To all my lovely reviewers, I have finally realized that I can instantly reply to reviews via Private Message, as opposed to tacking my responses onto the end of each chapter (yes, I know, I'm a n00b). But anyway, I feel that this is a MUCH BETTER approach, so I will be responding to everyone in this fashion from now on (unless you explicitly request I respond at the end of the chapter, in which case I'm always happy to oblige). Anyway, hope you all like this chapter! It took a long time to write, since everything I wrote seemed to sound terrible, no matter how I worded it. I think my brain is broken... :/

Something to think about: Should this fanfic be given a higher maturity rating? It's currently at K+, but a few things in this chapter might put it over the edge... Let me know what you think. Thank you!

"Bring the gem to me," Snake commanded.

"With all due respect, sir," Aoko's captor replied, "I can't do that."

"What?"

"Well, didn't you notice the disparity in our numbers?"

Snake raised an eyebrow. "What on earth are you talking about?"

The henchman took a deep breath. "Well, there were three of us, you, the Kaitou Kid, and" – he clapped Aoko across the head – "this one."

"Hey!" Aoko snapped angrily, fixing her captor with a glare.

"So it stands to reason," the henchman continued, ignoring the girl's objection, "that Kaitou Kid has escaped."

Snake frowned. "Yeah, clearly," he agreed, "but we have the gem, so who cares? Bring it to me."

"No no no, you misunderstand, sir," the henchman replied quickly. "The gem… I don't have it."

"W-what?"

"The Kaitou Kid isn't here, so perhaps he has it…"

"No, no – I saw you!" Snake protested, striding closer to his henchman. "You just took the gem from this fake Kid!"

"I did do that, sir, yes," the henchman admitted with a nod, "but then she kicked me, and I dropped it…"

"You- you imbecile!"

The henchman glanced around. "I don't see it anymore, so the Kid probably took it…"

"Obviously!" Snake screamed angrily, raising his fist. He took a deep breath and surveyed the rooftop, dropping his arm to his side. "Alright," he continued in a calmer tone, turning back toward his henchman. "We'll untie our men and restrain this fake Kid in their place, and then we'll go find the real Kid."

Aoko began to struggle violently. "Don't you dare tie me up!" she shrieked.

The henchman slowly pulled Aoko toward the men bound to the glass sheets, despite the girl's resistance. Suddenly, he paused, regarding the sight before him in shock. One of the men was sitting atop the sheet of glass to which he had earlier been bound, smiling mysteriously.

"Ah, so you're already free," Snake remarked dismissively, upon seeing the freed man. "Go ahead and help him tie that girl down, and free the other guy while you're at it."

The man sitting upon the glass did not move, aside from raising an eyebrow. Aoko's captor continued to watch the man warily.

"Y-you," the henchman began nervously. There was no way anyone could have escaped from such bonds…

"Yes," the man replied smoothly, returning to his feet. "I'm afraid I grow tired of this masquerade…"

Snake blinked at the man in confusion. "I don't understand. Masquerade…?" A sudden thought struck him, and he turned angrily toward the man. "It's you!" he shouted. "After all this time, the real Kaitou Kid!"

Aoko's captor stiffened. It did appear that way. The man before him… His voice and appearance were unmistakably that of Kuroba Toichi, his father, the original and real Kaitou Kid. But that couldn't be right! His father was dead… Wasn't he?

Hakuba Saguru slid stealthily down the corridor, keeping his target in sight. Kuroba Kaito, he thought smugly to himself, a satisfied smile spreading across his face, you'll not escape this time. He had been tailing Kid for nearly half an hour, and now he had him cornered. Kid was walking down a hall that led only to a single room. There was no escape except back up the hall, past Hakuba.

But Hakuba did not have much of a plan… This heist had been announced so quickly… And Kaito was clever, far too clever for any grand scheme to work on him. But here was Kid, within his reach. Hakuba had to try something.

The high school detective continued to tread carefully down the hall, maintaining a cautious distance. Kid neglected to notice his pursuer and passed through the doorway into the room. Hakuba had him! Okay. He needed to enter the room before the door was sealed shut, trapping Kid within. Hakuba slid along the wall, still hidden from the infrared camera behind his sheet of glass. He slipped quietly into the room, blocking the exit at the doorway.

