Chapter 17
As the moon finally managed to find a gap in the thick cloud cover to peek through, its rays only shone down on a lonely figure gliding through the night sky. They illuminated a tattered and muddy suit, clothing a teenager in a mood even worse than the status of his garment.
"What the hell happened back then?!" Kaito demanded to know from his brain, although it was obvious, he wouldn't receive an answer. Because although he was not stupid and knew a thing or two about magic, he was at a complete loss as to how the heck Kitsune managed to pull this heist of.
All he knew was that at some point during him playing tag with the police, the girl must have somehow gotten a hold of the jewel, but he had no clue as to how that was possible.
"From what Inspector Nakamori explained after the heists and Tantei-san and -kun confirmed, it is certain that she stole the key card from the inspector when I was out cold. But if that is true, then how the hell did she manage to get the stone before that?! I'm certain she had no opportunity to open the cage after I woke up." Kaito recounted the events of the evening once again yet failing anew to make heads or tails of it.
If Kitsune really had stolen the gem earlier, however she managed that, then it would make zero sense why she would still try to steal the key card. After all, she really didn't need it and considering the time lock on the scanner, there was no way anybody with half a brain would believe that she stole the jewel between the lights going out and her escape.
"That leaves two possibilities." Kaito concluded, growing more frustrated since his thought went along the exact same lines as the countless times, he thought about it before "One: she only stole the card to confuse us. Two: she returned after the ten minutes were over and somehow managed to steal the jewel from under the nose of nearly a hundred people, without anybody even noticing the slightest thing."
Slightly dipping down his glider, the young magician readied himself for the landing. Coming down quietly like an owl, he landed amidst rows of trashcans and sanitary pipes, which extended from the backsides of the houses making up the walls of the small alley.
Obviously, he would not land right on top his own house, even though it was the middle of the night. Even if somebody merely peeked through their window at the wrong time, his cover would blow sky high and in notime everybody in Tokyo would know who Kaito Kid really is.
Besides, is there a lamer way to have your own hidden identity compromised, than to read it in the morning newspapers? Certainly not!
And that's why Kaito always made sure to land in some place hidden from curious glances, where he would change back into his normal clothes or a disguise and leisurely walk back to his house.
Not bothering to put on a disguise this time, Kaito weaved his way through the garbage crowding the alley and made his way back to his house, not even trying to hide his identity. After all, if people have seen him going out, they couldn't be surprised if he came back, right.
Kicking his boots away the instant he got into the house, his whole posture deflated, and he stumbled up the stairs and into his room, where he entered the hidden lair behind the poster of his dad.
The small workshop was crowded with various devices, plans and other junk, painting an accurate picture of Kaito's cleaning habits. If Jin were here, Kaito was sure that he would have tidied up the room and would have scolded him for being so sluggish.
But since he wasn't Kaito merely threw the heavy sports bag into a corner of the room and sunk down on the huge chair in the centre.
He was plainly exhausted.
Not only was today's heist far more taxing physically, but also very demanding mentally. The police had been awfully quick at responding to his actions and driven him into a corner more than once, while Kitsune's final move had just completely thrown him under the bus.
He had waited for her return for twenty minutes, till Tantei-kun finally spotted that there was no gem left in the cage. Understandably, the police were as confused as he was, especially after they learned that the shining object left in the cage was the very key card to open it.
They've even had to let the manufacturer come with a master key, in order to unlock the cage but Kaito didn't stick around for that. He knew Kitsune had tricked him and whether it was the real key card or not mattered little.
But if that was not enough, he almost had a heart attack on his way back.
As he looked down from the sky, searching for any officers following him, he saw a mob of unruly dark hair making its way through the crowd. The way it moved and waved in the soft breeze was so familiar that Kaito could have sworn it was Aoko.
But as he dove down from the sky and landed on the roof next to the street, the bird's nest had vanished from the streets.
Kaito didn't know whether he only imagined it, or it was really there, but both options were concerning. Either he was starting to see things, which never was a healthy sign, or Aoko was really present at the heist.
Normally, he would have immediately discarded the second option, since he had seen her break down and cry her eyes out when he confronted her as Kid. But ever since he saw her empty house earlier this evening, a small, sneaking suspicion just wouldn't let go of him.
Was it really possible that all her tears, her rage and despair, were nothing but a clever act to fool him? But that couldn't be true.
No, Kaito couldn't allow it to be true!
Because if it were true, then it would mean that he had completely misjudged the person he had known since his earliest childhood.
The person he had shared a bath with when they were small.
The person that had always been by his side.
The person he loved.
O
As the girl shut the door quietly, all anybody would see was an ordinary high schooler getting back late with nobody waiting for her at home. But underneath this calm-looking face, the immovable mask, lay a turmoil of emotions.
Keeping them back, behind lock and bolt, Aoko calmly and slowly made her way down into the basement, where she silently slipped into the room behind a heavy wardrobe, where she laid down her props on the crooked table.
Carefully, she separated the little toys, bombs and tools from the purely aesthetic parts of her costume, piling them up in two separate heaps, to check them later.
Leaving the room, carefully checking whether the door was properly locked and hidden, once outside of the wardrobe, Aoko flung herself down on the old queen size bed stored in this room.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed into the pillow, muffling her voice, her poker face finally breaking apart.
A complex mixture of emotions, joy and shame, happiness and disgust, pride and pity, darted over her face as the events of the evening came rushing back to her.
After she had seen how Kaito made his way over to the Tokyo Tower, Aoko had used her parasol to reach it before him, intending to wait and see where he was going. But once she had arrived, her attention had been inevitably caught by her father, who was having a hushed conversation with the Superintendent behind one of the police vans.
