AN: Oh hey, would you look at that! It's the big twenty! Consider this chapter something of a bridge into the next arc, in which things are going to get quite heated. It's full of things that I've been looking forward to for quite some time now, so I hope everyone looks forward to it! As always, thanks for reading, and it would be lovely if you could take the time to leave a review! I love hearing everyone's impressions on the story, so there's no need to be shy!

Until next time!

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Chapter Twenty

The Deeper the Wound

"Care for a cup of coffee, Ai-kun?"

"Ah, Professor." She must have been more lost in thought than she had thought, if the portly man had been able to sneak up on her like this. Casting a slight smile up towards him, Ai gave him an apologetic look. "Did I wake you?"

"Not at all. It was my alarm clock that did the waking." The Professor told her simply, shaking his head. At the surprised expression that crossed her face, and the way she quickly checked the clock on her laptop, it was easy to determine that not only had she lost track of time herself, but that she hadn't simply gotten up earlier than him- she probably hadn't gone to sleep in the first place.

It wouldn't be the first time it had happened, really. As one would have expected of a former researcher, she was used to going without sleep. She seemed to find some kind of comfort in throwing herself in her work, ignoring her body's basic need for sleep.

"I see." Pausing for a moment to lean back against the couch, briefly closing her eyes, Ai drew in a breath. "It's already morning, then. In that case," opening her eyes, she cast a grateful look over towards the portly man who had become something of her caretaker in these past few months, "...I would very much care for some coffee, Professor. Thank you."

"Then, I'll get a fresh pot started right away." He half wanted to chide her about staying up all night, but he knew that he wasn't really in a position to do so. If there was one thing that he had come to learn about Haibara Ai, it was that one sleepless night wasn't going to prevent her from making some rather barbed remarks. There was something extra painful about getting them from someone who had the appearance of a first grade student.

"Go easy on the sugar when you make yours, Professor." Ai noted, casting a glance up towards him, watching as Agasa flinched at her words. She didn't need to read his mind to know that was what he was thinking about- and that was part of what she liked about him, really. "Coffee's not supposed to be a sweet drink."

"I know, I know." Pulling out the coffee grounds from where he had stored them, Agasa turned back towards her with a slight frown. He wasn't going to lecture her, but he was curious about what had prompted her to pull an all nighter- especially because she didn't seem to have been working on a cure for the Apotoxin. "But why the late night, Ai-kun? Are you working on something?"

"Yes, you could say that." Ai said simply, turning her focus back on her laptop. "I thought I would give Kudo-kun a bit of a hand for once."

"With what?" Taking out two coffee mugs and placing them on the counter, Agasa began the process of making coffee. "Has something come up?"

"Not quite." Ai said simply, shaking her head. "Hattori-kun mentioned it before, didn't he? That Absinthe had a burn scar on her face. She's obviously been involved in some kind of accident involving fire, so I thought I would look into the matter a bit. Unlike me, who was more or less raised among them, she was recruited by the Organization after she began her career as a scientist."

"I see." With a nod of his head, Agasa turned to look back towards the shrunken scientist, taking note of the serious expression on her face. "In other words, if she was involved in a big accident, it might have made news at some point."

"That's right. All the more so if it happened in a research lab." Ai noted, frowning slightly as she realized that this article was a bust as well. "Well, if it's something that happened to her as a child, I'm afraid we might all be out of luck there. According to what Hattori-kun told me, she must be anywhere from thirty to forty years old, so even if there was an article that fit the bill from back then, the odds that it would have been moved to an online archive are fairly low."

"Well, if it was that very same accident that caused the Organization to reach out to her in the first place, there's a chance that they might have already acted to erase all traces of it." Ai noted. "That's how they work, after all. If that's the case, then it's possible that any records of her from before she joined the Organization might have been erased."

"That would make searching for her true identity like looking for a needle in a haystack." Agasa remarked.

"Well, it's already pretty much something like that. Nothing's simple when they're involved." Ai noted, letting out a small laugh. "So that's how it is, Professor. Can you contact the school and let them know I won't be coming in today? Tell them I've caught a cold, or something along those lines. Since I've gotten this far, I might as well finish doing all that I can."

