DAY 59: CAFETERIA

[touchedgod]

Billy surfaced into wakefulness. Sleep receded like an inky tide, and it didn't say anything to him before it was gone. His dreams had been nothing but the sensation of water, rocking him restlessly in his bottle. There seemed to be an ocean beyond his confines, but he couldn't see it and couldn't reach it. He pawed at the glass, but any progress

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[oneman_onekill]

Byrne seemed pretty convinced of Badd's character; the two had to be close--Gant had mentioned that Badd had worked with a few lawyers, right? If Byrne had been one of them...hm, that would twist a few things that had been said thus far. But he couldn't go throwing out that bomb; it was pretty preposterous and operated on the assumption that Gant was telling the truth entirely. He couldn't use that; he needed some key, some final weapon that would for sure trap Byrne in the steel claws of his logic. There had to be some hole, some weakness he could dig into...

Time to review the facts: Byrne and Badd were close. Byrne seemed to have no idea of Gant's true character; he attributed that to a time difference, which could be irrelevant (--or it couldn't be, but he didn't have enough information to prove that yet). Gant had told him about Badd because Badd had told him about Gant that night long ago. According to Gant, Badd was a vigilante known as the Yatagarasu. Yatagarasu...why was that word so familiar the more he said it? He was missing something. There was something he was forgetting. Yatagarasu...not Samurai Blue, nope. The Yatagarasu was Badd. The three-legged crow that delivered...

Oh. Oh. Wait, he knew this. It was that girl. That one on the board! The one with the funny logo who was from LA, the one who'd gotten all that background help, the one who--Faraday. The Second Great Thief Yatagarasu Kay Faraday.

Man, that girl just left her footprints everywhere, didn't she? He'd only spoken to her once over the bulletin board, but she'd stuck in his memory because anyone talking about delivering justice to criminals caught his attention; that was just how things worked. Heroes were always mindful of each other, after all; they didn't want to impinge on each other's work and that kind of stuff.

And she'd been pretty ridiculous. It was hard to forget a thief who gave PSA's--

--Hold the phone. Faraday.

Okay, now things were interesting. Kay was the second, which meant that there had been a first. Given her last name...oh, now he had the bomb that he wanted. And he didn't even need to rely on Gant for this one! Slowly, the look of concentration on his face turned into a grin, a wide, toothy, slightly predatory grin that Akumetsu only acquired when he had his man within his sights.

"Hehe...he...hahahahahahaha!" Niikura threw back his head and laughed--not his usual soft chuckle, but the loud sort of laugh that verged on maniacal, the kind of laugh that villains laughed when they saw the end in sight and couldn't believe it. "Sheesh! He was lyin'! That whole damn time, tellin' me that kind of stupid story when the real one's in the same building...sittin' right in front of me! Man, that is just too funny--well played, Gant-san, well-played!" He wiped his eyes shakily as his sides continued to shake from laughter.

"Heh...Faraday-san, I gotta apologize...totally forgot...no way Badd-san could be the Yatagarasu...should tell ya that about a week ago, I met someone who...oohhhahahaha...called herself the Yatagarasu. Shouted it for all to hear all over the bulletin board...freakin' brilliant. Don't know how I forgot, just got caught up in the heat of the moment, y'know? Easily excited, bad habit, I know, gotta work on it..." He gripped the edge of the table to steady himself and took a deep breath.

"Guess ya might know her too: Kay Faraday."

[corvus_veritas]

.......Oh hell no.

Hell. No. He was NOT about to drag Kay into this. The little brat, who did he think he was?

Byrne's face instantly darkened at the mention of his daughter's name. Yes, whether the prosecutor recognized it or not, Niikura had just attacked his biggest weak spot - and Byrne was not about to let it go lightly. Worse yet was knowing that the statement Kay had posted about the Yatagarasu on the bulletin board was most likely true. Knowing her as his daughter and remembering what Badd had told him about how she's been doing in recent years, including her taking on the name of Yatagarasu, this didn't come as a surprise.

