Ch15
"speeches"
'Thoughts'
Beginning of the End
Going on from last chapter…
"Y…y…you're…" Ai's mouth hung in the midst of air as words cramped at his throat. One hand clutched her chest while the other covered her mouth, "Hattori Heizou!"
"I've heard a small amount about you from my son, but I never thought that you would be that betrayer Sherry," the figure chuckled against the darkened background. Gin and Vodka stood near by, keeping their hands together behind their back and standing up straight with their chest stuck high.
"I see…" Ai relaxed her head to her shoulders. She then gave a cocky grin upon her lips as her bangs came down to her eyes, blocking out the little light in the room. "this explains why police reports about any member of the organization never stays for long huh," she chuckled.
"That is true in most cases for I do have the superior authority but there are files that even I could not have gotten rid of. However, I keep them under severe security so that maybe one or two idiots have access to them. They still cannot act until they get my permission, and if they get too close, I can always get rid of them with a wave of my hand. It's like crushing ants," he laughed.
"You little sniveling…" Ai glared through her bangs.
"You don't seem to know your status right now Sherry," the Oosaka chief of police cut in. "You are in my office, talking to me face to face. You, are not in the point of authority here, I am! I hold your life in my hand, or would you prefer do die here?"
Ai stopped her lips and bit down hard on her tongue, still shooting a bitter leer upon the cynical face of the man. "You are but a pawn to me, easy to sacrifice. I merely wished to see the face of the one that dared to betray my organization and has lived for so long to tell about it," he sat back into his chair and sucked his back into the foamy leather. "Now then, do you have any names that you wish to tell me? Who was helping you through this time…"the man held to listen for an answer, but hearing no reply, his short patience began to run out, "We can do this the hard way or the easy way. You are choosing your life or death, so why don't you relax already and spill it!"
Her mind flipped quickly to the young man who betrayed her. Her heart blackened and anger built as she began to put blames upon him. She bit her lip and giving a deep breath, she swallowed her fury away. "You won't get a word out of my mouth!" she said plainly, putting her usual mask back upon her face.
She would never tell him. He was the man whose life was wrecked by her. He was the man that accepted her despite of what she has done. He was the man…that she learned to love once more.
"You would save their pathetic life over your own?" said Heizou, "Save yourself, they're only…people," he grunted.
"Kill her? You won't kill her," a voice rang from outside the door. Ai opened her eyes with surprise, breaking her emotionless expression lodged on her face.
"Who's there!" the man shouted with surprise, "I will have you shot for ease-dropping upon my private conversations.
"Shoot me? I'd really like to see how you would do that behind the steel bars of your cell," the teenager chuckled.
Gin and Vodka ready their guns at the door. The knob turned slowly, taking it's time to make it's way around it's full turn. Then, with a sudden force, the door opened abruptly, slamming itself against the wall of the inside. The two opened fire a few round but stopped after noticing that no one was there.
"Your building has been surrounded by the FBI. Give yourself up and we can avoid any unnecessary actions," Shinichi called out.
"You fools! Did you not check her for tracking devices," he turned furiously toward the two that stood by him.
"We did sir, but we found non. What we missed would have been found the moment she came down from the stairs by the metal detectors," Vodka shook his head and explained nervously.
"Kudou Shinichi, how did you find here," Gin demanded, narrowing his eyes.
The young man leaned back against the wall, watching the chaos below as the panicking scientists and engineers were caught one after another by the agents that rushed in through the doors. "Of course you won't find the tracer with a metal detector," he grinned, "it's made from a specially designed type of fiberglass, extremely flexible."
"Impossible, we gave her a thorough search from head to toe and we found nothing of the sort!" Gin shouted.
"Did you take her contacts out too then?" he asked with a smile. Gin's eyelids shot up then gritted his teeth. Ai rubbed her eyes and took one of her contacts out. It didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary.
"How did you know that we weren't going to kill her and that we would bring her here to see the boss!" Gin demanded once more.
"Don't make me laugh. Why would you give me 10days to think about things, and still allow Ran to give me a call just a few days before we are to meet again. I'll tell you why, it was because you wanted her! Gin, if my guess is correct, you are one of the high rank agents of the B.O. If you weren't, you would have probably be killed long ago. You also have an unusual want to kill. I could see that the first time I saw you from your eyes. Yet, you didn't kill me, nor Ran over the 10 days time. This proves that someone ordered you to not to kill. Who can that be to dare command the such a high class, maniacal assassin such as yourself? Only one…your boss himself.