"Yeah, I can do that. But be sure to take a break every now and again, Ai-kun." Agasa noted. Removing the coffee pot, he carefully poured some into a mug, bringing it over to her. "Ah, that's right though. Shinichi is supposed to be coming back today, isn't he?"

"That's right. Sometime this morning, I believe." Ai noted, accepting the coffee mug from him. She didn't mind as her fingers lightly brushed over his, giving her flashes of what was going on in his mind- there was no darkness there, only a genuine concern that softened her expression. "I don't suppose that he told you if he found anything over there or not, did he?"

"Not over the phone, no." Agasa told her, shaking his head. "Well, that's the way he always is."

"That's true." Pausing from her research for a moment, Ai took a long sip from her mug. Already she could feel the caffeine doing her some good- she could feel a second wind starting to fill her sails. "I suppose if it's anything important, he'll discuss it with us when he gets back. And if he doesn't have anything to say, I'm certain that Hattori-kun will."

Of course, if she really wanted to know what it was that Conan was thinking, all she had to do was simply touch him. But ever since he had figured out her ability, he had been avoiding direct physical contact with her- and the reasons for that were easy to guess. Not only did he not enjoy having his mind intruded on, however unintentionally it was sometimes, he also had plenty of things that he wanted to hide from her.

In that regard, Heiji was different. He was certainly hiding things too, but the reasons for them were different than Conan's. Well, it wasn't as if his reasons were selfish- honestly, she wasn't used to so many people being considerate of her. She just couldn't get used to it, a feeling that put her on edge, even as it filled her up with a familiar warmth, one that she had thought she might never get back.

Speaking of the Osakan detective, though, she still hadn't figured out what the source of their strange feeling of deja-vu was. It was true that she had cause to know his name before this, since he had been on the list of Apotoxin victims, but she was certain that she had never seen his face before- at least not in her recent memory. And something like that certainly wouldn't explain why he also seemed to have the vague feeling that they had met somewhere before.

She might have reason to know him, but the reverse wasn't true.

Perhaps there had been a time, in the distant past, when the two of them had cause to meet- so far back that it wasn't something she could easily recall. It wasn't as if she could read her own memories, and while she could dig through those of Heiji's own, that really wouldn't be one of her better ideas.

There was no darkness in Hattori Heiji- other than what had been put there recently. She didn't need the power to read minds to know that he had things that he not only didn't want to talk about, but didn't know how to talk about- and those were things that she would not want to see for herself. She had seen any number of horrible things in her days with the Organization, but to read his memories would be akin to experiencing them for herself- and she wasn't sure she was ready to handle that.

She had built steel walls around her heart in order to protect herself, but the right amount of impact could cause them to bend. Although she liked pretending otherwise, she still hadn't even begun to recover from the last great blow they took to them, a blow that pierced right through to her very heart.

The loss of her only family member- someone irreplaceable, and someone that she would never get back. Without Akemi, she was alone in the world, without anyone who cared for her, without anyone that she could open her guarded heart to.

No... perhaps that wasn't quite true anymore.

"Ah, and Professor?" Pausing to glance up towards him, Ai cast him a somewhat soft smile. "Thanks for the coffee."

"Eh? A Kid heist? Really?"

"Yeah. There was one, on that night eighteen years ago. It got pushed off the first page because of it." Casting a glance up towards Heiji, who had taken the seat closest to the window, Conan frowned. It hadn't been easy to convince him to take the same bullet train as him, but for some reason, it appeared as if he was in a hurry to get out of Nagano now.

It couldn't have been because of Kazuha, since she had been there for two days already, and it hadn't nearly been enough to chase him away from the place. Something else must have happened- though judging from his behavior, it likely had nothing to do with them. Whatever it was, he would ask him about it later.

Heiji hadn't settled down until they had gotten on the bullet train, and had only truly relaxed once they had left the station. Once they had, he began acting more or less like his usual self again, almost seeming to forget the initial protests that he had made against traveling together like this. By and large, he was ignoring the occasional odd look he got from their fellow passengers- that was probably something he had gotten used to over time.

Conan half just wanted to tell Heiji to lower his hood already- it might help conceal his face, but it only served to make him more suspicious. He didn't want any of the other passengers to get the wrong idea, especially not since he was traveling with what they would naturally assume was a small child. Still, he knew full well that he had his reasons- he'd rather be pegged as a suspicious person than to have someone recognize him.

