L07-2 Multiple

A heavy silence hung over the Oval Office. The vice president and cabinet secretaries gathered around the beleaguered president. They exchanged distressed looks, but little else. Finally, Vice President Godwin had no choice but to break the silence. "The Death Note has proven to be authentic. If the next contingency fails, L will use the notebook to assassinate the president for certain. I recommend using a small tactical nuclear weapon. L must be eliminated."

"But to use a nuclear weapon against a friendly nation...The people of Japan are especially sensitive to the use of nuclear arms," said the secretary of state, a woman named Beal. "A tactical strike could lead to an all-out nuclear war just as surely as the Death Note threat."

President Hope tapped his fingers against the desk, as was his habit when deep in thought. The tapping echoed in the room as it also ticked off the passage of time.

Finally the tapping stopped. Hope looked up and said, "We have no alternative. Well use a tack nuke. Weffi say we were targeting Kira. L has already killed with the Death Note—he is the new Kira."

The mention of a new Kira brought everyone to a consensus. When the president moved to put in a call to the army's Special Forces, the red light on the hotline lit up again.

"What is this? It's from L again." Caught off guard, the president hit the speaker button. "What do you want, L? I told you that I needed more time to—"

"Mr. President, this is a different L from the L who has been threatening you."

"A different L.. .What do you mean?" The president looked to the others for an answer. The cabinet members assembled could only shake their heads and listen in on the conversation.

"Mr. President, you must be aware that L is not a single person but an investigative group comprised of multiple Ls."

"Y-yes."

The amorphous Detective L. The rumors, speculation, and hypotheses about L's identity were endless. One rumor proposed that it was the alias of the great detective Lloyd F. Scope, who had purportedly disappeared back in the '70s and died. (Although, were he alive today, he would be well over a hundred.) Then there was another rumor that the world's top three detectives, L, Eraldo Coil, and Danuve, were one and the same. And the most credible rumor, which the intelligence agencies sought to verify, was that L was not one person but an investigative group comprised of multiple Ls.

Ever since the emergence of L's name in society, the difficult and mysterious cases that he (or she) had solved were countless and far exceeded the number of arrests made by any one investigative bureau. That one person could crack so many high-profile cases was inconceivable. But not once had L made any definitive statement about whether L was an individual or a group until now.

"Let's say we call the person threatening you L-Prime. With his possession and use of the Death Note, L-Prime has broken from our investigative group and signaled his revolt against us." L's electronically altered voice resonated in the Oval Office. "This investigative unit will not forgive this betrayal. L-Prime's actions have profaned the L name and contradicts our mission. Leave L-Prime to us. We will bring this matter to a conclusion within one week. We will stake our reputation on it."

"All right, let me consider it." The president hung up the phone and began tapping on the desk again. Then he turned to the people in the room and said, "No tactical nuclear weapons."

"Mr. President?" the others shouted at once.

"I'm not entirely convinced by the call. But as long as there is the slightest possibility that there is more than one L, we have to realize that we might up end up going against all of them."

The vice president nodded. "Agreed. As long as we don't act first, L won't write the president's name in the Death Note. The best strategy for now is to wait a week, while putting off L-Prime's demand."

The president picked up the phone and was patched through to the director of the FBI. "Inform your agents on the L case that there has been a change in plans. Suspend the operation to eliminate L but continue to monitor his activities covertly. And eliminate anyone who tries to harm him."