Hi !

Already time for another chapter : ) Let's try to have a glimpse at what happened to Heiji at the end of chapter 9... :p

o.O.o

Laury Rose : Of course, this was a Kid's heist, he had to save the day ; ) Yea, I like to picture them like this, half old friends, half enemies, with a taunting Kid and a bored Conan ˆˆ Hmm I think Conan tends to be pretty paranoid about the BO and tends to see it everywhere, that's why I wanted him to think about that possibility. You'll have those info in due time : ) The only thing I can tell you yet is that Heiji didn't speak about that hospital case to Conan.

emmahoshi : Glad for you xD. Yup, we'll be a bit talking about what happened after he got cornered in this chapter but you won't have all the answers yet ; ) Yea, it had to be Heiji for what I wanted to do, see there's some logical in me hurting him sometimes ˆˆ As to your others questions... "Why Mouri" will come later : ) The hypnosis on Heiji is because the culprit has something against him of course : ) BO or not... Later also ˆˆ Hehe, I'm happy you're still a bit startled, would be a pity else ˆˆ Hmm I'm still wondering if Kid will come back... I'd like to settle that 'debt' thing but I need to see if it's useful or not to that story... So I don't know yet : ) I'd like too, let's say :p

mystery0028 : Haha, if Megure can be on a heist because Shinichi asked him to hang around in a helicopter with him, let me have him in mine under the excuse that Kogoro gave him a hint xD And they didn't just "stumble" in there, I looked at it again, Nakamori's agent says, when the inspector wonders what that helicopter is, that it has been sent as a backup by the headquarters. Though I bet it's just Shinich convincing Megure to bring him there ˆˆ;;

Anilover : Thanks ; ) Yea, Jodie can be helpful sometimes, right? ˆˆ Hmm while I'm not sure yet if the Kid will reappear, I'm sure Hakuba won't be here, sorry, this is DC centered as warned at the beginning so I won't have him in the story. Yea, I know it's high xD Dear, I got to find some time to write and decide what's next ˆˆ;; Maa, we kind of see that big boss' shadow, it's just that we don't know yet his/her level of implication ; )

James Birdsong : Thanks you ! : )


Chapter 12 : O-mamori


Heiji opened his eyes with difficulty and frown as he felt a spike of pain behind his head, as if something had hit him hard on the skull, but he couldn't remember what happened. That's when he tried to touch his bump with the hand that he started to feel uneasy. Because he was tied to the bed he was lying on. And being tied after a hit on the head usually meant one thing : he was in big trouble.

Hearing some footsteps behind the door, he tried to trash as hard as he could to free himself, ignoring the sharp pain it provoked in his chest, but nah, the restraints were too tight and too robust, the Osakan couldn't move an inch, sweat dropping as the handle was being turned and the door opened.

The dark-skinned tensed at the sight of the newcomer, someone in a white blouse or... a child ? How could he see both ? He blinked one moment and the image stabilized at least, bringing him back to reality, to a Conan who was smiling at him.

"- Hey !

- ... Hey... ?! ... There's no 'hey', ya've also been kidnapped, Kudô ?! Free me, we need ta go out o' here !

- Kidnapped ? " The boy frowned when he looked at his best friend. And then understood that waking up tied into a bed with a commotion could lead to some confusion. "Ah, nah, we're at the hospital. So no need to worry.

- The hospital ? How did I end up here... once again." The green eyed sighed as he looked around him, seeing more beds with medical material, empty though.

"- What's your last memory ?

- Hmm... We were headin' ta that tower before the heist with Occhan an' then... Ah, he was havin' a smoke while we were on that platform on the roof...

- That's all ?" The small detective asked and the answer to his question was a nod. "That was two hours ago.

- Ehh ? What happened ?! Did that damn Thief knock me down ?

- In fact, I did..."

Heiji stared at his friend with such disbelief the other rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment.

"- Well, you weren't yourself so I had to...

- Weren' myself ?

- Unless you tell me that throwing people over a 54-story building is your new hobby, I'd say that, no, you weren't yourself."

The Osakan paled several shades at the information, knowing at his friend's now serious face that he wasn't joking. "Just... Who... An'... ?

- Kogoro-san. But don't worry, he's good." Conan smiled at the teen's panicked face. "He'll have a nice bruise on the jaw but that's all. And, since he was unconscious, he doesn't even know he has been pushed over the roof. Ah and he doesn't know it was you, we decided with the Kid we'd frame him for that.

- ... Ok..." The green-eyed dully answered, still a bit lost. He'd have to ask for a more detailed version of this story later but his main problem now was to know... "What the heck happened ? How can I try ta kill Occhan an' don' remember it...

- You've probably been programmed." The azure-eyed sighed as he finally sat on a chair near his friend's bed.

"- What ?! Like in those spy movies ? Do this, do that ?

