Disclaimer: I don't own the Detective Conan gang, they all belong to their respective owners. (Who that is, I don't know.) I also don't own Mulder and Scully, they belong to Chris Carter and Fox Television. As well, I don't own Emile Paladin or his experiment. So, in other words, I don't own anything. I'm using names without permission, and this story is being used purely for the enjoyment of others, not as a moneymaking scheme.
Author's Notes: This is going to be my first of two DC/X-Files crossovers. I based this crossover on the X-Files book, 'Skin' by Ben Mezrich. This fic is a continuation of his story. I suggest you read the book in order to understand everything that went on in it, as I will not repeat every event in this story. Oh, and this is after Conan become Shinichi for good. (Don't ask me how, cause I didn't bother to think of that!) Um…also, whenever someone talks to Mulder or Scully, it's in English (Shinichi speaks English fluently) and most of the dialog is in English, unless specified. Well, the first part is all Japanese, obviously.
Legend:
~ =scene change
-- =POV change
" " = spoken lines
' ' = thoughts
~
Tokyo, Japan
~
The man walked down the street, his eyes shaded from the sun by dark sunglasses. His movements were fluid and graceful, but his face remained hard and emotionless. He shoved his right hand deep into the pocket of his camouflage-print khakis and grasped the syringe. A small smile flitted over his face, but only for a brief moment. He had finally gained the respect he needed to go on a job. But he needed a…test subject. His eyes scanned the crowd, skipping over the young girls. They were too street-smart to trust him. But there weren't many other people to choose from. Finally, he caught sight of a small woman. She looked bedraggled and was having trouble carrying her two large bags of groceries. He stepped up to her and said, "May I help you Ma'am?"
The woman looked at his face and quickly said, "Yes, thank you very much. I'm glad you came along, I was afraid I would lose my groceries."
The man took one of the bags from her. "How far is your home from here, Ma'am?"
"Quite far, unfortunately."
"Why don't we take my car? It's parked I a nearby alley." Little did the woman know, he had no car.
"If its not too much trouble…"
"It would be my pleasure. Besides, taking my car would save your feet."
The woman seemed hesitant, but only for a moment. "Alright. Thank you, you are so kind."
'You wish.' "Down this alleyway. My car's parked in the shadows at the back." He led the woman into the alley, right to the back. She noticed there was no car there. Her expression changed from one of weary to one of…the man didn't know and couldn't explain it.
"Um…your car's not here. Did someone steal it, or are we in the wrong alleyway?"
'This is too easy. She's so gullible.' "Um…I don't know…I thought I left my car here…" He put down the bag of groceries he was carrying, and slipped his right hand back into the pocket. He pulled out the syringe, filled with an opaque liquid. He yanked off the plastic cap, revealing the long and lethal hypodermic. He shook the syringe until a small droplet hung from the tip of the needle. The woman had her back to him all through this procedure. She turned on her heel to face him.
"Well, where do you…" she noticed the syringe, and her eyes widened. "What…what's that for? What are you going to do to me?" Her voice became shrill as she spoke.
His voice still calm, the man stepped forward, brandishing the syringe. "Oh, nothing that will hurt. Unless, of course, you struggle. Then I'll have to hurt you." He leapt forward, raising the syringe as he did so. The woman cried out and jumped to the side. The man landed on the cement with a thud. His hand released the syringe, and it hit the ground, shattering on the impact. He got up on his knees and glared at the woman. "You've ruined my assignment!"
The woman was too scared to move or cry out. She just pressed her body closer to the brick wall. Her eyes raced, she looked for a way out. There was no way she could defend herself. This man was just too strong. She lifted her hand to her chest. It shook as she did so. She realized she was breathing hard. Trying to calm herself, she sidestepped as the man stood up.
He waggled a finger at her. "Ah-ah-ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you." His eyes filled with rage once more, and he quickly closed the gap between him and the woman. He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her from the ground. The woman tried to pry his hand off her neck, but this man had super-human strength. His face darkened with rage, he hissed, "You ruined my first assignment! Now I'll never earn that respect back!"
The muscles in his arm stood out as he tightened his grip around her neck, almost crushing the bone. The woman cried out weakly, but she couldn't breathe in enough air for a proper scream. He lifted her higher, and tightened his grip again, listening to the satisfying grinding of her bones. In a final fit of rage, he threw her across the alley, and she crashed into the opposite brick wall headfirst. Her head splattered, creating an odd design on the red brick seven feet above the ground. He smiled, admiring his handiwork. With a brief nod, he spun on his heel and walked briskly from the alley, a cool aura surrounding him, as if he hadn't just killed a woman.
