Chapter 8- "The Games Begin"
#8 of Furry Death Note
The next day, Light skipped school. Technically. When Jessie dropped him off at the front of the school, he waved her goodbye as her car spewed exhaust and drove around the corner. Instead of going straight to class like he normally would, he turned left and headed downstairs to the basement of the school.
The basement was basically another word for "multiple utility closets". All though, the wide hallways do make good use for a tornado shelter. Light headed down the rickety metal stairs to the bottom. He shivered; the air felt cold. Several pipes that lined the walls were wet and make loud scary sounds. Why anyone would want to come down here, Light had no idea. But further down the hall and around the bend was his destination.
He took slow steps, trying his best not to echo his footsteps. The concrete was cold on his paws. The lights flickered on and off. Light was sure that they would turn off and not come back on. Instead, they blinked every now and then. But the cheetah swore the blinkings were getting longer.
Light turned the bend as the lights went out. He froze and counted the seconds in his head until they came back on. 8...9...10... The fluorescent lights flashed back on and Ryuk was standing mere inches away. Light yelped and fell backwards. It took a total of three seconds for him to register that it was only the death god that was following him. "What the fuck?" he asked.
Ryuk shrugged. "I know what you're about to do, kitten." The fact that Ryuk was a leopard made him look a little like a hypocrite. "I can't say that I approve but what can I do? I just sure hope you know what you're doing."
Light picked himself off the ground and brushed past the leopard, heart racing. He did not want a lecture. Yes, what he was about to do would be considered unorthodox and a bit insane. But what other choice did he have?
A door came up on the right that Light stopped in front of. It bared a sticker of a flame composed of nothing but digital binary code. This was where she worked.
With nothing left to lose, Light pounded on the door. A couple seconds went by and Light thought that no one would answer and this whole scheme was stupid. As he was ready to turn around, the door opened. An arctic fox, who couldn't be older than 13, was standing there, adjusting the glasses on the brink of his muzzle. "Light McAlister?" the cub asked. "What are you doing here?"
He took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "I need to see her."
The fox shook his head. "Not unless you know the password, dude."
He groaned. There was no time for this. At this rate, he would be late for second period. "Open the fucking door," Light growled. Before the cub could respond, the cheetah pushed past him into the room. There were two rows of tables lined with computers that looked like they belonged to the school. Behind most of them were other kids the same age as the fox; just beginning their teenage years. The room was dark save for the bluish glow from the machines. Along the wall were several posters, maps, pictures, various computer parts and wires, and another door.
Light marched his way through the aisle to the door on the end. Some of the other teen cubs tried to stop him, but he simply ignored them. He barged into the office door and saw her.
A white vixen with pink tips in her highlights. She wore a white tee-shirt and blue jeans. Her chest was normal; relatively thin. What set her apart from other girls was the devilish look in her brown eyes and the black makeup she wore around her eyes.
"I'm so sorry ma'am," the fox from the door said. "He came in without permission and I couldn't stop him."
The vixen raised a paw to silence him. "Craig, just shut and go join a gym. Leave." He tried to protest, but she snarled and glared at him. Craig slunk back and closed the door behind him.
Light turned to her. "That's impressive, Nadine. How ever did you manage to wrap a bunch of 8th graders around your paw?" He appeared casual, but he kept his shaking paws shoved into the pockets of his jean vest.
Nadine leaned back in her seat. "A bunch of 8th grade prodigies," she corrected. "And it wasn't that hard. The real question should be why on earth you came down here and what do you want." She gestured to the leather couch in front of her desk. "Please, take a seat." For someone who's been investigated by the FBI, she was a little homey as well as ruthless.
Light reluctantly sat down, keeping his ropey tail placed on his lap. He laid his backpack down in front of him. "I came down here because I wanted to make a deal," he confessed. The cheetah knew the risk he was taking; but he also knew the talk of the school, about how when given the right bribe, Nadine and her gang of computer geniuses would pretty much do anything. Even if it tangled with the law. As for how Nadine got away with her operation right under the nose of the school was beyond Light.
Nadine leaned back in her chair, looking intrigued. Usually how mobsters looked in the old movies. "A deal, you say?" she asked, arching her eyebrow. "What could you possibly want? You already moved out of some raggedy bookstore to a bigger, fancier house with guardians bringing in more annual salary than you'll ever make in your lifetime."
"How do you know about all this?" Then he sat back as he answered his own question. Computer hackers, duh. There isn't anything about someone that Nadine cannot find. But that's exactly why I'm here.
