Chapter 25:

"It's All Elementary..."

Ryuk settled the pair inside a small, rectangular-box room, and as soon as they were through the ceiling vent—it immediately locked itself off. A camera in the upper far corner viewed them, no doubt watched by 'A'. They were trapped.

"What the hell, Ryuk?" BB said angrily. "I thought you said there was another, larger room up here?"

"This isn't what I saw when I flew up here before." Ryuk stuck his head through a wall, then back out. "Ah, I was right…the room is on the other side of this wall. But this room wasn't here before. This is new."

"It's a shifting room, gentlemen," 'A''s voice resounded, "within my labyrinth. Call it an interlude. Since you cheated in the last room—and I don't know how, yet—this will make up for it. I designed the room, just in case. I always think ahead, as you know Rue." 'A' emphasized the word 'think'.

"Enough of the games, Auric!" Light demanded. He looked around. He saw a pedestal with a box on top. It was the only thing in the room. "What the hell are you playing at now?"

"Temper, Light Yagami," Auric addressed. Light growled under his breath. BB put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Light settled down with a short. "Now, my pair of toys, solve the riddle, and only then will you be allowed to access the next stage of my labyrinth. If you fail to solve it, well…your golden wings will be fail, and you'll plummet like Icarus when he flew too close to the sun."

BB looked at the Pilot Wings he found inside the body bag. He then allowed his anger to get the better of him and threw it at the lens of the camera, blinding it. The pilot wings embedded within.

"Nice shot," Ryuk remarked.

'A' laughed. "You may have blinded me, but I can listen. So, struggle, my pets, but a cat can only have nine lives. Then it will eventually succumb to the one thought." He laughed.

Suddenly, the walls began to close in on them, slowly.

"You have two minutes to solve the puzzle before you," Auric said. "However, if you're really smart" —he chucked— "your salvation should already be obvious. Good luck!"

Auric laughed, and Light slammed his hands to the wall. He pushed back, but the mechanism didn't stop.

"Yagami, chill out!" BB said, looking at the box on the pedestal. He went to the box and opened the top. He saw a small silver drinking flask. "I see it, it's based on a quantum mechanics paradox. Ever heard of the thought experiment of Schrödinger's cat? This flask represents the poison that supposedly kills the cat inside the box, this box we're in. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that after a while, the cat is simultaneously alive and dead. Yet, when one looks in the box, one sees the cat is either alive or dead, and one's thinking is altered to one conclusion, one thought."

"Okay, then what does…" Light blinked, then said, "We're in the box, and without seeing us—you destroyed the camera's visual—we're neither alive or dead, according to Auric. Is that poison?"

"We're alive now, because you won't shut-up. Let me think." BB paused, cupping his chin, for a few moments, as the walls closed in. BB snapped his fingers. "Our captor loves to play games, and despite wanting to kill us, he wishes to give us a sporting chance—even though the odds are nil. Ryuk, you said there is another room is on the other side of this wall?" Ryuk nodded. "Good! Yagami, stand back. This flask does contain poison, but not the kind we think. But it is poison/corrosive to metal. The connection was too obvious. 'A' is getting sloppy." BB opened the flask and splashed it on the coming wall. Almost immediately, acid began to erode the metal.

BB cried out. Some acid had back-splashed. He clutched his right hand. He dropped the flask, but it was empty. Acid began to eat away at BB's skin. He swore, profusely. "Son-of-a-bitch, that stings!"

Light approached him. "Will you be okay?" he asked.

BB laughed. "You think this will stop me? Look at me and tell me I'm a quitter?"

"One thing I've seen from you, BB, is that you're beyond that," Light said. "And neither am I."

BB smiled. He then looked at the acid eaten hole as the walls continued to close in. The hole was large enough for them to slip through now. Each of them carefully did. They had few clothes on, so they had to be weary of where they stepped, the acid on the metal wall and some on the floor.

The walls to the interlude room sandwiched as the pair settled in to the next room. And it was a room beyond comprehension. They stood on a long narrow, metal catwalk overlooking a cavernous area below, the catwalk leading to the opposite side of the room.

"This is part of the brewery?" Light wondered.

"Converted to serve a sinister purpose, no doubt," BB answered.

Before them, adjacent the catwalk, was another shorter one that lead to an equally perpendicular metal catwalk, and between them, attached ingeniously was an awe-striking sight.

"You must be kidding me?" BB said, his eyes widening with awe. He walked into an open concept device with three eye-level screens, and panels with displays and navigational indicators represented on more screens, touch screens, and with two seats. "It's a flight simulator."

"Impressive," Light said. Light looked around. "What are these large wind turbines on either side of the room for? Airflow into the brewery?"

"Normally, they wouldn't be this big," BB replied. "They've been enhanced."

"Why the flight simulator? How the heck did he manage to build this room?" Light looked down. "It's too dark to see what's below us…" His voice trailed off.