Climbing closer using the steel grid of the huge tower as giant monkey bars, she eventually landed silently on top of the van behind which the two men were hiding and slid down its front, rolling underneath it.
Laying there on her stomach, Aoko could make out every word spoken between the two. Yet, she barely understood a thing since the two were using a gibberish of codewords making no sense to her.
"The egg is safely inside the pan, with the cooks standing on guard. The appetizers too are already arranged, and the dessert is ready for serving." her father reported to the Superintendent who only nodded with a satisfaction.
"Very good" he commented, handing her father a black card, ordering him "Now it's up to you to guard the spice, understood?"
Yes sir!" Inspector Nakamori answered promptly, taking the card and the men moved apart.
Not losing any time, Aoko quickly snuck after her father, completely ignoring the Superintendent who made his way back to the Tokyo Tower.
From what Aoko knew about the heist set up and upon seeing the card the Superintendent handed to her father, she knew immediately how she could win today.
Since she still had access to all the police files via her father's computer and account, she has had no trouble looking through all the plans the police made. However, since the renewal of the task force, the heist plans were held so secret, that no digital version existed and only the Superintendent himself would have a printed copy of the plans.
However, the police still gathered the blueprints and manuals to all of the equipment they used and coincidentally, a blueprint for a light-sensitive card scanner with inbuilt time lock had only been added to the index a couple of days before the heists.
Naturally, Aoko immediately put two and two together, figuring out that this card would be her key for success.
So, and although the heist hadn't started yet, Aoko patiently waited and followed her dad. It seemed as if he was going back to the nearby parking lot, where the police had parked their cars.
Luckily, Aoko has had the mind to bring the police uniform she had gotten as Nakami Kuro along, allowing her to easily blend in with the rest of the officers which were moving towards the vans.
As they finally arrived where the rest of the police cars waited, her father made a beeline for a van with a trailer attached to it. Not hesitating and putting on a face of confidence, she followed right behind her dad, not slowing down or waiting.
Her father in turn didn't stop either, but merely opened the trailer and climbed inside, with Aoko apparently the only one following him. Once the girl approached the open double doors in its backside, she immediately realized that this was where the SWAT uniforms were stored.
Climbing inside, not wanting to arouse any suspicion by openly gaping, she began to strap into a uniform as well, finding that it was distinctly unpleasant. But just as she was about to curse at the strange placement of the latches, an idea sprang into her mind.
Putting down the shoulder pads she struggled to get on, she walked over to her father and asked, obviously not in her own voice "Do you need help strapping the vest on, inspector?"
Her father jumped a little at getting addressed and as he turned with a surprised stair, Aoko only showed him her friendliest smile. Obviously, she was wearing a mask of an existing task force member, who had roughly the same build as her, so he couldn't recognize her
"Ah, I'm sorry." he apologized, scratching the back of his head, "I just didn't notice you entering. Oh, but I would really appreciate some help. Whoever designed these damned things certainly never had to put them on."
Following his request, Aoko helped him fastening the gauntlets and pulling on the bulky shoulder pads. As it finally came to helping him with the bullet-proved vest, Aoko made sure that something was not fitting correctly.
Buzzing around him, trying to fix whatever was pricking him, the girl took her chance to feel all his pockets, hoping to determine inside of which he put the key card.
Eventually she felt a rectangular and flat object inside his breast pocket. Awkwardly pulling at something underneath his arm, Aoko got a good excuse for getting very close to his chest. Now her moment came.
After she deliberately lost her footing, she fell forward, putting one hand right on his chest to steady herself, while letting a surprised yelp escape her lips. Her father obviously tried to help her and while his attention was directed to steady her left elbow, her right hand pulled the key card out of his breast pocket.
Yet, Aoko knew that, since the card was such an important item, her father would check on in at least once, so she had to leave something similar in return. Luckily, their local convenience store had a membership card, which would let you collect points with your purchases, eventually yielding some king of discount.
Out of all the cards in Aoko's wallet, this was the one that most closely resembled the original card, with its black colour and the silver, magnetic stripe that split up the reflected light into a rainbow.
Upon closer inspections, one would obviously find the difference. But in the dark of the night, with the heist going on and considering the fact that her father had only looked at the original key card once before, Aoko was fairly certain that he wouldn't discover the swap, unless he tried to open the cage.
That, however, he would most likely only attempt after the heist was over and by then, Aoko was sure that she would manage to get her hands on it again. Apologizing under great demeanour to her father, she then finally got around to finish helping him into the SWAT armour.
After thanking her for her help, he turned around to leave the trailer but stopped once more at the door.
"Ah, how stupid of me. Let me help you put on your uniform as thanks" he declared, already marching back to her.
This was bad. Not that Aoko minded wearing one, but it wasn't a piece of clothing you could easily shed, should you need to switch disguises and it was bulky as hell too. Quickly stammering some sort of excuse, she hastily hid the armored glove she had picked up behind her back.
"Ahh, I'm not here to get one!" she exclaimed, her remaining hand raised in a defensive posture, "I was simply tasked to fetch a new radio from one of the uniforms, since one of the officer's radio wasn't working properly."
A little puzzled Nakamori looked at her, while Aoko pretended to check whether the radio of a nearby uniform worked, cleverly using this moment to discard the glove.
"But you should hurry up to get back, inspector. The heist is about to start." she said, trying her hardest to make it sound like she was worried for the heist's success. The tension in her voice only helped to sell her point.
Feeling his stare on her back, he suddenly asked in a serious tone "What's your name, officer?"
