Chapter 16
Expecting tension lay over the plaza right beneath the Tokyo Tower.
The onlookers, in their protective hulls of glass and steel, and the officer, glued and stuck to the floor like flies to a flypaper, all starred up at the white figure, trapped in as embrace of green goo.
Not moving a muscle, seemingly as impassive as a corpse, the thief stood in stark contrast to the wiggling police inspector, cemented to his side, craning his neck to an unhealthy degree to get a good look at the person behind him.
"But you –" the inspector, his face a mixture of panic and fear, breathed, desperately trying to turn his head even further as though he wanted to get as far away from Kaito Kid as possible.
Or rather the person they thought to be Kid.
As it turned out, the person who had shoved him forward and now stood behind him, was also Kaito Kid.
In disbelief, the man starred as the thief slowly moved closer, eventually bending down a little to look at something the inspector had tugged in his belt.
"Oh, is this a smaller version of this new goo gun?" Kid asked curiously as he fished the gun from the officer's belt, while paying attention to keep the pair stuck together between him and the rest of the taskforce.
"This is a really interesting design. Mind if I take this one for myself to study?" he asked the inspector, waving the gun around as he continued to carefully pat him down, doubtlessly looking for the key card. Not finding it, he turned around and walked back to the collapsed bodies of the other inspectors, intending to search them next.
Only now did the man stuck to the slime notice that his colleagues and the Superintendent were sprawled on the floor, out cold. "What?! You! What have you done to them!"
Not stopping in his tracks, Kid bent down to the first body "Just a little sleeping gas. You really made for an excellent distraction with your boasting, so they didn't even notice me coming."
"But . . . If you snuck up on them, then who is that?!" the man asked in apparent confusion, his eyes darting between the stuck Kid and the crouching Kid.
"That? That's the officer who's place I took, Matsuhida, if I'm not mistaken." the thief replied casually, having moved to pat down the next sleeping inspector "Since he is sleeping soundly, it took the liberty of dressing him up a little and it seems hanging around in the air like he did, makes for a pretty convincing dummy."
"Impossible!" the stuck police officer exclaimed "It was one of our own men the whole time? But how could you know the codeword he and his partner agreed on?"
Kid was about to answer that, when a different person shouted from bellow "He knew because of his first smoke bomb!"
It was Hakuba, who now stood directly below the trapped inspector, his voice a little muffled from the glass "Since your officers lost sight of their partners in the mist, they naturally confirmed the identity of each other after the smoke had cleared. Kid simply needed to place a listening device on one of the officers to get to know their password. The second smoke bomb he then used to take their place and fool their partner, since he knew the password."
"Accurate reasoning, my dear Tantei-san, though I would prefer it, if you wouldn't take away the magic of my tricks. They are so frightfully boring, once you know how the deed was done." Kid sighed, but not stopping in his task of patting down the inspectors.
By now he had finished his body search of the Superintendent, which was the last of the officers sleeping softly on top of the steel case. Ignoring the comments and accusation Hakuba shouted his way, he turned back around to face the stuck inspector.
"So, if neither you nor your colleague nor the Superintendent have the key card, then where is it?" he inquired, his voice all polite and pleasant, but the man knew better than to trust the thief.
He would not give up this crucial piece of information this easily, even if Kid were to dress him up in a frilled dress and hang him from the Tokyo Tower. Instead, he merely spat back "Go find it yourself! You freak!"
O
"So, I'll just have to do what I usually do? How boring." Kaito commented with a shrug turning away from the officer in obvious nonchalance. Such a mere inconvenience couldn't possibly bother him.
At least, that is what he wanted the people to think. Though his persona has been broken many times recently, Kid was still supposed to be an embodiment of control and confidence. Show fear and your audience will jump at it like a pack of feral wolfs but stay strong and their howls will celebrate your victory.
But despite what he showed, Kaito was obviously not happy about this situation.
Every second that ticked by increased the chance of the men in black swopping in and especially now that the bulk of police officers was tied down a shootout wasn't something he could afford to let happen.
Understandably, while he calmly walked away from the struggling inspector, his mind worked frantically to find the key cards hiding place.
"Would the Superintendent really leave such a valuable item in the hands of a normal officer? No way. He's far too careful for that." Kaito quickly concluded in his head, about to jump down from the container, when he suddenly paused.
Turning on his heel, he let his gaze wander over the trapped inspector, his two unconscious colleagues and the Superintendent.
"Where is the fourth inspector?"
And that was when it clicked.
But not only in Kaito's head, but behind him.
Acting purely on his instincts, the thief threw himself forward, diving for cover and narrowly evading the flying projectiles. But despite his evasive manoeuvre, he suddenly got yanked back by his cape. A ball of goo had plastered it to the floor.
Discarding it without a second though, he slid over the steel case's edge, landing right in front of the transparent panel and immediately darted to the side. Behind him, the glass was covered in sticky slime and more balls of goo flew towards him, missing him only by inches as he dashed around the corner.
"This crazy old man set himself up as bait!" he cursed in his head, as he ducked for cover behind one of the four legs of the tower. With a wet sound, countless goo bullets splattered on the concrete base, telling Kaito exactly who had surprised him like this.
"So, you've chosen to show yourself, Inspector Nakamori!" he yelled as he peeked past the concrete block, seeing how Aoko's father along with about ten men came rushing towards him, their goo guns aimed at his hiding place. But his ears picked up the sound of additional footsteps, closing in on him from the left and the right.
"They've encircled me!" he realized, immediately fleeing into the only direction left to him. Upwards.
