Disclaimer:

The characters aren't mine. Just temporarily borrowing them.

A/N:

After talking to a few friends of mine, Legolas included, I've decided not to change a single thing in chapter 9. However, it should be read in connection to this chapter…

Oh, and another thing. I wrote some profanities here. I'm sorry, but the occasion seems to call for it. Hope it'll be fine and that I didn't offend anyone.

And I'm not exactly in a jolly good mood when I wrote the second part of this chapter. I just found out that Channel 7 is taking off DC in favor of Voltes 5. Now, how am I going to watch DC?

Please review. No flames please, only constructive criticisms. Thanks in advance.

YunCyn:

Don't worry, I didn't kill anyone—yet. And about the Black Org and alcohol (grimaces), you're right. I'm actually running out of names for liquors, as I'm more familiar with the ladies' drink, and I don't think the Big, Bad, Black members of the Organization would like to be named after "sissy" drinks.

I hope your valentines day was as great as mine.

Bluedetective:

Another Kazuha/Heiji fan, huh… Don't fail to read Chapter 14 and 15 then. It's coming really soon, I promise.

NYC0985:

Your reply is at the bottom. Read it first. Please. Because if you didn't like (that's an understatement) the previous chapters, then you're going to absolutely hate this.

Chapter 13:

The Fall

          "You're looking fine, Kudo-kun," Miyagi grinned. "Welcome back to the land of the tall people," he joked.

          Kudo glared at him as he unsteadily got on his feet. "Take me to where Ran is," he growled, but no sooner had he said that when he wobbled and almost fell.

          "Whoa, Kudo," Hattori admonished him as he steadied his Eastern counterpart to his feet. "I don't think you're in a position to go anywhere at all."

          "I'm very well rested," he insisted. "After all, all I did last night was lie down on the bed and grow."

          The ringing of Miyagi's phone interrupted their argument.

          Miyagi paled as he answered the phone. "Sonoko-chan, why aren't you calling me on my other line?" He asked.

          Miyagi frowned as he switched the phone to speaker, so that the detectives will not harm him bodily. "What's wrong?"

          "Yoshke's hurt," Sonoko cried. "They've taken Kazuha-chan. I'm scared, Ken-kun, but the paramedics are here. They've taken Yoshke-kun. What do I do now?"

          Hattori burst out when he heard that Kazuha was taken. "Who's taken her? Where did they go?" He demanded. He was close to freaking out as he grabbed Miyagi by the lapels of his jacket. He was close to snatching the phone away from Miyagi.

          "Let go," Miyagi said quietly. "Sonoko-chan, did you hear Hattori?" He asked after Hattoti released him.

          "Yes," Sonoko sobbed softly, shocked to the point where she didn't even ask Miyagi why on earth Hattori was with him. "One woman and one man took her. I think I know where. She's wearing a tracking device."

          "Where's Ran?" Kudo demanded in panic.

          Sonoko cried even louder. "I-I don't know!"

          "What?" Miyagi demanded. "Isn't she supposed to be in the Laboratory?"

          "T-the building," Sonoko hiccupped. "It blew up, I think Ran and the Kid were still inside when that happened…" her voice trailed off.

          "No!" Kudo exclaimed. "Ran's still alive," he insisted as he slowly fell on the couch. "Ran," he whispered softly. Wouldn't it be the greatest of ironies if Kudo Shinichi had finally come back, only to find that Mouri Ran was no longer there?

          "Kudo's right." Miyagi said. "Ran's still alive, running around somewhere. Kid wouldn't let anything happen to her." He said with more conviction that he actually felt.

          "What does the Kid have anything to do with this?" Kudo demanded. "And where is Ran? And what's the deal with exploding buildings?"

          A woman stepped into the room where the great detective Mouri Kogoro was sleeping peacefully. "When's he going to wake up?" She asked.

          The man in the room seemed surprised that a woman of her caliber would actually talk to a lowly staff like him. "Uh, a-anytime soon," he stuttered.

          "Good," she said. "Make sure that he's comfortable when he does. He's going to raise an awful lot of racket." With that, the woman walked out of the room.

