I couldn't help but update. I'm having a lot of fun writing this, and I also got the Death Note anime box set for my birthday on Sunday, so I've been in the mood for it!
By the way, L is so damn cute sometimes that I just can't handle it! :P

In this chapter, we find out what's in the house and be warned, a minor character may or may not die!
You'll just have to read and find out!

Disclaimer: Death Note belongs to Tsugimi Ohba & Takeshi Obata, but the OC's are mine!

Chapter 3 – The Operation

It was 10pm when Watari returned that night. Everyone had all spent most of the afternoon/evening/night getting prepared for the operation. Kumo had been looking up home owners and everything he possibly could on the house, but it was brand new and hadn't been owned yet so they ended up coming up with nothing. Failure was not an acceptable outcome for the mission, and they had to get something out of it.

Hoshi, Ame and Tsuki were all going, and they were nearly ready. Kumo had already set up their headsets, and they were armed and ready to go. Now they had half an hour to mentally prepare themselves, and for them to go through the plan a few times over, and also to inform L of the plan. L seemed to approve and soon enough 10:30pm came around.

Ame drove again, and they reached the area around forty five minutes later. They quickly went over the plan again, and looked over the blueprints the Kumo had hacked into and gotten for them. They checked their weapons, whilst doing so and making sure that Kumo couldn't see anyone on the satellite images he had also hacked into.

There was no one around, so off they went being almost invisible under the cover of darkness. It was a simple task for them to get in position and wait for Tsuki's command. When she cleared them to go, Ame moved first. He was the best at climbing because of his smaller than average sized body – for a male – and his lack of body fat. As per the plan, he went up on the roof of the building and unlocked one of the top windows for him and Tsuki to go through.

He achieved the tasked easily and he went in as Tsuki made her way up the building. The woman signalled for Hoshi to go, who was going in through the back door and had been picking the lock while Ame was getting up the building and going through the window. When he had succeeded, he swung the door open and stepped inside silently scoping the room for any sign of an ambush.

Both Tsuki and Ame were doing the same upstairs and as planned, Ame was to check the attic and Tsuki was going to check the second level. All of them had kunai drawn, and two blue sets and one green set of eyes were scanning the darkness for people, and they were all listening for even the slightest sound.

Almost in unison, they all got out their small flash lights and turned them on and instantly could see that there was no one in the house. Hoshi and Tsuki checked rooms while Ame looked around for any kind of clue in the attic and when he didn't find anything more than dust up there, he came down to meet up with Tsuki and Hoshi on the first floor.

This house didn't have a basement, but it did have a room under the stairs that Hoshi hadn't checked yet because Tsuki and Ame came down earlier than he expected. It was their last hope. She tilted her head to gesture for Ame to open the door, and with his kunai in one hand and flash light in the other, he opened it and all their eyes widened. Red paint was all over the walls on the inside and there was words written.

It seems you have found the clue in the warehouse, but where will this one lead?

There was another letter hanging from the ceiling. Hoshi put a pair of gloves were put on, and he took the letter off the string and put it in an evidence bag, sealed in shut and gently placed it in his inside pocket of his cloak, just like Tsuki had earlier that day. Ame got out the digital camera for the second time that day and took photos of each wall thoroughly.

Hoshi also noticed a key on the floor in the small room that was located directly underneath the letter which he picked up and put in a separate evidence bag. When they were satisfied, they began taking a quick look around again, just to see if there was anything else. Tsuki stayed on the first floor, whilst Ame and Hoshi went upstairs.

Suddenly, Kumo began telling them that there was someone coming towards the house and they all turned their flash lights off and hid in the darkest spots of whatever room they were in. Hoshi and Ame kept a look out from their higher vantage point and stayed upstairs just in the rare case that something happened to Tsuki so they would be there as back-up. They waited until the back door swung open and Tsuki felt the cold draft come through to where she was standing, in perfect view of the person walking inside.

Kumo was silent, and so were Hoshi and Ame and they were all simultaneously holding their breath in waiting for something to happen. Tsuki waited until the person had noticed that the door wasn't locked and took up a defensive stance and started looking around. Slowly, she began to stalk closer to the person, keeping herself flush up against the wall.

A car drove past in the street, and it's headlights made small sections of light appear in the room and Tsuki had to silently drop to the floor to avoid them shining on her. The person, who was now revealed as a young male with short, dark brown hair – thanks to the car headlights – walked further inside, his footsteps barely audible. When he was right in front of Tsuki, she crept over behind him and swiftly swung her flattened hand out and whacked the back of his neck to knock him out.