Turning around slowly, hoping to strike a relaxed posture, Aoko could feel every fibre in her body tense, before she answered, "Reiko Moriawa, sir."
The name was just bad.
Obviously, it was NOT the real name of the officer she impersonated and to top it off, she merely mashed together the names of Ran and Keiko, her best friends, and the names Mouri and Edogawa.
But, not having expected anything like this to happen and not wanting to make her father suspicious by waiting too long, Aoko had chosen the first names to enter her head resulting in this abomination of a name.
From the way her father's brows furrowed, she could tell that her lie truly wasn't the best.
"Moriawa?!" he asked, sending a critical glance that made the hairs on her back stand up towards Aoko, "Never heard that one before."
He continued to stare at her, for what felt like another hour, though it could hardly be more than a few seconds before he finally turned around.
"Well whatever. You've helped me a great deal Moriawa-san and the fact that you're ready to go get spare equipment for others shows your qualities." he told her, having already turned around and was about to leave the trailer " Keep up the good work."
And with that, he was gone.
Aoko remained in her stance for another second before she deflated like a balloon. She had been so sure he suspected her, but apparently, he didn't expect anything to happen before the heists and with all the new officers in the force, he didn't know every face and name.
"Although Kid has exactly used those shortcomings in the past as well." she recalled, now thoroughly confused by the whole situation. If that was how he and the other officers always acted, then it was no wonder they've never managed to capture Kid.
But pushing her annoyance at that aside, knowing that she should be grateful for the police's incompetence, she turned to leave as well. Now that she had the key card, she still needed to look for a chance to get her discounter card back.
After all, it was a piece of evidence directly leading back to her, since she was the one who always went to get groceries.
Yet, just as she was about to jump out of the trailer, her gaze fell on something strange. Turning back once more, Aoko went over and picked it up, surprised at how heavy it was.
In the dim light of the trailer, its black surface faintly reflected her face and the surroundings. Curiously, she began to meticulously study every nook and cranny of the gun, intrigued by the unusual design.
Since she had faced off against the Magpies, Aoko had done some research into various types of guns and their functionality. Obviously not so she could shoot back, but so she knew where the safety was and how you could disassemble it as fast as possible.
After all, leaving loaded and cocked guns lying around wasn't something she considered smart to do and the knowledge would help her far more than simply that. And that was the reason why this gun piqued her interest this much.
It was unlike any she had seen before, looking like somebody had taken the muzzle of a grenade launcher but attached it to an assault rifle. Yet the strangest thing was what looked like a tank for kerosene or something similar you normally used on a flamethrower.
The strange container was held inside the weapons frame, like an overly large revolver chamber, but with only one slot. Hazarding a rough guess what this was, based on a blueprint she saw on in the police files, shed deciding to test the gun. Aoko turned the muzzle towards the trailers wall, making sure she could escape quickly should somebody discover her.
Of course, if this was a normal gun, she would doubtlessly punch a hole straight through the thin wall of the trailer, but she was close to certain that no normal gun would look like this.
Gingerly she pulled the trigger and in the next moment, there was a squirting sound immediately followed by a wet splash.
Losing no time, Aoko stuck her head outside the trailer's back, checking around to see whether anybody walked up to her. But apparently, the noise hadn't attracted any unwanted attention and so the girl returned inside the trailer to take a closer look at the gun's projectile.
A little puzzled, Aoko stared at the strange stain on the wall, looking as though somebody had thrown a pudding on the floor. However, unlike pudding the strange goo stuck to the flat surface with no problems and the girl got the distinct feeling that she had seen this before.
"Ah! But of course!" she suddenly ejaculated, recalling the strange stain "This thing also stuck to the Professor's ceiling!"
Back when she had visited the old man's home, she had noticed some weird specks of a slimy, green substance, sticking to the ceiling in his workshop. Back then, she had been puzzled what it was, but now that she saw some identical looking stuff clinging to the wall, Aoko had a fairly good idea what these new guns were.
"If I remember correctly, the strange gatling-thing the professor built for the police used some sort of sticky goo as well. So, he simply turned his design from an automated sentry to a portable gun." the thoughts shot through her head, accurately deducing what exactly she was holding.
Yet, although she now had a rough idea what it was, she was holding, Aoko needed to figure out how effective the weapon was. After all, although the Professor was a real genius, his invention's actual performance was very inconsistent.
Some of them worked brilliantly and made wonders come true, while others only blew themselves up. But since the police has brought along more than one of the strange guns, Aoko guessed that it couldn't be a completely useless design.
After a short minute of pondering, she took one of the SWAT gloves, put it on and pressed her open palm squarely on the blob of goo. Immediately pulling her arm back, Aoko's hand merely slipped out of the glove, sending her staggering a step back.
Apparently, the goo's stickiness was not something to be taken lightly. But Aoko knew that you needed more data for an accurate estimate of the possible results. Putting her hand back inside the glove, Aoko clenched her fingers into a fist, finding that she was unable to do so, because the slime was too dense for that.
Yet, she was able to get a steady grip and pulled again with all her might.
But the glove didn't budge.
Even as she put her whole body weight behind it and grabbed the gauntlet with both hands, she was still unable to free the glove. Deciding that this was a waste of energy and time, she began to look around in the room once more, searching for a particular item although she didn't know how exactly it looked.
"The police would never utilize something like this without any sort of solving agent or other way to get it unstuck. And considering the Professor designed this goo, I'm sure he invented a solvent as well." the girl's deduced, leading to her searching the whole inside of the trailer once more.
And in less than a minute, Aoko triumphantly pulled a black spray can out of a plastic crate. The box had been locked, but only with latches and not with a lock, a fact that told Aoko that the contents couldn't be all that valuable.
