(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]

Caesar looks at his back, then the camera, and then walks to the far end of the room to undress, turning his back to the camera. There's nothing in the bag that he needs to put in his pockets: no wallet, hotel keycard, or cellphone. He shakes the clothes out once or twice more than necessary, making absolutely sure.

It's not something he's going to say out loud, but he's a little surprised that Mogi offered to turn his back on an unknown so early in the game. Not that Caesar is dangerous to them, but--they don't know that for certain, do they? A Providence soldier would've offered to leave the room. Of course, Providence would pretend to deactivate the surveillance too, or possibly even have been concealing its existence in the first place.

It's different.

There's no interesting scars on the side of Caesar facing the camera. He puts on his clothes, straightens his collar (it's too stiff, but it's what he needs here,) arranges his cuffs over shoes in a move that transforms them nearly to dress shoes, and turns around.

"Ah, thank you for waiting."

[dead_black_eyes]

Mogi keeps his back turned, slipping his hands into his pockets and relaxing his posture. He trusts that if Cesar tries anything, he'll be alerted... provided L isn't getting pissy about Mogi making this call on his own. He thinks that L isn't that immature and petty, but he's surprised nearly every day by the detective's fickle moods and decisions. Hell, everyone is... and that's why Mogi is actually more afraid of what might be coming his way from L than whatever Cesar might try while his back is turned.

The camera remains motionless, the speaker silent.

"No problem," Mogi says again; these words are spoken often by him. He's compliant and respectful and diligent, even by the high standards of the task force. "I know this is kind of sudden and strange, so anything to make it a little easier..."

He holds out a visor, looking apologetic. "We're leaving this facility and heading to a hotel where you can meet the rest of the task force. Since the location is confidential, I'm going to have to ask you to wear this blindfold."

[evowhisperer]

Caesar takes the blindfold, wondering if this is a hotel that has its logo emblazoned on every available surface, giving its identity away in a heartbeat. Or is this meant to protect the facility they're already in?

"Should I put it on now?"

He'll do so if given the affirmative, tugging the straps comfortably behind his ears. Then he'll wait, a little more uncertain now. Is he going to follow someone's voice? Be guided by the elbow? Lead by any of the less savory possibilities that a secret organization could use, like a gun barrel against his back?

[dead_black_eyes]

More than likely, it's to protect both; while L has made the decision to allow Cesar to join the task force, there are still precautions he feels the need to take. The more initially compliant Cesar is with this measures, no matter how paranoid or unreasonable they may seem, the faster they will be dropped.

"Yeah, that'd be good," Mogi says with a brisk nod. "After that, hold onto my arm. I'll make sure you don't trip or fall into anything on the way to the car, don't worry."

When Cesar has the blindfold on, he'll wait patiently with his arm extended, and then start to lead him up some stairs, down a series of halls (a left, a right, then two more lefts) and out into sunlight. As they go, he does his best to make something like small talk, which is a little difficult; Mogi is a man of few words, ordinarily.

"So you won't be doing too much work over the next few days, most likely. Our task force has a lot of different personalities on it, and getting to know them all is pretty important."

[evowhisperer]

"That's fine," Cesar says, willing himself to ignore the sensation that he's walking in darkness. "I'll likely need those days to get myself set up, regardless. How long have you been with the task force, if I may ask?"

He's an easy blind man to lead, never trying to rush or trip over things that aren't there. There's a moment where more of his sleeve brushes a door frame than it should, but it's by far the closest call they'll have for a while.

[dead_black_eyes]

"Well, I've been on the case since the very beginning, but the Task Force itself was very recently formed. It's been... yeah, about a month? A little over that, maybe?" he gives an embarrassed laugh as they walk, appreciating Cesar's coordination. "L is very careful about who he allows to get close to him. As you can imagine, a lot of people in the world want to kill him, so everyone on the Task Force was hand chosen by him based on loyalty."

They take a turn. "Just a little further."

[evowhisperer]

It doesn't take long to get Cesar to the place they're going, and though Cesar turns his head at strange noises and unexplained footsteps, he never makes a move towards the blindfold.

Eventually they reach the hotel. Cesar leaves the blindfold on as he gets out of the car, hearing the stillness of the parking garage around them. Is this a private floor, or do they just have fantastic timing?

Soft, thick carpets are immediately beyond the basement's thick doors, muffling every sound. The elevator dings. Its ceiling plays a soft biwa tune, and soon they stop outside a door.

