Men in Black and DC crossover
By: FunahoMisaki
(A/N: I own nothing read last chapter and read Velgamidragon's We Are the Men in Black.)
There were several startling revelations already, but the appearance of these two ghosts, one the human personification of light and kindness teasingly titled the Princess of Friendship and the other a long-time steady presence in the Organization as either a friend or mentor, come back to life was finally too much. Not even the most suspicious among the Organization could think to draw weapons on these two figures even as Hidemi began to cry and bury her face in her fathers chest.
Towards Akemi in particular, Gin, Akai, and Shinichi were all united in their shared trauma of her death representing one of their greatest failures.
Gin had betrayed her trust years prior and if they had been as close as they used to, he might have noticed something that could have saved her life.
Akai had been too hasty which had cost him his place in the Organization. He had initially thought his status as an FBI NOC had eventually gotten her executed, but after he learned the truth, he realized he could have been with her through the intervening years and might have been able to protect her more directly.
Conan had not known Akemi, but after he learned who she really was and Gin had shot her, he should have been suspicious of why she had kept up the pretense of the criminal Organization even as she died. He knew what the Organization really was, but he was so distressed being unable to save a person from dying right in front of him that he'd never thought twice about that oddity. If he had, maybe he could have done something to help.
"How...?" Gin breathed at last, staring dumbstruck at Ethan and Akemi.
"I thought... we /all/ thought you'd been killed. You years ago!" Gin pointed to Ethan. Sherry was still being held in Akemi's arms on her hip and seemed not the least bit shocked by their appearance. She'd known...?
Both of them winced visibly and suddenly had familiar haunted looks in their eyes. Ethan looked like a war-weary veteran which was bad enough, but such an expression on Akemi's face was downright disturbing.
"No..." Akemi murmured.
"We weren't killed, though Pandora often made sure we felt like it, especially when things were going badly for her." Akemi's words chilled Gin to the bone, especially when he noticed that although one of her eyes was darkened and haunted the other was eerily still and emotionless. It was…it was a fake? She had lost one of her eyes.
"She especially hated you and had a very…personal hatred of me. Often using my mothers form when she would torture me…telling me in detail about how my princess was tortured…" Ethans face was dark and Hidemi flinched slightly but kept held tightly to her fathers chest as he rubbed her back.
"Sorry to hear about that Ethan." A familiar voice said from the door and everyone whipped towards the door alarmed and with guns coming up this time.
Vermouth stood there at the door looking sadly and longingly at Ethan and Kir while the man grimaced slightly but nodded to her.
"It wasn't your fault really. You're just as much Pandora's victim as we are even if in a different way." Ethan shook his head to wave off her sadness almost while Conan raced over to Vermouth who easily swung him up into her arms and on her hip.
"Maybe so but most of the scars she left on me are emotional and mental not physical. You two suffered a lot more of all three scars." Vermouth said and Chianti was storming over looking furious with a gun in her hand before Gin put out a hand and stopped her.
"She needed you to be a scapegoat. Considering that almost everyone here is ready to kill you because of what Pandora did wearing your face…" Ethan dryly remarked and Vermouth gave a small sad smile.
"True. I believe there's a lot of explaining to do before we storm HQ and get it back but…Shin-chan this is your Uncle Ethan and your cousin Hidemi. Ethan this is your sisters son, Shinichi Kudo, and Hidemi this is your cousin." Vermouth said softly and Hidemi tensed up as she whipped towards Vermouth looking between her and Shinichi and her father while everyone froze for a long minute.
"Hime-chan…this is your grandmother. I know we have a lot to explain but trust me when I tell you this…She never knew about me or you. The woman who abandoned me to Otou-san when I was born wasn't her." Ethan said making Hidemi look between her father and grandmother lost and confused but Vermouth looked from Hidemi to the woman holding a steel razor tipped fan that was pressed close to Vermouths jugular.