"An'? What does that have to do with anythin'?" Heiji asked, tilting his head. "Somethin' like that is just a coincidence, right?"

"Who knows." Conan admitted, shaking his head. "But it is true that Japan has a higher occurrence rate of Powered Children than the rest of the world, and Osaka has the highest rate in all of Japan. There must be something there, right? Maybe Osaka was the flash point for the Night of the Falling Stars, or something like that."

"When ya put it that way, it might be true." As he put his hand to his chin in thought, Conan could just barely make out Heiji's brows knitting together underneath his hood. "Frankly, I haven't really had the time ta question where these abilities originated from in the first place, but if there's a chance that Absinthe might know somethin' about that, it might not be a bad avenue ta go down."

"Then, what have you been looking into all this time, other than her?" Conan couldn't help but ask, quirking a brow. "With an ability yours, you would think you would want to understand how you came to possess it more than anyone else, right?"

"Ta be frank, what time I wasn't spendin' on lookin' into that woman, I spent on lookin' fer a way ta get rid of ability." Heiji admitted after a moment, averting his eyes from him, fixing his gaze on the window. "I figured if there was a way ta hide it fer that long, that there must be a way ta get rid of it entirely."

"I see." Frankly, that was something he had been suspecting for awhile now- so it didn't really come as any surprise to hear it admitted out loud. He'd rather be rid of such a problematic ability like that himself, so he could understand where Heiji was coming from. "Can't say that I blame you. So? Did you have in luck with that?"

"Do ya think I would still be alive right now if I had?" Heiji noted, turning a sharp look back towards him. Heaving a long sigh, he folded his arms in front of his chest, leaning back in his seat. "I didn't find anythin'. I chased several leads around the country, but all of them turned out ta be nothin'. Even the most promising one was a total bust."

He had gotten a rare chance to flex his deductive abilities while he was there, but he couldn't say that he was happy about it. After all, if that woman had really been the culprit, it would have meant that his trip there had been completely in vain- yet another lead that came up to nothing. Once he was finally ready to admit it, it wasn't that hard to convince her to turn herself in. He'd lingered on that island for several days after that, looking for anything that might indicate that it's legend was more than just a legend, and had come up with nothing.

Well, he had fallen off a cliff. There was that pain in the ass incident.

"...You've got a point." Conan admitted after a moment. "Sorry, Hattori. That was a stupid question."

"S'fair." With a shrug of his shoulders, Heiji put such memories aside. "Well, even if I managed ta get rid of it, it's not like I could just go back home, like ya said before. Aside from those two, that bunch still think I'm supposed ta be dead."

"Those two, and that man." Conan noted, casting a glance up towards him, a serious expression crossing his face. "The one who called himself Amuro Tooru."

"Yeah, that's right." Narrowing his eyes, Heiji turned his head, fixing his gaze on the window. "If he's really connected to them, it could be bad news. An' there's no way I can let him know that I'm connected ta ya. If they learned that I survived it, they might start lookin' harder into other Apotoxin victims who never had corpses show up fer 'em."

He'd rather not only bring more trouble to someone he was starting to view as a friend. If there was one thing that he regretted, it was not having the chance to meet him properly before this. Things might have been a lot easier for the both of them if they had been able to work together from the very start.

It would be nice to think that this ability of his might have never had the chance to wake up if they had, but in reality, he knew that it was probably only a matter of time. The only ones who knew the truth were his parents- and he couldn't exactly ask either of them.

"Sorry fer the trouble, Kudo." Casting a glance back towards Conan, Heiji gave him something of an awkward smile. "I ended up draggin' ya all the way out here, an' we didn't even get that much information. Not ta mention..."

As Heiji's gaze fell a little, Conan subconsciously reached up, pulling up the collar of his turtleneck. He was obviously still thinking about the other night- and for that, he couldn't blame him. It was to be expected that he would have nightmares, and bad ones at that, given what he suspected he had gone through while he was under Absinthe's care.

"I said it before, didn't I? You don't have to worry about something like that, Hattori." Conan told him, a bright smile appearing on his face. "And I wouldn't say our trip out here was worthless. We've been able to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that Absinthe was here, and that she brought Maria Alkaev with her. You did hand that charm bracelet piece over to that policewoman you know, right?"