Swift and nimble like a squirrel, he climbed up the tower of steel bars, with green slime splashing right and left to him.
He made it up a good ten meters (32 feet) and was about to reach the thick steel beams that would provide better cover from below.
But just as his hand reached for the ledge, he suddenly felt his leg freeze. Looking down, he saw that it was stuck in green goo and thus glued to the tower.
They've got him!
The moment he realized this, cheers could be heard from downwards and Nakamori barked some orders. In no time, the officers had split up in two groups, one starting to climb after him while the other continued their barrage of goo, intending to root Kid completely to the mesh of steel beams.
"Shit!" Kaito cursed, desperately trying to free his leg, but to no avail. The goo didn't budge.
With a spluttering sound, two additional balls of goo hit. One the upper leg of his already trapped limb and one the ankle of his other leg.
"SHIT!" Kaito cursed even louder, casting a gaze down past the sticky mess and seeing that the officers drew closer and closer.
He struggled again to free his legs, but there was no way to escape. The slime had a tight grip on his pants and shoes.
And Kaito had no way of freeing them.
O
Meanwhile, the officers still on the ground had ceased their fire, not wanting to hit their own colleagues. The climb was already hard enough since many paths were blocked by stray shots, which had stuck to the steel beams.
But slowly, the officers crept closer, the first now only a few arm lengths away from Kid. He would get a hold of the thief in no time.
However, just as the officer reached the slime-enclosed foot of the thief a cloud of smoke appeared with a loud puff. In an instant, the officers couldn't see the thief or each other anymore.
"He's bluffing! There's no way he can escape the goo, so stay calm and be aware of possible traps." Nakamori commanded over the radio and the officers followed his orders instantly.
Halting their advance, they waited for the smoke to dissolve and no moment to late as it turned out.
Suddenly a bright light pierced the smoke, blinding them all. But thanks to the fact that they hadn't advanced but secured a safe footing instead, none of the officers lost their grip, even as they had to shield their eyes from the flash.
"Ha! You see that Kid! Your plan failed and now we've got you!" Nakamori exclaimed in triumph as the last puffs of smoke dissolved in the wind, revealing fluttering, white fabric.
But it was not Kid.
"What the hell?!" Nakamori exclaimed, needing a moment to recognize the object swaying in the wind, "Are these -?!"
"Sir!" one of the officers who climbed up, spoke over the radio, "These are only Kid's pants!"
Baffled beyond words, Nakamori eventually gathered his wits back together and asked, "Do you mean to tell me that the fool striped down to his shorts to escape from us?!"
"It seems so, yes!" came the reply, the man on the other end sounding even more lost.
"That would be a sight for his fan club. Kid in nothing but underpants." another officer observed, and his comment was soon answered by the question of yet another officer "Do you think we could shoot some pics and sell them?"
But that was enough for Ginzo "SILENCE!"
"STOP YOUR USELESS OGGLING AND CLIMB AFTER HIM! WHAT ARE YOU? A BUNCH OF HIGH SCHOOLERS WHO JUST FOUND THE PANTIES OF THEIR CRUSH!?" he roared into the radio, sending all the remaining officers scrambling. The climbing group immediately hurried to clamber after Kid's supposed escape path, while the officers on the ground scattered in an attempt to locate the thief.
O
The searchlights swept over the lowest steel beams of the tower, forcing Kaito to duck a little deeper into the shadows.
He had thought that abandoning his pants would borrow him enough time to throw them off his track completely, but it appears as though he had underestimated the officers. Not only where they already searching the entire iron skeleton of the Tokyo Tower for him, but from their movement, Kid knew that they had started to close in on him.
The patrols arched closer and closer with every round they made and even the rough terrain wasn't enough to keep him safe forever. If things continued at this pace, it wouldn't take more than a minute for them to spot him.
But luckily for him, his equipment bag was out of harm's way, sitting safely on a beam a few stories higher. That was, however, also the reason why he couldn't flee upwards. His props were far too valuable to let them fall into the hands of the police.
At least the pants were no longer a problem, since Kid has had the foresight to bring along many different disguises, one of which including a pair of brilliantly white pants and shoes. Only the cape was something he couldn't replace, right now, but Kaito didn't think it all too difficult to retrieve it from the police later.
So, for now, he had far more pressing matters at hand, namely finally locating this bloody key card. By now, he was fairly convinced that Nakamori was holding on to it, but there still was the question of how to get it in his grasp.
In all likelihood, they had heard Hakuba's earlier explanation of how he outwitted their password system. So, they must have come up with a new identification method, likely something not relying on sound.
"So, impersonating an officer is out of question, huh?" Kaito mused, while retreating from his position to escape the line of sight of another patrol. But luckily, there were other ways to approach the inspector, even though most of them were a little more chaotic.
Not that he minded chaos. In fact, he much preferred it to any organized procedure. However, the men in black had yet to show their face and any chaos he might create, would also be to their advantage, especially when most of the police force were stuck like sitting ducks.
He couldn't know whether they weren't already waiting in hiding, prepared to strike if an opportunity presented itself. Yet, doing nothing didn't seem like a valid option either.
The longer he waited, the higher the chance of the men in black engaging in combat with the police was and if Kaito could help it, he didn't want any gunfight to break out. Not when he could prevent it.
So, there was only really one option for him:
To bite the bullet and get the card sooner than later.
He had already formed a rough plan in his head, that would allow him to get close to Inspector Nakamori quickly, though he was aware that it was a very risky one.
But weighting his chances wasn't a luxury he could afford right now. Not when a sudden stream of light was directed at him.
The patrol had spotted him!
