Je Ne Regrette Rien

AN: Yay..... I have been dying to write this chapter ever since I began twelve. Mainly because it kind of wraps things up... T^T Sorry for taking so long…… I was preoccupied with getting my new oneshot ‘Bitter’ up… hehe

Suggested Listening: Collapse by Saosin; Cold by Crossfade; Steal My Romance by Ghosts On The Radio

Chapter 14: Remnant

~Matt~

It had been annoying to have to wait for the police to get their act together though I knew it was necessary. They needed their body armor and guns and whatever else they planned on using in their assault.

They were aiming not only to free Mello, I had a feeling he was second priority, but to take down what they could of the Organization. We didn't know if the Organization had more than one place or not, but by the looks of it, everyone was there.

Once the assault began, we would be patched into all of the team leaders so we would be able to keep track of what was going on. It wasn't as good as being there, but that option was out of the question.

Even if it hadn't been too far away from where we were, and leaving would have made Mello wait even more, I doubted L would even let me out of this building. I wouldn't put it passed him to drug my coffee or outright inject me with something.

In his eyes it was just safer to wait until Mello was brought here, where he would be staying in the infirmary. Whammys, after all, had all the best.

“Everyone is ready and on site. Just waiting for your go ahead.” a voice spoke over the computer, rather than cell phone. It was always amazing to see just how much influence L had. Something I would never regret giving up.

“Aim to capture and detain, but if lives are in danger, shoot to kill.” the proxy took that as L's order and gave the go ahead to start. Everything was quiet, just the sounds of the men breathing, as the teams moved into position. It was weird only having audio and no video to go along with it.

Thought they were going to be on radio silence until most of the place was taken over or unless it was absolutely necessary to speak, such as a gunfight. We all sat in tense silence until the first sounds of a scuffle began. Though things seemed to be going well if they had yet to shoot anyone.

Gunshots sparked over one of the com-links and the all out silence was broken. Their cover gone, soft whispers and full out shouted orders came across the speakers. The entire place was now on alert and it seemed that even the Organization, for all their spouting about justice, had just as many guns as a normal gang might.

Five minutes passed before we received any word.

“We have just over thirty Organization members in custody between the teams; no one has found the prisoner yet.” I had to wonder just how many people were actually in this thing, and when the use of the knockout gas would be needed, if at all.

Fifteen minutes later another one-hundred and sixty people were detained. Most of the main areas were cleared, leaving only locked rooms and the basement to go through. According to records on the Organization's database, not everyone was there at the moment.

A few of them had been away on some business or other while another six of them had been away getting supplies; but the rest of it was encrypted so their locations remained secret.

There was no doubt that they had been tipped off, but it couldn’t be helped. With access to everything the Organization had, they wouldn't remain free for too long, not with us looking.

“According to the doctor they had here, your friend was never properly treated after the last torture session. We are bringing the medics in under guard even though we have yet to locate him.”

I lit another cigarette and took a long drag. 'Was never properly treated'. What exactly did that mean? Just how bad would he be right now? They didn't just leave him there to bleed out, did they?

No.

They would have still wanted him alive. So... a quick bandage or what...?

Ten more minutes went by and they had four teams entering the basement, it split off in two different directions and was more like a dungeon by the descriptions we were receiving. As well as two other teams searching the locked area's by floor. Thankfully there were only two floors.

“Sir, get the medics to the first floor. We... we found the prisoner in one of the heavily bolted rooms.”

I was more than a little surprised that they hadn't kept him in the basement. Isn't that usually where people were kept; or was that only in the movies?

Nothing else was said over the com-link and I was more than a little irritated, I mean, was he even alive? I hated to think that he wasn't but a confirmation that he was at least breathing would have been nice.

Well, if they had called the medic, that meant he was alive... right?

I tried to stop my thoughts, as they were beginning to travel in circles and made less and less sense. Taking a long drag of the cigarette helped...

There was a small gasp when the medic arrived and I doubted that was a good sign. The medic soon began to spout off a whole bunch of things that I couldn't even begin to follow.

Computers were my thing, not medicine. Neosporin and band-aids were the extent of my knowledge, so I had a bit of difficulty following the exchange.

Apparently I wasn't the only one as one of the men there interrupted all the medical gibberish. “What exactly does all this mean?” there was an irritated sigh, the medic I suppose, and a moment of silence before anything more was spoken.

“You say you want him transported immediately to some secret hospital hours away or whatever. I'm telling you, he won’t make the flight.” I almost choked on my cigarette.

