Author Notes: Sorry for the OOCness. I've never written these characters before. Oh, and I'm using manga-based names for the characters, so, I've got a list of the names they're commonly known by:

-Ayumi, Amy

-Genta, George

-Mitsuhiko, Mitch

-Sonoko, Serena

-Melkior, Gin

-Kaspar, Vodka

-Shiho Miyano, Ai Haibard

-Akemi Miyano, Masami or Michelle (Case of The Missing Man or The Mystery Mastermind)

Chapter 3

"Conan!" Ayumi cried.

"Is that your cool sun-powered skateboard?" Genta ran up with her and Mitsuhiko. He turned to his friends and smiled, holding up the aforementioned invention.

"Yeah, it is," he answered as they crowded around him.

"Does your sister know you have this?" Mitsuhiko asked nervously.

Conan rolled his eyes and gave up explaining that Ran was not his sister. "Well, she knows I have it, but she doesn't know what it does."

"Why did you bring it today, Conan?" Ayumi leaned over his shoulder, looking at the green board with the orange stripe running across it.

"I just felt like it," he shrugged and put it down, placing one foot on it. "I want to go meet Ran at her school."

"Oh, okay," the little girl waved at him. "Don't go too fast, Conan!"

"You have to let me ride that thing again sometime, Conan!" Genta shouted after the other boy as he pushed off and began rolling down the sidewalk. He waved back at them and settled his other foot on the board, crouching and tapping the switch with his heel. The solar panels opened up on the surface of the board and he instantly sped up, weaving in and out of the collection of people on the street as he made his way to his old highschool. As he approached the gates, he tapped the button again and the solar panels retracted. Conan coasted to a stop near the front of Teitan Highschool and hopped off his board, scooping it up and standing as the bell rang for dismissal. Students practically burst out of the double doors (it was the last day of school; Winter Break was finally here) and Conan leaned back against the concrete wall, looking for familiar faces. He named girls and guys in his head, people he had for classes and for afterschool activities, old clients and fans of the once-great Shinichi Kudo, Ace Detective. His thoughts had wandered and now he got pulled back into the present by familiar voices.

"He gave you WHAT?" Sonoko Suzuki yelped, making the students around her flinch. Ran Mouri laughed nervously and turned to her best friend, shushing her violently. Sonoko touched one of the gold diamond earrings Ran now wore and shook her head. "I take back every bad thing I said about Shinichi. Diamonds! Wow, he must really be in love with you, Ran!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ran shouted, a little too loudly. More people turned to stare. She blushed and lowered her voice. "He said it was a birthday present. That's all."

"Oh yeah right," Sonoko grinned all-knowingly. "He loves you, Ran. It's obvious."

Conan blushed hard.

"Then how come he hasn't come home?" Ran said dejectedly. "It's been a year, Sonoko. No case has ever taken him this long before! I think…I think he's avoiding me." Conan fell out from behind the wall. "Oh, Conan!"

"Oh, it's you," Sonoko said, unimpressed.

"Hi, Ran. I came to walk you home," he stood, giving her his most endearing smile.

"Oh, how sweet!" she cooed, patting his head. "Thank you, Conan!"

"Right, since you have your company," Sonoko lifted an eyebrow at a couple of boys walking past them, "I'll find mine." She waved half-heartedly and moved with a honed grace through the groups of kids. Ran rolled her eyes and grinned down at him. Conan gave her a bemused look, as if to say: That's your best friend!

"Shall we go then, Conan?" Ran extended her hand. He nodded and took the offering, turning slightly red as her fingers wrapped around his. Conan heard a car door opening as they turned onto the backstreets but all he could do was look up into Ran's slightly-blushing face. When Sonoko had declared Shinichi loved her, her face had turned the darkest red he had ever seen it go. He had gone red too, but for different reasons: he wanted to tell her that with his own voice, not have someone else declare it out loud in public. Ran squeezed his hand gently and he blinked himself out of his thoughts again. He was drifting off quite a bit, but he always did around her anyway.

