A/N: This is it: the final chapter of this volume. And because Guest F guest correct of Lady Inda's identity, this chapter is dedicated to them.
December 4th, 2055
When the air raid sirens went off all over Japan, Rain remained stoic in her facial expressions. People around her panic and start to clear the streets while others simply shrug and go on about their daily lives, oblivious to the genuine nature of the air raid siren going off.
All the news billboards on TV came to life and a broadcast played for everyone's sake.
The news reporter looks nervous. "People of Japan, this is not a test, I say again, this is not a fucking test. The air raid siren you're hearing is true. There's…" he loses his will to speak. "... there's an intercontinental ballistic missile heading straight for us. There's… oh god, there's… there's a nuke coming our way. There's a fucking nuclear missile heading our way. Estimated projections put the missile's flight path towards the most densely populated region of Japan. If you are in the Kanto region, evacuate immediately. The estimated nuclear arrival is in ninety minutes. Evacuate immediately, I repeat: evacuate immediately. Head to your nearest shelter and hunker down. If you are outside the Kanto region, do not enter the city limits. The nuke is believed to have a blast radius of six miles; whatever you do, do not go near the center of the Kanto region. Please, God, please, Kira, please fucking save us."
Rain tucks her hands in her pocket as she watches the people around her suddenly drop the casualness of their lives and make a run for it. There was something that was keeping her hands in her pockets but she didn't bother to dwell on it. All was going according to plan.
Archer and Angel step forward, the twin boys both looking nervous, despite already knowing what Rain's intentions are.
Angel couldn't hold it in anymore. "Sister, did we make a mistake?"
Rain looks at her younger brother. "We did not." She grabs his hand and caresses it. "I promise. If anyone needs comfort, it is our lovers."
He suddenly cringes. "We, I didn't want to think of Sei as your lover."
"And I don't want to think of my best friend as you and Archie's polyamorous lover but lie ain't fair."
Angel rolls his eyes. "Whatever."
Rain takes out her phone and dials Sei. "Come on, if what happens… happens as planned, I'm going to want a front-row seat. And I'm sure you two will too. And if the worst happens, well, at least we'll be in a bomb shelter."
Archer steps forward. "Hey, did you tell Sei to buy a bomb shelter because you had something of an idea that this would happen?"
Rain scoffs. "I'll leave that to your imagination."
Gintik Hagmay appears before them. "Well, I got nothing to worry about. Even if the worst happens, my Shinigami form will protect me. Though, I imagine some Shinigami above us won't be so happy about so many humans dying."
Rain shakes her head. "No," she replies quietly, "no one is dying. Well, one person is dying." She grabs her twin brothers by the shoulder. "Come on, let's go."
Half an hour later, Rain and ArchAngel gathered with Sei in a doomsday bunker he purchased some time ago after inheriting some money from a deceased relative and now, he was welcoming his girlfriend, her siblings, and their friends inside.
Rain stops and looks at Murasaki and Minoru Kagami. She pauses and continues to stare at them and they stare back, albeit with confusion.
Ever since the death of their parents by Kira (as they've been told), Murasaki and Minoru Kagami looked after the Yagami children and cared for them like they were own. In a way, the Yagami children saw them as a second set of parents. Masumi Kagami grew closer to her friend, Rain, and aw the silent emotionless girl as her sister. As for Rei Yagami; the older brother of Masumi, he had been good friends with Archer and Angel and was kinda seen as a surrogate older brother to the Yagami children.
Gintik Hagmay smiles and laughs at seeing the Kagami family in full once again. "Always a pleasure to see you. Kinda ironic; I had a second set of parents and now, my children do too."
Rain heads to the couch in the corner of the doomsday bunker as Sei prepares everything. His family was on a business trip to America so they would be fine for the time being.
"I got eight years' worth of food in here for two people max," he announces, "but, it could last us four years... since there's more than two of us here. Also, there's plenty of bedrooms so we can all keep to ourselves if you want."
"Good," Masumi sighs heavily. "Thanks, man."
"Nice," Rei smirks. "I just hope this doesn't turn out like Fallout."
Rain looks over to see Archer and Angel cuddling with Masumi on another couch as they pat her on the shoulder in a comforting way.
