The Gamble of the Silver Bullets

After finishing the final episode of the Clash of Red and Black ark of DC and this story/scenario struck me as I lay in bed thinking about it. Tell me what you think.

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Important! If you have not watched or read the Akai Arc yet (episodes 491-501, chapters 587 – 609) DO NOT READ THIS! Not only will it not make sense but it will spoil one of the BIGGEST plot twists in the series so far.

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Quick A/N: I use a few quotes from the episodes in this but the wording is not going to be exactly the same because I'm too lazy to go and look up the scenes. The meanings are still the same though, so please don't tell at me or anything…

One more thing: I use the Japanese name format. Meaning family name first.

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"I think you and I might be thinking the same thing," Conan smirked up at the sharp-eyed FBI agent leaning against the wall beside the hospital's room access door. He'd immediately noticed the cell phone the agent held but chose to ignore it in favor of studying the man. He was able to see and understand the agent much better now that he'd learned about the man's past. He finally understood now why Akai's presence was so similar to theirs.

"Ho?" Akai looked down at him with his eyebrows raised, a smile of his own appearing. On the inside he was shaking his head wondering, not for the first time, just who or what, this child known as Edogawa Conan was. When Jodie had first told him about the young boy she'd dubbed "cool kid" he'd thought she had to have been either joking or grossly overestimating the boy's intellect. Now that he'd spent time with the boy himself however, Akai was beginning to think that she'd actually underestimated it. At first, Akai figured the boy was one of those "child geniuses" that are sometimes heard about, but even that didn't seem to completely explain the mystery that was Edogawa Conan. After all, child geniuses are still children, but the eyes that continued to meet his gaze were unlike that of any child he'd ever met. He refocused on the boy as he started to speak again.

"You're planning to allow Mizunashi Rena, whose true identity is Hondou Hidemi, to be retrieved by the Black Organization so that she can continue her work as an undercover CIA agent, right?" Conan paused slightly to watch as the man's eyes widened slightly. The reaction lasted barely a moment, but it was all the confirmation the shrunken detective needed and he continued before he was interrupted.

Akai listened to the boy's deductions as he explained about the NOC's son's blood changing type due to his having a bone marrow transplant to cure his leukemia as well as what he suspected really transpired the night Hondou Ethan had died. He also not only knew that Hondou Eisuke was currently in the hospital, but also exactly which room he was in. Finally the boy looked back up at him from where he'd been looking out over the city, watching it glow with artificial light in the darkness, "but then, you already knew all of that didn't you, Akai-san?"

Akai stood there silently for an entire minute before giving the boy a slow nod. Seeing the action the boy's face transformed into the perfect image of an innocent child as he put his arms behind his head and laughed, "I knew it!"

Akai blinked at the change, but before he could say anything Conan twisted his body to look up at him once again. The smile was still on his face, but his eyes no longer had the childish sparkle they'd had moments before as he spoke, "So? How much have you planned so far?"

Akai was sorely tempted to give the boy an extremely deadpanned look. I think I'm beginning to understand what Jodie meant when she said Edogawa Conan was like a miniature Jekyll and Hyde.

Shaking his head slightly at himself, hardly believing he was doing this, Akai Shuuichi began explaining to an elementary school student plans that he hadn't even mentioned to his boss yet. By the time he'd finished ten minutes later, the boy had his chin trapped between his thumb and forefinger, which Akai recognized as the boy's "serious thinking" pose.

Conan remained in silent, deep thought for several minutes before finally turned back to look at Akai. "You're right about keeping this from the others. No doubt those guys will find a way to listen to our communications. But I wouldn't tell Black-san either, even if it means getting reprimanded later. The only people you should tell are Mizunashi Rena herself and the agent who will be driving the car she's in. Speaking of which, do you have anyone in mind yet?"

"I do. Andre Camel. He knows the area and has excellent driving skills.I've already contacted him and he should be arriving her soon."

"Will he do it? The plan for him getting out alive is far from foolproof."

"He'll do it."

