Locking the bathroom door behind him, Conan then locked himself in one of the stalls to minimize the chances of some sound carrying to the guard outside.

Then he dialed Line Zero. This time, it went straight through without him having to give a password.

"I take it you're inside Teitan Elementary right now?" Elena opened with.

"Yeah. A lot of people are scared, and it looks like we've only got 16 hours before people start dying. Have they contacted you?"

Elena nodded. "They left a letter in James Black's mail box. They want Shiro-kun."

"Are you going to hand him over?" Conan pressed.

"No, of course not. That's why you have to resolve this."

"Huh?"

"We're going to send a little present your way. A little something that my husband's cooking up right now. It'll be ready in a couple hours. Where are you being held?"

"In the cafeteria."

"I see. Are they holding you separate from the other hostages?"

"No. They don't seem to know about me."

"Fair enough. We'll find a way to get it to you. But beware: the package is very volatile."

"Would you mind telling me asking what this package is, and how it'll help me take out several dozen armed men?"

Elena sat up straight in the dining room chair. "Certainly. What it is is..."

She sighed. "How much do you know about the issue of Chechen terrorism in Russia?"

"Huh? Uhh, nothing."

"Okay. Well, some terrorists held up a Moscow theater in 2002, taking everyone inside as a hostage. About 800 people, held captive by about 40 to 50 guys. The Russian government found a way to end the crisis: they pumped in a gaseous substance throughout the theatre's ventilation system, incapacitating the people inside. And then Russian forces launched their raid on the building. The substance used was called Carfentanil. Do you know what that is?"

Conan nodded. "It's an extremely powerful opioid drug. Very, very easy to overdose and die from. Tell me, how did that work out for the Russian government? How many of the hostages died from the gas?"

"At least one hundred and thirty hostages died."

"And you want me to introduce something like that into the school's ventilation system? Out of the question! That's the textbook definition of a cure that's worse than the disease!"

"You do realize, of course, that we can just use the Elixir on them later. All we'd have to do is get inside the building before the proper authorities do."

"And how would you do that, when the outside of this school is crawling with police officers?"

*bam bam bam*

"HEY!" the guard outside the door yelled. "Why is this door f**king locked?! If you dare try to run we"ll shoot your friend in the face! We'll blow his f**king brains out! You hear me?!"

"Sounds like we're out of time," Elena said. "You just worry about your end and I'll worry about mine. If we're unable to save them after the gas is deployed, all the blame will rest squarely on me. Good luck."

"W-wait a-

But Elena had already hung up.

Considering the magnitude of what he was being asked to do, Conan felt sick to his stomach.

Meanwhile, the banging on the door was getting more and more intense.

*bluuah*

Finally, the guard managed to break the lock and enter.

He stepped into the stall where a sweaty Conan was sitting on the floor, exhausted.

The guard looked inside the toilet and-

Well I'll be, he thought. Kid wasn't lying after all. "Alright, come on. Move it. Let's go."

Opening

(Angel Night by Psy-S, an opening to City Hunter, performed here by Garnet Crow)

(To act decisively is a prerequisite to victory! Seize the day or die trying! Shiro-kun flips the tables at long last, and the Men in Black spring into action, breaking the long peace! Are we in for the fight of our lives? Perceiving the one and only truth! With the body of a child but the mind of an adult, my name is DETECTIVE CONAN!)

Irumine shon mashita ni mioroshi

Yoru wo nobotte ku ESCALATOR

Kooritsuita BIRU no tanima wo

HEADLIGHT no kawa ga nagareru

Saisho ni suki ni natta no wa koe

Sore kara senaka to totonoerareta yubisuki

Tokidoki damarigachi ni naru kuse

Dokoka e itte shimau kokoro to MELODY

ANGEL VOICE na wo yonde mimi sumasu ECHO

SHINING SMILE kaze ni chiru hanabira to KISS

ANGEL VOICE atarashii natsukashii ECHO

SHINING SMILE isogazu ni ari no mama KISS

Black Mass! Part Four!

"Stand now for the Prime Minister, Genzo Abe."

There was applause as the man with the veneer of a western cowboy, like a Japanese Reegan or Busch, took the podium.

He waited for the applause to die down and then he began:

"My fellow countrymen, I stand before you today with a heavy heart. As of one hour and thirty minutes ago, the nation of Japan is presently in a state of dire emergency. Our children are in mortal danger. To the many fathers and mothers who have to fear now for the lives of their little ones, I feel for you. This is not a matter that your government takes lightly. Our great police force has fully mobilized to respond to the situation at hand, and our hospitals are ready to give blood and other treatments to those who may need it. The things which may have divided us as a people yesterday are irrelevant today: what we all want now is bloodless resolution to the hostage crisis which has broken out at Teitan Elementary School.