Surprise or not, it didn't matter. Byrne was being backed into a corner now, and he was too distracted by his desire to protect his daughter to realize that. His composure was breaking.

"So you're not happy with accusing my partner? Now you've got to go dragging my daughter into this, too?" The smile on his face had been gone a long time ago, and it wasn't coming back with the rate things were going. "Sorry to disappoint you, but she's not the Yatagarasu either, no matter what she might have said otherwise. She's just a kid like you, trying to take on a bigger role than she can handle." He didn't like saying that about Kay, he didn't... But then again, the point of that statement wasn't to insult her, exactly. "Give it up, Niikura. You're starting to piss me off."

[oneman_onekill]

Jackpot. He was pissing Byrne off, but that was irrelevant, as cold as it was to say that. The whole point had been to elicit a reaction and to overturn the logical stalemate between them, and if one looked at it that way, Niikura's move had done both admirably. Now he just had to make sure that Byrne didn't leave or...okay, maybe there would be no stopping that, but he had him. He'd found his sticking point, and now Akumetsu would begin his inexorable, relentless march toward the truth.

First, though: reassurance. He hadn't introduced Kay into the conversation for the purpose of threatening the prosecutor, rather to build up to his next point. "Your daughter? I figured you two were related somehow, but heh, that makes things a lot clearer."

Niikura sighed and ran a hand through his hair apologetically. "Still, 'm not draggin' your daughter into this. I only bring her up 'cause she reminded me of somethin' very important: she called herself the 'second' Yatagarasu--which means there's a first, right? Even if she's not really the Yatagarasu, she's still tryin' to follow in someone's footsteps whether they want her to or not." He laughed. "And unless she's got some kinda family friend she really, really admires, more so than her own dad, the first has gotta be you, Faraday-san. So I'll agree with ya about Gant-san not speakin' the truth."

He looked aside at his breakfast again and shrugged. "'Course, now we're back to the question of why Gant-san would lie to me like that, but I can always ask him why on my own time." Casually spoken, but with Niikura, statements like that were actually neatly veiled threats.

[corvus_veritas]

...And now Byrne realized just a moment too late that he was caught in Niikura's trap. Now it was either admitting that he himself was the Yatagarasu or admitting that Badd was the Yatagarasu, but either way, it was checkmate. Damnit.

But if it had to be him or Badd in the snare? It was going to be him. Not to hog all the credit or any other selfish reason, but for protection and loyalty. Badd had suffered enough. Let Byrne be the one caught red-handed, so Badd didn't have to deal with the consequences. Byrne had been planning to do just that if Rell's accusation had been successful that day, anyway.

At first, he said nothing to Niikura's long-winded speech. Then, after a few moments, he relaxed and chuckled quietly to himself. "...I'll give you credit. You're more clever than you look." Or he was just damned lucky that Kay had been here to unintentionally inform him ahead of time. "Too bad you're so biased against us lawyers. You'd make a fine one."

Byrne sat back in his chair and crossed his legs, keeping his eyes locked on his opponent. A wide grin spread across his face; it was not his usual friendly smile. "Now, I'm curious. You're so persistent about this Yatagarasu, even going so far as to bring up my daughter. What for? So you can act all mighty and proud for figuring it out, or are you trying to be some badass guy who takes out big name criminals or something? Enlighten me." No, he wasn't going to admit right out that he'd been figured out. He would dance around it, not answer straight - Niikura was obviously a smart kid, he probably got it by now anyway. All Byrne wanted to know was what he planned to do with the information now that he (presumably) had it.

Oh, as unlikely as it was, it would be so damned hilarious if the kid wanted to take him out. Sorry, someone already beat you to it! Better luck next target.

[oneman_onekill]

Well, it looked like case closed--or, that was just the way that Byrne wanted him to see it. He and Badd were close; it would be easy to picture one of them taking the fall for the other. Easier to play along for now and see if he could spot another pouncing point...