"Yeah, I did. Last night." Heiji told him, eyes darting up towards Conan's as he said that. When he'd gotten back to the hotel room, he was left with the impression that Conan had moved since he had left- perhaps he had only been pretending to sleep. "She said she'll turn it over ta the officer in charge of the case this mornin'. That's also part of why we're hightailin' it out of here today. Any longer, an' I'm pretty sure that Yamato Kansuke guy would demand ta actually meet me."

"You don't think he can be trusted?" Conan asked, a slight frown crossing his face. If the policewoman that he put his faith in trusted him, then frankly, Conan saw no reason not to- but it must have been more complicated for him.

"It's not that." Heiji told him, once more fixing his gaze on the window, watching the scenery that passed by them. "It's just... I trusted that woman too, ya know. Fer a long time."

There was no need for elaboration- Conan knew what he was trying to say. It must have been a shock- to realize that someone that you had known since you were a child, someone that you had trusted, wasn't the sort of person you thought they were. That they were involved in such a shady organization, and furthermore, that they could so easily put aside years of knowing you just to kill you on the orders of someone else.

It would have been a blow to anyone- but especially to someone as honest as Heiji. And the knowledge that that person was so close to all the people that he cared about, and that he couldn't do anything about it without putting them at risk... honestly, he really couldn't blame him at all. It was bad enough to know that there was a constant phantom specter hanging over the ones that he cared about- he couldn't imagine how much more intense his worry for everyone would be if such a phantom manifested into something real.

No wonder it had taken Heiji awhile to finally open up to him. He was very much the same himself- keeping people at a distance, sometimes without meaning to. Ai had accused him of sneaking around, and he knew the Professor worried about him trying to do everything on his own- and he knew that they were both more or less right. If anything, they were probably grateful that someone had appeared in a similar, if not still different, situation as him.

Even if they weren't quite to the point where they could be as open as a book with each other yet, there was no denying that he too, was grateful to have someone like Hattori Heiji around. Even if in truth, he found himself wishing that he wasn't there- that his fellow high school detective could be home, with his family, not having to worry about shady Organizations or mysterious abilities.

And in turn, Heiji probably felt the same way about him. He didn't need to be a detective to know that much.

"Don't worry, Hattori." Opening his eyes once more, a look of determination surfacing within them. "Whatever they're planning, we won't let them win. Not Absinthe, and not the Organization."

"Yeah." A hint of a grin finally surfacing on his face again, Heiji's gaze trailed back towards Conan. "We'll have ta make them regret not properly finishin' the job."

"You came at just the right time, Uehara."

"Good morning, Kan-chan." Deciding that the best thing to do at this point was to swallow any nervous feelings that she had, Yui turned to face the one who had greeted her. When the use of his childhood nickname very quickly earned her the reaction she was expecting, she moved to correct herself. "Inspector Yamato."

"Someone showed up at the station yesterday, that I think you should know about." Kansuke told her frankly, cutting straight to the point. He never did care all that much for beating around the bush. "The father of that runaway you've been looking after for awhile now."

"So I heard." Yui told him. "It's a good thing that you brought him up though, Kan-chan. He left you a present." Reaching into her pocket, she carefully removed the plastic bag with the charm tucked inside of it. "Does this ring any bells with you?"

"A necklace pendent? No, it's a bit too small for one." Taking it from her, the issue of Hattori Heiji forgotten for a moment, Kansuke's brows furrowed together in thought. He did get the feeling that he had seen this somewhere before, and recently at that. But where had he...?

Ah.

"It's from that girl's charm bracelet." Yui told him, even though she knew he had already figured it out for himself. She hadn't grown up with him for nothing- he was rather easy to read in times like these. "I can give you the address it was found in as well. It seems that the Russians have beat us there, however."

"And without even contacting the local police. What charmers." Kansuke couldn't help but remark, tucking the plastic bag away in his jacket pocket for the moment. He would bring it to forensics before long to have it properly examined- probably the reason why it had been entrusted to the police in the first place.

Perhaps it was that kid's way of apologizing for sneaking around behind their backs. A high school detective- the world really was filled with all kinds of types, wasn't it?

