CHAPTER 7- Trapped

The plot thickens in this chapter...
As always I do NOT own Detective Conan. All rights go to Aoyama Gosho.

(~)

*some building somewhere*

"Aniki, are you sure about this?" asked Vodka nervously. He was pacing up and down the room while Gin was relaxing on an armchair, smoking.

"Yeah, I am," replied Gin, his voice slightly muffled due to him not opening his mouth wide enough. The cigarette was still in between his lips. Vodka never seen Gin without a cigarette. It was as unnatural as a cat with three eyes.

"But what if he realise that you are still following him?" asked Vodka.

"Do not worry," Gin replied, "He lost us then remember? He surely thinks that we are gone because we couldn't find him. Well, I got to say. He was really good. After making us follow him for two hours, he disappeared completely when I was refilling the tank with fuel. The kid's smart. He made a perfect opportunity so he could disappear and he would be far away by the time we got back to tailing him."

Gin tipped his head back and blew out a ring of smoke from his lips. He smirked and let lose a small laugh. Vodka turned to look at him, perplexed. Poor Vodka, he was still worried over this situation. He was surprised at the kid's intelligence in school. He was shocked when the kid lost them when they were tailing him. He was unnerved when the kid showed such strength and accuracy. Now, he was a little afraid. Vodka said he had a feeling that the boy was still hiding something.

Gin was slightly impressed by the kid's intelligence and abilities. But what he was more interested in was the kid's personality. That voice that Gin heard at his class. That cold, fearless tone made Gin smile. His emotionless eyes when he looked at the boy who dared to question him. The kid didn't even show the slightest emotion except exasperation. As though he hated to deal with such immature children. His body was never tensed nor was it ever relaxed. It was somewhere in between, a perfect balance. That made him alert yet uncaring at the same time. Gin could sense great potential from the kid. And his instincts were never wrong.

"I just want to see his true powers Vodka," Gin said, trying to ease the tension of his partner, "If he isn't as good as I hope he would be, I would leave him alone. And you would never need to worry about him again."

"When are you leaving? I'm following," Vodka asked.

"Soon," Gin answered, "It's time to see the little Tantei-kun in action."

*Morning, Mouri Detective Agency*

Conan was once again woken up by the heavy snoring of Mouri Kogoro. Conan sat up wearily, tired beyond words. He couldn't sleep. Part of the reason was because of the grating snores but mainly it was because of his nightmares. The Detective Boys hurt and disappointed faces flashed through his mind. Haibara's eyes, wild and accusing. Her scream, harsh and painful. He woken up uncountable times only to fall into an uneasy slumber again.

Conan looked up to the wall clock. 7am. Yawning, he stood up and straightened his glasses before staggering towards the door. Thank goodness it's Saturday. No more school. No more stares and uncomfortable situations. Well, at least until Monday, before school starts again. Conan sighed. He should get use to the coldness of his schoolmates. By the looks of it, it was not going to die anytime soon.

He walked into the living room and saw breakfast laid out on the table. He sat in front of it and pulled out a piece of toast from the stack. He ate it dispiritedly. His body was slumped, result of the lack of sleep. He chewed his food slowly, without any energy. Conan stared aimlessly. He really felt lost all of a sudden.

Then Ran walked out of the kitchen. "Ah, Conan-kun," she said when she noticed him, "Ohayou gozaimasu."

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Ran-neechan," answered Conan with a dead voice. Ran's face showed concern for the little ward who was like her little brother.

"Daijoubu desuka?" Ran asked worriedly.

"Yeah!" Conan replied, his voice more stronger and cheerful. He looked up at Ran to smile at her.

"That's good. I thought something was wrong," Ran smiled back.

She went into her room. Immediately, Conan allowed the fake smile to slide of his face. It hurts to smile when he didn't feel like smiling. Nothing's wrong? Everything's wrong! His friends were against him, Haibara hates him. To make it worse, Gin and Vodka was lurking around somewhere with objectives that were unclear. Thinking about them always give him a headache. He had to worry about his friends safety, especially Haibara. He sighed sadly. He felt like a great weight was placed on his small shoulders. But at least, he glanced at the closed door of Ran's room, she doesn't know anything about them yet.

