With the exception of the plot and the original characters that are depicted in the story, the author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended on the franchise of Detective Conan that rightfully belong to its owner Aoyama Gosho.

Once again, I would like to thank OnyxKatana and Vivian Graythorn for all their help with the next anticipating act of Paper Faces! Now, let the performance commence! Please enjoy the show! :)

It had been a while since Kudo-chan had come back to Beika. At least, that was what it felt like to Haibara as she fussed around the kitchen in a powder-blue apron and kept an eye on Agasa so that he did not eat all of the salt-boiled edamame before the main course. He had been doing good so far on the strict diet regime she's put him on, and the little scientist would be damned if Kudo-chan screwed that up despite the occassion. Still...I wonder how she's adjusting to her true form? I haven't heard of any side-effects yet unless she has conveniently forgotten to tell me that.

Ice-blue orbs narrowed ever so slightly at the thought while Haibara stirred the bubbling pot from her stepping stool. Tonight's meal was rei-shabu, a cold shabu-shabu dish that is filled with vegetables and meat that also had a high nutrition value. It was certainly better that the suggestion to go out and splurge at the revolving ramen shop that just opened up in the shopping district with meal tickets Agasa had won through a lottery.

Around ten minutes to seven o'clock, the doorbell rang and Haibara could swear that seeing the slightly overweight scientist had moved faster than he ever did on their adventures with the Detective Boys. Then again, Kudo-chan was like the granddaughter he never had; and she hadn't been calling them much after moving to Ekoda. Haibara almost chuckled at the enthusiasm in the man's voice as he allowed a coffee-haired teen to enter the house.

"Oh, Shinichi-chan! You're early but that's all right! Come in, come in! Ai-kun is in the kitchen right now but I'm sure she'll be out shortly! Tell me, what's happened since we last talked? Oh, we also have some snacks! Are you hungry?"

Shinichi gave Agasa a soft, fond smile while following him to the living room. She had known the inventor since she and Ran were children, and the sleuth had grown fond of the bumbling scientist and his explosive experiments over the years. If anything, he had been more of a parent figure to the young teen than anyone else when her parents were traveling around the world.

It took a while, but Shinichi was finally able to calm him down by letting him know that she has not lost weight and was perfectly healthy, nor did she need any snacks. Including being in charge of cooking healthy meals and budgeting around the inventor's bachelor pad, Haibara Ai also had an iron fist around the tidiness of the place. That was the entire reason why there was even any visible seating space in the living room, which had over the years been littered with research papers and tools.

After the usual questions about how Shinichi was settling into her life at Ekoda, the conversation shifted to the more recent of Agasa's experiments. He was telling her about the prototype of a hoverboard he was working on, when a girl with short light brown hair and hardened crystal blue eyes entered the room.

"Hello, Kudo-chan. It's nice to see you again. Agasa wouldn't stop talking about you all morning. But really, you should try and call more often so you don't worry him too much. It isn't good for his heart."

Shinichi rolled her eyes in good humor, a small smirk twitching the corners of her mouth as she looked down at the young girl. "Hello to you too, Haibara. You're right, it's nice to be back here. Ekoda is good, but I really do miss Beika. How's everything been with you?"

Once the simple pleasantries had been exchanged, the conversation moved to more jovial topics, with Shinichi narrating a few incidents from Ekoda. There were moments where Haibara shook her head at the detective's antics or made a snide remark; nonetheless, she was entertained by it all. Especially when the coffee-haired teen talked about a boy named Kuroba-san.

However, when dinner had finished and Agasa went to fetch the (healthier version) of mitarashi dango from the kitchen, Shinichi leaned over and whispered softly in Haibara's ear. "We need to talk."

Haibara's small frame straightened at the sudden statement. The little scientist had no idea what Kudo-chan could want to talk about, especially not when the Professor was out of earshot to overhear them. As far as she knew, he was the person Kudo-chan trusted with everything and anything. So, for there to be something that she was hiding from even him, meant that this was serious business. Taking the hint, she looked up and nodded at the taller girl. Shuffling closer to her, Haibara leaned towards the other girl.

"Alright. What is it?"

"Are you positive that we brought down the entire BO? Every single member?"

Haibara balked at the question. She had expected Kudo-chan to be slightly wary of them, and to be expecting trouble around every corner, but this was a bit much. However, she trusted the detective to not approach her unless something major had happened. Making a decision, the brunette took a deep breath. "What happened for you to ask me that? The entire story, every detail in an abbreviated version, if possible."

That was when Kudo-chan revealed what 'really' happened at the Rainbow Maiden heist that took place not that long ago in Ekoda, including seeing a man dressed in black threatened KID to hand over his target and the latter taunting him about avoiding the Grim Reaper a little longer. Haibara inquired if the Detective of the East had gotten a name, and she did. Snake.

Haibara felt her blood suddenly freeze and face lose its pallor. It couldn't be them...could it? After all of this time? The little scientist almost jolted out of her seat when Kudo-chan called out to her in a concerned tone, but masked the surprise by taking a deep breath. This did not seem good at all. She had a bunch as to who Snake was, but she needed a little more information from the sleuth first.

Steeling her nerves, ice-blue orbs locked onto dark blue. "Kudo-chan, what do you know about this 'Pandora' that they were talking about?"

"Nothing. My guess is that it's a gemstone that both these people and KID are after. Neither wants the other to have it. That's all." Haibara fixed her companion with an intense stare before carefully answering Shinichi.

"You're close to it. Pandora is a mythical gem that can supposedly grant immortality. However, it may not be as mythical as people believe."

