damned_institute | Day 38: Patients' Library

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Day 38: Patients' Library

The intercom rang out, disrupting what had turned out to be a rather pointless breakfast conversation, at least in Brainiac 5's eyes. He couldn't wait to put more distance between himself and Scar's blather of how logic, of all things, might not work the same way in this dimension. It was almost enough to make him believe that the man may very well have been a lion originally after all, as he'd never heard anything so very... ignorant and uneducated.

He quickly finished up the fruit he'd been nibbling on - he was no longer as hungry as he had been - and looked around automatically to see where Clark was. Unfortunately with the press of people around, some being led off to the library and others to the mentioned 'therapy sessions' - if that was what they really were - he had lost sight of the Kryptonian. Still there wasn't many places he could go, so Brainiac 5 would be able to catch up with him eventually to check on his condition and try and learn more about what had happened last night. That the Chapel had healed him - admittedly by passing his injuries to another - was interesting, but far more important in his eyes was what had happened to Clark and his powers. They hadn't been working correctly and that worried the Coluan boy more than he would normally have admitted. Without Clark's abilities... he wasn't sure what they would have to rely on in order to escape.

Another problem he would have to deal with was Grell... or, if he was to believe the notes on the bulletin board, the person pretending to be Grell. But that was going to require more careful planning before he made a move. Come to think of it, he had agreed to meet another in the library today on that same post that had sparked this whole mess. At least then he would have something of interest to look forward to, as he doubted any of the 21st century books were likely to be worthwhile to someone of his advanced intellect.

Following the nurses led him to what must have been the library; a reasonably large room filled with a range of archaic books on tall shelves, a few tables and chairs interspersed around the room. The Coluan boy couldn't refrain from wrinkling his nose in distaste as he entered the room, not liking the cumbersome books and the dust that he knew would have gathered on them; he much preferred the clean arrangement of his C.O.M.P.U.T.O. systems back in the Legion headquarters. It was much more practical then shelves and shelves of books on fictional worlds and dated information.

Trying to avoid as much of the room as possible, Brainiac 5 settled himself down on a chair to wait, keeping an eye out for a tall, dark-haired man with a red... something on his forehead.

[for Homura]

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He'd gone to the library to look for L, really. It seemed like the kind of place that the detective would go, when given a choice, and he needed to know what Ryuk looked like. Not to mention the shinigami's appearance along with that crazy supporter guy made him really uncomfortable. Mikami had said that people wanting to catch Kira would be better off dead (or something like that), that both L and Light would be better dead. Then Light had disappeared. Even Matsuda thought that was suspicious.

Once Matsuda got there, though, he found it significantly lacking in hunched over people with scruffy black hair. Had he just slept in or something, or...? No, that was a bad way of thinking. This was L, he'd be fine.

Then again, there was a shinigami here.

Matsuda had been all set to head back to the Sun Room to check there, when instead he'd spotted another familiar, yet far more unwelcome, face.

Oh, right. Mello was supposedly one of those kids raised to be the next L, wasn't he? If Matsuda worked with L here, he'd probably have to get along with Mello at some point. Maybe. The murderer thing kinda didn't make a difference, did it?

Great.

He might as well apologize for punching him the other day, then, just so long as the guy didn't go insulting the Chief again. He didn't bother grabbing a book, and went over to where Mello was leaning. "You know Ryuga, right? Have you seen him anywhere?" Okay, so maybe it wasn't an apology or even a greeting, but he was getting there.

Edited 2009-01-11 06:09 (UTC)

If there had been a subtle, easily hidden way to smack one's hand against one's forehead, Mello would have done it. Matt had been so close to using some of those trademark Wammy's House brains, but no, he'd decided to go with blushing and lines so cliche they would have been cut from a 1990s romantic comedy. Reasoning with him would be impossible. Matt had already recognized Sen as a risk, and chosen to disregard it. The only option was finding a way to make Matt's idiocy work for him rather than against him. Mello turned another page, still keeping the two in his peripheral vision, when an unexpected voice came from beside him.

Speaking of being smacked in the face...

This time, Matsuda was calmer And Mello regarded him with interest, trying to determine his motive. If L's incompetence had reached the level where even Matsuda noticed it, he was going to have to deal with the detective sooner than he'd initially planned.