Swiftly, Kaito threw himself sideways to evade the balls of green goo that splattered on the metal where he had just stood.
Yet, his escape route was very poorly chosen, as he suddenly found himself in the air, rapidly falling towards the ground. In his quick evasive manoeuvre, he had missed the next steel beam and fallen down through the gap between the steel girders.
But he had learned from his earlier encounter with Kitsune on the elevator and his training quickly showed itself. Nimbly like a cat, he twisted his body, facing upwards and aimed carefully. In the next moment, the grappling hook shot towards the sky, neatly hooking onto one of the steel planks.
As the line went taut, Kaito was fully prepared for the sudden jerk and had no problem turning it into a spiralling motion. Like a ballet dancer on the stage, he slowly and gracefully circled downwards, till he gently landed on the ground, bowing to the clapping hands of the few who applauded.
But the cheering was quickly replaced by the voices of officer, demanding that Kid should surrender and that he was surrounded.
Of that much, Kid was obviously aware. He knew the moment he fell down that he would get surrounded.
How could it be any different, when the ground was still covered with police officers, glued stuck yet still able to operate their guns?
Where it not for the fact that none of them had stood directly underneath the hanging cage, Kaito would likely not have found a spot to land on without getting himself stuck in his own glue. Though it hardly made a difference, whether it was his own glue or the police goo that impaired his movement.
"Inspector Nakamori!" he called out, ignoring the countless shouts of the officers all around him "I have come to surrender myself to you."
With comical gestures, he presented his hands into the direction of the approaching man, his head bowed as a sign of surrender. Though the smile never left his face.
"What are you planning Kid?" Ginzo Nakamori demanded to know, as he carefully made his way through the mass of trapped officer. Not that he really needed to since the glue had already hardened and not only was it no longer sticky, but Kaito also knew that it wouldn't be long till the solidification would lead to it being brittle enough to break.
But he saw no reason to tell the officer this much as the man finally stopped in front of him.
"I'm not planning anything, Inspector." Kid declared in a honey sweet voice "I have merely realized that any further resistance on my part is futile and will only serve to further decrease the resources of both of us."
"Yeah, sure. As if I would believe that." Nakamori only shot back, not letting his eyes wander off the thief for even a second, ready to cover him in goo should he deem it necessary.
"Believe what you want but let me remind you that I'm no longer the only threat you face." Kaito remarked shrugging his shoulders in a helpless manner.
"Oh, believe me, we are prepared." Nakamori laughter out, "Especially for taking you into custody. Now, don't make any sudden moves, hold your hands out, one in a fist, the other hand holding the fist!"
Kaito obliged, soon feeling how the sticky and heavy goo enclosed both of his hands rendering them immovable save for a little wriggling of his fingers. Two officers roughly grabbed him by the arms, dragging him through the stuck policemen towards one of the steel containers.
"Come on, move already!" one of the officers demanded sharply, pushing Kid forward but the magician couldn't follow the order.
"I'm sorry but it seems like my hands have gotten stuck on this man's helmet." Kaito cooed in his most apologetic voice, making a show of awkwardly wobbling the helmet in question back and forth as he tried to free his hands.
"Stop moving" one of the officers sharply commanded, as he drew a knife and, without a second thought, cut the goo close to the helmet, separating Kaito's hands from the headgear. Losing no time, they continued to push the thief ahead, till they finally reached the container.
With a last forceful push, one off the officers sent Kaito down on his knees. Huddling there in front of the glass case, the thief looked like a prisoner, waiting for somebody to chop his head off with an axe.
Ignoring the protesting voices of the onlookers inside the glass box, the officer ordered Kid to press his hands firmly on the steel base in front of the glass.
The goo instantly clung to the metal, even though the surface was as smooth as it could be. In all appearance, the man who invented it had truly earned whatever the police paid him, since even handcuffs were far outmatched by this slime.
"When the box closes, there should be enough space for you not to get squashed." the officer explained to Kaito, as he turned away to re-join the inspector again, but added with a grin "Though it might be a tight fit."
Kaito didn't even look up to honour the man's comment, instead staying crouched on the ground. Watching calmly as the remaining officers gathered together in the middle of plaza, he couldn't help but let a smile spread on his face.
Though nobody could see his face, since it was hidden under the brim of his hat, Kaito knew he must look quite intimidating.
His teeth exposed in a wide grin.
A knife clutched between them.
He had hitched the blade with his teeth from the guard when he was pushed to the ground and this was also the reason why he went to his knees and didn't dare to raise his head. As much as the people in the box protested, they would not remain silent should they see the blade between his teeth.
The blade, which would be his ticket to stealing the jewel.
O
As the guard came back from securing Kid, Nakamori threw a very careful glance to the slumped form of the thief. It was, after all, Kaito Kid they had just captured and much like the last time, Ginzo expected the thief to try to escape.
Normally, he would have trusted into their new superweapon, since it latched onto stuff so aggressively, but in this case, he ordered the officer back to Kid's side, telling him to keep an eye on the thief.
Though the man grumbled in annoyance, he nonetheless obliged and stalked back through the crowd. Ginzo hoped that he really kept a close watch on Kid and would have liked to post additional guards, but what Kid had said earlier was sadly true.
There were other opponents that still hadn't made their appearance and especially against the armed gang he needed every man to drive them off or better capture them. But a quick glance around told him that the men that were currently at his disposal, would stay no chance against the criminals.
Even though the trapped policemen were not out of the picture completely, they could hardly defend themselves against bullets or shoot back accurately. Only if he got them free again, then they would be able to fend the gangsters off. And the only way to do that was to somehow get rid of the glue Kid used.
