42. Rollin' % Scratchin'

Yuri followed Anemone all the way down to the bottom of Olivia's basement, at which point the water-commanding NEXT opened the door to The League's base of operations with a quick scan of her hand. Once her fingerprints checked out with the security program, the impenetrable door cracked open. Anemone gave it a gentle push forward, and Yuri followed her inside.

He was seeing the base with a much fresher mind than when he had first stumbled here. The room ahead was circular, and at its center was a round table with a computer at one side and a TV monitor set to JusTV on the other. Kotetsu was sitting in the chair in front of the computer, and Kaede was sitting next to him, watching the screen as attentively as he was. She was kicking her legs back and forth anxiously.

The entrance to the HQ was just one of the many doors along the circumference of the room. Yuri was now thinking clearly enough to count nine doors in total, including the one they were entering from and one he knew led to the small medical unit where he and Yomotsu had previously been attended to by Wi-Fi Man. Just like those two doors, the other seven were unmarked, but they were identified by a different color.

The floor, walls, and ceiling had a very shiny, metallic chrome appearance that contrasted the pastel colored walls. The table in the center of the room was white, and the technology on top of it was all silver in color. A few wires extended from the equipment on the table and were lying across the floor, but otherwise, this room was totally bare. Whatever secrets The League had, at least the ones that could not be kept in digital format, were hiding in the other seven rooms. Yuri noticed that each of the rooms had a hand scanner like the one for the main entrance, leading him to believe that not just any member of The League could enter every room.

Kotetsu turned in his chair when he heard Anemone's entrance. "Natalie, Yuri!" He called out, a smile naturally on his face. Kaede also turned to look, but her expression was a bit mixed.

"He's contacted L," Anemone said hastily. She was turning her head to look around the room, as though for any devices that might be picking up their conversation. "And it's like we feared… Kira's made a move."

Kotetsu nodded. Kaede turned back toward the computer and took command of the mouse. Her father rose to meet Yuri. He was wearing his signature hat and a dark green suit with a complementing brown tie and shoes.

"The Five are assembling," he explained, focusing his attention on Yuri. "The order came from L himself, so naturally we were worried what could have happened to provoke L to make such a bold move… One of The Five was already here with us, and he's in there changing…" Kotetsu gestured toward the blue door to their right. His expression then softened. "Yuri, are you alright?"

The other nodded solemnly. "I am more than a bit shaken," he admitted. "But my own wellbeing is far from my top concern right now… Who would have thought that any of this might happen?"

Now that he was sure his friend was going to be fine, Kotetsu's gentle smile returned. "I guess you could never escape the hero business as much as you wanted to," he said. "I am just glad this time we're finally on the same side. That's how it really should have been, from the start."

Kotetsu turned to face Anemone, who had nervously been analyzing Yuri ever since she became sure the room was not bugged. "Natalie." Her attention jumped to Kotetsu immediately. "You should go change as well. Once we are all here, we will be reporting to L. You have to be prepared to leave at a moment's notice."

Anemone gazed at him for a few more seconds, and then she snapped out of her nervous trance and began to nod repeatedly. "Yes, yes, of course," she muttered. She forced herself to be cheerful. "Gotta get this ball rollin', right?"

Yuri watched as Anemone hurriedly walk toward the blue door. She was, of course, already wearing her standard hero costume—he had never seen her, at least to the best of his knowledge, in anything other than the bright green and blue skin-tight suit. He was at a loss for what she might have to change into, but he trusted Kotetsu so far as to believe that whatever she had to change into, this was all going to be necessary to save Yomotsu.

If there was any man Yuri trusted more than Yomotsu, it was Kotetsu T. Kaburagi. Although for a long time they had been adversaries, Lunatic finally released his grip on Sternbild and left the city to the protection of Wild Tiger, his partner Barnaby Brooks, Jr., and the other heroes. Kotetsu had personally arranged, with his partner's help, a way out for Yuri. If it had not been for Kotetsu and his unbreakable sense of justice, Yuri might still have been hunting down and murdering criminals in Sternbild. After all this time, here they were again—but this time, they were working together, against the same great evil.

"He's kidnapped Yomotsu," Yuri said quietly.

Kotetsu was looking toward the floor. Kaede was trying to find get comfortable in her chair, but she clearly could not relax. "We'll get him back," Kotetsu promised.

"We have no choice," Yuri agreed. "Not just for Yomotsu, either… But for everyone, for Graceville and beyond… I don't know how Kira is back, but it has to be him. We have a lot of enemies, but only him, only he could be behind this…"

Yuri felt his eyes burning. Ever since that day, when his father's burning hand clasped his face—ever since he murdered his own father, Mr. Legend, Yuri had not been able to cry. Even now, even in this most terrible of states that Yuri was in, nothing came forth. He just felt a heaviness in the front of his face, a focused pressure around his eyes. The dam held up, but the waters heaved against it.

