Patting the Alexandrite in his pocket, Kaito smothers a grin. It's not every day he investigates such a rare gemstone. Quite the beauty! The likelihood that this was the stone he was looking for was small, but it was still worth a shot.

His decoy is doing wonders upstairs. He hopes Jii-san sticks to the plan. Just as a handful of officers pass him in the stairwell, he spots her. The woman, Madame Poltergeist, was standing just inside the exit. She waggles her gloved fingers at him, "Niño bonito~"

He freezes, does she recognize him in his disguise? She motions to the radio attached to his vest just as it cackles to life, "It's a decoy! KID is still in the building!" Nakamori's voice yells out.

Shit.

Madame smiles, "Looks like your plan is unraveling, boy-o."

So she speaks Japanese now, huh? "Then you understand if I must cut our meeting short, Madame."

The sound of feet thunders above them and Madame opens the door behind her and motions to him, "Follow me."

Quickly Kaito follows her out into the alley, planning to split once outside. His plan is thwarted when officer's round the corner to the left. They draw their guns, "Halt! Identify yourselves!"

Kaito curses inwardly, if only she wasn't wearing such a conspicuous outfit! He pauses for a second to reflect on the irony.

While he reflects, Madame pulls off both of the white bullwhips attached to her hips and unfurls them. "Chupa para ser usted, perdedores!"

She cracks the whips once then flings them forward. The whips wrap around the officers guns; she wrenches them back and behind her. She flicks the whips forward again, one wraps around an officers neck and she wrenches him forward into his partner. She throws the handle of the other whip forward and knocks the two officers out.

Kaito lets out a low whistle. Madame twirls around and grabs his hand, "This way!"

He lets her pull him along as they run in the opposite direction. A few more officers tail them a ways as they round corners. Kaito ditches the disguise along the way seeing as it wasn't fooling anyone this time anyways. A few corners later and a truck comes into view.

The tailgate is already down and a tarp is covering the bed. Madame jumps and slides into the back easily and motions for Kaito to follow. He looks over his shoulder and, finding no other choice, jumps in next to her. Madame pulls the tailgate shut and everything goes pitch black.

For a moment all Kaito can hear is the sound of their heavy breathing. The officers thunder past and a Kaito hears a short exchange between two voices. Then the door to the cab opens and shuts and for several moments it is silent. Then Madame knocks three times and the truck starts and begins to drive away.

"Friend of yours?" Kaito asks, anxiety rocketing skywards.

He catches a glimpse of Madame nodding as a street light passes over. "It's a hard life out there for a thief without an accomplice."

"Where are you taking me?" Kaito asks already thinking of how to escape.

Madame grins and waits to let the suspense build. "Home."

Kaito lets out a sharp laugh of surprise. All Madame does is give him a look. "…You're serious?"

"Of course, señor. What, did you think we would just hand you over to the police or the highest bidder? I'd like to think we have more tact." Madame huffs.

The truck hits a bump as it rounds a corner and Madame is thrust into Kaito's space and he brings his arms up around her to steady them both. Madame giggles, "Well señor KID, if you wanted me in your arms all you had to do was ask."

Kaito blushes as Madame presses closer. "W-why do they call you Poltergeist?" He stutters.

Madame pouts and scoots back, "I like to move things and scare people. Like a mischievous little spirit."

Before long the truck pulls to a stop and Kaito listens as someone gets out of the cab and rounds to the back of the truck. The tailgate opens and the person helps Madame out. Kaito quickly scrambles out of the bed and takes in his surroundings.

They are parked behind a mansion, three stories tall, and that's about all he gets before he is swamped by six eager canines. Kaito looks over to Madame who's trying to stifle her laughter. The man who drove the truck is wearing, of all things, a cowboy hat and a plaid button up shirt. In the moonlight it is harder to see his face.

The man whistles and the dogs back off. Then he approaches Kaito and sticks out a hand, "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Mic."

Hesitantly Kaito shakes his hand wondering if the accent is real or part of a disguise. Mic looks him up and down and winces, "I'll pay for the cleaning." He motions to the paw prints littering Kaito's suit and cape.

Madame and Mic lead Kaito inside the mansion through a backdoor that leads into a kitchen. Inside are three more people. Mic pulls off his hat and places it on a stand near the door, "KID, meet the family. Family, meet Kaito KID."

