Title: Han Bun
WARNING! THIS IS A MALE MALE PAIRING, not your cup of tea? Don't read then.
Category: Meitantei Konan/Detective Conan(Case Closed)
Pairing: Gin & Shinichi
A/N: I'm posting this one from an iPad, so the formating might be a little on the odd side. I will say this much its much odder that previously thought... I will try to have the next part up a little sooner, but no promises. Thank you for all the kind words and encouragement. Also I didn't actually play it, I watched Markiplier, highly recommend for some good chuckles.
Thank you for all the alerts as well, those are as awesome as the reviews in their own way. Enjoy. If there are any crucial mistakes let me know, same with the little ones, I'll be sure to fix them when I get the chance.
[Chapter four]
MEGURE KEIBU
He was surprised that Kudou agreed to show up, but he was completely out of depth. A local children's entertainment chain had what they were suspecting to be a series of terrible murders over night. Six people had turned up missing, and one bloody animatronic suit had shown up. Takagi was interviewing some of the witnesses earlier, some of them were rather… upset, then again he wasn't sure what exactly was going on yet either. Right now the two of them were both waiting for the Detective of the East to make his appearance.
Kudou's arrival is marked by a text from Shiratori, who is in charge of keeping the parameter secure. Kudou is leaning heavily on his companion, most likely his bond mate given Kudou's explanation for his current condition, and Shiratori seems concerned. Takagi relays this message to him, because Megure is having troubles working the new smart phone his wife gave him. Takagi waits patiently for him to decide on a response.
"Tell Shiratori kun its fine, if there is a problem Kudou kun's bond mate will handle it," Megure sees Takagi's look of concern as he sends the message, "Shinichi kun said he will be ok, but he won't be on his own for a while given how long he out. He's still recovering, but his bond mate should be able to pick up his slack." Megure watched Takagi relax, he appeared to be of the same opinion as he was, if Kudou kun could admit he was actually recovering then he was aware of how serious his own condition was at present.
The other officers didn't have to lead him in either, the detective walked in on his own, but his bond mate wasn't far behind. Kudou had been rather vague about his bond mate, but it was obvious when Megure saw the blond trailing behind him. Wait, wasn't that…
"Megure keibu," the greeting was warm, but the detective's face showed how tired he still was, "this I have to see." Of course Kudou would be the one person who would actively seek out dead bodies, or rather a lack of dead bodies. The blond was looking around, or rather his head was moving showing that he was looking from side to side since he was still wearing sunglasses. The only black items he was wearing were the shoes, glasses, and the windbreaker, but Megure was sure that was the same tall blond from the Mystery Coaster. He stands corrected, the shoes are brown.
"Keibu," the blond's voice isn't nearly as gravelly as the last time they met, like he hasn't been smoking or something. Kudou spots the blood trail and starts to follow it before the blond clears his throat. The teenager is still visibly pale, and he can see why Shiratori was concerned, he looks about ready pass out.
"Apologies, is there somewhere we can speak in private Megure Keibu?" Kudou kun's face has evened out, and a bit of understanding even seems to be lingering. Perhaps the expression has more to do with the blond than him.
"The manager's office is this way," Takagi gestures, "and the security guard's booth is in the back. There's a bloody mask for their mascot back there as well." Kudou kun looks to the blond who nods, Takagi looks to Megure keibu and notices that Kudou is referring to the blond for his answer.
"Security booth," the two of them respond almost simultaneously, Kudou looks at Takagi before responding further, "please. I assume that's where the security footage is?" Takagi starts leading them through bloodstained pizza parlor, there are some rundown looking dispensers, and some strange looking animal animatronic figures. It gets creepier each time the inspector walks through, Kudou kun however is glancing over the place. Somehow even if he looks like he's about to pass out he brings hope to their unit, like he'll be able to see what they have been missing.