"To the minds and bodies behind this cowardly and dastardly attack," he continued, "know that the seeds you have sown today will reap consequences for each and every one of you. You will not evade punishment for your crimes against humanity. Your attempts to divide the Japanese people among superficial ethnic and linguistic lines will fail. I have seen your little video, and I am aware of your demands. To these I only have this to say: we do not, we have not, and we will not negotiate with terrorists. You will not exact even the most trace concession from us. Our only offer to you is this: release our children now, and our courts will be merciful in the verdicts that they pass down to you. But if you harm even one child, then do not expect to escape with your lives. We will hunt you down, gun you down, gut your corpses like wild game and string them up by their necks like slaughtered chickens. And in the course of the righteous fury and indignation of the Japanese people, we fear that we will not be able to guarantee the safety of your families, once your identities are revealed to the public.

"For you there is no path to victory, only the most tolerable of defeats possible under the circumstances that you've created for yourselves. Turn back from your wicked ways now, and surrender, before you cross a point of no return. That will be all, thank you and our multiple national deities bless."

Scene Transition

Conan sat back down next to Mitsuhiko.

"Oi, did you do it?" the freckled boy asked.

"...Yeah," Conan said. "But I'm not sure if that call was of any help."

"Huh?"

"Thanks for trying."

For a decision like this, he thought, I can't bear this alone...I need to speak with Ran. But how?

Yasuda had already returned from wherever the backpacks were taken to and had once more resumed his position on the ground. Conan looked over at him:

He should already know, Conan thought. What I brought with me today. He should've had a chance to look inside. So does that mean-

He shook his head. There was no time to think about that.

Every door to the gymnasium should be guarded, he thought. If Ran had a cellphone on her, then...wait a second!

"Mitsuhiko, do you have your Detective Boys badges?"

Mitsuhiko nodded. "I got it right here. Ayumi-chan has hers too. But we don't know if somebody might be listening on the other side if we tried to call them. If they were caught trying to phone us, it might be bad."

Conan shook his head. "Under these circumstances, that's a risk we're going to have to take."

Scene Transition

Mmm...her head felt fuzzy. She her body felt sore. She didn't really feel like moving.

She opened her eyes, and she was staring at the ceiling.

It wasn't a familiar ceiling, though. Was this...not at the Professor's house? Then where was she?

And then it hit her: she had been here before. This had happened before.

She was in a wooden room in the Kudo Residence which only had one door. A door which, doubtlessly, had been locked from the outside. It was a strangely designed room, seemingly made with the purpose of keeping somebody confined within. Maybe it was a punishment room for an unruly child, long ago...?

Via the clock on the wall she was able to tell that she'd been out for a couple of hours.

There were several windows up high. If she could just get up there then:

"Don't bother," Shiro said from the other side of the door. "Those windows are sealed shut. The Professor would not have selected this room were that not the case."

"H-Huh...?"

"There's no escape from here," Shiro said, leaning against the door and sliding onto the floor. "If we let you go now, then...you'll just head back over there, right? To your school."

"What's happened?" Haibara demanded. "Did those people come and-

"Yeah. The whole school's being held hostage right now as we speak."

Realizing that her worst fears were now coming to fruition, she began to pace frantically, letting her mind race with a hundred negative ideas.

Mitsuhiko-kun, she thought. Genta-kun. Ayumi-chan. You're all...you're all...

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. A deeply visceral and unnerving display.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed once more.

She banged on the door. "Higo-kun, open this door now! I can still help them! I can still..."

"Yeah? How?" Shiro retorted. "What do you know that we don't? What can you do that all the rest of us can't? Your mother's got a plan. It's not the greatest plan, granted, but...it's the best shot we have!"

Or so she keeps saying, he thought.

He sighed. "Haibara-san, listen to me. This is not your fault. None of this is your fault. This is happening because of me, because of my decision to cooperate with Elena-san."

"Why did you do that, anyways?! What was the point?! What did we possibly gain from last night which could make what's happening today worth it?!"

"For your mother? It was probably the opportunity to take out so many codenamed agents in one shot. Including Gin, who killed her daughter, your big sister, Satoshi's big sister. I don't blame her. From the looks of it, she succeeded also in taking out about a hundred Janissaries."

"Jani-what?"

