AN: This One Shot is the prequel to another of my One Shots (All That Matters) and I'd love it if you read that one as well and told me what you think, but it's not necessary for understanding this one. You might want to read Leaving first though, since this might get confusing otherwise.
WARNIGS: Chocolate maybe?
Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. However, I do own Natasha, Phillipa, Puma, Natalie and everyone else you don't recognize.
Just in case
A tall woman brushes a strand of reddish brown hair out of her face. She's been thinking about dying it for some time now, because the color just stands out too much, but she can't bring herself to do that. She loves her hair too much for that.
Her cellphone rings drawing the attention of the other people in the room. Two men and a woman look at her curiously. Both of the men have dark hair and rather light eyes. They have the same nose, the same mouth and a similar build. You can tell they are brothers. The woman is blonde and has eyes like storm clouds framed with long dark lashes. She's smaller than the other, more petite and a lot paler, but both of them are beautiful.
The redheaded woman looks at the cellphone's display. Incoming call, it says on there, followed by a number she doesn't recognize. She picks up anyways.
"Yes?" She knows that it's completely useless to raise an eyebrow, but she can't help it.
"Phillipa? This is Natasha." Natasha? Why would Natasha be calling her? And how did she get that number? Still, with the three behind her listening in she can't react to the name Phillipa. Phillipa is the name of a widely known special agent of the government and even if she left that life behind long ago, it would still make the people behind her suspicious of her every move.
"I'm sorry, I don't know a Phillipa. And I don't know a Natasha either." 'Come on Natasha, play along!' she thinks and resists the urge to bite her bottom lip.
"I know it's you Phillipa. But if you say you don't know a Phillipa, what name do you go by at the moment?" Phillipa twirls a strand of hair around her finger. The other shouldn't be asking that question. And she shouldn't be answering it, but oh well….
"Phyllis. I still don't know who you are." It's the sixth alias in twice as many months and she's getting tired of it, but it's good practice. The second part is more for show, since of course she knows who the other is, other than that she supposes it's to keep the conversation going.
"I don't believe you, Phyllis. You always had an extraordinary memory. I'm sure you remember me. You know, the little girl that made friends with Matt after… it happened?" At least she's using the alias now, but she'll have to give the other one, too. It's something that was drilled into them at the orphanage they were from. When addressed with a name not your own by someone you know, immediately assume they are in trouble or at least can't speak freely. Ah, yes, the good old Wammy's drill. She can almost hear the instructor's voice.
"Oh, Nicolette." The first name with an N that came to her mind. Well, apart from Natalie, but that's the name of the other woman in the room and as such would have been too obvious. At least in Phillipa's eyes.
"Can you talk freely?" She remembers sharing that class with Natasha for a year or two.
"No." A simple 'no' tells her current companions nothing, so it's way better than tons of complicated explanations. Another of the instructor's favorite rules.
"Is it possible that you go somewhere you can right now? Or should I call again later?" Natasha is taking the lead now, which is good, since Phillipa can give simple answers that (just like that 'no') tell the three others nothing at all. Besides she has a reason to leave the room now.
"No, just wait a moment." The woman gets up and walks towards the door. She can feel the eyes of the others on her back as they watch her make her way over to it. When she reaches the room she calls her own at the moment, she continues the conversation.
"Okay, what is it?"
"I'd like to call a favor." There are a lot of favors the younger could call. She helped the redhead out a lot over the years.
"A favor?" She doesn't ask, because she doesn't understand, but because it's unusual for Natasha to tell her right away that she's calling in a favor and not asking her to do something.
"Yes. You owe me, remember? For the time I warned you that your cover had been blown." Now Phillipa knows that this (whatever it is) is big
"You do know that there are a lot of smaller favors you could call, right?" She simply has to make sure that Natasha isn't calling that one on accident. However unlikely that is.
"Yes, I do, but I feel I should call this one for what I'm about to ask you to do." Not an accident then. But she still doesn't know what the other wants her to do that would require calling that specific favor.
"Well?" Natasha is dragging this out unnecessarily long. Either it's really difficult or she doesn't feel good asking for whatever it is.
"It's about breaking and entering…" Or both. If Natasha wants her to do what Phillipa thinks she does then it's both difficult to achieve and difficult for the younger to ask for. Natasha doesn't really have any criminal tendencies.
"You want me to steal something?! I mean we both know that's what I do, but I would have never expected you to ask for something like that." Best to make sure. Natasha could be talking about something entirely different, after all.