Hoshi and Ame heard the thud from their position at the top of the stairs and heard the man hit the floor. They came downstairs when Tsuki told them it was okay, and Kumo confirmed that he only saw only the one person coming towards the house. They both turned on their flash lights and walked over to Tsuki who was holding hers in her mouth and doing up the plasti-cuffs around the man's wrists.

Ame took of to get the car, since none of them would want to carry the guy all the way to it and he pulled up out the front a moment later. He gave them the all clear since he couldn't see anyone around, or peeking through windows and Hoshi came out first with the guy over his shoulder. Tsuki opened the door for him, and they put him in the boot of the car.

Usually they would have brought one of their cars that had the cage in the boot that normal police cars had, but they hadn't exactly expected for them to be capturing anyone. It shouldn't have been that easy. But even if this guy wasn't involved, they would find out..

They drove back to headquarters and luckily enough, the guy stayed out cold the whole time. He was put in one of their interrogation rooms, which wasn't used too often, and stayed there, still unconscious while Hoshi, Ame and Tsuki went upstairs to show Kumo, Taiyou, Watari and L what they had found. All three of them got rid of most of their weapons bar a few that never left them.

As usual, the photos and other information that was recorded was sent to L through Watari's computer. Hoshi showed everyone the letter, which had yet another address on it. Kumo was back to looking up the address and home owners and such. Taiyou was watching the guy in the interrogation room on his computer's camera feed and he told them that he had woken up.

He put the camera's connection up onto the large TV screen on one of the walls and they all watched as Tsuki left the room without a word.

"Where is she going?" L asked out of the blue.

"She's going to interrogate the guy we captured. Just watch this. She is an expert at reading body language and expressions." Kumo answered with a slightly awed tone, recalling all the time that she had caught out lies that no one else could have.

A few moments later, the door opened and Tsuki strolled in the room, sat down on the opposite side from the man and casually put her booted feet up on the table. Then, she just stared at him. Back in the office, the others just watched, knowing what she was doing. Kumo kept L and Watari informed of exactly what she was doing so they would understand.

"Right now, she's just evaluating his current state before she starts asking him anything. Her stare is pretty unnerving too sometimes, and there has been occasions where the suspect has just confessed after she stared at them for a few minutes."

Tsuki took her feet down off the table, and let one dangle but bent the other at the knee and brought it to her chest and rested her hands on it. She noticed that he looked a bit angry, a betrayed, but fear was the most prominent emotion on his face.

"What's your name?" she asked suddenly, her emotionless voice coming through her mask.

"H-Hachirou Takumi." he choked out after a pause.

"Are you wearing a black jacket right now?" Tsuki said, and her head tilted to the right a little in wait for his answer. Confusion crossed over his face, and it was obvious by now that he was not going to be a good liar let alone control his expressions well enough.

"Yes." he answered, his fear showing through in his shaky voice.

She suddenly got up and walked over to him and drew a kunai from her leg holster. His eyes went wide with surprise and fear and she resisted the urge to chuckle at seeing him jump to conclusions. She strolled around behind his chair and cut his plasti-cuffs with the kunai. The hands showed a lot of things, so it would help to have them off.

He clenched his hands a few times and rubbed his wrists before lacing his fingers together and sitting them on the table, feeling a little more confident now that she hadn't cut his throat or something. Tsuki went and sat back down in her chair, sitting the way she was just before she got up. She had got a base for how he was looking at the moment, so now she could get down to business.

"Do you know of the group called the Aka Sora, Takumi?"

"No." he replied after a pause that was too quick to pull it off.

"That's a lie. Did you watch the news last night?"

"Um, yeah. Why does that matter?"

"That was true. And it matters because if you did, you would have seen the report on the Aka Sora and that they've killed thirteen innocent people in cold blood." Tsuki answered, her voice still blank and unrevealing, yet intimidating at the same time. He gently rubbed his finger tips across his brow and looked downward. "Ah, so you are a part of the group?" she added.

"Hah, she's got him now. He just showed a sign of shame." Kumo said, directing it at L and Watari who most likely weren't used to these kind of methods.

"No, I'm not a part of that group. That's ridiculous!" Takumi exclaimed loudly, trying to prove himself.

"And that's a lie too. Tell me, why did you come back to the house? Were you looking for something?" she asked casually, and reached inside her pocket. "Maybe...this?" she pulled the key out, that was still in the evidence bag.