"Conan-kun, do you want to follow me to the bank?" asked Ran behind the close door.

"Bank?" Conan repeated dumbly.

"I need to withdraw some money. Otousan lost all his money in a horse race. I need to take some money from my savings," Ran said as she walked out of her room.

"Ok, I'll follow," Conan replied. He has nothing else better to do anyway. A trip to the bank might take his mind of the current events.

After eating his breakfast and washing up, he and Ran left the house. Kogoro was still lying fast asleep in his bed. They walked for about twenty minutes to the bank. On their journey there, Ran was full of spirit, chatting cheerfully unknowing Conan's slightly depressed state. However his mood lightened up when he watched Ran chirruping away. This was how it's supposed to be. Ran should always be happy. She don't need to worry herself with the dark, dangerous Organization. Conan had jumped into the pit of darkness willingly, knowing the possible consequences. He had made his choice.

They walked into the bank. Although the bank had just opened up for business, there were many people in it already. After instructing Conan to wait on some sofas, she queued up. Conan sighed. The queue was long. It would probably about half an hour before Ran reaches the counter.

"Hey, it's him," a familiar voice jolted Conan out of his miserable thoughts.

Conan looked up and saw Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko staring at him. Their arms were crossed and their eyes were narrowed. Conan watched them as they turned their backs on him and walk away. Even Ayumi was angry with him. Conan shook his head to clear his mind and looked around. Most of the people in the bank were in business suits with a few dressed in home clothes.

"Ding!"

The signal for the automatic glass doors sounded. Conan turned to look at the newcomers. There was a group of five men. They were all dressed in business suits and all were carrying black duffel bags. Conan felt a sense of foreboding. Something wasn't right.

Then one of the man pulled out a large device from his bag and placed it on the table. Conan's eyes widened. "No way," Conan thought, "That's a cell phone jammer. That means…"

Then one of the man shouted out loud and clear, "Everyone, this is a bank robbery!"

Everyone turned to face the group. They had pulled guns out from their bags. The security guards tried to pull out their own guns but were shot down by two of the men. Screams filled the room. The two shooters pulled the security jackets from the two lifeless bodies and wore them. Conan knew that they were going to masquerade as security guards so passer bys would not get suspicious. They turned over the 'OPEN' sign so the "CLOSED' part faced the outside. The dead security guards were dragged out of sight into another room.

'Everyone, get into the conference room upstairs. You would find your cell phones useless so do not even try of thinking to call the police. All alarms have been deactivated," announced the man who spoke earlier. It seems that he was the boss.

"Do you understand what that means? No one is coming to save you," said the leader, smirking, "NO ONE! So just do what we say alright! Get up to the conference room now!"

When no one moved, the boss sighed and pointed his gun to the ceiling. Shooting out 2 shots, he screamed, "NOW!"

With that, everyone began to move quickly upstairs. The boss and his two subordinates followed them. Upstairs, there more people. All were employees of the bank. They had heard the commotion downstairs and were trying their best to operate their now-useless phone. The two subordinates rounded up those employees, using their gun to hit them sometimes and brought them into the conference room.

Conan walked into the room without a shred of emotion on his face. When one of the man barked at him to hurry up, Conan stared at him coldly, making the guy flustered at his nonchalant face. Conan had no time to act as a child now. He needed to find out a way to get everyone out of the bank safely. The robbers didn't wear masks. That indicates that they were going to kill everyone when they had cleared out the vault. Conan gritted his teeth. His wristwatch had ran out of sleeping needles and he wasn't wearing his Anywhere ball dispenser belt.

"Damn!" he scolded himself for being so lax about his protection.

Conan gave a glare at the robbers. His mind worked furiously, thinking up an escape plan.

"You are not going to let you get away with this," Conan thought, "I am not!"

(~)

Transalation
Aniki- Partner
Ohayou gozaimasu- Good Morning.
Daijoubu desuka- Are you alright?
Otousan- Father.

Tah-dah! How is it? Took me a while to think about this plot though. The bank robbery was inspired by Burn Notice, a TV show. Review please! :)