Chapter 1: Confrontations?
Disclaimer: I do not own Meitantei Conan.
This is my first time writing for Conan, so I'd really appreciate any comments you all could give me. Do I stay in-character, for instance?
Some Japanese: Barou (How Conan usually says idiot-moderately affectionate), Aho (Kansei-dialiect, aka. what Heiji uses): Idiot (somewhat affectionately), Oi: Hey, -kun (often affectionate/ close relationship...usually used for guys who are younger or same age-not very macho-sounding, so might make people feel a little awkward depending on who calls them this), -san (suffix connating some respect, separation), Tantei (detective)
R&R, Please! Thanks so much and enjoy!
Two figures crawled through the dark ventilation system, trying to make some progress without making too much noise-the pipes would make slight clanging noises with each movement, but it wasn't enough to attract any attention unless anyone was really close by.
"Oi, Hattori," a voice growled, "Can't you go any faster?"
"It's not that easy, Kudou!" he hissed back, continuing to slowly put one hand after the other, ducking his head lower as he neared a bend in the path. "I have to deal with a full-size adult's body, after all!"
"Oh, well so sorry about that," Conan responded sarcastically.
"I hear something." The two detectives froze. Neither of them had said anything. They could hear some movement in the room below them.
Shit. They heard us!
The sound of footsteps got louder until they stopped directly below where Edogawa Conan (aka Kudou Shinichi) and Hattori Heiji were crouched, barely daring to breathe.
"It was somewhere above us… heheheh." Conan's heart froze. That was definitely Gin's voice. He couldn't let them find them. He had a feeling that THIS time, there would be no mistakes made in finishing him off…not to mention Hattori, who he'd dragged along. Well, no. Hattori had insisted he take him along, now that he'd located the inconspicuous office building which housed a great deal of the research and plans of the Black Organization.
"Looks like we have a little rat crawling around."
"Really, aniki? You want me to get him?" A boorish, slightly less intimidating voice asked. Definitely Vodka.
The first man didn't respond. Or at least, that's how it sounded to the detectives trapped above. Slowly, the two met each other's eyes.
The shrunken great detective of the east felt a wave of guilt wash over him as he saw his friend quickly disguise the fear in his eyes. This was HIS problem. He couldn't let Hattori get hurt just because he had to be so damned loyal.
Feeling something hard in his pocket, he remembered and closed his fist around the little capsule. This was what they were risking their lives for-and he didn't even know if it was really what they needed. Haibara had tried to describe its appearance, the little pill which would help her to develop a true antidote to Apotoxin-4869 but the Organization seemed to have changed things since she'd left. So he just had to hope that this would be worth it.
Assuming they could even get out of here alive.
He looked around for something-anything he could use to distract the murderers below them. Maybe he should jump through the vent into the room with them, surprising them long enough to give Hattori time to escape. But no. There was no way Hattori would leave him alone to fight them. Especially since he was stuck in his child's body. And besides, he couldn't communicate much of anything to the kansai detective in this darkness without being overheard.
Maybe something will come to me. The seconds passed and he had nothing. Dread continued to build up in his chest as he heard the sound of something heavy scraping-like furniture being- to stop directly underneath the nearest vent-only 4 feet from where the detectives hid.
Kuso. What now? One of the men was climbing onto whatever he'd moved, reaching up to open the vent. Any second now…
POP! From below them, perhaps on the other side of the room, there was a sound like firecrackers before a series of colorful-sounding explosions a little further away.
"A-aniki! It's Kaitou Kid!"
"I know that!" Gin's voice sounded more than a little annoyed. "You follow him. I'm going to deal with our friends here."
Conan's heart sunk. Man, they'd almost had a chance to escape.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a door being blown off its hinges. Followed by an explosion right below them and a string of curses from Gin. "YOU!"
Deciding to risk a quick glance through the vent, Conan saw the ruins of what must have been a table, and the back of what must have been a very angry Gin struggling to remove himself from the rubble. Glancing at Hattori, the two detectives nodded, and began to hurry along the passageway.
Soon, the sounds behind them died down, and they came to a dead end. Peering through the grate, the room was dark, but seemed to be unoccupied. Questioning Conan with his eyes, Hattori then began to carefully peel back the grate, opening the way for them to get out of the tight crawlspace they'd been stuck in for close to an hour. The vent opened into the side wall of a room, perhaps a floor above where they'd been with Gin and Vodka. Yanking himself out, Hattori stretched out his arms and legs, and rolled onto his back.