"Heh, I just wanted to know the truth, and when I want to know something, I'll pursue the matter until the end. That's just how I work, no different than" - Niikura gestured to Byrne - "ya lawyer types. Not gonna boast, 'cause I'll keep this to myself, and 'm not gonna try and take ya out either 'cause even though our methods are different, I think the same thing drives us forward; it ain't any use to take out people whose beliefs line up with yours."

He could probably skip the part about his natural urge to compile massive "files", so to speak, on any member of law enforcement he could find. Know thine enemy: even if they weren't corrupt, even if they were truly agents of justice, Niikura had to know everything. He'd treated Yamada and Bloody Mary no differently, gone through and sniffed out every little bit of information about them that he could find. Motivations, personal issues, past cases, frustrations...anything. Anything that he could use to move them as he wanted--or actually, to make sure that they wouldn't get in his way. The mental games he played to keep people on their toes and himself unassailable...if they ever escaped, he would have it all at his disposal; Niikura had never considered outright blackmail beneath him.

[corvus_veritas]

...Hm. Byrne could bring up the point that, according to Badd's word, pretty much everyone back in L.A. already knew who the Yatagarasu was so it didn't really matter too much if Niikura knew, too. The biggest reason Byrne didn't want to lose their 'logic battle' was mainly for pride. But oh well. That was just back in L.A., anyway. In some ways, it might be more advantageous if the Institute was largely kept in the dark about the Yatagarasu, so he didn't want to give Niikura the okay to just start spreading the not-secret around.

(Byrne could also bring up the fact that he was technically dead already, so any amount of 'taking out' would be pointless too. But he didn't need to be giving the kid any ideas, did he?)

Anyway. So Niikura just wanted to know the truth, eh? Why was Byrne finding it hard to believe that? Ah well, there was something more bothersome about the kid's answer than that right now. "But do your beliefs line up with the Yatagarasu's?" The prosecutor-and-thief cocked an eyebrow, still grinning. "I haven't heard what you stand for, quite honestly, and I'm sure any well-meaning vigilante wouldn't like to have their reputation tarnished by being compared to one who isn't, y'know?" Especially if Niikura really 'took people out' like he kept claiming he did. The Yatagarasu didn't need to be lumped into the same category as a murderer.

[oneman_onekill]

Was that smile meant to be threatening? As a master of cold, merciless smiles himself, such tactics had no effect on Niikura. It did tell him, however, that now they were serious. Byrne wasn't playing around; this was for real. Was this the Yatagarasu...?

"I should ask the very same of ya, seein' as Gant-san never bothered to say why the Yatagarasu was goin' around messin' up crime scenes and investigatin' certain criminals. But I'll tell ya this about me: my belief--or rather, my only goal is the destruction of evil." His eyes grew colder and colder as he continued to speak. "And I'm not talkin' about your petty criminals on the street. I'm talkin' about the corrupt politicians and their supposed strong right arm, all those men of the law gettin' paid off to turn a blind eye to the sufferin' of the masses. Those guys...the guys who think they're above the law, totally invincible--I give 'em the justice they deserve."

[corvus_veritas]

Oh no, it wasn't a threatening grin at all - not a I want to be your friend smile like Byrne usually had on, but not a oh hoh you'll regret the day you messed with me smirk either. It was the kind of grin he got on a heist, when at last, after slipping past security guards and dodging cameras, after breaking open locks and sorting through pounds of paper for hours, he'd found his target, the evidence he needed to bring billion dollar corporate thieves to their knees. A grin of fierce pride, of borderline self-righteousness.

Yes. This was the Yatagarasu - or one leg of it, anyway, but he wasn't about to mention that part.