"Ah, the struggles of feeble humans."

Yuri turned his head toward the voice. The blue door had opened, and someone was stepping out. The first thing he saw was the giant eyeball mask, and then he saw the whole suit emerge, complete with the Transformation Belt. Yuri was stunned. The mask looked like the genuine article. It had the same red line running vertically along the mask, which spread in the center to form a red circle around the black "pupil." Even the rope tied around the neck looked like the same one the 12th used, but there was no way this was the 12th—it did not make any sense, and there was still that voice. If he had not been experiencing so much all of a sudden, perhaps Yuri might have picked it out right away. Now he was struggling to grasp the situation.

"Don't just stand there with that stupid expression on your face," the replica 12th hissed. "I thought the respectable thing to do in a situation like this is to greet your savior… Perhaps you ought to grovel at my feet?"

There was no mistaking the voice now, and yet it was too absurd to actually believe.

"Meilag…?" Yuri's "stupid expression" probably looked even stupider now.

The 12th replica approached Yuri and Kotetsu in the same manner in which Meilag always walked: he had his head lowered slightly and his back hunched up. He had his arms behind his back.

"I figured I should show up to insert some reason into all this chaos," Meilag explained. "Of course it is me—who else would you have expected?"

He was clearly savoring Yuri's total confusion. Kotetsu took notice of the latter's reaction and quickly did his best to answer the questions on his friend's mind. "I believe you already know 12th Red… When he noticed Natalie spying on Yomotsu, he began to question her, and that is how we learned that he already knew Yomotsu's identity as the 12th. Long story short, he's now one of The 12th Five that L insisted we put together."

Yuri glanced from Kotetsu back to Meilag. "The 12th Five…?" He could not help but laugh, even at a time like this. He was looking at Meilag dressed up as the 12th—surely the world as everyone knew it was coming to an end after all.

"Yes, yes: laugh, you wretched fool!" Meilag brought his arms out from behind his back and crossed them. He stood erect. "But you must understand, I am doing this for myself… You would not believe the reward in store for me if I help save your miserable little friend. That aside, I've been known to help someone when the odds are stacked far against them… And right now, ours is a suicide mission if there ever was one."

Yuri's laughter subsided. Still, he thought but did not say, Meilag was risking his life for the 12th. Surely this stood in the face of everything Meilag had always said to them?

"So, you're the hero type after all," Yuri finally dared to say.

Meilag tilted his head. "Believe it or not, I have actually really helped some people put their lives back on track. In fact, one poor soul credits me for saving his entire life—it's good that he thinks that." He tilted his head the other way. "And I do a good thing or two once in a while. I never said I was truly evil. I'm just not 'good.'"

Yuri turned to the sound of a door opening, but it was not the blue door this time, but the salmon-colored one—the one from which Yuri and Anemone had entered. Wi-Fi Man entered panting through his computer head.

He said, exhausted, "If we are going to continue in this server, perhaps we should upgrade our system to include an elevator… Those steps are making me lag!"

Meilag laughed from behind Yuri and Kotetsu and said, "Perhaps that has less to do with the stairs and more to do with your out-of-date hardware."

Wi-Fi Man, whose hands were on his knees, looked up at the 12th replica. "Who put the sass chip in your processor?"

Meilag waved his hand dismissively in Wi-Fi Man's direction. "Oh, I insult everybody," he explained. "My initial reaction towards people I don't know is hatred. If you can work past that… Then most people tend to take my remarks to be either hollow or as veiled compliments."

Wi-Fi Man rose and walked past the 12th replica. "Or, perhaps we can bypass any further networking between the two of us," he proposed. "And limit ourselves only to the current task at hand."

Kotetsu cleared his throat. "Yuri, this is the next member of The 12th Five… No introductions should be necessary by this point, though…"

Wi-Fi Man pulled off his blue rubber glove and held his hand up to the scanner. The blue door opened again, and as he entered, he brushed past someone exiting. This was another 12th replica, although this time the red in the mask was green and the form-fitting suit was clearly being worn by a female.

"All suited up and ready to kick some Kira butt!" Anemone announced from within her green eyeball mask.

12th Green took a seat next to Kaede, who was still focused on the computer. 12th Red leaned back against the wall, again crossing his arms. While Wi-Fi Man was still changing, the next person entered. For Yuri, this was easily the most unbelievable. By this point, though, everything was beginning to seem possible.

The man shuffled in and looked around. He had already been standing awkwardly in the room for a while when he finally said, "Uh, hey guys."