Conan glanced up at him, wondering about the certainty of Akai's answer. He contemplated him for a few moments before choosing to let it be for now and instead moved on to his next point. "What's the plan for after they get Mizunashi back?"

"I was trying to come up with that when you showed up," Akai smiled slightly as he glanced at the boy. "While Mizunashi's regained consciousness, she's still in pretty rough shape and the crash will take a lot out of her."

"You're right…extended exposure to the g-forces created by the high speeds, as well as the amount of adrenaline that would likely be released…it might be enough to send her back into a coma."

"Right. There's also the fact that nobody else will know about what's really happening so-"

"Our people might take unnecessary risks in an attempt to stop them from getting away which could lead to someone getting seriously hurt or killed," Conan finished with a slight groan as he sat down against the wall, crossing his legs and laying his chin on his hand.

"Exactly," Akai said as he raised an eyebrow slightly in amusement at the boy's new position. "That's why I think it would be best to arrange things so that the cars are as spread out as much as possible so that it would be difficult for the others to turn around and give chase."

"It'll still seem too easy to them. They'll definitely get suspicious. Especially that guy."

"That guy?" Akai asked as he watched Conan sit up straighter out of the corner of his eye.

"Gin."

Surprised at the sudden, ice-cold tone of Conan's voice, Akai turned his head to look down at him fully. He noticed with surprise that the boy's hands were clenched so tightly that they were shaking slightly. He could practically feel the boy's hatred towards the long-haired man rolling off of the small body in waves.

This isn't the sort of reaction a person has to someone they've only heard about. But when could he have possible met Gin of all people. More importantly…if he knows enough or has seen enough to have this much hatred towards the man…why is he still alive?

The moment passed as quickly as it had come and Akai was startled from his thoughts when Conan looked up at him again. "Let's say we do let them get away after that and they do get suspicious. How do you think they'd react? Are they more likely to kill her immediately or would they test her?"

"It's hard to say for certain, of course, but in this case…" Akai closed his eyes in thought for several moments, "I don't think they would kill her out right. Not if everything goes as planned."

"But they would test her?" Conan's tone showed he was looking more for confirmation than actually asking a question.

Conan stood up when Akai nodded. He places his hand to his chin once again as he began to think aloud. "In a situation like this, what they would be most suspicious of is that we turned Mizunashi into a double agent against them. The best way to prove that that isn't the case would be to have her do something in direct opposition of the group they suspect her of allying with."

"The quickest and simplest way would be to have her kill someone from the FBI. It kills two birds with one stone."

"Agreed," Conan nodded, barely glancing up at the input. "As for their target…Black-san's certainly a possibility due to his higher rank, but he himself doesn't pose much of a direct threat to them due to his age. Jodie's also possible due to her knowledge of Vermouth, but considering Vermouth's past actions, I think it's more likely that she would want to take care of Jodie personally."

"Which leaves me," Akai said smiling coldly. "If it comes down to it, I'll be the one they choose to target. I'm sure Gin's looking for revenge for our last encounter."

"Not to mention you also infiltrated them in the past."

Akai blinked at this, "So they told you?"

"Yeah, including how you did it."

"I see."

A heavy silence passed over them before Conan spoke, "what you learned during that time is going to be the key to whether my plan will work or not."

"What do you mean?"

"You've seen how they think," Conan looked up with an unreadable expression. "Taking into account what you know of them and what they know of you, and knowing that they plan to test Mizunashi Rena's loyalty to the Organization by killing you, how exactly do you think they'll go about doing it? Location, means, time, the more aspects you can think of, the better."

Akai was quiet for several moments before speaking quietly, "I'll need time to think."

"That's fine," Conan nodded.

Akai glanced at his watch then grinned at the boy, "in the meantime, how about we open the first act before it gets too late?"

Conan nodded, smiling back, and the two made their way down the stairs to the 4th floor.

"You continuously surprise me, kid," Akai smiled down at him as they walked down the hall.

"I'm just glad you're on my side," Conan said smiling himself.

"Same here."

