Aaaaand... action ;)
Chapter 2 : Illusion
"- Ladies, ladies... Looks like that break I took didn't do you any good..." The Thief smirked as he was toying with his newest prey with his fingers, under the two men's glares, both trapped under a cage the museum's owner had set beforehand. "I'm a bit disappointed, Tantei-han , Nakamouri-keibu...
- Damn thief, just let us out !" The inspector growled, as snappy as ever, squishing his face against the metal to stretch his arm as far as possible, almost touching the emerald.
Heiji and Aoko's father had been the first ones to spot the Thief and had rushed after him, to find themselves stopped by one of the traps laid around in the museum. Quite usual for the inspector, a bit disappointing for the Osakan who was still a bit out of it after his quarrel with Kazuha.
"- Kid ! " He heard Saguru's voice as he came into the room with Kudô on his heels, making him facepalm at the idea his friends would find him in such an embarrassing situation.
"- Ah, Tantei-san, Tantei-kun, long time no see !" Kaito smirked grabbing some invisible cable on his left after he pocketed the emerald. "Sorry for such a short reunion but I have to take my leave with my new friend here... " He falsely deplored, tapping his vest, just where he hid the jewel.
As if he had some jetpack hidden in his cape, he skyrocketed to the glass ceiling thanks to his motorized cable and, with one last wink and one last wave of the hand, he opened a window and left.
"- Let's head to the roof, he will not be able to use this glider, it is too low !" Hakuba pointed out, turning to the hallway leading to the stairs.
"- Ok !
- Hey, help me out first, Shinichi !
- Crap..." The azure-eyed detective swore, hesitating to follow the half brit who was already running to the roof, a bit annoyed to be slowed down in this "friendly" contest.
"- Come on...
- Tsk, you know that, if Saguru wins tonight, he'll remind it to us every day and every night, Heiji..." He observed as he pushed the switch to free both men.
"- This isn't over yet ! " Hattori said as he crawled on the floor to pass under the cage that was slowly raising thanks to Shinichi. "Let's go ! "
o.O.o
Panting as he was finishing his second flight of stairs, Saguru's attention was drawn by some red lights, on the steps just above his head.
"What the..." He thought, taken by a bad presentment, rushing even more to catch them.
And indeed, his fears concretized as he saw those lights belonged to a helmet reposing on a dark shadow of the shape of a man, when he found himself in the same corridor than him, the one that lead to the roof.
"- Spider ?!" He called, knowing he was in presence of his nemesis.
His call was full of rage and of bottled frustration: that man had succeeded so many times in slipping through his fingers, leaving a trail of corpses behind him... Having to stop the investigation about the assassin was one of the hardest things he had to do when he was half forced to focus on his studies.
"- Oh, you ? " The man said, with a taunting voice, turning to see the young man. "What was your name already ? It's been so long, I can't remember all the useless ones I come across...
- Hakuba Saguru. Detective." The blond haired answered, tightening his fists to try not to react to the insult, careful of the man's slightest moves, knowing how dangerous he could be.
"- Well, excuse me, Saguru-chan, but I have another prey tonight...
- Do not think I'll let you escape !
- Oh, and how do you plan to avoid ... this !"
The half brit, expecting something like that, hid his eyes behind his arm, looking only at the criminal's legs to avoid being hypnotized.
"- Haha, I'd like to know how you'll avoid my needles if you don't look at me, boy..." The professional murderer laughed, taking out some of his favourite weapons.
"- Saguru !" Shinichi and Heiji called as they saw their friend rolling on the floor, trying to avoid a needle he couldn't see, his arm still in front of his face.
"- Do not look at him !" He warned, turning to the newcomers. "He is going to..."
But he was already too late, he could see it at the empty eyes of the two other detectives, they were already caught in the man's illusion.