[dead_black_eyes]

Mogi straightens his tie and runs a hand through his bristly hair after reaching over and slipping off Cesar's blindfold. Even though he's been working with the Task Force for enough time now to grow more comfortable with his colleagues, he's still nervous about appearances. He's a conscientious sort who does his job diligently; he's slightly rugged, but never disheveled, and he glances at Cesar as he knocks before swiping his card key.

"They know we're coming, and they ordered takeout for dinner in case you're hungry. You must be, by now."

He pushes open the door, and four sets of eyes are immediately on him. One belongs to an old British man in an exceptionally nice suit; the rest belong to Japanese police officers, dark, conveying varying degrees of stress and age.

"Oh! You're Cesar, aren't you?" the youngest one, around 26 years old, is the first on his feet, heading toward the door, eager to shake Cesar's hand. "You, uh... you were really great in your interview. I'm Touta Matsuda."

The next-oldest is a middle aged man with a bushy, dark brown afro who rolls his eyes at Matsuda's friendliness, but bites his tongue on an admonishment. "Aizawa," he says briefly, giving Cesar a nod.

"Welcome to the investigation," an older, fatherly man with a mustache and salt and pepper hair says, rising to his feet. He looks exhausted, but holds himself with an air of respect and dignity and professionalism that is unmistakable. "I'm Soichiro Yagami, Chief of the NPA. We're glad to have you here with us."

The sixth set of eyes in the room, however, have not even opened yet. Dressed sloppily, with hair in a state of ruffled bedhead, slumped over in his chair, is the last member of the investigation. He is sleeping, and he should look very familiar to Cesar.

1/3

[evowhisperer]

"I'm very glad to be here," Cesar says sincerely, giving Matsuda a handshake and everyone else a nod. The youngest man's reaction is especially gratifying, since it tells him that however hectic his discovery, he must still have made an actual good impression somewhere in there. It's a relief.

"You all must already know my name, but I'm Caesar Salaz--..."

Just kidding, 2/2

[evowhisperer]

Surprise. Alarm. Cesar looks around, as though expecting the men around him to be doing something, but when no one does, he frowns slightly. Then he clears the expression, aiming for something pleasantly neutral.

"Caesar Salazar. I'm a scientist, with specializations in computer programming and bioengineering. I hope that together we can bring an end to Kira's killing spree, once and for all."

The stammer hadn't been particularly subtle: his eyes had been drawn to the one humanoid figure in the room that wasn't facing him, and he'd recognized him immediately. The smile on his face had faltered, and for a moment he'd wondered if they would burst out accusing him of attacking their agent. The mortician was an agent, wasn't he? This rumpled, waifish frame clashes severely with every other Providence Agent he's seen, but of course that had worked to their advantage, hadn't it?

There had been no accusations, and indeed hardly any acknowledgement. Caesar focuses on the group immediately around him, though his mind continues to chew hungrily on that presence. Will he wake up soon? A digitally distorted plays itself in Cesar's mind again, and he wonders if this is the man behind the voice in his cell.

[dead_black_eyes]

Every other member of the task force notes Caesar's reaction without seeming terribly surprised by it. They're well aware of the mortician stunt, after all, and it doesn't take a keen eye to piece together the likelihood that they all witnessed it.

"Ah, yes, that's Ryuzaki," Soichiro says, clearing his throat after that slight pause. "Because the case is so taxing and we're rather shorthanded, we take turns sleeping when we need to. It's currently his turn."

Though Matsuda eyes him uncertainly, no one brings up what happened in the morgue, or the slumbering young man's role in it. No one makes a move to rouse him, either, though the older British gentleman takes a couple of steps closer to his chair and lingers near it.

"You must be hungry," Soichiro says, putting a hand on Caesar's shoulder and turning him toward a table set with cartons of rice, steamed vegetables and chicken. There's also a box of donuts and a half-full pot of coffee. "Please help yourself."

[evowhisperer]

Caesar takes another look at the sleeping man, and this time he looks longer, taking some intangible sort of permission from having his attention called to him. Cesar pictures Rex, older and stronger than Cesar had ever expected to see him so soon. He pictures him sleeping straight through briefings and important meetings, drooling while his chimpanzee friend stuffs unpeeled bananas down the back of his collar. It's not so hard to believe that this young man could be a seasoned agent and actor, is it?

The older gentleman steps closer to the youth, and Cesar pictures Rex and Six. Interesting.