He tossed his sheet of glass onto the floor. Within an instant, the infrared sensor perceived his presence, and the door closed swiftly behind him. Kid jumped at the noise, and, upon catching sight of Hakuba, began to flee further into the room. Without sparing a moment for thought, Hakuba leapt forward, attaching himself to Kid's legs.

The thief squealed and fell forward. He began attempting to kick Hakuba off, but the detective held fast. Kid struggled and fought to break free, causing him and his captor to tumble forward, tripping over one another while rolling blindly across the floor.

Hakuba struggled to return to his feet, only to fall over Kid, who in turn, tried the same thing, only to fall over Hakuba. The two continued to travel in such a way, fighting for balance around the entire room. Finally, Hakuba resigned himself to the floor, where at least he would be safe from falling over.

No sooner than the young detective had accepted his position, Kid also appeared to have arrived at the same conclusion, and he allowed himself to fall onto the floor. Hakuba rolled his body to the left to avoid Kid, only to find both his and Kid's faces smashed together against the wall. Hardly a moment had passed when the wall suddenly fell through, hurtling the two backwards into a long, metal chute.

Kid screamed as they fell vertically, banging and clanging into odd corners along the way. Hakuba attempted to slow their descent by grasping aimlessly at the walls, but it was to no avail. They continued to pound around the chute, gradually gaining velocity, until they suddenly crashed into a large pile of rubbish.

Hakuba lay on his back, panting for air. He turned toward Kid, who was similarly prostrated and gasping for life. The high school detective slowly sat up and began to take in his surroundings. He had to be in a lower level of the building, given the fall. Most likely the ground level. And… It seemed that he and Kid had fallen into a large rubbish skip, the walls of which were… about six meters high on all sides. It would take quite an effort to climb out…

Kid slowly sat up, panting and eying the refuse in which he sat with wide eyes. "What," he hissed, struggling to catch his breath, "what on Earth is wrong with you?"

"Listen, Kuroba-kun," Hakuba directed authoritatively, "I leave you alone at school, but we both know that during a heist, anything is fair game." Hakuba smiled up at the tall sides of the rubbish skip. "And it looks like you've finally been trapped, in a sense at least…"

"Ugh, you are so arrogant," Kid grumbled in a soft, feminine voice, attempting to remove items of garbage from long, scarlet hair. "So assured in yourself that still you cannot notice the obvious…"

Hakuba paused, taken aback at the sound of Kid's voice. Well, Kaito could disguise his voice easily enough, but… He leaned forward to make out the detail of his prisoner's face.

"No…" Hakuba said slowly.

His companion raised an eyebrow.

"No!" Hakuba repeated.

"Come on, I'm not that bad," the companion objected.

Hakuba moaned, allowing himself to fall back onto the pile of rubbish. He proceeded to bury his face in his hands. "Bollocks," he grumbled in a muffled voice. "To think I gave up my holiday in England, to end up trapped in a skip bin, with none other than Koizumi Akako…"

Akako rolled her eyes. "To think I came here to help one idiot," she shot back icily, "only to become stuck with another…"

Snake began to advance on the mysterious man, only to halt as the man produced a handgun from his pocket and pointed it at his assailant.

"Don't you move," he commanded coolly. He turned to Aoko's captor. "And none of your tricks, please."

Kaito bit his lip.

"Ha! A-As if that's a real gun," Snake laughed uneasily. "You won't kill anyone anyway, so what can you do to me?" He began to move forward again, although with reduced speed.

The man who resembled Kuroba Toichi turned sideways and fired a shot straight into the chest of the other henchman whom Kid had tied to the glass sheet, killing the man instantly. Snake stopped dead in his tracks.

The man turned to face Snake, a pitiless smile on his face. "Just so we understand each other," he explained.

"How… how dare you," Kaito muttered quietly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You aren't the real Kid," Kaito said through clenched teeth, pulling Aoko behind him so that she was shielded from the handgun. "The real Kaitou Kid was a great man. His name was Kuroba Toichi, and he died protecting the world from men like you. How dare you attempt to pass yourself off as him."

The man laughed. "Is it any worse than what you do?"

Kaito glared at the man in silence.

"So you're the one who took the Pandora gem," Snake submitted angrily.

