Heya !
After that cliffhangerish ending, let's see how Heiji can get out of this mess, above all with a new cellmate... ; )
Have fun reading, thanks for coming ! ^_^
o.O.o
Hebiaczek : Thank you ! And yes, with him they are just... Conan is taken in Heiji's spiral of "Kudo" and doesn't even mind anymore o.O Yup, that's why I couldn't have him interact here... Oh well, he'll be back in 2-3 chapters : ) You'll see :D Oh, a Heiji fan also? He's the best, right ? *grins*
Boogum : Yup, he's got what he deserves but it doesn't mean it's nice to watch ˆˆ; Haha, yea, I guess this will make him think a bit on just how he could just have avoided all those slips, right? Just a little more attention from him could have spared him of all this ...! Your curiosity will be satisfied in this chapter : )
WisteriaReads : Haha, yea, it was bound to happen, slips are the evil ! But I'm not sure Heiji could even stop himselfˆˆ; But yes, these could even endanger his relatives, just like I pictured, silly Heiji sometimes :p But that's how he is ! Oh, thanks ˆˆ To be honest, titles kind of pop in my head and, like it or not, once it's here, I can't get rid of it, my story must have this name. So even here, where I was deviating a little bit, I kept it : ) Yea, I also vote for the least dangerous ˆˆ But I think they'd chose kidnapping "IRL", because they'd have so many questions if they saw some random teenagers got so deep informations about them. They'd suspect an adult to help them so they'd have to question them about "him"., to discover who he'd be... So still the more plausible to me !
EmYasmina : I told you I wasn't finished with Heiji ; ) Get ready to use some extra lives of yours ˆˆ
JarayZ : Exactly ! What I used is a fact everyone noticed I think, it just didn't stand out because we think of Otaki as the "old good guy who helps Heiji in his cases". Tricky, tricky... Just a little bit of reverse thinking ˆˆ Haha, just imagine that scene 'Hei-chan, got you your Kazuha, spit everything you know!" "Oh no, wait, I got something to settle with Heiji first !' *multiple painful Aikido catches later* " He's all yours, otaki !" "But there nothing left, Kazuha..."LOL ! haha, I think he'd be blaming me a bit also, I tend to be a bit sadistic... ; ) But had to tame myself a bit, eh, I did want the story to continue xD
Chapter 14 : Rescue
The man in dark clothes, after a few silent acrobatics to get on the first floor from the outside, slowly pushed the window open, taking all precautions not to be heard by the house's inhabitants. To be exact, the house's inhabitant : he was pretty sure there was only one left as he had waited for the other one and his guest to get into his car and leave before starting his mission.
He turned his head on the left to see, as his boss had told him, a young brown haired teen deeply asleep in the nearby bed.
Discreetly approaching, he took a stun gun out and used it on the girl, before she could even move.
Quickly, he threw her through his shoulder and, knowing the house would be empty, went down the stairs and outside through the front door.
A car, its engine running, was waiting for him just in front of the place and sped off as soon as the man and his victim were seated.
The kidnapper had a smile. Less than five minutes to kidnap the daughter of the N°2 of Osaka's police was really too easy.
Saying Heiji was having a bad night was quite the euphemism. After Otaki left, he tried and succeed to somehow sit against the wall, his mind blank, overwhelmed by too many emotions. He first focused on simple tasks, starting by examining himself.
The sickening cracking noise he heard didn't let any doubt about the fact something in his right hand was broken. Bringing it to the light, he quickly identified the characteristic colour and swallowing of his pinkie, confirmed by the wince of pain when he tried to move it.
"Ok... incapacitatin' but could have been worse..." He thought with relief.
Using his left hand, the Osakan quickly checked his shot wound but, as he had been expecting, that blow that sent him against the wall had been hard but his stitches held on. The hit had been controlled to provoke pain, not to wound. A new skill he discovered by his former friend.
Bringing back his knees at him with precaution, the detective put his head on them, keeping his wounded hand against him, letting his worries finally shroud around him.
He was so angry at himself and his own hot bloodedness. Surrender sounded like the best idea at the moment but he didn't even think about the consequences it could have on his relatives... On Kazuha.
"Should have listened ta Kudô..." Heiji regretted with a bitter smile.
"- Let me go !"
Heiji jumped out of his drowsiness when he recognized, a knot forming in his stomach, the female voice that just complained not far away from his cell.
Deep inside him, the Osakan had whished for Kudô or someone else to have thought about protecting the girl, as it was so obvious she could turn into a target... The teen turned as white as a cloth as that last hope was crushed when the door slammed open on his childhood friend, clearly kidnapped as she was sleeping, dressed only with a kind of turtleneck shirt and large pyjamas, her usual ponytail missing and her untied hair going down on her shoulders.
