Hey there, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer here! I'm so sorry about how long it's been since I last updated, but school has proven to be much more time cosuming then it has been up till now. I would also like to mention that this chapter is not beta read yet, so it will likely be replaced. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing…not even my spleen.
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Dai Lee Rock
Hey Big Sis! How's it going? I'm doing fine thanks. Haven't heard from you in a while; I'm just checking in to make sure everything is going fine, you know? Things are going great for me. I've recently been promoted and got a huge raise from the Dai Lee. They gave me your old position when you had been an agent…how is retirement treating you by the way? Anyway, I've been recently assigned to a top secret mission and I'm going to be gone awhile. Hope to see you at the next family reunion….
'Ray' Penber stared at the email he had been typing, his brow furrowed. Sure, he would like to give his older sister (after all, he hadn't seen her in person for years) more information about his mission. After all, she used to be a well known Dai Lee agent…surely she would have some kind of advice for him this incredibly important mission.
He himself hadn't known what it was until the chief had called him in earlier today. Apparently, on the request of the famous detective S, the Dai Lee were sending twelve agents (him included) to Ba Sing Se to investigate the members of the police force. While there was no explanation provided as to the reason the Dai Lee were to do this, Ray figured that Avatar had somehow managed to infiltrate the Task Force…or at least had some mole in there to report to him.
The young man leaned back in his squeaky office chair, thinking about how he was going to accomplish following the targets he had been assigned. He glanced down at the several files that had been discreetly given to him while he had traveled by plane all the way to Ba Sing Se. As he looked them over, he quickly released that he had only been given the rosters of two families: The Gyatsos and the Cabbages (He stifled a laugh when he had read the last one).
He shrugged, happy that he wasn't going to be as busy as he had thought. The Dai Lee agent then finished writing his email, sent it, and returned his attention to the files, seeking people to dismiss so he could go back to his home in the Fire Nation for the vacation that he had surely earned.
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After a few hours of studying, Aang was prepared to hurl his collage entrance exam study guide across the room. Not only did he know all of the facts already, but after experiencing the Death Note, school just seemed plain tedious. He had better things to be doing other then unnecessary studying for a test he was sure to ace…like moving on with his plan to discover the identity of his stalker for one.
The young Avatar could not believe that he was already being tailed by someone; could he have possibly made himself an obvious suspect? Why else would they be looking for him? However, he couldn't be the only being followed…no, it was far to early since S had initiated his challenge…there would be no way for him to suspect…it must be that S had already discovered that Avatar was getting information from the Task Force…which meant that he must be inspecting the Task Force's members and anyone with connections to them….
The pacing teen sat back down in his office chair and began to unconsciously twirl a mechanical pencil with his fingers as he stared at the ceiling, thinking. He closed his eyes, tried to block out the anime fight that Koh was watching on TV (Aang himself never particularly liked anime himself; it all seemed so unrealistic, what with the funky hair and eyes. There's no way that stuff could be real; they were just cartoons after all), and tried to clear his mind. If S really was having the Task Force inspected, there was no way in hell that he would use the Ba Sing Se police, as they were, as Aang knew, mostly incompetent, especially for work of this type. That, and they were a little to close to the Force…so who did he use? If his plan worked, he would know soon enough, but he needed to bid his time…at least until tomorrow morning, when the weekend started.
Suddenly, there was a quick, mental, stab that flooded his mind. Barely keeping a yelp down, Avatar's brow furrowed as he concentrated on his retaliation attack, which he promptly launched at the mental intruder. A slight howl of frustration followed as the mental intruder was forced back down. Avatar smirked as he sat up; satisfied that he was still in control. As you may be surprised to discover, the entities known as Aang Gyatso and The Avatar of the gods are two separate minds. While Aang had originally been the one to pick up and use to the Death Note to cleanse the world of evil, he had slowly begun to develop a split personality over the matter, with one wanting to simply evade the police and continue killing only the scum of the earth for the world's sake. The other continuing to grow and beginning to actually believe what people had come to believe: that he was a god that was born to judge the world and rule it. As he believed his cause to be a holy one, anyone who got in his way must be evil themselves.
When he began to impress this idea onto the dominant persona of the time, they quickly became divided on the issue of killing anyone who rose against them; feeling unsatisfied with Aang's reaction, the Avatar promptly switched places with him. The jab that Avatar had just experienced was only one of many attempts by Aang to resume command.
Avatar just shook his head to clear his mind of such matters and returned his attention to what really mattered: what girl was he going to use tomorrow?