"You spoke about Pandora and Ethan-kun said that you were a victim of her and you were a scapegoat. You'd better explain to me how Pandora can successfully pull off pretending to be The Woman of a Million Faces without anyone catching on and how we can be sure that you're the real deal." Merlot said coldly to Vermouth who merely quirked a small smile.
"So they pulled you into this too huh Shizu-chan? And still going with a fan as your main weapon? Please tell me you've at least upgraded it to be a taser as well or something. Wouldn't want any of the mishaps like what happened when you were training under me as a rookie to happen during such an important assignment." Vermouth said and Merlots eyes narrowed in on her.
"How do I know I was training under you and not Pandora?" Merlot demanded proof and Vermouth raised an eyebrow.
"You literally met my daughter. And Chikage. And Kaito-kun. Pandora used Renya's form the day my twins were born to steal my son from my arms and threaten me to flee and never mention my daughter to him again or else he would have killed her. I never even knew my sons name until only recently, much less the fact that I have two grandchildren from him. Not to mention would Pandora know about how I cryogenically froze my daughter for ten years to make her younger than she should be to keep her safe? I believe I told you about her being frozen for her own safety when you showed surprised that I managed to do my job and raise my child without anyone being in the know or even knowing about my pregnancy." Vermouth mentioned and Merlots eyes softened slightly at hearing that. After all Vermouth had told her that when Merlot had met the young woman who had been five years younger than she was.
"Or would Pandora know that as soon as the Osaka Police NOC 'Heiji Takenara' asked you on a date you came running to find me to ask for help finding something to wear as if you were a teenager going on her first date? Or that when he asked you to marry him I was one of the first people you told and that I was there when your son was born? Or that when Shin-chan here was born you were at the hospital too because you were excited to have a sort of nephew to spoil? And that as soon as you learned that you and Yuki-chan were having kids just a few months apart you were bound and determined for the kids to be friends and play mates with each other even though that's when things started getting messed up because of Pandora going around wearing my face?" Vermouth asked raising an eyebrow at Shizuka who blushed slightly at the first question but relaxed after the third.
"And how did she manage to go around wearing your face so well no one realized it until now, if that's what really happened?" Chianti asked glaring darkly at Vermouth who sighed slightly.
"Come to think of it how could Ethan survive? The alien that tortured Hime-sama had skinned him." Korn was the one to ask that and Gin now knew why Korn and a few of the other oldies often treated Kir respectfully and even outright called her princess now although it made Kir's eyebrow twitch dangerously.
"Those two are a bit linked together." Vermouth said looking at her son who nodded his head with a grim look on his face.
"Turns out I'm half alien. Never really had any of the powers before but when I was skinned…well my alien side kicked in and my skin started regrowing. It happened fast, but not fast enough for me to react before I was grabbed by Pandora and held as prisoner." Ethan said with a grimace since he remembered vividly how he had been skinned, it had hurt like a bitch and he had passed out for a while before waking up to find his skin mostly regrown.
"Half…alien?" Gin asked looking from Ethan to Vermouth now. After all if Ethan was Karasuma and Vermouths son…Gin knew Karasuma was human so that meant that…
"The reason I can disguise myself as anyone I want to so easily is because I am an alien shape shifter." Vermouth said bluntly and neither Kudo nor Ethan or Sherry, or hell even Vodka and Akemi, looked surprised to hear this.
"That explains Yukiko's talent for disguises." Korn muttered and Gin realized that if he was Kudo's grandfather then that meant Yukiko Kudo was his daughter in law.
"As for how Pandora is able to do such things just as well as I can…" Here Vermouth scowled and looked embarrassed at the same time.
"She's a shape shifter too." Vermouth said and that didn't explain why she was embarrassed and upset.
"And why she wants to make you a scapegoat?" Gin was glad that Merlot had asked because honestly Gin's brain was probably too shocked by Akemi and Ethan being alive to process much or work through things like words right now.
Honestly he was pretty sure everyone was shocked beyond being able to process anything really at Vermouths next scowl and bitter remark.
"My mother always was a bitter old shrewd bitch."