First off - Fanfiction didn't send out the email for the previous chapter, so if you haven't read (The escape, part i.), then go back NOW or else things won't make sense for this chapter!
Thanks for the comments/favourites/follows you guys! Hope you enjoy the update!
Summary: In which Shinichi and Kaito put their plans into action. (The escape, part ii.)
Tokyo - 11.56 pm
"I understand what you're saying Ran-san, but looking into someone's medical records is illegal."
Ran sighs, crosses her arms over her chest and looks sends Saguru a look. She's in the middle of pouring out tea for them both - Sencha, not the tea she's certain the Englishman is used to - but she doesn't let it stop her from narrowing her eyes at him.
"Your family own a pharmaceutical company," Ran says, "are you seriously telling me that there's no doctor there who can look through the psychiatric reports?"
Saguru hesitates before shaking his head. "Not anyone we can trust to give accurate feedback to us. They might leave important things out."
His expression changes then, and Ran frowns, setting the tea down and clearing off some space on the coffee table. They're sat in the Mouri's detective agency, Shinichi's case files spread out between them - they'd both sat down to review the cases again after lunch, and they've still not finished for the day.
Even if it is almost midnight, she doesn't want to call it a night yet. There has to be something more, and this shift in his expression, the minute detail as Saguru bits his lip, leaves her wondering what he knows that she doesn't.
"What is it?" she asks - they'd promised no secrets, that if one of them has any ideas they'll share them with one another. Ran knows that she isn't a detective, but she can calmly say that she knows Shinichi better than anyone else in the world, she knows that she can help if someone just lets her.
"It's probably nothing," Saguru says, taking a sip of his tea. He takes his phone from his pocket, and glances down at it. "But if anyone's read Kudo-kun's psychological records, it's Hattori-kun."
"Who's Hattori?"
Saguru's eyes widen, as he places his phone on the table. He says, "you don't know who Hattori Heiji is? I was certain he'd have asked you about Kudo-kun."
Ran doesn't recognise the name. She's not sure how to react to the name - wants to ask why Hattori would want to talk to her about Shinichi - but from his expression she can tell that Saguru has some respect for the man at least.
"You're sure you've not met him?" Saguru asks, and he frowns when Ran shakes her head. "That's strange. You see, Hattori-kun is a teen detective as well, he was labelled as Shinichi's equal from the West. After Kudo-kun was convicted, he decided that he wanted to look into the case."
The way he says Hattori's name, well, Rans doesn't need to be a detective to see that the two don't get along.
"And this Hattori-kun has read Shinichi's file?" Ran asks.
Saguru hesitates. Then he nods, eyes glancing to his phone again. "If there's anyone who has, then it's Hattori-kun… He's convinced that Kudo-kun is innocent, that there were a few things missing from the crime scene."
Ran balls her hands into fists, winces at the feeling of her nails piercing her skin, before unclenching her hands. There are faint crescent imprints in her palms, but she doesn't pay any notice. She asks, "is there any way we can talk to him?"
"We could phone him," Saguru says, although he sounds like he'd much rather not. "he's probably working on cases right now."
Part of Ran wants to refuse. Who phones someone else at midnight? Even if they don't have school the following day - one of the perks of golden week - it still feels inconsiderate and impolite. The rest of her wants to force Saguru to ring the phone number, regardless of the time, because every minute she waits is a minute she could be using to help secure Shinichi's freedom.
"You'll put it on speaker phone?" Ran asks.
Saguru plucks his phone up, nods, and he scrolls down through his contacts. He presses call. At first, the call goes unanswered, and Ran watches as her friend frowns, creases forming between his eyebrows. The second call, however, gets a response.
"Hakuba, what d'ya want?"
The voice is accented, and Ran's pretty certain the speaker uses kansai ben, the accent thick. It doesn't take much effort to decipher some of his words, nor is it difficult to read into the irritation that leaks from his voice.
"Are you busy?" Saguru asks, foregoing any greetings. It's odd, Ran thinks, because usually Saguru is formal with everyone, but with Hattori he is curt, his words more blunt, with a certain directness that she's not seen in him before.
"Not really," Hattori says, and Ran is certain the boy is smiling - can practically hear it in his voice, "I just have this game where I don't answer your first call, and see whether you'll phone again."
Well… Then. She doesn't quite know how to respond to that.
"How considerate." Saguru's voice is dry, already fed up. "I did have a reason for calling though. I'm going back over Kudo-kun's case, and I was wondering whether you had access to the files from his psychological assessment."
Hattori is quiet on the other side of the phone. Then: "you don't still think he's guilty, do ya?"
Ran takes a deep breath, and lets out a sigh of relief when Saguru claims that no, he doesn't think that Kudo-kun is guilty.
"Then ask th' guy yerself," Hattori says, "that's wha' I did. If you get 'is permission, I'll bring th' files down to ya myself."
It shouldn't surprise her that Hattori has met with Shinichi, not if he's certain Shinichi's innocent, but it still leaves her reeling, confused why she'd not been told anything during her visits. It makes her wonder what else Shinichi had left out of their conversations during the past year.