Nonetheless, she decided to test whatever she found just now and showered the blob of green goo with the can's contents. At first, nothing happened and Aoko was about to put the can back where it belonged in disappointment, but then she noticed tiny cracks running over the surface of the slime.
Curiously, she took a closer look and even poked the goo with another glove, finding that it didn't stick at all.
"So, this thing makes the goo hard, huh?" she concluded in her head, "But is that really all?"
Once again, Aoko stuck her hand inside the glove, that was still stuck inside the green goo and pulled.
At first, like before, nothing moved, but as she used more strength, tiny specks of green dust started to fall from the ball of goo. As she began to pull harder, the specks increased in size, till with a sudden and loud crack, the slime gave way and Aoko managed to pull the glove free.
Grinning triumphantly, she inspected the palm of the glove finding that, although some green particles still stuck to it, the green slime had pretty much vanished from it.
"Wow!" she couldn't help but whisper, as she put the glove back where she had found it. It was clear to her, that the Professor had outdone himself with this. Although it might be a simple design with not much complexity to it, its areas of application were practically limitless.
Granted, it was only usable for gluing things together, but it did that so exceptionally well, that Aoko had no doubt about how valuable this invention was. Without wasting a second thought, she took another can of dissolvent and pocketed both, the one she already used and the unopened one. Then she grabbed one of the goo guns, intending to hide it in a safe spot and retrieve it later.
But just as she peeked outside of the trailer, she noticed an officer coming running her way. Normally that wouldn't be all that unusual, but a quick glance at her watch told Aoko that the heist had already began and from the attire of the man, she could clearly tell that he was an officer of the task force.
"What are you doing here?" Aoko wondered with narrowed eyes and retreated back inside the trailer, quickly killing its lights. Now, covered by shadows, she let her gaze follow the man who opened the door to one of the patrol cars, taking out what looked like a radio device.
Though she was not able to hear what he said, since he was too far away, from how he anxiously looked around, the girl knew that something couldn't be right. Remaining still, waiting for whatever was about to happen, she didn't let the lonely officer out of her vision for even an instant.
And her suspicions proved right, as no minute later, men clad in black trench coats emerged from one of the dark alleys leading to the parking lot. As every muscle in her body tensed and her instincts told her to flee, Aoko however remained absolutely still. She needed to know what was going on.
The mole, as she heavily suspected the lonely officer was, instantly approached the group of about eight men gesturing widely. His voice had risen, and she was able to make out some of the words he spat out. It was something about a twin brother, a big risk and that it got harder.
Briefly the hidden girl tried to figure out what the mole was talking about, but then her gaze fell on a very familiar face.
"Snake!" she cursed mentally.
The all too familiar criminal, talked a lot quieter than his spy, so Aoko couldn't make out what he was saying, but his body language showed that he seemed to be tense and in a hurry. After a brief exchange, Snake seemed to have gotten the information he wanted from the man and turned around, now directly facing Aoko.
With huge strides, he marched towards the trailer, his whole gang of about ten men following hot on his heels.
"They've spotted me!" Aoko's brain immediately suspected, but as she thought about it again, she realized that this couldn't be true. None of them wore any night-vision googles or something alike and it was pitch black in the trailer.
"So, they are interested in the contents of the trailer?" the second theory emerged in her mind as she quickly hid behind one of the hanging SWAT uniforms. No moment to late as it turned out, since barely a second later, the doors were flung open and Snake looked inside the trailer.
He seemed to search for something as his eyes finally landed on the goo guns. With an almost hopeful expression he reached for one and pulled it out. But his face quickly scrunched up in anger and disappointment as he shot on the ground.
Throwing the gun to the ground, he turned to his men and commanded "Take everything that seems useful and hurry up! I'll go take a look at how the heist is progressing."
With these words, he marched off into the direction of the tower, while his men began to climb inside the trailer. As instructed by Snake, they began to grab gas masks, goo guns and SWAT uniforms, doubtlessly intending to use the equipment to sneak on the heist.
Aoko knew, she had to prevent this "If they get inside without anybody noticing, it will be a disaster!"
Putting a hasty plan together the girl waited till one of the men grabbed the uniform she was hiding behind. The moment he pulled it away, Aoko flung herself at him and threw him to the ground, herself and the SWAT uniform atop of him.
Pressing her hand over the man's mouth, Aoko gave him a full dose of sleeping gas, having covered her own face with her fox mask as she waited earlier. While the man was slowly drifting off to sleep the other Magpies only laughed at his clumsiness, unable to see Aoko or the man because of the tangle they were in and the darkness.
Finally, they suspected something was amiss, as their comrade didn't utter a sound and lay limp on the ground, but it was already too late.
In the next moment, the small room was suddenly filled with dark smoke, as Aoko slammed down one of her smoke bombs, using the confusion to dart past the men and jumping outside. Behind her, the Magpies began to cough and shout, trying to reach the exit, but the constantly stumbled and fell over each other.
Sprinting a few steps from the trailer away, Aoko suddenly stopped and aimed the revolver she had taken from the man she had surprised at the doorway. The men who slowly emerged from the smoke stared at her in bewilderment and surprise, stopping dead in their tracks.
But this daze could only last for a moment and the instant they realized what was going on, they would gun her down. So, Aoko had no choice but to be the first to pull the trigger.
She fired.
The bullet was too fast for anybody to react to and by the time the Magpie's realized that the gun had been fired, they were already unable to move as an eerie cold swept over their limbs and bodies.
With widening eyes, feeling their bodies go limp, the men fell to the ground, lying there motionless unable to get up.
