Soon-ish I'll be starting university, but I'll do my best to avoid letting that get in the way as much as the HSC did. Anyway, shoutout to neblinadesol for following 私は、キラ/I, Kira, and to "The Hand of Section XIII" for following and favouriting.

(M's POV, 09:03, July 25)

After a few seconds, the new satellite imagery projects onto the screen. I must say, I'm grateful I'm able to command all of this from my apartment. Just goes to show how much things have changed since the mafia's days fighting the NKGB…

'It seems we've caught them in the middle of their evacuation! Now, this is where we snuff out the Kiras once and for all. Proceed with the operation, and give the green light to our F/A-18 flock to deploy their entire payloads on the target.'

(Chris' POV, 09:19, July 25)

With one drone's left wingtip welded securely to the other one's right wingtip, all that's left is to connect up the "tails" of each one to the front of the motorcycle using this steel… rope cable thing. That will require some more welding, but we don't have time for that so instead I'll just use several layers of Flex Tape.

(Twelve seconds later)

'It looks a bit like a pod-racer, doesn't it?'

'I still think you should've gotten my brother to do the reprogramming and rewiring of the drones' control systems.'

'And let him know that we're the Kiras? There's no way we could hide our true identities from him if we made that request.'

Against the backdrop of the dark thunderstorm rolling in from the eastern horizon, Rugo glides down from the control tower.

'So I just checked the radar, we've got 24 more aircraft coming this way in addition to the missiles. It looks like they'll show up about a minute after them.'

'…oh god…'

'Ne ne papa-'

-Beep-

'Hello?'

'Hey Chris, where are you?'

'Oh, Connor, I'm just, umm… out somewhere. You?'

'At school, waiting for you to show up.'

'Oh, damn, sorry, I'll be a while.'

'Anyway, great news, I've found out where Luci's Kira case is headquartered.'

'Wait, what? How'd you manage that?'

'It was kinda simple. When I had an opportunity to I attached my phone to the underside of Luci's limosine?, and used the "find my iphone" app to track his movements, and after doing so for a day I've taken note of every place he's been to, or at least every place the limo's been to, and there's one that sticks out like a sore thumb. It could be a decoy, of course, but we need to investigate it… What's that static noise?'

'I think it's the rain.'

'DAMN IT, RAIN, GET OFF THE PHONE!'

'Chris, we have to go now!' Lauren interrupts.

'…Sorry, I'll have to call back later.' - BIP -

In one smooth move I simultaneously throw on my Kira helmet and hop on the motorcycle, twisting the handlebars to start up the drone's engines (the less said about the rewiring involved in setting that up, the better). Lauren quickly seatbelts herself behind me.

'You know, Chris, I hope this bombing won't ignite the forest. The fire danger rating was high this morning.'

'But that's only, what, the second lowest setting? You know, there's nothing that says "Australia's weather system is messed up" like the fact that our fire danger system doesn't just stop at "extreme". And the second lowest setting is "high". Now, get ready for take-off...'

The evacuation contraption speeds down the runway and lifts into the air, but in the corner of my eye I can already see multiple points of light approaching from the horizon…

Wait, Lauren's… she's holding her arms around my waist. I know it's just for stability but it still feels… comforting. Still, she hasn't really opened up to me yet. Heh, that's what she said.

A flew bright flashes of light from behind indicate the arrival of the cruise missiles, followed several seconds later by the sound of explosions. In the motorcycle's rear-view mirror I see red-and-black clouds rolling up into the sky and beginning to dissipate. But of everything I can see in the mirror, that isn't what worries me.

'Bad news, we're still at least ten clicks from the storm cloud, and the second wave of aircraft, fighter jets it appears, are catching up on us fast. Now, our longest-range weapons are AR15s, which have a maximum range of 600 meters, and even if we could get within range I doubt we'll be able to fire considering how fast we're going through the air, so we'll have to use the forest as cover.'

I quickly angle down to a roughly 30 degree angle, and we pick up some speed descending before I level out just above the treetops.

'Now there isn't enough room between the trees for us to go lower, but even from here we're close enough to confuse the fighters' missiles' ability to lock onto-'

*BOOM*

'AHHH!'

'AHHH!'

'AHHH!'

'…Wait. Guys, we aren't going down. How are we still flying with just one drone?'

From beneath the torn-apart remain of the left drone's hull, Dimina responds in a weak voice.

'Not… even… a "thank you"? …Damn, you guys… you guys are heavy!'

'Now THIS is pod-racing! Thanks!'

'Shut… up… Chris.'

Our entire evacuation contraption is suddenly lit up from behind, and in the rear-view mirror I see a growing ball of light rise into the air…

'What's that?'

'Must be a low-yeild nuke. Don't worry, we're far enough away.'

'They nuked our base?'

By now, the ball of light has cooled down into a mushroom-shaped mass of smoke and ash and-

*CRACK*

*BOOM*

…that was rather delayed.

'So they nuked the base?'

'Yeah. Looks like it was between one and three kilotons, so if I had to guess I'd say they used the 1.5 kiloton setting on the B61.'

'Okay but, in English, what does that mean?'

'It means the United States has just used a nuclear weapon on Australian soil. I can't wait to see how everyone will react when they find out, after all they'll have to try very hard to cover up something that big or bright, let alone the crater and fallout from it. But just to be sure that the world knows what's happened here, I'll be sure to put it in my next Kira video.'

