Watari Pt 1: L\'s Heirs

Matt stood in his study, a wire in each hand. His head turned this way and that, but his eyes were closed. His mind, however, saw the room in 3D, uncluttered by the various computers, games and furniture. It was mapped out as a curcuit, the electricity wires and cables coming into focus as he worked out where they must be. His eyes opened and he crossed to the far wall. His knock, upon the plaster, returned hollow, but, just to check, he knocked again half a foot away. It hurt his knuckles. Fine. So he could add another plug here. He marked the wall with a cross, then looked down at the wires in his hands.



Matt knew that he had a perverse streak. Sometimes he wanted to punch or kiss complete strangers, just to see what they would do. Sometimes he had an urge to rearrange Mello\'s growing library, mixing up fiction with theology, just to see what Mello would do. Sometimes he wanted to patch the results of the Mario Clause through the Watari network, just to see what everyone would do. Sometimes he wanted to bring his hands together, knowing that the electric shock would probably throw him across the room, just to see what that would feel like. There was neither thought nor feeling behind these thoughts. He had always had instances of thinking like this and never acted them out. But he stood there, with the wires in his hands, and even looked behind him to estimate where he would land and what on. Would he actually let go of the wires? Or would they be fixed to his hands, pumping electricity through his body until his heart eventually popped? His imagination finally caught up with how Mello would react, when he arrived home from his Russian Language A-Level exam to find the charred corpse of his lover. Suddenly the flight of fancy wasn\'t fun anymore, so he carefully placed the wires down, kicking switches with his boot.



He took out a chisel and hammer, then sank down before the cross on the wall. He knew that it would be a lot safer to do this with the electricity in the house cut off. But Mello, in pre-exam nerves and a fit of anxiety about leaving him alone, had ranted for a good ten minutes about Matt not going out, not letting anyone in, not switching off the electric fence, not leaving sight of the monitors, not switching off the alarms or sensors or, indeed, so it seemed, not breathing or moving a muscle until Mello was back. There were to be no excuses, no circumstances whatsoever for these instructions to be ignored. Matt silently admitted that it was about this time that he decided to rewire his room. After all, those other things all required electricity and this was evidentally not a good reason to switch off the supply. Yes, Matt knew he had a perverse streak. He smiled and created a hole in the wall down to the cable.



When the monitor lit up behind him, the redhead jumped. He saw the reflection in the window, recognizing a Watari symbol before spinning around. There was a twisted part of his mind that half expected it to be a huge M. Mello having some kind of psychic episode halfway through his exam and finding a computer to check up that Matt wasn\'t doing anything stupid. But it wasn\'t an M, it was a H. He didn\'t think he had ever had a call from Hollow. Not even a shout up the corridor when they were kids, let alone an official call. Matt pressed his button. "Ohai, H."



"Mello. I didn\'t think you would respond for me." The number seven hadn\'t even disguised her voice. The little controllers all had built in voice warps, which meant that she must have dismantled hers. Matt was impressed and a little annoyed that he hadn\'t thought of that first for his own. He opened a second screen and clicked to restart a programme.



"Erm, it\'s not Mello. I can take a message though."



Shock radiated out from the speakers, "Who are you and how have you got hold of Mello\'s number?"



"I\'m shagging him." Matt spoke as he thought it, then frowned. He was turning into Mello, using shock tactics to gain the upper hand. It was like owners becoming like their dogs, or vice versa. "Hollow, it\'s Matt. Me and Mello are patched through to each other\'s Watari calls."



There was a sigh of relief. "Hello Matt, long time no speak."



"Erm, I don\'t think we ever spoke. You were too busy being Gothic and mysterious and I was too far up my own arse. But I\'m all ears now."



Hollow didn\'t laugh. She sounded like someone trying to remain very calm. "I haven\'t gone directly through Watari. I hacked the system to by-pass the front connector. I have reason to believe that Watari is compromised and I\'m also in a lot of danger."



"Yeah. I think we all are."