The visitor's eyes finally met Yuri's gaze. They looked at each other for a while, before Yuri was finally able to say, "Rocco… Don't tell me you're one of the 12th Five?"

Rocco nodded. "Heck yeah, I am!" He raised his hand, knuckles out toward his audience, and slowly lowered his hand over his face. When his fingers slid down his cheeks, his "game face" appeared in the wake of this gesture. His hands then tightened into his fists, and he looked like he was ready to beat up the world.

"You're looking at The 12th Pink," he announced. "L handpicked me for this mission, and I'm ready to do whatever it will take to stop Kira! GO GO JUSTICE RANGERS!" He made a horizontal swipe with his right hand and fell onto his left knee. He pressed his left hand against the floor, palm down, and held his right hand in the air for some time.

After holding this pose for a few seconds, Rocco rose to the changing room. Wi-Fi Man came out shortly after, dressed as the 12th Yellow.

Suddenly, a cell phone started ringing from the round table. Kotetsu turned around and picked it up at once. "It's L," Kotetsu briefly explained to his audience. He answered immediately answered the call. Kaede carefully watched her father.

"Hello, this is Kotetsu," he said. "Yes… I see… Yes, we have it on, but it's been on mute… Of course…"

Kotetsu peeled his ear away from the phone and said, "Kaede, please turn the volume up on JusTV. Everyone, L said we need to watch this!"

The 12th Red removed himself from the wall and joined by Green, and Yellow. Pink came rushing out when he heard Kotetsu's urgent shouting, but he clearly was still having trouble fitting comfortably into his Transformation Tights. Between his large body being squeezed into the 12th's costume and Wi-Fi Man's square computer head molding the shape of the yellow eyeball mask, it was hard to say which of them looked more ridiculous.

Kaede turned up the volume, and they all watched the news unfold:

"We're bringing you live coverage from an independent news reporter… This is coming live, about 200 miles from Graceville…"

The camera view was from the ground, looking up at what appeared to be a castle cutting through the clouds. The sight was too incredible for anyone in the room to process right away, but reality started to set in after a few seconds of silent live broadcasting.

"Dude, no way," Rocco whispered.

"This is technologically astounding," cooed Wi-Fi Man.

Then the reporter started to speak. "This is Kira's Castle. We are approximately 200 miles away from Graceville. The castle is on-course for the town. You can see Kira himself on the deck… I will try to zoom in here…"

The voice of the reporter struck Yuri immediately. It was Akise, the young detective who L had recruited for The League. The camera zoomed in, and anyone watching JusTV could see the blurred image of Light walking across the deck. Also in view was a chair, in which Yomotsu was sitting.

"He has a hostage," The reporter stated. "As of right now, he does not know we are here… My crew and I are risking our lives to report this news to you… Everyone—evacuate Graceville! Kira is coming for the town!"

Yuri looked over and saw Kotetsu end his call. The veteran hero looked resolved.

"Everyone," Kotetsu started. "L wants the remaining members of The 12th Five to meet Akise at his location. Akise is already in uniform as 12th Blue. He has requested that I stay behind and remain on standby. He also wants Yuri and Kaede to join The 12th Five, to aid in an assault on Kira's Castle…"

Yuri looked over at Kaede. She was visibly stunned. Kotetsu, in turn, was visibly frightened. That Kotetsu would accept L's order, without even dispute, was a testament to Kotetsu's trust in L and his awareness of the desperation of the moment.

"Dad, are you sure—?" Kaede started to ask.

"There's no time to think about it," Kotetsu said, both to his daughter and to the others. "There are two vehicles in the garage. I want Yuri, 12th Red, and Kaede to take one, while 12ths Green, Yellow, and Pink take the other. L is going to set the vehicles' GPS to the Castle's location. When you get there, meet up with 12th Blue—he will explain L's plan from there. Doubtless by that point Kira will know of your existence, so be very careful…"

Everyone remained frozen for a few seconds. It was all still sinking in slowly.

"Go!" Kotetsu ordered, pointing toward the salmon-colored door.

Everyone rose and headed out of the base, first Kaede and last Yuri. Before Yuri could leave, he felt Kotetsu's hand on his shoulder. He stopped and looked at the hero.

"I'm putting you in charge," Kotetsu said. "L insisted that Kaede needs to go with you, but if anything should happen to my daughter…"

The former Sternbild judge nodded. "Don't worry… I am not going into this as Lunatic. I am going in as Yuri Petrov. The only way Kira will get to Kaede is through me."

Yuri heard the door close behind him as he ran up the stairs.

"Chugga-chugga-cHOO-CHOO!"

Murmur was sitting on Yomotus's lap.

