a/n- I'm so sorry this took so long! And it's been written for a while…sumimasen! (bows)

Chapter 5: Setup

The days at Wammy's institution passed with somber footsteps following each and every member. Though the public didn't know L was supposedly dead, those inside the stone walls carried the secret in their hearts as they would the world on their shoulders.

Near had long since left, having chosen to follow Mello's lead and leave the orphanage behind; it wasn't the place to run an investigation anyway. He had gotten permission from the President of the United States to conduct his own case on Kira, received a handful of men to help, and had proceeded to move to Japan to do so. Mello and him had kept in contact and had consistently shared their views on Kira's movements. Though it seemed Kira wasn't making many that were worth looking into. Near guessed that back with the task force, now that Light was undoubtedly the new so-called 'L', the case had run as dry as his own. But Near also knew that a move had to be made soon; now that intelligence told him Light was legally in the police force, Kira would try something. If not, then it was up to Near to give him a push.

Unfortunately, soon after his so-called death, the Kira task force moved to a different location, and so now his surveillance was useless. So he couldn't use Light's plans against him…he would therefore have to come up with something brilliant to put himself in a relatively trustworthy position to Kira and also to Light…

Perhaps he had an idea after all.

L sat in his hotel suite, alone, with both knees drawn to his chest in order to think better. If he could draw Kira out and use himself as bait, Light would definitely rise to the challenge. But that victory was far away at the moment. He would have to build up to it in order to make his plan usable first.

He pushed the intercom button next to him that had an M on it and spoke into the microphone, wondering if Mello was there listening on the other end of the transmitter.

"Mello, do you think you can come to Japan?" he asked, knowing how ridiculous this sudden request sounded.

"Sure. Guess this means you have a plan?" Mello responded a moment later, audibly snacking on a chocolate bar as he spoke.

"Yes," he confirmed, confident in his answer.

"Then I'll be there."

Needless to say, just because Light had no idea he existed, it didn't mean he could sit back and have a picnic, particularly one with foods containing high amounts of sugar. No, now that he was off the map, his job as L was even busier than before. He had tapped into the surveillance of any and all public (or private for that matter) cameras he could find. He programmed the monitors to track Light's face, or the faces of the rest of the task force. He had included Misa in this list, knowing that where she was, Light was not far away. That and it was a given that she was and remained the Second Kira.

Next it was phone taps: he had set up a system that would record any conversations about Kira, or conversations in which key words such as: 'L', 'Light', 'Misa', any other name of the task force, or any of a long list L had typed in. The conversations with more of these key words, for example, one with the words, 'Death note', 'Shinigami', and 'Light', would be flagged with a red tracer and he would listen to these. So far though, no one in the task force, Kira, Misa, or Light had used a public phone line. L felt certain that at some point in time, this would happen. When it did, it would end up being the Trojan Horse he needed to catch Kira.

But there was only so far surveillance could go. He could record all he wanted, but that still did not mean he would get anything. Also, there was too much information to be sifted through properly. Having a group of about three dozen FBI agents helped, but L knew that putting his faith in them (though he had none whatsoever) would not suffice. He had told them what to look for when sifting through the phone records, namely anything suspicious, Light's voice, Misa's voice, the voices of the task force, any voice that was scrambled (though on a public line it was unlikely) and so on and so forth.

There was a growing problem that had nothing to do with the fact that L had no idea where Light was and no evidence to arrest him if he did. The newest problem was one much more serious and was happening much faster than he had deemed possible. The people of this world, the Japanese in particular, were rapidly accepting Kira as King of the Earth and were treating his words as laws. The News no longer reported happenings around the world, it now only posted criminals and their crimes. L's eyes burned with fury as he watched it; they were making it so much easier for Light!

The one thing that was trickier to tap into was the Internet. For a while, L didn't do much past Google Kira. But once he saw the News and how it had changed, he opted to put more effort into controlling the web. Apart from the millions of forums that merely swooned over Kira, there were only a dozen or so websites that were organized and posted good information about criminals. These websites also preached Kira's ideas, encouraging more to join his regime and help give him classified information. Though it shocked everyone else, L started by joining all the websites that seemed legit.