          "We've got the girl, aniki," Vodka grinned proudly at Gin.

          "She's not the one we preferred, but she would do nicely." Gin grinned.

          "So, what now?" Brandy asked. The relatively new and young operative of the Black Organization was being groomed to be one of the next generation of leaders. The red-haired beauty had taken a liking to Vodka, and much to Gin's irritation, Vodka seemed to like her back. "Can I go to her and ask her a few pointed questions?" She asked excitedly.

          Gin thought that it was the reason for her bonding with his little brother, their propensity towards pain and torture. That, and her slim figure, her short no-nonsense red hair, her grayish eyes, and her wide lips. Of course, the fact that she's always wearing miniskirts and boots doesn't hurt either.

          "Be my guest," Gin smirked. "Just don't kill her. Not yet."

          Brandy grinned maliciously. She turned to Vodka flirtatiously. "Wanna come with?"

          Vodka grinned back at her and followed her to the room where they kept the teenage girl with the bad mouth and the Osaka accent.

          Gin almost rolled his eyes as he heard a bloodcurdling scream moments later. That Brandy girl was worse than Vermouth, teasing and flirting with Vodka like that. The only thing he didn't understand was why on earth was Vodka flirting right back?

          "We're not going anywhere until Sonoko-chan gets here," Miyagi said authoritatively. "So we might as well get some rest."

          "Is she on her way here then?" Professor Agasa demanded nervously as he looked at Kudo who was fast asleep on the couch, exhausted after his transformation. On the other hand, Haibara was back in the lab after some prompting from Miyagi. He wanted her to develop some more of the medication she injected to Kudo, just in case…

          "No," Miyagi replied. "But she will be in the morning."

          "What?" Hattori stood up and began pacing the room. "Do you expect us to just wait here, twiddling our thumbs?"

          "Uh, maybe I should fix us a snack first," Professor Agasa shot in nervously as he felt the tension in the air thicken. "I'll be right back." He fled to the kitchen.

          "No," Miyagi replied, coldly. "I expect you to get some rest. You'll need the energy tomorrow, believe me."

          "Why should we follow you?" Hattori whirled around as he grabbed Miyagi by the lapels of the latter's shirt. "I say we get Sonoko and search for Kazuha and Neechan,"

          Miyagi wriggled out of Hattori's grasp. "I've got four people in my care," he glared at Hattori. "One is shot and is in the hospital. One is captured. One is missing. If I can save even just one of them, then I'll do all that it takes. Sonoko-chan is in no condition to be interrogated, Hattori. She's in shock and she's also injured."

          Hattori almost smirked. "I'll say you're not a very good leader then," he taunted the older man.

          "Probably not," Miyagi admitted. "But I am a good strategist. That's why I've factored you in for a time such as this."

          "So why aren't we doing anything?" Hattori crossed his arms to keep himself from teaching Miyagi a lesson about messing with Kazuha.

          "Because right now, we can't do anything." Miyagi replied. "However, half the resources of my organization are tracing the faint signals Kazuha's transmitter is giving. The other half is determining whether or not Ran and Kid were able to get out of the building,"

          "But we're wasting time. What if Kazuha—"

          "If they want Kazuha-chan dead, we would've saw her beside Yoshke-kun." Miyagi glared at Hattori. Such stubbornness would've been an asset to their organization. "Now, get some rest."

          Kazuha stuggled to get up, but she was battered and bruised from her earlier trip. They had stopped for a short while where they stripped her of her gadgets, her omamori, and her tracking device. She had lost hope that they would find her, especially now that Ran was…

          No, she wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

          "Oh, look, she's awake," the shorthaired bimbo drawled as her large companion closed the door after him.

          Kazuha muttered something uncomplimentary in reply.

          "A sharp mouth," the girl said without missing a beat. "Let's teach that mouth a lesson, shall we?"

          Kazuha's heart pounded as she saw the girl bring out a sharp knife from her belt, her companion leaning on the wall and crossing his arms with a look of satisfaction on his face.