"Chugga-chugga-CHOO-CHOOO!"

She began to vibrate on his knees.

"This is gonna get real bumpy! HOLD ONNNNN!"

Her shaking increased, until it finally plateaued. Murmur sat still for a moment, before making her announcement.

"This is the last stop before Graceville. You can take a short stretch break, and then we're back on course!"

Murmur paused.

"Well, I guess you can't really take a stretch break, can you Yomotsu?"

He wanted to break through the shackles that bound his wrists to the bone chair and strangle the little devil. All he could do was shake his head.

"Do you enjoy torturing me so much, Murmur?"

He sighed for himself, but he also knew in his gut that this was the creature Olivia might be stuck with for thousands of years at the least. With the high-pitched, cutesy voice that characterized her so well, she had previously guaranteed his defeat and the certain destruction of all that he cared about—and now she was playing with him like this.

"Just because you're not having fun doesn't mean I can't," Murmur wagered. She hopped off his lap, and he heard the soft pat of her feet touch the deck. "When you live forever, you learn that you have to see the good in everything. Individual human lives don't mean much to me, because I have seen so many people die over so long. So why not have some fun while we wait?"

Yomotsu smirked. "How about releasing me, then, so we can play on the deck?"

"I'm not stupid," Murmur protested. "And besides, I'm under strict orders from Light."

"I'm surprised you don't call him 'Kira,' and I'm also surprised that you would let anyone be your master," Yomotsu replied.

Murmur summoned a small paddle with a ping pong ball attached via string. He heard her striking the ball against the paddle as she explained, "He's Light to me, Kira to the rest of the world. 'Kira' is just another way of saying 'god.' I don't need to be that formal. And I always have to have a master—that is the way the world is set up."

"So if you were out of the picture, would the world just dissolve?" Yomotsu inquired.

"It would probably be a lot more graphic than that, if the world would end because of me going away," Murmur said, pausing such that it showed how distracted she was by the ping pong ball. "But no one really knows. Deus kept my powers restrained, but Olivia removed the shackles. She really should have known better than to let me run loose like this."

Yomotsu was interested in how Murmur did not deny that she could be "out of the picture." However, Deus had a set expiration date, and if she did too, Yomotsu wondered why it was not the same one. This indicated to him that either Murmur came after Deus, or she is eternal. That meant she was more essential to the nature of things than Deus was, that she was not merely filling a position.

What he said, however, was, "If she decided to give you freedom, why are you doing this to her world?"

Murmur whined. "I ALREADY told you—I was bored. I've been bored for a long, long time, and Light is way more interesting than Olivia."

Yomotsu knew he was not going to get to the answers he really wanted, and even if he did, they would not really be answers he would like. The evil threatening Graceville and the whole world was fueled by boredom, and now Light was also fueled by revenge and a lust for power. Yomotsu could understand Light better than he could Murmur, and he almost was more worried about her unpredictable nature than Light at this point.

"Oh! Yomotsu! It looks like your friends have made it!"

Yomotsu turned his head toward where Murmur's voice was coming from. She had run over to the edge of the deck and was peering down at the world below. He wanted to go there too, even if just to push her over the edge and wave in the direction of the real good guys.

"A whole bunch of them! Who knew you had so many friends?"

Yomotsu thought through the most logical list of people who might be approaching. Yuri would be there, definitely. Kotetsu and Anemone were next in line. From there, perhaps Wi-Fi Man had decided to help out. There was also the possibility that a civilian army had formed, but he was doubtful of that. His friends would have wanted to keep the people safe, not send them in blind to fight Kira.

"There's five of them who are dressed like you… Yuri… and a little girl!"

Yomotsu tried to figure it out. Five of them disguised as the 12th—not including Yuri? He was at a loss. The only little girl he could think of that might be there would be Kaede, but even the little bit he knew about Kotetsu was enough to tell him that there was no way Wild Tiger would let his daughter be a part of something as dangerous as this.

"I bet you're worried that they're going to die soon," Murmur remarked. "Light has the Justice Diary, so he'll know exactly what they're up to."

Yomotsu swallowed hard. "But I thought that only told him how he was going to defeat criminals?"

Murmur's voice was coming closer. "According to Light's sense of justice, anyone who tries to challenge Kira is a criminal, so the Future Diary allows him to know how he is going to defeat them too."

Kira had the powers of a demigod. He was in a flying castle with an army of undead at his disposal. He could play the message on his Future Diary and find out how he could beat anyone who opposed his authority. The rebellious servant of god was on his side, and soon the whole world would either choose Kira or death.

"He'll be scratchin' open the throats of his enemies," Murmur predicted. "Before the sun rises over the new world, your friends will die."