"Bloody h..."
o.O.o
The former pint-sized detective had barely the time to blink : when he opened his eyes again, he was dazzled by a strong light and forced to close them back. Not remembering why he was there, he tried to lift his hand to protect his eyes but noticed with panic both were tied in his back. His heartbeat accelerated as, barely opening his eyelids, he saw his feet were also circled by a plastic link, preventing him to get up, forcing him to stay on the floor, leaning on a wall behind him. But what hit him the most was to see the small length of his legs, almost as if...
"- Ah, finally awake, Edogawa Conan ? "
"... As if I was back to a 7 years old body... What just happened ?! And that voice, I know it..."
"- Or should I say, Kudô Shinichi ?"
Conan froze, both at the mention of his name and at the fact he remembered who owned that voice.
"- Gin." He spitted, squinting to see a black shadow behind the light.
The detective knew there was something wrong with him being small, with him being prisoner of Gin and even with the fact the man standing in front of him but couldn't pinpoint why, the liquid terror flowing in his veins forbidding him to think straight.
The man in black stepped forwards, kneeling to Conan with a mad smile, his left hand playing negligently with a knife, as if he was trying to think about the best part to pierce first to hear some nice cries before killing the small detective.
Conan clenched his teeth, looking at the man in the eyes, not willing to give him the satisfaction to whimper like a child as he felt the cold blade touching gently the skin of his cheek.
"- But before we play together..." Gin said, suddenly getting up while the boy unconsciously sighed. "... I think you should know me killed most of your relatives, the rest should soon follow... But we kept the best for you to see. Vodka !"
Eyes widened by incredulity, the scene he was facing being such an impossibility in his head, the detective saw, as the blond-haired lowered the light, the other man in black, half supporting half holding a long-haired girl, blood trickling along her face and from a corner of her lips, staining the white shirt she wore with scarlet.
Ran.
"- H.. hey..."
Eyes watering as he saw the difficulties the girl had to even pronounce that word, proof of the internal damages she probably suffered, the kid gulped and crossed her look. "Ran..."
Gin was now behind her, raising his blade to position it just near her throat, looking at the small detective with a smirk.
"- I love you, Shinichi..." She sadly said, forcing a gentle smile on her face before the knife moved.
"- RAAAAN !"
o.O.o
"- Shinichi-kun ! Shinichi !"
Saguru had been hesitant, wondering if he should warn Kaito and try to take Spider with just the both of them or wake up his friends to be four against one.
The fact the man could control his friends like puppets finished to convince him he should find a way to get them out of Spider's illusion first, to avoid an attack from behind if they were manipulated in the fight.
But the boys weren't answering his calls : he had started with the Tokyoite, seeing he was staring at nothing, shivering with wide eyes, not reacting to the hands he put on his shoulders, too deep in the nightmare.
Hearing some noise where Heiji was, he turned his head to see the detective just fell on his knees, hyperventilating, looking for air like some fish out of the ocean.
"- Heiji-kun ! Get a grip of yourself ! "
Noticing his calls were as inefficient on him as they were on Shinichi, he gave up on the gentle ways and settled for an old good slap through the face.
The Osakan's eyes at least focused on Hakuba in front of him and he started to pant to catch his breath.
"- What... What the heck was that ?!" He swore, shivering as the last fragments of his nightmare, him letting go of Kazuha that day they fell from that cliff and jumping after her in the river feet below, half drowning himself, faded away.
His face stinging, he brought his hand to his already bruised side, moving his jaw as he felt his pain had worsened.
"- Sorry about that, Heiji-kun, but you weren't waking up..." Saguru apologized, lending him a hand so he could get up.
"- Never mind... If that was the cost ta get out o' this bad dream, I take it..."
The blond haired nodded to the Osakan before doing the same for Shinichi. The boy shook his head when he came back to his senses, staring at his hands once again normal-sized, leaving little doubts for his friends as to what has been his nightmare.