Now more so than ever, he supposed. What once seemed like something out of a work of fiction was now reality. Children being born with strange abilities sounded like something that couldn't possibly be real, but there was no way to deny that they now existed in this world.

"So? You said the father was here to see me?" Yui asked. "Coming out all this way even though he has such an important job. He must really care about his son."

"Ah, so it would seem." With a curt nod of his head, Kansuke took note of the way that she had answered his last, lingering question- if she knew exactly who the parents of the runaway that she had gotten herself involved with were. "I suppose he wants to personally thank the one who has been helping look after him all this time."

"And ask me a few questions about where he is while he's at it, I'm sure." Yui noted, heaving a long sigh, before giving Kansuke a small smile. "Alright then, Kan-chan. I'm ready."

"From your attitude, I take it the kid's already left, huh?" Kansuke noted, quirking a brow. She might accuse him of being easy to read sometimes, but she was the same way, really- they were childhood friends, after all.

"He left this morning, apparently." Yui admitted. It was probably in her best interest to be as honest as possible at this point. "But even if you ask me, I don't know exactly where he went."

"Well, it's not me doing the asking." Kansuke noted, casting his good eye down on her. "From the sound of what he had to say, you should really be careful, Uehara. Don't get yourself involved with that kid any more than this."

"Are you mad at me, Kan-chan?" Yui asked, a hint of a smile on her face as she glanced up towards him. "That I didn't tell you anything about this? Or because I lied to the officer that came to the Torada house that night?"

"I wouldn't say you were lying, seeing as he was asking about a corpse thief, and not the corpse itself." Kansuke noted, a hint of a grin appearing on his face. "Seeing as the corpse just decided to get up and walk away on it's own. I guess the ghost stories weren't complete bull after all. But there's one thing that I need to ask you, Uehara."

"What?" At the serious expression that settled on Kansuke's face, Yui couldn't help but pause midstep, listening to the sound of his cane as it struck the ground once more, before stopping as well. "From the sound of it, he must have already told you quite a bit."

"Yeah, he told me all sorts of things." Kansuke admitted, closing his good eye. It was almost hard to believe, really- though it would explain things. "And what he didn't tell me, I was more or less able to figure out on my own. But what I want to know is something that only you can tell me, Uehara."

Opening up his eye, Kansuke carefully studied the young woman that was now working underneath is command once more. It had been strangely lonely when he had gotten back to discover that she was no longer with the police- not that it was something that he had ever quite said out loud, in so many words. After making her wait so long without any word, he really didn't have the grounds to complain about whatever she decided to do.

"Why did you decide to hide that kid in the first place?"

"Oh, that's easy." Yui said, clasping her hands behind her back, a hint of a mischievous smile crossing her face as she took a few steps forward, so that she passed him. "But you're the only one I won't tell, Kan-chan. That's something you'll have to figure out on your own."

"Oi, Uehara-!"

As she cut him off, Yui cast a glance behind her at him. "Come on now, Inspector Yamato. We can't exactly keep our important guest waiting for much longer."

Well, knowing Kansuke as she did, it probably take him awhile yet to realize the reason behind it. He'd have to actually meet the boy in question himself first- and even then, in spite of being so clever, he might not be able to realize the reason why. Even though she was pretty sure that those who knew him as a child would be able to see through the truth easily.

There were times when he could be awfully lacking in self awareness, after all.

From the way that he spoke of his father, it was clear to her that Hattori Heizo was a man that Heiji respected- even if he wasn't honest about it. In terms of personality, they were clearly total opposites- that much she could tell right away, mere seconds after being introduced to him.

If Hattori Heiji wore his heart on his sleeve, then Hattori Heizo most certainly did not. Perhaps he'd taken after his mother in that regard, or perhaps it was a trait all his own, independent of his parents. Very quickly, she decided that it was far easier to deal with the son, than it was to deal with the father.

"He's already left." It was the first thing that came to her mind, and the second thing that she said to him, right after introducing herself to the man. If his face fell any at her words, she honestly couldn't tell. "I don't know where he's gone."

"So he really was here." Heizo noted, opening a single eye to carefully assess the young woman in front of him. He had been told quite a bit about her already from the Inspector, about how she had been acting as if she had been hiding someone since around four months ago. The time the corpse vanished from the police morgue, and the time she took in her mysterious freeloader matched up perfectly, leaving very little doubt in his mind that they were one and the same.