Why would the organization want her back? That was a question that took me a while to figure out. My guess is that since her betrayal, the development of Apotoxin 4869 was put to a halt. The toxin was still under testing and you probably found that it was still detectable by certain types of detectors. This is why you stopped the use of the drug. This is also why you never knew about Haibara's shrinking. If you did use it, then you should have had one or two others who shrunk from the process as well. You needed her to finish its development. I'm also guessing but you probably found out about my condition through the missing profile that the FBI could not find from Belmot's suicide. The missing file was the file about me that she kept in secret for reasons of her own. Upon it had written that I was helping Sherry so you decided to kidnap Ran and force me to give you Ai, or Sherry as you call her, and you planned to kill us. Perhaps you failed today but you would have come back for us some other time.
I was however surprised to find out that, the boss of this huge organization was the Oosaka's chief of police. I can say that I never suspected that until I saw it for myself." He laughed then flared through his eyes out of disgust, "I'm glad that I didn't let Hattori come tonight. What would he say to you if he saw you now. You're a fraud, a disgusting disgrace to what you represent!"
"What do you mean…you saw me?" Heizou gave a glare of anger.
"Ai's contacts act as a camera. I was able to see everything through my shades the entire time. That was why I got in without setting the alarm off, cause I knew what your password was. Oh, and those two janitors upstairs? They're a bit 'tied up' at the moment," replied the boy, folding his arms confidently.
"I must say that you impressed quite a bit there, young detective," Heizou gave a smirk.
"So question now is…Are YOU going to choose the hard way, or the easy way," Shinichi grinned.
"Have you ever heard of anyone choosing the easy way before?" he said calmly as he slid his finger under his desk.
"No, but it doesn't heart to ask," he replied with a cool look on his face.
"I suppose you're right," replied the mastermind.
"What's going on there Kudou-kun?" a woman whispered from his side.
"Oh, you're here! Didn't even know you arrived," looking at the man behind her, he shot a smile and a nod for greeting. The man replied with a similar nod. "Where's Ran?" he asked.
"I told her to wait back with the other boys," Jodie answered.
"Oh really? Who's that then?" Shinichi sighed, pointing his finger through the two agents.
"Well I'll be," said the female FBI agent raising her eyebrows.
"You gotta admit, she's got guts coming here following us," Shuichi smiled.
A young girl walked down the isle below, dodging running men and spinning her head in search for the young detective.
"Should we go get her? It's dangerous down there," Shuichi asked.
"Nah, she can take care of herself," Shinichi looked down confidently. "Hey Ran! Up here!" he called then turning back to the too dumbfounded agents, he chuckled with a wink, "She was going to find us sooner or later, might as well save her some time."
"So, is it going to be the hard way then?" Kudou flung his head to face the entrance to the room.
"I suppose it is," the man replied with a click of a button.
A sudden explosion was heard behind which was quickly followed by the sounds of men, screaming in pain. From their position, they could see flickering light through the entrance to the lab. Their heads turned with a sudden clank and noticed that a metal door had replaced the wooden one and had sealed the room inside.
"Shit," Shinichi clicked his tongue and smashed his fist upon the metal frame. Not even a budge. It was thick, thick enough to withstand almost anything. "Damn it, I can't seem to get a signal. They must have destroyed Ai's contacts," turning back to the door, he yelled through as he waved his fists madly at the heavy metal door, "Haibara! Answer me! Can you hear me? If you can then give me an answer!"
Shuichi started running down the stairs, pushing Ran aside as she made her way up. "Where you going!" Shinichi asked.
"To the control room, that's the only way to open that door!" he yelled back, then turning back to face the direction he was running, he mumbled to himself, "I've tapped into their system once, I can do it again."
A few minutes past when the three waiting figure received a signal in their shades. "Second time is always faster than the first," was the words that came through before the sound of the rising of the heavy door rang into their ears. They dashed inside where they found the small girl lying on the ground, holding her head as a small stream of blood ran from her wound.
"Haibara!" Kudou dashed to her aid. "Haibara! Wake up Haibara! Damn it wake up!" he shook her as he held her head in the palm of his hand.
