*L's POV*

I could only watch. Only hope that Light wasn't stupid enough to use that death note. That damn shinigami. How the hell did he even find a death note? Where did he get it? And I could hear them. Now I had names. Now I had backgrounds to send to Watari.

But Light wasn't the only thing that was important at the moment and I knew he could take care of himself if he kept his mouth shut. It was the others I needed to worry over. I did my best to keep an eye on all of the cameras that I could.

All of the hostages were lined up in front of the front doors, while Anna kept pacing back and forth, her gun trained on the hostages. On the other side of the room, Luis was leaning up against the leg of one of the tables and Andrei was putting pressure to where Luis had been shot. Once in his leg and the other in his chest. And I could only watch as they continued to fight and as Ryuk enticed Light to use the death note.

"L, I could end this. Right now," Light whispered to me.

"Did you ever think that maybe your count was off?" Andrei questioned of Anna, whose head whipped around almost violently, daring Andrei to continue. "He's gonna die if we don't get him some help."

"We're all going to die if we don't get out of here. You killed a cop," Anna hissed.

There was whimpering from Luis. "I don't wanna die."

"You're not going to die." Andrei got to his feet, but my eyes returned to Light.

"Don't do it," I finally replied. It struck me as odd that Ryuk wasn't saying more. And someone had given him the death note to give to Light. That meant that someone knew Light and wanted to help. Someone knew Ryuk. Someone knew that Light was Kira. Someone knew Light was Kira. "You know exactly what I will have to do if you use it. You will be locked up the moment you get out of that building."

I watched through grainy feedback as Light bounced slightly on his heels, weighing his options. "I can save everyone here."

"It's your choice, Light," I said softly. I didn't want him to use it. I had never been this stressed in all of my life. I was over 9,000 miles away. What the hell was I supposed to do from my bedroom, stuck behind a computer? I just wanted Light to come home. I just wanted Light to be safe. That's all I wanted.

"We're trapped in here, ok," Andrei's voice broke me from Light. "But we've got something that they want. All of them." He motioned to the line of hostages with his gun. His tone was overly confident.

I wasn't sure what to tell Light that would help. Maybe I could work with the negotiating part. I could have Watari tag along with Yagami-san and I could somehow work the phones. It was a long shot, but that would be my best bet. For now I just needed to take the advantage of having an inside view.

I glanced back at Light, who was still jumpy. I couldn't imagine what was going through his head, but if he did pick the death note over me, I couldn't give him another chance. It just wasn't safe to have him on the street anymore. I would have him locked up and once that was done, I would burn the death notes. Destroy them. No one would ever use them again if I could help it.

My eyes went back to the three in the room, watching them carefully. Negotiation would be simple enough. They would ask for a medic, unless the woman had her way. She didn't seem concerned for Luis in any fashion. The two men were close. Family or friends. But Anna...

The way she held herself. She was cold and detached. She didn't care about anyone but herself. She would give up her partners before she gave up herself.

"Go away Ryuk."

My eyes darted back to Light, who kept glancing over his shoulder to the pained moans from Luis. Ryuk gave a laugh and disappeared from the camera's view, leaving the death note behind on the ground beside Light's feet.

"Everything's going to be ok," Light's soft voice muttered over to the woman whose child had calmed down a bit.

"Watari, is the task force heading to the bank?" I asked over to the other line that I had put on hold.

"Yes, sir. We're arriving now. Is there something I can do?"

"Yes. See if you can get me to be the negotiation when the communication lines open up," I replied before returning to my phone call with Light.

"We're all going to die," someone else from the line cried, though I couldn't tell who it was just from the back of everyone's heads.

"I'm sure the police will give them what they want," came another voice.

"Stop talking!" Anna shouted, snatching at a woman's hair and pulling on it. The woman whimpered as the gun was placed to her head. The shout only caused the baby to begin crying again.

"Sir," came Watari's voice.

"Can you patch me through?" I pulled up the street view cameras to where many flashing lights sat, as well as dozens of vested officers. There was a tent where the electronics had to be set up under.

"I can get you through now," Watari replied, until there was ringing on the line.

