badfic_manor | 1st Blast || Mello || [Video/Audio]

[It's a good thing that he lives at the end of the hall or this would have been messy.]

Um....you might want to ask the butler.

How the fuck can you be so calm?! What butler?!

[His eyes widen and blinks.]

Um...the one that made breakfast this morning. That one. And uh, you really shouldn't mumble. It's hard to understand what you're saying.

What the fuck is going on here?!

[Mello looks murderous]

SOMEONE's going to have to answer for it! How can you be so fucking CALM!?

[He throws opened his door, gun first, leaving the blackberry on the nightstand. Now that the shooter's preoccupied you might notice that the room is...interesting. Zebra print wallpaper, a black leather couch along on wall, black carpeting, it's very dark, oh, and there are smoking bullet holes in the wall]

Uh....

[He wanted to burst out laughing but the trouble with that was he wasn't entirely sure if the guy with the gun was going to come after him. He blows out a puff of air in a sign of relief.]

Well....I know didn't do it.

[He's now looking at the decor and his eyes widened at the smoking holes. This guy...was serious and his heart raced as his face twitched slightly from the sight.]

You know, I think it's one of those inter-dimensional things that we can't explain. Maybe...we were abducted by aliens.

[His eyes look from the left and to the right. His own decor seemed to just mirror the manor's only with a lot more red.]

I don't believe in aliens.

[He comes back in to grab the communicator, but he still has one hand on his gun, holding it out in front of him.]

[He presses his lips together in a thin line and says nothing else but simply nods his head. He's not going to argue with a man that has a gun.]

[He glances back towards his door where the plaque reads "Mello" and underneath that "The Old World's Runner Up" Mello drops the 'berry to the ground and with a predetory growl he fires into the door, hitting the bronze plaque. However the bullet bounces off, burying itself in the wall.]

FUCKING!!

[Willy jumped and flinched when the gun's report not only sounded through the device's speaker but also down the hall. His eyes were wide open now and is very alert.]

Ooh, um....not a good idea. This place....Do you really think that we are...prisoners here?

[He's prying at the plaque when he speaks]

Yeah, I do. By people who know me very well.

But then that wouldn't make any sense as to why I'm here and we're treated the same way.

Makes even more sense. Whoever it is must have been watching all of us.

Ew. Whoever has us here has a strange fetish.

[Still prying at nameplate.]

Voyeurism isn't that weird a kink.

[He watches as Mello still tries to pry at the name plate then looks at his own.]

You know, I think it's screwed in.

I don't see any screws.

[He growls at it and gives up]

Fucking thing.

[He'll try again later]

You gotten a good look at this place?

I did earlier this morning when I was out and about to see this place. I like the kitchen. It's nice and cozy.

[L was going to stay in his room for a few more ~~days~~ hours without attempting to communicate with the other hostages, but then this broadcast. It can't be; it shouldn't even be possible. But he would recognize that forcefulness anywhere.

Still, given the circumstances, L is hesitant to show his face. He's locked the broadcast, but if this is his successor, and he is older, then the most likely possibility at the moment is that L himself has awoken from some sort of several year-long coma. And if Mello is as hardened as he is, and as quick to wield weapons as he is, L can't trust that Mello is still his ally, after so much time has passed. For this reason, he will not show his face. Not yet. Mello should be able to recognize his voice, from their meeting in Mello's childhood. If he doesn't, that in itself will be very telling.]

Mello. You have grown.

Edited 2010-05-29 18:07 (UTC)

[Mello's eyes go impossibly wide and he stares at the communicator as if he'll somehow be able to see around the L. That voice. How was it possible? Could Kira mimic L so perfectly? He'd been doing a horrible job of ACTING the part why would he attempt to imitate him on such a personal level? And if this WAS Kira why wasn't he dead yet? Why take him away from the church? Why bring him back to the suite he had when he was in the Mafia?

L was dead. So who was talking to him? Unless...unless he was dead too. But that was impossible, the room might be appropriate but L would not be in Hell.

His mind is working quickly, he's trying to figure out what's going on, he felt like he was back in a testing facility at Wammy's the timer clicking quickly downward.

Time's up.]

This can't be real.

Edited 2010-05-29 20:03 (UTC)

[Hmm. Not exactly the response he hoped for, but it's not exactly unexpected.]

Perhaps not. But then one of us is hallucinating, and the other is not real.

...

I feel real. Besides, there are others.

[Mello gives a weak sort of nod. He wants to say "but you're dead!" but if this IS somehow L he either already knows that or...or what? How could he BE here? But it also raised another question: where was Matt? If L was dead and still here, maybe Matt was too. But why hadn't he answered on the blackberry.