As Niikura made his speech, Byrne found himself nodding his head in honest agreement. "Well said, Niikura! And believe me, when you work with the law yourself, you come face to face with that corruption much too often. People of high status that you try to catch for their crimes who always manage to get away thanks to that one inconvenient piece of evidence. Or certain lawyers who are bribed by their clients, or prosecutors who will do anything to win, no matter who they hurt in the process." Images came to mind... Manny Coachen. Cece's murder. The smuggling ring. Manfred von Karma. Byrne had to fight to keep grinning with those ugly thoughts in mind. "And yet, no one wants to do anything about it 'cause they either don't have the guts to fight or they just don't care.

"Well you know what? Eventually you get sick and tired of seeing it happen year after year, of trying to fight honestly when the law punishes you for it." He leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table, keeping eye contact with Niikura the whole time. "I'm glad to see you aren't blind to that corruption, Niikura, and that you're willing to fight against it. BUT." He pointed a finger up in the air to help make his point across. "How one fights. That's also important. You can't let yourself be too much of a hypocrite when you're already overstepping the boundaries of the law, can you? Now, you say you actually give these guys the justice they deserve, huh? So how exactly is this justice delivered? I don't care to hear your M.O. in detail, I'm just curious." Which was honest; this was more about understanding Niikura as an individual than it was collecting information for a sinister purpose.

Besides, if Byrne was having to admit that he was a vigilante, well, then the kid could fess up a few details about his own work, too. Only fair.

AUGH sorry for taking so long ;A;

[oneman_onekill]

It was good to hear that Akumetsu and the Yatagarasu agreed to at least one thing; the rest was a different matter, and of course, Byrne had to ask about it. Well...he'd already forced the man to put all his cards on the table. It was indeed only fair to show one of his own in return, even if he knew that the reaction would be poor. Obviously, he didn't expect everyone to side with him; killing, after all, was abhorrent to society--as it should be. Even so, everything else had failed, so he had to be the one to cross that line and fulfill the population's deepest, darkest desire. Just him. No one else. He defeated evil and became it at the same time because he had the power to do so.

If only the proper channels actually worked...then there would have never been any need for Akumetsu. "Hahahaha! So sorry to disappoint, my doctrine's just four words. If ya judge me for it, I understand, 'cause it's the type of thing that's easily judged. But...! Here goes: one man." The index finger of Niikura's right hand popped up in time with the words. "One kill." His left index finger joined it, so that the two were side by side. "Pretty simple to understand, don'tcha think?"

Me too ;_;

[corvus_veritas]

One man, one kill, huh? Sure, that was easy enough to understand. "So you're after one target," Byrne commented, nodding his head. "I see. Makes sense." And it was quite a relief to hear, too. Not that killing even one person was good, but at least Niikura wasn't planning to go out on some massive killing spree or anything.

This 'one target' made the prosecutor curious, though. It wouldn't happen to be related to the head of a certain smuggling ring, would it? Because that was the Yatagarasu's prey and the Yatagarasu's prey alone. Yes, he remembered being told that the head of the ring had already been captured by Badd's time, but whatever. Being in prison didn't save you from the people that really hated you.

Anyway, it didn't seem to do a bigwig criminal like the smuggling ring head justice to have them just killed off. Maybe they deserved to be killed by some crazy vigilante kid for all they've done - the thought was tempting, Byrne would admit - but honestly, life in prison was the better punishment. Dying wouldn't teach a person anything. They'd just be dead. And to some people, that was even considered an honor.

[oneman_onekill]

"That's right! Simple, huh?" Wow, was Byrne actually being...understanding? That was a first, given who he associated with. "It's a pain in the ass to stick to since, y'know, so many ways to do things en masse, but that ain't justice, when ya draw people who ain't involved into it. It's more like just sprayin' bullets and hopin' one of 'em hits the right thing, which, most of the time, it doesn't."

If Niikura knew that Byrne had actually misunderstood him, he might have been tempted to correct the man out of his intense love for shock value. As it was, though, they had misinterpreted the words of the other.