"But I\'ve managed to keep myself under the radar!" Hollow snapped. "No-one knows where I am. I know that you, Mello and Near have all been looking for me; and if you aren\'t running a trace on this line, you are not the Matt I knew." Matt cringed and glanced at the programme he had started only seconds before. "I\'m prepared to tell you where I am, if Mello can come and protect me."



"Mello\'s... what\'s happening Hollow?"



"Someone has been in my home. I went out for supplies and came back to find that certain triggers had been activated. I have had a grab-bag packed since it became clear what was going on, so I grabbed it and left. I am now parked up, miles away, and really fucking scared." Hollow didn\'t sound scared, but then she never had. She had passed through all of their Wammy\'s House days in a dark cloud of aloofness that would have had the uninitiated believing that she was the number one. Matt pictured her at seventeen, nearly six foot tall, willowy, with long black hair and carefully maintained white skin. Mello had nicknamed her the Bride of Dracula and had been really upset when she had started wearing witchcraft symbols. "I\'m trying to decide whether to keep running or to give myself up to someone for my own protection. With respect, Mello is the only person I think didn\'t kill anyone and that\'s only because it\'s been set up to make it look like it was him."



Matt sighed. "Are you in Britain?"



"Yes."



"Are you armed?"



"No, Matt. What do you take me for?" She growled. "My speciality was Ancient History, not terrorism." She sighed out her frustration. "I\'ve got a nail file."



"How long would it take you to get to Winchester?"



"I am not going to Wammy\'s House. I\'ve already told you that I believe the compromise has come from there! Forget this. I have to go before you trace me. I will try again when Mello is back, because I haven\'t eliminated you from my suspects. I\'m sorry."



Matt laughed. "Hollow, I love you. You are the first person to say it could be me. My cigarette butts were at the scene of Jonny\'s murder and everyone went on about Mello. It\'s not me, but thank you for not overlooking me." But the Old English \'H\' was fading. She had disconnected the call. Matt immediately turned to his trace, but it was inconclusive. She was somewhere south of Watford and north of France, that was the best it was telling him. He tapped his chisel against the desk, rewinding the .wav file to listen to the conversation again for clues, but his screen flashed again with the \'H\'. "Hollow?"



"Ok, Matt. I believe it wasn\'t you. Help me?"



"Where are you, Hollow?"



"Hampshire."



"I\'ll meet you in Winchester Cathedral in two hours. Traffic depending."



"Thank you." Hollow cut the connection.



Matt ran along the landing, up to the loft. He selected another semi-automatic and considered the rifle. He had been practicing, though Mello still sneered at his efforts. It was better to have it than not. He filled his pockets with ammunition, then looked around for whatever else might be useful. He had plenty of time. It would only take him forty-five minutes to reach Winchester, but the two hours grace meant that he could be coming from anywhere, barring Scotland and the extreme north of England. He deposited the weaponry onto their bed and ran downstairs, switching the sensors on inside the house. Now he would activate it as he got ready and Mello could watch what he had packed. There was no guarantee he would be back before Mello, especially if he had to help Hollow hole up somewhere. It was just typical that this had to happen during the first time in about six months when he and Mello had been apart; and the first time in probably a year or more when a call couldn\'t connect them. He doubted it was serious enough to call the college and risk Mello\'s temper as he was brought out of the exam hall.



He packed an overnight bag, just in case, then entered Mello\'s study. It took him nearly half an hour to find the anti-depressants, mostly because Mello had hidden them in plain view. They were on his mantelpiece. Returning to his own study, he sent his lover copies of both conversations, then an e-mail to explain what he was doing and to apologise for taking his tablets. He asked Mello to call him later, when he would know better what the situation was with Hollow. \'PS,\' he added, \'I was damned if I did and damned if I didn\'t on this one. If I\'d passed her onto Near, you\'d have freaked; if I\'d called you out of your exam, you\'d have freaked. Me leaving the house is the lesser of all the evils. Sorry. Love you.\' He pressed send and left the house.