Soichiro guiding his gaze away is a painless break in attention. Caesar turns to the table, and his stomach rumbles on cue. He smiles self deprecatingly, but aside from giving the closest man a large, grateful 'thank you, he doesn't waste any more time. He reaches for a disposable plate, one of the nearest pairs of chopsticks, and starts serving himself.

He's ravenous. If no one else joins him--well, that's going to be awkward, but it means they've probably already eaten, and there's nothing else for it.

[dead_black_eyes]

The older detectives are respectfully stoic and silent at Caesar's audible stomach-grumble, but Matsuda stifles a giggle. "Uhh... come to think of it, I'm still hungry too! I'm gonna go back for seconds," he recovers, joining Caesar's side and grabbing his own set of chopsticks. There's enough food for everyone here, almost exactly, implying that some of these men haven't even touched it if there's enough for others to take more than their fair share.

Given how worn they all look, those abstaining could theoretically be anyone here except for Matsuda.

"Your Japanese is fantastic. Where did you learn?" Matsuda asks. "All of us have been wondering."

[evowhisperer]

Caesar sends Matsuda a friendly smile, glancing up from a box of rice. The fact that the food is plentiful and completely untouched is starting to sink in, and the glance briefly migrates to the faces of the other agents standing around, taking in the exhaustion and strain. It's all familiar in a bad way: people stopped looking after their own needs when an end was near.

Caesar looks back down at his food and tops his plate off with a pile of chicken.

"It was a combination of curiosity and need," he answers pleasantly. There's chairs around, but he waits a little longer for Matsuda to be done. It's easier to focus on having a meal with new coworkers instead of the heavy weight of everyone's attention, with Matsuda around. "My family moved a lot as I was growing up. Around the time when I was eleven, we lived in Tokyo for a few months."

[dead_black_eyes]

Of everyone present, Matsuda seems like the easiest to get along with. He's the youngest, at least after the one who looks so clearly like he doesn't belong. Morgue attendant, actor, detective... regardless of his actual position on the Task Force, his quiet, slumbering presence seems wrong.

Matsuda has a generous amount of food on his own plate as well, and sits nearby, leaning forward and nodding eagerly in response to Cesar's answer. "Really? Wow... there are people who have spent years in Japan who don't speak the language as well as you do. You must be some kind of genius, huh?"

Soichiro shoots him a look, and he looks slightly admonished, but still at least expects a comment from Cesar.

[evowhisperer]

Caesar isn't always the most socially aware, but right now the sleeping man is like a quietly blaring alarm in a library, and it's impossible to not be at least peripherally aware of where he is at all times. Considering that this is on top of the way all the other investigators are more or less milling around while Matsuda and Caesar talk... It's no wonder Cesar's nerves have clearly not quieted completely.

Matsuda's comment brings a full laugh from him, though it doesn't last long. He sits nearby also, picking up a pair of chopsticks. The rest of the food has been left open and available, as though passively inviting the other investigators to join them.

"Thanks, but I wouldn't exactly say speaking another language makes me a genius."

[dead_black_eyes]

The other investigators are milling and trying to make it look casual and easygoing, but they're tired and on-edge and definitely keeping a close eye on Cesar's interactions with Matsuda. They're watching him much the same way Cesar is watching the youth in the armchair. They don't go near the food, just... try to make it seem like they aren't hungry or concerned.

"Well, maybe not speaking one! I took some English in high school, and I'm not bad," Matsuda says, laughing softly. "But that's not all. You figured out a way to bring the dead back to life, uh... even if only for just a little while. That's pretty impressive. That could combat Kira really well."

[evowhisperer]

There's a room full of cops all trying to act natural, and then there's people like Matsuda, who's at least friendly about his prying. Caesar has spent years working with people like Gabriel Rylander, the man who was never afraid to tell Caesar he needed to shower, and who still cracked subversive jokes about their bosses when they weren't around.

His smile just barely pinches at the corners, but he doesn't really break stride.

"I hope that it will. It's not perfect yet, unfortunately, so I wouldn't grow too confident. I need more information before I can improve it further."

Here he takes his first bite of food, and--oh, wow, he's hungrier than he was letting himself remember. He swallows without perhaps chewing as much as he should have, and is already picking up the next bite.

[dead_black_eyes]

"This investigation is well-equipped and funded by L himself," Matsuda says, glancing uncertainly over his shoulder at Soichiro before continuing. If he was afraid of getting cut off, it doesn't seem to have happened. "I'm sure that he would support your research and even encourage you to make headway on it, he... thinks that life is very precious and he's horrified by what Kira's doing. He can help you gather more information, too... we all can. We're detectives, after all!"