After their talk with Mizunashi Rena, Conan went into an empty hospital room to get a couple hours rest while Akai went off to think.

Conan awoke to the sound of the door to "his" room opening and closing. In one swift motion he sat up, flicked on his watch-light, and aimed it toward the door. The watch spotlighted Akai who was currently holding a hand up to ward off the bright light.

"Sorry," Conan quickly switched the light off. "I guess I'm a bit jumpy."

"Considering the circumstances, I'd be more worried if you weren't. Was that your watch?"

"Yeah, an old friend of mine made it for me."

"Sounds handy, maybe I should talk to James into getting some made for us."

"Since you're here, I take it you're done thinking?" Conan asked turning serious.

"Yeah, I have a decent outline at least," Akai nodded.

"Right now that'll be plenty. With so many things to factor in, it's actually better to keep things somewhat vague in case something unexpected happens."

"Right. The most likely time for it to happen is at night in a remote place doesn't have much traffic at that time. The place is also likely to be somewhere where there's a discreet spot where it's possible to watch what's going on, most preferably while still being able to leave quickly if necessary." Akai paused to glance over at Conan who was writing everything in a small notebook. He glanced up at Akai.

"I can think of a couple locations around here that might work, but I'll have to check them out myself to be sure," Conan nodded for him to continue.

"The Organization knows I have a pretty good sixth sense, so they'll probably send Mizunashi in alone, of course with a hidden camera and mike. They'll also have a way for her to hear them."

"How many people do you think will be there to make sure things go as planned?"

"The more people there are the more likely I'll be to notice them. I'm thinking it'll most likely just be Gin and his partner."

"Vodka," Conan muttered almost unconsciously. He didn't notice Akai's look of surprise as he wrote the information down.

"As for the most likely way they'd try to kill me," Akai couldn't quite keep all of the wryness out of his voice, but if Conan noticed he didn't say anything, "Assuming that Mizunashi is unable to get any kind of clue to me about what's going on, I think it's most likely that she'll shoot me on the left side of my chest first hoping that I'll have a bulletproof vest on and knowing that even if I don't that the shot won't be instantly fatal. Gin would then undoubtedly order her to shoot me in the head. Of course that's only if Gin didn't order the headshot from the start. Although he seems like the type who, if given the option, enjoys watching his enemies squirm before killing them."

"Agreed," Conan said as he finished his notes, closed the book up, and put it back in his pocket. He glanced up to find Akai looking at him strangely and sighed. "I imagine you must have quite a few questions for me at this point."

"Just a couple," Akai said sarcastically.

Conan sighed again before sliding off the bed. He wondered over to the chair beneath the window and stepped up onto it so he could look outside. A couple minutes passed before he turned around to face Akai. "What I'm about to tell you can never leave this room. You can't repeat it to anyone, understand?"

Akai's eyebrows rose as he looked into the boy's eyes. He could see both determination and fear within them, along with other emotions he couldn't quite identify. Akai felt his own expression become serious as he nodded. "You have my word."

Conan continued to study him for several moments more before he took a deep breath and let it out. "The first thing you need to know is that 'Edogawa Conan' is only an alias I was forced to assume. My real name is Kudou Shinichi…"

"Jodie-sensei, why don't you just borrow my cell phone for a while?" Conan smiled up at the blonde FBI agent. He'd been hoping, right up until the moment he'd received the signal, that things wouldn't come down to that. But they had. He'd waited until the opportunity presented itself to offer his cell phone as a replacement for the one in which Akai had placed a virus in advance, making doubly sure he grabbed the phone on the right. He took out his sim card and handed it to her while he mentally ordered his heart to slow down.

The meetings in one of the places we'd planned for. That was the thing you were most worried about! Stop freaking out...He took a deep breath and let it out. They'd finished the preparations days ago. When Shinichi had called his parents for advice, his father had revealed that one of his acquaintances had been developing a bulletproof mesh cap, and that he had developed some working prototypes. Shinichi's parents arrived the next day after picking up the prototypes.