BB went to the flight simulator and gazed with wonder and esteem. It was a state-of-the-art display terminal with leather seats. "I loved these things," he said earnestly. "Every time the orphanage went to the arcade for a day trip, I never crashed. I was always Number One in the ratings. No one could touch me. 'A' always tried, but he could never ever come close." BB looked away for a moment. "As for the turbines, I bet they were cannibalized from the vat mixers. Below us may have contained large vats used to store liquor, the catwalks used by foreman's to observe the process. Okay, I have to give credit where credit is due, here. How 'A' managed to bring this together. Colour me impressed!"

"You're crediting our enemy?" Light said with a snort.

Ryuk flapped his wings and flew down, then came back up. "Better be careful," he said. "There's a large vat below the flight simulator swimming with a bubbling, streamy liquid. I think it may acid?"

"A vat of acid below us?" Light said. "Isn't that a bit overkill?"

"At the very least, 'A' deserves kudos for creativity and villainy," BB replied.

"Why, thank you, Rue," 'A''s voice appeared on one of the screens. "It's always nice to be admired."

"Seems a bit over the top," BB replied.

"You and I enjoy our theatrics."

"How did you build this room? And how the hell did you get your hands on a flight simulator?"

"I have friends in high places employed in Interpol. Well, the real Auric Lafayette did. I stepped into the role, you see, and have convinced everyone I am the real deal. This particular flight simulator was sent out for upgrades and when it was complete, I finagled it for my own personal use."

"In other words, you stole it."

Auric chuckled. "It's all elementary, my dear, Rue. And it fits in perfect here. I'll tell you, this is my most dangerous room. The purpose of this room is to test your intelligence. Twenty questions will be displayed on the terminal, each one more difficult than the last. You will each answer one question consecutively and without help from the other. If you cheat, your partner will lose a turn and that will count as a wrong answer. The questions will range from simple mathematics to theoretical symmetry. With each wrong answer, the turbine blades on either side will approach closer. With enough wrong answers—"

BB put up a hand. "We get the picture," he said annoyed.

"What's your endgame, Auric?" Light asked.

"Simple: I'll continue what I was born to do, and become 'L'. I'll disband the Kira Task Force and have each of them suffer misfortune and accidents. Everyone who knows the real L is dead will die, will die. And hence, the real successor will be me."

"There are others who know L is dead. Will you go after them?"

"As I have said, everyone who knows the real L will die, even our friends at the orphanage."

"Diabolical," Light said, giving BB a look.

"So even if we beat your rooms, you won't let us live," BB said. "How—cliche, but you were never one to play fair. You had to cheat at the orphanage whenever we played checkers and Old Maid."

"Pssh! You wound me, Rue. I'm still willing to give you a sporting chance to save yourselves. You never know, miracles can happen. I'll also give you back your dignity. There are two flight suits in the simulator. I hope I got your sizes right?"

BB sighed, finding two black overalls without issue, neatly folded on each seat with matching footwear. BB and Light put them on, they fit comfortably.

"One quick question, A," BB began. "What challenge did you have for us in the Fire Room?"

"Wasn't it obvious?" 'A' replied.

BB grunted under his breath. "I thought so," he said. "You thought I would sacrifice Yagami to save my own life. Instead I surprised you and we both managed to survive. You threw me back into the fire and thought I would panic. I've been dead once, 'A'. This is my second life. Nothing frightens me now!"

"Oh, never say never, my dear Rue," 'A' said, and then laughed.

There was a two seats in the flight simulator and BB hopped into the right compartment, which was the pilot seat, and Light, climbed into the co-pilot seat. Light had no idea how to operate a flight simulator, so it was BB's game to win or lose. He would just help with the questions. The flight simulator was attached to the catwalks with clamps, so Light didn't know if the device would rotate. He figured it was mostly for show, the terminals being the main feature for the questions yet to come.

BB worked the controls, switching on levels and pressing buttons, to bring the device to bare. There were yolks in front of them, but Light didn't know if they were needed.

The wind turbines on either side of the room began to rotate, slow at first, then quickly rammed up their speed, until there was a noticeable change in air pressure. The blades then began to move out and towards the flight simulator, yet stopped a few feet from their respected round housings. The added pressure already made it difficult to think.

"Auric isn't not going to make this easy," Light said.

"He's a sick and twisted bastard, Yagami, but there's always a way out of any cage, as you've said. You proved that. 'A' thinks he's smarter than I am. I always achieved perfect on quizzes and tests given to us at the orphanage. He was second best. However, he does have quality I lack, and that's patience. That's why he was originally chosen to be L's successor. But the Good Doctor had other plans."

Light looked at BB.

BB pointed at Light. "A's going to try to throw stumpers at us, think before you answer. Bring your A-Game, Yagami, or else we're dead."

To be continued...