A man was holding her by her wrists, crossed in her back, but the girl was wriggling to free herself.
"- Stop movin' or I stun ya again...
- Leave her alone ! " The dark-skinned detective growled, clumsily getting up, bothered by the cuffs.
"- Heiji !
- Let the girl go... "
The teen turned his head at the door to see the former officer walk in, a wide smile on his face, a gun in the hand.
"- Just as I promised, Hei-chan ! " He stated with a smile when his man pushed the girl in the cell.
"- Are ya alright, Kazuha ?" He asked, ignoring the man, as the girl rushed at him once she was free, a concerned look on her face.
"- Yes..." Her eyes quickly checked on him, trying to spot any wound, stopping an instant at the hand he was holding against him.
"- Don' worry, I'll find a way out o' this..." Heiji tried to comfort the girl.
He observed her more closely, feeling something was off in her expression, a little something in her eyes, maybe ? She didn't really seem afraid. His attention was caught by the girl's neck, noticing something dark slightly going out of her top, a kind of choker... A voice changer ?! As he met Kazuha's look with interrogative eyes, the female teen winked at him.
"- That's touchin'... But clearly unrealisable, my dear boy. So now, let's start again where we stopped earlier." The former officer said, pointing his weapon at them." Ya now the question.
- Stop yer bullshit, she has nothin' ta do with this..." The Osakan said, putting himself between his mysterious helper with Kazuha's appareance and Otaki, keeping the girl in her back, protecting her with his body.
"- Indeed, that's completely yer fault if she's here..." The man admitted, pushed his weapon's trigger with a smile.
A bullet skimmed past Heiji's cheek, leaving a small burn, the teen not jerking away as he knew trying to avoid the shot would surely mean whoever was in his back being hurt.
"- Tsk... That's no fun if ya take the hits fer her, Hei-chan. " He turned to his man and gave him a sign of the head. "Hold her."
The man was walking towards both teen when they heard some precipitated steps in the nearby hallway.
"- Boss ! " Another BO's member entered, panting, whispering in Otaki's ear.
The man frowned, his eyes falling with suspicion at both teens after a few moments listening to his underling.
"- Ya, keep ya're eyes on them ! " He snapped at the man in the cell. " Don' come close ta the girl, she does Aikido.
- Got it !" The man nodded, taking his gun out, taking a few steps back from the couple.
"- Let's go..." Otaki said to the messenger, going out of the cell with a concerned expression.
Heiji felt the girl curl in his back and, after a few moments, she moved her hand discreetly, drawing something with the tip of her finger in his back. He didn't move and displayed a straight face as the man with the gun was completely focused at him and he tried in the meanwhile to guess what was being written...D. I. V. E. R. T.
"Divert ? A diversion ? But how... "
Giving a side look at the girl, he noticed that she was now wearing something else than her pyjamas. A wristwatch. THE wristwatch.
He gave a small nod to signify he understood the message and, as soon as he moved, he felt the teen in his back fell on the floor.
"- Kazuha ! " He called, playing along, crouching to her, hiding the top of her body to the man, grabbing her shoulder to shake her eyes open. "Kazuha ! ... She's burnin'... Ya !" He snapped, turning his head to their jail keeper. "Do somethin', call a medic, I dunno ! She's sick !
- I won' leave... " The man stated, shaking his head.
"- Then help me ! "
The guard approached, lowering his weapon as he was trying to have a glimpse of the girl hidden behind the teen.
The last thing he saw, when the dark-skinned teen suddenly moved away, was a childish grin and a kind of small visor attached to a wrist watch pointed at him.
Heiji quickly got up to push away the unconscious man's weapon out of his reach with his foot and turned to his ally with a smirk, this last proof making clear of who he was.
"- Well done, Kudô... Ya still had some needle in there ? " The Osakan asked, remembering the boy already used his watch previously when they were at his uncle's house.
"- Yea, I took some refill in my bag, thought it could be useful ! " The teen smiled, getting up and crouching to the body on the floor to empty his pockets.
"- Hmm I know it's ya but with that voice and outfit... Nice teddy bear's pattern by the way. " He giggled with a look at his partner's pants. "And nice... eh... Boobs ?
- Like them ? " Shinichi smirked, pocketing the man's gun and getting up with some keys. "It was quite useful you know... Could hide my watch and a transmitter in there, none of them dared to look.
- Transmitter ? So the Calvary is on her way ?
- Yea, I bet that's why Otaki left that fast...
- But who ? My father was...
- Had to ask to Tôyama-keibu. Your father should make it, by the way" The fake Kazuha added at the detective's relief as he walked to him. "Give me your hands."
The teen frowned when his eyes laid on the swollen right hand of his friend while he was freeing him of his cuffs.
"- Broken ?
- Yea... I guess no kendo fer a while fer me. " Heiji shrugged with a faint smile, before rolling his shoulders to get rid of their stiffness once his hands were free.