"- Let's go, he is going after Kid, we must stop him ! "The half brit declared, knowing they couldn't idle her anymore, as the criminal was perfectly able to put Kaito in danger with his abilities.
"- What's that guy ? " Shinichi wondered as they all rushed to the staircase going to the roof.
"- His name is Spider, he is an assassin, specialized in hypnosis..." Saguru explained as he opened the roof's door. "Just do not look at him in the eyes !"
o.O.o
Kaito let his arm down with a sigh. Once more, the jewel he exposed to the moonlight kept its dull colour, once more he wasn't holding Pandora in his hands.
After more than four years hunting down the stone, he was starting to wonder if it really existed. The Organization he was fighting was convinced of that fact but what if it was in the bottom of the ocean ? Or destroyed in an accident ? Lost forever ?
He had stolen so many jewels he couldn't even remember half and, even with those trips abroad to search a larger area, the results were still close to none, and the deadline was closer and closer, the Organization more and more desperate to get his hands on it.
The Thief pocketed the emerald and looked at the moon, putting a hand on his hat with a little sign of the head in a kind of respectful salutation to the Friend of the thieves.
That hand finally showed to be the only thing that avoided him to end with a needle in the head, though he couldn't retain a pained cry when he felt it go through his palm.
Turning his look to see where the attack came from, he heard a laugh on his right, a laugh he knew too well, associated to three red lights...
"- Spider !" Kaito recognized, lowering his eyes to look at the man's feet and clumsily getting his card gun out, forced to use it as a left-handed with his damaged right hand.
"- Kid-chan... " The criminal greeted, preparing more needles. "You know you won't be able to avoid those if you don't look at me..."
Angry at himself to have been hurt in such an incapacitating way just at the beginning of that fight against quite a formidable opponent, he quickly took refuge behind a corner, after stopping a few needles in midair thanks to well-aimed cards.
"- When will you understand real men need more than toys ?" Spider taunted, heading in some swift moves to the Thief's hideout.
"- I'm a kid, these toys suit me..." Kaito retorted with a childish smile, barely avoiding that other needle the murderer just sent at him.
Another one sent him against the guardrail with a hiss as his wounded hand hit the metal and destabilized him and he sweat-dropped when he tried to stabilize himself, feeling he was in a kind of pinch.
"- The hide and seek is over, Kid... Time to say hi to your predecessor in the other world." The assassin laughed, getting another needle out.
His move was stopped by a soccer ball hitting his wrist at fast speed and Spider turned to see the three detectives were heading to him, the Osakan being quite fast to rush towards him with a menacing glare on the face.
"- Tsk, you won't have your bodyguards around you every time, Kid... No more games next time, we'll play the big leagues..."
And he disappeared in a dark smoke.
"- That damn... " Heiji swore as he used the guardrail to stop himself in his run, his target not being there anymore. " Ya ok ?
- Yea...
- Unless ya're into cosplayin' as Wolverine, I'd say ya aren'... " The Osakan deplored, seeing the needle still going out of his hand.
"- Do not remove it." Hakuba ordered as he met them, seeing the Thief was going to get rid of it. "It won't be of any good for you.
- Hai, mother..." He smirked, getting rolling eyes from the blond-haired. The last detective finally joined them, being a bit delayed as he stopped beforehand to aim at the criminal's hand. "Ah, thanks for that soccer ball, Tantei-kun.
- Anytime. That old good belt has still its advantages... So, what was that friend of yours ?
- This is not really the place to speak about that... " Hakuba stated with a dark face. He then turned to Kaito. "I guess that's not the good stone ?
- Nope..." Kaito deplored with a sad smile.
"- Give it to me then, I will bring it back to Nakamori-keibu. Let's meet in the office after that, so I can tend your hand...
- Ok, Doc' !"
o.O.o
"- Here !" Heiji said as he threw a pack of ice to Kaito and kept one for him and his bruised face.