"So, what did you and Shinichi talk about last night?" he cleared his throat.

Ran blinked, and the red in her cheeks came back. "Um, nothing, really. He asked how I was and he told me he might be coming home soon!" She suddenly beamed down at him, and Conan felt like crap for lying to her so much. "Isn't that great?"

"Yeah," he looked down at their feet as they walked. The sound of footsteps grew louder in his ears now that he was paying attention to his surroundings. An engine was running behind them.

"Hey, Conan?"

"Hmm?"

"I was thinking how much you and Shinichi are—"

He never found out what she was thinking. She gasped and her hand was yanked from his. Conan whirled around and something hit him in the head, hard enough to send him crashing to the ground. He groaned and struggled to lift his head as he heard Ran struggling off to one side.

"Hurry it up! Get in!" a sharp, cold voice commanded and in his head, he saw the face it belonged to: Melkior. There was a thud as something was thrown into the car. "Conan!" Ran's frantic voice. The slamming of a door, and the opening and closing of another. Tires screeching on the pavement. Conan got to one knee and shook his head, his glasses clattering to the sidewalk. They were broken. He tried to get to his feet but he wobbled and sank back down to his knees.

"Ran…!" he grunted, tumbling forward. He smacked into the concrete and closed his eyes fully, the pounding in his head getting louder and harder. Someone was shaking him and he tried to open his mouth and beg them to stop, but hot, thick liquid poured out instead of words.

"Kudo!" Heiji Hattori shook him again. "Get up, man! They've taken her!"

Taken… Ran… He tried to stand again. He fell uselessly to the ground once more. He was being picked up. He heard Hattori mumbling something about a skateboard, then they were flying down the streets, the wind brushing his hair off his pounding forehead. Conan slowly opened one eye.

"Glasses…" he croaked. After they rounded a sharp corner, Heiji reached into the inner breast pocket of his letterman jacket and handed the broken specks to the boy. Conan groaned and closed his eyes tight against the pain. "Agasa's…"

"No, hospital. You're skull's probably cracked in two," the older-looking boy responded sharply, leaning into the turn and zooming around another corner. Conan shook his head and instantly regretted the movement. He groaned and his eyes cracked open. Heiji looked determined as all hell. But he was too. Conan reached up and grabbed the cap off Hattori's head, and smacked him with it. He nearly tumbled off the skateboard, but recovered. He opened his mouth, but Conan beat him to it.

"Agasa's," he rasped. "Fix glasses… Only way to find Ran…"

His friend grunted and they abruptly changed directions: "Let me explain everything to Agasa while he bandages you up." Conan nodded. It's the only thing he could do; he had no strength left. He closed his eyes once more and lay his trust in Heiji Hattori.

Ran… Not you, oh god no… I'm so sorry…

She threw herself against the plexiglass window. Her screams were soundless on the other side of the glass. Kaspar glanced back at the brown-haired girl and his face met with her fist hitting the glass. She cracked it. He blinked and turned to his boss.

"Sir, I don't think this was a good idea…"

"Shut up," Melkior turned the wheel hard and they skidded around a corner, and they heard a thump as the girl in the backseat toppled to one side. "She's the only way we can get the kid."

"But why didn't we just tail him?"

"Because he'd know if we were on to him."

There was an extended silence as the men in black continued to drive back toward headquarters, taking a lot of turns and doubling back so the girl could never find her way back if she ever happened to escape.

"Who knew he survived?" Kaspar shrugged. "I didn't see or hear about him after we gave him that poison."

"Akemi Miyano's younger sister is still missing," the blond man grunted, making another hard turn and listening for the thump of the body in the back. "There's rumor that she altered the drug she gave us and instead of killing a person, it does something else."

"What, like a fake death?"

"Or something. We don't know yet. We need Shiho."

Swerve. Thump.

Melkior chuckled evily. Kaspar glanced at his partner and wondered for the first time if this man was wholly mentally sound.