Fragaria
She nearly felt trapped in the tomblike extravagance of the hotel. L's heavy security measures naturally made her feel safe, but at the same time staying in the hotel all day was starting to get to Robin. It gave her too much time to think. That's why, when she observed Whammy gathering his laptop in L's insistent disguise garb, Robin perked up immediately.
"You're off to supervise the task force, aren't you?" Robin asked, her brain already working out some argument to swing Whammy in favor of letting her tag along.
Whammy's disguise prevented Robin from seeing his knowing smile, "Yes of course, why do you ask?" the old man already guessed the answer, judging by Robin's recent moping around the suite's living room.
She sighed lightly, "Well, since we don't have a suspect as of yet, their's hardly anything that L needs me to discuss with him. And I can always finish assembling the profile at the Kira task force headquarters…" Robin trailed off before giving Whammy a smile. "Besides, I'm sure you'd like some company?"
"Absolutely not" came a flat voice behind them and Robin jumped before turning; unsurprised to see L in the doorway with a bowl of jelly beans.
Robin crossed her arms, darkening her expression as she focused on the detective. "I don't recall asking you anything" she stated.
L ignored her 180 attitude change and tossed a handful of the candy into his mouth. "It would be highly irresponsible if I were to let you further smear your face around town, not to mention, its far more secure inside the suite" L said.
"I'd be surrounded by, what's the count now… nearly 40 police officers in the task force?" she shot back.
"Their's no reason that you can't complete your work here" L retorted, shuffling through stacks of paperwork resting on a nearby table.
Robin gave Whammy a fleeting look, but the old man made no move to interject. "I'm not like you, I actually enjoy interacting with people" she said, immediately regretting her borderline-insulting phrasing. Not that she would ever tell L that.
L looked up at her with an expression similar to surprise before he immediately hung his head and hid his face from her view under the guise of hunting for a file in the mess of paperwork. "…A better disguise then a baseball cap is required" he finally said, juggling his bowl of candy as he retrieved a thick file from the stack.
"That can be arranged," Robin said, already striding out of the room to search through her closet for something suitable. As an afterthought, she stopped at the door. "Thank you, L" she said, disappearing into the hall before he could respond.
Whammy watched the display with amusement, turning his eyes to his ward as Robin left the room. "She was a bit brash in explaining herself, but I agree that Robin could use a bit of fresh air" the old man said.
L placed his bowl precariously on a stack of papers. "What would you describe the outing R nearly blackmailed me into?" he asked rhetorically, opening his found file and skimming the contents.
The old man stifled a chuckle, "That was a week ago, you forget she's become accustomed to a normal life. Errands, working, meeting with others; Robin did those things on a daily basis. Such a dramatic change to adhere to your lifestyle might be too much for her. She is in a fragile state, after all" Whammy said.
L turned a page, taking all of the information in the file in as easily as he would a breath. "She assured me that her mental state was well enough not to effect this case in any way, I don't see that portion of your argument as valid" he stated.
The old man stared at his ward for a minute of silence, unsure of how to phrase his following words. "Robin is a strong young woman," Whammy said as he lifted his briefcase from the table, walking past L, "but part of her strength is drawn from vigilance, so that no one may see her weaknesses" with that, the old man left L alone with his thoughts.
…
"I feel a bit like Sherlock Holmes" Robin said quietly, mostly so Whammy's responding chuckle would halt the tense silence of the car.
"Yes, I recall Mr. Holmes did make common use of disguises" Whammy said, still chuckling softly as he maneuvered the car towards the Japanese police center where the task force was located.
Robin adjusted the large itchy grey scarf at her neck with displeasure, it had been a necessary purchase when she'd returned to chilly Winchester, but all the same she absolutely despised the garment. If it weren't for the fact that I know L has a point about this incognito thing, I would rip all this stupid stuff off right now. She thought; referring to the large dark sunglasses, navy fedora, and oversized navy trench coat that completed her haste disguise.
