Chapter 23:

The Crossroads

Shinichi whipped out his stun watch and fired a dart up at the Kid. It struck him in the neck.

Kaito didn't flinch.

"That' s not going to cut it today, Kudou," he called from the catwalk high above them. "Someone else already beat you to the paralytics. My blood's pumped so full of anesthesia and antidotes thereof, your little stun watch isn't going to affect me at all."

Shinichi lowered his arm. A small smile appeared on his face. "Hm." He looked up at Kaito. "We're alike in one way, Kuroba. We both want to win, and win our way. Neither of us can back down from a challenge."

"I thought we weren't playing games anymore?" Kaito snickered.

"This isn't a game," Shinichi said. "This is a competition. A battle of wills. And we'll soon know who the winner is."

He reached into his pocket and withdrew a gun.

"Wha—" Heiji gasped. "Kudou!"

Kaito went very still. He stared at the gun in Shinichi's hand.

"Huh," he said.

"My accuracy with a gun is just as good as yours," Shinichi said. A drop of sweat trickled down his cheek. "I can incapacitate you without killing you."

"Hm." Kaito smirked and shook his head. "You're wrong, Kudou." He raised his head and looked at Shinichi. "You say we're alike in that we want to win perfectly or lose gloriously? Look at me!" He spread his arms. "I'm cornered at gunpoint. You don't know how I'll act when I'm desperate. I could do anything. I would do anything. You have no idea what I'll do. " He grinned. "But I know exactly what you'll do. Or rather, what you won't do. You're not going to shoot me, Kudou."

"So certain?" Shinichi said with a tight smirk.

Kaito laughed openly.

"Kid!" The smile was gone from Shinichi's face. "I won't say it again. I won't let you endanger yourself and the people around you. Come down."

"If you came here to shoot me, then shoot!"

"Kid—"

Heiji took a step forward. "You idiots! This is crazy—"

"Why are you here?" Kaito shouted. "To catch me, right? So come on, then!"

"I will shoot if you don't cooperate!"

"Then SHOOT!"

The door banged open.

"STOP!"

Kaito and Shinichi glanced at the doorway and then back at each other; Shinichi's gun wavered but he kept it aimed at Kaito's face. Heiji, one hand on Shinichi's gun arm, gasped.

"Hakuba!"

Hakuba Saguru stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe. His head was tilted towards the floor and his shoulders heaving with exertion, but he kept his eyes fixed on Shinichi and Kaito as he stepped into the room, his cane in hand.

"Stop this, both of you," he bit out. "Lower your gun, Kudou."

"So you can catch him?" Shinichi snickered.

"No!" Saguru shouted. "I already did capture him. Forty seven minutes and seven point two six seconds ago, in the alley. And I let him go."

"What?" Heiji gasped.

"I thought you might," Shinichi said. "The way you were talking—"

"I'm surprised you don't see things the same way," Saguru said, taking another step into the room. "Hasn't detective work become more than a logic puzzle yet, even after all you've been through?"

Shinichi shot him another glance. "What are you—"

"Haibara-san told me," Saguru said.

"She told you?"

"I always thought Edogawa Conan was an unusual child," Saguru said, a grim smile on his face. "Particularly since he so strongly resembled you as a boy. I researched you to see if you were the Kaitou Kid, remember. I've seen your baby pictures. I called on you a few days after you visited my residence, but you weren't home, so I stopped by Professor Agasa's house and spoke with Haibara-san. I had a crazy idea and I asked her about it, and she confirmed."

Kaito whistled. "Wow. Treachery on all fronts—"

"Shut up, Kuroba!" Saguru snapped. He turned his gaze back on Shinichi. "If you want to capture the Kid, then go ahead. I'll help you—"

"What—?" Heiji snarled.

"Saguru-kun, after all we've been through?" Kaito quipped.

"But," Saguru continued over them, his pale brown eyes still fixed on Shinichi. "You and I both know that there's a far worse criminal in the skies tonight. And that Kuroba is our best chance to bring him down."

All eyes turned to Shinichi. Even Kaito was silent.

Shinichi glanced at Saguru, then back up at Kaito. His expression hardened.

Then his face cracked into a reluctant, rueful smile. "You were right, Ran," he whispered. He looked up at Kaito. "Ran wanted me to give you a second chance. She said we're more alike than even I want to admit. If Ran gave me a second chance to win her trust, I'll give you one as well. If you can promise us one thing." He narrowed his eyes at Kaito. "Promise us that you won't kill Snake."

The grin on Kaito's face hardened.

"Phantom thieves don't kill," he said stonily.

"Maybe so, but I was there that night at the docks, when you first tried to steal this gem," Shinichi said. "I saw the eyes of a murderer. And I'm not just talking about Snake."

"I've never planned to kill Snake," Kaito said. "Phantom thieves don't kill."

"Give us your word."

Shinichi thought he saw a muscle twitch in Kaito's cheek. But then Kaito was grinning inscrutably once again.

"I promise. Thieves' honor."

Shinichi sighed. "That'll have to do."

Kaito shot a grapple gun at the ceiling, hopped over the catwalk railing, and lowered himself down to land a few meters away from the others. He beamed around at them all. "All right! It's an honor to work with you three. But unfortunately, we're on a tight schedule, so we're going to have to be brief. As you have probably deduced, gentlemen, I have not yet stolen the gem. The performance in the courtyard was a misdirection, so that the police would not suspect me when I actually steal the jewel as the cars pass the Tokyo Theater in Beika, fourteen blocks north of here."

"That's where your father was killed," Shinichi said.