(M's POV, 9:24, July 25)

'Ma'am, they're underneath the storm now. We can't track them by satellite.'

Dammit. You win this round, Kira.

(Chris' POV, 12:38, July 25)

I don't see how I managed to fuck up so much shit in an hour and a half. We lost one of our drones, our only place to launch them from, we were both over an hour late for school, and I still feel like I'm frozen solid after all that wind-chill. Oh, and I haven't had a single class with Lauren all day since we got back, so I don't know where she is now. It's lunchtime and this is where we agreed to meet up, in the shadow of the main building, but I guess she's in the bathroom or something. Hey, at least Connor just showed up.

'Here you go, nice hot cup of coffee.'

'…It's cold.'

'Nice cup of coffee.'

'It's horrible.'

'Cup of coffee.'

'I'm not even sure it's coffee.'

'Cup.'

'…'

'Anyway, what were you two up to this morning?'

'Oh, just… teenager stuff. What about you?'

'Well, during recess I almost choked on a sausage and no-one at my table noticed.'

'Maybe if you weren't under the table they would've.'

'Hey, that's mean! And you two aren't in a position to talk if my suspicions are right.'

'Umm, what?'

'Oh, you know… don't worry, I won't tell Kallet.'

'No. Nononono! That isn't what's going on at all!'

'But you should. I know you have a thing for Lauren, and she has a thing for you too.'

'Not true. She just thinks of me as a… a strategic ally, you could say.'

(Lauren's POV, 12:40, July 25)

Come on, come out already…

'She's such a weirdo, I'm telling you!'

Who's that? Sounds like Kallet. I can't see anything through the cubicle's tiny door gap but I recognize the voice.

'Lauren, you mean? Well, she does keep to herself, if that's what you mean.'

And she's brought one of her henchwomen too. Best to stay silent.

'She's one of those half-Asian abominations, you know.'

'But Chris-'

'Chris is the hot kind of Asian. Lauren, on the other hand, she's probably one of those crazy weebs who eats pets and watches tentacle porn. I've also seen her talking to some kind of imaginary friend a few times, so she might have some mental issues as well. Perhaps if we're lucky that'll kill her before she becomes too much of a burden.'

You sure love to talk shit about people, don't you? Makes you wonder how her other victims have handled it. If they did.

'Are you sure that you're not jealous because she's taken him?'

For fuck's sake, why can't two people be friends without being in the center of all the gossiping? It disgusts me how High School society functions.

'Kallet, do you think they're, you know… together?'

'Well, if they are it won't last long. You know how well I can seduce boys…'

'They call you a slut because of that, you know?'

'They only call me that because I get what I want… and by any means necessary.'

'But Chris dumped you last time.'

'Last time I had no competition, well other than Viper who conveniently died without me having to lift a finger, so I didn't have a reason to try as hard as I should've. But this time I'll have him to myself, and I'll keep him. Lauren's going to wish she was me. You know, I heard her mother was murdered in front of her two years ago. Watching that could've given her killing tendencies…'

HOW DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT THAT?!

'Wow, really?'

'It's true. She may act all tough for now, but the truth is that some people don't last long in this world and unless she steps out of my way soon, she's going to be one of those people. You'll see I'm right soon enough. Some people don't live good lives like I do, and eventually they either kill themselves, or they kill someone else, in which case they're basically feeding themselves to Kira. That peasant's not like us! She's not going to be anybody in life if she doesn't act and dress like us normal people!'

'Kallet, aside from the fact you're starting to sound like a racist infomercial, you almost sound like you're looking forward to her death.'

'Of course I am! She has taken from me what is rightfully mine!'

And it sounds like they're walking out now. Finally they're gone, but…

'What the fuck. How the fuck. Why the fuck-'

'Lauren, stay calm… please.'

'You know what they say, panicking burns a shitton of calories!'

'Who even says that?'

'Me. Just now.'

(Tom's POV, 13:01, July 25)

'Whether it's identifying someone's name and other key information just by seeing their face, listening in on the phone conversations of the people around it, hacking into and controlling security cameras, turning any ATM or vending machine into a free money/food dispenser, remotely misfiring or shutting down pacemakers, remotely emptying all the insulin in one or more target insulin pumps up to a hundred meters away, bursting underground steam pumps, detonating gas pipelines, triggering city-wide blackouts, taking full control of nuclear powerplants, water filtration systems, subway tunnels, remotely controlling thermostats, mimicking any wireless network to steal information, rigging electronic ballot boxes…'

I had the phone-sized object to Alice, and watch the rather cute look of curiosity on her face.

'This is… how long did it take you to make this?'

'Don't get too excited, most of those planned features haven't been implemented yet. But to answer your question, version 1.1 of the WatchDog has been in development for about a month, with about two hundred hours of work put in so far.'

'And what's motivating you to resume work on it so quickly?'

'That's classified. Sorry.'

'Tom, pleeeeeeeeeeease?'

'Hmm, how about this. Answer one thing for me and I'll tell you.'

'It's a test, isn't it?'

'Maybe.'

'Okay…'

'On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely is it that this question is in binary?'

'…4?'

'Not a valid answer. Better luck next time.'