"- I'll be on watch then." Shinichi stated as he walked to the door, taking out his gun. "But first..." He deflated his fake chest, removed his mask and turned off the voice changer. " Ahh I feel better... I think it's safer to stay here. The police is apparently already there and they'll find us thanks to my transmitter, better to wait here than in a hallway in the middle of a shootout.
- Agree... An' it's not like I can be really helpful at the moment..." The Osakan regretted, shaking his head. "But...Just how did ya... Ya looked so much like her..." He said, looking at the mask on the floor. "- I had some help, of course... " The teen smirked, but his eyes were focused on the corridor, hands firmly on his gun. "After those guys left with you..."
Earlier
"- Tôyama-keibu ?
- Who are ya ?" Even from afar, the man didn't seem happy at all, taking an aggressive tone. " How did ya get that phone?!
- I'm Kudô Shinichi, you may have heard of me through Hattori Heiji. This phone was willingly given to me by Hattori who received it from his father.
- ... I've heard o' ya." The man calmed down a bit, recognizing the name. "Another high school detective, right ?
- Yes. I can't give you many information but I do know about Hattori's kidnapping and Otaki-keiji's betrayal.
- How ?!
- Let's say I've been witnessing part of it from afar, though I couldn't intervene. I'm really sorry but I'd be endangering too many persons to explain the whole investigation to you. What's important now is that I have an idea to rescue Hattori but, for that, I need your help."
The man took a little while to answer. He had no clue yet in how to find his best friend's son and he knew that, in a kidnapping, time was what mattered the most. If the teen said the truth, Heiji and probably Heizô had trusted him enough to let him with the officer's phone... And did he really have any choice ?
"- Speak." He decided to ask, not ready to let any chance to find Heiji slipping between his fingers.
"- First, you should be informed that Edogawa Conan is alive.
- Wasn't he that boy who died during that heist last week ? The one Heiji used to hang around with ?" The officer asked, raising a surprised brow.
"- Yes. Unfortunately, he was implied in that case and was also hiding in Hattori Yamato's house. He's still in the neighbourhood somewhere. Could you retrieve his things - his shoes in the entrance and both bags in the guest's room - and prepare a car to bring him at your home yourself? No one else but you must know he's alive, this is important. He'll meet you at the back door in 15 minutes.
- Understood. What else ?
- You should have your daughter sent discreetly by a someone you absolutely trust as soon as possible. She may be in danger.
- Why ?! ..." The policeman quickly understood. " You think they'd use her as a leverage ?
- I'm sure Hattori won't give them the information they need and that Otaki is perfectly aware of what could work on him...
- I'm calling right now.
- Thank you. I'll meet you later at your house."
Conan hung up, his first call was done and went apparently quite smoothly, the second one was to do. He had to cross his fingers as it would determine how fast he'd be able to help his best friend...
"- Kaa-san ?
- Shin-chan ?!" His mother's voice loudly came out of the phone, making him move the item away from his ear with a grimace. "Are you alright ? Where are you ?
- Wow, sound and speed down, please... I'm ok but I need your help. How long do you think it would take for you to come to Osaka right now?
- Where in Osaka ? We're already here in fact.
- You what ?" The boy was startled at the woman's response... Just how did she... ? And did she said 'we'? Was his father also here ? "Why are you... ?
- Well, when Agasa-san said you were alive we kind of... I kind of threatened him to have him tell us where you were. He didn't want to speak but... You know Yûsaku, even if you don't speak, you give him an answer, that's one trait you share with him... So we decided to stay a few days in Osaka, in case you might need some support... Shin-chan ?" Yukiko asked at his silence.
"- I should be really angry at both of you right now but... This is perfect, I need you and your skills. Take everything you have for a female disguise. I'm sending you some coordinates, meet you there but don't use your real face, I don't want you to be spotted.
- OK. Be careful..."
Conan's head was still filled with questions as he walked discreetly along the outer wall to reach the back door. But the fact his parents were in Osaka would also mean he'd been having help sooner.
"I'm coming, Hattori..."
o.O.o
Tôyama got up to open the door as the bell rang.
The man was tense. He had sent his girl to his sister who was leaving in the suburbs of Osaka and was now alone with Conan. The boy hadn't been willing to explain him half what happened and an heavy silence had been growing between them as he insisted to have his answers, perhaps too much as the child was pouting in an armchair at the opposite side of the room.
This late visitor's incoming had been planned with that Kudô Shinichi so the officer didn't hesitate in opening the door.
"- Tanaka Miyuki, nice to meet you." A young woman introduced herself, going in before having really been invited to. "Sorry for my rudeness but the streets aren't really safe tonight..." She explained, closing quickly the door behind her.