The gun lay cold and heavy in Aoko's hand, yet despite her feeling it's weight, her fingers didn't tremble, and her arm was completely still. The echo of her shot had already faded, yet she was still aiming the barrel at the scene of carnage in front of her
Slowly, she lowered the weapon, letting it fall to the ground where it landed with a metallic sound.
In front of her, the walls of the trailer were covered in a sticky mush, while the men lay around scattered in it. Their bodies as well we're drenched in the grotesque-looking stuff, slowly running down their limbs to the ground.
As she let gaze sweep over the scene, a pleases smile stretched her lips and she let a snicker escape her lips.
"YOU FREAK!" one of the men on the floor yelled, his eyes filled with terror, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
Slowly, Aoko approached him having downed her Kitsune costume the moment she saw the Magpies emerge from the alley. Crouching down in front of him, she gently lifted his chin, so he had to stare up at her mask.
"Is my little reception not to thy liking?" she whispered in a cheerful voice, causing the man's face to pale in fear, "Or wouldst thou have preferred something more akin to your methods? A real bomb?"
The man's face grew as ghastly as possible, while his eyes threatened to plop out of his head, but Aoko decided that it was not enough. Bringing her face closer to his ear, she whispered in a voice as cold as ice "Be grateful I have sparred thy worthless existence!"
With that she abruptly stood back up, not caring that the chin of the man slammed hard on the concrete floor. He would survive it no problem and a little fright was the least she could do to repent them for the sin's they've committed.
Picking up the goo gun she had taken along as she jumped out of the trailer, Aoko sweep one last glance over what looked like a battlefield.
"Strange. Only eight of them have come." she realized as she counted the bodies, wondering where the rest of them were hiding. Doubtlessly, she would meet them sooner than later and so the masked girl marched off towards the Tokyo Tower, leaving the Magpies in a vain struggle to get away from the goo now spread over the entire parking lot.
She had planned for something like this to happen, although, she had greatly underestimated the pressure inside the goo gun's tanks. Otherwise, she would have retreated farther back, before she shot at the container to let it burst.
Although Aoko's little encounter with the Magpie's hadn't taken as long as she had suspected, she was still definitely too late for the heist's beginning. That much was not only obvious by the clouds of smoke she saw from afar, but also by the war like state she found once she arrived.
Having switched back to a police uniform, she didn't draw any attention to herself, as she merely stared at the horde of officers stuck to one another on the floor. Apparently, Kid had lured them into a trap to turn their numerical advantage against them.
But as smart as this plan was, Aoko had hardly time to admire it since the heists was still in full swing. Loud shouts echoed over the plaza as the officers wrestled with each other and the glue, trying to break free. While some on the outside edge were lucky enough to get away, most of them had been rooted in place.
Suddenly, Kid's snarky voice rang out from above and instinctively Aoko shrunk back, taking cover behind the pillar. The thief was taunting them quite obviously, his voice brimming with confidence, in a display that would put Narcissus to shame.
But aside from Aoko, nobody knew that Kid was not really such an egomaniac. During their numerous encounters, she had gotten quite a different picture of the thief, than the one he showed the media and police.
A humbler, young man, burdened with a great mission he has taken up himself, because it was the right thing to do. He was nowhere near as perfect as he appeared to be and every nonchalant and improvised trick, was a carefully prepared and set up trap in reality.
Since she had started this questionable hobby herself, she began to truly understand how much work it actually was. You were met with your own failure time and time again, but would have to continue practicing, till you mastered a trick and perfected a performance.
Thieving was not a line of work for a narcissistic arrogant and prideful fool, who acted before he thought. So, when suddenly a figure clad in white plunged from the tower and hung only a couple of feet above the officers in the air, Aoko knew instantly it couldn't be Kid.
Armed with that knowledge, it was easy to pick up on the inmoving mouth, the puppet like movement and the lone officer, sneaking up on the inspectors on the container from behind.
But the police swallowed the bait. With hook, line, sinker and in time they would have probably swallowed the rod as well. Having put the Superintendent and all but one of the inspectors to sleep, Kid got rid of the last by thrusting him into the hanging bundle of green slime, before he unveiled his little deception.
Immediately as he turned around to search the inspectors for the key card, Aoko climbed up the iron leg of the tower, knowing that she must be ready to strike. Of course, she knew Kid wouldn't find the card he was looking for when she had taken it from her dad. But since the situation looked dire for the police, she knew her father had to act.
And act he did.
The girl had just reached the lowest of the horizontal steel beams as balls of green goo flew towards Kid. The quick reflexes of the magician might have saved him from a direct hit, but in his rather frantic escape, he lost his cape to the flying spheres of glueyness.
As Kid dashed off towards one of the towers legs, the police officers in hot pursuit, Aoko saw her chance approach.
Not hesitating for a moment, and having gowned her Kitsune outfit already, she jumped down from the beam, praying that none of the officer would suddenly decide to look after the jewel. In theory, they had no reason to, since Kid had not gotten a hold of the key card and was currently chased around by her dad and his little troupe of men.
But Aoko knew all too well how illogical humans acted sometimes.
Shoving those fears aside, since dwelling on them wouldn't lead to anything, Aoko forced all of her attention back on her task. She had nearly reached the steel cage by now, so it was time to employee her new trump card.
Activating the two, small, tube-like machines she had bound to her lower legs, they set free a sudden burst of air. It wasn't strong enough to completely halt her descend, but used at the right time, the thrust would suffice to cushion her fall.
Obviously, such an invention wasn't made by Aoko herself, but by Agasa. When she had visited him, these two, test tube-sized metal cases had seemed so convenient to her, that she stole them. Sadly, despite her best efforts and the blueprints she stole, Aoko didn't really know how they worked.