Rain turns on the radio in the corner and waits patiently. "Let's wait to see how long until we die?"
THUN-THUMP!
Avaron's eyes widen as she steps out of bed suddenly. Heading out of the barracks, she passes a lieutenant and bumps shoulders with him almost aggressively. Avaron continues walking until she makes it onto the airfield where a fighter jet waits for her. Yes, a sweet lovely fighter jet, anything that she could fly was lovely, yes.
She had to climb into the jet. She could pilot it all by herself because she was the best. Yes, she was the best pilot the JSDF had to offer and she was going to prove to everyone why that was the case.
Yes, yes, yes.
"For Kira," she announces publicly before she focuses on the task at hand.
She climbs into the cockpit and closes the hatch above her. She hears a mechanic protesting her before she drives out onto the runway. She gets several orders from the radio to not fly off but she simply turns off her radio. Several vehicles were coming out to contain her but... no, she had to.
I have to go.
She pulls the throttle back and zooms off. She forgets to put on her oxygen mask. No, she needs her oxygen mask. Need... oxygen to fulfill my mission. For... Kira.
She grabs the mask at the bottom of the cockpit and puts it on just as she pulls the throttle back and takes to the skies. "Yes, take off, home. Be home... soon."
She finishes adjusting the oxygen mask before her eyes become hard as steel as she flies away from her Air Force post in less than thirty seconds. "Yes, yes, I will serve Kira. I will serve Kira. No, wait... what am I doing?"
She hears her sonar go off and remembers the news that a nuclear missile was heading in their direction.
"Stay focused. My brother... will understand."
Brooks leans back in his chair and sighs heavily. Looking at the computer before him, he tracks the nuclear missile on GPS. He smiles as he sees that the nuclear missile is already halfway to Japan. He grabs his Hydra mask and puts it on again. "I am Hydra and I am the one who launched the missile. Hydra launched the nuclear missile to Japan in an unnecessary and futile attack against a god. Now I-"
The door bursts open and Lady Inda steps through behind held back by royal guards. "What have you done?"
Hydra holds his hand up. "Release her; she is no threat. And leave us."
The royal guards obey his command before stepping back and shutting the door.
"You know, I was three seconds away from calling you in here when you suddenly showed up."
Lady Inda stares at him. "You... you... you sent a fucking nuke to Japan! What the hell have you done?!"
"Scared?"
"You... you're a monster. You... fucking monster. You deserve to die! I... so many people are going to die because of you. How, how could you?!"
Hydra laughs. "Ahh, Lady Inda, aren't you one beautiful creature; how many people in the world would care about people about to die in a country they're not native to? You should be grateful that it isn't our native home, lass."
December 2nd
The king licks his lips. "I appreciate you coming all the way here but… I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline. Sorry, not sorry but I will not unleash a nuclear missile unless I have no other choice. Besides, whatever Kira's power is surpasses any weapon on earth. If I launch a nuke, I would be causing nothing more than unnecessary collateral damage."
Brooks nods. "I understand. And… you're giving me no choice right about now."
"And what choice would that be?"
Brooks reaches into his jacket.
He opens his jacket to reveal a surgical scar on his stomach. Without batting an eye, he thrusts his hands into his surgical scar like a sand pit and pulls something out wrapped in a plastic bag. The king gasps.
It was a tape recorder.
Brooks pulls the tape recorder out of the bag and presses the play button.
"This... is Kira."
The king leaps to his feet, losing his composure at the sound of the inhuman voice in the monotone.
"Well, King of England, you're still alive. Come on, did you really think I would fall for it? Really? I am a god and you can't fool a god. I am willing to forgive you for claiming that I killed you with a heart attack but it's going to cost you. If you don't do what I say, I will kill everyone in your family slowly and painfully and I will make you watch it. Hell, I'll even make you torture them to death myself."
The king sweats up a storm as he feels his heart pound in his chest.
"Listen to me, Your Majesty, I do not want this war to go on forever. No, I want this war to end and you're going to help me. First of all, you will give Hydra complete access to the nuclear launch codes. Don't worry, your conscience will remain clean because you will have a chance to fix this. Yes, you will have a chance to make a surprise return to the world and be a hero. But... this is only if you decide to help me and you will help me. Right now, I'm giving the order: give Hydra access to a nuclear missile. Afterward, when the nuke goes off, declare to the world that Hydra is no more. Disown Hydra and all will be forgiven."