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On Ji groaned as her cell phone went off; she had been asleep. She hurriedly picked up the traitorous phone and glared at the caller ID to see who was the bastard who would wake her up this early on a Saturday! The minute she saw the ID, however, she quickly changed her tune and hurriedly answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey, On Ji! This is Aang; I was just wondering if you wanted to go to the amusement park with me today?"
She could hardly say no to the most popular guy in school, now could she? "Of course! What time? And where?"
There was a slight pause on the other end as he thought, and then said "How about the bus station on Lemur Street? About, say, eleven?" She hurriedly nodded, even though he couldn't see her.
"Yes! I'll see you then." She then hung up and stared at the clock: it was currently seven…that would just barely give her enough time to get ready!
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Ray stifled another yawn as he sat by his computer, watching through the local police surveillance cameras, the two homes of the families that he had to watch. Fortunately, while reading the files he had been given, he had managed to eliminate practically every member of the Cabbage family and most of the Gyatsos.
While Ray could confidently dismiss the Cabbage family as a whole (as only their son was in the Task Force and he was such a low ranking member and incompetent in both work and home that there was very little suspicion there), that didn't mean that he didn't have to follow them as well…which he had spent the last week doing. As far as he could tell, the family was fairly typical, outside of a slightly unhealthy obsession with cabbages.
Now, he mentally reflected, the Gyatsos were a different story.
From what he had determined, there was no way that the daughter of police chief Hakoda could be the one to steal information from a computer. While she was intelligent…to some degree at least…, she could barely access Microsoft Word on a computer, much less hack into her father's computer. There was also no way for her to plant bugs (as she thought that bugs were merely insects and such), or spy as she was in school while her father was at the task force. The mother, likewise.
Now, the son on the other hand, was completely different. Not only was he a very accomplished tennis player, student, and teenager, but he was so intelligent, it was almost off the scales. His IQ score was well over two hundred. He could easily do things like breaking/hacking into a computer, steal information, and slink away as if it had never happened.
One thing that surprised Ray, however, was that the boy was adopted. Not able to afford the medical costs of child birth at the time, the Gyatsos turned towards adopting a child from the Monks of the Air child organization. The Monks took any and all lost or given up children and tried to find them a place to stay; they were very popular and had won many Nobel Peace prizes over the course of the centuries.
Shaking him out of his pondering, the cameras picked up some movement as someone opened the front door at one of the houses. Ray quickly zoomed in and saw that it was, in fact, the boy Aang Gyatso. Hurriedly, he quickly got out of his van (that was disguised as a pluming service) and began to casually walk down the street, all the while keeping an eye on the tracking device in his hand. Awhile earlier, he had managed to place bugs on some of the families' jackets and various other objects.
Picking up the pace, Ray rounded a corner, fast walked for a block or so, and then flattened himself against the wall right before a shadowed corner and discreetly peeked around it. As he thought, Aang was there…with a girl?! Brains aside, he seemed to be acting like any high schooler his age…and this helped confirm it. The two chatted for a bit as they waited for the bus to arrive. As the vehicle pulled up and the two began to get on, Ray decided that this would be the last day he would follow the boy, and then he would make his report. Jogging, the Dai Lee agent went to catch a ride on the same bus, quickly getting on board and walking to a seat open in the back.
The bus quietly pulled out of the stop. Ray glanced at his target, sitting in front of him, still chatting with the girl. Deciding that there was no risk, the agent relaxed slightly, and leaned back in his seat, wondering why would two teenagers have to have a date at this ungodly hour in the morning.
Naturally, because he began to relax, something was about to go wrong.
With his eyes closed, Ray felt the bus shudder to a stop. He could hear someone walking up the stairs and…a gunshot?! The Dai Lee agent's eyes snapped open, sat up, and saw that someone was holding the bus driver at gunpoint. Shit! He thought as he reached into his coat…only to find that he had forgotten his gun in the van. Stupid! He cursed himself as the hijacker grabbed a cell phone and began to call someone.
To be honest, Ray was not really that concerned with what he wanted; he just wanted to bring the ugly bastard down. Ugly he was, at five foot four, balding head with permanently slouched shoulders. He was wearing a jacket, some jeans, and a Wolfbatman t-shirt. Actually, as he looked at the hijacker, he began to seem familiar…that's right! He was that dude who held up a bank the other day…Bleno something or another.
While Ray was processing this, he noticed that Aang had scrawled a message out on a piece of paper and was passing it to his girlfriend: don't worry, I'm sure I can detain if I can reach him in time. Leave it to me. God, this kid was surprising brave!