The man paused, regarding Snake with amusement. "You – you can't be serious," he laughed. "You still think that worthless rock is Pandora?"

Snake frowned.

"Oh dear!" the man exclaimed. "It appears you did. When I had heard about your interpretation, thinking Pandora was some sort of gem, I did not believe anyone could be so stupid… But clearly, I was wrong." He sighed. "Anyway, if you still want that rock that we dressed up to match your delusions, even going so far as to stick a light bulb in the center and giving it a name befitting a fake Pandora, your friend here dumped the gem into the transition shaft. It should be arriving in the main chamber on the second floor any minute now…"

Snake stepped forward. "What – what do you mean?" he asked. "Pandora is a gem! That information we obtained described it thusly! It's a gem that shines red in the moonlight, and during the passing of the Volley Comet, it sheds tears of immortality!"

"Have you heard of any gem in the known world like that?" the man asked plainly. His question was greeted with silence. "I mean, come on!" he continued. "Moonlight making it shine red, a comet making it exude some sort of immortal elixir? Did you really think you had translated the passage correctly?"

"They're… They're all metaphors" Kaito said quietly. All eyes turned to him. "You've misinterpreted metaphors, used to describe Pandora, as literal assertions," he explained in a louder voice.

Snake frowned in confusion.

"Pandora is a woman from ancient Greek mythology," Kaito asserted apprehensively. "She was the first woman, to whom each god contributed a gift. And that's what she was – all-gifted, and a gift to humanity itself, the literal meaning of her name." Kaito glanced around nervously. "It sounds to me like the passage you acquired is describing this Pandora. She is compared to a beautiful, perfect gem, because she is the same: a flawless, desirable gift. I would go on to assume that the tears she cries are not immortal, but endless, meaning she mourns for eternity. Although she was a gift, Pandora also greatly harmed the world of man, when through idle curiosity, she opened a jar, releasing all evils into the world. Pandora forever carries the shame of this act, thus moving her to eternally mourn. The passing of the Volley Comet stimulating her tears is most likely referring to the passage of time, as stars and comets move across the sky in accordance with months and years. So the mention of the comet, referring to time, further augments the theme of her mourning throughout all of time. As for the red shine, I would guess that her eyes shine with tears, and the sclera of her shining eyes are red and inflamed, from the endless crying." Kaito paused. "Pandora is, therefore, nothing more than the sad, ageless, mythical woman, mourning as an eternity passes, unable to find recompense for her actions."

A stiff silence followed Kaito's explanation. "Wow…" the man finally exclaimed. "You've gotten it right on the mark, just like your father…"

"Do you mean to tell me," Snake interrupted, "that all of this is just from some silly myth?"

"That's right," the man replied steadily.

"But our agent," Snake continued to protest, "our agent delivered that intelligence to us directly from its source…"

"He brought you that Dutch poem, right? The one from the confidential Roujuu report, gathered from the Rangaku at Dejima Island?" Noting Snake's surprise, the man continued. "And I'm guessing he called himself Pisco…?"

"How- how much do you know?"

The man threw back his lead and laughed. "We know everything. We knew that Masuyama Kenzo, or Pisco, gave you that poem, and that is why we had him killed, after letting him take the fall for a crime. At first, we feared that you would seek out Pandora, but when you began to target large gems, we realized you had grossly misinterpreted the information. You weren't really a threat, since your views were so skewed, but we've recently decided that we cannot continue to let you make such a spectacle of our greatest secret, no matter how flawed your perception of it is."

The man narrowed his eyes. "And I'm afraid this is also personal," he said slowly, his eyes fixed on Snake. "You see, I've wanted to kill you for a long time, for what you did to Kuroba Toichi…"

Kaito drew in his breath. Aoko grasped his hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

"You contracted him to find Pandora," the man recalled. "Toichi was a clever man; he learned what Pandora really was right away." He paused. "But Toichi also knew that, should he reveal the secret of Pandora, he and everyone close to him would be killed. So he opted instead to refuse your request, so you would kill him, and his friends and family would remain safe."

The man cocked his gun, pointing it straight at Snake, who stood frozen in fear. "You monsters," he muttered furiously. "He… He had understood me. He had promised to help me! And then your stupid organization, with your petty dreams of immortality, had sent him off to die!" Two shots fired quickly from the handgun, blowing out each of Snake's kneecaps. He collapsed to the ground, howling in pain.