She misses the times when they'd been able to simply talk without feeling like they're standing on glass. She misses not having to worry about whether their conversations will leave splinters.
"That's the thing," Saguru says, "we're going over the case without Kudo-kun's permission. I'm not sure he'll give us it if we ask."
From the other side of the phone, Hattori hums. After a moment, he says, "I'm in th' middle o' a case right now, but I'll email you th' videos tomorrow. Is that okay?"
"Thank you," Saguru says, looking very much like he wishes he didn't have to thank the other detective. Ran sends him a small smile.
"No problem," Hattori says. "I'm hangin' up now."
He doesn't give Saguru a chance to say anything else, and the line goes dead.
Ran picks up her cup, takes a sip of tea, and grins. It's as if luck is finally on their side.
Lady Luck, Kaito thinks to himself as they step out into the darkness, counting down the seconds until the lights reach the far side of the prison yard, had better not mess with them today.
He's spent all this time stuck in this prison because luck had abandoned him during a heist, and Kaito knows that he's going to flip out if his luck doesn't turn back on. He doesn't care for what happens afterwards - he'll plan everything with such detail that he'll never need to rely on chance again after today, but right now he needs things to go his way.
"Okay," Kaito turns to Shinichi, whispering. It sounds like a shout in the darkness, although with the wind, he's almost certain that it's too loud for their voices to carry. "We've got two minutes to get from here over to solitary. You're a fast runner right?"
Shinichi nods, doesn't say anything. If he looks closely, Kaito can see that he's scratching at his neck, just over the bruises he's received. The nervousness, he assumes, has started to kick in.
"Then let's go."
Does Kaito's running morph into an energetic mutated skip as they start racing over to the solitary block - yes, but it doesn't slow them down, which is the important part. Plus, he's enjoying himself, being outside in the dark, the moon lighting up the prison yard, leaving it just dark enough for them to be able to move without being seen.
Kaito almost wishes that there were cameras in the prison yard, just because he thinks the guards would freak out a lot more if they realised he was skipping during his escape. If they'd seen that he'd been merry, oozing confidence during his own escape, then Kaito thinks he'd never stop grinning about it.
Once again he tells himself not to get ahead of himself. He's still within the prison walls, then need to make their way through a monitored section of the prison, and then they need to actually get away with it. He needs to focus on the present and not the future in which he can boast about his escape.
But he will boast, obviously, once they're outside the gates.
It'll be amazing. And- of course he's already doing it again.
"Come on," Kaito says, pulling Shinichi down as they reach the door to solitary. They have to crouch to avoid being seen from the windows, light pouring out of them.
The light makes Kaito shudder - another thing he'd hated about solitary, the lights were never turned off. He knows that it's used to deprive the senses of external factors, but Kaito wishes they'd do that with the lights off. He's always preferred the shadows compared, has always preferred being able to choose who really sees him.
"What now," Shinichi whispers when they stop outside the door. Kaito knows that it's not locked - not with the guards who're still moving around inside, talking in the staff room, occasionally checking on the prisoners.
Kaito shrugs his shoulders, glances inside the door, and takes a step back.
This is one of the riskier parts of the plan, he thinks, mainly because it's where their luck comes in. They need to sneak past the staff room, to the end of the corridor and unlock the door at the end. From there, they'll be able to climb over the smaller gate.
For a moment, Kaito closes his eyes and listens. He can hear three voices - all of them guards he recognises from his own time in solitary. Their words seem to be vibrating, struggling to be heard outside of the room they're tucked away in.
"Come on," Kaito says, and he races into the corridor. Better now than never, he thinks. He spares a glance towards one of the open solitary cells, grits his teeth when he sees Aoko glaring across at him, before turning back to the corridor.
This time, when he sees a camera, he doesn't wave at it. He feels like that might be tempting luck just a little too much. As Kaito makes his way over to the door, he brings the hair grips from his pocket - at this point he should just keep them in his hands, he swears it'll be easier than having to take them out again and again - and inserts the ends into the lock.
Out of the corner of his eye, he notices Shinichi duck into one of the open solitary cells, receiving something from inside the door. He hears the faint unfolding of paper, and shortly after, a sigh of relief.
Instead of focusing on what the note says, Kaito focuses on the lock, easing on of the hair grips up, pushing pins into place. One of the pins is particularly stiff, and Kaito winces when he hears a small cracking sound.
He pulls the hair grip out of lock - it's not fallen apart, but there is a huge crack down the side. He tosses it aside, pulls out another hair grip and tries again.
The stiff pin clicks this time and Kaito moves to the final two pins, trying to be both quick and quiet. He feels sweat on his neck, but eventually he hears the satisfying click of the door.
"What do you think you're doing?"
It's not Shinichi's voice.
Kaito jumps, the door swinging open in front of him. He considers, briefly, running from the door - but the second he does that, the guards will chase after him, leaving Shinichi in the cell he's ducked into.
'Don't look at Shinichi,' Kaito tells himself, 'they won't know that he's there if you don't look at him'.
He doesn't move, but the guard does. He moves forward, and draws something from his belt - Kaito bets it's a taser, because it always seems to be a fucking taser.