Shinichi quickly understood why they were prototypes. The material that was used was quite thick as well as heavy, making it extremely difficult to move naturally while wearing it. It was, apparently, also extremely difficult to hide under synthetic skin. After Yukiko had declared death on the inanimate object for the third time, the remaining Kudos had chosen to quietly vacate the premises temporarily. Eventually though, after an all-nighter and several unique curses that Shinichi couldn't remember ever hearing in his real childhood, Kudo Yukiko managed to successfully conceal the cap. Yukiko then proceeded to teach Akai, as she put it, "the proper way to die." The trick was completed with the addition of a few concealed blood packs.

They'd gotten more time than thought they would before Mizunashi called which meant that Akai was able to get more practice in. His mother had called it an Oscar-winning performance and had even dragged Shinichi off to watch their final practice run. As he watched, Shinichi had to admit that his parents had really outdone themselves; he'd had to remind himself several times that what he was watching wasn't real, especially as he watched the blood pour from the FBI agent's head. Of course, when it was over and they finally told him that they'd used live rounds (Akai had apparently insisted on it) he'd yelled at all of them until he was hoarse. Not that Akai was affected; in fact, he'd started laughing a couple minutes into it.

Yes, they had done everything they could. They'd even gotten real blood from the hospital's blood bank to use for the blood packs. The only thing Conan could do now was wait and pray nothing went wrong.

"Thank you, I'll use it then," Jodie said as she took the cell phone offered to her.

"Here's the cell phone I borrowed from you."

Conan looked from the red and black cell phone up to Jodie-sensei's face. He placed an innocent, questioning look firmly on his face while his heart rate doubled instantly. The female FBI agent looked so…normal. But then, Akai had told him that she was good at hiding her emotions when she needed to. Shinichi repeated that to himself over and over to himself as he reached out to take the phone.

"You're already done with it?"

"Yes," Jodie gave him a smile before she turned to leave, "thanks a lot, Conan-kun."

This was the moment he'd been dreading. The cell phone he'd given her wasn't the one that Akai had touched. Instead, it was the one that held the fingerprints of the cadaver his father had managed to get a hold of after calling in several favors.

It was the cruelest part of their plan, but also one of the most essential. If they'd succeeded, Jodie would think Akai was dead. But if they'd failed…he'd be forced to reveal everything to Jodie, who believed Akai had survived.

It all came down to the serial number of the phone he was holding. If everything had gone as planned, the serial number should be different from yesterday due to it being replaced after the original was taken in as evidence after the fingerprints matched those of the dead body. But if the number was the same…

Shinichi mentally shook himself, and as soon as Jodie had her back to him he turned around and opened the phone. Flipping over the back cover, his eyes quickly found the string of digits. He quickly scanned the numbers.

The serial numbers were different.

Without thinking, he turned around and called to the retreating FBI agent.

"Jodie-sensei?"

He mentally kicked himself when she turned to look at him. He couldn't tell her. Even though he could ease her sadness he knew that doing so would risk everything.

"What is it?" Jodie asked as she gave him a smile that he now knew was fake.

"That is…Good luck!" he managed to force a small smile onto his face.

"Right," Jodie smiled back, turned, and walked away.

Conan's smile vanished as soon as she turned away. He felt the sunlight reflect off the lenses in his glasses as he guiltily turned his head toward the ground as he said in his mind what he couldn't say aloud. I'm sorry, Jodie-sensei.

"Conan-kun!" Ayumi's voice called out behind him quickly followed by Genta's

"What are you doing?"

"We're going to be late!" Mitsuhiko reminded him.

Conan remained still and silent for a few moments longer before turning to look at his friends with smile, "right, let's go."

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And that's it! Most likely this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I couldn't help but feel that Akai died too easily, ya know? Plus, I just finished watching the following two episodes (Blind Spot in the Karaoke Box 1 & 2) and Conan's response after Eisuke told him about a possible FBI death has made me even more suspicious.

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Depending on what happens in the series I MIGHT add more to this, but for now it is simply a oneshot.

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Please R&R and let me know if you like it! ^_~