"Not since yesterday," he said after a glance around. Mikami wasn't present, nor was Light, but that didn't mean they weren't being watched. Matsuda had already placed the purpose of the conversation in the open, though, so trying to silence or distract him would be seen as a reaction to the importance of the subject. His eyes returned to the pages of his book. "Why?"

Matsuda regarded the other man for a moment. As much as he wanted to just drop it and leave, he figured should probably answer the question. He couldn't deny that Mello had a pretty sharp brain, and could probably help him to figure out just how much danger L was actually in. At the same time, though, he definitely couldn't just forgive Mello that easily.

So much for the planned apology. The only thing he was really sorry about was that he'd wound up sedated for it.

"I'm just worried," he finally said, also taking a glance around. It didn't look like Mikami was anywhere around yet, so he could probably get away with admitting at least a bit more to Mello. "I'm thinking someone might try to kill him." Again.

This time, a sew seconds passed before Mello looked up. The statement could mean several things: was he talking about Light? Mikami? Had L told him about their previous conversation in the library? He raised an eyebrow, briefly listened to Sen and Matt, then closed the book and returned it to the shelf.

"What makes you think that?" he asked. Mello had already outed himself to Mikami as one of L's successors, and if anyone was going to have to take that visible role here, it was better himself than Near for a multitude of reasons. He still would have preferred to have the conversation in private, but depending on the direction it took, he might be able to twist it to his benefit. For now, vague questions would have to suffice until he knew everything Matsuda knew. Mello would offer no information on his own.

Matsuda wasn't all that willing to offer much information, either, but Mello was actually listening and not insulting the Chief again. He wouldn't admit it, not to the guy's face, but Matsuda sort of appreciated that the guy was giving him the time of day. Sort of.

"Well..." Matsuda started hesitantly, trying to decide how to word things. He'd never been good at beating around the bush like this, but he wanted to make Mello figure the details out on his own. "We talked with someone at lunch yesterday who mentioned that a...couple of people would be better off dead. Then one of them went missing. He was one of those other people." And like hell Matsuda was gonna let someone he knew die or disappear here, especially someone he'd been unable to keep from dying in the first place.

But then there was the Ryuk problem. What did he know about Kira or the supporter, and what did he not? Would he help out that side in a place like this if someone asked him? It gave Matsuda a headache to try to think about; this was usually stuff better left up to people he knew were better, but they weren't around at the moment. If he found L later, he could ask him, but for the moment he was on his own. While he liked being able to prove that he could handle things on his own...this might be out of his league.

"Hm."

Matsuda wasn't the type to confront him like this if L had mentioned Mello as a potential aggressor. It was risky and required close attention to detail, and Matsuda knew that Mello was L's heir. One thing Mello appreciated about the young detective was that he didn't seem to overestimate himself. He knew that he wouldn't be able to outsmart Mello, so it was unlikely that he'd attempt it.

Because he'd made himself known to Mikami and Mikami would have passed the information along to Light, the public role of L's successor was his responsibility to take. Near probably appreciated it and the fact left a sour taste in his mouth, although Mello knew that he was doing this to accomplish his own goals and not to assist the younger heir.

No one in the institute would remark to potential strangers that he believed certain people would be better off dead. The speaker wouldn't have known the allegiances of those he sought as potential allies, so it was a stupid risk. Who could Matsuda have talked to, then? Surely not Light--he was known by both L and Matsuda. The same went for Misa. While it was possible that Naomi could have spoken to the two of them, she'd have no reason to include Matsuda in what should have been a private conversation with L, and since Naomi didn't even know that Light was Kira, her list of enemies couldn't be long. She wasn't the type to wish death on anyone.

That left one suspect. A shrewd plan.

"Who went missing?"

Edited 2009-01-12 18:39 (UTC)

Mello's question wasn't an easy one to answer. As far as Matsuda was aware, Mello had no clue who Light even was, but there was always a possibility. He'd known enough about the Yagamis to know who to kidnap if he wanted the Chief to do something in particular. But even with all that, Light had still more or less been his boss, and they'd made sure not to let anyone know that he'd been playing the part of L.

Did that even still matter here? Better safe than sorry, in case anyone else from the investigation showed up and got onto him for it. "Chief Yagami's son," he finally replied firmly. Mello knew well enough what the topic meant to him, so hopefully he wouldn't toss out another insult. They were being civil with each other, and this was important.

