So, in this chapter we're jumping backwards a couple years, and one thing above all has become apparent in writing this. While I wouldn't call my descriptions of fast-paced action scenes insufficient, I certainly need to improve on it a lot. Also, no new reviews or anything, sooo… oh, right, one more thing. I think it's been a very long time since I've mentioned this so I'll say it again, there's a large I, Kira section on the Death Note Fanon wiki so if any of y'all want to know more about the story and everything that's going on in it, or even if you just want to see what all the characters look like, feel free to drop by there. It's all a work in progress, though, so don't set your expectations too high.

(Lauren's POV, 10:05, January 28, 2015)

'I had this overwhelming urge to leave the comfort of this home, venture into that creepy forest, and probably die trying to save the world.'

'But you're only thirteen.'

'LET ME DO WHAT I WANT, MUM!'

'What are you both talking about?'

'Hey there, good morning sleepy face.'

After grabbing a glass and the carton of chocolate milk from the fridge, Tom joins us at the table.

'Mumma, I had a dream where I almost beat the car wash, but I kept getting washed by the final boss.'

'What? Anyway, you and your sister need to get ready, we have to be at the train station by eleven.'

'Uhhhggghhh-'

'Hey, school starts in a few days so this is our last chance to spend some real family time together these holidays. So go back upstairs and get ready, both of you.'

Tom speeds up the stairs faster than me. It doesn't take long for me to choose what to wear. A plain grey shirt with matching shorts, prioritizing what's comfortable over what looks pretty. But he's already in the shower so I have to wait.

Plucking my light-pink phone off the charger, I quickly scroll through the news in a likely-futile attempt to ease the boredom.

Student arrested after trying to smuggle 2kg of memes into Sweden

Europe puts Greece on Ebay

Giant dog claims 5th victim

Hundreds of snowmen gather to protest global warming

Russia may have ties with Kremlin

Deficit Hawk attacked by regular one

Yup, futile. You know, this whole summer break has felt like a complete waste. Thanks to dad's stupid promotion he's hardly ever here, and there's only so much Tom and I can do together to break the boredom. And unlike Tom I don't have video games to help with that, nor do I have any real friends.

An hour later we're on the train. There's no-one else sitting in this section, which is great since it means each of us can stretch our legs a little. Outside it looks like it could start raining any second now. Since there's nowhere to plug in my charger, I'm left to just watch the trees and buildings zip past with my brother. He's much more entertained than I am.

'Mumma, we're going so fast! This is great!'

'Hehe, don't get too excited or you'll wear yourself out.'

'Hey mumma, what if the train isn't moving? How can we tell it's not turning the Earth under it?'

'…'

Okay, my turn to be annoying.

'So, where's dad? I thought we were going to meet up with him at the station.'

'He had to finish up a little work first. He has a busy job, you know.'

'But he promised-'

Wait, I can hear footsteps, someone's coming. Looks like he's here already, perhaps?

Wait, no. I don't recognize these guys.

'This is the Blackheart family, right?'

'Yes, why? Who are you people?'

Aaaand they're pointing their guns at us.

'Sorry for disturbing your family gathering, ma'am, but the vacation's over now.'

Shit.

(Viper's POV, 13:02, January 28)

'Hey, at least now when I say "never again" the likelihood is it won't actually happen again the next weekend. That, my friend, is called growth.'

I whip out my phone and throw a text at M as we're leaving.

'M, I've got the last two. We'll be there within twenty minutes. Do you want me to pick up some snacks on the way to HQ?'

'There's no time for that. Besides, I'm vegan, remember?'

'Wait, since when?'

'About two months ago.'

'Oh wow! How do you keep it up?'

'To balance things out, every weekend I find a random animal and murder the shit out of it.'

M can be quite terrifying sometimes. At the very least, she's terrifying in a less humorous way than the rest of us. Take Chris for example. When it comes to combat, Chris' personality mainly includes screaming in rage and screaming in pain. Sometimes, he screams in pained rage. If he's feeling particularly inventive, he screams in enraged pain.

(Chris' POV, 13:23, January 28)

Grouped together around a table showing an illuminated map of Sydney, it feels kind of wrong that this is a third of the Sydney mafia's entire vigilante corps members. Just me, Indy, Viper, Rico and Mizuki, with M Skype-calling through the large screen on the other end of the darkened, underground room.

Mizuki probably looks the most professional out of all of us. Her dark grey jeans, black shoes and black gloves match the color of her hair nicely, and I'm guessing the three "bracelets" on her upper arm aren't just for decoration. Still, the short, tight necklace makes her look kind of cute, although she could also be concealing an extra round of ammo in the crescent moon thing in the center of it. I'm still not sure if her dark purple eyes are natural or if she's using colored contact lenses for extra security.

Once we're all gathered around, she's the first to talk.

'The Hijacked train was stopped halfway between the stations at Hornsby and Wahroonga. This is the work of the Messina Denaro Squad, an organized crime syndicate primarily located in Europe. The hostages were then moved to a separate facility half a kilometer from the train tracks.'