          She braced herself from the pain as the girl slowly advanced towards her…

          Kudo slowly woke up at the sound of someone stirring beside him. "Ran!" He bolted upright.

          "Sorry, but no." Came the calm reply.

          "Haibara?" Kudo groaned as he realized where he was, on the professor's couch, sleeping. "I can't believe I fell asleep at a time like this," immediately awake, he swung his legs off the couch. "Where are they?"

          "Resting." Ai sat down on the space Kudo had just vacated. "And it's also the body's natural reaction, after what you went through. According to Hattori-kun, you would make a move tomorrow."

          "Oh," Kudo glanced at the girl beside him.

          "Something's bothering you."

          "You mean besides Ran's disappearance?"

          "You know what I mean."

          "Yeah." Kudo nodded. "Something like that."

          "Your insanely inquisitive mind is wondering why I trusted them enough to make a cure with them,"

          Kudo turned to the scientist beside him. "Yeah. We all know you have trust issues,"

          "I just figured that there comes a point in a person's life where she just got to start trusting people," Ai almost grinned. "It's a number of reasons actually. First there was Mouri-san. She asked me. She knows who I am, and yet, there she was, asking, no, pleading for me to make that cure for her." She sighed. "I've cost her so much pain, Kudo-kun. First with what my drug did with you, then with getting her involved in the Black Organization, and yet she was acting as if she was asking me for a favor.  And it's also the fact that if I said no, she won't bother me again. I may be cold, Kudo-kun, but I do have a conscience. I know I owe her that cure.

          "And then there the fact I was losing hope of finding a cure for you. And they were offering me a lifeline, a new lease on my experiment. I knew you were getting tired of that body. And I realized that I can't do it with the limited equipment and chemicals that I have. Not only have they offered me another brilliant mind to work with, they also offered to supply all the things I need.

          "Of course, there was Yoshke-kun. I know him from when I was still with them. He's painfully naïve. I didn't know how he did it, but he maintained his innocence even after working with the Black Organization his whole life. Would you believe that he didn't know that the organization that raised him was evil, or that his experiments were being used for evil? It didn't come as a surprise for me that he turned traitor. He probably found out what they actually do to his scientific findings." Ai didn't bother to mention about how Yoshke was so enamored with Ran. Or the fact that she was terrified to learn that they got to Yoshke, and she thinks that it'll only be a matter of time before they get to her…

          "Hairbara, you're leaving?" Kudo's eyes widened at the bags the miniature scientist had packed.

          "They couldn't protect him," she whispered.

          Kudo grasped the girl's arm. "If you leave, you'll only make yourself more vulnerable,"

          Ai squeezed her eyes shut. That was part of the reason she wanted to leave. The other one was sitting before her. He was also one of the reasons she agreed to develop the cure with them.

          And now he was back to his original self, and she knows who he really is. He has no need to hide anything from her. Ai knew that her role as confidante and doctor would no longer be needed. He would now protect her. And Ai thinks that she won't be able to take that development in their lives.

          She would rather leave them first that have him leave her.

          "Don't leave. If their protection won't be enough, and we will protect you,"

          Vermouth poured herself a flask of the most expensive wine that this side of the world could offer. She took deep, calming breaths. She squeezed her eyes shut as she grasped the flask tightly.

          Mouri Ran.

          Suzuki Sonoko.

          Toyama Kazuha.

          "Dammit!" She screamed as she threw the flask she was holding to the wall with all her might.

          Three girls outwitted her. She was a professional, dammit.

          Someone knocked on the door.

          Vermouth carefully placed her calm mask back on. "Come in," she said neutrally.

          The new girl, Brandy, walked in. Vermouth saw the younger girl look at her surroundings. If she noticed the broken glass and the spilled wine on the floor she didn't let on.

          "Did she say where they took the Pandora Gem?" Vermouth asked.

          Brandy snorted. "That one's a toughie," she smirked. "But I enjoy playing with her. Just give me a little more time, and I'll—uh—coax it out of her."

          Vermouth almost shuddered, almost, but not quite. Such a cold, cold heart for someone so young. Ah, youth these days, you'll never know what to expect.