'It may not be what he wanted me to do, but I killed her, and that's all that counts.' He pushed his sunglasses farther up his nose. Another smile graced his face, but this time, it stayed there as he walked down the street with a slight bounce in his step.
–
The man was unaware of the flower girl across the street. She watched as he talked to the woman, helping her with her groceries, as he led her into the alley, and as he walked out of the dark alley, alone, with a bounce in his step and a smile on his face. The flower girl hurried to the crosswalk and into the alley. She walked cautiously into the shadows, wary of any traps or hidden attackers. She did not expect to find what she found.
She saw the splatter on the wall first. Puzzled, she stepped closer. She wondered what made the splatter so high on the wall. Her entire focus was on the wall, and her foot nudged something soft. She looked down, and gasped. The woman lay lifeless on the ground, headless. She screamed as loud as she could.
A police officer ran into the alley. He had been on a nearby corner when he heard the scream. He found the girl, white with fright and shaking. She stared at the ground, her eyes wide. The officer looked at the ground, and saw the body. "Oh, shit." He fumbled for his walkie-talkie, and he sent a quick message to headquarters. Then he went over to the girl and led her a few feet away from the body. He shuddered at the mental image that would forever be burned in the back of his mind. He did his best to comfort the shaking girl while the other officers arrived.
–
Elsewhere, Shinichi Kudo looked up. A scream had interrupted his argument with Ran Mori. He squinted his eyes against the glaring sun and searched for the source of the scream. He saw a crowd of people gathering around the entrance to an alley. Shinichi looked at Ran, then ran off toward the alley. Ran jogged after him. He pushed his way through the crowd, and Ran followed him. Shinichi approached the only officer on the scene. The officer was calming a girl down, and Shinichi guessed that she was the one who had screamed. "Excuse me, but what happened?" The officer pointed at the shadows, and Shinichi turned toward them. It didn't take him long to find the splatter on the wall. After all, it was seven feet above the ground. Shinichi's brow furrowed as he contemplated what caused the splatter. He heard Ran gasp.
"Shinichi, look down."
Shinichi looked, and he saw the body. "Oh, God." More police officers ran into the alley. When they all saw the body, most reacted in the same way. Shinichi began poking around the litter that was scattered throughout the alley. In the corner, he found a shattered syringe. The cement around the syringe was shiny, indicating the syringe had contained a liquid. The hypodermic lay nearby, the long, slender piece of metal was broken in two. "Hey, come check this out!" As an officer took care of the syringe, Shinichi walked over to the girl. She had calmed down a bit, but was still visibly shaken.
The officer noticed Shinichi, and said, "Miss, this is Shinichi Kudo. Perhaps you would like to talk to him?"
The girl nodded. Shinichi led her farther away from the scene, where they had a bit of privacy. "Mr. Kudo…"
"Please, call me Shinichi."
"Alright, Shinichi. Um…I don't know where to start. This is all so…so…so horrifying." She hid her face in her hands and she shoulders shook gently as she took in a shaky breath.
"It's alright, I understand what you're going through. Why don't you tell me how you found the body?"
The girl clasped her hands in front of her. "Um…well, I work at the flower stand across the street. I was bored, and I took to watching a man who was walking down the street. He seemed odd, because his face displayed no emotion or thought whatsoever. Anyway, he walked up to the lady that was killed, and offered to help her carry her bags. He talked to her a bit more, but I don't know what they said, I was too far away to hear anything. Then he led her into this alley, right into the shadows. I couldn't see or hear anything, but no more than five minutes later, he came out alone, and he was smiling and there was a bounce in his step. Curious as to what happened to the woman, I crossed the street and entered the alley. I saw the…the splatter first, then I found the body, and I screamed."
"Do you remember what he looked like?"
"Yes, though it was hard to tell from a cross the street."
"So, I take it, that if you saw him again, you would recognize him, correct?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"One more question. You didn't see anyone else enter or leave the alley around the same time?"
"No, just the man and the woman went in, and only the man left."
"Alright, thank you for your help. I suggest you go home and get some rest. You've had a bad scare today." The girl nodded silently. "I'll get you a police escort." The girl nodded again, and Shinichi conversed quietly with a nearby officer. "Don't talk to her about the murder, she's really shaken up, and she's already told me everything she knows." The officer nodded and led the girl home.
Shinichi turned to the coroner, who was examining the body. 'What did you find?"
"Well, that," the coroner pointed at the splatter, "was her head. But it seems that whoever killed her crushed her neck first. It seems as if she was thrown at the wall, but that's impossible. That," he pointed up again, "is seven feet up. This woman if no more than five feet tall."