'Any statements?'

'We intercepted a manifesto. Would you like me to read it?'

'No, that's alright. Let me guess, I'm sure it's full of kind words for ANPA.'

'How'd you know? They want the police to release their leader, who was imprisoned on Australian soil eight days ago.'

'How predictable. So was the Blackheart family really on board?'

'We're verifying that right now, but it's very likely. If they are, none of them are getting out alive without our help.'

'Maaaaan, what am I gonna do? I have a date set up later in the evening.'

'It wouldn't hurt to have some overtime with us once in a while, Rico.'

'Okay, I just got this list of passengers' M states, and her face on the screen is replaced by a list of names.

'Ah, the Blackheart family really is on board.'

'Good grief, I'm sure they knew that the situation is unstable, and yet they choose now to have a vacation.'

'School starts in a few days so I don't think they had a choice.'

'So, the hostages are being held in two buildings. The one on the rear probably contains the less useful civilians, while the smaller one at the front probably contains the Blackhearts. Before we'll go in we'll do an observation flyby to confirm this using one of those brand new specialized war drones we've purchased.'

'Wait, we have those already?'

'As of last night, yes.'

'So can-'

'Yes, Onomihsarata, once we're done you can play in the boxes they came in.'

'So, M, what's the plan?' Mizuki asks.

'Rico will stay here in case things go wrong. Mizu, as the mission commander you'll also stay here and, while you're at it, try to hack into anything you can, Viper and Indy will take down the larger building, and Chris will go into the one at the front.'

'Excuse me, are you telling me to go in on my own?'

'You can handle it, Onomihsarata.'

'I'm fourteen!'

'When I was your age I could do it.'

'But you're M!'

'And you're my employee, so get to work.'

(Lauren's POV, 13:27, January 28)

The faintly illuminated room the armed thug is leading the three of us into is almost entirely empty, with not a window in sight. The only furniture visible is a small desk in the corner. The solid concrete is freezing my feet, I really shouldn't have taken off my shoes when we got on the train earlier.

'You three are going to wait here-'

What happens next is so fast I barely see it. Mum swings her leg around, striking the criminal in the groin, and he collapses onto the floor. That must've hurt.

'Come on, let's get out of here!'

Running back through the empty hallway connecting the two buildings, the three-

*BANG*

Mum falls to the ground. Turning around I can see a growing red stain on her leg.

'Mum!'

'Just take Tom and run!'

'We're not leaving you here!'

'Dammit for once in your life can you just listen to me?!'

*BANG*

'…'

'…'

'AAAAAAH! AH, AAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!'

'Hey, now you little brats better behave. Unless you want to be next.'

(Viper's POV, 13:59, January 28)

Just out of sight of the windows, Indy and I position ourselves on the outside of the building, feet at the wall, grapple hooks firmly gripping onto the roof.

'This is your commander speaking. Do you copy?'

'Copy that, Mizu.'

'AND THIS IS YOUR COMMANDER SHOUTING! INDY, DO YOU COPY!?'

'Loud and clear. Any progress?'

'I'm in the PA system. Are you two ready?'

'Affirmative. Indy, you ready?'

'Sure. Just remember, anything you do in there can get you shot, including nothing.'

'Hello. Hello.' Now I can hear Mizuki's voice coming from inside, hopefully catching the assholes off-guard. I swing toward the window to hear their response.

'What the…?'

'Calling all hijackers. Please lay down your arms and let the hostages go. If not, we will have no choice but to use force.'

'What a joke! I don't know who you are, but as long as we have the hostages, we'll never give up!'

'Oh my, you're still going to resist? Too bad, talk's over. All hostages, please take cover.'

Without a word, the two of us leap through the windows and open fire.

(Lauren's POV, 14:04, January 28)

Tied to the leg of the desk, neither of us can move an inch. Tom hasn't spoken at all since he stopped screaming. I'm also staying quiet, listening to these four soulless freaks.

'Hey, if we keep them, are they going to be worth anything? We killed their mother to nab them-'

'We promised we'd kill them if our demands aren't met. But the girl, she's thirteen and she's kinda cute. We could auction her to some perverted patron on the black market. She'd fetch a handsome price.'

'…Hey, weird. Our men in the rear building aren't responding. I'll go check it out.'

'Alright.'

And now it's three soulless freaks. Even with the strongest-looking one gone, there's nothing I can do.

'…So, if contact with the rear has ceased, what does that mean?'

'A communications disruption could mean only one thing… invasion.'

'That's ridiculous! We've confiscated their phones, and back on the train we cut all communications to the outside. There's no way a hostage could call for help. And the cops never go looking around here, we made sure of it.'

'Did one of us turn traitor?'

'Couldn't be!'

'…'

'…'

'…'

'Hmph, you're nothing but a bunch of trash. You fall apart as soon as your little plan starts to go wrong. Things aren't going to go how you want. Now's the time to start thinking about surrendering to the police, you slime.'