Light shook his head, forgetting for a second that Nadine basically admitted she stalked him. "I need you to find some info for me."
The vixen sat up in her chair. "Who?"
Light dig into his pocket and slapped down a picture of L. It was erie how similar they looked. Except Nadine was more slender around the hips and the obvious presence of the larger chest. L grinned in the photo without showing teeth. Like he was taking a school photograph. Light found it online while he was doing his own background check of the guy this morning. "Him."
Nadine picked up the photo and scrutinized it for a second. "I know this face," she said. "I can't tell you how I know. But this face is definitely familiar."
"He goes by L. He's a detective of sorts." And an unusual one at that.
Nadine's face lit up. "Oh! That's how I know him! He's a big name all over the internet. Especially since this whole Kira madness started."
"What do you make of Kira?" Light asked. He was crossing into unsafe territory, but he wanted to gain insight of someone else. "I mean, do you approve of what he or she is doing?"
Nadine shrugged and tossed the photo back on the table. "It's not really my business. And besides, we've done the research. Kira only seems to target those with a bad record. Why do you care about Kira?" she asked.
She knew too much, Light felt it. Quick, try to deflect this conversation. "I don't. I mostly care about this guy." He pointed at the white fox in the small 3" x 5" piece of plastic.
Nadine held up the picture. "What do you want to know? And why are you concerned about him?" she asked.
"I want to know his name," Light asked. "His real name. And the reason is because he recently moved into the neighborhood to figure out who Kira is as he believes he/she is right here in town." Among other reasons. But he could not say that in front of her. Light still thought of the way L was friendly towards his aunt.
"I can certainly do so but what is in it for me? This is a pretty big job." Nadine shifted her weight onto her right foot and crossed her arms. Light grabbed his backpack off the ground, unzipped it and spilled all the contents that was in the bag: snacks and soda cans from the vending machines, one hundred dollars cash, and a magazine to top it off. Nadine snatched the magazine before Light could see the front cover again; Light had done a lot of things in the past, but he always assumed that naked magazines as currency was only done in the movies.
Nadine shut away the magazine (Light shuddered) and looked back up at him. "Well... this is all very nice. But you're still asking me to do a lot."
"What else do you want?" Light asked. "I drained my allowance getting all of this for you and I don't really have anything else." Nadine stood her ground. Of course, Light knew something that could potentially sway her, but it was a very risky move. He looked and saw Ryuk in the corner. The leopard was smirking, daring him to reveal the worst secret he's ever kept. Second worst if you count Nate's abuse.
"I do have one thing. But you have to promise not to tell anyone else about it."
"Dude, I run an illegal hacking group underneath the school. What secret could possibly be worse than that?"
Light bit his lip, heart racing. "I'll show you if you have a computer and a pen."
***
Nadine, Craig, and a couple other eighth graders were crowded around the computer in Nadine's office. Light insisted the kids should not watch what was about to happen, but Nadine insisted that if it was worth showing her, it was worth showing everyone else. Light tapped away at the computer, looking for a some dangerous person on the news. He didn't look at any website that he used before, just in case.
Nadine's tail swished impatiently. Every minute or so, Light could hear her exhale through her nose. Finally, Light pulled up a site with a live feed. Some tigress Light had never seen before was talking about some bomb on a speeding subway train. Good enough for me. Light scanned the video feed for a name and eventually found one. He brought out his Death Note book, which everyone looked at quizzically, and opened it up to the last page he was on then scribbles down the name and a cause of death. "What does this have to do with a book?" Craig asked.
"Shh." Light pointed at the computer screen. The shot was currently of the train zooming towards the west. Eventually, in the middle of the train, a figure was seen exiting one of the cars and standing between them on the outside. A few seconds later, his feet left the platform, and the figure slips underneath the train. Nadine watched in fascination and the eighth graders in horror as the man slipped through the carts where his neck struck the fast-moving wheels. His head rolled down the bank towards the river.
Craig and the others screamed and looked away. Nadine glanced down at what Light wrote in the Note: "Jason Braswell- after defusing the bomb on the metro, the train speeds up to 70 mph, in which Braswell hurls himself off the train between the cars and the track, his neck strikes the wheels and is decapitated."
Nadine read it over again and blinked, unable to believe what she saw. "Holy shit..." she breathed. "How the fuck did you do that?"
Light looked up from his book and paused the video feed, the still frame showing the tigress anchor looking as shocked at what she saw as Nadine. He took a deep breath and looked at the vixen in her eyes. With a stern look on his face, he made a big leap with his next move. The words almost came out in a whisper.
"I'm Kira."