"You..." Lady Inda's voice cracks up as tears swell up in her eyes. "You evil... evil monster!"
"I am a monster, yes, but who cares? What are you doing to do? Let me guess... you're going to call the guys who launched the nuke and tell them to abort? Everything's been authenticated. As far as the world is concerned... this is a legitimate nuclear launch." He reaches out. "Go on, call the guys and tell them to abort."
His wristwatch beeps. Checking the time, he smiles. "Ahh, three minutes."
"Three minutes?" Lady Inda's eyes widen again and clutches her chest, feeling like she's going to have a heart attack. "No, it can't be. No..."
In three minutes, people are going to die. No, I can't let that happen. I gotta think of something. I gotta... I have to...
Lady Inda tries to think of something, anything to do. She has to. She never wanted to be the world's greatest detective. She never wanted to save the world; all she wanted was to make people feel at peace with her art and now, she won't ever get a chance to make that happen. She's only truly happy with her art but concurrently, being happy is what made her art true. And right now, she felt like she could never do anything to make art again. Here she was, at the mercy of some deranged man who was going to detonate a nuke in the Kanto region of Japan. She had seen those spy movies where the nuclear abort codes have been sent and used to stop the nuke at the last second but here, she had none of that. She had no abort codes, nothing. She was completely helpless.
Beep, beep, beep.
Hydra looks at his watch and gasps. Turning to the computer, he laughs hysterically at the sight before him. "The missile detonated. YES! I have been reborn! I am Kira's Messiah!"
He continues to laugh hysterically before falling into his chair. Lady Inda feels her heart drop to her stomach as she thinks of all the people who lost their lives because she was a weak coward who couldn't stand up to Brooks when she had the chance. She nearly collapses on her ass and was about to cry herself to death when-
THUN-THUMP!
Hydra grunts suddenly and clutches his chest. "What?" He gasps and looks down. "Wait, no, not now!" He falls into the leather chair of the king and convulses for a few seconds before permanently going motionless, his death face hidden by the Hydra rubber mask. Even in a shocked state, Lady Inda could see the dead eyes through the eyeholes. Her pain, anguish, and sadness all but vanished and were completely and utterly replaced with confusion. Nothing but confusion. No shock, horror, happiness, just confusion.
Grabbing the computer and turning it over, she gasps at the sight. "What the hell?"
A Few Moments Prior
"The nuke..." Avaron whispers under her breath upon flying seven thousand feet above the ocean between Japan and China. Picking up speed upon seeing a bullet-shaped missile heading in her direction, she steels her eyes. "I will serve Kira... for you. Yes, I will serve you, Kira."
Wait a minute, what am I doing?
The tip of the jet was heading straight for the nuclear missile and Avaraon tried to pull the throttle but something happened.
"What?"
I can't move my hand. What's going on?
She tries to move the throttle again but her hand refuses to obey her commands.
Please, I don't want to die. Please, no.
The nuclear missile was getting closer and closing in, the shape growing with every passing second. "No, no, please."
No, please, I want to be with my brother!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Lady Inda narrows her eyes. "What?" She rubbed her eyes to make sure what she was reading about the nuke wasn't a hallucination.
"The nuke detonated over the East China Sea?"
Japan
"I am not sure how accurate this information is but... for the time being, it seems that Japan is safe," the voice of Kira's spokesperson said through the radio. "According to reports from the JSDF, the nuclear missile inbound for Japan detonated over the ocean in the East China Sea. The exact reason for why this has happened is just coming in. We'll have more news when we return in thirty minutes. In the meantime, keep your head down until we get the all-clear from the JSDF."
Sei turns off the radio and looks over with confusion. "What the hell was that? What's going on?"
Archer and Angel look over at Rain, who remains expressionless.
Her hair and eyes turn gray as Gintik Hagmay materializes behind her. "Exactly as planned, wasn't it... Rain?"
The second the twins looked away, Rain smirked.
November 23rd
Angel flinches but keeps his eyes on his sister. "What is the plan, sister?"