"Don't. There's no way you could reach him in time."
"Well, what would you have me do?" the boy asked as he shoved the note in his pocket.
"Nothing, just let me take care of it; I'm trained to handle things like this." He could hear the teenager snort slightly.
"So what are you, some kind of secret agent? How can I trust you?" Ray sighed, pulled out his badge and showed the kid. He saw the Aang's eyes widened slightly and grinned slightly. Ha! Bet he never guessed he would meet an actual secret agent! Must be impressed.
"Fine. I'll trust you." Aang whispered, passing the ID back to Ray. Suddenly, the note that he had written to his girlfriend fell out of his pocket and landed on the floor. Bleno, who had been watching the passengers after making his demands known, saw this and pointed his gun at Aang who had bent down to retrieve it. "Stop right f#!en there!" He cautiously walked over, while keeping his gun trained on Aang all the while. "What do you have there? A note of some kind?"
Shit!, Ray thought, if he reads that, he'll find out about Aang's plan! Gotta do something…! Bleno bent down and picked up the scrap of paper and looked at it. "What the hell is this?! Where you were supposed to meet your date or something?" he through the paper back at Aang's face. "F#$en retard." He muttered as he turned away…only to stand perfectly still as his eyes widened considerably. The paper that he had thrown at Aang fell to the floor, wide open. Ray couldn't help but glance at the scrawled text on it. It had the name of an intersection, Bleno's name…but the rest had been torn away. "What the hell…?" Ray whispered aloud.
The Dai Lee agent was snapped out of his stupor as Bleno began to open fire while screaming in fear…at thin air. After firing all six of his shots, he ran up to the bus driver. "Stop this piece of shit! Stop!" He yelled as he grabbed hold of the bus driver. Quickly dropping him, the hijacker ran down the stairs and forced open the door, tripping as he fell out. Quickly, Ray got out of his seat and ran down the aisle, determined to stop the thief from getting away…only to see him get run over by a red sports car. Staring in shock as the blood began to flow over the dark cement, Ray didn't know what to do. In his daze, he stared at their current surrounds, unconsciously noting that they were in an intersection. The street names were also like those of the names on the note that Aang had dropped. Not feeling up to snuff, Ray just began the walk home, hoping that nobody would notice him as he made his way.
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A few hours later, a weary Aang walked into his bedroom and collapsed onto his bed. "I can't believe that even after a bus hijacking and witness someone get run over, On Ji still was still hell bent on going to the amusement park!" Koh only chuckled at Aang's weariness.
"Yeah, well, that's women for you." Aang shot him a glare and struggled to sit up.
"Oh shut up. Besides, how would you know anyway?" Koh just shrugged and suddenly became fascinated with something on the wall that either only he could see, or it wasn't really there. Regardless, the teenager let the topic drop and reluctantly got off of his bed. He then walked over to his desk and pulled out the Death Note.
Koh noticed and floated over to the desk, looking of the human's shoulder, "So, you're gonna write this Ray guy into the notebook?" Aang shook his head.
"No, not right now. I have to give the agents time to look at other suspects, try to cover as many people as they can, so when they do die, it would be harder for them to link it back to me. I'd have to say that his name will probably go down…in a week or so. First, though, I need to see just how much I can control the people before they die. So I'll be doing some experimenting this week."
Koh just shrugged uncaringly and turned to watch wrestling.
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Ray Penber groaned slightly as the hot water came crashing down upon him. He had been in the shower a mere fifteen minutes now. It was a rather effective way, he found, to relax after a particularly stressful event (or in Ray's case, an entire week); not only did it clear his mind, but it also helped him think things through as well. After another few minutes, he reluctantly turned the knob to shut the water off and stepped out of the shower. After grabbing a towel, the Dai Lee agent began to dry himself off while reflecting upon the week he had experienced so far.
After filing his report on the Cabbage and Gyatso families the day after the bus hijacking, instead of earning break due to the traumatic event that he had experienced, the higher ups naturally decided to pile on the work. Not only did he have to investigate another three families, but he still had to tail Aang Gyatso as well. Naturally, a week of research and observation had helped him get his mind back on the case at hand, but it also made him lose more hours of sleep then he cared to count. Sighing and considering a new career, Ray wrapped the towel around him and walked out of the bathroom to access his email. While he was checking for updates, he was surprised to see that his sister had finally replied back to him.