…No reaction. Rude.

The next few seconds feel like hours, the air stale and still, until one of them speaks again.

'If we don't hear back from the rear within ten minutes, we should assume things have gone south. As such, we'll have to shoot the kids while we still can. Got it?'

'…'

'…'

'L-Lauren, we're… we're gonna die.'

'Tom, think positive.'

'We're gonna die quickly.'

(Chris' POV, 14:10, January 28)

Through the air ventilation system I can see what's going on down there. Looks like the mother's been taken down already, but I still have a chance to save the other two. Alright, time to light this place up… where's my gun?

'Onomihsarata to Mizuki, where's my firearm?'

'You should have it with you.'

'Well, I don't. Did I leave it back there at the base?'

'Let me see… yeah, someone left a Glock here.'

'Shit. Okay, I can work with this. I still have two short-range weapons.'

After crawling back along the ventilation pipe, I jump down into the dirty bathroom to the side of the main hallway, and from there exit outwards, hiding my two weapons between my shirt and my back. The cold metal seriously disagrees with my skin, but after a few seconds I adjust to it.

Now, let's head in. I'm nervous but I know my plan.

'Excuse me!'

'Wha- You goddamn brat! What are you doing here!?' The man guarding the room shouts. He's louder than I imagined, with a thick Italian accent.

'Um, uh… I just… I was just walking home and I got lost… and I ended up in this abandoned part of town, and I saw this building…'

'A kid shouldn't be walking around the city alone. You never know who's roaming around. But you won't have anything to worry about if you come with-'

*Stab*

'Thanks, sir, but I think I've got this. So die already, you worthless shitrag!'

I pull my tantō out of his head and push his body out of the way. Okay, there's two more of them. I slam the door closed in front of me to change weapons.

(Lauren's POV, 14:11, January 28)

What… just happened? Are we being rescued? I didn't get a clear look at-

The next thing I know he's charging straight through the door, with some kind of large sword, plunging its blade straight through the chest of one of the killers.

'AAAAAA! *stab* You fucking bastard! *slice* Drop dead! *slice* It's only natural! This is what you deserve! Never get up again!'

Nope, I can't look at this. I've had enough blood and violence for one day. I turn around to face Tom, trying my best to ignore the severed head that's rolling into the wall behind him like a bowling ball.

…The screaming stopped. The, everything stopped. Did he win?

'Hey, you two kids. It's gonna be okay now. Don't worry.'

He places his bloodstained Katana on the desk, pulls out a smaller knife of some kind and cuts through the ropes.

'You're the Blackheart kids, right? I'm Onomihsarata. That isn't my real name, but that's what my mafia alias is so you can call me that.'

'The…mafia?'

'The vigilante corps. We fight evil where the authorities can't, or won't. My co-workers are going through the surrounding buildings-'

'There were four of them.'

'What?'

*BANG*

'AH!'

Before I can get a good look at the gunshot wound on his arm, he's kicked in the stomach halfway across the room by the muscular one from earlier, and now he's being held up by the throat.

'Did you do this?! Did you kill them?! Was it you?!'

Looking down at the decapitated corpse, I quickly find see a gun in its cold hand.

(Chris' POV, 14:12, January 28)

'I'll kill you! You're gonna die!'

Shit, this guy's strong, I can't… I can't get his sweaty hands off my neck. Is this how I die? …Wait, the Blackheart family are part Japanese, right? Okay, here goes nothing…

'On'nanoko! Tatakai!'

At this rate he'll crush my throat before Indy or Viper arrive.

'What the hell were you thinking, little brat?!'

'Blackheart! Onegaishimasu!'

Girl! Fight! You must… fight! If you win, you live. If you lose, you die. If you don't fight, you can't win! Use a gun, use Tankukattā, use anything!

I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't breathe I can't-

*BANG*

I drop down to the ground, and as the crook's insides spill over the concrete I see a smoking handgun held by the girl.

'You… you saved my life. Thank you.'

'You saved mine first.'

'Please, I only did what was right. No more, no less.'

'…Is he dead?'

'Let me see... yes, shot through the heart from behind. That's some good aim.'

'No, no, that was just luck.'

'Hey, you good over there?!'

'Well look who decided to show up finally.'

'Better late than never', Indy replies.

'Yeah, let's get outta here before the cops show up.'

(Viper's POV, 14:17, January 28)

Up on the rooftop away from the freed hostages, the surviving bastards are lined up along the wall, hands and feet tied together.

'Well that was easy.'

'We're not through! We still got the main hostages.'

'Are you sure about that?' I hear from behind.

'Hey Chris, how'd it go?'

'Their mother was dead by the time I showed up, but the kids are okay.'

'Any hostiles left?'

'Nope, all dead. Remind me to thank chief Blackheart's daughter for saving my ass back there the next time I see her.'

'Glad to see you improvised without your gun, Onomihsarata.'

'Well, Mizu, you know what they say. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat, but strategy without tactics is merely the slowest route to victory.'