That was a surprise, and the emotion briefly registered on Mello's face before reverting to mild and controlled interest. He met Matsuda's eyes, narrowing his own as he judged both Matsuda's honesty and his competence. Everything seemed in line with what he already knew about the man.

Although Mello doubted that Matt was paying attention to anything other than what was under Sen's uniform, he'd caught sight of Near and knew that nothing escaped the younger one's grasp. Most likely, Near had had more experience observing Matsuda on the outside world, so it was possible that subtleties of the man's behavior were being lost on Mello. Then again, Mello knew far more about L's current condition than his rival, so even if Near gained something from this, Mello stood to gain more. The conversation would be continued, then, though Mello intended to keep it carefully controlled. Once he'd collected the information he needed, there was a chance he might be able to manipulate Matsuda into leaving a misleading trail for Near.

"Has his roommate or anyone else confirmed that he's missing?"

Was that...something other than a neutral expression or that smirk? It'd been difficult to tell, especially once Mello started studying him, but it certainly seemed like it. Huh.

Matsuda stared right back, trying to figure out just what might be going through Mello's mind and coming up with...nothing, really, other than how bad he was starting to feel for the Chief's wife. The poor woman had been through more than enough before having her son go missing in a place like this.

"I don't think it was his roommate, but someone mentioned it on the bulletin board." And there was a shinigami here, and L had died from them once, and why wasn't he anywhere to be spotted? It was making Matsuda nervous. Maybe he should ask Naomi if they could go check on L tonight...

Dammit. He knew that sleeping through breakfast would bite him in the ass. Had Near known? He must have. Mello reacted to the news far more calmly than he felt as his mind raced ahead with possibilities.

The biggest question, the one that held the most importance and would have to remain unanswered, was whether Light had carried knowledge gained in the institute back to the world he'd been taken from. He'd vanished before Mikami had found Near, which averted one crisis, but if Light managed to redirect history in a direction that didn't lead to that warehouse, the consequences could be dire.

Mello bit the nail of his ring finger as he thought. If Light did alter the course of history, his own memory didn't reflect the changes...unless Light had decided to follow through with everything as pre-determined and only change his actions at the end. Fuck.

At least it meant that the issue with L might have been resolved. "Ask a nurse," he told Matsuda. The nurses told a person's previous roommate about their disappearance (release, he reminded himself), so there was no reason they wouldn't tell others. Mello didn't give himself time to feel conflicted about the possibility. Even with Light gone, Mikami was dangerous, so Mello would have had to deal with L regardless. This news, if true, just meant that he had one less problem to take care of before focusing on his goals.

He briefly considered Mikami's motives in stating that he believed Light and L would be better off dead. Mello had been occupied by the club leaders that afternoon and hadn't been able to dedicate attention attention to L's conversation. Mikami had publicly announced himself to be a Kira-supporter, so by including Light in the list of people who ought to be done away with, he must have been trying to establish that he didn't know Light and Kira were the same person.

With both of them gone, things could be very different.

"Mikami Teru is a dangerous person," he said calmly, lowering his hand from his mouth. Hopefully, the deduction that it had been Mikami who brought this news would be enough to impress Mello's own competence upon Matsuda. He knew the man would never trust him, but he didn't need trust. He needed obedience, or, barring that, gullibility. Matsuda reminded him of one of Near's wind-up toys: blind to everything in front of him, but persistent to the point of exhaustion. Mikami was too smart to see him as a decoy, but that didn't mean he couldn't be a distraction. "Had Yagami made his plans for last night known to anyone?"

Matsuda had to admit, his desire to punch Mello in the face again was shrinking. It was probably a good thing, too. He knew that the nurses were watching him, to make sure that there wasn't a repeat of their last conversation, but it also wasn't an experience that he wanted to repeat.

"I already did ask." Of course, he'd only done so after he'd been to the board, but it had ultimately been the nurse's confirmation that had put him in a poor mood for breakfast. "They said he was released, but..." Matsuda shook his head. He didn't think he really needed to say that he didn't believe the nurses.

