Disclaimer: Anything used from DC or MK do not belong to me, but to their respective owners. A few original characters, such as Sandra and some other people mentioned later one, are mine!!!

One Truth

By: mysteriousangelgirl

Chapter 3: A Streak of Hope

"Are you ready, Kudo?" Sandra asked.

"Bring it on."

"Alright. First off, I'll need you to bring me that digital camera over there," Sandra said, typing furiously on her computer and cocking a head over to the lone camera sitting next to the computer.

Conan picked it up and held it out to her. "Here."

"Hang on....." Sandra punched in some weird combination of keys and opened this empty window. "Okay," she said, taking the camera and pointing to the screen at the empty window. "When we hack, no when I hack into the organization's files, you take a picture of the formula of the apotoxin, the file automatically closes down in 30 seconds, and you can't print it without a password, so you take a picture, and then we'll get the info from there. You got it?"

Conan blinked. "Uh.......yeah sort of. But are you sure the camera's going to work?" he asked, looking suspiciously at the camera in Sandra's hands.

"Of course, that's where I got most of the info on you, though some of it came from......."

"From who, Sandra? You ought to tell me that now."

"Well, it's from someone, whom you don't have to know yet, and don't forget, Kudo, I'm the FBI agent here, okay? Also, what you should be worrying about now," she said pointing back to the computer screen, "is getting the information we need, okay?"

Conan sighed. "Alright."

"You know, I'm doing you a HUGE favor here, normally even FBI agents aren't allowed to hack, even for important information, we're supposed to figure it out, but you know that often, no almost always, takes a loooonnnngggg time, so when I told my handler about this, he said okay, and bent the rules for me.....though I still feel guilty." Sandra began typing again, until a new window popped up. It had a timer, with 20 seconds and counting down.

"What's that?"

"Password entry into the files." Sandra typed in a short, but difficult to remember numbered password and hit enter. Just as Conan was thinking that the password wasn't valid, a screen showed up. Sandra clicked on the link APTX4869 and yelled, "Kudo, hurry and take as many pictures as you can in 20 sec, I'll scroll down every 5 seconds. I don't want to leave the window open too long, in case of arousing suspicion."

Conan didn't even nod as he started snapping pictures; surprisingly Sandra's camera was faster at taking and loading images taken than a regular one. At exactly 20 seconds, Sandra closed the file, but not before making sure that Conan had taken enough pictures of the information they needed to know.

"Alright, now to the member's real identities....." Sandra scrolled along the screen, came up with a link and just before she clicked it, she looked over at Conan. He nodded a ready sign.

"Alright, let's go!" Sandra clicked, the screen appeared, and Conan snapped pictures. "Hurry up, Kudo, this one's long!"

Conan gritted his teeth as he willed time to go slower. Then, even as his index finger continued to snap pictures, he recalled Ai's words.

"Don't try to go against the stream of time, for those who try will be severely punished," she had said.

Conan snapped the last pictures just milliseconds before Sandra closed the file. "Alright, that's all we need for now. If we continue, organization members will track it to this computer and that'll endanger anyone around here." Sandra typed furiously again, closed all windows and shut down the computer. "Okay, let's get you home now; your neesan might be getting worried now."

Conan glared as he handed the camera back to Sandra, but he got up after Sandra, went through all the secret hidden doors and finally arrived back in front of Sandra's black car. It was almost invisible in the dark night.

"You see what I mean by driving around at night? You don't turn any lights on and the engine's soft, it could almost be invisible!" Sandra said, getting into the car and locking the door behind Conan.

"Well......I don't think driving without lights would be very safe...."

"You get used to it, and my night vision is pretty good." Sandra started the engine and the car silently disappeared into the darkness.

A few days later, a phone call sent to Hagase's house was answered by Conan, who had arrived there after school to talk with Ai, but found that she was taking a bath. "Hello?"

"Hello, I need to speak to Edogawa Conan, please."

"This is him." Conan wondered who it was, the voice didn't seem familiar. He was expecting something like a phone call from Sandra, but from that night when she dropped him off in front of the agency, he hadn't heard from her again.

"Hello, Kudo."

"Kudo? Why do you call me Kudo? You just asked for me, Conan, then-" Conan's voice had become quite panicky.

"Chill it, Kudo, it's me." Sandra's voice rang in his ear.

"Sandra?"

"No, here my name is Kiko. I don't use my real name at this shop that I work part-time at."

"Fine, Kiko."

"Alright. I just called to let you know, all the photos came out fine, I've downloaded them all onto my personal computer, and it's all great. I've read over once, got most of it memorized, and, okay, let me just be direct. With all the ingredients needed to create APTX4869, there's no way your friend is ever going to find a cure. I've contacted our drug manager in California, and he says he'll get working on it when I give him the information, but the problem is that sending things like this over the internet or phone is not at all safe, so I've decided I'm going in person. You might like to come, as then you'd be back to normal even before coming back, but I know that you have reasons to stay in Tokyo, which I understand perfectly, but in any case that you'd like to come, contact me, and I'll get it arranged, okay?"

Conan blinked. Wow......that's so.....fast...... "Well, I do want to come, but then again I need to....."

"I know, Kudo. I'll call you tomorrow; make up your mind by then. Later!"

Before Conan could even say wait, she had hung up. He slowly replaced the receiver back onto its cradle and nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized that Ai had been standing right next to him.

"So she thinks I'm not up to finding the antidote?"

"Ai.....what......no, that's not, I mean, she's just trying, but......GAHHH!!!!"

"I know, just giving you a hard time, but you've still got to give me some credit, I've gotten them on the right foot."

Conan sighed. "How much did you hear?"

"Enough."

Conan shook his head. "I don't know what to do, I mean, I can't just go, I mean, I have to watch over Ran, Uncle, Hagase, and you. I have to talk to Kaito too."

"Well, it's your decision, but personally, if I were you, I'd go. And you can leave Mouri-san, her father, and Hagase to me and Kaito. I don't necessarily get along with the Mouri's, but when it comes to this, it wouldn't hurt, right?" She smiled slightly, well; at least Conan thought she did.

"Thanks, Ai. I was just going to ask you that."

"No problem, but one piece of advice from everyone. Be safe, and use your brain."

Conan smirked. "Alright." He glanced at his watch. 6:15. "Well, I've got to get home now; I'll see you, well whenever I get back!" With a nod from Ai, he bolted from the chair, grabbed his backpack on the way out, and barely closed the front door before racing out of the house.

Ai watched the retreating boy and smiled, just slightly turned up at the corners. Well, good luck, Kudo. I guess there's still a streak of hope for you.....you are just one lucky guy...... Then she turned around and walked back down to her lab in the basement of Hagase's house, feeling more relaxed than she had ever been before.

-to be continued-

Alright, it's kind of short and I'm terribly sorry about the delay for the last chapter. It's because of my moving and all, I explain it in my profile. Well, I hope you liked it so far, and I'm guessing it's going to be at least 10 chapters again, unless I make long chapters, but yeah.....and please review!!!!