"It is, right this way Kudou kun. The screens tell an interesting story to say the least, but the bodies are still missing," Megure answers watching the blond. It's by sheer luck that he notices the small tell that the blond is surprised, it's the smallest quirking of a platinum eyebrow. Before they can cross into the hallway the group pauses for a moment as Kudou takes a detailed look around where there's a rather large puddle of blood. There's also footprints matching the giant animatronic bunny suit referred to as 'Bonnie'. He vaguely wonders if Kudou noticed how all of the cameras look semi damaged? He hadn't noticed until Takagi and Chiba had taken a look after examining the footage, even now it wasn't particularly obvious.
"So you said earlier," Kudou kun replies with a chuckle, " you also said something rather peculiar earlier, and that I would really like the chance to see." They continued down into the depths of the security corridor, and the blond was strategically in front of Kudou. He wasn't overly twitchy or tense, but he was entirely too calm to be walking into a murder scene. Kudou was curious, but none of that seems to be bleeding through to the blond. At least not that he can tell.
"Certainly, but I still think someone hacked their footage," Takagi adds, "it's just the way the footage plays out… like a badly written horror film. Only thing missing was a giant snake or some spiders…" Kudou chuckles, and the blond was probably rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses. Takagi holds a hand to the doorway allowing the two of them to follow him into the office.
"I'll wait back with the others Megure keibu," Takagi leaves and the blond shuts the two doors before Megure can blink. Kudou has a hand on Megure's shoulder and is watching as the blond boots up the monitors.
"It's more or less what he does," Kudou offers by way of explanation. Megure raises an eyebrow, but watches as gloved fingers, (police issued latex he notes) dance across the keys pulling up various pieces of footage.
"What was so important we talk in private?" Megure asks.
"That was my request not his," the blond starts.
"It might be better if I explain while you pull up the footage," Kudou suggests.
"It would make more sense if I explain while you watch the footage," the blond explains, as he taps a key and the footage starts playing. When the blond turns to face Megure he stands to remove his sunglasses, and then offers Kudou the chair now that he's finished. The detective nods and sits down with a significant amount of effort. There's a gentle whispered, "don't push yourself too far."
"I'll be fine," Kudou whispers, "how much are you going to explain?" The smirk on the blond's face sends a shiver down Megure's spine, it is without question the same guy from the Mystery Coaster. Yet there's a sort of gentleness when he's dealing with Kudou, the coldness is still there in volumes for everyone else.
"Enough," is the response, and the blond raises his voice and turns from Kudou to Megure again, "the room has been checked for bugs? Also, that footage is the original. Speaking from experience there are tells when that sort of thing has occurred, there is no log of anything except viewings. It's also got a system lock on outside interference."
"Really?" Megure asks, that makes the footage all the more disturbing, "what… who are you? Besides Kudou kun's bond mate?" The blond smirks, and Megure gets the feeling he should be afraid of the answer.
"Does it matter?" the blond responds and that shiver works its way down his spine once more. Kudou spins in his chair and sends a bewildered look. The blond looks over at him specifically, he gets the feeling that he shouldn't know this answer, but the curiosity nags at him. His overwhelming calmness at a brutal murder scene, his skills with a computer, and the obvious ways that he is watching over Kudou kun.
"We discussed this," Kudou frowns, and Megure keibu sees the strangest look cross the teen's face, "there are six corpses for me to find and these tapes aren't going to be half so useful as the actual evidence." Megure watches the blond's eyes turn towards the detective.
"We did discuss this, and it's still a bad idea," the blond responds, "regardless of your opinion on it. You may call me Yuy Mitsunari, we did meet before at Tropical Land. I'm sure you remember Megure keibu." There's a short pause, and Megure keibu sees Kudou's frown change to a look of confusion before Yuy continues. "That was before Kudou decided to eavesdrop on something he should not have, which nearly killed us both."
"That's what happened? I distinctly recall a baseball bat to my temple in there somewhere," Kudou mumbles with a glare before turning back to the monitors. It was clear to Megure that neither of them really knew how to handle the situation.