The calculations and formulas were difficult to understand and the blueprint looked more like a hastily scribbled note, with half the characters written so poorly, that Aoko couldn't decipher them.
The only thing she was certain of, was that they somehow compressed a large quantity of air and stored it, able to release it in a burst or as a continuous wind. Using this feature to her advantage, the girl had trained like a mad man, till she was finally able to somewhat control the brilliant invention.
Thanks to that and just as she had trained for the last few days, she landed gracefully with a quiet 'thud' on the steel cage, not losing her balance as the ball of iron began to swing to and fro.
Freezing on her spot like a deer in the head lights, Aoko starred down at the officers, anxious one of them could have heard the noise. But they were all preoccupied with cheering her comrades on or aiming in Kid's general direction, hoping to score a lucky hit.
Yet, despite the excellent diversion Kid provided, Aoko's could hardly feel at ease out in the open like this. Hurrying up, she hugged the chain with her legs, letting herself hang down from it, so her face was right in front of the scanner.
Quickly, she pressed the black card on the scanner, flinching as the lock made an audible beep.
"Be quiet!" she yelled internally at the piece of steel.
There was no time to look down and make sure nobody saw her, so Aoko just tore open the small door.
The air was still filled with a mix of the shouts and goo guns going off, so even if somebody had spotted her, Aoko would likely not hear him cry out.
She had no time to lose!
Jamming her hand through the hole, she clutched the black opal and instead placed the black key card where the dark stone had been. Since it was black and would also reflect light when shone on it, Aoko was fairly certain that it would take some time for anybody to realize the switch.
Pressing the small door shut again, paying close attention to make as little sound as possible, Aoko hauled herself up on the steel cage.
"Almost there!" she cheered mentally and activated her new toy to launch herself back up to the lower steel beams.
But all that happened was that she felt a cold wind wash over her feet.
Snapping her gaze downwards, panic slowly beginning to surface, Aoko reactivated the propulsion tubes again, hoping the result would change. Yet it didn't
This time, even less air blew over her feet.
"CRAP! The steel grid!" she realized what the problem was. After all, without a sturdy and dense surface to lift off from, the air tubes didn't provide much thrust. Adding to that was the fact that, although these tubes were a real scientific wonder, they still were bound to the laws of physic, meaning that it was easier to let something under high pressure go than storing it back up, aka. they had a recharge time.
"Shit! How could I have missed something this important?" she cursed inside her head, switching all her thoughts over to find a solution for the problem. Going down was no option since there an ocean of glue and police officers awaited her. But back up was difficult as well, since she couldn't climb the chain without causing it to rattle, which would likely attract the attention of the men on the ground.
But suddenly, the solution to the problem shot through her head, "My parasol!"
Immediately, Aoko took the modified sun shield from her back, where she tugged it when she needed both her hands free and looked around for a spot to land on.
"The steel containers? No, the landing would make too much noise! Maybe just outside of the circle of policemen? No, they couldn't possibly overlook me there." the girl's mind worked furiously, operating at a speed that all these thoughts took barely more than a few seconds.
As she let her gaze sweep the parameter once more, she suddenly focused on a useful target, determining that it was her best bet. But just as she was about to jump and glide over to one of the towers legs, sudden pain pierced her skull.
Supressing a cry of anguish, Aoko tried to keep her balance while clutching her stinging eyes.
It seems Kid had used a flash bang to get away from the police.
Luckily, she had been quiet some distance away, so the blast only incapacitating her for a moment. But her eyes were still watery and as she made the jump, her vision blurred.
Hanging on to her parasol for dear life, she glided through the air half blind. Frantically wiping her teary eyes, she managed to somewhat clear her field of vision and land quietly and safely on one of the tower's legs.
Letting a relieved breath escape, she was about to climb to the ground, when the sound of running footsteps reached her ear. Looking downwards, view still a little foggy, she realized that a group of task force members came running back, their eyes searching the tower's iron skeleton for Kid.
"They'll see me!" Aoko realized with horror, knowing that she needed to get down as fast as possible.
Not having the time to come up with any controlled or fail-safe plan, she simply threw herself out into the open air, plunging down along the tower's leg at a fast speed.
Although there was now the steel grid between them, Aoko wanted to get out of their field of vision as fast as possible.
This meant that even though the rough concrete came closer at an alarming speed, she didn't open her parasol. Only at the last few meters, she let it burst open, while activating her propulsion tubes at the same time.
Her fall was slowed significantly, yet the sudden stop pressed the air out of her lungs, and she felt her whole body ache. The pain only increased as she came up hard to the ground with her back.
This last resort move of hers might have saved her from splattering on the ground, but it also threw her balance of completely and so she was unable to properly cushion her fall. Instead of landing like a cat, she fell hard on her back.
Only thanks to the numerous hours of fall training she took, meaning that she threw herself of her balcony for hours on end, she instinctively pressed her head forward, thus preventing it from slamming onto the stone as well.
Yet the fall was not a pleasant one by a long shot. Her whole backside was burning, her breaths were short and ragged, and she desperately fought against blacking out. As she finally resisted all attempts her conscientious made to slip away, the girl could relax her tense body somewhat.
Her breaths grew longer and steadier and the fuzzy cloud in her head started to clear up and even the pain she felt grew weaker. Still, it took her a full minute to gather her wits back together and raise her tattered body from the hard floor.
"Shit!" she cursed, looking around to assess the situation.
It seemed as though the police were still searching for Kid, patrolling the entire plaza and searching for his tracks. Forcing her hurt body to move, Aoko managed to drag herself into a small gap between one of the steel containers and the Tokyo Tower's leg.