Aizawa clears his throat. "Within reason. Our main objective is finding and apprehending Kira; saving his victims could be a good tool, but we can't forget our priority. He can work, and we won't get in the way, but we probably won't be able to help as much as you're offering, Matsuda."

"Right... sorry... I guess none of us are really scientists," Matsuda admits.

[evowhisperer]

"Does this mean that there are no other scientists at all on this team?"

It's enough to make him stop eating in surprise, chopsticks held near the food without scooping more. The idea of working completely without an extra pair of prying eyes is a pleasant one, but it's one he hasn't ever dealt with before in his life. Supervising professors, peers, parents, family friends, jealous coworkers... It's independence and responsibility at its highest.

Interesting, if any of it's real.

"Well, as we learn more about how Kira does this, it should hopefully help you all narrow down your investigation several times over. After all, right now all I've heard that you all know is that Kira has two requirements for killing, and not much else."

[dead_black_eyes]

"That will not be a problem," the oldest man in the room says in his strong, rich voice. "While there are no scientists by name on the team, I guarantee you'll have no shortage of insight and assistance."

Comprehension and slight awe dawns on Mastuda and Soichiro's faces, but the both school it quickly into agreement. "Yeah, come to think of it I'm not surprised..." Mastuda mumbles. "That he could do that, too..."

Aizawa reaches into his coat pocket for a carton of cigarettes, excusing himself to the balcony where he lights up a smoke. Mogi watches him go over his shoulder, and the sleeping man moves suddenly in his sleep, limbs jerking before he rolls over and curls on his side like a child.

"The theory is that Kira needs a name and a face to kill," Soichiro says softly. "And also that the second Kira, who has just emerged and made himself known, needs only a face."

[evowhisperer]

"Only a face?" His eyes sharpen as his mind chews over this information with sharp little teeth, hungry for even the slightest morsel. The chopsticks are still held in one hand, but the actual food they're over has been abandoned on its plate, forgotten.

"Hmm," he says softly. "That's very interesting... It could mean many things, including that whoever has created these Kiras is improving their technique. It could also mean that Kira as an entity needs neither face nor names to kill, and that we've been sent on a wild goosechase this entire time."

[dead_black_eyes]

Mogi, Soichiro, and Matuda all look a little uncomfortable with the speculation.

"Y-yeah, maybe," Matsuda offers with a tense but cheerful half-smile. "Honestly though, this isn't really the time to be discussing it in this much detail... right, Chief?" he glances back at Soichiro again.

"Yes, it's... probably best to wait," Soichiro says reluctantly, eyes briefly flickering to the sleeping young man. "Case discussions should occur when everyone is present, accounted-for, and conscious."

"Isn't everything recorded, anyway?" Mogi asks, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Yes, but contributing to a conversation that happened hours ago simply isn't possible."

Though the other task force members are talking about dancing around an entire conversation topic, rousing the sleeping man never comes up, even after Aizawa has finished his cigarette and returned.

[evowhisperer]

"... Alright..."

That's also interesting, and not in a way Cesar's going to observe out loud. He catches Soichiro's glance. This time, he doesn't follow it, simply looking from detective to detective.

It's a strange group dynamic, and he's turning it over in his mind. Everyone here answers to L. The young man in the corner is probably a direct line to speaking with L, and even basic discussion of old details with new perspectives is avoided. Cesar knows that as one of the only scientists there, any opinion he gives probably carries more weight than he would have thought around peers in his field. Have they already reached this level of formality already?

He makes it through a large portion of his meal before he speaks again, holding a portion of rice.

"Who are else are we waiting for, now?"

[dead_black_eyes]

While Cesar eats, everyone else is relatively silent. The old British gentleman busies himself with going to one of the suite's bedrooms (which the youth conspicuously did not retreat to before falling asleep) and returning with a blanket, which he drapes over his angular form and tucks around the bony contours of his curled body.

It's a very strange dynamic, and everyone present, aside from Cesar, is too accustomed to it by now to see it that way.

Soichiro is the one who speaks. "For Ryuzaki," he answers solemnly. "Finish your meal and try to relax, for now. I know your impulse is to jump right in, but... soon, you'll come to realize the kind of schedule we keep and how easy it is to feel burned-out."

"Don't worry," Aizawa adds, an edge to his voice. "He never sleeps for very long, when he does sleep. Enjoy this time while you can," he adds in an undertone, when the old man has left the room to fetch a pillow.