In all appearance, it was not a newly created superglue like their slime, but even regular superglue was a pain to deal with. Some officers had already started to dissolve the sticky solution with lighters or matches and though the fire had an undeniable effect, it was nonetheless not the most efficient way to free the men.
Only about four of five had managed to free themselves and were now busy to help the others. To further accelerate the 'rescue mission' Inspector Nakamori had sent two men to get as many heat guns as they could carry, but it would take some time, till they returned.
In the meantime, all he could do was keep a watchful eye on his surroundings.
But just as he thought so, suddenly all the lights went out.
The officers immediately froze in place, looking around in hope of spotting something, but to no avail.
Thick clouds were covering the sky leaving the red gliming light from the cage, as the only light in the pitch-black darkness.
Ginzo cursed, wishing they had taken their night vision googles along with them, but when there were this many strong light sources around, it would be a danger for the officers should they use the googles at the wrong moment.
Suddenly, the wet and slimy sound made by the goo gun being fired echoed through the blackness, sending all the officers into high alert.
Had one of them seen something? Did they hit it? Was the threat captured?
But as the sound of many additional shots rung over the square, they all realized that it was not over.
Panic slowly spread amongst the men. Shouts for help and asking for the positions of others erupted in the night. Growing more desperate and shriller as the wet sound of the goo gun continued on and on in an eerily consistent rhythm.
Slowly but surely, the number of voices died down, till suddenly, Ginzo felt as though he was all alone.
"Status update! Please respond!" he ordered into the radio, but only received the usual buzzing noise as answer. It seemed he was the only one left.
But that was hardly a reason to surrender.
Carefully, he crouched down, trying to move to a different position by feeling the way with his outstretched hand. But soon enough his gloved fingers touched something cold and soft and as he tried to pull it back, he realized that he was stuck.
Wondering for a moment what it was he touched, Ginzo was suddenly surprised by a mass of heavy, sticky slime that splashed on his arm.
Following his instincts, he tried to duck away and dive for cover, but the attacker was definitely able to see him, since the next ball of goo hit his legs.
More and more projectiles came flying, till Nakamori was completely stuck, unable to do more than to turn his head slightly.
"Who are you! Come out and show yourself, COWARD!" he roared into the night, angry and frustrated over his own inability to do anything.
But he received no answer.
Only the silence of the night.
The wind gently blowing.
The sound of his own breathing.
And… a soft giggle?
Suddenly, the faint sound of something else floated to his ear
A quiet, rhythmic beat.
It was the sound of footsteps.
And they grew louder and louder, coming directly towards him.
As Ginzo deduced that the person who approached him must now be close by, the footsteps suddenly stopped and Nakamori finally recognized something.
Dimly, he could make out the white shape of a pair of legs, standing right in front of him.
"Who are you!" he asked one again, struggling to lung himself at the person and trap them in the goo as well, but to no avail. He was completely plastered to the ground.
The person in front of him seemed to move, as the ruffling sound of fabric indicated and no moment later, he could make out something that was white and somewhat round, hovering right in front of him.
Was it a face?
He couldn't really tell, but the person in front of him seemed to shift around or grab for something.
Suddenly, Ginzo could feel like his bullet-proof vest moved and it seemed as though something was stuck behind it.
No moment later, he could clearly make out the shape of fingers, beginning to poke around in search of something.
He tried to resist but was still completely stuck. So much in fact, that he couldn't even reach for the bottle of dissolvent, which was tugged in his belt.
Eventually, the hand found the breast pocket of his shirt and began to explore it, stopping abruptly as they seemed to have found something.
"The key card!" the inspector realized, frantically fighting against the slime, even trying to bite the arm poking around in his pocket, but he only snapped at empty air.
Slowly, he felt the weight of the card leave his pocket and he saw a soft light reflect from the shiny surface as it was pulled out from behind his vest.
In a last attempt, Nakamori desperately tried to stop the silent silhouette somehow, but no matter how much he wrestled and bucked, the goo wouldn't give him even an inch.
Eventually he gave up.
There was nothing he could do now.
Nothing, but hope for somebody else to interfere.
And as he kneeled there in silence, his head hanging to the ground in defeat, he heard it again.
This soft giggle.
Unmistakably the giggle of a girl.
And in that moment, he knew who it was, here right in front of him.
"Hast thee already abandoned any hope of attaining victory?" the girly voice asked, innocent curiosity and sadistic glee mixing in a way Ginzo never thought it possible. At this moment, he knew clearly, she enjoyed this.
But Ginzo would not let her have this victory. Out of pure defiance and to spite her as much as possible, he remained silent. It took all the self-control he could muster, but he was determined not to give her the pleasure of hearing him curse.
The second ticked by endlessly slow until Kitsune finally broke the silence.
It was only a somewhat disappointed sigh, right before the sound of rustling fabric indicated that she moved away. But even though the gesture was so small, to Inspector Nakamori it was at least a tiny victory.
With grim satisfaction, he listened into the dark, hoping to determine what would be happening next.
But for a while, all he could hear was the sound of footsteps slowly fading away.
For seconds, there was once again nothing, but a sudden metallic clonk broke through the night.
Tensing every fibre in his body, waiting for something to happen, Nakamori once again waited in the moonless night.
Yet again, nothing happened for a long time.
The inspector already started to suspect that Kitsune had just left for some reason, but just as this thought entered his mind, it vanished in a blinding light, burning any thought away and only leaving pain.
With a cry of anguish, he shut his eyes tight and pressed his head downwards, to escape the blinding rays of light.
