Kid touches down on the rooftop. Below him, the sniper he'd followed from his heist joins the four men in black. There's a table in the center of the warehouse they cluster around, and Kid can barely hear their voices from this height.
He needs to get closer.
He drops through a broken window, landing on a rafter and plastering himself as close to it as possible. He pulls out a phone -
-X-
"You can't keep pulling things out of your pockets. It's not believable."
"I'm magic. Of course it's believable."
"What's the count again?"
"That's six smoke bombs, two flash bombs, twenty feet of rope, ten feet of wire, six listening bugs, two card-shooting guns, two lighters, a telescope, four pairs of white gloves, a grappling hook attachment for the guns, a pair of two-way radios, three canisters of knock-out gas, eight pairs of handcuffs, a police badge, and one half of a sandwich."
The group around the table turned to Hakuba. He looked up from the paper in front of him.
"I wrote it all down."
Kaito stuck his tongue out at him.
"I think it's not fair. Everyone else has to turn in an inventory. You keep pulling things out by saying you had them already." Shinichi tapped the sheet in font of him. "I only have my power shoes, my voice-changing bowtie, my extending suspenders, and my cellphone."
"But you're also only eight. I'm a professional magician."
"You're in high school, just like the rest of us."
"I'm just saying it makes more sense for my character to carry a lot of things in advance. Besides, Akako gets to use magic. Real magic!"
"I'm a born witch. Of course I can use magic."
"Akako made her character before we started this particular adventure. We all agreed she could use magic. And she had to turn in a skill sheet with an inventory." Aoko stared at him from across the table. "I think I'm on their side, too."
"Fine." Kaito crossed his arms and huffed. "I don't have my cell phone so I can't take pictures of the secret meeting place."
"The agents working for the organization notice someone's shadow on the wall. They spot you hiding in the rafters. The man you followed identifies you to the rest of the group. They pull out guns to shoot at you."
-X-
Kid jumps to his feet, cape swirling behind him, and he runs for the broken window.
The sniper from earlier hits Kid in the shoulder and he stumbles.
He grabs the rafter with one hand, dangling above the group that continues to shoot at him. His free arm won't move.
-X-
"We want to take Kid alive," Hakuba said, "So, we wait for him to fall."
"You'll never take me alive!" Kaito cries out, pointing across the table to Shinichi. "My detective was coming for me, right?"
"I don't know; you couldn't call for help," Shinichi said, leaning back away from the table. Ran, sitting next to him, laughed softly and pushed his shoulder.
"He can't come to your rescue. But I can. Or did you forget I was in hot pursuit?" Aoko held out her fist and let Kaito bump it with his.
-X-
"Freeze! Police! Drop your weapons!" Nakamori busts into the warehouse, the Task Force teeming around him.
The men in black break apart, running for the exit.
Kid dangles above the chaos, unable to pull himself up.
He's losing his grip.
-X-
"I see Kid is about to lose his grip and I instruct my men to shoot at the police to hold them back," Hakuba said.
"What?" Aoko gasped at him, a mock scowl on her face. "That's terrible!"
"I'm the bad guy here." Hakuba rolled his eyes. "Of course we shoot at the police."
"You hit several officers. Kid falls to the ground. One of your agents in black grabs him."
"I hit him with my knock out gas! I've got some of that left." Kaito smirked at Hakuba.
Haibara sighed.
-X-
The man who grabbed him goes down, taking Kid with him. The sniper grabs him next, but the Task Force have advanced too far into the warehouse. They've blocked all of the exits.
Kid struggles out of the man's hold.
The sniper shoots two officers out of his way and runs out of the building. The other men are captured and subdued.
One of the officers reaches for Kid.
Kid waits long enough for the men in black to be handcuffed, and then he throws down a smoke bomb. He runs for the same exit that the sniper took.
-X-
"You won't catch me. You'll bleed to death first," Hakuba said, challengingly tilting his chin. "Or are you going to pull out a magic potion?"
"Hey!" Akako protested, looking up from her discussion with Aoko. "You agreed not to mock magic."
"Sorry Akako-chan." Hakuba glanced over at her.
"I don't need magic." Kaito huffed dismissively, sliding his eyes to the table. "I have a cape."
-X-
Kid rips a strip of material from his cape and bandages his arm. He ties a sling to keep his arm from being jostled.
The police are still in pursuit, and several of them yell after Kid as he runs down the alleyway.
He spots some evidence the sniper left behind in his frantic run for cover, but he's never going to catch up to him.
He might be make it out of the block before the police set up their cordon and sweep the area for him.
He can't call for help, and he's bleeding pretty heavily.
-X-
"How long can a person realistically be able to run before bleeding out?"
Haibara hummed, glancing across the table to look at Shinichi and Hakuba.
"How long do you think we give Kid? How long did we give Shinichi last time he was shot?"
"Kid would have a longer time than that. Shinichi was a sick eight year old and Kid's at least twice his age, and he was perfectly fine before he got shot."
Kaito offered his fist to Aoko again, grinning widely at her when she bumped it. Hakuba rolled his eyes at them, but Shinichi was giving them a considering look.
"He would have longer than little Conan. I agree with that," Akako said, "What did we agree was health damage from a bullet wound?"
"I think we wrote that down, or at least I did. One moment." Hakuba started flipping through the pages on the table in front of him, muttering softly under his breath as he did.
"What's it matter? I'm still going to get away," Kaito said, crossing his arms on the table and resting his chin on his arms. He watched Shinichi from under his fringe, hiding his smile as Shinichi absently brushed his bangs out of his face.
Ran poked his forehead, his hair falling back into place as he jerked out of reach.
"Hey." Aoko jostled his shoulder, leaned closer so her elbow rested by his, and cradled her chin. "I'm glad you brought me to this, Kaito. That you brought all of us to this."
"It seemed like something you'd like." He lifted his head up enough to share a smile with her. "I thought there'd be more creepy dungeons, you know."
"Well, we've got magic and jewels and monsters. Our witch." Aoko pinkened slightly, eyes darting over where Akako was arguing quietly with Hakuba. "Maybe we'll start a different story after we defeat the bad guys in this one."
"Yeah," Kaito said, "Yeah. Maybe we'll start one with samurai warriors who fight evil rabbits from the moon. I can see Akako playing the evil, powerful, and beautiful ruler of the moon bunny people." Kaito's smile turned sly. "Maybe she gets kisses from pretty girls to keep her beauty."
Aoko scowled at him.
"Or maybe we start one where the hero builds a time traveling jet pack and tries to go back in time to save his crush from being poisoned by the bad guys."
Kaito flushed.
"Okay. Point."
"Hey! We're thinking that since it was a high caliber bullet, you've got maybe two hours maximum before you're seeing severe tissue damage. So, can Kid figure out how to slip past the police before then?" Haibara waved her hand to draw everyone's attention.
Kaito sat up straight, laced his fingers together behind his head, and gave the group his best Kid grin.
"Bring it on."