- Yup. Someone called you when we were on that roof and you started to act strangely after that... So I think a voice or a word or a group of words is the trigger...

- An' that's why I'm tied ta that bed...

- Yea, if it's a word and anyone says it by accident, you could go back to that berserk state...

- Got it..." Heiji confirmed before noticing his friend was a bit stiff on his chair. "Are ya hurt ? Did I... ?" His eyes widened as he understood his manipulated self had been able to rise his hand on his best friend.

"- I'm good, nothing's broken, I had a medic check that." The child stated with a comforting smile and a sign of his chin to his arm. "Just some bruises. I guess the Kid has some too. And since I bruised some of your ribs and almost cracked your head open, I guess we're even !" He finally chuckled to try to lighten the now heavy atmosphere.

"- Sorry...

- No "sorry"s, it's not your fault, Hattori. It's probably mine though..." Conan wanted to point out at his friend's depressed face. But the teen seemed lost in his thoughts. "You're trying to remember when you could have been programmed ?

- Yea, but I can'..." The dark-skinned was interrupted when a sharp pain went through his head, forcing him to stop to try to remember anything, leaving his mind blank.

"- Hey, you ok ?" The azure-eyed boy inquired as he saw his grimace."Don't force yourself if you can't. I explained the problem to Jodie-sensei, she will come back with one of her specialists so we can get rid of that mind control of yours..."

The Osakan frowned at the mention of the woman's name.

"- The FBI ? Why... ? ... Ya think it could be the Black Organization ? But this attack was directed at Occhan, not ya, so it can' mean they discovered ya were... ya know, a tiny version o' yerself...

- I don't know why they would target Kogoro-san and indeed, this doesn't seem to be related to them hunting me but this plan is so elaborate, we can't ignore that possibility... They have so many scientists capable in a lot of disciplines... Sorry I involved you in all this, Hattori." The bespectacled detective deplored as he bowed his head.

"- Don' be. Never be, Kudô. Even if it's Them, an' that's not sure at all, those guys are murderers an' must be stopped, at any cost, that's not only yer fight. I said I'd help, I won' change my mind."

Both teens looked at each other and Conan finally gave up with a nod.

"- Good !" Heiji concluded with one of his warm smile. "An' now, will ya explain ta me how ya ended up teamin' with the Kid, Kid-killer ?"

o.O.o

Jumping awake, the dark-skinned opened his eyelids to look arounf him and saw once again that shape in white, the one he thought he saw when his best friend entered his room earlier. Perhaps there were even two ? Maybe, he didn't know.

And there was that voice. That soft voice he couldn't resist too.

Male ? Female ? He was unable to tell right now, everything sounded blurred.

Everything was blurred in fact. His sight, his thoughts. Had he been drugged ?

The green-eyed felt kind of detached about it though, as if he didn't mind what was happening to him. However, when those flashes of blue light started again, he couldn't stop his throat to let a groan of pain out. He was back to his body, back to this white room, back to those electrical discharges that painfully went through him, from toes to hairs, forcing him to trash in his bed.

"- ... tori ! Heiji !"

Panting and in pain, the detective of the West woke up once again but to find out he was back in his hospital room, with Conan bending above him with a concerned face.

"- Welcome back." He smiled, before turning to give a hard look to the man sitting near his best friend, the FBI agent who had been called by Jodie. "Didn't you say he wouldn't feel anything ?

- In some rare cases, when the suggestion is really deep, the patient is unable to stay detached enough not to feel the extreme sensations that he could have felt back then, I'm sorry, Hattori-kun." The FBI specialist, Jake as the blond-haired girl called him, deplored with a frown before giving their problem a little though. "I think we should focus on finding the trigger. The one who did this has locked your memory with high level techniques, I won't be able to get rid of those in one night.

- But ya'll be able ta get rid o' the "I get berserk, attack everyone an' forget everythin' after" thingie tonight ?" The Osakan asked with a tired but hopeful voice.

"- Yes, I think so. We just have to find when it happened in your memories, so we can look for the word or the sequence that has been used.

- But first, I think we all need a break." The small detective advised with a side glance at his friend, seeing how hard it was on him to go through that high-speed kind of mind 'defusing'.

"- Agree. " The man stated, exchanging a nod with Heiji as he got up, having also noticed his tired face. "I'll be with Jodie-san, tell me when you feel ready to go on."

"- You good ?" Conan asked to the dark-skinned after the agent left.

"- Yea, yea... it's just... How long have I been with them ? Jake-han said that, even with the proper material, an expert would need at least somethin' like five or six hours... How come no one noticed I was missin' ? If all this really happened, I'd have been so weak an' so filled with drugs I wouldn' have been able ta put one foot in front o' the other..." The Osakan wondered as he settled back into his bed and looked at the ceiling.