Kitsune had reignited the flood- and spotlights.
O
As the lights suddenly came back on, Conan, much like all the others in the glass box yelped in pain, shielding their vision from the sudden onslaught of brightness.
The darkness along with the noises of what appeared to be a fight, had drawn them all to the glass, everyone hoping to catch a glimpse of what was going on.
But only Conan could see in the dark.
Thanks to the night vision function of his glasses, he clearly saw how every officer was rendered out of action one after another.
It started with some of them beginning to yawn heartily and drifting off to dreamland. Others might not have noticed it, but Conan could practically see the sleeping gas creep from one officer to the next, silently putting them out of order.
The few that showed enough instinct or precaution to put on their mask, weren't much luckier. While their colleagues peacefully drifted away, they were suddenly shoot down by balls of goo out of the dark.
The method was always the same. The shooter started by targeting their arms and legs, rendering them defenceless and unable to move and then proceeded to entrap them in a cocoon of slime, always making sure that their head remained free.
For the longest time, Conan couldn't see who shot at the officers, since the shooter was somewhere behind his steel container, but he had a good guess.
Since Kid had been one of first to drift off to sleep, right in front of their glass box, and the men in black generally used crueller tactics, there was only one possible suspect.
And only a few seconds later, Conan's guess was reaffirmed as her silhouette gracefully landed right in front of their glass case.
While playfully resting her parasol on her shoulder with one hand, her other held one of the goo guns of the police. With relaxed posture and steady grip, she continued to merciless glue down all officers still conscious around her. Aiming and shooting so fast, that her hand never seemed to stop in its movement.
Eventually, after finishing her barrage, she bent down to the sleeping form of Kid, taking something that lay in his lap. Curiously Conan arched closer, seeing that she had taken the knife of one of the police officers from Kid.
"Kid must have snatched it off an officer earlier!" Conan quickly concluded, being certain that Kitsune had no knife with her, when she floated down from above. For a moment, Conan expected her to cut Kid lose, but the girl only remained there starring down at the thief.
"Do they know each other from earlier? But he didn't seem to recognize her, when they first met, so only she might has met the old Kid? Conan began to theorize, about to continue this train of thought when Kitsune's head suddenly snapped around.
The grinning fox mask was directly starring at him now, the only thing separating them being the transparent panel of thick glass. Though even with his night vision, it was too dark to see her eyes, he couldn't help but feel as if her gaze burned a hole into his head.
As the seconds ticked by for what felt like an eternity of the two starring at each other, slowly Kitsune raised her hand, putting a finger on the lips of the mask in a hush gesture, along with tilting her head ever so slightly.
She remained in this position for a moment, before briskly turning around, breaking their starring match and then marched off through the mass of sleeping and struggling officers. She walked quickly with a light skip, not bothering to silence her steps, and Conan was as if he heard a soft giggle coming from her.
His heart raced in his chest and he finally let go off a breath he didn't even know he was holding, as he slumped back from the glass panel. He had faced off many criminals before, but this girl was certainly one of the most memorable and most intimidating, though in her own unique way.
Also, there was something in her manner of moving and behaving that felt distinctly familiar yet completely alienating at the same time. If he had to put it in words, it was almost like some sort of uncanny valley effect. Where something or someone you knew intimately acted in ways that were distinctly not like they should be. Yet he couldn't put his finger on what or who it reminded him off, not even vaguely.
But interrupting his mussing, knowing that he wouldn't magically figure out what seemed so familiar, he brought his attention back to the girl, who now kneeled in front of the struggling Inspector Nakamori.
With a mixture of confusion and fascination, he watched as she gingerly, almost lovingly cut the goo away from Nakamori's chest and slipped her hand behind his bullet-proofed vest. At this Nakamori started to struggle even more, to the point where Conan thought she was somehow causing him intense pain. But as she drew her hand back and Conan saw the flat piece of black plastic in her hand, he knew that Nakamori had only tried to protect the key card.
For some moments, she lingered there in front of the inspector, looking intently at him and Conan guessed that they exchanged some words, though he couldn't possibly hear them over this distance. Eventually, she stood back up and walked away, making a beeline back towards Conan's metal box.
She stopped right in front of the glass, once more looking down at the small detective who met her with a stern frown. Tilting her head once again in her iconic manner, she playfully waved a hand at him, before she suddenly launched herself off the ground, scaling the over two meters (seven feet) high steel container in one single jump.
Landing with a clonk on top of the metal case, she seemingly remained there for a second before her steps continued.
As the rhythmic sound suddenly stopped, Conan quickly concluded that she had jumped off the container on the other side. After that it only took a couple more second till the lights came back on.
Luckily Conan's glasses would automatically turn the night vision off when the brightness reached a certain level or else his eyes would have been fried by the sudden flash. But despite that, the sudden illumination of the whole square still hurt badly and not only him, as he concluded from the various screams of pain.
The shouts however soon changed to the sounds of awe and astonishment as the spectators and police officers alike finally laid their eyes on the carnage Kitsune had left behind.
No wonder no matter where Conan looked, he only saw shocked faces. After all, the girl had come and gone in a matter of minutes, leaving behind a completely beaten task force and a sleeping phantom thief. And all of that while remaining unseen to all besides him.
A true ghost or spirit couldn't have done a better job.
O
As the lights finally turned back on, Ginzo couldn't believe his eyes. All around him, his men lay beaten and sleeping on the ground, only few still able to look around with wide eyes.