The fact that he had been spotted using a motorcycle that had been rented underneath the woman's name erased any lingering doubts that he might have. He'd gotten the details of that from Kansuke as well- and what he had told him only managed to confirm some of Heizo's worst fears.

His son was unmistakably involved with something dangerous. If he was looking into the disappearance of the Saint of Russia, then there was next to no question about it. That left only the question of why.

And who.

He knew full well that he might not always seem to be the most caring father on the surface- but make no mistake, were he to ever learn the identities of the ones that had been chasing after his son, the ones who had caused his wife so much worry, he wouldn't let them off easy. They would learn, the hard way if necessary, exactly how much it was that he cared about his wayward, troublesome son.

"I want you to be honest with me, Uehara-san." Heizo began, this time opening both eyes, locking his with hers. "What exactly is it that Heiji has gotten himself involved in?"

"I don't know the details." That much was true- he had never really involved her that far. "But I do know that he's trying to hide from someone. Someone who may be connected to some very dangerous people."

"What kind of dangerous people?" Heizo asked, gauging her reactions as she spoke. Thus far, it didn't appear that she had lied to him- though perhaps there were things she hadn't yet said.

"I don't know." Yui admitted after a moment, shaking her head. "What I do know is very little. I'm sure you already know about the recent kidnapping cases, Hattori-san. There have been some in your prefecture as well, if I recall."

"That's correct." Heizo said simply. "Are you saying there's a connection there?"

"Yes." That much, she thought she could share with him- and it was important that she did. "There is. The recent kidnapping of the Powered known as the Saint of Russia is connected as well."

Her words left a silence in the air, one that lingered, creating a heavy feeling in the room. Finally, it was Heizo himself who broke it, asking a question that quite frankly, took her off guard.

"How is he?"

"Eh?" It was the most reasonable question of all, and yet it was also the one that she had been the least prepared for. Composing herself once again, Yui simply gave him a small smile- so he really was just a worried father at his core, wasn't he?

She just wished that she had a better answer to give him.

"He's alive." It was an answer that she came to after much thought, even if it was one that sounded somewhat silly. "And he has allies, other than me. Ones who know more than me. He's not walking into danger alone, at the very least."

For a moment, she could have sworn that she had seen a look of relief wash across the man's face- before it settled once more back into a stoic mask. It was almost enough to have her entertain the idea of giving him Heiji's cellphone number- but that wasn't her call to make.

And if there was one thing that Heiji had made clear, it was that there was some kind of danger lurking back in Osaka. A danger that had caused him to leave his beloved hometown without a word in the first place. A danger that forced him to continue to hold his silence, to not contact the ones that he cared about the most, even though he knew that they were all deeply worried about him.

"But he can't come home, not right now." It was a bit of a gamble, really, saying this here. "I don't know the details either, but there's someone there that he's afraid of."

"Afraid?" Ever since he was a child, his son had always been prone to a wide range of emotions- but fear wasn't usually one of them. Fear for others, perhaps- but very rarely did he fear anything himself. To hear that there was someone that he was actually afraid of was quite the shock to him- even as he already felt the gears of his mind turning, trying to puzzle out who it might be.

And why.

"Yes." Yui said, nodding her head. "I think it was someone that he trusted, once. He's never said that much to me in words, but that's always the feeling I get."

"I see." Putting his hand to his chin in thought, the furrow of Heizo's brows deepened. He certainly had the right to be angry at both himself and Shizuka, for keeping such an important thing from him- even if only the latter had actually known about it- but that wasn't the same as being afraid.

The fact that Heiji was even willing to admit that he was afraid of something- or someone- was noteworthy in itself, really. Expressive though he was, he was also the type who tended to bottle up his problems, the type who hated to admit his weakness to others. That trait of his was probably his own fault, Heizo knew.

And it was that trait of his, even more than his reckless and impulsive nature, that Heizo was concerned the most about. His body might be immortal, but there was only so much that the human heart could take before things started to break.

Still, if there really was someone close to them that was preventing Heiji from contacting them, then he would have to make it his priority to find out just who they were. In the back of his mind, a chilling possibility was starting to form- not about their identity, but rather, about what it was that they might have done to have stirred such an emotion in his son. It also provided the answer to another question that he had been asking, ever since he had learned about Heiji's ability from Shizuka.