"- Tôyama Ginshiro." The man answered with a little bow. "Kudô-kun isn' here yet, though he shouldn' be long..."
But the girl's attention was already somewhere else as she spotted the boy at the opposite side of the living room.
"- Conan-kun ! " She called, rushing at him to make him disappear under a hug.
"- Hey ! I'm no teddy bear..." He grumbled, trying to free himself.
"- Do you know each other ?" Tôyama wondered, seeing how fast the girl had been to go at the child.
"- Yea, I live in his neighbourhood... I couldn't believe it when Shinichi-kun told me he was alive, it had been so hard to think he was..." The eyes Conan's mother put on her son were shining, her emotion still palpable after the shock he had been giving her the previous week.
She put a gentle hand above the boy's left eye, noticing the remaining traces of the swallowing he had before. Conan softly pushed her hand away, yawning ostentatiously.
"- You look so tired." She stated with a small smile. "But it's really late, shouldn't you go to bed ?
- Maybe..." The boy nodded, rubbing his eyes.
"- Ya can sleep in the room in which we put yer things in, if ya want.
- I will do that. Thank you, Tôyama-keibu. Please save Heiji-niichan..." He added, looking in the man's eyes.
"- Count on me."
"- Think we can switch on the TV while we wait for Shinichi-kun ?" His mother proposed with a wink at Conan as he was slowly going out of the room, still faking some yawns.
"Good idea..." He though, climbing the stairs to lock himself in the guest's room, the TV would partly cover his groans if he wasn't able to retain them.
The boy rumbled into his pocket to get a little box out, the one Heiji gave him previously that day and, with a sigh, swallowed one. He quickly undressed and grabbed a pillow to bite it while the first spasms started.
Clenching the pillow against his face to the point he could barely breathe, Conan was fighting not to faint or shout when the pain seized his chest, shortly joined by an intense burning feeling, just as if his bones themselves were melting. After a few more spasms and some muffled grunts, the pain calmed down slowly, leaving a panting and sweating teenager on the bed he had been lying on, getting his head out of his pillow. Shinichi gave himself a small breathing space, time for his body to calm down and to stop his involuntary jerking.
After one last deep breath, he got up to fetch some of Heiji's clothes in the bag his father had left him, bag Tôyama brought back with his own stuff as he had asked to him.
"Now, how to appear downstairs..."
The detective looked at the window, spotting a roof sloping gently until a nearby tree that would allow him to go down without too many acrobatics and behind the house.
A few moments after, Shinichi was knocking at the back door.
"- Kudô-kun ?" The officer asked as he saw the teen on his doorstep.
"- Yes. Nice to meet you, Tôyama-keibu. If you could let me go in, we have some work."
o.O.o
From Kazuha's room, Shinichi, now equipped with a lot of artifices to look exactly like a girl he wasn't, saw through his curtain Tôyama and his mother go in the officer's car and leaving the street. With a side smile, he headed to the girl's bed and curled in it.
And waited for his kidnapper.
"- That's quite the adventure... " The Osakan grinned at his friend. "Ya're lucky ta have been able ta trick Kazuha's father, it wasn' that easy... Ah, the police is here." The Osakan noted as he heard some far away gunshots.
"- Let's just hope those reinforcements are ours... Tôyama-keibu ! " Shinichi called, getting out as he spotted the officer, Heiji on his heels.
"- Are ya both alright ?" The man asked, reaching the cell and examining the teens from head to toe. " Watch out !" He yelled, when he spot something over the Tokyoite's shoulders.
Heiji didn't even think and tackled his friend to the floor when he also spotted Otaki who was coming back to check on them on the other side of the hallway. They barely touched the floor when both officers exchanged a round of bullets, resulting in groans from both sides.
"- Tôyama-han !" The Osakan shouted when the man fell on the floor near him, grimacing as he tried to get up using his right hand.
Shinichi, facing the other side, saw the rogue policeman had been hit at the shoulder but was once again raising his weapon at them. Without hesitation, he took his gun out to shoot randomly in the man's direction, making him flee.
"- That bastard... We can' have him.. ta escape..." Tôyama panted, compressing a wound in his leg under Heiji's worried eyes : the blood was flowing clearly too fast and the teen feared the artery may have been hit.
"- Hattori ?" The blue-eyed detective called, his face clearly asking what they should do next, knowing it would be stupid to rush alone.
Before Tôyama could stop him, the Osakan bend to the floor to grab the weapon he let go when he was hurt.
"- Don' ! He's a well trained policeman, ya don' stand a ...
- We need ta stop him ! " Heiji spurted, ignoring the man's warnings. "Let's go, Kudô !
- Crap... " The officer swore as he saw both teen leaving in the same direction than Otaki.
Grabbing his radio, he called for reinforcements.
"Don' ya dare ta die on me, either o' ya !"