Of course, he immediately searched for the perpetrator, knowing fully well who it was. The fact that Kid lay there, slumped against the glass panel and sleeping peacefully only galvanized what Ginzo already knew.
Finally, he spotted the slender form of the girl, he was looking for.
Right above him, leisurely seated on top of one of the steel cage, she looked down at him, her feet playfully kicking the air.
"I greet thee, Inspector." she chirped, her voice the same mixture of sweetness and mystery as always "Is it not a most pleasant night?"
"YOU!" Ginzo only roared back "You did all of that?!"
"Why, who else dost thou propose could have committed the deed?" she asked, sending an obvious nod into Kid's direction.
But Ginzo had no time to waste on her jokes. He had to prevent a catastrophe from happening "Free my men immediately! Or else something horrible is gonna happen!"
But Kitsune merely shook her head "Tsk, tsk, tsk, hast thou not learnt proper manners? A gentleman may not threaten anybody, but especially a lady, if it lies not within his powers to stay true to his words."
"This is not about me threatening you!" the trapped inspector yelled in desperation "Who is gonna keep you and the spectators safe from the men in black, if the police is unable to?! Please! Help us or everybody here is gonna end up as hostages!"
His words struck fear in the eyes of the people around.
Couples huddled closer together and Ginzo saw clearly how the Kid Killer's guardian hugged the boy closer to her chest. But the girl seated on the cage only giggled.
Her cackling laughter seemed to mock the fear the people felt, enjoying the fact that she held their hope in her hand and could crush it all if she chose to.
In this moment, Nakamori saw what was there in front of him.
A complete maniac!
Not a reckless, self-important and unconventionally thinking brat like Kid, but a real psycho.
All that mattered to her, was her own enjoyment.
Ginzo's blood started to boil hotter and hotter, as he listened to the continuous snickering of the girl. He hated how proud she sat up there, looking down on not only him and his men, but on every man, woman and even child in the crowd.
To her, all those lives were just playthings, only existing for her own amusement, nothing more.
Once again, he wrestled with his slimy prison. Buckling and throwing himself around, not caring how much it hurt when his skin stretched, or his hairs were pulled out.
Time and time again, he leaned against the goo with all his might, his skin cracking and ripping from tension, till blood started to leak.
But it was to no avail. He couldn't break free of his chains.
"Now, now, dost not exert thyself like this. Thou shouldst know the futileness of thy efforts." Kitsune commented with a huff, "This flock of greedy Magpies is no obstacle to one such as I!"
Not even allowing her words to sink in, she suddenly bent forward, curling in on herself, her face now hanging right in front of the card scanner of the cage.
With a snap, she made the key card appear in her hand and pressed it on the scanning field, waiting for the door to spring open.
But nothing happened.
The lamp besides the lock only continued to glow red.
And the door was still closed.
O
Confusion spread through the crowd. All were still unnerved from the almost pleading words Inspector Nakamori had spoken, but as Kitsune suddenly bent over and tried to open the lock, the tension skyrocket.
Everybody expected something to happen.
Some that the men in black would jump out every moment, pointing guns and yelling at them. Others expected the cage to open, giving Kitsune access to the gem.
But nobody expected nothing to happen at all.
Kitsune sat up straight again, keeping her balance on the cage hanging from the rattling chain without any effort. One couldn't see her face behind the mask, but her cocked head and the intense stare she directed downwards towards the lock said enough: she was puzzled.
"Hahaha! Don't know how to open it?" Nakamori asked, his laugh the most desperate and faked one Conan ever heard, "If you free me and my men, then I'll tell you how you can open it!"
Kitsune, who had directed her attention at the inspector when he began to laugh, only gazed down at the man, apparently contemplating his words.
Eventually she answered, her voice as carefree as it could be with an almost scolding tone to it, "Thou shouldst not propose such preposterous deals. If I were to free thy men, all they would do is to assault me the moment I cut thy ropes."
"That much is true." Conan mentally agreed. If it were Kid, Conan was sure that everybody would honour a given promise. But Kitsune was different. She didn't have such a long story and standing history of sportsmanship and chivalrous behaviour as Kid had.
Though the magician was a thief, he was also a gentleman, who never hurt the innocent and would risk his life to help those in danger. But in Kitsune's case, especially after Nakamori's outburst, none of the two parties would trust the other the tiniest bit.
A neutral third party would have to play envoy.
Letting out a huge sigh, Conan knew that it was probably up to him. He didn't like to put himself in danger and he doubted Ran would agree, but the police knew he was on their side and not an assistance of Kitsune, while the girl wouldn't see him as a threat. It was a pain, but he would have to play peacemaker.
Dialling up the volume of his bowtie speaker, he only hopped that Ran wouldn't complicate things unnecessarily.
"I'll do it!" a voice shouted.
But it was not Conan nor was it an artificial voice from his bowtie.
It was Kid.
The magician had woken up and apparently heard the entire discussion.
And, Conan had to admit, he really was a good choice. The police knew the magician cared for the well-being of the officers and the spectators while Kitsune had already cooperated with Kid once, so she should trust him at least to some extent.
The only question now was, what was Kid's plan?
O
As much as Kaito loved to be the centre of attention, right now all the eyes on him made him feel a little uncomfortable. But normally, he wasn't the one kneeling on the ground, chained like an animal and caught like a bird.
As things stood, his situation would have been quite dire, but fortune favoured him as usual. If not for the naivety of Kitsune, he didn't know how he could have gotten out of this. But now, all it took was playing envoy.
"I'll do it!" he proclaimed once again, his voice echoing loud and firm over the plaza "By my honour as a magician and a gentleman, I promise to follow any agreements made!"