Aoko buried her face in Kaito's shoulder.

The man walked toward Snake until he stood over him, pointing his gun downward.

"Don't kill him!" Kaito shouted.

The man turned to Kaito, smiling coldly. "Oh, I don't intend to kill him this instant," he offered. He turned back to Snake, who continued to lie on the ground, screaming. "For the man who killed Toichi – who sabotaged his magic act, and watched without feeling as the man burst into flames and burned to death upon the stage – he will die the same way, with a slow, painful death."

Suddenly, the roof began to shake.

"Wh-What in heavens name…?" Inspector Nakamori shouted, having just witnessed a small explosion erupting from the third floor.

"It was caused by some sort of electrical fire," Kita reported, viewing the details on her computer.

"Can we contain it?" Jirokichi asked.

Kita bit her lip. "I'm not sure…"

Nakamori sighed. "Alright… Then we'll have to open the building."

Kita turned to face the inspector. "Sir?"

"If that fire spreads, I can't have all those people trapped inside the building," Nakamori reasoned. "We've got to get them out."

"Right," Kita agreed, turning back to her screen. She began punching commands into her keyboard. She frowned, studying the screen. She tried again, watching her fingers on the keyboard. Kita turned back to the screen, only to realize she had failed again.

"What's wrong?" Nakamori wondered.

"Th-there's something wrong with the override code…" Kita observed uneasily. "It's… hmmm… Here, I'll try to analyze the source of the problem…" Kita's fingers moved furiously across the keyboard.

After a few minutes, she smiled. "Got it!" she exclaimed triumphantly. She pulled up the source code. Suddenly, Kita's face went pale. "No… no…" she whimpered slowly.

"For crying out loud, what is it?" Jirokichi shouted anxiously.

Kita swallowed uneasily. "Are…" She closed her eyes tightly and then opened them again. "Are you two familiar with Night Baron?"

"What?"

"I know it," Nakamori replied. "It was a super-virus, a threat to national security. But your company overcame it, and established nationwide firewalls against it."

Kita nodded, turning back to her screen. "This code is unmistakable," she admitted apprehensively. "It must have been updated, to somehow bypass our security measures…" Kita's eyes were wide with fear as she struggled to continue.

"For goodness' sake," Jirokichi growled, "just tell us what is wrong!"

"It's Night Baron!" Kita finally exclaimed. "It's back, and it's overridden my control of the building!"

"What was that explosion?" Snake demanded from his crumpled position on the tiles of the roof.

The man smiled. "The beginning of your death," he answered calmly. "Since you were content to watch Toichi burn to death, I shall do the same to you. You said your entire organization has been dispatched to this building, correct?"

Snake's eyes widened.

"This building will remain sealed," the man continued, "and soon it will be consumed in flames. You, and all of your men, will burn to cinders and ash, as I watch and laugh."

Snake scoffed forcibly. "Well, you forgot to account for the fact that you're sealed in here too," he informed his assailant dryly. "This building isn't going to just let you out-"

"On the contrary," the man interrupted, throwing off his Kaitou Kid disguise. A beautiful, foreign woman, with long blonde hair, now stood before the group.

A rope suddenly descended from above their heads and fastened around the woman's waist. Kaito quickly turned skyward to see that the roof's cover was slightly ajar, and a helicopter hovered above the building. Before Kaito could make a move, the woman was raised beyond his reach toward the hole in the roof cover.

"This is Pandora's building!" the woman called out as she flew up toward the helicopter. "So it will do as I say, for I am Pandora, the great gem of humanity!"

The roof snapped shut, sealing fifty-two people, scattered across various floors and rooms, trapped with friends and enemies alike, within the burning building.

Kittymama12, You're the exception, because I can't seem to be able to PM you! But thank you so much for your kindness. I am slowly recovering. But anyway, I'm very happy to have you on board as a reader! And thanks for taking the time to review. I did write Heiji and Kazuha's voices differently to indicate their Kansai dialect. I decided that the closest parallel to Kansai vs. Kanto dialects in English is probably Cockney English vs. Southern English dialect, so I'm gonna proceed along that vein. :)