          "I heard that you took care of one of them,"

          "The long-haired one. We saw her enter the lab. Never had the chance to get out though," a look of pure bliss crossed the brunette's face, like she was enjoying picturing the image of the teenager burning to a crisp in that building.

          "There's one more, a blond."

          "Nope." Brandy frowned. "Never saw her."

          "Our informants told me that she's taken to the hospital, along with the traitor." She pushed a slip of paper towards Brandy. "I expect you to take care of things on that end."

          Brandy grinned as she glanced at the paper. It was a name of a hospital and two room numbers.

          "I'm going to tie up the other end." Vermouth finally smiled. "And make sure not to kill the Osakan girl. I would need her later."

          "Alright."

          "You may now go."

          Brandy bowed before walking out of the room, the piece of paper clutched protectively in her hand.

          "It's almost nine," Hattori glared at Miyagi.

          "I know that," Miyagi snapped.

          "So where is she?" Hattori adopted a threatening stance, ready to pounce on Miyagi if the latter so much as answered him the wrong way.

          "She's in the hospital." Miyagi told him slowly. "Did you expect her to be here bright and early at five in the morning?"

          Hattori actually had. He expected Suzuki-san to be there precisely at six, tell them about what happened, brainstorm a little, and be out of the good professor's house at seven. And that had been his worst-case scenario. But no! It's now ten to ten in the morning, without the slightest indication that the girl was coming.

          "How about this, we all go to the hospital. Her injuries might be worse than I initially thought." Miyagi suggested. In truth, he was also beginning to get worried. But he'd be damned if he tells Hattori that.

          "That's the first good plan that came out of your mouth since I've met you," Hattori shook his head and wandered off to get Kudo.

          Kudo stared at Haibara's back. She was on the kitchen table, playing with her breakfast.

          Haibara nodded. "I'll be fine,"

          "And you won't run away?"

          "What does it matter if I go or not?" She snapped at him. "You got the cure. I assure you that you won't regress. And even if you do, you now have Yoshke-kun to help you."

          Kudo walked closer to the scientist and placed a hand on her shoulder. He noticed that she stiffened at his touch. "It's not that. I prefer for you to be here so at least I know that you're safe."

          Could it be? Ai shook herself. Impossible. He loves her, not me. But, there's hope, even just a sliver of it…

          "I'm your friend, Haibara." Kudo told her. "And I worry about you a lot."

          My friend.

          "Your Ran's friend too," he added. "Your sister's death broke her heart. It'll break again if you disappear. And blame me for not taking care of you."

          It's her again. "Stop it!" Ai suddenly stood up, her chair tipping over in the process. "Enough. I'm not going anywhere. Is that what you want to hear? Now go away and save your princess!" With that, she stalked out of the room.

          She left Kudo thinking that he shouldn't have brought up her sister.

          "She's what?" Hattori demanded, the level of his voice rising above the acceptable standards in hospitals.

          "She's gone, sir," the pretty nurse nervously cleared her throat. Three men had barged in the hospital room of the incoherent blond that was brought in last night. They had an aura about them, like they were out for blood. The three of them looked attractive, if not for their menacing stances. Of course, the fact that the darkest-skinned of them had suddenly started shouting didn't help alleviate her fears. "We came to check up on her this morning, but she was gone. We thought that the night staff had discharged her because her files are also gone."

          Hattori turned to Miyagi. "Great. Now what?"

          And for the first time, the great strategist was at lost as to what to do.

-tbc

P.S.

Ah! Men! They don't have a clue, do they?

P.P.S.

The stuff written below is for a particular reviewer. S/he did not leave an e-mail address so I have no way of contacting that person, but I feel like I need to defend myself. So please, please, if you're not the person concerned, don't read the reply below. It's not something that I'm proud of, but s/he did raise an interesting point. I just have to answer that person…

To NYC0985:

OK, someone feels strongly about things… I guess a long review needs a long reply.