Almost regrettably so.

After all, in order to be charged with murder, one's victim had to be actually dead.

"I hear your boss has been awfully busy as of late."

"She does enjoy keeping herself occupied." If he expected her to flinch at his words, he had another thing coming. She knew his reputation within the Organization well enough, but that wasn't nearly enough to intimidate her- especially not when he had the audacity to show up on her own turf. "And? What brings you out to these parts, Bourbon?"

"You should already know the answer to that, Ginger." Amuro said simply, casting a rather business-like smile towards her, every inch of it as artificial as it could get. "It would seem that Absinthe has been engaged in some very interesting research at the moment. It's nice to see that the loss of her lab in Gunma hasn't set her back any."

"She's used to enduring losses like that." Ginger noted simply, closing her eyes. "And? If you have anything that you need to say to me, Bourbon, I recommend that you do it quickly. I am on duty right now, after all."

"Oh, do pardon me. I don't mean to take up your valuable time." Amuro noted. It didn't take any effort to bite his tongue and swallow back that the idea of one of them being involved with the police made him sick. The fact that she wasn't the only one was even worse- but unfortunately, he wasn't in a position where he could compromise her identity at the moment.

As it stood now, it was for the best anyways. Right now, she was his only real link to Absinthe- and through her, he might be able to learn where her current lab was located. He'd considered the possibility that she might have relocated to Osaka, but he didn't think she'd make a move as obvious as that, given what he knew of her personality.

"Then, just pass a message from me on to Absinthe, in that case." Amuro said simply, tucking his hands into his jacket pockets. "That person is quite eager to have her explain herself to him in regards to why she's taking such actions now. If she should do something that risks comprising the Organization as a whole, I'm sure you both understand what will happen."

"Are you sure about that?" Ginger asked in return, a hint of a sly grin crossing her face. "I thought that there were signs that someone had snuck into the lab in Gunma before, but it was that woman, wasn't it? Of course, Absinthe noticed them as well. Well, given that she's sent you out here to ask questions of me, it's obvious that she didn't learn exactly what it was that we're researching currently. But I'm sure that you understand enough, Bourbon- that the research she's doing now will prove invaluable to that person in the long run."

"But just like any truly groundbreaking research, it requires sacrifices." Ginger noted, almost as an afterthought. "Don't worry though. I won't get careless. I happen to know how the police work, rather well at that."

"That I know well." Bourbon admitted after a moment, closing his eyes. "Then, how about we make a trade, Ginger? You tell me the location of her current lab, and I tell you the location of the one that you're looking for at the moment."

"So you already know that much?" There was no surprise in her tone- if there was one thing that Bourbon was good at, it was sneaking around and gathering information. That was part of the reason that she couldn't stand him. "Then, if you do, then you should already know just how important the research we're doing currently is. And why I can't let you interfere. Both you and that woman."

"How is it that you think the FBI learned the location of our previous lab in the first place?" Ginger asked him simply, locking eyes with him. "If she tries something like that again, I don't really care if she's the favorite of the boss or whatever, but I don't intend to let it slide."

"Now, now, there's no need for threats." Holding up his hands, a perfectly practiced act of someone wanting to deescalate a situation in place, Amuro very quickly returned her sly grin with one of his own. The fact that Vermouth had her own agenda was hardly news to him- and he didn't doubt that agenda was part of the reason that she had called him in. "Well, just in case, I'll pass that message along to her."

"But I take it that you have no interest in my offer then?"

"None at all." Ginger noted simply. "After all, unless he decides to go to the earth again, locating him won't be that difficult. Thanks to that dear childhood friend of his, I already know where he's been recently. It's only a matter of time before he and I reunite once more."

Were he fainter of heart, the smile that she slipped on her face would have sent a chill down his spine. "After all," placing a hand over her heart, Kurosawa Ayame closed her eyes, a practiced expression of concern slipping on her face, "...we've all been so very worried about Heiji-kun here. As someone who has watched him grow up since he was just a boy, I would hate it if something terrible happened to him."

"You really are an awful woman." There were thorns in Amuro's words- ones that missed their mark by a mile.

"I'll take that as a compliment."