Hoshi turned around in his seat to find the key that was on his desk a few minutes ago gone. Damn, she was quick. Kumo, Ame and Taiyou both noticed that it was gone when Hoshi did and he looked at them and shrugged.

Takumi's arm turned out to the right a little and his eyebrow also twitched a little, but he denied the claim that he was going back for the key and tried to make up some story that wouldn't have convinced a 5 year old.

"Another lie. Look, just tell me the truth, and this will be so much easier for the both of us." Tsuki offered and leant back in her seat casually, one knee still pulled to her chest.

"I'm telling you that I'm not lying!"

"Really? Because your arm and your eyebrow told me otherwise."

Back in the office, Ame was smirking beneath his mask. He really enjoyed seeing Tsuki's talent and he would bet money on the fact that Watari and L himself would be impressed. Even better yet, most of it was simply natural talent, and she had only been taught for a year about the science of deception by one of their previous agents. Taiyou was nodding fractionally, glad to see Tsuki doing so well already.

"What, did my arm and my eyebrow communicate with you telepathetically or something?" he said with a sarcastic tone that made her narrow her eyes at him, which he saw through her mask.

"You could make it easier for yourself to comprehend and say that. Now...what does this key unlock?" she asked and kept her main focus on his eyebrows, which he couldn't seem to control too well. He turned his gaze away from hers and sighed dramatically while shaking his head.

"I don't know."

"I thought I said to stop lying. Does it lock or unlock a room in the house or the house itself?... Apparently not." she added quietly after seeing nothing. "Does it unlock the warehouse that was marked with the 'Sora' kanji?"

Nothing again.

"How about this...is it the key for your house or apartment? Ah! There it is." she saw his eyebrow twitch again and his eyes widened a little in surprise. That's where the key was for. "Kumo." she said and got up from the chair and walked out the door without a word.

Within a few minutes, she was back up stairs and coming through the two large doors and down the hall. By then, Kumo had pulled up Takumi's address and Hoshi and Ame were waiting for her and Taiyou's orders.

"Ame. Go check it out." Taiyou said and said man looked to Tsuki, who nodded once almost imperceptibly. Taiyou narrowed his eyes at the thought that crossed his mind about it seeming like Tsuki was the first in charge.

All of them did have a lot of respect for her, and he knew that they all trusted her with their lives, so it shouldn't surprise him too much. But the least they could do was make it a little less obvious in front of their highest commanding agent.

The black haired man began arming himself yet again and Tsuki grabbed his version of their mask that had a tiny camera built into it and gave it to him, as well as the key so that they could all see what was going on since she wasn't going and also she had a good idea. She had had enough of checking out almost worthless leads, and would probably lose her temper if they didn't find anything in this guy's place, and she was the only one who could help them out while being here.

He headed out immediately and they all discussed several options and what else they might be able to get out of Takumi and what they may find at his place. L was mostly silent, but when they spoke, they agreed with Tsuki's input for the most part, which made her feel a little smug, even though she still didn't really want L here.

They waited for a while and Tsuki went downstairs to set up a TV in the interrogation room, and she sat in the seat she had before and kept an eye on Takumi, who looked rather freaked out. Ame arrived at the apartment building, and tried to not draw too much attention to himself as he went inside, up the elevator and to the correct door. The key went in the lock, and he turned it until he heard it click and the door slowly swung open.

The inside of Hachirou's apartment was revealed to them all. It was pretty plain, minimally furnished, but there was several boxes with new appliances such as TV's and DVD players in them.

"So, where should we be looking? Living room?...Bathroom?....Bedroom? Ame, go to the bedroom." she said to him over the headset microphone when Takumi's micro-expression of fear told her that the bedroom was the place they needed to look.

Tsuki didn't take her eyes off his face and her stare was intense and almost burning a hole through him, but it was completely emotionless, revealing nothing about her thoughts and she knew that she was definitely getting under Takumi's skin. It wouldn't be long before he cracked. Ame began to walk towards the bed and bedside table and she watched as brown eyes averted away from the screen.

"Is it under the bed?...Bedside table? Bedside table it is."

Fear came over his face, even though he tried to hide it as much as possible, he knew that this chick was too good to miss it, and he waited for the inevitable as the guy called 'Ame' got closer to his bedside table.

Ame opened the top draw and searched through it, but didn't find anything other than a few morally questionable magazines and a few random letters from banks and such. He opened the bottom draw, and Takumi's eyes widened fractionally, and his lips were pressed tightly together. They'd found something.