Little Brother,
I am happy to hear that you are doing well. I myself am doing very well in retirement so far, but I have to say that I am itching to get back in action. Although, it surprised me when you mentioned that you were working on the Avatar case; why didn't you tell me in the first email you sent before the bus hijacking?...although, you were probably sworn to secrecy and therefore must have been rattled by the bus jacking to think straight.
I have considered what you told me about the incident and frankly…I'm suspicious that it may too much of a coincidence to ignore. Does it not seem strange that of all buses, it would be the one that you were on, with a target you were following, while working on the Avatar case? The way I figure it, Avatar was probably on the bus with you.
Anyway, I am glad to hear that you are recovering well. By the way, I happen to have business in Ba Sing Se and will be traveling your way in the next few days. Maybe we could get together or something.
Love,
Big Sister
Ray finished reading the email and couldn't help but be surprised. I told her about me being on the Avatar case? God, I really must have been out of it after the incident, he thought as he finished drying his hair. "Maybe we could meet up when she comes," he pondered aloud as he began to pull on one of his more indiscreet suits. The Dai Lee agent then sighed, picked up his suitcase, and walked out the door. Today, he would be taking the day off…kind of; for today, he was heading across the city to meet up with a few of his fellow agents. Throughout the week, he had eventually come to the conclusion that he was basically getting nowhere with the case, so he had contacted the only other agent that he knew was on the case and tried to compare info…unfortunately, she had nothing to offer, so together, they decided to try and get in contact with the others in order to pool information.
First, however, they needed to know who the others were. After much pleading on their parts, the boss finally agreed to send them a file with everyone's names and contacts on it, which Ray now possessed. He looked up, noticing that he had already reached one of Ba Sing Se's famous railroad stations, whose rails were suspended over the city by countless towers and supports. Sighing at the huge crowd he was in, Ray began to make his way forward…only to be stopped from behind.
"You are Mr. Penber, am I correct? If you turn around to look at me, I will kill you." And then, Ray could feel breath on the back of his neck as the man who was holding him up leaned in closer whispering, "I am Avatar."
Ray almost stopped breathing right then and there. There were merely two thoughts rushing through his head at that moment: Shit! And is this guy for real?
As if reading his mind, Avatar remarked, "I see you don't believe me. That's fine, but if you look over to the waitress currently serving table number ten in the coffee shop on your right, I believe that you will come around quickly enough." Ray immediately shifted his gaze to his right and sure enough, there was a coffee shop, a table number ten, and the waitress. "You see, that waitress is going to drop dead in a minute. Why? Because not only will this prove I am Avatar, but she also framed an innocent girl for robbery and was never caught. The girl faced jail time while the waitress walked away scot-free; now tell me, does that seem fair in a world that's supposed to be filled with justice?" After he said that, the waitress suddenly dropped the plate that she was holding and collapsed onto the ground gasping; after a few seconds, she fell still.
"You monster!" Ray hissed as he tried to place the familiar sounding voice of Avatar. He heard said voice chuckling behind him.
"I'm the monster? Hardly. I'm the one getting rid of the monsters; but right now that is not your concern. However, if you still have doubt that I am who I say I am, pick someone, anyone, and I will kill them for you."
"No! I believe that you are Avatar."
"Are you sure? Surely there must be some doubt in there still; fortunately, I have found the perfect hostage. One that you care more about than any of these people." Ray's eyes widened as he began to sweat.
"Yo…you have her?" There was a slight pause behind him and then Avatar said, "Yes, I do. If you want her to live, then you will do exactly as I say." He passed an envelope to Ray. "You will take out and wear the headphones that I have placed inside of this envelope and turn on the transmitter so I can communicate to you the rest of the instructions. First, you will get on the train and sit in the across from the entrance of the car that you enter on. There, you will stay put and do nothing until I contact you. Remember, if you try anything, she will die."
He felt the man behind him leave, but Ray held no doubt that Avatar was watching him from afar. He waited by the tracks, sweating while he waited for the train to show. After what seemed to him to be an eternity, the train finally appeared, slowing down as it neared the station, and finally coming to a stop in front of him. Entering quickly, the Dai Lee agent hurried over to the seat that Avatar had specified for him and sat down. While he sat, he pulled out the envelope and searched it for anything more…unfortunately, there was nothing else, save for some sheets of cardboard with boxes in them of paper, hinting that there was a piece of paper under the cardboard. What the hell?
Suddenly, the ear piece crackled to life, "Now then, I want you to tell me how many Dai Lee agents are in Ba Sing Se on the Avatar case." Knowing that resistance was useless, Ray responded, "There are about twelve of us scattered throughout the city."
"Do you have a file on them?"
