devoted their lives to stopping Kira. It is more than our mission, it is our calling, and we are all prepared to die for it, if that's what it comes to. What I'm asking for is a type of commitment, and it's called 'conviction.' So I suppose my next question would have to be... is the outrage you feel toward Kira greater than your fear?"

Investigation team: "Shit now there's two assholes"

[evowhisperer]

Oh. It's as though pieces of a greater machine just clicked into place behind his eyes, and now things make more sense. His eyebrows twist thoughtfully, and he thinks his answer over just a milisecond longer than he wanted to, but there's no doubt in his tone.

"Outrage? I'm afraid I'm not law enforcement. I'm a scientist. I do know with absolute certainty that whatever it is that Kira's doing can be stopped by means within our control, and that my desire to see this mystery solved is more than enough to see this through to the end. I have conviction in that."

"What Kira is doing is wrong. If you let me help you, and help me to do this, we can see him stopped that much faster."

XD

[dead_black_eyes]

"He didn't answer your question," Aizawa points out. "Ide already died for this case, don't you think you should demand the exact same willingness of him before you ask him to join the catch-Kira club?"

"Mm. I will say that curiosity and the genuine pursuit of knowledge are very powerful motivators. An emotional need to see Kira brought to justice is important, but... you saw what happened to Ide when he rushed to the station. Maybe the investigation needs cooler heads."

"Ide gave his life! Are you seriously insulting his memory?" Aizawa demands.

"No... that's not my intention. I will always remember his sacrifice," L replies softly. "That being said... we're detectives, and a scientist would be a boon. I do want to recruit him, barring any serious objections."

There's a long silence.

"I object," Aizawa says immediately. "It cheapens the things we've said and done in the name of catching Kira, and besides, I don't want to have a criminal working with us."

"I am with Ryuaki," Watari says.

"I have my misgivings, but I will not fight your decision," Soichiro says softly.

"Uh... I'm..." Matsuda appears torn for a second. "I'm with L. I mean, Ryuzaki. Of course."

All eyes are on Aizawa. "Fine!" he spits out. "I'm clearly outvoted. I really hope my gut is wrong and the great L really is that much smarter than me."

L switches on the microphone.

"We are almost finished; thank you for your continued patience. For the next few steps in this process, I must ask for your complete cooperation; I personally believe you won't try to escape, but the fact is, you haven't proven otherwise, and until then, precautions must be taken. You'll be wearing an ankle bracelet, similar to those used for individuals under house arrest, while you work for us."

[evowhisperer]

An ankle bracelet? Unless it's wired to blow his leg off or neurologically sedate him through his nanites, he really has nothing to worry about. If anything, it's nothing more than a low dose of fair turnaround...

"It seems like a reasonable precaution. What else?" That can't be all. Actual house arrest? Continued surveillance, tracking devices, more interrogation?

Paperwork?

[dead_black_eyes]

"Well, you will essentially be under house arrest," L confesses. "You work for me now, so you'll always be nearby. Coming and going will be coordinated to suit this arrangement, but usually, others will be doing that for us. A list of anything you need, essential or nonessential, for your work or otherwise, will be supplied by you twice a week, barring extreme emergencies. You will of course be compensated for your work, but the money will be set aside in a trust fund for you to be accessed upon the completion of this case. Do you have any questions, so far?"

[evowhisperer]

"Only one that's immediate." Tracking down his personal belongings could wait, as would discovering the actual details of his new day-to-day life. All of this is hardly ideal, but he's dealt with less than optimal circumstances before, hasn't he?

"You already know who I am, but I don't know the same about you or your organization. Who are you? Where am I, and what team will I be working with?"

Maybe the restrictions will let up over time. Either way, this isn't the time to push.

[dead_black_eyes]

Just one immediate question? Manageable. Reasonable. L cants his head sideways as he listens.

"All of the details will be on a need-to-know basis, but you, like me, will be working under the detective who is heading the Kira investigation. If you have been watching the news at all, you know who that is, and why information pertaining to him must be treated delicately."