L's presence, however, could push Matt aside for the moment. That comment, "I feel real" complete with the pause, the idea that it was somehow a rational thought. It brought Mello right back to that day in the sun stained parlor back at Wammy's house.

Feeling real.

Mello wasn't quite feeling real. He felt dead inside, hollow, tired. He felt like L looked.]

[Mutters, barely audible] That makes one of us.

[Then louder] I've seen one of them, guy in a tophat. How many hostages do you think there are? If we are hostages?

[L CAN HEAR YOU WITH HIS SOOPER L HEARING, MELLO. But he won't comment on that at the moment.]

There have been five video transmissions thus far, including yours. I have seen the man in the top hat, unless there are more. That is at least half a dozen. The door to my room is not locked, and although I haven't ventured beyond the hallway, there are fourteen names on the doors. I have compiled a list. Either all of those names are currently present, or someone is anticipating their arrival shortly. There are 62 doors in total, although the plaques on the other doors are blank. It can be theorized that someone is planning to fill the rooms as time goes on. To what end, I am not sure.

It should also be noted that in my room or the hallway, there are no security cameras, at least ones discernible by the naked eye. I have checked.

[A pause.] Mello, if we are truly in a hostage scenario, things are very dire indeed. I've no memory of you since you were fourteen. It is clear much time has passed. I'm not sure what the cause of such dramatic memory loss could be, but if our situation is hostile, you are very likely the only person I can trust. At the same time, I know I cannot expect you to be the same person you were at fourteen. If I have been... absent, someone must be taking my place. By your appearance, my supposition is that it is not you. I cannot even be sure if you hold to the same values and beliefs you did when you were in training. If I am right, please tell me. Now is not the time to be uncertain of where we stand with each other.

[THAT actually gets Mello. That last part strikes hard. He was thumbing his scar, listening to L speak but then.... His voice has a slight bite to it]

My values haven't changed, I can promise you that. Just every other damn thing.

[Now he needs to come up with an excuse]

You've been out of it for a while, L. Years. But I'm still your Successor.

[He could never be anything else. Everything he's done he's done for justice. Every word, every move, every goddamn moment has been to stop Kira. He lost him self along the way but the sense got knocked back into him somewhere. He is M.

And at this point, there's not much but M left.]

[There is a long pause, and then the sound of some fumbling, when all of a sudden the video cuts in, and L's face fills the screen, looking rather tired and troubled.]

Please forgive me. I did not intend to hurt your feelings. I know now I can trust you.

[No mistaking that face, any doubt is gone. But that stings, Mello's a man, his feelings don't get hurt. He's too tough for that. Of course, that's not true, L's question wounded him horribly but let him pretend. He shrugs]

I'm not upset. Just have a little faith, you chose me for a reason.

[You just chose Near first.]

[Pride, Mello. You has it.]

I did. But I did hope that reason would not result in rash reactions to potentially dangerous situations. [Which is what waving a gun around and cursing is, if you didn't notice, Mello. AND were it up to him he would have picked you. OMG inferiority complex.]

[In spades. Both inferiority complex and pride in spades.]

[Mello winces. Yeah, that did look bad, didn't it?]

I'm just...

[At the end of my rope? Losing hope? Alone? Scared? I'm just very much aware of the fact that Near won this round but that I cannot and will not let Near have the title of L. I realize that it isn't going to end with this case, that I will keep chasing Near, keep tailing him, keep fighting him on every single case until I win. But I never will. And it'll continue that way until my body gives out and I grind into dust....

And no one will mourn me.

And I just killed the only person I ever really cared about and who ever really cared about me. A fact that will haunt me for the rest of my life.

If I last through the night that is.]

...on edge.

[That was a very long pause, Mello. Not that L doesn't have long pauses of his own, mulling everything over, forward, backward, sideways, three times over, five times, ten. And Wammy's children learned about all those mental acrobatics so they could be just like him.]

I am as well. Please exercise more caution in the future, that is all.

At the moment, we need to focus on understanding our surroundings, our limits, and those who brought us here, who are most likely our captors. While there are no security cameras, these video transmissions may be monitored.

[Mello nods]

Agreed. Whoever brought us here knows a lot about us and put a lot of preparation into it. There's a reason we're here and, as far as I can tell, they're trying to antagonize us.

[He's working with L, but it isn't sinking in the way it should. It doesn't make him feel as good as it should... he's too out of it. He's too gone. His world ended today along with Kira's.]

Yes. The setting is deceptively luxurious. I am also hesitant to venture too far until I have a better grasp of the surroundings. I may inadvertently reveal myself to the wrong party.

[Mello nods]

I can act as a scout, if you want. I'd bring you any findings I get.

Edited 2010-05-31 22:38 (UTC)

An excellent idea. One I'd had in mind already.

...

Thank you, Mello. I am glad I can still rely on you.

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