"I don't want you to steal something, Phillip… Phyllis. What I want you to do is, enter a mafia hideout, leave something there and get out again without being seen." And apparently she is. And she slipped up. 'Good thing I left that room,' the copper haired woman thinks.
"And what do you want me to leave there? Normally I'd assume it'd be something dangerous, but I know you. Never hurting a fly." Oh, sure, Natasha is proficient in Wing Tsun and Taekwondo, but she was the best at bringing down the opponent without actually hurting him or her (at least in Taekwondo, which both of them… studied and Phillipa is quite sure Wing Tsun wasn't any different).
"You're right, it's nothing dangerous. That is unless you consider chocolate dangerous." Chocolate. The mafia. And Natasha calling that big a favor. There's only one way all of this fits together.
"Chocolate? Nicky this wouldn't have something to do with… you know, the number two." If she's right (and she's sure she is) then Natasha is scheming again- and Phillipa isn't sure whether that is a good sign or a bad sign. Natasha's schemes are either simple and easy or elaborate and insanely dangerous. With Mello involved in some way it's definitely the later.
"Don't call him that. But yes, this is about him. Where are you right now?" Natasha seems to have developed a strange kind of affection for the older blonde, obviously a case of having spent too much time with Matt. 'Don't get carried away, Phillipa! Concentrate!' she tells herself. 'Now, Natasha asked a question.'
"San Francisco. Why?" It's time for Natasha's plan to be laid out.
"I recently had Elinor place something in a bank. That something was an envelope she got from Linda, who visited a month or so ago. I'll have Puma bring it to you. You're still in contact, aren't you?" Phillipa is almost amused by the lengths Natasha goes to ensure she can't be connected to this. Then she realizes that there must be a reason for that. And then she thinks of something else.
"Yes. But Nicky, how many favors did you call exactly to get this done?" Curiosity gets the better of her for a second, but then professionalism kicks in and she listens to Natasha's every word with an attention she only ever paid to her martial arts masters and a few selected others.
"Some. I'll also have Puma get in contact with Holly. She knows how to buy large amounts of chocolate without raising suspicion. Elinor will arrange for you to fly to LA on the 26th. That's a week from now, so please be ready. Puma will meet you at the airport with the chocolate and the envelope, both should be in a simple black bag, maybe even a suitcase. If it's too much take out as much as needed until you can carry it with ease. He'll also drive you to a street a couple of blocks away and wait for you there, but be prepared to leave on your own, since something might happen that forces him to leave before you return. If you get caught, however unlikely that is, do not reveal who was involved in this. Before you leave the bag, make sure the envelope is at the very bottom of it." The plan itself sounds almost simple, but there are a lot of things that could go wrong. Horribly wrong.
"Okay. Is there any other information on the building?" She's pretty sure the other understands, what she's asking. Is there anything else to the plan? Because there has to be.
"Puma will come next Friday and give you everything we have. He'll leave again on Monday to meet up with Holly, but until then you should know everything there is to know about that building. Oh and something else…" She tells her an address. "Do not, under no circumstances go anywhere near that house. If possible keep a distance of two or three blocks at all times." Yes, Natasha gets it. And she's giving her an answer. Puma will tell her about the rest of it. Though, why they are to steer clear of that area…
"Why?" Curiosity again, but this is related to the job, so it's alright.
"I don't really want our dearest redhead to know what's going on…" Natasha doesn't want Matt to know? She had assumed he would be informed of every move the blonde makes in this endeavor, since it's connected to Mello, but apparently…
"He's not in on this?"
"No. I feel horrible for having tracked down that damn chocoholic and not telling him about it, but it has to be this way." In situations like this Phillipa learned not to question Natasha. She just knows. And sometimes that gave the copper haired woman the few vital seconds she needed.
"Alright. Until next time, Nicolette." Nicolette is a name she will definitely remember.
"Yes, until next time, Phyllis." And maybe she'll keep the alias of Phyllis for longer than just a few months.
.
True to Natasha's word Puma arrives on her doorstep that Friday carrying a suitcase. She would have tried to get the others out of the house, but she doesn't normally do that when she has a job that doesn't involve them, so she decided against it. Besides, it's Puma. He's quite familiar with the underworld.
"Come in." She opens the door a bit wider and he steps over the threshold. He looks around.
"Nice place you got here. Living alone?" She sighs. She hates it when he doesn't talk in full sentences.
"Sorry, sorry. But I can't help it!" Damn him for knowing her so well.
"It's alright. And no, I'm not living alone." He tilts his head to the side thoughtfully.