A little goth girl raises an eyebrow at him, "Charmed."

"We've heard a lot about you." A young man with a tablet says not taking his eyes away from the device.

The oldest of the group, a man appearing to be in his forties claps his hands a few times, "Excellent work tonight. That was hilarious. Those cops were so mad~"

Mic frowns, "Gabriel, behave."

"Anyways," Madame cuts in, "KID, these are my brothers, sister, and uncle. Mic, Mark, Ronnie, and Gabriel."

Kaito files away the information then finds himself asking, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Call it…a trust exercise." Madame stated, "We may want to work with you in the future. Here, let me show you something."

Madame then leads him through the living room and up the stairs, down a hallway, up some more stairs and too another hallway. She pauses at an open door. Kaito peaks into the lab that she refers to as belonging to Mark. On the opposite side of the hallway is another door.

Madame opens it with a flourish. Inside Kaito finds much of the same things he has in his own studio. Madame grins, "Welcome to my workshop, where all my tricks and heists are planned."

She takes a seat in front of a large vanity. Kaito puts on his poker face, "You sabotaged my heist tonight didn't you."

Madame looks sheepish and moves to take off her fedora and mask. "We all had a hand in it. We wanted to show you what we were capable of and get the chance to talk to you in one go."

Face now in the open, Madame stands and makes a grand bow, "Hilary Dunham, at your service."

When she straightens she grins at him, "You don't have to give us your real name yet. Though I should warn you that we all go by the last name 'D' since we moved here."

"I'll be sure to remember." Kaito says. He casually sits in a chair opposite Hilary. She turns her back to him. Takes off her claw tailed coat, and begins to untie her corset.

"We're a detective agency." She begins, "Sorta. Mic is a profiler and tracker. At least he was back in Texas. We solve cases. I steal things that he needs to solve them. Like, confidential files or evidence or whatnot. Mark is a hacker and scientist."

The corset falls to the floor and Hilary makes her way behind a screen to change. "I've never stole anything real expensive before. What's it like? To hold something worth that much money?"

Kaito shrugs, "There is a certain thrill to it."

Hilary comes out from behind the screen wearing a large t-shirt and shorts. "To be honest, we're all trying to set down roots here. Can you help us with that? We could use any information you have about the people our kind deals with. We can give you the same."

"I'll think about it." Kaito says.

Hilary nods and points to his jacket. "You'll find that you already have all of our contact information for when you are ready."

Kaito pats his suit pocket and sure enough, feels something he's sure he didn't put there.

Hilary stands up and once again leads Kaito downstairs, "I'd offer to let you stay the night but I highly doubt you'd be that comfortable with all of us that soon. Mic said he'd give you a ride anywhere you wanted to go."

They enter the kitchen to find only Mic still seated at the island. He looks up and smiles at them, "I sent everyone to bed already. Now that all the excitement is over with."

Hilary pats Kaito on the shoulder, "Well, if you ever need us for anything, give us a ring. Also you can come use my workshop anytime."

With that said, Hilary disappears back into the living room. Mic motions for Kaito to follow him outside to the truck. Mic looks up at the moon, "So where would you like to go?"

Kaito rattles off an address and waits till Mic is in the truck to change into another disguise to which Mic barely gives him a second glance. "I know roughly where that address is but you may have to give me some directions when we get close." Mic says as he fiddles with the CD player.

Some country music starts to play and Mic pulls around the house and into the street. Kaito sits in silence as he thinks over everything that happened tonight. His brain is starting to hurt with all the information he pulled in.

Mic turns down the radio and sighs, "I have to ask you a favor."

Kaito side-eyes him, and signals for him to continue. Mic stares ahead, "Whatever you find on us, cause I know you have to research us and whatever…please keep it to yourself."

Kaito laughs a bit, "And who, dear cowboy-san, would I tell?"

Mic smirks a bit at the nickname, "I don't know. Contacts? Friends? Hell, you could trade the info on the black market for all I know. It's just…I have reason to believe…a storm is coming. I need to keep my family safe and to do that we need secrecy."

Kaito takes in the serious tone and face Mic is making and feels a shiver of foreboding run down his spine. He sympathizes with Mic's reasoning though, "I can do that."

Later, after Mic drops him off, Kaito walks a ways to his hotel for the night. He smiles to himself as he thinks over the prospect of having new allies.