Hidden like this, she couldn't hold her frustration in any longer.
"What is wrong with me? I nearly killed myself with a stunt!" she swore mentally, clenching her teeth at how amateurish her mistake was.
Yes, she might has gotten her hands onto the gem, but not only did she look like a bumbling fool while doing so but went in without even having a plan. Similarly, when she defeated the Magpies, only her luck prevented her from getting stuck there herself, having to wait till the police came to discover and arrest her.
"You idiot!" she chided herself, "How can I expect to compete Kid, when I can't even look out for myself ?!"
Cursing again in her head, her frustration only grew. She knew she could do it better.
When she had faced off against Kid for the first time as Kitsune, he openly complemented her.
When she broke him out of the police van, she took on three armed criminals, without even getting exposed till the very end.
But now, not only did she miss most of the heist, but when she was finally present, she nearly sent herself to the hospital because she was not capable of landing on her own feet?!
"Get your act together!" the girl commanded herself, even more infuriated than earlier.
This had to end!
Remembering who she was supposed to be, the girl picked herself up from the floor once more.
She was a ghost in the night, appearing without a warning and disappearing without leaving a trace.
She was a trickster, making others dance to her tune and guiding them like puppets.
She was Kitsune!
And she would not let herself get beaten this easily.
Recalling the feeling she had when she had revealed herself for the first time.
Locking down on the amazed and curious faces.
Hearing their cheers and laughs.
Demonstrating to all the world, that she was more than a simple high school girl!
With her eyes practically blazing with new-found determination, she gazed over the top of the steel container, seeing the scene unfold before her.
Kid had just made a neck breaking maneouver to descend down from the tower, landing with grace on the floor.
"See? He isn't a clumsy clown like you!" she mentally kicked herself again, paying close attention to Kid surrendering to the police.
At first, she was confused at his behavior.
After all, the thief should still have some tricks left allowing him to escape this seemingly dire situation. But upon overthinking the matter, she realized that Kid likely didn't know where the key card, she had already snatched away, was hidden.
"In his situation, the first priority is to determine where the key card is. The easiest way to do this would be to wait in hiding and let the other factions bait the police's tricks out. But since he was already discovered, he can't leave just like this" Furrowing her brows in concentration, Aoko ran the whole situation over in her mind again, checking whether she hadn't missed any vital clues.
But as she couldn't find anything that she could have overlooked, the situation grew clear. Kid was letting himself get arrested deliberately, so he could wait for the police to slip up and reveal the location of the key card. He was hiding in plain sight, so to say.
"However," Aoko continued her train of thoughts, "This is only a usable strategy, if he has a way to free himself. Since the slime is not like a handcuff, he too must have gotten his hands on one of these solvent cans."
But just as she concluded that, Kid's hand got caught on the helmet of an officer glued to the floor and Aoko watched in amazement as his guard cut the goo with his knife.
"Of course! There has to be another method of dissolving the slime!" she realized, again wanting to kick herself in the butt for not figuring this out earlier. If you wanted to only clean away parts of the green goo, then the spraying can was far too inaccurate a tool. It only made sense, that the police would have a more precise tool to deal with their own super slime.
"So, the knife it is, huh?" she repeated to herself, feeling as a sudden knowing grin stretched her lips. She was certain that Kid would steal the guard's knife in no time.
And just as she predicted, the moment the officer forced Kid on the ground to glue his hands to the floor, the magician used the opportunity. As the officer glared down at the thief, Aoko could clearly see the empty sheath.
"My time is limited then." she declared softly, yet her face displayed no trace of annoyance or frustration at that. With her mind now working on full power, immersed in the role of a perfect phantom thief, a trifle such as this would not disturb her.
She knew that Kid had yet to figure out the card's location from the fact that he simply stood put, even though he could free himself anytime he wanted.
And this meant that Aoko had time to prepare her counterattack.
Although, she already knew that there wasn't much to prepare.
Only minutes later, while the police had waited in their defensive position for an attack, Aoko had prepared her big plan.
Taking a deep breath, peeking over the steel container's edge she was hiding behind, the girl confirmed once again that all spectators stood in their destined place, ready to witness her performance
It was time to put her plan into action.
With a practiced hand, Aoko threw a number of gas bombs into the air and killed the lights immediately afterwards. The surprised shouts and screams masked the noise of the little balls filled with gas impacting on the concrete floor, giving off their dreamy load.
But the girl had no time to waste.
Springing onto the steel container, the night-vision lenses of her mask in place, she took aim and sent goo ball after goo ball down on her blind victims. While the first few shots flew a bit askew, her accuracy increased with every shot fired, till she wouldn't miss her target by even a centimetre.
On the very top of her priority list would have been Kid, but as she starred down at him over the barrel of her goo gun, she noted with satisfaction that the gas bomb she had thrown towards his location must have come down close to him, since the thief was peacefully snoring away, the knife laying harmlessly in his lap.
Yet she had not time to waste.
Her aim jumped from policeman to policeman, never wavering or hesitating, gluing them mercilessly to the floor.
As more and more officers lay motionless on the ground, Aoko advanced forward with slow steps, never ceasing her shooting spree.
As she reached the edge of the viewer box, she jumped down with no hesitation. This time, only using her parasol to cushion the fall, she landed with grace and elegance, despite her body still hurting from her last bodged fall.
But there was no time or attention to waste on pain and hurt and so she shut it out, drove the feelings into the furthest corner of her mind and locked them away.
"A little pain won't stop Kitsune!" she thought with grim determination, as she took in her surroundings.