"Never mind. Let's just say that the Organization lost a great number of valuable personnel last night. It'll make it harder for them to proceed going forwards. Additionally, whenever the White Organization pulls off attacks like this, it reinforces the notion among our enemies (he felt strange saying that) that we have no great master plan, that we're just trying to destroy their criminal empire one victory at a time. It'll lower their suspicions down the road."

"What does that even mean?"

"I don't know. That's just what your mother told me. And that's what she told Kudo as well."

"And you went along with that answer? Mom never stepped foot in our school, I'll bet. She doesn't know the kids there. I do. I care about what happens to them. And I assumed you would too. But it would seem that I was mistaken."

Shiro was silent.

"I did it f..."

"...Yes?"

"...No, never mind. It's not important right now. Look, I'm willing to let you out, on one condition: you think of a better plan. A better way to help all of them out. If you can do that, I'm willing to help you with that in whatever capacity you need. Yes...I'll place my faith in you, if you can be confident enough in your own plan. But if not, then no deal. I'm not about to throw away my life for no reason, and I'm certainly not going to let you do that either."

"...Tell me what mom's plan is."

"I absolutely guarantee you're not going to like it."

"Oh?"

"It's a really, really terrible plan. It goes like this..."

Scene Transition

What is sovereignty?

Sovereignty can be defined as the exercise of authority over a piece of territory, and all the inhabitants therein, up to the point of a monopoly on violence.

By that definition, those 48 armed persons who were now holding this school at gunpoint had asserted sovereignty over the interior of Teitan Elementary. For the time being, the Japanese government had no say in its affairs. This sovereignty would not last, of course. It was a castle built upon the sand. But still, the de facto ruler of this de facto state, the leader of this team of Janissaries, a woman whose code name was Margarita, sat comfortably in the Principle's Office, which was like her White House.

She did not regard herself as being ruler over anything, but rather saw herself as the willing pawn of a higher authority. Accordingly, she sat up straight, bowed her head, closed her eyes, and recited for the sixteenth time today:

"Almighty One, deliver us from the ancient heresy, which is the gateway to apostasy. Increase our faith a hundredfold, not in promises never spoken but in the righteousness of our conviction and of our obedience to Thee, oh Giver of Days. Let our endeavors see full consequence and count not our iniquities against Thee, though they be innumerable. We live and die in Thy name. Give us strength."

It was a humble plea to her god, penned more than half a century ago by Hajime Suzuki himself, which she had always found enough to calm her in the most stressful and dangerous situations.

She had been recruited into the Janissaries at age 16, to be with her considerably older boyfriend, who was a member. She'd come from a less-than-ideal home; for as long as she could remember she'd had to put up with her mom and stepdad bickering and screaming at each other. The training was so severe that she contemplated suicide to get out of it, but once in she found a new family, people who had her back no matter what. Beyond even that, however, she found her purpose for being. She was part of a cause, a mission that was greater than any one person's life. And for all that she would be forever grateful to the Black Organization.

One of her men opened the door and That Person stepped inside.

"Mezcal."

"Margarita."

"What brings you here? You know you're supposed to be one of the hostages."

"Then I guess I'll make this quick. I'm just here to remind you, one more time for the road, that you are to do everything in your power to prevent loss of life."

"Hmm? Of course I understand that," Margarita said. "I've heard all this already. But again, I cannot guarantee the final outcome of this. Much less so if I'm too afraid to get my hands dirty. Don't make this job too hard for us to finish. Was that all?"

"No," Mezcal said. "Before I go, I'd just like to ask you something...almost everything that you believe is founded upon the claims of two men...do you really regard Nobutaro as having so much credibility that you're willing to kill and be killed for the things he said?"

"Absolutely," she said without hesitation.

"Why?"

"He's the one who translated the brass plates, revealing divine truths to us in the process. If you can't fight and die for that, then...what else is there? What else is important enough to justify spending one more second on this godforsaken rock we call earth? I...I...I trust in him completely, without fail!"

"...I see," Mezcal said, looking away for whatever reason. "I'd better be getting back before somebody starts to suspect something's up."

Scene Transition

"Ayumi-chan here."

Finally, Conan thought. "Oi, Ayumi-chan, are you guys doing alright over there?"

*nod* "We're doing fine, Conan-kun."

"That's good to hear. Can I speak with Nancy? It's really important."

"Sure."

A few seconds later:

"Yo," Nancy said. "What's up? You found a way out of this?"

"Elena-san did. But it's...far from an ideal solution. I need to hear what you think."

Considering that Shinichi virtually never asked for her input before acting, Ran was a little taken off guard by this request. "Okay...?"

"She wants me to introduce poison gas into the ventilation system, and then her people will come in and revive all of us afterwards."

