Heya !
And we're back to action ! And cliffs of course :p
o.O.o
emmahoshi : Haha, well, if you find some time, you'll be able to read it again ... ^^ Yea, it was an oldie, for sure : ) But just when you could start to begin suspicious of Hikari, I made Ryo attack Heiji & Kazuha, so you were distracted ; ) Hmm yea, I used the DCW wiki on that one since they have the appellations of all characters to each other... But yea, I think Shin calls Korogo 'kogoro-san' only when he's facing him as Shinichi, not when he speaks of him... oh well, too late to change that *shrugs *:p Yea, she knows him too well xD
Laury Rose : Ah well, yea, it is probably true... But I think I had him use at least one in each of my fics soooo... Why change xD Yea, I wanted her to be a heartless person, glad to read I succeeded ^^
Chapter 21 - Fire
The boy headed to the hospital cafeteria, hoping to find the girls and perhaps Kogoro and it was finally Kazuha who spotted him when he was crossing the main hall.
"- Hey, Conan-kun, over there !" She called him with a wave, inviting him to come with her, Ran and the moustached man.
Annoyed to have become a focus of attention in a room filled with unknown - meaning untrustworthy - people, the small detective quickly ran to her direction.
"- Ya were with Heiji ? Can I go there finally ?
- Yes, you can go to his room now, it's the number 1810.
- It's fun, it sounds like Hattori if ya remove the first "1" !" The girl snorted with a voice a bit too loud to the bespectacled child's opinion who threw a suspicious look around him to be sure no one was too focused on him. "I'll be heading there then, see ya later Ran-chan !
- Yea ! Uh, who is this..." The long-haired girl wondered as she felt her phone was vibrating in her bag.
"- Ah, Sonoko ?
- Ran, are you alright ? Kudô-kun called me last night, he was saying he couldn't contact you so when I saw you weren't at school this morning, I got worried... "
"My bad..." Conan thought with a small grimace of embarrassment when he recognised Sonoko at the other side of the line, guessing at her tone he probably worried her a bit the previous night about her best friend.
"- I'm ok, everything's alright. I'll explain it to you later, it's a bit complicated..." Ran admitted with a look at her father as she remembered the conversation they just had about needing some protection for a while, hoping this "while" wouldn't turn into months... or years. "Could you warn the teachers though ? My father will call..."
The azure-eyed kid's attention's, focused at the moment on Ran, got caught by one of the men in the hall, who was getting up, glancing here and there, a hand in his vest, vest which had a kind of bump under the armpit, just like...
"A weapon ?!" Conan wondered with startled eyes.
As both Kogoro and Ran weren't looking at him, the small detective, feeling this man was up to no good, sneaked up behind him, getting his watch ready just in case.
After a few turns, they ended in a corridor, with lots of doors giving into patients' rooms, and the man finally chose one half opened and entered. The kid came as close as possible, to see the one he was following had a gun with a silencer in the hand, confirming his theory as to what was the bulge of his jacket. He saw him opening one of the gas valves and had just enough time to take shelter in the nearest room when the man stepped back and finally shoot a silent bullet towards the valve he just touched.
If the small detective still doubted about what were the man's intentions, it became clear when he smashed the fire alarm just outside the room he just left.
"What the hell..." He swore in his mind, though he perfectly knew what was happening. When you were looking for someone in a hospital, having everyone evacuate with a fire alarm was a good way to find him. "What are those guys..."
His answer wasn't long to come when two other men arrived to met the first one.
"- You found them ?
- Yea, that Mouri and his children are in the main hall, what an idiot... Hattori should be room 1810, a girl with Mouri was almost yelling it earlier...
- Ok, well done." The third man congratulated the other, a tall brown-haired middle aged man with hard eyes, probably their boss, Conan deduced when he saw him taking a walkie-talkie to communicate with some other men. "Team B, head room 1810. Team C, stand by outside, some of the targets are close to the exits so be careful, you know what to do if you see them... Ok, let's go !" He ordered after switching his talkie off.
The bespectacled boy froze at those orders, barely looking at them going away. His paranoid side had been whispering him these guys could belong to Hikari's group or the BO and have come for him, Hattori and Kogoro, but to find out this was the truth had nothing comforting... Ran, her father, Hattori and Kazuha were in danger but what could he do against three teams heavily armed ...?
Trying to ignore his pessimistic thoughts, the azure-eyed focused on his most urgent task, warn them.
Stepping a bit deeper in the room, he took his phone out.
"- Ran-neechan ! Tell Kogoro-jiisan to stay inside, it's a fake alarm, it's the guys who are after us who planned this, they're waiting for us outside !
- Conan-kun ? Just how...
- I just know ! Try to reach the East emergency staircase, you have to warn Hat..."
Feeling a hand on his shoulder, the small detective jumped and let his phone fall on the floor.
"- Oh dear, we're in trouble... " The man smirked, a man with the exact same clothes than the other three he already saw.
"- Really ?" He tried with his best childish and innocent face.
"- Really..."
And the last thing he remembered was a fist against the side of his head.
o.O.o
"- Heiji !" Kazuha said with a loud voice as she slammed the room 1810's door.
"- ... Yea ?" The Osakan answered as soon as his body allowed him to after being brutally taken out of his daydream after such an entrance from his childhood friend.