The ringing stopped as Luis got up and natched the phone. "Who the hell is this?"

"My name is Rue Ryuzaki, I'm with the TMPD," I answered, watching the camera's closely. "To whom am I speaking?"

I didn't get a name though, they went right into demands. "I want a doctor sent in and then I want out of here."

"We can certainly discuss that," I answered as gently as I could. The best way to get everyone out of there was to stay calm. "If you let the hostages go, then we'll send in all the medical help you need."

There was a laugh from Luis and Anna moved closer to the phone as if she could hear what I was saying. "I can't do that."

"Then how about a sign that you're willing to negotiate?" I asked, typing up what was happening and emailing it to Watari's phone. "Send out the women and children and I'll see what I can do."

I watched curiously as the phone was lowered from Luis' hand and he looked up to Anna, as if asking for permission.

"We're not playing games," Anna said quickly, gun still aimed at the woman who had spoken out of turn. Anna then turned back to the crowd and walked up it once before turning around and coming back to where a younger girl, around ten, stood with a man's arm around her shoulder protectively. Anna stepped forward and grabbed the girl's arm.

There was a scream from the girl, and the man turned around to try and grab the younger one back, but Anna's gun stopped him. "No, no, no, no," the man said quickly. "Please don't hurt my daughter."

I felt so helpless. There wasn't anything physically that I could do to help. Not from here.

"You better be listening," Anna said towards the phone. "If we don't get what we want, we will kill everyone in this room."

"You do that and you get nothing," I tried again, unsure if they could hear me from the phone.

"Please take me instead," the dad begged. "Please. Take me." I could see him shift his focus to his daughter. "It's ok, baby."

I froze as Anna looked directly at the camera. It was like she could see me through the lense. Like I was the only one that had access to the camera and she knew it, though I knew for a fact that the police also had access to the video feed. And then, without breaking eye contact with me, the gun fired and the man fell to the ground.

"Daddy!" the young girl yelled, running towards the fallen man.

I took a deep breath and my thumb went to my mouth as Light's voice came to me again. I had to admit that the offer was tempting. "Let me use the death note."

"Send in some help or more people are going to die," Came Luis' voice before the phone line cut with the hanging up of a phone.

"Send in a medic," I ordered to Watari.

"Won't that just give them another hostage?" Watari questioned.

"If it saves people, we need to risk it. Doesn't Aizawa have medical training? Send him in. It'll be better to have an agent there so he can take the opportunity should it arise."

I turned back to my computer and began to research different bank robberies in the area, searching for connections to other robberies. She said they had been keeping track of time. They knew when the police would show up. No faces, no passing notes and they hadn't touched anything, so there would be no prints. They were professionals. They had worked this out. They had done research and were ready.

They had to have a record. And there it was. Seven other bank robberies across the island. But this one was the largest one. Maybe this was their target all along. Maybe this was going to be their last one before they took all of their cash and ran away. Though, I wasn't sure how much they could possibly have, bank robbers weren't known for having large sums of cash if they got away with it. Most banks didn't keep much cash on site to make sure that things like this only had minimal damage.

Also, the more I dug, the more I found out about their names. The two men were cousins, both petty thieves that landed themselves in jail and then turned bank robber when released. The woman must have helped step up their game.

And at every crime scene, there was always one person they left for dead. Though, the victims were always different. Men, women, children. It didn't seem to matter. Save for the fact that Anna was the one who always pulled the trigger. And they all had the same wound. Shot to the torso, where the victim would bleed out.

I glanced back to the camera where the woman was looking back at me. She was brutal. She liked the pain. Luis was in charge of the money grabbing and Andrei kept watch.

"Where's my medic?" Luis asked from where he was still knelt beside his cousin.

"I don't see one," Anna replied, her gun still up and ready.

"Then kill someone else, make them listen."

"L, I can stop this," Light said yet again. There was a conflict building up in my head. Did I dare let him? It was wrong. It was unnatural. And it would set him back to square one. We would have to go through the worst parts of his addiction again. "Please let me stop them." Would they kill again? The woman would without hesitation.