Rain holds her head up. "It is going to be a bloodbath." She makes a fist. "We're going to send one of our followers or we're going to coerce someone at the hospital to take pictures of every patient and then send them to a third party, who then puts their pictures up on the internet. Once we have confirmation that the mismatched color eye guy is there, then we'll know where the Hydra replacements are coming from."
"And then what?" he hesitantly asks, suddenly aware of how expressive Rain is with her speech. It's not overt and outgoing but there was a tone she spoke with that Angel had never seen or heard before.
"We're going to put those terminally ill people out of their misery."
Angel gasps, stepping back. "We're going to kill them."
"Yes, we're going to kill them all."
She smiles. She fucking smiles!
"We can't do that, they're innocent people, not criminals."
"But they're helping our enemy and that makes them enemies." The smile on her face vanishes but the tone remains in her voice. "Besides, they're already dying so what difference does it make? Besides, we're not going to kill all of them, just 99% of them."
"Not all of them are guilty. What if they really need help?"
"If Hydra cared so much about these people, then they would've recruited these people. Remember, this is only a theory. If the hospitals show no sign this heterochromia guy is there, I'll spare the hospital and then I'll look to see other places for these replacements. But I'm hoping the hospital is the key; it would make my life easier."
Angel steps forward. "I won't let you kill-"
SMACK!
Angel gasps, clutching his red cheek as he stares at his older sister in horror, who looks at him with that perpetual blank look on her face.
"You smacked me," Angel whispers.
Rain cracks her knuckles. "I didn't even tell you the rest of the plan."
The twins look at her nervously. "What?" they ask in unison.
"We're going to launch a nuke."
Their eyes widen.
She held her hands up, signaling them to shut up, and it worked.
"Hyda is an ideology that anyone can become but ideologies can be corrupted. Identities can be corrupted. If we can destroy the ideal of Hydra, we can do anything but first, to destroy an ideal, we'll have to go nuclear easily. We're going to launch a nuke at Japan and frame Hydra for it. We're going to intercept the missile and detonate it before it can reach Japan. Once that happens, when words get out that Hydra is responsible, then the idea of Hydra becomes tainted. Forcing the King of England to disband Hydra won't work as long as people believe in his cause, which is why - as I've said before - we taint the idea of Kira."
She continues to hold her hand up and shuts her siblings up.
"If Hydra is using terminally ill people, we can use that to our advantage. We'll pick a terminally ill man in England who loves Kira and give him orders via a secret message. Once we firmly get him on our side, we'll kill all the hospital people Hydra is getting their disposable red shirts from, forcing them to use our inside man by default. There is an artist, a lovely artist, who goes by the name of Lady Inda but when I saw her name and did a background search on her, I discovered that one Linda Atwater apparently came from an orphanage in England that burned down in 2031. In other words, she was a Wammy's House orphan. Her drawing skills are superb and if we can use our databases to match the faces of drawings to photos, we can kill all the terminally ill people in the hospital."
She runs a hand through her hair almost subconsciously.
"Back to what I was saying... these Hydra guys have access to the King of England and the King of England is the only one who has access to nuclear launch codes. We'll have our inside man meet up with the king and force him to give access codes to our Hydra. Once that happens, we'll have him publically announce his intentions to launch a nuke. The day after, we'll have him send a nuke to Japan but just in case, we're not actually going to send the nuke to Japan. We're going to tell him to set the coordinates for the nuke in the middle of the East China Sea just in case."
She puts her hand down but her twins remain silent.
"As for intercepting, well, the principal is the same. We use an inside man on the enemy side and an inside man on our side. We'll find a soldier, a pilot, yes, preferably a pilot in the JSDF, someone with access to a fast fighter jet, and have them fly their plane right into the nuke over the East China Sea."
The twins' eyes widen but they remain silent.
"And... we'll also have this pilot be a Kira supporter; everyone loves a martyr, especially for the cause of Kira. With all these three chess pieces at our disposal, we'll be able to ruin Hydra once and for all. After the public relations mess Hydra will leave after those nukes detonate, the king will look like a saint for disowning Hydra on public TV."
She sighs heavily and almost smiles but her face remains emotionless.