"- Thanks ! Nice settlement you have here boys..." The Thief pointed out, looking around him from the couch he was seated in, with both detectives now in front of him. "Looks tidier than last time I came...
- We barely moved two days before you came, of course it was messy..." Shinichi pointed out with an indulgent smile.
"- I'm back ! " Saguru said as he entered, being a bit late as he fetched his brand new medicine material by his father's, where he left it. "Ok, now that I have the proper material, time to look at that hand...
- You should keep your stuff here, Saguru..." The Tokyoite joked. "With Heiji around, you're not finished with bringing that bag back and forth...
- Well, since his last bruise is my fault, I will refrain myself from giving any support to that assumption, Shinichi-kun.
- All good, Saguru." The Osakan smiled behind his ice pack, as always forgiving easily. "So ? Will we have more information about M. Creepy ?
- He is a criminal I used to hunt..." The blond-haired explained as he put his gloves and started to manipulate the boy's hand, to his displeasure. "A professional killer. Who seems to enjoy going after our favourite Thief..." He added, eyeing Kaito with a dark look, wondering what he'd done again to draw Spider's attention.
"- Well, he works a bit with "my" Organization. And they recently have been pretty aggressive : with the Volley comet coming soon, they are quite desperate to lay their hand on their beloved Pandora. Being a major hinder for them, they sent him after me, even if I was abroad.
- Ya've been busy, Thief." Heiji pointed out with an ironic smile.
"- Well, you know me... Ouch !" He complained, giving a pained looked to the half brit when he removed the needle.
"- Stop being such a baby, Kaito-kun. You clearly have been through far worse... Try to move ?"
The only thing the doctor received as an answer was a pouting glare.
"- That or I cut it.
- I thought you studied medicine, not butchery, Saguru..." The Thief smirked, though he knew, despite his straight face, his friend was joking.
He docilely made a few moves, under the blond-haired guidance.
"- Good, it looks like nothing major was hit...
- So you said he was after you ?" Shinichi asked after a small pause, to come back to the main subject.
"- Yea, got one or two additional scars thanks to him. Finally, I was lucky not too stay too long in the same place while we were travelling with Aoko..." He admitted, looking at Hakuba when he stitched his wound after a slight anaesthesia. "Hey, you're not that bad, I don't feel anything...
- Why do you think I finished in four years ? I trained day and night to master all the techniques I could.
- Will appear to be useful, this forced exile then... So, as to the main subject, what else about Spider... His true name is Gunter Von Goldberg II, well, that could be an alias but that's the name he uses in the mundane world. He has a magic show centred on hypnosis and uses his skills for more offensive purposes when he puts that three red eyed helmet. His favourite weapons are, well, you have a nice sample right here, some kind of long needles. And he's not far to be as good as me disguise speaking." Kaito concluded, taking the ice-bag Saguru was holding to him as he had finished to bandage his hand.
"- That's a nice friend ya got yerself, Kaito..." The dark-skinned grinned, preferring to joke instead of worrying about having such an opponent.
"- The kind I would like to see in a jail..." The half-brit growled, jaw clenched with frustration.
"- I've rarely seen you like this, Saguru... " Shinichi observed, noticing the agitation of the usually phlegmatic detective.
"- It has been too long he is on the run, someone has to stop him. And I would be delighted to be that someone... Or part of it, at least." He admitted, looking into his friends' eyes, his unsaid question in his eyes.
"- Oh, ya'd like us ta go fer some spider huntin' ? Count me in, I've never really liked those things anyway...
- Weakening Kaito's Organization has always been one of our goals and that'd help." Shinichi shrugged.
"- Oh, let's organize an old good war council, it's been such a long time ! " The Thief pointed out with nostalgia.
"- Hey, before goin' ta such depressin' stuff, tell us how was Vegas ! Have ya been arrested ?" Heiji asked with a wink to Kaito.
"- Maa... Not really..." The Thief started with a smile, before starting to describe his honeymoon.