His little speech gave him, all the attention he needed and though he could clearly tell how reluctant the fox-girl was, the shouts of agreement from the crowd would leave her no choice in the end.
Slowly the shouts died down and all eyes turned towards the thief hidden behind her mask, seeming to demand an answer. The air was tense.
But Kitsune, seemingly obvious to everything around her, barely shrugged her shoulders in an uncaring gesture.
As the girl elegantly glided down from her seat, floating over the head of the officers with her parasol, the crowd was still left in confusion, not sure whether her shrug meant a yes or a no.
Eventually the girl landed a few feet away from Kaito, not folding up her parasol but letting it rest on her shoulder. He greeted her by presenting the green ball entrapping his hands as well as he could, hoping silently that, whatever plan the girl had come up with, would only start after having freed him.
Not hesitating for a second, Kitsune was by his side with two strides while drawing the knife she took from him earlier in one swift motion. She bent down a little, grabbed with one hand for his arm while the other executed a couple of swift cuts, her parasol laying on the ground right next to her.
She wielded the knife with precision and quickness, reminding Kid a lot of a chef gutting a fish. The blade cut through the goo like it was butter and the slime didn't stick back together but broke away, having become brittle and hard.
With one hefty pull, Kaito was able to free his hands from what little remained of the solidified slime, sending a shower of tiny green shards into the air. But as he stood up, Kitsune was already back on her way to the cage, apparently intending to open it.
The knife she had used had been left on the ground in front of Kaito.
To all eyes, it must look like everything was over now and Kitsune would simply vanish with the stone. But in truth, the real game had just begun!
After all, Kaito was not about to just let the mysterious girl run off with the jewel, while Nakamori surely wouldn't just sit by and let them go. So, now, it was all about speed.
Everything depended on how quickly Kaito could free the officers. If he was fast enough, then the policemen would be able to buy him enough time, so he could catch up to her. But if she was the swifter one, then neither he nor Nakamori would see her again tonight.
Darting into action, Kid immediately dashed to the nearest officer, cutting the goo away from his belt. If he was not very much mistaken, then this dark spray can, hanging from the officers' belts, was a liquefied version of the solving agent, which would greatly increase the speed with which he could free the officers.
Hacking through the slime, Kaito grabbed the can without a second thought and sprayed its contents over the officer, not giving him the time to interject anything. In a matter of seconds, the goo started to crack and rupture, falling apart and dissolving into dust.
"Yes, with this I can beat her!" Kaito cheered mentally, already darting to the next officer trapped in green slime.
He wouldn't lose without a fight.
While Kaito had just freed the first of the policemen, Kitsune had already reached Inspector Nakamori. Paying no attention to him whatsoever, she simply marched past the man, launching herself off the ground once again and gracefully landing on the swaying cage.
By this point, Kaito was certain that she had some sort of device that greatly increased her jumping power, since no amount of training would allow you to reach the cage when it hung three meters above the ground.
With a catlike grace, she landed on the swaying ball made of iron grid, grabbing a hold of the chain with one hand. Swinging back and forth, waiting for the crate to slow down. Kaito used these precious seconds to free more policemen while sneakily arching closer and closer to the cage.
He needed to be close enough so he could interfere, once Nakamori revealed the secret of how to open the cage. As soon as his judgment told him that he had entered a distance that would allow him to reach the cage in seconds, he set the next step of his plan into motion.
Kaito was absolutely certain that the officers wouldn't just sit idly by and watch as Kitsune runs away with the jewel. For one, the trust they placed in each other wasn't there to begin with and two, Nakamori promised only to 'tell her how to open the cage' not to let her get away.
In all likelihood, Kitsune hadn't missed this loophole either, so Kaito needed to react faster than her, otherwise she would be gone in an instant. Peeking a glance upwards at the girl now sitting on the hanging cage, Kaito freed one last officer, pressed the can of dissolvent into his hands and turned to face the inspector.
"Inspector, as a man of honour, it seems now to be time for you to keep your end of the bargain." he spoke, gesturing to the police men behind him, indicating how most of them were already freed. Thanks to the dissolving agent and the knifes, the officers had no trouble dealing with their own goo and the super glue Kaito used had already hardened to a degree were a strong punch would break it apart.
Though the situation looked decidedly better than before, Nakamori still seemed unhappy and reluctant to give up the information. Obviously, there was no benefit in giving it away to him, but if he went back on his word, the media would feast on this broken promise. Considering how little trust the public put into the new task force right now, Kaito knew Nakamori couldn't risk losing those last few supporters.
With very obvious dissatisfaction, Nakamori let his gaze wander over Kaito and Kitsune one last time, before he sent a determined nod to his men. In union, all the officer followed his example and affirmed their readiness, before Nakamori once again turned his head to face Kitsune.
"Once the lock is exposed to darkness… " he began, but abruptly the amused giggle of the fox girl interrupted him.
"My dearest Inspector" she purred, her voice sweet as honey and warm like a summer evening "If thou truly believest thy little scheme could deceive me, I'm sorry to tell thee, thou art thoroughly mistaken. I do already possess the knowledge that the lock will only be accessible once more, after a time period of ten minutes has elapsed."
Her words were spoken with utmost confidence and calmness, leaving no doubt that she was certain of this piece of information. Soon, questions floated as murmurs over the plaza, officers and onlookers alike wondering whether that was true. Knowing that only one man could tell them the truth, soon their eyes turned towards the inspector currently in charge.
Nakamori, however, ignored their stares, only glaring up at the crooked smile of Kitsune's mask. He was about to retort something, but the girl once again beat him to it.