"Yes."
"Okay, now I want you to take those pieces of cardboard, fill in the white spaces with their names. Do anything else and I will kill her immediately." Hesitantly, Ray pulled out his laptop, turned it on, and accessed the file that had been emailed to him. Reluctantly, he began to copy down the names of the agents, cursing himself while he did the misdeed, knowing full well that these people were going to die because of it.
After finishing, the earpiece immediately came to life again, "All done? Then take out the earpiece and transmitter, as well as the pieces of paper, and stick them back in the envelope; afterwards, put it on the metal rack above your head and just sit quietly for awhile, and leave at the next stop." Sweating even more, Ray complied and did as Avatar asked. After finishing, he sat in his chair, his mind in turmoil over what he had done and what he was well aware going to happen to him. The sound of the train's brakes as it came to a stop shook him out of his revere.
Ray got up and walked off the train, spending what he thought were his last moments trying to place Avatar's voice. Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him; he decided to take a gamble and began to collapse, jerking around as he did so. He forced himself to turn around and glared at the man he now knew for a fact was the Avatar: "Aang Gyatso." He hissed as said teen uncaringly glanced at him. Sensing that Aang's guard was lowered, Ray quickly got up and rushed away, running through the crowd, knocking people out of his way. He had to call someone! And he had forgotten his damn cell phone! Ray should have guessed that his carelessness would someday bite him in the ass!
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Aang's eyes widened in shock. How was Ray still alive?! The plan had gone perfectly until Ray had gotten up and run away. While his mind was rushing to try and figure out where he had gone wrong, Koh was chuckling again. "What the hell is so funny?!" Aang snapped as he began to rush after Penber.
"Did it ever occur to you that "Ray" wasn't his real name?" Koh asked.
"What do you mean by that?!"
"It's just that if someone changed their name and not their original name or if it was a nickname, then they wouldn't die, even if you wrote their name in the Death Note."
"Are you telling me that Ray Penber is not that man's name?! And you knew it and didn't tell me?!" Aang snapped. Koh just shrugged.
"Yeah, basically. That's one of the rules: death gods can not tell you what a person's real name is."
"Damn you! Don't you think for a second that this is over!" The teen then turned his attention back on trying to get Ray's real name and stop him in time before his secret got out. Suddenly, there was a loud crash as a man by a pay phone suddenly collapsed, gasping. People crouched over him, trying to see what was wrong, but he couldn't say anything. Aang followed the crowd and turned to see Ray Penber lying on the ground, pay phone in his hand.
"Shit!" Aang whispered as his eyes widened with realization. Quickly, he turned and followed the fleeing and screaming crowd out of the station. After walking a way, he stopped and turned to Koh.
"Koh, there's someone else with a Death Note, isn't there?" Koh shrugged again.
"I dunno. Might be."
"Not only that, but they can kill without knowing a person's name; with only their face. How is that possible?!" He snapped at the death god.
Koh only smirked, "They would have to have the eyes of a death god."
"What?"
"Have you ever wondered how death gods can kill people from the shinigami realm? To be quite frank, you'd be stupid not to." He leaned closer to Aang. "Here's the reason: our eyes are different from yours. If we look at someone, not only do we see them, but we see their real name and just how much time they have left to live."
Aang looked shocked, his mouth and eyes widening at the thought. As if expecting Aang's next question, Koh stated, "And no, I can't tell you how much time you have…that's another one of the rules. But basically, I can give you the eyes of a shinigami if you give me half of your remaining life. Sound fair?"
Aang paused for a second; only a second after considering this deal. "No." Now it was Koh's turn to be surprised, "Really?"
"I plan on reigning as the god of this world after I kill all of its criminals; shortening my lifespan is just stupid as it would affect my goal." Koh just shrugged again, uncaring.
"Whatever. Just remember that this can be done at anytime." With that, the duo began to make the trek back to Aang's house, all the while, Aang was considering how someone else with the Death Note may affect his plans and how he would deal with them when the time came.
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Back at the station, police officers and medics were tending to the body of the murdered Ray Penber. A lone woman slipped underneath the "do not cross" tape surrounding a twenty foot perimeter around his body, and walked up to him. She knelt down and stared at his unmoving face. A lone tear fell onto it as she whispered, "Tom-Tom…", sadness coating her voice as she stood back up. As she walked away, the sadness was quickly replaced with rage, and Mai walked away, vowing revenge on Avatar to what he had done to her brother.
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That's a wrap! I hoped that you liked it and that it made up for the delay! Read and Review!