"And if she was thrown, she must have been thrown really hard to shatter her head on impact. No one has that kind of strength, not even bodybuilders." Shinichi turned over the evidence in his mind. 'The only person that could have killed the woman would have been the man she was with. But no human has that strength…something is missing…or something's terribly wrong here.' Shinichi's thoughts were interrupted by gunshots.
Most of the officers ran out into the sunlight, blinking against the harsh light. They ran toward the source of the shots, the officer that was escorting the girl home. The girl was sitting on the hot pavement, white as a sheet. She had her face hidden in her hands, and her shoulders were shaking. The officer stood nearby, feet shoulder-width apart, gun held out in front of him. His face was also white, his eyes wide. Shinichi ran up to the officer.
"What happened?"
"She saw the guy, the guy that had killed that woman. He wouldn't stop, and I shot at him, trying t scare him. He stopped and looked at us. My bullets thudded into his chest, but he just smirked and walked away."
"How far away was he."
"Point-blank range. Those bullets should have killed him…I don't know how he survived…." The officer lowered his gun.
"Did you see which way he went?"
"Yeah, straight ahead." The officer gave Shinichi a quick description of the man.
"Alright," Shinichi called to the other officers. "Let's go! This guy is dangerous, but don't use your guns. This guy must have some sort of bullet-proof vest on."
"What do you suggest we use?"
"Stun guns, lowest voltage. We want to talk to him." The officers ran after the man, Shinichi following. Two officers stayed behind to take the girl and the other officer to the police station. The group caught sight of the man, just as he disappeared into a park.
"POLICE! FREEZE!"
The man didn't stop, he just ran faster. The police pursued him relentlessly, and cornered him by the lake. The police fanned out, blocking all escapes, and they held up their stun guns. The man's face registered pure fright at the sight of the guns. "Don't move!"
The man looked around, searching for any possible escape. When he found none, he stepped back into the low wall the surrounded the twenty-foot drop into the lake. 'I can't relay any information about the project! But I don't want to die…yet. I still have to report…what to do? What to do? I guess this is my only choice…' The man jumped forward, right at one of the officers. The officer fired his stun gun. The man fell to the ground, convulsing from the electric shock. When the convulsions passed, the man lay still. The closest officer checked for a pulse.
"He's dead. What was you gun set on?"
"L-lowest." He showed the other officers his gun. Sure enough, the dial was set to the lowest possible voltage.
"No man could die from this."
Shinichi spoke up. "And no man has the strength he had. Something strange is going on here, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."
~
Washington D.C. U.S.A.
~
Fox Mulder lay sprawled out on the couch. He was watching the late night news. Nothing much was happening in the world these days. The media didn't even cover the strange cases he and his partner, Dana Scully, covered on a regular basis. He was about to close his eyes and succumb to his exhaustion, when the newscaster's next announcement caught his attention.
"In Japan today, a woman was killed in a dark alley. The woman was said to have been thrown into a wall by someone with superhuman strength. Her head was shattered upon impact with the wall. The man suspected of killing her died from a jolt from a stun gun set at the lowest voltage. Police are still looking into these strange deaths…"
What came next, Mulder ignored. The facts from this case were the same as one he thought they had solved a few years back. Mulder got up from the couch and dug out his phone from under a pile of old magazines and newspapers. He dialed Scully's number. The phone rang five times, and Mulder was about to hang up, when his partner answered in a sleepy voice.
"Hello?"
"Scully, it's me…"
"Mulder, it's after midnight. What is it that couldn't wait till morning?"
"The news. Remember that case we solved a few years back? The one with Emile Paladin and the synthetic skin?"
There was a brief pause as Scully thought back. "Yeah, the one where you were almost turned into a drone?"
"Well, we didn't solve it. A woman was killed today, and the man suspected of killing her died when he was shot with a stun gun. Sound familiar?"
"Mulder, are you crazy? Emile Paladin died when his operation room exploded."
"Maybe he didn't actually die. Maybe he…"
"Mulder, Emile Paladin was NOT Leonard Betts. He couldn't have regenerated his entire body."
"But how do we know that?"
"Mulder," Scully's voice was stern, "this is insane."
"Maybe what we encountered…"
"Good night Mulder. Tell me in the morning." There was a click as Scully hung up the phone. Mulder sat there for a few moments longer with the phone still to his ear. He turned off the phone and picked up the remote. He scanned a few channels, looking for another news broadcast. Finally, he found another broadcast that was currently reporting on the death in Japan.
"…We have contacted one of the detectives in this case, Detective Kogoro Mori." A picture of a tall, thin man appeared on the screen, and he spoke in Japanese. Another voice translated his words.
