Disclaimer: I don't own Thunderbirds or Detective Conan.

FlashFictionFriday #116 "Deceiving Fragrance"

There was no sense that couldn't be ensnared, given proper preparation and opportunity – of course, part of said preparation was creating an opportunity. Magic was (should be) a thing of fantasy, but illusions were something else entirely. Illusions were real, created by whispers and suggestions and everything that he was good at.

Sight was the easiest. People relied too much on their eyes, to the point of blindness. No matter what their eyes saw, it only took a suggestion for what their brain thought they saw to differ. Hearing was equally simple; sounds could sound like other sounds with just the barest of a hint. Touch and taste – well, those were less present in his repertoire, but no less valuable or harder to ensnare.

As for smell? Well, the sweetest scents often hid the foulest truths. Flowers enticed in the unwary prey, and so did women, dousing themselves in deceiving fragrances until their true nature was thoroughly concealed.

Which was why the pretty blond woman walking down the street, arm-in-arm with the Olympian that had been sniffing around Tantei-kun and his cohort, caught his attention. He knew who she was, of course – he'd be a terrible Kaitou if he couldn't identify one of the richest women in the world, as well as the fact that the gem clasped at her throat was a very clever fake – but what was a British aristocrat doing in Tokyo?

Did They have a reach so far out? Well, honestly, that was a stupid question. If They didn't, They wouldn't be anywhere near as terrifying.

And that was a problem.

KID didn't get involved with Tantei-kun's battles, as a general rule (unless the little nuisance blackmailed him into it). He had his opponents, and Tantei-kun had different ones. But that didn't mean he wanted to see Tantei-kun die, and that woman was dangerous.

The man was, too, but KID knew with reasonable certainty why he was in Tokyo. Most of the world hadn't linked the disappearance of International Rescue's commander with Scott Tracy's sudden refusal to leave his paradise home and insistence on handling all matters via holocall. The number of people who had linked those two events with the appearance of seven-year-old Scott Carpenter in Tokyo – incidentally the same place the Commander had vanished – was likely less than the fingers on a single hand.

One of those people was KID.

Another of those people, he would bet his monocle, was the Olympian and younger brother, Gordon Tracy. It was possible that he, too, worked for Them, but KID was disinclined towards that theory. He hadn't entirely discarded it, but the chances were he'd just come hunting for his big brother. Neither KID nor Kaito had ever met the Tracy family, but he'd heard the stories. Rumours – credible ones, from credible sources – put them as the mastermind and manpower behind the secretive International Rescue, and while KID could appreciate the skill that went into disguising that, he doubted International Rescue itself was a front for criminality.

That would be an illusion to surpass all other illusions.

The woman, however, was another story. Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, public figure and socialite, had so much in common with that one woman – Sharon; what did Tantei-kun call her? Vermouth? – that he couldn't possibly view her as anything but a possible threat to his favourite shrunken detective and friends.

The Tracys were known to mix with the Creighton-Wards. Lord Hugh Creighton-Ward, the father of the woman in question, and Jeff Tracy, late father to the brothers, had worked together on several business enterprises. If KID didn't miss his guess, there was something beyond professionalism between the pair he was watching pass down the street, too.

However, KID didn't – couldn't – trust her. There was something in the way she moved, the way she held herself, that screamed of lies and deception if you knew what to look for. As a Kaitou, KID knew those traits intimately. What he didn't know was who she was deceiving.

If she was one of Them, Tantei-kun and little Scott-kun – as well as mini-Sherry-chan – were as good as dead. The Olympian on her arm, too. If she wasn't, then who was she?

And more importantly, what was KID going to do about her?

This links in to a few snippets I've written in the past exploring a potential crossover between these two series (found in Behind the Scenes). This time I've brought in a new character from each series into the mix… I also have to thank Elaendorlien for pointing out what certain DCMK characters would think of Penelope.

This follows TOS' idea that IR's identity are secret, and the movie canon that KID knows about Shinichi/Conan.

Thanks for reading!
Tsari