Chapter Nine:
"Plans to Lure"

A couple of hours later, the task force decided to call it a night. The all-nighter was called off. Misa had called, seeing the monster truck rampage on the news, but Light said it was nothing for her to concern herself with and to just relax and get a good night sleep at the hotel she and Mogi were staying at. She needed to be up early for her morning movie shoot.

Alone, sitting at his computer station, Light smiled to himself. The events of the day were exciting to say the least.

Raito suddenly appeared like a ghost in the night. After the task force left, he had decided to perform a little pre-examination on Kei Imafuku before the medical examiner to find out what had caused the man to go crazy. He had been under a powerful drug. There were a few that could cause the man to do what he did.

Light turned his chair when Raito returned. "So, what's the verdict?"

"The man was injected with LSD to trigger a psychedelic experience. He was an employee at the monster truck showroom. My theory is, he became overly delusional and took the monster truck for a spin. From what I could collect from his mind before he died, he was confronted by another man who gave him the drug, and told him a cryptic message: 'For Kira'. No doubt, this stunt was to get your attention and the drug in his system was to create instability in the man to perform his actions."

Light nodded. "I'm no medical expert, but from what I've read on the subject the primary action of some psychedelic drugs is to trigger psychedelic experiences via serotonin receptors, causing thought, visual and auditory changes, triggering an altered state of consciousness. Major psychedelic drugs include mescaline, LSD, psilocybin, and DMT. And you found LSD in his system?"

Raito nodded. He reached into his right pants pocket and took out a veil of blood he drew from the man. He gave it to Light.

Light took it and looked at the crimson contents.

"It was very potent, and laced with another control agent that inhibited the prefrontal cortex," Raito said. "As you know, this region of the brain is implicated in planning complex cognitive behaviour and decision making."

"Basically, you're saying, he was brainwashed."

Raito said, "Yes. He was brainwashed to claim it was 'For Kira'. I don't believe this was a mere coincidence. I think it was a message to get your attention. Oh, this is so exciting! To experience things in live time, instead of spoiling them by looking into the future is so much more fun. Although, and I reveal this now that the man is dead, in truth, the man was going to suffer a massive myocardial infarction from the drugs in his system during these events, so my assistance was unnecessary."

"Are you saying he was going to suffer and die from a heart attack anyway?"

"Yes, but I just helped it along—making Kira a hero!" Raito smiled. "The drugs in his system will be subjected to an overdose. No one will suspect anything suspicious or out of the ordinary other than the actions caused by his unstable mental behaviour."

"So far, you've been more useful to me than Ryuk," Light said with straight face. "But now the question is, who is trying to send me a message? And why? If this little stunt was meant to grab my attention, whoever it is, now has it."

"Hey Light! Do you know this guy?" Ryuk's gruff voice suddenly sounded as he manifested through the front door. The Shinigami opened the door afterwards and standing on the side was Special Agent Hansel Dragoon. "He says he knows you. Did you two meet, and you touched his Death Note, while I was away on yet another errand?"

"Dragoon? What are you doing here?" Light said surprised, standing up. For a moment, he wondered if Epiphany's revival of Gretel Grimm failed and the Shinigami was back for revenge? "Is your girlfriend alive?"

Dragoon tilted his head and smiled. "Yes, she is. And I just recently booked a weeks vacation to spend with her. She was surprised by it, but I told her I loved her and I wanted to forget about the rest of the world and just focus on us. She has no idea about what happened. Epiphany did exactly what he said he would. And I wanted to come here and personally thank him." Without batting an eye about Epiphany's sudden change from his normal appearance to that of a normal looking human, Dragoon bowed to Raito, and said, "Thank you, Astral God. May I thank you humbly, but words cannot thank you enough!"

Raito smiled. "You're quite welcome, Hansel Dragoon," the god replied.

Ryuk looked from Dragoon to the others confused. "Huh? Okay, what's going on here? Who is this guy?" referring to Dragoon. "And who is that guy?" pointing at Raito. "Neither one of them is human!"

Light shut the door and smirked. "Interesting story, Ryuk," he said.

Once Ryuk was caught up with events regarding Dragoon, a Shinigami who fell in love with his human handler and donned a human guise to live with her naturally, and Epiphany, an all powerful god from the Astral Plane, who was now disguised as a human being, calling himself Raito Empyrean, and who joined the Kira Task Force pretending to be Light's cousin, Ryuk asked, "Why in the world would anyone want to disguise themselves as a human being? I wouldn't!"