“His hand looks infected and he's damn lucky he hasn't bled to death with the way they bandaged it. Not to mention being emaciated and just in bad shape overall. Is that clear enough for you?”

“What do you suggest then?” came the hesitant reply.

“He needs to get to a hospital, doesn't matter where as long as it is close. And he needs to get there soon. He's hanging on by a thread and nothing more.”

“Did you get all that, L?” the man asked through the com-link. Honestly, it was a stupid question as it had been L who requested they them for that exact reason.

“Do it. Get him out of there.” I said. L turned to me, his wide dark eyes staring at my concealed ones.

He switched the microphone off before speaking to me. “You do realize that he will be in just as much danger in a regular hospital? Or did you forget-”

“And from what I’m hearing, it danger or death. I'm certain Mello would prefer a little danger.” I stubbed out the cigarette, it having gotten far too low to be smokable, and immediately lit another.

I was going to end up as a chain smoker after all of this....

“I suppose you are correct...” he turned back to the microphone with a sigh. Would he have sent Mello on the plane if I hadn't been here right now? Would I have even been informed off all the facts...?

“Have him, under the supervision of your team and the medic, taken to a nearby hospital. I expect at least one of you to stay with him at all times, I am sure I do not need to explain why.”

“Understood.” the microphone on our side was cut off again as L turned to Watari. “I will need one ticket for the next flight to Finnmark, Norway.” Watari nodded but I stopped him before he could do anything.

“If that's for me, don't bother. I'm not going yet.” leaning against the computer desk I took a long drag before explaining any further.

“Would Matt care to explain?” Near finally spoke up; it was the first thing I had heard him say for quite a while. Leaving the cigarette sitting at the corner of my mouth I inwardly sighed.

“Mello will be fine on his own for now. However there are still Organization members out there which pose a threat. It would be better to have me hacking the encrypted files and finding out their locations. The sooner they are caught, the sooner everyone is out of danger.” not that L or Near couldn't just do it themselves.

But I needed something to do. I couldn't just sit by while Mello was in surgery, or while he was recovering. Who knew how long it would be before he actually woke up. I couldn't stand sitting and waiting any more.

And if I were truthful... I was being a coward. I couldn't face Mello yet. Couldn't... no didn't want to see him right now.

It wasn't because of everything that had been done to him. Not really. It was because I hadn't been good enough to find him sooner; find him before they had inflicted so much pain on him... I didn't want to sit and think those thoughts.

He was safe, as safe as he could be, for the moment.

“I do not understand, L or I could do that...” Near had his fingers twisting his hair tightly as he trailed off, appearing confused for once. Watari walked up to me, and for a moment I thought he might try to persuade me otherwise.

Instead he just placed a hand on my shoulder and nodded. It figured that he'd be the one to understand; though L probably had it figured out as well, though that was a bit of a toss up as he failed at social interactions. Which was why Near was confused by my actions.

The entire time I had been so dead set on getting Mello back, and now that he was safe, for all appearances it was as though I was throwing him aside. And... maybe I was. It kind of felt like it.

But I couldn't go to him feeling like this.

“Matt's help will be appreciated.” L said as he half chewed on his thumb. I wondered if, instead of it just being a fixation on sweets, if he just had to have something in his mouth. It was either food or the edge of his thumb...

“I will bring more refreshments.” Watari said lightly and exited the room. I wish I could just work from my room, but it was better to be directly hooked up to L's network rather than operate through the backdoor.

First thing was first... I needed to contact Jasper. I couldn't call him from here unless I wanted L and Near to listen in, which I didn't, so he would have to deal with an e-mail. At least I was remembering to tell him this time.

With his e-mail out of the way I had time to wait until L's contact sent everything to him, and then in turn, to me. It seemed that all we were doing was waiting on something.

L was still connected via the com-links so the room wasn't in complete silence.

They had found another twelve people, some had fled to the basement and others had hidden in rooms inside the mansion. Out of those twelve, only four were in custody; the others having to be shot. I wasn't too terribly sad to hear that.

They were apparently in the final stages of securing the entire mansion. Which considering its size, and the people that had been available, was good time. Lucky really.

I vaguely heard the contact say something about all the information being transferred soon, but I was distracted by Watari coming back. He set a cup of coffee by my laptop as well as a small plate of food.

Truth be told I was kind of hungry, but not really up to eating. He must have guessed that since it was only a small plate. I ate what I could and filled myself up with coffee.

The laptop beeped a small while later and a small message on the bottom of the screen suggested that I had a message waiting for me. It was probably from Jasper. I could read it later.