First of all, if you really think this fanfic sucked, why read the update at all? I mean, why do you even care if I reply or not? And unless you're a genius (I assume that you would be since you insist on calling me a moron; hey, you don't even know me) I doubt that simply scanning chapters 11 and 12 would bring you to your very insightful criticism (and I'm not being sarcastic). But if you are the genius that you appear to be, then I give my sincerest apologies. And if you just read chapters 1 and 2, then I don't think that you would have the right to review my fic. You didn't even give me the chance to redeem myself.

Secondly, if you took the time off to read my author's note, you would notice that I asked if I got the correct meaning of VIRUS. I knew that the element R was missing, and like you, I assumed that it was the R in information.

As for my version of Shinichi's cure, let me begin by saying that it is not a cure. It is a totally different drug that would accelerate the growth processes of the body. And it does not necessarily follow that if Ai was the creator, then she would be the best person to find the cure. Plus, didn't I state (and reiterated) that she was frustrated? That's enough of a reason for me to abandon all previous work and start from scratch, as you've put it. Failure is very frustrating, especially for smart people (I'm not claiming that I am one, mind you) because things always come easy for them. But if you've never felt like that, then I guess you'd never understand.

And I strongly object to your interpretation of the APTX pill. It changes not only the physical appearance, but the age as well. In the first few episodes of DC, in a kidnapping case, Conan was able to track down the kidnapper. Unfortunately, he was physically weak, unable to neither save the kidnap victim nor defend himself, for he was stuck in the body of a six-year old. That was why he needed gadgets like his shoes and his suspenders (I don't know how it's correctly translated, the translation here in our country sounds peculiar, and not in a good way). I also believe that Conan has the brain structure of a six-year old (that turned 7 in the first movie). However, his memories as Shinichi remained intact. Young Shinichi was a genius the first time around. It is possible that structurally, his brain is that of a child, but it retained the contents of his former life.  The human brain is a complicated thing, is it not? Plus, I learned in Pysch 101 that a child actually has the potential for more knowledge and more memories. But since I'm not really well versed in biology, I would have to stop here. And if I may exploit the Jack analogy, the movies' main character's brain was physically forty or so, but his mental age was that of an adolescent. Therefore, the mental age of the brain does not necessarily follow its physical age. I worked under the assumption that like the rest of his body, Conan's brain was aged 7 but his mentality remained intact at age 17. After all, in my fic, the purpose of creating the APTX was to alter one's physical age only. So it only makes sense that I interpreted it that way.

Plus, I never posed myself to be clever. This is fanfiction, not science hour. Stretch your imagination a little. I never said that my version of Shinichi's return was the best or the most scientific or the most probable. I simply wanted it to have a twist, and I wanted to give my OC a relevant part in the story because I would need it for later.

As for your version of VIRUS, well, aside for the grammatical error, it's cute. How long did it take for you to come up with it (wait, don't answer, it's a hypothetical question)?

That's my take on it, and I don't really care if you agree with me or not. It's my fic. I live in a free country. I've placed the disclaimer and I never claimed to be a Conan expert.

One request? Don't reply to this anymore. I would simply erase your reviews in the future. I distinctively remember (and I actually checked) that in chapter 12, I specifically said that I want no flames, only constructive criticisms.

And I really doubt calling a person a moron would count as constructive criticism.

But if you would really like to comment more on my style of writing (or lack thereof), then I strongly suggest that you e-mail me, so that I can e-mail the reply to you so that I wouldn't have to answer through posting here. Let's just keep the moron comments between the two of us, shall we? Or at the very least log-in (that way I wouldn't be able to delete your reviews) and post a version of what a good fanfic ought to be, one that isn't an unoriginal drivel that is trite and boring, nor completely unrealistic and totally alters the personalities of the DC characters (I actually have an excuse for this one: it's because I don't know them well. I've kept on writing in my A/N that my resources on DC are very limited, not that it would excuse me, but I think that it would count at least as a mitigating circumstance).

If this piece offends you so, do the both of us a favor, please don't read it. It would save you time and effort, and me heartaches and space. Thanks. Hope that from this point on, our paths will not cross again.