"Oh man! Never again will I take for granted just being able to stretch out…and stand up! I can't believe how tight that was." Hattori grumbled softly, and Conan, crawling out of what was considerably easier for his compact body, half-smiled at him.
"Thank god Kaitou Kid showed up. Guess he can be helpful sometimes, huh?"
"It's not the first time. He's a pain the ass, but he has his moments," the younger detective replied, beginning to take in their surroundings.
It was a much bigger room than it had appeared at first glance. It looked as if the walls between two rooms had been knocked down, with a connecting corridor between them…at closer inspection, the walls seemed to be made out of some odd type of metal. A bad feeling began to creep up in the shrunken detective's throat…
"Hattori," he muttered.
"Hm?"
"You don't think…they let us come in here, do you?"
Without answering, Hattori stiffened a little, walking over to examine the wall… it was totally homogenous (except for the vent), but then, double-taking and eyes widening, he saw that a thin sheet of metal had hardened over the entrance they had come in through.
"Kudou…you don't think…?"
Approaching what looked like a door, but with a flattened knob which looked as if it had simply been painted on, he turned around and grimaced, slowly nodding to Hattori.
"Yeah…ingenius, really. Somehow they made this room so that you can only enter it."
"There must be some way to undo the trick…"
Laughing slightly, Conan responded, "I doubt it. If they let us find our way in here, which it seems they DID, even if we were to get out, I'll bet you they're all standing outside, waiting for us…"
"Crap! Well, Kudou, it's been nice knowing you." Hattori smiled at him to hide the fact that he actually WAS worried.
There has to be something, Conan thought frantically. The window! No, of course, they must have sealed it too. He approached it to make sure, and sure enough, the odd filmly metal seemed to extend over the window glass as well.
Far from giving up, the two continued to search the room for something to get them out of this situation, when suddenly, a familiar voice shouted out, laughing.
"Hah! I don't think so! You think you can catch me?"
Conan and Hattori looked at each other in shock as the voice of Kaitou Kid approached their Jail cell. Kuso! They had both been secretly depending on help from the phantom thief to escape, but…if he were locked in WITH them…?
A second later, the film of metal over the door began to vibrate, and the form of Kaitou Kid phased through it…bizarre. The door must have opened from the outside, but there was no hint of it from within. It was simply as if Kaitou had slipped through a painting of a door on the wall…landing right into a surprised detective.
"Owww, my head!" The magician whined. "Hey, it's you, Tantei-kun!" Kaitou wrenched his white cape out from underneath the boy he had bowled over, then crouching down and grinning at his sometimes-adversary, sometimes-accomplice…at least, that was the way HE saw him.
Rubbing his shoulder which had slammed to the ground when Kaitou landed on him, Conan scowled up at the grinning face. "Barou. You do realize you just walked into their trap?"
"Hm? Whatever do you mean?" Kaitou asked innocently.
"He means that they meant you to find your way in here," Hattori put in. "This room. You can get in, but there's no way out…at least, as far as we've been able to find so far."
Kaitou looked up at the darker-skinned young man. "Oh, you are…that's right. Hattori Heiji-kun, right?"
"…kun?" Hattori looked at him like he was crazy. "I don't know how I look like a kun to you. Maybe to Kudou's girlfriend, but…" Flashing his friend a mischievous smirk as he jumped the kick he'd aimed at his legs, his face got more serious, remembering the situation they were currently in.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Conan looked up at him curiously. "I didn't know you had some connection to the Black Organization…"
Kaitou's ever-lighthearted expression darkened a shade as he responded. "Long story, bud. Maybe I'll tell you sometime, assuming we get out of here, that is…but let's just say I definitely have some personal matters to settle with these bastards."
"Well, what do you know. We've found some common ground," Conan smirked up at him.
"What about…OH." Understanding suddenly lit up the young theif's expression. It all makes sense now. I was wondering how the great Kudou Shinichi turned into a little kid. He's certainly no magician, after all. But of course, it would make sense that he would have looked into a crime organization of this magnitude…so they caught and shrunk him…
Conan shot him a warning glare.
"I know, I know! I'm not going to say anything!" He hissed back, aware that they could hardly have been in a worse place to reveal secrets to each other.
"Well don't worry, kid. I'll take revenge for both of us!" Kaitou said, slapping Conan on the back, which was quickly slapped off.
"Enough. Let's take another look around the place. If the three of us work together, there shouldn't be anything to stop us…" Conan said, partly to reassure himself.