"B-But that means-

"Yeah, she intends on letting over 200 children die. She can't think of any other way acceptable to her, and frankly neither can I."

"Huh?" Mitsuhiko, overhearing this conversation, said.

"Idiot, you could always give him over..." Nancy said.

"No way. If we give Shiro up to them, that'll just make things worse, even if it gets us out of this particular bind. Elena-san would never agree to that. That only leaves us with the aforementioned plan."

He sighed. "So what do you think? Should I proceed? Do I really need to do this?"

"You're leaving something like this up to me?"

"The responsibility will be on me and me alone," Conan said. "But I want to hear somebody else's opinion before I act."

"...How certain is Elena-san that she actually can revive us before the police storm the building?"

"She said she's working on that," Conan said. "Which means I don't know, and in all likelihood she doesn't know either."

There was silence on the other end.

"Nancy? Are you still there? Nancy?"

"Before you do this, give me some time. There's a certain other risk with that plan, but I think I know how to correct it."

Conan nodded. "I don't actually have the means to pull this off yet, so yeah, it looks like you're going to have however much time you need."

"Huh?"

"Elena-san's going to send the poison my way. Sometime in the next 14 hours, I would presume."

"That's good. It means you have time to think of another way out."

"But I'm not sure if there is a-

"There is another way out. But in case you don't find it before we're all out of time, I'll do exactly what I said I'll do. You can count on me."

Conan was silent.

"Over and out," Nancy said, hanging up.

Scene Transition

"...Are you done in there?" Shiro asked.

There was one more retching sound, and then a pause.

"Yeah, I think I'm good now," Haibara said, wiping her mouth, having just vomited twice.

"Like I said, pretty bad plan, huh?"

"My mother would...never actually go through with something so horrible...right?"

"Well...yeah. I wouldn't have told you it otherwise. So what do you think? You think you can come up with something better?"

"I know I can!" Haibara retorted, not so much to draw attention to her own intellect as to emphasize how awful her mother's plan was.

"Well, you got maybe a small handful of hours to come up with something, so..."

"...Wait. How would my mom send the package to Kudo-kun in the first place?"

"I imagine she'd have one guy try to infiltrate the school disguised as one of the gunmen. I imagine that they all know each other, so it's probably a long shot plan to begin with."

"But how about another hostage?"

"Huh? Hey, come on, we've been over this. You can't just barge in there and-

"Just hear me out, okay? I think I've got a plan. It's not 100% guaranteed to work, but I think it comes pretty close."

"That's good enough for me. Tell me all about it."

"I'll tell you on the way. Unlock this door so we can begin preparations."

Shiro turned the lock and opened the door.

Haibara stepped forward.

"Alright. So what do we do fir-

*oof*

Haibara grabbed him by the shoulder and then kneed him in the groin as hard as she could, sending him onto his knees reeling in pain. She grabbed him and quickly dragged him into the room, and then closed and locked the door behind her.

Shiro pounded by the door. "Oi, Haibara-san! What the heck do you think you're doing?! Open this door! Don't you go and do something that'll only get yourself killed! Open this door!"

"...You know, there was a time when you were my hero," Haibara reminisced sadly.

Slightly hurt about the fact that Haibara was speaking in past tense, Shiro regained his composure and continued pounding on the door.

"It tore me apart when I learned the truth about you," she said. "About the people you were affiliated with. And when Kudo-kun had you transfer to our school as a fellow child...I just wasn't sure how to handle that."

"Haibara...is that...is that why you're doing this now?" Shiro asked. "Is it because you don't trust me?"

Haibara shook her head. "It's the opposite. I do trust you, to do what you think is right. And that's why I can't let you out of here. Higo-kun, you were my hero, but I didn't really know you. I was just a fan from a distance, even if we did get to meet once or twice. But then I got the chance to know you, and then..."

Her face red, she continued: "Higo-kun, you cooperated with my mom because you wanted me to have the chance to see my big sis again, didn't you?"

On the other side, Shiro's face was even redder. "Y-Yeah..."

"Thank you," she said, smiling. "Thank you for that, and for everything else. You are...Higo-kun, you are the kind of person who I'd very much like to spend the rest of my life with...and that's why I'll be sure to come back alive! And I'll bring back our friends safely too. You can count on it!"

Before Shiro could respond, Haibara ran off to perform her duty as a daughter, a friend, a sister, a lover, and a scientist.

Scene Transition

A couple of hours had passed since.

Conan was sitting at the lunch table waiting for Elena's package to come in.

And then, out of the blue, Nancy came running into the cafeteria.