"Thou must not bother denying it. I know the truth, whether it suits thy wish or not." she drawled and cocked her head once again ever so slightly.
The inspector only stared up at her for a moment, before he asked, "If you already knew, then why did you even bother to accept this deal?"
A justified question, as Kaito thought, but the girl didn't respond. She was now hanging upside down from the cage, using her feet to grab hold of one of the steel bars.
Only her haughty and playful giggle rang out.
Slowly the echo of her chuckle faded, as the various parties still stood routed in their places, glaring at each other.
For seconds that felt like an eternity, nothing happened.
And then, suddenly, Nakamori barked his orders.
"GET HER!"
Upon his command, all the officers immediately sprang into motions. Yanking their goo guns upwards, aiming at the still hanging girl, while others charged forward.
Kaito hurriedly ducked away, using the precious seconds nobody seemed to bother with him to get out of the line of fire.
But Kitsune only remained there, hanging.
Only shortly before the first balls of slime were about to hit her, she let go of the steel bar.
Plunging to the ground, she twisted mid-air like a cat, landing with her feet on the ground.
And in the next moment, she was gone.
At an astounding speed, the girl dashed right towards the line of firing police officers. Not expecting this manoeuvre, the men were two slow in relocating their target and by the time they realized what was happening, Kitsune had already lunged herself far over their heads.
Upside down, spinning like a gyroscope around her own axis, she twirled through the air, landing with a flawless cartwheel right behind the last police officers.
Turning on their heels, the officer desperately tried to follow her movement, hoping to get their sights on her once again. But Kitsune had obviously expected this much and welcomed the officers with a flashbang.
The bright light didn't miss its purpose, sending the men staggering backwards, clutching their faces in pain.
By the time the first of them were able to see again, Kitsune was already long gone.
O
"Damnit!" Ginzo cursed, throwing down his helmet in frustration. Once again, this pesky little thief had managed to get away from him, despite all the preparations and plans they've made.
Ordering his men absentmindedly to pack up, Nakamori went over the safety measures once again, trying to pinpoint where they missed something.
Was it the location? The hanging cage? The light sensor? The ten-minute time lock?
Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks.
"WAIT!" he yelled immediately "TAKE DEFENSE POSITION! THIS IS NO OVER YET!"
Confused at first, the officer quickly let everything drop, clambering back into position. Gathering around the base of the cage in a formation with their shields facing outwards, like the ancient romans must have done, they waited for an attack.
Nothing happened.
Trained to obey orders and not question them ever so slightly, the officers stood like that for minutes, before the first sent a quick and puzzled look back towards Nakamori.
"Ehm, sir? What exactly are we waiting for?" one brave man finally asked, though he kept his gaze fixed at their surroundings, scanning them for everything unusual.
"Something is fishy." Nakamori commented, before he finally started with his explanation "We just assumed Kitsune has stolen the opal because she ran away, but how exactly did she get it in the first place?"
"Eh, with the key card, right?" another officer hazarded a guess, but Nakamori only shook his head.
"No, it's impossible!" Nakamori only shot back, seemingly having lost his mind.
But his next words, made everyone, even the drilled officers, turn their heads upwards.
"The time limit of ten minutes has not elapsed yet! She couldn't have opened the cage. Nor did she have the time. After all, she hung upside down from it. How the heck could she have reached the scanner?!"
With gasping breaths, everybody's eyes were on the cage and indeed, the red light, indicating that the scanner was blocked, still shone as bright as ever, while the flood lights reflected off from the smooth dark surface of the cage's precious cargo.
Long silence elapsed over the plaza, as everybody grasped the full meaning of these words. The stone was still here.
Kitsune hadn't stolen it.
And she wasn't the only one after it.
O
Conan couldn't help but admire the discipline of the officer. Unwavering like rocks, they had remained in their defensive formation, crouched down and ready to take aim. But as much as he admired their obedience, he also thought it to be pointless.
Neither Kitsune nor Kid nor the men in black have made any move in the last fifteen minutes, since Kitsune escaped. The light on the cage had long since turned back to green, yet still nobody was coming.
To Conan the situation was clear. Since Kitsune had the key card, Kid and the men in black could only wait for her to return. But since she didn't seem to have any such intention, it was clear that he and the police had missed something big.
The only reason why she would give them time to gather up and await her return, was if she was preparing something. Thus, waiting for her could only put the police into a disadvantageous situation. If he had the command, he would send out a couple of officers to look for the thieves or any suspicious objects near or on the Tower.
But Conan was not in command, so he had no choice but to wait.
Bored by simply sitting around and waiting for nothing, he active the night vision and magnification function of his glasses and looked around, hoping to spot something moving in the dark.
Yet, there was nothing.
In the distance, he could barely make out the façade of the houses, facing the tower plaza, while small figures crowded at the police barricades, waving around signs and flags.
But no trace of any thieves.
"What are they doing?" he mused silently "It's as if we've gotten the time for the heist wrong and wait for nothing to happen"
Thought to be accurate, it would be more correct to say that they were waiting, even though the heist was already over. Conan chuckled drily at that, but suddenly he choked on his laughter
"Already over!" his mind screamed in sudden realisation and he hastily looked back to where the cage was hanging from its chain.
Zooming in, Conan could see that a small object the size of his palm was indeed inside the cage. But he was certain that it was not the jewel.
As the magnification finally allowed him to recognize the object, his eyes went wide, and he whispered in a voice laced with bewilderment: "A key card?!"
All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment.
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Hope you liked the chapter and till next time.
Farewell