"We're ready with the medic," Watai's voice said from the other line.

"Make sure he has a gun on him. In the bag. She won't check it. They'll be too in a hurry to get the other help. And once they're done with that, check the other man. He may still be alive. And tell him not to shoot unless he can end the situation without harming any of the hostages," I instructed quickly. "Patch me through with another phone call."

"Right away."

The phone rang and I watched as Luis raced to it. "Why the hell isn't there a medic yet?" he demanded.

"We're sending the medic in now, Luis. Tell Andrei that help is coming," I replied. I really hoped that using their names would freak them out enough that Aizawa would have less trouble.

"Hurry," was all I received before the line fell dead. "They know our names."

Anna was the first to remove her mask and Luis followed. And Anna again turned to the camera, pulling something from her pocket. I squinted to see through the grains a bit more to see her putting on lipstick. She was enjoying this.

And as soon as the door opened, Anna had her gun trained on Aizawa as he entered and pushed her way through the wall of hostages, beginning her pat down of him.

"I don't feel so good," Andrei coughed, falling to the ground.

"No!" Luis yeled. "Help him." I watched as Anna shoved Aizawa to the back of the bank. "You're gonna save him, right?"

"I'm going to try," Aizawa answered, kneeling beside Andrie. He leaned over to check for breathing, but at none, he began CPR.

"Watari, we may be looking at a worse case scenario. If Andrei dies, Luis might kill someone else. Just be prepared," I warned.

"Let me stop it," came Light's soft voice.

I bit my lip, my eyes returning to where the death note still sat on the floor. But I couldn't bring myself to answer. I would be no better than a murderer if I let Light use that book. But it was tempting. Would it save more people in the long run? And how would it affect Light? He would be back to square one. We would have to work through the worst of the addiction again.

And when Aizawa stopped in his attempts and got to his feet, I knew things were going to be bad. Maybe he should try to shoot. No, it wasn't worth the risk. But I wasn't sure how Luis would react.

He was a mad bull. Luis began throwing things from the desks and pacing. My fingers tapped on my desk as I watched. I wasn't sure what to have them all do. I wasn't sure what the best way to handle this was.

"Can I help the other man?" Aizawa questioned in a careful voice.

"No!" Luis shouted, aiming his gun at Aizawa before several rounds went off. I jumped as Aizawa fell back against a nearby table. We needed to get someone in there to help. Aizawa wasn't dead, but he would be soon if we didn't get someone with medical training there.

"L," Light said a little more fiercely.

"Don't do it," I ordered.

"Sir," came Watari's voice. "They want to perform a tactical assault. There are snipers at the ready."

"What about the hostages?" I questioned, watching Luis intently. When there wasn't an immediate answer, I sighed. "Buy me some time Watari."

"I will do my best. I'm not sure how much of a say I have."

"Everyone move forward five feet," Luis ordered, his gun now pointed at the rest of the hostages. "I said move!"

Everyone scrambled forward while two were forced to move Andrei's body and put it with the security guard's. I watched silently. I wasn't sure what to do. My mind was working a thousand miles and hour, but I was not producing any solutions.

"We need to find a way out of here," Anna said without showing the slightest bit of remorse for Andrei.

"Who triggered the alarm?" Luis demanded, walking the line of people, before he shoved one of the clerks. "Was it you?"

"Luis, calm down. You need to keep your head. Call them back and get an armored truck."

I gave a confused look. The police would never agree. There was so much damage the could do with an armored truck.

"You think they'll let us go?" Luis asked. "We've killed three people."

"We are still going to try," Anna replied.

"Go away so that I can think."

Anna grinned, pulling a phone from her pocket. "It's so much fun when they suffer," she laughed. "We're going to be famous."

I began digging through more files and searching for more information on the woman. Anna was someone I recognized, but for some reason there was hardly any information on her. The cousins had been in the robbery for the money. Why was she here? She was searching the building again, but not for an exit. What was she looking for?

"Get me back on the phone," I ordered to Watari.

"What do you want?" Luis demanded, snatching up the phone immediately.