"Living alone doesn't suit you anyways." She laughs. It feels good to have him there again. Because he can read her like no one else.
"But it does suit you, doesn't it?" He's not the only one that knows someone else well.
"Why, yes, it does, Philly dearest." She would have started a full blown fight then and there, because of that horrid nickname if not for the fact that the hallway is rather narrow. Instead she settles for hitting him up the head and swearing revenge for later.
"Do you have a place to stay?" The woman with the copper colored hair asks her black haired companion.
"Your room?" He looks at her as if that's the most obvious thing in the world.
"Wait a second." She doesn't mind having him stay, but she doesn't live alone.
"Natalie? Would it be alright if a friend of mine stayed for the weekend?" Phillipa shouts up the stairs.
"Sure. When is she coming?" The blonde shouts back.
"He's standing in the door." Phillipa is laughing as she responds.
"Oh." Natalie's head appears at the top of the stairs. "Hello."
"Hey." Puma replies nonchalantly. Then he looks at his friend. "Aren't you going to introduce us, Phyllis?" Phillipa who was still laughing quietly sobers up at that and straightens.
"Sorry. P, the blonde beauty upstairs ("Quit trying to flatter me, Phyllis!") is Natalie. Natalie, this is my best friend, Panther." It's amazing that she trusts the other with something as personal as this (something that could be used against her), but not with Natasha's name (which wouldn't hurt either of them, because there are so many Natashas out there that could be her contact).
"Panther? As in the Panther?" Natalie asks. Yes, Puma is quite familiar with the underworld. And the underworld is quite familiar with him. He made a name for himself as Panther, the best killer in the field. And by the look in his eyes he's going to make use of his famous name.
"No flirting until the job is done, P."
"You're no fun, Phyllis," he whines.
"Ah, shut up, you big baby. Besides you were the one who said he'd never date a hacker."
"That was when all the hackers I knew were guys. Well apart from one, but she was a freakin' Fairy."
"Err, guys? I'm still here, you know?" Phillipa laughs again.
"Sorry, Natalie. And yes, the Panther. You two can go out for dinner sometime, but now we're on a job. Come on, P!" She grabs his arm and pulls him up the stairs, past Natalie and into her room.
"So… what do you have for me?"
He opens the suitcase and pulls out a laptop. "This is what Elinor gave me. I haven't looked at it yet."
"How much time did Nicolette spend on this?"
Puma raises an eyebrow. "According to Rue three months. Maybe more."
Phillipa can feel her eyes widen almost comically.
"This'll be an exhausting weekend…" she mutters. "Come on. Let's get started on this."
.
On Wednesday, August 26th 2009, Phillipa arrives in LA, she is clad completely in black and her hair is put into a tight bun. Puma is at the airport to pick her up.
"Hey." He grins down at her when she finally finds him.
"Hey P." She smiles at him and they make their way over to a car.
"Yours?" she asks. Puma traces his hand along the car lovingly, but shakes his head sadly.
"No," he says. "You know that would be too dangerous. Don't know where Holly got it, but it's amazing." He sighs dreamily.
Phillipa raises an eyebrow and grins. "Let's go." She opens the trunk compartment and pulls out the suitcase, before sitting down on the passenger seat with it and her equipment.
Puma walks over to the driver's side, sits down and guns the engine. Phillipa is busy double-checking her equipment and the suitcase. She notices that he secured the envelope at the bottom of the suitcase by stitching it to the fabric.
"Good idea," she says. "Did you do that yourself?"
He laughs. "Do I look like I'm able to use a needle and thread without landing myself in the hospital? That's Holly's handiwork."
Phillipa nods and puts all the chocolate back in the suitcase. They drive in silence until Puma announces: "Here we are."
Phillipa nods, takes a deep breath and exits the car. "See you later" she says.
Puma smiles, but he, too, is nervous.
Then Phillipa turns and makes her way towards the mafia hideout, a suitcase full of chocolate over her shoulder. And she's not sure what she's supposed to think of the fact that that suitcase is probably the best life insurance she has right now.
.
The woman stealthily enters the building the suitcase full of chocolate slung over her shoulder. It's difficult to carry and she almost wishes for a bag, but it's too late now. She moves into the shadows, out of sight of the cameras. It's a security failure, but one she definitely won't complain about. The woman takes a deep breath and tries to recall the location of the main room. It doesn't take her long and soon she is on her way again.
Unbeknownst to her she is being watched by two men. The smaller one is blonde and clad in leather, the other is bald and rather bulky.
"Should we stop her?" the taller man asks.