"Although, I suppose you are more of a Watson to L's Holmes" Whammy said, distracting Robin from her clothing hatred.
She was almost thankful Whammy couldn't see her resulting smile. "I suppose so, I mean, if L actually conceded to the fact that I'm his colleague and not his employee" Robin said.
"Robin, you need not take L's reluctance personally. He has had few collaborations in his time, and none of them personable. He's merely attempting to keep things between the two of you strictly business" Whammy said.
She started at his words, turning her head from the window to look at the old man in surprise. "I… What? You mean, it's harder for him because we grew up together, right?" Robin asked quizzically.
"Ah, yes of course that's what I mean" Whammy's disguise told her nothing to the contrary of his words.
"I believe I will find it hard to remember to call you Watari," Robin said quickly, changing the subject, "may I just call you Mr. W?"
"Of course, speaking of; how ever much distaste you have for it, L has instructed me to address you only as R while we're in the company of the task force" Whammy said.
Robin frowned, but nodded anyway. "I suppose it will be alright. When will we arrive?"
She could heard the smile in the old man's voice as he spoke, "why, right now" he said as they pulled into the back parking lot.
The back entrance was obviously for secretive dignitaries and criminals that would be too high-risk to walk through a crowd, as it was guarded to the teeth. It left no room for a sidewalk, the door into the headquarters barely allowed enough room to open the car doors; preventing any further risk to the transportee by allowing a swift entrance. Whammy turned the car off, but left it on the curb against the doors so the two of them could quickly dash out if conditions began necessary.
The guards at the door let them in without question when the old man flashed an ID; Whammy walking with certainty towards the meeting room and Robin trailing behind. When they entered, through another back door, the conversation in the large conference hall immediately fell silent.
Robin darted her eyes through the crowd; surprise, suspicious, shock, doubt… She trailed off in her analyzing thoughts as she surveyed the policeperson's faces. Their collective expressions made her frown, although none of them could see it under her large grey scarf. Just my presence has made most of them apprehensive towards Mr. Whammy, L seems to be treading on thin ice by keeping so many secrets from them…
Whammy directed her towards the side, where she happily took a seat at a small desk and retrieved her paperwork from her large tan satchel. Robin had never liked working with computers, much rather preferring her mess of papers and files instead. Even though she knew she should get started on her work right away, Robin was distracted by Whammy's movements.
The old man quickly produced his laptop from his briefcase, setting it on a table against the front wall of the room and typing a few keys before the usual monogrammed L appeared; both on the laptop and the large screen behind it. Which could only mean one thing…
"Good morning, task force" L's synthetic voice greeted in monotonical Japanese, the camera at the top of the laptop coming to life with a red glow. "Today I will be supervising everyone's progress along with Watari, therefore if any leads are found, do not hesitate to make them known" the voice said before continuing in a slightly more upbeat tone; "Everyone, as always, please do your best" and then he fell silent.
The police people of the room paused with uncertainty before moving slowly to start up their computers, shuffle through files, or bleakly pour their morning coffee. With the room budding to life, Robin stood and strode to Whammy, who was hunting through his briefcase next to the L-laptop.
"L hasn't monitored the task force before, has he?" Robin asked in a whisper, hoping that the computer mic wouldn't be able to pick up her voice.
Whammy stopped his meddling and tilted his face toward her. "Not like this, no. But he had a thought that his 'presence' may make the task force's work more efficient" the old man answered.
"Hmm" Robin was unconvinced, but didn't voice her thoughts aloud, returning to the desk instead.
Is L 'here' to watch over me? Robin questioned, but quickly shook her head, No, that sounds so egotistical. But at the same time… Robin looked up at the L-laptop, annoyed to find that her desk was within the camera's range. Subtly, she turned her head and itched her cheek with one finger; secretly flipping L off in a way that would prevent the task force (and Whammy, since his back was turned) from seeing her gesture.