"Boys, look there's a time to be childish and a time to be at work. You two are a crime scene, six people are dead, I think at least five are still missing, and no one has any idea what is going on. Can the drama wait for another time?" Megure chides them. The blond snickers, and Kudou lets out a scoff before pausing the video on one of the spots that had confused Megure before.
"Well that's certainly… Odd," Kudou remarks rewatching the footage from a different perspective.
"That one is Bonnie, I don't know where it went, but it comes back two hours later covered in what I presume to be blood," he explains before the detective can say anymore.
"That's not a method I would have considered…" Mitsunari san mumbles, and that shiver creeps its way down his spine again. Whoever Yuy Mitsunari is, he isn't someone that Megure would willingly cross. Kudou is looking over at him, and the blond lets out a sigh before he resets the recording to a specific point in the timeline. Megure is perplexed, it is as if he's terrified just of being in the same room with the blond, like he's an apex predator or something. His fight or flight response is simply down to a panicked run away response. He's a police inspector for kami's sake, that shouldn't be his first response when meeting anyone. Well besides a suicide bomber or a terrorist…
"Meaning?" Kudou is clearly as curious as he is.
"The suit moves on its own, I've seen enough of these gimicky places to know that, but this one- " Mitsunari is pointing at the shadow of Bonnie in the corner of a different video that even Megure had missed, "-this one is acting entirely out of character. The blood stains start appearing right after that piece of footage, did you notice that?" Kudou pulls up a different section of the screen, and points to several other things that Megure hadn't noticed.
KUDOU SHINICHI
Gin's observation about the blood stains appearing actually gave them a valid timeline, and more than enough information for him to start his own investigation. It is clear that Megure keibu is still just as unsettled by Gin as Shinichi was at first, who is clearly amused by the whole thing now that he's noticed. He's going to focus on the investigation and let Gin handle everything else as he wanders around, but Shinichi is equally perplexed, just when had Gin pilfered those latex gloves?
It isn't hard to find the mask, its sitting ominously in the corner. There's no blood visble from the outside, but there is a distinctly funny smell coming from that direction. Shinichi finds himself hesitant to ask, but he's curious.
"And the liquid coming from under the mask?" he asks, Megure keibu eyes it. Ah, so it is… that's unsurprising.
"Exactly what you'd expect Kudou kun," he responds wrinkling his nose, "urine."
"Boring," Gin responds, "any DNA on the sweaty handprint on the wall?" Megure looks at the door and notices the smudged handprint with wide eyes. It would appear that Gin was far more apt for this than the police were, that's a terrifying thought.
"We hadn't noticed that one, but there's a dent on this door in the shape of a cone. There's also a distinct set of scratches at an odd angle above it," Megure responds, "we were able to match those to a fourth animatronic."
"Let me guess," Gin moves the footage to a spot where an orange blur rushes down the hall, "this one?" Megure nods, Gin swaps screens to one labeled 'Pirate's Cove'.
"Foxy," Megure points as the Fox themed suit with a hook and an eyepatch peeks out a curtain, "it was clean when we searched it… Well, it was clean for what we were suspecting might be on it."
"Now you've got my attention, what was on it?" Shinichi inquires, and he feels amusement radiating from Gin's side. The assassin seems to have an idea what it might be. 'You don't want to know Fox,' rings clearly through his head, and Shinichi forces himself not to respond. He's sure Gin isn't particularly aware that he's doing it yet, sending actual words along with emotions…
"Nothing important to their investigation I'd say," Gin glances over his shoulder, "does rule #34 mean anything to you Kudou?" Shinichi cringes, he's heard of it alright and he'd rather not explain that to Megure keibu.
"Unfortunately, so where is the 'Bonnie' animatronic now?" Shinichi asked.
"It's sitting on stage next to the 'Freddy' one," Gin points at the current live screen, "but it doesn't appear to be covered in blood or anything else for that matter." He's leaning over Shinichi's shoulder looking at all the police officers wander around, and Shinichi wonders if he's really going to tell Megure keibu anything.