"You've never been in love, Ryuk," Dragoon explained.

"And I'm just having a little fun," Raito said. "We gods get bored easily."

"That's for sure," Ryuk said. "As for you, Dragoon, I can tell you Light's had a few girlfriend's since I've been with him, but he's never let them distract him from his work. Well, except for one: Kiyomi Takada. She and Light were an item during his university days. And then there was Dana Chika, but she was before my time with him. She died recently."

Light frowned. He didn't need to be reminded of that.

"I've been in love," Raito spoke up. "I fell in love once with Morph's sister. She was drop dead gorgeous! She was the reason why I helped Morph and the Brigade of Life during the Great Death Note War. But she died on the battlefield, sacrificing herself for Morph, who then fled his realm with the last essence of his people inside him. He has to feed them with life energy. This is why he anchors himself to humans, promising them protection with the Life Note. Yet once he's done with them, he discards his hosts like garbage."

Light had a few pages of the Life Note Morph left him, but he had yet to utilize them.

"I can concur," Light said. "He did such with Terrance Claw, leader of the Dragon Sect of the Yukaza, for which I'm blamed for. I have a bounty on my head because of it. I had no idea Morph had a sister, does the Imp have any other siblings?"

"He does," Raito said, "but events happened that, well…that caused great rifts within his family after his sister died. From what I observed over the years, Morph's family already have problems even before the Great Death Note War. Morph was a bit of a pest and his mother and father tried very hard to curb his enthusiasm getting into trouble."

Light nodded. He didn't need to know anymore. Morph's history was his own. Thinking back to his own history, however, when he and Demetre were kids, they got into some trouble as well. But what kid didn't?

That didn't matter now. Saving the world from itself did.

"Now that everything is clear…" Light said.

"Yes," Dragoon said. "I came here for another reason. I have some information for you as it relates to the monster truck incident this afternoon. I have it on good authority that it was staged for Kira's benefit. I spoke to another Shinigami, who told me it was enacted by an agent of the League of Darkness—the Evangelist." Dragoon then looked directly at Raito. "Tell me, god, was it the Evangelist that originally targeted my Gretel?"

"No," Raito said straightly. "I can tell you honestly it was Zurn Wellington, a member of the League of Darkness. However, I'm unaware of a correlation between these events with Light Yagami in the crosshairs."

"It would seem that your divine protection is warranted," Light said. "Both see me as a threat to their interpretation of a utopia built and controlled under an LOD authoritarian banner. While flattering, I don't need the attention."

"Don't take their interest in you lightly," Ratio said seriously. "We are dealing with supernatural forces far beyond the comprehension of normal mortals. With the kind of power the League of Darkness possesses, especially under the leadership of the 'Dark One', the world as you know it, Light Yagami, could come to an end in an instant."

"If that's the case," Light began, "then perhaps we need to give the Evangelist and the League of Darkness an incentive to seek me out more directly to clear the air, so to speak. Like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey. I have an idea. It's time to retake control and bring the game back into my court, to use a tennis analogy. Before my battle with L, I was the National Junior Tennis Champion of Japan, and the reason for that was, I knew how to manipulate my opponents, forcing them to hit the ball back to me where I wanted it, using their own strengths against them. When it comes to the Evangelist or the League of Darkness, I will not bow down to scare tactics!"

Raito crossed his arms and smiled. "No wonder I like you," he said.

"About two years ago, I encountered a Shinigami from the future who told me someone had given him information on stock portfolios for me to use to invest in, it was to help build my brand new world. I wasn't sure at the time how things were going to work out with L back then, but now that L's gone and Kira's world is finally coming to fruition, I could use that information to build capital to one day become a powerhouse within the world—to advance my 'Grand Agenda', as I've come to call it."

"Sounds likes a good idea, more entertainment for me," Ryuk said, then chuckled.

Light regarded Ryuk for a moment, then rolled his eyes. What he was doing wasn't a game, it was enhance his brand a new world where only good people lived. "Later, I encountered and befriended yet another Shinigami called Valtros. I gave her the same information, so she could collect a laptop that was placed in a safety deposit box in a bank in Geneva, Switzerland. She was to being it back to me, but to date, she has to yet to do so. I believe it is time to make contact with her. If she doesn't know my memories have returned, perhaps this is the reason she has yet to give it to me?"

Light turned to Dragoon. "Dragoon, I need you to do me a favour. Find Valtros for me, I want that financial information now."

Dragoon nodded. "It's the least I do for you in reviving my Gretel," he said.

To be continued...