"This, this proves it" one hushed Japanese voice of a female task force member said to another.
Robin tilted her head slightly as she caught the chatter; the voices were a notch above a whisper and fast, obviously excited yet secretive about the information they'd found. That, more than their exact words, piqued Robin's interest and she made sure to listen without watching the speakers.
"Proves what? I don't understand what it means" the male voice answered, frustrated by the woman's interruption of his own work.
The Japanese was slightly hard to follow, since Robin was so rusty, but she got the jist of the woman's next words. "Kira has been killing within normal time periods so far, leading L to believe Kira was a student"
Student? L took credit for my assumption? God dammit, did he know how much work it was to correlate the pattern with- Robin cut her own angry thought off as the woman continued.
"But this proves that Kira can't be a student" the woman finished.
I can't be wrong! Robin's thoughts shot out, This woman must be an idiot to assume that! What facts could possibly back her up? Because that was simply- "Impossible!" Robin suddenly said aloud before she slapped a hand over her scarf-covered mouth.
The task force members nearest to her desk stopped working, looking at her curiously, as did Watari when her heard her outburst. "Yes, R, do you have something to say?" L's synthetic voice asked. His voice was hooked up to the loud conference speakers, so now everyone in the room had caught on and was looking at her.
The collective scrutiny sent shocks of nervousness through her, and all she could think was; Please, please don't spout off any useless facts, As she adjusted her scarf nervously to make sure it still covered half of her face. Thankfully, the disguise only allowed a view of her eyes and a small portion of her hair; also covering the fact that she was a woman. Robin was already suspicious to the task force, throw in the fact that she was a woman, and many of them might not find her credible in the slightest.
"Her," Robin said quietly, lifting her head and pointing at the woman that she knew was the one dissecting the student theory. "Ask her to explain herself"
She had large dark-brown eyes that nearly blended with her black pupils, and shiny pixie-cut black locks framed her heart-shaped face. In short, the accuser was surprisingly beautiful. The woman went wide-eyed, flushing with embarrassment at being caught in her conversation. "I-I-I, what about myself?" the pixie-cut woman stuttered.
L's voice boomed through the room again. "R means, explain what you were discussing with your colleague there"
"Well, I just…" the woman trailed off, trying to grab her bearings. Robin noted that she had an unusual lack of moxy for a policewoman. "I was going… putting the most recent killing patterns into a data graph, when I realized that the recent patterns made it impossible for Kira to be a student"
Robin stood, pressing her palms flat on the desk with a quiet agitation. "How, how do the patterns compare?" she asked evenly, fixing the woman with a cold stare.
"They… In addition to the normal killing pattern, Kira has been killing a new incarcerated prisoner every hour" the woman said.
Hushed chatter immediately washed over the room, most likely critiquing the fact that an L theory might be wrong, but the room quickly fell silent again as Robin interrupted.
"No that's completely contradictory to Kira's existing profile" Robin stated, falling effortlessly into the robotic voice she had used as a child. A voice without inflection, a voice without traceable emotion. "Kira's childish qualities all point to a suspect from the ages 16 to 18, this evidence only points to fact that he's covering his tracks. That, somehow, Kira has gained classified information about this case"
Her words left the room in a shocked silence, as many of the task forced members looked around at others that they thought capable of being-or helping-Kira. This new information made Robin highly uneasy. A possible mole being so close, in that very room, made her stomach turn.
"I'm going to go get some water" Robin said quietly to Whammy as she passed by both him and the L laptop.
Once she was on the other side of the conference room door, Robin nearly ran down the hall before forcing herself to a stop with her heart banging in her chest. "Calm down," she told herself, "none of them have seen your face, none of them even know who you are. You're safe."
"You've never been safe" said a familiar voice from behind her, and Robin whipped around to face him in a white-hot panic.
There was no one there.
But she'd heard his voice clear as day.
Beyond…
A/N: Thanks, once again, for all the favs an reviews guys! -Luv, Cart