A small note that had an address scribbled down on it was sitting underneath a few other random letters and other things, and Taiyou told Ame to take it for evidence and Tsuki turned her piercing blue eyes back on Takumi to watch his reaction. There was a hint of anger in his fearful expression, and he was almost glaring at Ame. It almost looked like it could be homicidal intent and she instantly started getting angry at a realisation she just had.

She kicked his chair hard out of nowhere, and he went flying into the wall and hit his head before the chair tipped over. Without bothering to check if he was even conscious, she stormed out, shutting the door behind her.

Intimidation radiated off her and everyone stepped out of her way, even squishing themselves up against walls as she made the trip back up to the fourth floor. When she walked in the office, the other men in the room froze up a little, Kumo especially and she glared at the screen with Takumi still on the ground before sharing her epiphany.

"Ame, get out of there. Now. This was a set-up." she said with faint urgency, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What? Why do you think that?" Ame asked through the headset as he continued searching the apartment.

"That guy is an idiot. He couldn't control his expressions at all, and he even said 'telepathetically'. Whoever is running the Aka Sora clearly knew this guy was going to trust them without question and when he first came in here he looked quite angry and betrayed. I'll bet that he was told to go back and get the key so we could bust into his apartment and find the note. Why else would it be his apartment key?" she summarised quickly and glared at the screen with Takumi's still form on it again.

"Which would mean that the apartment is being watched." L piped up, putting their two cents in, understanding Tsuki's logic.

"Exactly." she agreed and Ame nodded, making the camera move up and down abruptly and she turned to Kumo. "Get the blueprints and 3D layout for the building. We have to find the best way out for him as soon as possible."

"Already on it." Kumo replied, typing away on his computer like mad.

"Get away from the windows and stand somewhere that you can see the front door from." Tsuki told Ame, and watched as he moved to stand in the kitchen that had a perfect view of the door, and he could crouch down behind the counter and not be seen.

"Got it." Kumo exclaimed and Tsuki walked over to him and inspected the 3D view of the building that was on the screen.

"Elevator is out. It's too confronting, and impossible to fight in. Looks like your going to have to take the stairs. But I have an idea, so don't go anywhere yet." Tsuki said, and remembered that Ame had parked the car about a block away. "Kumo, can you hack into the electricity systems and give that whole block a black out?"

The man's eyes widened, but it just might be enough of a surprise to get Ame out safely. He nodded and went to work. Within a few moments, he was ready to turn off the power for that whole entire block, and Tsuki gave him the command and instantly all the lights went out. Ame got out his small night vision goggles and put them on and made his way out of the apartment, remembering to lock the door behind him and bring the key.

Kumo turned on the mask camera's night vision so they could see what was going on as well and they watched as he stalked silently through the apartment building and towards the door for the stairs. He opened it and looked up and down for signs of people. There was no one there, so he started down the stairs as fast as he could whilst being silent and keeping a look out for people.

He was down to the first level, when he heard a door open on the level above him. Everyone in the office heard it as well, and reflexively tensed, and Tsuki's hand twitched almost imperceptibly for the feel of her weapon, even though she was no where near danger at the moment.

She couldn't help but feel a little worried for Ame, and they all watched as he continued down the stairs. If it was someone coming after him, the door probably wouldn't have made any noise, and when he got out of the ground level door, and out the back so he could go out through the back door, which he could probably pick the lock on, and did so successfully.

Keeping to the shadows, and staying as calm as possible, he made his way back to the car, got in and locked the doors. When he did, everyone let out the breath they had been holding, and when Ame went to take off his night vision goggles, Tsuki told him to drive with them on, and not turn the headlights on.

Ame kept them on and started driving, even though it was very odd and a little difficult to do so. When he got out of the block that was still completely dark, Tsuki gave him the all clear and he took off the goggles and turned on his headlights.

"Ame, don't come back straight away. Drive around for an hour or so, and make sure that no one is tailing you. And when you do come back, park away from the building." Tsuki said, worrying that someone might be following him and somehow find their headquarters which would be the worst thing possible.

"Sure. I can't see anyone behind me right now, but we can't be too careful." he confirmed and drove around for a while before he guessed that it would be okay to come back.

He parked two blocks away from their headquarters and stealthily made his way back on foot. Everyone let the other breath they had been holding when he walked in the door and Hoshi threw a scrunched up ball of paper, Kumo smirked, while Tsuki just nodded once at him, as their ways of saying that they were glad he was back and in one piece. Taiyou commended him on doing a good job and Ame handed over the note with the address on it.

Kumo immediately began tracking down the address, and who owned the place. Tsuki noticed complete shock on his face and he called them all over to see. The picture of the owner was a pretty blonde woman with glasses.