GIN
Kudou has been giving him looks of confusion for most of the case so far, and it's a feeling of curiosity whenever he observes something that he deems useful. It takes a moment for the impression to really turn to what it actually is, the detective is impressed. The police around Kudou however aren't as incompetent as most of the officers he had run into whilest in his chosen profession. These officers had actually processed the scene fairly accurately, and there wasn't a whole lot of crime scene contamination either.
"Give us a minute will you Megure keibu?" Kudou asks, the portly man exits the small room. Or rather tries, Gin still has the full lock system engaged. A swipe of the keyboard later, and the keibu was joining his men.
"They aren't as stupid as the cops that I always run into," he opens once the door is secure once more, "what did you do to this unit?"
"Nothing," Kudou lets out a wry smile, "nothing illegal. I made observations and simply made suggestions that have lead to a significant increase in their case closure rates." That doesn't surprise him in the least, most police officers couldn't find their own left shoe even it was sitting next to the right one.
"You have their respect at your age at well, which is equally impressive," Gin adds, the detective rubs the back of his head and embarrassment flows at the comment.
"Thank you, but we are here to solve a crime not discuss who is solving it. Any theories?" the detective is looking at him curiously again.
"Several, but only one suits this situation. As much as I disprove of movies, this case certainly appears to follow that American one 'Judgement Day'. The rabbit animatronic clearly moved on its own and its covered in the blood to support that," Gin feels slightly ridiculous to be using a movie as a guide, and somehow Chianti and Vodka had talked him into watching it, "the robot more than likely did it. The question isn't what did it at this point, it is more of: did the animatronic do this on its own or was it programmed by someone to kill them?" The amusement at the movie reference was clear enough, but there was an underlying current of concern over why it was happening.
"You haven't figured it out yet? There are only two things I don't understand, and only one of them has to do with the case," Kudou's end of the bond abruptly closed off, and Gin found himself caught off balance by the sudden lack of feeling.
"What are you doing?" Gin growls out, and the detective narrows his eyes.
"Why won't you trust these officers, at least Megure keibu with a fraction of the truth?" Kudou clearly had no patience for his reluctance. The detective clearly didn't understand the implications of anyone else knowing about him being assassin.
"No," Gin responds flatly, "him knowing who I am is enough. I am not about to acknowledge anything about what I do as a career to a police officer Fox."
"Point taken, but some sort of explanation might be…" the detective stops as he sees Gin's glare.
"No," the assassin growls stepping up into the detectives space, "we are not going to tell your police buddies what I do. If they know they become a liability, things that become a liability get a bullet in them. If I become a liability Vodka is to put a bullet in me, do you understand that?" Anokata might not know yet, but Vermouth certainly wouldn't be above ending him if he put all of them at risk. He didn't think her loyalties to her friend and said friend's son were higher than her loyalties to Anokata. That being said, Gin didn't know where that woman's loyalties truly lay, and that's what made her so dangerous.
"That makes significantly more sense than just your paranoia alone," the detective responds with a small smirk, "you have no choice but to trust me, I think in time you'll warm up to Megure keibu well enough to at least let him in. In due time of course."
"You said that there were only two things that you didn't understand," the assassin reminds him, the detective nods, "what was the second?"
"Have you never finished a Sherlock Holmes novel? A detective never reveals the answer until he has all the facts my good man," Kudou mocks, "the second obviously is something I have yet to confirm. Shall we join the rest of the school kids now, or did you have some other plan in mind for locking us in here?"
"Lead the way detective," he responds unlocking the door. He's not particularly satisfied with the answer, but lets it go when the detective's emotions creep back to him steadily once again.
"You'll need to read the literature later, its quite useful to know some of it. I need to examine 'Bonnie' now," the detective offers by way of explanation.