The boy's anger was visible as he clenched his fists. The FBI agent arrived one hour earlier, around one a.m., and they had been working since on trying to find out what happened through the detective of the West's brain.

And he really didn't like what they were finding. His friend has been held captive, tied to a bed and drugged. And, to accelerate the programming, electroshocks had probably been used, those blue lights he was describing. This had been quick and cruel but apparently pretty efficient and didn't leave any marks behind, else Heiji himself would have noticed.

Conan jumped out of his internal ranting where he felt a phone vibrate in his pocket. Getting it out, he noticed it wasn't his phone but his friend's that he had kept it with him, and that the caller was...

"- Kazuha I bet ?" The other teen guessed when he saw it was his phone the boy had in his hand. The child nodded, an unsaid question on his face. "Put it on speaker. I'd just prefer ya ta hold it, ta hang up if anythin' happens.

- Ok..."

The Osakan took a deep breath and finally bowed his head to signify he was ready.

"- Kazuha ?

- Heiji ?! Ya ok?! Kami, I've been so worried...

- Didn' Occhan tell ya there was nothin' ta worry about ?" The green-eyed frowned at his childhood friend's worried voice.

"- He just said last time he saw ya ya were unconscious and an ambulance was on the way... Where are ya ? In which hospital ? I'm comin' !

- Kazuha, I just got some bump on the head an' the visitin' hours are long over, no need ta rush. They want ta keep me fer the night though, but I'll come back ta the Mouri's office tomorrow, ok ?

- But...

- Hey, I won' have ya come ta the hospital in the middle o' the night because I slipped on some snow, ahou..." The teen detective said with a voice he tried to put some comfort in. "An' I don' want ta bother the Mouri with that...

- Ya're the ahou..." The girl answered with a weak voice but Heiji could feel she'd probably be reasonable, probably thanks to that last argument.

"- Hai, hai. An' now the ahou needs some sleep an' I bet ya too, so see ya tomorrow, ok ?

- Yea... Good night, Heiji.

- Good night, Kazuha. An' please tell Nee-chan Conan is with me, he's alright, he was keepin' me company so the nurses settled him in my room. He's sleepin' right now, better not ta disturb him.

- Ok..."

"- Hope we'll really be able ta solve this by tomorrow, else we won' be able ta keep Kazuha away from the hospital..." The Osakan sighed after the azure-eyed child hung up the phone at his nod.

"- Well, at least, she seemed to have bought your story for now, so we're good for the night.

- Yea. But it's late already... Could ya fetch that guy once again ?"

The child looked at his friend with a serious face, to be sure he was ready and not just asking this out of bravado. But, since the only thing he could see on the other's face was determination, he got up.

"- Ok."

The dark-skinned looked once again at the ceiling once the other left. Of course Kazuha would be worried. But he couldn't have her being brought here, not if the BO was the mastermind behind all this. And he didn't want to hurt her by accident, he felt guilty enough about Conan's arm...

And the girl should have more faith in her own o-mamori, right ? After all, he wasn't really wounded so it kind of worked ? ... Or things turned worse because of it.

He chuckled at the idea, still not really sure if that little pouch was a protection or a problem-magnet. But there was something else about that o-mamori, he felt it... The detective closed his eyes as he tried to remember and then suddenly...

He had a chill when the one in white opened his shirt and stuck icy-cold electrodes on his chest. Heiji was trying not to panic, to keep his mind clear despite whatever he had been injected with in the neck. His eyes laid on his o-mamori and a soft expression appeared on his face as he thought about the one who made it. Feeling his breath was calming down and seeing how the teen was looking at the item, the other had a smirk.

"- Is that thing precious to you ?" The medic asked before smiling when the dark-skinned looked away. "Clearly...

- Don' ... !" The Osakan spurted as hands were grabbing the pendant around his neck. "Give it back, ya damn...

- I'll give it back to you, don't worry..."

"- Hattori ?" Conan asked as he opened the door and saw his friend's look was a bit lost.

Heiji jumped out of his daydream and stared at the small detective. "Kudô, where's where's my o-mamori ?! " He asked with urge.

"- In the drawer, just here, don't worry, they didn't lose it ..." The bespectacled child answered calmly, a bit surprised by his friend's concerned face.

He stepped into the room and fetched the item in the table near Heiji's bed, before showing it to him with a smile.

But if he hoped to sooth him, he was greatly mistaken, as the dark-skinned paled when he saw how close the o-mamori was from them. "Open it !

- What's the... " The azure-eyed kid wondered, not understanding all this rush.

"- Now !"

The concern on the Osakan's face was real and Conan soon mirrored his expression as he opened the little pouch and emptied it in his palm. He wasn't a specialist in miniature technologies but... He had left enough of those tiny mikes the Professor made behind him to know what they looked like.

And he was holding one in his hand.