All of them required a name and photograph to join; clearly Light was behind this. Unfortunately for L, he could not use the alias Near anymore because Nate River was dead; if Misa had the eyes, she might be able to tell if he was dead. That and, if the name written in the Death Note by the Shinigami Rem was the same as that posted on the websites, Light would know it was him. This was where Mello came into play. L knew he needed a traitor in Kira's army in order to win in the end. He set his trap now so that he would be ahead of Light when the fate of the world became a contact sport.

Again, L felt an immense amount of regret using Mello as bait, even though his heir had agreed to his plan. Even if all went right, he would never be in danger. The key to this last plan was that Mello would eventually be contacted by Kira, who would then pass the Death Note on to Mello to do his bidding. But before that happened, L would have to close in on Light.

The last thing L did was to place trackers, or 'cookies' as the computer nerds called them, on each website he deemed important enough. But these cookies did not come from a mix; these were home made by L, who gave them quite a few tasty quirks. For example, they would track everyone who came onto the website and more importantly, anyone who logged in whose computer blocked the cookie would be tagged. L knew that Light's computer would have firewalls strong enough to withhold his own hacking. That meant, if he found, by chance, a computer his cookies could not enter, he would know which website Kira was focusing on. He would be able to, therefore, conduct most of his activities on that website.

It didn't take long for Kira to fall into this trap. He found the website within hours, recognizing it immediately as one of the first Pro-Kira sites that had appeared: . Using Mello's real name and picture as his profile and the long list of classified criminals he had brought down in his career, it would not be difficult to quickly become one of the more trusted members of the Kira Regime. That and the profile he constructed about Mello was, not to sound egotistical, genius. He reread it with a wide grin.

Mihael Keehl:

23 years old. As an orphan, I envy those who have parents because mine were killed when I was very young in a bank robbery. Kira punished those who killed what were mine. They who ruined my life. All I have now is my King, Kira, the only God who understands my suffering and my gratitude. This is why I am doing everything in my power to help him.

Not long ago, I worked in a small branch of the FBI as a minor investigator. I had entered to bring justice to the world and all I found was a group of complete morons that insisted on going after Kira, the only one of us who was doing right in the world. While the elite agents did that, I was stuck sifting through petty thieves and entering their records into the computer. Not what I had in mind when I decided to help rid the world of evil.

That is why I quit. And that is why, on quitting, I liberated a large file of criminals whom Kira has never heard of, who he doesn't even know exist. These are criminals so guilty it is a wonder that they were not given the death sentence. But there you have the mindless rodents of the FBI. They are only capable of gathering information, apparently. This is where Kira comes in. Give them what they deserve, my King!

Under Mello's name was a picture of him and under the profile was a picture of one of the many criminals L had on his list. Indeed, it was truly a masterpiece worth framing. Hopefully Light would think so too. If it were L and he were Kira, he would take the bait. That was what he surmised. But would Light think it was too good to be true? Would he be suspicious? L didn't think so, but he still hoped not.

Everything rode on this set-up; if it failed, Kira would very likely become paranoid and go into hiding. It was what L did in response to a threat against his life, after all.

Now that all the surveillance he could possibly achieve had been arranged, L sat in front of the computer, Kira's website on the screen, waiting. On the outside he seemed patient, but this was anything but true; inside he was simmering. A thousand things ran through his head as he thought over his plan, what he had done, analyzing all manner of scenarios that could occur. The question was, what would?

Frowning, he closed his eyes for a minute. There was nothing to worry about, he assured himself. Kira was logical. He would take the simplest but best course of action. L had provided it for him. It was so cut and dry…perhaps that was what worried him. Then again, he reminded himself, Kira did not know he was alive. That in itself upped his chances of success phenomenally. After thinking this, he returned to his old motto, the one that had gotten him through years of detective work and countless arrests: 'Go with the plan and improvise along the way. Be confident and cautious but know when to make your final move.' During these years of detective work, it had become more than a motto—it had become a way of life.

He opened his eyes with renewed assurance to see the Kira web page reloading. Elated, he shifted his position in his seat and leaned closer to the screen. Within a matter of seconds the computer was finished and now he looked at a reply from Kira himself. Though it was obviously under a pseudonym, L could tell from the alarm icon in the corner of his screen that the user had blocked his tracking cookie. L read the message and grinned; Light was so confident that his identity was concealed that he didn't even bother hiding who he was. Of course, Light believed that no one but Mihael Keehl was reading his message.