"- Will I get a proper explanation now ? Hikari-san is really after ya and Kogoro-san ? That's what Ran-chan said but...
- That's it." He confirmed as he turned around to face her, still sitting on his bed.
"- But she's a doctor, doctors save lives ! " The pony-tailed girl retorted, still not able to imagine such a kind looking woman being a cold-blood murderer.
"- There are some kinds o' criminals who look like they couldn' hurt a fly. An' those are often the worst..." The dark-skinned explained with a sigh as he got up. "Nee-chan hasn' been hurt but that was a miracle : as soon as that doc' wouldn' need her anymore, she would have killed her without thinkin' twice... We would have faced the same fate if she found us when we were lost in the blizzard durin' that case at the lodge... "
Kazuha put her hand in front of her mouth, horrified at the idea her friend escaped such a dangerous situation safe and sound. But also due to the shock of realising that, while she had been willing to trust that girl during their trip in the mountain, she was instead the mastermind of those horrible murders.
"- Come on, cheer up, we'll get a break from school, won' complain !" Heiji tried to joke at the girl's depressed face.
"- Yea..." She agreed with a little smile.
Seeing she was better, the Osakan bent to grab his bag before finally changing his mind and turning to face the girl.
"- Kazuha..." He started, with a serious face.
"- Hai ?
- If I ever start ta act strangely, please knock me down with yer Aikido.
- What nonsense are ya spurting, Ahou ?" The ponytailed girl chuckled before meeting a pair of very serious green eyes.
"- Please." The detective of the West insisted as he grabbed her shoulders, his look still in hers.
"- Uhhh ok..." She finally agreed with a nod as she tried to hide the blush on her face from being so close to the dark-skinned.
"- Thanks, yer the best ! " He smiled as he let her go.
That smile faded as they both heard the fire alarm and looked at each other, a bit startled as to what to do next.
"-We should leave, this could be dangerous..." Kazuha finally proposed, feeling it was a bit unnatural to stay there when there could be a raging fire just under their feet.
"- But it's also dangerous fer us ta go outside..." The Osakan pointed out with a frown, knowing they'd be like sitting ducks if Hikari's group discovered their hideout. "I'm callin' Jodie-han."
The green-eyed girl looked at him as he dialled the FBI agent's number and exchanged a few words with her.
"- Apparently, the alarm has been triggered near the main hall... " Heiji explained after hanging up. "Since it's pretty far away, she advises ta stay here a little bit, time for her ta see what happened... So we'll wait fer a bit, ok ? "
The girl nodded, a bit afraid, but comforted by her friend's assurance. He knew what he was doing, she was sure of it.
Well, at least she hoped, because that face the green-eyed had after a metallic noise echoed in the hallway wasn't reassuring at all.
"- Crap... " He swore with a low voice when he saw some smoke was coming from the hallway before jumping to open the window. "Come, we need ta hide !"
Grabbing his childhood friend's arm, he forced her to go under the bed and squeezed himself as he could next to her so the both of them could fit.
"- But we need ta run, this smoke, it's the fire !" The girl whispered with a pinch of panic in her voice.
"- If only... Shoo now ! " He ordered, grabbing her against him, his hand on her mouth when he saw she was going to retort.
It was when a pair of feet appeared at the door that the dark-skinned noticed with irritation his bag was still in the middle of the room, but it was clearly too late, he could only cross his fingers now and hope their opponent wouldn't notice it or deduce they were close.
"- Think he already left ? " The detective of the West heard when a second pair of shoes appeared.
"- But we didn't meet that girl I saw I the hall... Ah, look at that bag, it's probably his, they shouldn't be far away ! "
Both men fell silent at his remark and one of them slowly started to move around the room. Heiji felt the girl against him was shaking with fear when he started to walk around the bed but luckily for them, she was able to keep herself from letting any noise out.
Feeling the man was now on the other side of the bed, just on the same side that he was, the Osakan hesitated an instant in attacking him but his opponent didn't give him any choice : by his feet's position, he was going to crouch to look under the bed.
The dark-skinned let Kazuha go and turned slowly on himself to welcome the man's face with a strong kick before throwing himself out of his hideout to attack him.
The man, a bit dizzy after this blow, was now on his bottom and had let go of his weapon, to the green-eyed teen's relief.
But that fight wasn't far from over, he understood it with a grunt when the man threw his foot across his chest, taking his breath out as a spike of pure pain went through his wounded side. Though Heiji wasn't going to give up, not with Kazuha just there, he had to win ! He forced his body to move again and slammed as he could a metallic tray that was on his nightstand and just at his reach against the man's head. This seemed pretty efficient as his eyes rolled back a second, leaving him half knocked-out.
But on the other side, his partner, seeing the teen was starting to have the advantage, was now grabbing his gun, the ponytailed girl could see it from where she was, and that would mean he was going to hurt Heiji, something she'd never let happen, not on her guard.
"- Stop right here !" She ordered as she rolled from under the bed to run to the man.
Her opponent looked at her with disbelief, hesitating a second, but not really long, not with a pretty furious girl rushing at him with a menacing growl.
After one last hit across his enemy's face, the dark-skinned turned his head to the entrance, barely able to see Kazuha's and the second man's heads. But he was able to see his gun, that nasty gun that was pointed at the girl he loved.
"- KAZUHA ! " The Osakan yelled when he heard the gunshot.