Superintendent Kotone Fuyuko.

"Shit." Hoshi said, his brows furrowed. They all lifted their heads up and looked to the computer sitting on Watari's desk when L spoke.

"I believe it is Aka Sora telling us who their next victim is." they said simply, and went back to silent observation.

Meanwhile, Tsuki was already arming herself while L spoke, clearly thinking along the same lines and scolded Hoshi and Ame for not already doing the same. They both had a mental 'Damn it' moment before going straight over to the cupboard and Hoshi armed himself while Ame just put the majority of the weapons he had placed on his desk back to where they belonged on his person. They didn't even bother putting their headsets on, instead just having an unspoken agreement to use Ame's which hadn't been taken off yet.

Kumo had already started using satellite images to look at the Superintendent's house, but saw no one outside the building. The three agents ran down to one of the other car's since the other was in the opposite direction to the one they were going in. Tsuki got in the driver's seat and they sped off, hoping to get to Kotone's house before anyone from Aka Sora did. She hadn't really planned on heading out again tonight, but this just couldn't be delayed.

They sped through the streets until they got to her house. Under the street light, they could see the 'Sora' kanji, painted in red on her front door.

It was too late.

Hesitantly, they got out of the car, and walked up to the house cautiously. Since the Aka Sora had clearly finished their 'business', it was doubtful that they would stick around inside and as they all pulled on a pair of gloves, carefully opened the door which wasn't even locked or shut properly, and two sets of eyes averted, and one set just closed for a few moments.

Kotone was laying in a small puddle of blood that had soaked into the carpet with 'A.S' painted in red on her chest. She had been stabbed twice in the chest. Also, she had a letter next to her. Hoshi took the initiative and picked it up and put it straight in an evidence bag. He began to look around for any evidence that they could use, but there was absolutely nothing to be found and she couldn't risk moving anything in case there was finger prints.

There was no reason to hang around and she didn't want to risk contaminating the scene, so Tsuki got out her cell phone and called the Chief Superintendent. He was told the news once he woke up a little bit, and took a deep shaky breath before saying that he would be right over to their building. She knew that he probably wouldn't be able to come to the scene itself, so she didn't question it.

Ame was taking photos of the scene to show to everyone, and Tsuki also called some of the lower level workers that cleaned up and did all sorts of forensic tests on these sort of scenes. When Ame had finished taking photos and Hoshi had finished looking around, they all gathered outside and silently agreed to head back.

The drive back was quiet, aside from the radio that was turned down so low that it was barely audible. No one bothered to say anything like 'We couldn't get there in time' or some other sugar coated words since it just wasn't their style. They failed. Enough said.

Both Hoshi and Ame knew that Tsuki was going to give the Takumi guy a hell of a time when they got back to headquarters, which with her usually involved some sort of pain. No one had been brave enough to question her methods before, since they had always worked, but there would definitely be no protests this time.

All three of them hopped out of the car, and went up to the fourth floor. They sat in silence, all contemplating what the hell they should do. Several minutes later, the Chief arrived and they let him in. He was clearly not handling the news well and he sat down, adapting perfectly to the quiet. Kumo wasn't even typing on the keyboard, or clicking the mouse.

Abruptly, Tsuki got an idea. "We need to have a press conference. First thing tomorrow."

"I agree." Taiyou spoke up and nodded his head. "We should tell the public that the Aka Sora has been caught. We cannot have mass panic."

"You are right that we cannot have mass panic. But clearly these guys aren't interested in how much attention they draw to themselves. If we say that they've been caught, they'll just do something that disproves it. We won't be able to say it's 'just a prank' or 'copycats' forever." she retorted professionally and appreciated it when L spoke.

"Tsuki is right. I think we should announce my assistance with the investigation."

"And I agree." she said and crossed her arms. "That will cause them to be a little more careful, and we may be able to flush them out, or force them to make a rash move." she couldn't help but agree with L. They thought along the same lines as each other, and her respect for them had grown since they had first started working together.

"Fair enough." Taiyou said, knowing he was defeated. "First thing tomorrow then."

What will happen next!? Find out in the next installment...or chapter, rather. Heh.
Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter, and are excited for the next one, because I think I'm going to start writing it as soon as I post this!
I'm sorry that there hasn't been much L action so far, but that will be coming in due time, I guarantee it!

Here's a sneak peek for the next chapter ;)
We find out what's in both letters and there is an explosion of some sort! :O

Til next time!

P.S Vote in the poll on my profile page!