Cloak and Dagger

Chapter 32

Near sits in my lap as we, Mello and Matt wait for L's 'guests'. Near plays with a little brainteaser puzzle, often looking up to see if I'm watching. Mello rests his head on my shoulder, watching the white-haired boy figure out the puzzle. The comment about being the better little brother has helped pacify Mello's usual competition with Near and made the blonde a little more willing to observe and learn from his rival. Matt sits on my other side, playing a videogame with a pretty decent OST. Yiru stands behind me with a clawed hand resting on my shoulder.

I look up as a lithe blonde woman drops from a vent, followed by a fairly buff blonde man. Matt waves as I look to Mello. He clicks the button on the little stopwatch in his hand.

"Twenty-three minutes, nineteen seconds," he reads out. "That's pretty good, all things considered."

"I thought we hadn't tripped anything," the man says, looking at the woman pointedly.

"Watari-ooji saw you and called us." I say. "So, you didn't trip anything, we were just expecting you. We were curious as to how quickly you could circumvent all of that security."

"I could've hacked the security and walked in the front door." Matt states boastfully.

"No, no you couldn't." I tell him. "Watari-ooji perfected all of those security measures. I think he said he took one or two of your programmes' basics and expanded upon them to make them more appropriate for physical security."

"I'd figure it out!"

"If you could disable the alarms, and keep them disabled."

Matt bumps me with his elbow. I roll my eyes, knowing that I just won that little debate.

"Come on, sweetie, let me up." I say to Near. He stands up, eyes never leaving his puzzle. I rise and approach the blondes, bowing slightly.

"Nice to meet you at last. I'm Ellen. These three are Matt, Near, and Mello."

"I'm Wedy, a thief by trade."

"And I'm Aiber, a professional conman. It's a pleasure, Ellen-chan."

Aiber takes my hand and makes a move to kiss my knuckles. I jerk my hand up at the last second, bumping his nose hard enough to hurt but not so hard as to do damage.

"Considering you just confessed and my boyfriend already knew that fact, if you don't step off he might just hand you to the NPA if you try anything." I state, stepping back and making a shooing motion. "So, you can consider this your 'bye-sexual' encounter. Bye, don't touch me."

Matt sings the tune of a win in the Final Fantasy games. Wedy has a small smirk on her lips. Aiber only takes a heartbeat to compose himself once more.

"My apologies. I admit, I tend to get a little carried away when I see an attractive young woman." Aiber says. "Might I ask which of our co-workers is your boyfriend?"

"The one you're working for."

I smile as L enters the room, followed by Misa, Touta, Rem and Kayo. L comes up behind me, slipping his hand into mine. Wedy's smirk has grown into a full grin, and I can tell she's eying Aiber from behind her impenetrable sunglasses.

"Ellen-nee, I did it."

I smile, returning to the three teens. Near shows me the finished puzzle, a combination of string and wooden pieces that have come together to somehow form a perfect circle with none of the string left hanging over.

"Nice work, Near." I say. "Are you gonna time yourself next time?"

"Mm-hmm, internally." Near agrees. He drops the toy against the ground, giving a little nod of satisfaction as the puzzle falls to pieces. He then lets out a sharp, annoyed exclamation, picking up a chip that's actually broken off.