"How do you want to end this Luis?" I asked.

"I want a way out of here."

"And how would you like to do that?" I questioned, typing away on my keyboard. She was nowhere to be seen.

"I want an armored truck." He was doing exactly what Anna wanted. "And a plane with a clear flight to switzerland. We'll fly ourselves."

Fly themselves? He had no pilot training. Did anna?

Before I could say anything the phone line went dead." I lowered my head to the desk for a moment. What the fuck was I doing? I had never done something like this before. I had never been the negotiator. I had never been in the action. I did my best to stay away from the action. It always got me into trouble.

"Get them the armored car," I ordered.

"What the hell are you thinking?" Light demanded in as soft a voice as he could. But I could still make out the anger in it. I could still hear the stress. The want. The emotion. Maybe I needed to let him use the death note. Damn it.

"Of course, sir," Watari replied. He was following me blindly. I had no idea what I was doing. I was just the blind leading the blind.

"How were we related to the robbery?" I questioned.

"We received an anonymous tip that the robbery was in process from a cell phone," Watari answered. "We didn't act on it until Yagami-san found out that Light was there."

I sat up and went to my computer, trying to pinpoint the cell phone that was used. It was registered to a man. And the call had been made... I paused and checked over my information again to make sure that it was correct. The call had been made inside of the bank five minutes before the robbery had taken place. It didn't come from a hostage. It came from one of the robbers. She had wanted us here. Why? Just the want of being known?

Maybe she had something bigger in mind. Though I wasn't sure what that could be.

"Watari, if you can,when we finally move everyone out, seperate the man and the woman," I instructed. I was so tense. I felt like I needed someone to wring me out. I was going to lose my mind. And worry was pouring through me. I wanted Light out of there.

"I'll see what I can do."

I sighed and looked back over the cameras. There wasn't much movement. The man was standing beside the phone and the woman was searching the building yet again. Each camera she passed, she would stop and look at. Straight at me. But what if she wasn't looking at me? What if she was putting on a show.

There was someone else watching. There was another unsub. And I doubted that Luis knew. That might be a way to get to him.

This might be a way to break them up. They were already on rocky ground. Maybe this could work.

"Watari, put me on the phone again," I called.

"L, this obviously isn't working. Let me help," Light said yet again. He was being so obedient. He hadn't moved yet. But the longer this was taking, the more appealing the death note was sounding. It would be fast. And we could get help for Aizawa and the father, if he was still alive.

"Are you stupid?" I asked as soon as the line connected.

"This a new tactic?" Luis questioned. "Insulting me?"

"It's the truth. Didn't you ever wonder what went wrong? Why you were caught when you did everything absolutely correctly?" I questioned, watching the video feed carefully. At silence, I continued. "We received a message from someone in the bank before the robbery even took place."

"That's impossible," Luis started with a chuckle.

"I know it wasn't you. And I am positive that it wasn't your cousin. Who does that leave?"

There was a moment of silence, confusion on his face. "You're lying," he eventually said.

"Ask her," I pushed. Anna had entered the room and walked closer to the phone.

"Did you call the police?"

There was a slight moment of being taken aback on Anna's face before re answered with a laugh. "Is that what they're telling you?"

"That's not an answer," I said quickly. I needed them to turn on each other. It could be the key to ending all of this.

"Of course not," she reiterated. "They want us to turn on each other."

"Why would you do that?" Luis questioned, his voice growing darker. "Andrei is dead because of that."

"I wouldn't," Anna replied, stepping closer to him intimidatingly. "I'm trapped in here too!"

Luis' gun was immediately on Anna. "Are you lying to me?"

But it didn't seem to frighten her. She moved closer until the gun was positioned against her chest. "We've come too far for you to be doubting me now." He voice was soft. It was almost as if she were talking to a child in some way. "Don't let them tear us apart." Loving hands were placed to Luis' face. "Not when we're about to win. If you do that then Andrei's death won't mean anything."

"Enough. I'm done talking to you. No more police. I want to talk to detective L."

My eyes widened slightly. "Why him?" I found myself asking.

"If anyone can pull strings, he can."