MEGURE KEIBU
It comes as no surprise when the next time Kudou kun shows up is while he is looking over the bloodstained rabbit animatronic on stage with a set of shoe covers and a fresh pair of latex gloves. The blond is off to the side watching the room, just like a predator Megure reminds himself. He supposes that Kudou kun would let him know if he was really in any danger, but the uneasiness lingers.
"Is there any sort of remote operating station Megure keibu?" Kudou kun asks looking over the suit thoroughly before moving to the bear next to it.
"Not that my team has found, there might be a specific command program downloaded to a memory something-a-what's-it according to Chiba san," he answers trying to recall his cyber crime man's words, "you'd probably learn more by asking him." To his surprise the blond moves instead to ask Chiba as Kudou continues what he's doing up on the stage.
"Interesting, keibu?" Kudou's looking at him now, "do you know if there was any additional blood found?"
"Now that you mention it, no. Only the blood trail and what's on the suit, why?" he asks watching as Kudou shimmies his way off the stage carefully.
"You've only got one dead body, you've got five missing, did it occur to you that perhaps they are still alive?" Kudou kun's words sent a shiver down his spine.
"It had actually, we've looked the place over with a fine tooth comb and found nothing so far," he explains, "that's why I was so desperate for your assistance Kudou kun." The detective nods, and the blond is walking over to him.
"The suits are remotely programmed, but there isn't enough to suggest they can be remotely controlled," Yuy replies, "I would advise they have someone check the subroutine for anything suspicious, its what I would do."
"The adult is clearly dead, the body was stuffed inside the suit sometime last night. The kids however are still missing, what do you think we're looking at?" Kudou is whispering to the blond. Its clear that both of them are fully concentrating on the case now, but the way that Kudou is asking Yuy his opinion just brings that shiver running down his spine again.
"Kidnapping, not something organized that's for certain. There's probably more than enough evidence on the body once it is pulled from the suit to tell them where," Yuy responds quietly, "it will take them weeks to get it through the system. If the associate doesn't hear from his other partner though… Timeline looks like about—." Yuy looks at his watch and Kudou nods.
"24 hours from the last time he checked in, most likely ten of those are left at best. After that the kids are dead," Kudou finishes, "will you help me find them?" The blond rolls his eyes, it's a practiced motion.
"Get me pictures of these kids, I have a method of finding them, but I don't know how long it's going to take," Yuy looks at Megure with a nod before pulling out his cell and making a call.
"What exactly does your bond mate do Kudou kun?" Megure finds himself wondering aloud, "I'll get Takagi to send you the photos of the kids of course."
"He's an infiltration specialist," Kudou responds quietly, "he's making a few calls to see if he can't get us some new leads on those missing kids. We probably have somewhere between four and seven hours."
"You were saying ten at best earlier, what made you change your mind?" Megure asks looking at the solemn look on Kudou's face.
"The other partner wasn't the snatch and grab, he'll likely err on the side of caution and dispose of them before then. It will just take that long to dispose of the bodies without drawing attention to himself most likely," Kudou answers, "Mitsunari's contacts probably have a way of hacking into the local security grid and using facial recognition software to get us a trail." Megure was lost at the word hacking to be honest, but he figured Chiba would probably understand.
"If he can get us into that network I'm sure Chiba could assist running a similar search using our systems," Takagi adds, well its nice to know someone understands all that tech mobojumbo.
"I'll see if he can, his specialty is more in the direct approach from my understanding. Do you have pictures of the missing kids?" Kudou kun responds. It sounds like the detective still knows more than what he's saying about the blond. Which given that the blond is the other half of his soul makes more sense, that and according to Kudou soulmates can't successfully lie to one another.
"Here they are, where did Yuy san go so I can get these to him?" Takagi is holding up one of the department flashy thingies that Chiba was always leaving on his desk for him to look at. Kudou points behind him, and there's a large latex gloved hand plucking the flash drive from him.
Hittocere: vote now, yes for it to be the (remaining) Shonen Tantei that were kidnapped, or no for it to be random kids. Personally I don't mind writing either. More crime scene stuff in the next chapter as well!