"K..Kudou..kun?" Ai opened her eyes slowly, "the table…" she whispered.
"Table?" letting the tiny girl down slowly, he walked to where her weak finger pointed. "Oh crap," his eyes narrowed.
"What is it?" Jodie asked.
"It's a timer," he replied, running his hand through his hair and giving it a little tug.
"Self destruct?" she asked.
"Most likely, in 8min 30seconds and counting," he turned his head and forced a smile.
Ai got to her feet and wobbled across the room, giving a weak smile toward the bewildered Ran. "If I remember correctly, it should be this one," she said, pulling out an old book. Opening it, she found a number pad.
"What's the code?" Shinichi asked, taking the book from her hand.
Ai put a hand on her aching head and thought back with everything she had. A sudden jolt came back to her, "Right before I passed out, I remember Vodka asking about the code number. I think they replied it as Moriartie(Not sure about spelling, Holme's rival).
"Moriartie?" Kudou confirmed, putting his hand to his chin with his one pose when he was thinking. "Moriartie, what does he holds…wait it minute, could it be? It can't be that simple can it?"
beep—beep-beep
A rumble was heard as their attention turned to the shelf which slided open to reveal a passage. The floor was stone while florescent lighting ran down the middle of the room in a straight line.
"What was the code?" Ai asked, amazed at the fact that his first guess was correct.
"Moriartie was Holmes' opposite so I just entered the numbers backwards. You gotta tell your boss to make better codes," he laughed.
"His not my boss and he never will be…again," Ai looked down.
Shinichi looked at the girl then changed his face to a more serious look, "Sorry, didn't' mean to get you down," he apologized.
"What are you talking about, I'm fine. Why are you still here? Go chase them, you might still catch up! The timer just reached 7:30, they only have a 2:30 lead to you, now get going before its too late!" Ai gave a small grin before pinching her eyes closed from the pain of her head.
"Ai-chan? I mean, Ai-chan, are you okay?" Ran dropped down to her height and reached over to her though she caught herself not wanting to make the damage worse with her touch.
"Ran-san, go with Shinichi-kun, I'll make my way out myself, don't worry. Just remember that Shinichi-kun do love you and he never meant for anything bad to happen to you," Ai smiled softly as she watched tears form in Ran's eyes.
"I know," she replied quietly.
"Now go!" she commanded.
The three dashed down the seemingly empty tunnel, turning back from time to time to see the small girl struggle her way out of the room. Light flickered above and a slight gust of wind came from in front of them. Their foot steps echoed hurriedly through the quiet passage.
'That's right Ran-san, Kudou-kun loves you…' she lowered her eyes then started her zigzag walk down the hall, '…and not me…'
"Shinichi, why is Ai-chan here?" Ran glimpsed over.
"She's sherry," Shinichi replied plainly.
"Her? But she is still just a girl, why does the organization wants her so badly?" Ran questioned.
"She use to be part of it…" Shinichi gave a pause then giving a slight bit of thought, he continued, "The organization want her back, so that she may join them once more. She was one of the geniuses they had, even though she is still very…small. I volunteered to protect her, if you will, and dropped her with professor Agasa." He said, trying not to show his lying through his facial expressions. He was practicing and had become fairly good at it learning from Ai's everyday mono-expression.
Mean While
"Do you think we got away boss?" Vodka asked as he glumped his way down the passage some distance in front of their three pursuers.
"I can't be certain, but maybe…(click click click) Damn it, they're caught up already?" Heizou grinded his teeth together.
"Move it!" Gin shouted. The three picked up their pace as they made down the bright passageway.
(Click Click Click)
"I think that's their foot steps, they must have heard ours and began to run as well," said Shinichi, lowering his brows.
"It's faint, they're still some distance ahead," Jodie added.
"Let's hurry," Ran increased her pace slightly and wait for the other's to match.
"I gotta get out of here," Ai wobbled down the now empty hallway she had come from. Her eyes began to get momentary blurs as sweat slowly rolled down her head, mixed in with the blood of her wound. Looking at the large doorway, she narrowed her eyes bitterly, "Damn it, that explosion must have sealed off the entrance."