Archer and Angel look at each other.
Looks like her plan worked, Archer thought.
It worked, Angel also thought. Man, Rain, what is going on in that head of hers?
If what happens next happens then that means...
We've won our battle against Hydra.
December 5th
Clearing his throat from his earlier address of explaining the rumors of his death, he focuses on the camera before him and checks with the person behind the camera to make sure that the broadcast is global.
"What Hydra did was unforgivable. Completely, unforgivable, and one that I can't ever forgive, even as a king. As your king. Had it not been for that fighter pilot who intercepted the nuke before it reached Japan, the consequences could've been dire. Maybe even on a much grander scale. As of today, I am disbanding Kira."
"Yeah," someone in the crowd shouts.
"Fucking terrorists," someone else shouts.
Lady Inda turns off the TV and sits down in her room in the closet.
Not one word, Linda, don't say anything. Brooks said that Kira wouldn't kill me as long as I kept quiet.
She looks at her sketchbook.
I still have so many drawings to do.
She flips to the first blank page and starts drawing.
December 6th
Rain grabs the remote and switches channels.
The supposedly 'dead' Prime Minster of Japan addresses the reporters.
"This is why Kira supports Japan," the PM begins, "Kira isn't just a judge, jury, and executioner, he is also a symbol. Captain Avaron Kajitani will go down in history as a savior."
"Prime Minister," a reporter speaks up, "is it true that Captain Avaron Kaijtani was a Kira follower?"
"That's what I was trying to get to earlier; Captain Kajitani was a Kira follower, yes, but she was willing to sacrifice everything to save us. To save Japan. Kira is a symbol who inspires his followers to do good. We must-"
Rain turns off the TV and looks at her siblings.
Back in her home, Rain felt like she could breathe again for the first time in a long time when she arrived home last night. While there was still mass panic over the nuclear missile, she knew right off the bat that the tension would lessen over time, even if it didn't vanish completely.
She felt like celebrating so that's why she decided to reward herself by sharing her bed with her boyfriend.
Archer laughs. "Man, you think he knows?"
"There will be conspiracy theories, yes, but our job is done." Rain sits up on the couch. "We won." She nods. "We won, Angel." She steps forward and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Hydra is no more. Kira has done the impossible. They say you can't kill an idea but... we proved that it is possible."
Angel grabs his sister's hand. "Promise me you won't do this again."
"I promise." She holds her pinky up.
He smacks it away. "Nah, you can never trust a pinky promise."
"Only an ankle shake," Archer concludes.
Rain heads into the kitchen and pours three wine glasses. She grabs an expensive bottle of champagne and pours the three of them their glasses. She hands two glasses to her siblings.
Angel looks at his glass. "I thought we weren't supposed to drink."
"Yeah, but..." She shrugs. "We're allowed to indulge."
Archer laughs. "Does that mean you're okay with us inviting Masumi over so me and Angie here can have ourselves a threesome with her?"
"By all means. But I prefer celebrating a different way." She clinks glasses with her siblings. "To Hydra."
"To Hydra." The twins intertwine their arms with the glasses and sip.
After Rain downs her drink in one sitting, she heads into the living room and sits on the couch. She sinks into the sofa before pulling something out from under. It was her Death Note. She pulls out a pencil and puts it on the first blank page.
The twins step forward and with one mind, ask, "Are you going to kill Lady Inda?"
Rain looks at them and almost smiles but cuts herself off. "No; her... art skills may come in handy later so... I'll spare her for the time being."
The twins nod before finishing their drinks and leave Rain to herself in the living room.
Gintik Hagmay materializes beside her. "I'm proud of you, Rain. You... you really can continue Kira's legacy."
"The three of us will continue Kira's legacy," she corrects. "Kira's legacy always starts with a name being written in a notebook. Speaking of which."
She began writing names down in the notebook.
1-1-9-1-8-1-2-5-1-5-2-1-1-1-8-5-7-1-5-4
-From, your secret admirer.
A/N: I did it! I finished the first volume in Rain and ArchAngel's saga. Thank you all for your support. The next volume will probably come in January. Also, the numbers above are a code. If you lovely guys and gals get bored or anxious waiting for the next volume, you can try your hand at the secret message.