Shinichi matched her glance with a very confused and exasperated look. That did not surprise Haibara in the slightest; throughout all of their adventures in both taking the Black Organization and solving mysteries with the Detective Boys, Edogawa Agatha had always been able to find the one truth behind an impossible scenario. And knowing the now-grown up detective, Shinichi would not stop until all of the pieces fit into place.

"Haibara, what is going on? There's a syndicate with men dressed in black, Kaitou KID, and this 'Pandora'. Nothing makes sense!"

Haibara stared at Shinichi long and hard before sighing heavily. It was a little hard to believe that they were still around, but the person pulling the strings from the darkness is tenacious, so the little scientist will give them that. "Come with me to the office." That was all that needed to be said as the brunette began walking towards the back of the house but not before throwing a half-hearted glare at Agasa when she spotted him trying to steal another helping of dango behind her back. In a matter of minutes they were in the designated room.

The young girl gestured to a chair near the large desk. "Take a seat, Kudo-chan. You might need it." Plopping herself down on the swiveling chair that the inventor had specifically made for her birthday last year - Haibara loved the tiny strap on the bottom that can cleverly conceal the gun she almost always carries outside of Teitan Elementary - she booted up the PC. A few more minutes passed until Haibara found what she was looking for, and turned to Shinichi with a slightly hardened expression.

"As you're already well aware, there were two purposes for the APTX 4869: to be an untraceable weapon for people who knew too much about the Black Organization, and extending a human's lifespan by the rejuvenation of cells. The goal that they've been striving for half a century until their demise. But they were not the only ones who were interested in finding a modern process to immortality. Take a look at this." The little scientist pulled up a blue screen. "Tell me what you see?"

Shinichi stood up from her seat and leaned over Haibara's shoulder to examine the contents. "These are blueprints for a machine, written in German...from 80 years ago? Haibara, what is this? And what does this have to do with the ravens and Snake?!"

"You're looking at their inspiration, Kudo-chan. Constructed in World War II and designed to cement Hitler's legacy in creating an ideal world, the Box would create a liquid that could reverse the aging process and restore a human's body. This formula was known as Pandora's Tears. But to attain these Tears, you would need its primary source." Haibara then pushed the screen to the side and opened another one with the mouse, double-clicking on it to enhance the image of a large, shining gem with a question mark hovering over it. "You would need Pandora to open the Box."

"T-This is...Pandora?"

Haibara nodded. "Yes. And then the machine became lost to the world once the Allies reclaimed Europe from Germany. But the Black Organization was somehow able to get hold of the Box and take whatever samples remained inside of it before that happened, and has tried to recreate Pandora's Tears with the Silver Bullet Project. But as you well know, it didn't exactly go according to plan with the shrinking effect." Ice-blue orbs locked onto widened darkened hues. "And to answer your question about Snake, I have a feeling that he's an operative for that Organization. He's not from the one that we took down, but these people are still just as dangerous. The Black Organization had come across them every now and again over the last 60 years or so. They didn't bother us, and we didn't bother them."

"So there's another syndicate that wants to attain immortality, but they can't do that without the machine or Pandora. And there's no record on what Pandora looks like?"

"Roughly speaking, yes. These documents are all that remains of the Pandora's Box project. The rest had disappeared along with the machine. On another note, these operatives seem to derive their code-names from the 12 signs of the Chinese Zodiac, and each of them are well-known international jewel thieves. However, since their crimes over the years tend to be random, the police can't get their hands on them. Not that they would let that happen, of course." Haibara looked at the Detective of the East with a raised brow. "Maybe that's why KID wants you to steer clear of them. You're a magnet for trouble, and getting involved in his battle with this Organization might make things nasty."

The brunette then logged off the computer and spun around the chair to give Shinichi her undivided attention. "I think I hear the professor getting more than his necessary consumption of dessert. Care to help me make sure that he doesn't get restricted from it for a few days?"

"I can't tell who is in charge of this house anymore, you or him?"

"Hush."

A few days later, the elementary school student and her guardian said good-bye to Shinichi after she promised them to come back to Beika over the winter holidays. Yuusaku and Yukiko were about as random with their actions as they are with their travels. And Professor Agasa did not want the Detective of the East to spend Christmas alone. Neither did Haibara, but she would never admit it out loud.

Still...the coffee-haired teen looked a little haggard as she loaded her luggage into the cab, even pale as a sheet of paper. Was it because of what they discussed in her office? Haibara's eyes narrowed slightly at the thought before she followed the eccentric engineer back into the house, shrugging her shoulders. Kudo-chan was stubborn, right to the point where she kept anything that bothered her in a jar with a tight lid.

But if something or someone can help Shinichi break this habit...Haibara had a feeling it would be Kuroba-san. After all, it isn't everyday you get to hear that the infamous curse in the Kudo family was not active for an entire day, especially when it was a date. And yes, that did count as a date even if it was denied by Kudo-chan.

So, it looks like Haibara has revealed the connection between the Black Organization and the one that is determined to finish off KID to reclaim Pandora! But even after spending time with her loved ones in Beika, what could have possibly caused Shinichi to be pale and even a little shaken as the little scientist has observed? Did the revelations from the night before shock the Detective of the East or is there something else that is bothering her? More importantly though, how will she spend the rest of her summer vacation? Homework? A KID heist? Decisions, decisions! :)

lease feel free to review or PM me with any questions, comments, or constructive criticism. Thanks to everyone who has favorited, reviewed, and added Paper Faces to their alert lists.

See you next illusion. - (KID caricature)