RE:

Terrance Smith:

I found your profile most interesting, but when I tried to follow it up to see if you were speaking the truth, I could not. I find it interesting that you have no pictures or information of yourself elsewhere on the web. One might even say it was suspicious.

The grin on L's face broadened; this had been exactly the message he was looking for. It was of the type that would lead to Kira's complete trust and admiration. He ran his thumb across his teeth for a moment while pondering his answer.

RE:RE:

Mihael Keehl:

I don't blame you in the least when you say this is suspicious of me. To be truthful, my dream is to become Kira's right hand servant. I know from working in the FBI that the search for Kira is far from over. The United States have started an investigation and have purposely kept this secret from the Japanese Task Force, though I don't know why. What I do know is that if I spread my face on the Internet, I can be found. That and I stole valuable information from them. I would much like to avoid being arrested at least until I can pass it along to my King.

After tonight I will change my profile so as not to draw attention. I don't need it anymore, not since I've found my King.

L sat back from the keyboard after rereading his handiwork and pressing send. He drummed his fingers on the mouse, waiting impatiently for another reply, not even trying to contain this particular emotion. Four minutes passed and then the reply came.

RE:RE:RE:

Terrance Smith:

I understand.

maybe After tomorrow We can meet Somewhere. I Regret that i Might not be able To. Let Me Give you my Phone number: 888-369-4027.

It was all L had to do to keep from laughing out loud. This was too easy! Obviously the number was a fake; this was why the words 'phone number' were in bold, in order to convey this message. The real number was in the message itself. Knowing Light's tactics and the notes Kira sent to taunt him before, it took only half of the first sentence to notice a dramatic difference in behavior. By the time he read the entire thing, he knew that he had achieved the first part of his plan sooner than he had expected. It was not hard to identify the genuine contact information. The capitalized words in the separated message amounted to the number of digits in a phone number. All L had to do was look at his cell phone to see which letters corresponded to what number. The real number was: 297-768-5647, respectively.

The fact it said, 'maybe after tomorrow we can meet', and, 'I regret that I might not be able to' told L that he wasn't going to be contacted until he needed to be, meaning that he was someone to turn to if things turned bad. The second reason the words 'phone number' were bolded was because Kira expected to receive one back. L gave it to him, using one of the several cell phones he kept just for these types of occasions. After that, he changed his profile and logged off to contact Mello.

There was a pause on the other side of the line while Mello thought over all that L had just told him. The silence unnerved the famous detective; his entire plan revolved around Mello's help. If he pulled out now, how would he be able to improvise convincingly?

"Everything is in motion now?" Mello asked then.

"We'll see. I'll wait a few weeks before contacting Light as Near. Before that though, I need to find out where he is."

"Why don't you go to the Police Headquarters and ask?" Mello suggested, "Because it seems to me that Light isn't going to broadcast his whereabouts anytime soon."

"…"

L thought this over, though it wasn't the first time he had done so. He had been thinking of doing this eventually, in order to push Light into a corner so that Kira would contact Mihael Keehl. If he contacted Light that way, he would have to tell him that he was L's heir. He would also have to mention that he was part of the FBI's investigation on Kira. These were all things he was planning on telling Light anyway when he contacted him, so nothing would be lost there. The only thing he was afraid of was the fact he would be showing his face to Light; would he notice the similarities and find them suspicious? If he played his role the way he should, this wouldn't happen, but he couldn't very much change his face without plastic surgery and that was undesirable to him. That and if Light had surveillance Misa could find out his name and write it down in the notebook. Though, would the fact that she would be thinking of Near's face cause the Death Note not to work? But then Light would really get suspicious. The only way to do this right was to cover his identity by any means necessary; it was part of the improvising. It was a risk, but one he had to take. Besides, if he put Mello out in the line of fire and stayed on the sidelines himself, he would only give himself a headache from the mounting guilt.

"Well?" Mello pushed.

"Yes, I believe that would be a…rewarding course of action."