Continuing her merciless barrage, the girl didn't take any chances, making sure her pray was completely unable to move or fight back. As the line of officers still standing had thinned out considerably, Aoko thought it safe to tend to Kid.
Not that she feared he could be hurt, but he still had the knife he could use to free himself and Kid moving about was just another hassle she wasn't keen on dealing with at the moment. Bending down and taking the knife away from him, Aoko was about to move on, when her eyes came to rest on the thief's chin.
Since he was sprawled on the floor, his head slumped forward, chin resting on his chest, Aoko couldn't see the upper portion of his face underneath the brim of his hat.
Somehow, it touched something deep inside her, to see him defenceless like this. A feeling of curiosity and a want to uncover what was hidden underneath the white top, but there was something else that was even stronger: pity?
Aoko was unsure as she starred down on the magician.
Seconds ticked by as Aoko mulled over this feeling.
"Do I pity him because we are in the same situation?" she hazardously guessed. No, it was no guess.
She knew they were in the same situation.
Both fighting evil from the shadows, putting everything they had on the line to protect others from the threat lurking in the dark.
"I can't unmask him." she whispered barely audible as realization hit her.
Unmasking the thief now, even if she was the only one seeing him, could only put him in danger. As long as nobody knew who he was, his real identity was safe.
But if she succumbed to her own curiosity, forcefully tore off his mask and peeked at the life he was hiding with it, she would gain the truth of who he was, but he would lose his safety.
It didn't matter exactly how, be it through torture or a slip up of herself, knowing his identity would only expose the man behind Kaito Kid to danger, while it wouldn't help their cause in any way.
"Besides, he would never unmask me like this." Aoko knew as well. Deciding that it would not only be dangerous but unfair too, the girl made up her mind to leave him be for now.
She was about to stand back up and advance on her way, when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Snapping her head to the side, like a predator having caught the scent of blood, Aoko found herself face to face with her little sensei.
The boy's glasses were gleaming strangely and when his eyes widened as soon as their gazes meet, Aoko knew that he could see her.
"Another toy made by the professor? How intriguing." the simple deduction rang through her mind as her lips stretched into a sly smile. She proceeded to scan Conan from head to toe, taking in how a pearl of sweet rolled down his cheek, how his throat moved as he swallowed empty air and how his lips were slightly open.
Slowly, as to not scare a frightened animal, she brought her hand up to her face, putting a lonely finger over the lips of her mask as she tilted her head ever so slightly.
"Don't spoil the surprise." she signalled him, not really caring whether he understood her or not. After all, he might be smart and have a few aces up his sleeves, but he was only a child trapped in a box. There was nothing he could do to stop her.
Briskly standing back up and turning around, Aoko continued her advance, gunning down everybody who dared to move. Eventually, however, her goo gun would run out of juice, so Aoko simply dumped in on an officer and took his gun instead.
Thanks to the bullet-proofed shield of his comrade, the gun has been spared from any goo sticking it to the floor, so Aoko didn't even have to use the solvent to take it.
Only causing a slight lull in her elimination march, Aoko soon found herself face to face with her father, as all the other officers were put out of order.
The girl could hear him call through the dark, demanding to know what was going on.
"Poor fool." she only thought, as she squeezed the trigger for the first time.
She had aimed at the black can hanging from his belt but instead hit his arm, which he had moved into the line of fire. But it mattered little as the second shot hit accurately, taking away his chances of getting away. As his only way to break loose of the goo was sealed away, the rest proved to be a trifle.
In no time, he was stuck in a crouching position, his head moving furiously about, eyes glaring into the dark. But even the ferocious look and the barked threats could barely impress her. She knew that this was over.
A soft giggle escaped her lips.
Leisurely she approached him, not even attempting to mask the sound of her footsteps. There was no need for that, besides, wasn't it nice of her to announce her presence?
Stopping half a meter away from him, Aoko only glanced down at him for a moment.
This was her father.
The man she had looked up to all her life.
The man who had been her hero.
Yet somehow, he didn't look heroic at all right now.
As he was kneeling there, demanding to know who was there, his brows furrowed in worry and his face dripping with sweat, Aoko couldn't find anything praiseworthy about him any longer.
She knew that he was her father, a man she should be grateful to and honor.
But right now, he looked like nothing more than an insignificant police inspector.
Bending down in front of him, she peered into his face, observing as he squinted his eyes at her, doubtlessly making out the vague shape of her mask.
Fishing out the knife she had taken from Kid, the girl began to cut away the goo on his chest and loosened the vest, till she could slip her hand behind it.
At that, he started to trash around violently, mustering every ounce of strength left in his body. But he stood no chance against the slime.
His resistance only grew the further Aoko's hand moved and as she finally closed her fingers around the cold and hard plastic card, he buckled and fought as though death's cold grasps was clasping his throat.
He didn't stop fighting, even attempting to bite her arm, till the card was no longer in his reach. At that, he deflated like a balloon, his fighting spirit doubtlessly broken.
For a moment, Aoko remained standing in front of him, only watching.
She waited.
Waited to feel something.
Love. Compassion. Pity. Anything one would expect in this situation.
Yet all she felt was a sort of disappointment.
Disappointment at how weak and powerless he was.
After all, he wasn't even able to stop a single high school girl with over a hundred men at his disposal and access to the apparently sheer limitless funds of the task force.
But even with revolutionary technology, such as the goo guns, he wasn't able to protect a simple piece of stone.
"Weak." she once again confirmed in her head before she turned around and marched off.
All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon. It simply serves as a form of entertainment.
Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part.
Hope you liked the chapter and till next time.
Farewell