Chapter eleven:

Jeff looks to Mello. "I'll try to distract whoever it is. Do my family justice and find that cure." He hurries off and soon enough shouting can be heard as well as some thumps like the sounds of fighting.

Mello turns his attention to the files and tries to be quick going through what is there. He pauses as he comes across a formula. He pulls it out letting out a breath that it is the prototype of the cure. He thinks that even if it doesn't fully work this will help them out so much. He turns to the only way out as there is a scream then the thumps stop. He hears silence for a moment then footsteps walking through the house. He looks around for a hiding spot as the footsteps are getting closer to where he is. He dashes to a desk turned towards the wall. He manages to squeeze between it and the wall. He hides in the space underneath glad for the piece of wood which will block him from sight. He keeps his breathing light while holding the cure formula close to himself.

Footsteps head down into the room then begin looking around before pausing.

Mello stays in his hiding spot not daring to even move a little as he waits for whoever this is to leave.

There is sounds of papers being gone through for awhile then a heavy sigh.

Mello blinks at the sound of a phone ringing as if the person is calling someone on speaker phone.

"What did you find?" A female's voice Mello doesn't know comes over the speaker when the call is answered.

"I found the files on the project. The old man has that. However the cure is missing. I didn't notice anyone else other than one of the family members who I took care of for good as he tried to attack me." A man's voice who Mello doesn't know explains and for a moment it sounds like papers are being flipped through. "Are you really sure that the cure should be here?"

"It should." The woman sighs. "And you don't see it anywhere around? He has it. We know that he does. It has to be there somewhere."

"There is a lot of other secret files and such. However this appears to be the only mention of the project in this hidden basement." The guy snorts a little as if how dare the woman doubt him.

"Alright then. Maybe go search that one you took out or the old man himself. Maybe they have it on their bodies. If not then you will wait for those I will send to take out all the information on the other secret projects. We will then disappear and let police just think that it is a break in gone wrong. We'll go through everything with a fine tooth comb. Just to be on the safe side then burn the evidence of those other secret projects. If the cure papers cannot be found then Akari will not be happy. However that will be for me to deal with. Just follow orders for now."

"Understood." The man heads off after the hang up as he goes to check the bodies.

Mello wiggles out of his hiding spot once he thinks that it is safe. He sneaks across to the way out. He carefully goes up the stairs trying to not make a single sound. He makes it to the top and glances to spot a man in all black going through all of the pockets of a dead Jeff who lays there staring at the ceiling unmoving. He turns away to not get caught. He manages to slip out of the back door as it is still propped open not having fully closed. He gets away from there and once past the backyard he makes a run for it. He only breathes out a sigh of relief and slows when he makes it to a shopping district. He looks to the cure paper. "Hold on. I'm coming." He hurries to get back to the orphanage. As he approaches he notices some vans pulled up and people in hazmat suits moving around with a bunch of equipment being set up. He sneaks in and manages to not get spotted by the hazmat suits as he gets into the building through the backdoor. He walks through the orphanage and notices that everyone is here or there getting check ups like they are at the doctors. He manages to make it to where Matt is waiting without getting noticed.

Matt turns since there is a hazmat checking Near and Ra-Ra carefully. He nudges Mello out of the room. He is quickly pulled to another bedroom that is empty right now so they can talk. "They just suddenly showed up and Roger ordered for everyone to have to get tested. Guess this is because of what the teachers were infected with. I don't know if it was L or Roger who called for this."

"Well I got the closest thing to a cure." Mello shows Matt the paper who looks over the stuff to make it. "And the person was talking to someone. It sounds like someone named Akari might be the ring leader of all of this." He blinks when Matt tenses upon hearing that name. "Matt?" He wonders if the other knows more about this than he is letting on.

"Akari?" Matt looks to meet Mello's eyes with his own wide eyes. He swallows harshly when Mello nods his head. "I know who that is."

"You do?" Mello questions to which Matt nods his head.

"Akari is someone I originally met online. We even met in person a few times as well." Matt lowers his head as if he can't believe that this could be true. "Akari always did like to poke into the business of the government. As we became closer friends he shared some stuff with me. Nothing about any of this though. He seemed to have so much information. However since we both are hackers I figured that he had hacked their system. He even provided me with hacked roms of canceled games to be able to let me play them. He stole them from the companies files." He blinks as if he thinks of something. "What if he found out about either Ra-Ra or Near or even both and realized that they were survivors?"

"Then why would he be organizing people to infect the staff of this place then get someone to infect those two after infecting unrelated people who don't know anything?" Mello lets out a breath when Matt shakes his head to say that he doesn't know. "Okay. Well we will need the ingredients. Make the cure and try it out. We should also go talk to this friend of yours. See what is going on."

"Lets do the cure first. I have some contacts who owe me favors. It'll be pretty easy to get everything we need. Just in case."

Mello nods his head and Matt turns away to get into contact with those that will get them the ingredients. He feels sympathetic for his friend as Matt clearly is disturbed that the friend he trusted would do such a thing. He hopes that things will turn out alright in the end. He just has this bad gut feeling of this Akari person and what they might do to do whatever exactly it is that they are doing with all of this.