“Alright, every part of the database we could get our hands on was sent to you. It should almost be done downloading if you started when it prompted you. Should I be heading off to the hospital too or stay here?”

I ignored the conversation going on, as it really didn't matter what the contact's answer turned out to be, and instead turned my attention to the files now appearing on L's mainframe.

Most of it was encrypted, and I was sure there were booby-traps filled with viruses that could eat away at my computer in minutes if I wasn't careful. These people, however much I hated them, were well prepared.

But I had a very good incentive to get all of this finished as quickly as I could.

I should have known things were not going to be quite as simple as they were planned out to be. The hacking part hadn't been hard, it was the fact that the files were corrupt that was the problem.

By the time everything was sent to L their database had been in the beginning stages of deleting itself and everything in it. The process was stopped when the files were sent, but not before everything was mixed up.

Sentences merged and words missing to form a lovely mess of gibberish. Near was working on untangling the mess while I was trying to see if I could recover the actual files. L was still dealing with the happenings of the mansion and the transportation of the criminals, though I wouldn't have been surprised if he was working on the files too.

I managed to recover a dismal amount of sixteen files. Out of two hundred and forty-seven. Near only managed to decipher nine files in the same amount of time; which was almost ten hours. But considering the state of the files, that was a miracle.

We obtained the location of the ones who had been on a supply run; apparently they hadn't gotten the memo and were still out and about. They had been apprehended rather quickly.

If the database corruption had gone on much longer they might have been tipped off, as I had found programs embedded within the virus that was set up to send out coded messages to everyone starting from the top and working its way down.

Those six had been down rather far in the food chain.

Four of the more essential members were still missing. However the likelihood of them still being there once we got their locations, because we would despite how slow it was happening, was slim.

Though there was the chance that we could track their movements from their last position, one of them was bound to make a slip up. And one of us would notice it. They were doomed the moment they declared war on the world, and the world’s greatest detectives.

Sadly it had taken more time then any of us would have liked to get them. Countless cups of coffee and packs of cigarettes later, we still had one more to get. And this was nearly a week later.

And three days after L had received word on Mello's condition. He'd had to go into surgery because of his hand, that had been a given since there hadn't been much more than a patch on his wounds, but I had been more than a little shocked when I’d heard what they’d had to do...

I honestly couldn't remember how I’d reacted when L told me. Though I suppose if I had shown anything outwardly then L would have commented on it.

It had made me all that more anxious to get the last guy.

He was careful, despite having used his credit card in the beginning. We had his face, and his name. And everything that came with it. But he was apparently at the top for a reason, he had made a mistake, but had been smart enough to realize it and rectify it.

I was back and forth between skimming the decrypted files for anything more on this man and watching his credit cards and bank accounts in case he did anything with them, in which case I would know. L was doing something, he hadn't exactly said what so I hadn't asked, as well as keeping a close eye on the mans known associates.

He was the only remaining piece left of this organization. The last person that we could find connected with it. Once he was gone... the case would be closed. And then I could go see Mello...

That didn't happen for yet another two days.

The man had probably felt safe enough to contact one of his friends. That was his mistake, or maybe he hadn't thought anyone was watching anymore.

Either way, he was spotted by L. And in under an hour the man was in custody. It was as though a weight had been lifted. The case was finally over. All of the sacrifices made had amounted to something.

But thinking on that... with Mello, it would never be enough. Everything he had gone through, and was still going through, would not be changed by a case closed.

As of right now, I didn't even know if he was awake or not.

“Watari, would you mind booking me a flight while I go pack?” I received a smile in return so I left. As much as I wanted to just toss everything into my suitcase and leave, I knew things wouldn't fit if I did that.

I yawned; I hadn't slept in a bed in... a while. I couldn't actually remember. And I knew I probably wouldn't get much sleep on the plane either but I wasn't going to put this off any longer.

Mello was safe from the Organization, as was the rest of the world as far as we knew, so there was nothing keeping me away anymore. I just hoped everything would work out once I got there.

After all, the human mind could only take so much before snapping. And Mello was no exception.

-End Remnant-

AN: omg. This chapter.... just.. wow. I had not expected it to even be this long, but here we are. And what a way to end it. Though there is still the Epilogue and a special chapter.

And before anyone gets any idea's there are not going to be any more sequels. This will stay as a sort of trilogy (sort of since 'Dangerous and Moving' is set in this universe but not part of the main fic)

So, feel free to review and tell me what you thought.