"This case is an odd one, I'll admit that. But I have this case almost wrapped up. My great deductive skills will…"
Another man appeared on the screen. Another voice translated what he said. "What do you mean, 'almost wrapped up'? We still aren't even positive how the woman died!" A caption appeared beneath his name, identifying him as Shinichi Kudo.
"Um…" The interview tape cut out there.
"Neither the victim nor the suspect have been identified as of yet. In Taiwan-" Mulder switched off the TV. He sat and pondered the case a little while longer. Convincing Skinner to send them to Japan would take a bit of work, but Mulder would handle that in the morning. Finally, he fell asleep on the couch.
~
Mulder strode into the J. Edgar Hoover building that morning. He stepped into the elevator, and got off in the basement. He whistled a tune as he walked down the hall to his cluttered office. He noticed the door was open, and stepped inside. Scully sat in his desk chair, flipping through an old case file. She looked up when he entered the room.
"Morning, Scully. Which case?"
"The one you talked about last night." She closed the case file. "Thanks to your call, I spent the rest of the night turning over the possibility that we hadn't solved that case. I just had to get here early and look over the file once more."
"Did you find anything?" Mulder sat on the only, and very small, bare spot on his desk. The rest of the desk, and every other surface, was covered with files, papers, books, pictures, and the odd magazine.
"What I found more interesting, was what was missing." Mulder cocked an eyebrow. "All of our notes, the lists, the photos, and the autopsy reports were gone, replaced with fakes. We have no real evidence the case ever happened."
Mulder instantly thought of the Shadow Group. A group of men determined to keep the truth under wraps. They hid in the shadows of the government, watching every move Mulder made. On countless occasions, they had tried to kill him and Scully. When Mulder got too close to he truth, they stepped in, destroying evidence and killing witnesses. They had…'experimented' with viruses and an alien colonization attempt. They literally stopped at nothing when they wanted something.
"I guess we'll have to go solve the case again."
"We're going back to Thailand?"
"Nope, Japan, actually."
"Mulder, do you speak Japanese?"
"No…but I know a couple who were born and raised in Japan. And anyway, a lot of people in Japan know English to some extent."
Scully just sighed. "Let's hope this will go quickly." Mulder grinned.
~
Mulder looked at his watch and tapped his foot. Just the day before, he had succeeded in convincing AD Skinner to get the two of them tickets to Japan to resolve the case. Scully approached him, carrying two Styrofoam cups of coffee.
"Are they here yet?"
"No, our plane leaves in half an hour…"
"Fox!" Mulder turned around to see Yusaku Kudo and his wife approaching them.
"Yusaku, this is my partner Dana Scully. Scully, this is Yusaku Kudo, and his wife,Yukiko."
Scully shook hands with both of them. "Let's go get our bags checked in. Our plane leaves in a half-hour."
"Gomen nasai, we got stuck in traffic," said Mr. Kudo.
"Uh…what does 'gomen nasai' mean?" asked Mulder. "I don't speak Japanese."
"It means 'I am sorry.'"
"Oh, okay. Don't worry about the wait. All we care about is the fact that we didn't miss the plane." ~ Scully shaded her eyes from the sun with her hand. "Otousan! Okousan!" Mulder recognized the young man waving at his parents. "Fox, this is my son, Shinichi Kudo. Shinichi, this if Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. They have a background with the case you're looking into now." "That's great! Maybe you can explain what's going on here." "We can explain what's going on, but we can't explain how. We thought we closed this case a few years back," said Scully. The group went to claim their bags. As they were leaving, a girl ran up to Shinichi. Ran spoke in Japanese to Shinichi. "Shinichi! They've identified the substance in the syringe! Inspector Meguri told me to get you! Let's go!" "Hold on," Shinichi replied in Japanese. "Ran, this is Mulder Fox and Scully Dana." He turned to the agents and spoke in English. "This is Ran Mori." Ran bowed, and the agents did the same. "They've identified it, you say, let's go!" "Syringe?" "Yes, a shattered syringe was found at the scene, a liquid around it." "I think I know what it was. Did anyone touch the liquid?" asked Scully. "No." "Good, because if it's what I think it is, we'd be in more trouble." Shinichi's face displayed a puzzled look. He summoned a cab. "Damn it, Mulder. I'm starting to sound like you." "Oh, and it's my fault?" Scully just slapped his arm and climbed into the cab.
~ Author's Notes: That was fun to write. The next part is kinda sketchy right now…but I'll get it up as soon as I can. I really suggest you read the book. Then you'll know what the liquid is…otherwise you have to wait for the next chapter ^-^' I'm starting to like this story…