Boom
Another explosion was heard from behind. She turned just in time to watch a ball of flame coming from the right, swishing up the wall where it dissolved away. She made her way down the stairs through the door beside her and walked about the labs where shattered glass now replaced the test tubes and flasks that ornamented them before. Brushing aside some shards with her sleeve, she took a seat at a table and looked around. The only people she saw were dead. The FBI had already taken the prisoners outside and all that remained was she.
'So this is where I am to end huh? Even though this was the one place I didn't wish to die upon, I guess I deserve it,' she gave up in her mind. 'Even if Kudou-kun forgives me and the Organization forgives me, I suppose god will not.' She gave a long sigh and lowered her head upon the table. Closing her eyes, she awaited for the finish of the ticking time. A grin crossed her face and she dropped her shoulders and let her thoughts disappeared. 'Living in a world of sorrow…who says life isn't fair…' Her mind trailed off and silenced filled the empty space. Only the crackling of fire seemed to be singing the girl's requiem as it ate its way slowly at the walls.
"Giving up so soon?" a voice came from behind her.
Ai opened her eyes with surprise and spun to find the source. Her eyes widened while her mouth flapped with no sound.
"The girl that endured so much all those years is willing to give up in a place like this?" the man chuckled.
"Shu..ichi…" Ai met his eyes. Her heart filled with a sudden jolt of a mixed feeling between happy, sad, and nostalgic love that she thought she had already lost so many years ago.
"Long time no see, Miyano-san," he shot her a cool smile.
"Shuichi…" tears formed in her eyes. A part of her wanted to jump into his arms and never let go, while another held her back. "Shuichi…"
"I'm glad to see that you remembered my name after all these years. That can't be the only word left in your vast library of your brain can it?" he chuckled.
Tears began to pour from her eyes uncontrollably. Thinking back, when was the last time she had ever cried like so. Never…never since the last time they had met. She turned her face away to hide her tears and tried to wipe them away with the back of her hand. It didn't work, the moment she brushed some off, other's followed closely behind. The sensation of the howling winds and the pounding rain came shooting back through her nerves. "You idiot!" she yelled out with a choke. The man raised an eyebrow at the unexpected reply. "Now I can't let myself die cause I got to make sure you'll live!" she said, jumping off her chair and stood on her feet, holding the table with her hand to keep her from falling over.
"Shiho! What's wrong!" Shuichi shouted, noticing the wound on her head. "What happened to you!"
"It's nothing, they hit me on the head before running away, just a light little scratch," she replied.
"Oh Bull shit, look at that blood!" Shuichi ran over to assess the damage. "Geeze, I think they put a crack on your skull."
"We don't have time to be playing doctors right now, this place is going to blow in (checks watch) less than 4 minutes," she pulled away from his hold.
"I know, I saw when I got back to the room," Shuichi looked away, "I ran back to the control room but couldn't stop it. I was just looking for a way out when I found you."
"Common let's get going, we got no time to waste. We have to find a way out!" Ai took a step outwards then stumbled to her knees the moment she let go of her hand.
"You're in no condition to move," Shuichi said then pulled her to him. Before she could protest, he lifted her to his chest. She resisted at first feeling embarrassed about being carried but then stopped from a squeeze of his arms. Slowly, she relaxed in his arms and with a slight blush on her cheeks, lowered her head upon his shoulders. The scene was like a father, reunited with his daughter after a long year's journey more than the denying love between two people.
"You've grown old," Ai laughed lightly.
"And you're more cuter than before," Shuichi replied with a snicker.
Ai rolled her eyes as she glimpsed the side of his face from his shoulders than rested her head back down.
"Common, let's go find a way out of this hell hole," Shuichi whispered to her ear than jogged forward, turning his head from one side to another, focusing every detail around him to his eyes.
End…
I hope this chapter was better than the last two. They didn't exactly have too much drama in them and I felt that they were really mediocre.
PLEASE REVIEW! Next chapter will probably be the height of the story! I promise you that it will be the best I'll have ever written!(crosses fingers)
All reviews are well appreciated
Crystal Snowflake: Here you go. It's really a great honor to have a wonder writer such as yourself taking a likes to my work. Thanks a lot!
Fanfic Maniac: That's who the boss was. I didn't really elaborate him in this chapter but don't worry, things will clear up in next chapter!
Meitantei Mystery: Thank you, I'm trying my best PLEASE UPDATE star crossed lovers! Can't wait to see its ending lol.
Anime Obsession: Updated, just as you wished.