The fact that Mello had even brought up Mikami meant that he was either as smart as the detective had assumed, or Matsuda hadn't been nearly as sneaky with his information as he'd thought. While the second was entirely possible, Matsuda decided to go with the first for the sake of his pride.

"I don't know if he did or not," Matsuda admitted. "You don't think..." Wonderful. Now there was even more that he had to tell Sayu next--

Oh, right. Sayu. He wanted to ask if Light might have been 'released' to go live with her, for his own peace of mind, but there was no way Mello was ever going to hear about his visitor. He'd already hurt her once before. Matsuda wasn't going to let her get dragged into any other messes once he got out and got her home, especially if it dealt with notebooks and shinigami. He owed it to the Chief to watch over his family. Whatever had happened to Light, Matsuda was going to hope that he'd just gone to live with his sister, and that he could get them both home safely.

First, though, that meant figuring this whole thing out before trying to escape. Matsuda closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, trying to figure it out himself. Mello had told him Mikami was dangerous. Whether or not the guy was actually Kira, or just one of his more devoted and violent followers, Matsuda still didn't know, but it was obvious he had to be careful around Mikami from now on.

And he and Naomi definitely had to check on L tonight, to make sure he wasn't dead. Past that, he had no clue what to do.

Finally, he opened his eyes again. "Do you think Ryuga's actually in danger?" he asked, giving Mello a look that said that he pretty clearly hoped the answer was no.

Edited 2009-01-13 22:49 (UTC)

Mello didn't immediately answer the question, focusing instead on the confirmation that Light was no longer in the institute. "If they said he was released, he's gone," he said, his voice unaffected. "The circumstances of his disappearance are what's important."

Vanished, Mello was certain. Light was too smart to make enemies of the other patients, but the timing couldn't have been more convenient for him. Yagami had been only intermittently present for the last few days, and Mello considered the possibility that, for some patients, vanishing seemed to be the last step in a slow process. It had been true of L's roommate as well, and might be a counterpoint to the theory that patients were more likely to die or vanish after a traumatic event. That much was irrelevant unless a way could be found to either prompt or avoid it.

It was better for Mello's plans that Matsuda believe he'd been killed, though, so the option was left open and Mello's expression showed a hint of concern at the question of L's safety. Not too much, of course--Matsuda surely thought of him as heartless after what had happened to the senior Yagami--but because he'd been identified as L's heir, it would be suspicious to not show the slightest bit of worry.

He tilted his head in false thought, mimicking habits that Matsuda might consciously or unconsciously associate with L. "Not anymore," Mello finally said. "If he had been in danger, there's a 96% probability that he would have met his fate at the same time as Yagami." He delivered the fact with his predecessor's calm but mildly detatched authority, clearly not expecting it to be questioned or challenged. Mello made no effort to keep his voice secretive; if any unknown eavesdroppers were listening, he wanted this to be heard by them as well.

Hearing it described in calm percents helped to soften the actual impact of the words, but it still left Matsuda's brain screeching to a halt. "W-wait a second!" No, no, no. "You're wrong! You've--" That wasn't...that couldn't...

But it could. Mello was right, and Matsuda knew he was right. But especially in a case like this, he didn't want to take the bastard's word for it, no matter how likely it was. He had to be wrong, and Matsuda was going to prove it. He didn't want to just call a nurse over and ask, because if it was true, then what?

Matsuda's shoulders drooped as the argument was taken out of him, probably to the nurses' great relief. It might be true, it might not. Matsuda was severely hoping that it wasn't, but he'd rather actually find out for himself. Maybe it was just training kicking in, but he wasn't going to just take everything Mello said at face value.

Of course, he still didn't know what to do about Mikami, but he definitely wasn't going to try confronting him just yet, if he was dangerous. In regards to L...if he was gone, if he was dead. There were too many ifs, but the word managed to get Matsuda's attention back on track.

"You...said if," he finally finished. "If he'd been in danger." Meaning he might be okay, and it could be worth a look tonight. Besides, if he was okay, and Mikami was going to do anything, it'd be at night, wouldn't it? It was a long shot and he was relying on Mello being wrong with a single, tiny word. Aizawa probably would have called him stupid for it and told him to think about it more, but it got Matsuda's spirits back up slightly. He might be able to do this on his own, after all.

"I'll go check on him tonight."

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Day 38: Patients' Library

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