"No, we'll wait and see for now," the blonde answers. "But be ready to catch her alive when she did whatever she came here for."
The bald man nods.
While they talk the woman reaches the main room and leaves the suitcase in the middle. Now she has to get out of here as quickly as possible, because the middle of the room (and the main room at that) is obviously in plain view of the cameras. She turns around.
And comes face to face with the blonde man. The woman sighs.
"I should have known." She looks around and notices that she is surrounded.
"Is that so?" The man looks at her, his eyes are ice blue. And deathly cold.
"Check the suitcase" he barks at the mafia members. Three of them hurriedly make their way over to it and open the zipper.
"It… it's filled with chocolate." One of them says with obvious confusion.
"Chocolate?" the blonde raises an eyebrow at the woman. "Why chocolate?"
"I don't know." She replies daring him to challenge her words.
"You don't know…" he draws the words out as if expecting her to take them back. She doesn't. "Such a shame. I was curious why you would break into this building and leave a suitcase full of chocolate behind…" His eyes that had looked around the room in contemplation come to rest upon her again. They narrow.
"What's the name of your employer?" He lazily flicks his gun in her direction. I any other situation she might have thought it was an accident, but right now the threat is clear. She swallows.
"I don't know," she repeats.
Within seconds the gun is pointed straight at her torso.
"Give me one reason not to shoot you." His nostrils flare dangerously and his eyes are alight with rage.
"She said you wouldn't. She said it was in the suitcase." Her voice trembles towards the end of the sentence.
"What is in the suitcase?" His rage is terrifying, but the woman seems to gain her courage back in the face of it.
"Why don't you check?" Challenging him probably isn't the best idea, since his gun is still pointed at her chest. But instead of the blinding fury she was prepared to face, she is confronted with stunned silence.
"You!" he barks at one of the men still standing next to the suitcase. "Check if there's anything else in that suitcase." The man just nods and begins taking out large amounts of chocolate.
The blonde turns back to the woman. "And who is she?" he asks. The barrel of his gun is pressing into her chest. "And don't you dare say 'I don't know.', because I don't believe you and I swear to God that I won't hesitate to pull that trigger if I believe you are lying to me."
The woman swallows and takes a long, deep breath.
"She goes by Nicolette. I don't think that's her real name."
"I see," he says. "And have you met this Nicolette?"
The woman shakes her head.
"There's an envelope in here!" The mafia man checking the suitcase exclaims.
"Bring it here," the blonde says calmly.
"It… it's stitched to the bottom…" The mafia member cringes under the blonde's deathly glare.
He looks at the woman again his eyes still murderous. "Do you know what's in there?"
"No," she says simply.
He nods and walks over to the suitcase. Once there he tears the envelope from the fabric of the suitcase unceremoniously. Inside it is another smaller envelope with a few words written on it. The blonde looks at the woman.
"Go," he says.
She turns, but before she can make more than three steps towards the door, he adds something.
"You're a thief. Aren't you, Phillipa? I almost missed the fact that you were here."
The woman doesn't look at him, she just smiles. "I'll take that as a compliment, Mello." And with these words she vanishes into the shadows.
.
Mello looks at the envelope. It's made of heavy paper and shimmers pearly white in the dim light. Three words are written on the front of it. Three words in a handwriting that's become familiar to him.
Just in case.
The blonde ignores the mafia members' questions that follow him as he leaves the main room and walks along a hallway. He opens the door to one of the rooms and locks it behind himself. The room is rather bare and the only furniture apart from a bed and a small nightstand is a closet filled with leather clothes.
Mello sits on the bed and carefully opens the envelope, he takes out a piece of thick paper. Written on it is a single short sentence.
It's Matt's.
And below that a cellphone number, but he doesn't pay attention to that. His eyes are glued to the sentence. He's seen it before, so many times.
As Mello looks around the room a bit of fur on a coat in the open closet catches his attention. He smiles a bit at the sight of it and his hand reaches for the only drawer of the nightstand. He opens it and takes out two things. A handheld and a note. Both of them had been in a pocket of the coat Natasha gave him on the night he left Wammy's. Mello had discovered them when he finally found the time to take a closer look at it a few days after he received the coat.
He looks at the note. Such a simple note it is. Short and to the point.
It's Matt's.
The handheld is Matt's. The cellphone number is Matt's. And both of them were given to him by the same person. Though, the latter made a couple of detours on its way to him.
He laughs a little. 'Nicolette, indeed,' he thinks as his finger traces the words on the envelope.
Just in case.
Please review and tell me what you think! It would be greatly appreciated!