"'The place where it all began,'" Saguru said quietly. "Of course. You meant the theater."

Kaito grinned, but his eyes were flinty. "You got it."

Shinichi looked gravely at him. "Are you sure the jewel you're after is Pandora?"

"I'm ninety-five percent sure it is," Kaito said. "Can't be too much more confident than that, and anyway it's too late for speculation. I've really gotta move."

"Hey," Heiji said irritably. "If you're headed to the theater in such a rush, why'd you come back inta the tower in the first place?"

"This guy," Kaito said, jerking his thumb at Saguru. "He caused an unforeseen delay in my plans."

"I caught you, you mean," Saguru said, with some satisfaction.

"So," Kaito continued, as if he hadn't heard, "between him and Kudou, I'm all but screwed now, by the way. The only way to get to the theater fast enough now is to hang-glide there, and since the clock tower is the only tall building around here, it's the best way to go."

"So sorry to mess up your plans," Shinichi said ironically.

"No problem, Kudou!" Kaito said cheerfully. "I think it'll all work out now. It definitely wasn't in the top five plans, but I did have a few strategies for the unlikely scenario that all three of you decided to help me."

Heiji snickered dubiously. Saguru smirked and leaned on his cane. Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"You planned for this? I'm disinclined to believe that," he said.

Kaito's face lit up in a manic grin. "Hey, that's a nice theory, Kudou! But you know, without actual proof—"

"DAMN IT, KUROBA!" Heiji roared, so loudly that the other three boys jumped. "COULD YA JUST QUIT WHILE YOU'RE AHEAD FOR ONCE?"

"Ah…right you are, Hattori," Kaito grinned weakly. "My apologies, Kudou."

"Eh," Shinichi shrugged, his voice light but a feral grin on his face. "It is true that the hard evidence still eludes me."

Heiji sighed and rolled his eyes genially at Saguru. "Let's just get this over with. Oh!" He stopped short. "Wait. One more thing—"

He whipped around and punched Kaito across the face.

Kaito toppled backward and with a whirl of his cape fell unceremoniously onto his behind. "Wha—"

"What the hell, Kuroba!" Heiji growled. "Were you tryin' to provoke Kudou? What the hell was that just now? God, the two of you—" He glanced at Saguru. "—Make that the three of you—I'd a liked you all a lot better if I'd never actually met ya." He thrust one hand out towards Kaito and stuck the other in his jacket pocket. "Here," he groused. "Idiot."

Kaito took his hand, a broad grin spreading across his face.

"Hattori," he said solemnly, extending a hand to let Heiji help him up. "I hope you never forget this day. Hakuba may be the only one to ever catch me, and Kudou may be my 'eternal rival' or some such—but you, my friend, will be the only one to ever be able to say that he punched the Kaitou Kid in the face." He took a step back from the other three and whipped out his grapple gun.

"And with that, I'm off! Head out of the clock tower through the rear entrance, and meet me in the theater. It'll probably be swarming with Snake's goons, so watch yourselves. I'm going to paraglide there, steal the gem, and land on the roof."

"How're you going to steal—" began Shinichi.

Kaito held up a finger. "Ah, Kudou-kun, the magic is in the surprise!"

And with that, he fired his grapple gun into the ceiling and zoomed out of sight among the shadows and creaking gears. There was a brief banging noise, a muffled curse, then the sound of a hatch opening and closing, and he was gone.

Heiji sighed and tugged his baseball cap. "I can't believe—"

"No time!" Shinichi interrupted. He was already across the room to the door. "Come on, let's go!" He flung open the door and darted out.

"Geez," Heiji muttered, as Saguru jogged a bit stiffly to the stairs. Heiji followed them, pulling out his cell phone as he did so. "Am I the only one thinkin' about how we're gonna explain this to the police? Especially if there're gonna be armed grunts at this place?"

Saguru and Shinichi were already gone. Only their footsteps could be heard pounding down the flights of steps to the street below.

"These idiots," Heiji snarled, racing down the stairs after them. "At least lemme text Kazuha!"

…

…

**Next Chapter: "Waiting." Does it ever bother you that Detective Conan focuses so primarily on the male characters? It bothers me. Here's a chapter about what the girls are up to!

A/N:

I think Heiji's all-caps line just above is my favorite in this entire story :)

Speaking of the story, does this lack of reviews mean you don't like it? Don't leave me hanging, guys! Here, I'll give you an omake!

…

OMAKE!

Shinichi: "Are you sure this jewel is Pandora?"

Kaito: "I'm ninety-five point three percent sure it is."

Saguru: "I'm ninety-nine percent sure it is."

Heiji: "How d'you figure?"

Kaito: "Oh, I see. The author said there'd be thirty chapters, and we're already on number twenty-three. So for the story to end in time, this gem's probably the one, right?"

Saguru: "Those were my thoughts as well."

Heiji: "Wait…but what if that whole 'thirty chapter' thing was just a bluff?"

Shinichi: "I agree…it could be a red herring. The author might intend to surprise readers with an additional fifty or so chapters, or maybe she's planning a sequel."

Me: "…What?"

Kaito: "Fifty more chapters! Whoopee!"

Me: "Guys…"

Shinichi: "If there are more chapters, that means this isn't Pandora, then."

Kaito: "Oh. That sucks. Booo!"

Me: "Guys…I meant it when I said—"

Saguru: "Yes, I'd rather not have too many more chapters, either. I feel like I'm only a reconsideration away from being killed off at any moment…"

Shinichi: "If anyone should worry about being killed off, it's Hattori."

Heiji: "WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?"

Me: "I hate it when they break the fourth wall…"