Before the hostage-takers could react, she ran up to Yasuda and put something in his hand.

Very subtle, Conan thought with a deadpan look.

But he wasn't laughing when they grabbed her and lifted her up by her arm.

Another guy came running in and started cussing out Nancy.

There was some inaudible dialogue between them, and then they began walking Nancy back to the gymnasium.

Conan swallowed. He knew there was the chance they might punish her, but whatever it was she had done Nancy was evidently successful.

Yasuda read the note in his hand.

A few seconds later, Yasuda stood up and said something to the guards, who escorted him out of the cafeteria.

Alright, think, Conan thought. Since there's a chance that pulling a stunt like this would lead to them patting her down, or otherwise searched, it's likely that she left her badge with Ayumi-chan or Genta. I should be able to wait five minutes and then call to ask what she did. It concerned him so...

His eyes widened.

Oh friggin' crap, he realized. I never told her. Does that mean that she...?!

This was bad. This was very, very bad.

Because Shigeo Yasuda was Mezcal.

Scene Transition

Yes, you read that correctly:

Shigeo Yasuda is Mezcal. That sleazy-mannered, poorly dressed man who no reasonable person would readily trust with their kids was the top scientist of the Black Organization.

And when Nancy gave him that note, it effectively alerted him to what the Organization's enemies were planning.

He barged into the Principal's office and stood before Margarita.

"You gotta be ready for a gas attack," he said.

"Huh?"

"Long story, but I got this letter from a certain girl. Read it."

He placed it on "her" desk. She read it:

"Yasuda-san, you must get in contact with Bonnie. I mean the girl who helped me. I'm sure you know how to do that. I need you to tell her that over 200 children and a number of faculty from Teitan Elementary in Beika, Tokyo are coming her way. She needs to be ready for them and to keep them from passing on, or at least for a little while, so that they can all come back. Certain people will make sure that they're able to return to their bodies soon. Anyways, please pass this message on to her."

"It should be crystal clear from this that they've got that thing at their disposal," Yasuda said. "With that in mind, the most efficient way for them to resolve this present situation would be to take us all out indiscriminately with poison gas and then revive the hostages afterwards. They're gonna try to insert something into the air conditioning unit. Either they're going to try to pass one or several canisters on to one of the hostages, somebody who's in on the secret, or one of their agents will try to sneak in here and do it themselves. Either way, you've got to find that person and shut them down."

*krrrrrrr*

Margarita picked up the walkie-talkie. "Yes?"

"We've found an intruder!"

"Huh?"

"He was trying to pass off as one of us! We found some interesting items in his backpack! Looks like he brought some sort of aerosol!"

On the other side of the line, two men had their guns pointed at Andre Camel.

Yasuda snatched the walkie-talkie. "Put him in the gymnasium. Make him sit several feet away from the nearest child and don't let any of them approach him. Bring his bag here."

"...Who the h**l is this?"

Margarita snatched the walkie-talkie back. "Do as he says."

"Roger that."

And then the guard hung up.

Margarita grinned. "Looks like we've won."

"No, we've only thwarted this one plot. We can be certain that they'll try again, because the method I described is the most effective."

Scene Transition

Slipping down the stairs with the quietness of a veteran burglar, that person stepped into the basement of Dr. Agasa's house.

They sat down at a desk with a bizarre looking electronic control panel, and then laid their gun down to rest for a second. They pushed a button, waited a couple seconds for the light to flash, and then flip the switch up.

They then got up, walked across the room, opened the bottom of a filing cabinet, and took out a large button encased in a plastic container.

Finally, they crept back up the stairs, having acquired what they needed and intent to leave no sign that they were here.

Ending

(In the Storm of my Mind by Sayuri)

On that day they trekked to the mouth of the great river

Leading the procession, the elder donning black vestments

His wrinkled face, an old, sad story etched into its creases

With a thousand yard stare, he uttered the old utterances

"Take to heart, ye of few days, what you have witnessed!"

His words carried no weight as we played quietly in the back

The years passed, and our style of play grew more refined

Anywhere, anytime, you were the only company I needed

But watching you gasp for air was a sudden slap in the face

It was from then that I could hear the crescendo of the bells

Trapped in the storm of my mind none can hear me scream

I know our bodies shall be threshed at the foot of the altar

And our ashes sprinkled on the lips of the grinning demon

This happy dream is naught but the vapors of a dying flame

I want to cherish these moments always, but I am reminded

The strongest among us must yield to the turning of the hour

Its ticking, like nails on a chalkboard, like cascading thunder

The stroke of midnight shall do us apart, forever and ever.