"I thought you were meant to be a good escape artist?" The guard snarls as he gets nearer. Kaito takes a step backward for, almost trips on the door and lets out a small groan as he hits his arm against the wall.
"Admittedly," Kaito says, feeling only a slight bit helpless, "luck hasn't been on my side recently."
The guard takes another step forward, another, until he is almost face to face with Kaito. His taser isn't a long distance one like in C-block, but rather, a taser for closer range, and the thief flinches away at the sound of static electricity.
A cry of pain.
Kaito doesn't feel electric pulsing through his veins - instead, he watches as the guard drops to the ground. Behind him, Shinichi is holding one of the meal trays, having grabbed it from the cell.
"Fortunately for me," Kaito says, racing towards the guard and taking the taser from the guard, "I have Shinichi."
He sends Shinichi a strained smile and continues, "help me get him into that cell."
They spend more time than they can probably afford pulling the unconscious guard into the cell - he wakes for a moment, but Kaito tases him before his fingers can reach for the radio by his belt.
Kaito takes the radio as well.
Electricity buzzes in his ears.
"It's not a nice feeling is it?" he asks the guard, before they close the door on him.
It is not until they are outside of the solitary block, racing fifty metres towards the gate, that Kaito realises the other guards have most likely heard the cries. He thanks luck for the slow reactions of the guards, before cursing fate for the footsteps that follow after them.
"You get over first," Kaito shouts, giving Shinichi a boost so he has a headstart over the gate. It's roughly two metres tall, with a layer of barbed wire, and Shinichi's fingers grapple for more metal as he pulls himself up. Kaito joins him, hauling himself up as he struggles for speed.
It's impossible to ignore the footsteps behind him, pounding and heavy behind him as guards shout behind them. People are screaming into the radio, and Kaito tries to make sense of what they're saying, but it's like they're speaking in a language he doesn't understand.
Shinichi jumps down from the top of the gate, and Kaito can see the conflict on the other's face - does he run while he can and leave Kaito to the guards? Or does he wait.
The ex-detective doesn't move, shouting instead for Kaito to hurry up.
Letting out a howl, Kaito clenches his fists around the barbed wire, metal tearing into his palms, pulling himself up. He's grateful for the trousers, and the jacket as he drags himself across the barbed wire, but he really wishes he'd been given gloves as well.
"Hurry up or I'm leaving you behind."
Kaito jumps from the gate.
He's back on his feet for a second and then - oh no.
"Fuck."
Static electricity jarrs him, and he falls forwards as barbs claw onto his jacket - the electricity is at a high enough level that it doesn't even need to graze his skin to shock him.
Kaito's heart stutters. It sinks in his chest.
His sight blurs.
"Shit," he hears Shinichi mutter, and then, he feels his clothing being tugged, his arm being thrown over someone's shoulder. "Listen, I can't carry you, so you need to run."
Kaito lets out a small moan, but after a few seconds, he's sprinting towards trees, Shinichi dragging him forwards.
"Oh my god," Shinichi mutters under his breath as they race into the woods.
His eyes are wild, feral as they race forwards. They don't stop until roughly four minutes later, they approach a small clearing, then, Shinichi leads them both North-West, out of the clearing.
They continue to run, until Kaito feels like he might throw up. He feels like he can't breath, and he wonders for a moment if Shinichi feels the same thing with his injuries, or whether it's just him and his electric synapses sending too many messages at once.
Kaito lets out a laugh, "we did it."
"Not yet," Shinichi says, "don't say it yet."
But Kaito really wants to celebrate it. He feels laughter bubble inside him, a mix of hysteria and pleasure. It rests in his stomach, churning his gut and squeezing his lungs.
"I thought-" He gasps for air, "I thought you were going to leave me behind."
Shinichi lets out a breathless laugh - it's more wary than elated, but it still makes Kaito grin shakily over at him. "Like I could leave you behind. You wouldn't survive without me."
They run.
And after what feels like a lifetime, Kaito lets out a laugh of his own. He laughs, head tipped back a gleeful, cackling laughter boiling out of him. It feels like the most natural sound he's made in years, even before he was caught. It's a satisfying sound, a melody bursting out of him, louder and louder, uncontrollable in its intensity.
"I'd tell you to calm down," Shinichi laughs beside him, "but we deserve this."
Finally, their legs lead them to where they need to go. They come to a stop in a small clearing, a dirt path leading out to what Kaito can only assume is a road out of the woods. In the middle of the clearing, he can see the outline of a person. There are two motorbikes beside him, although the person - Kaito's certain it's a man - is leaning against the one nearest to them.
He's also on the phone.
When he sees the two escaped prisoner racing towards him, he lifts his hand in a wave.
"No problem," a small pause, "I'm hangin' up now."
He closes his phone as the two stop in front of him. Kaito peeks closer, looks at the face of someone he's seen before in newspapers.
"Took yer time, didn't ya?"
Hattori Heiji.
The author very much so enjoys comments.
Arc 1 - Clubs - is now finished! On to Arc 2 - Diamonds.