And so, Ran came by Agasa's house to pick up Conan.

Or at least, that's what Kid hoped it looked like from the outside.

As the two of them walked side by side, Shinichi could feel the grip around his hand firmly. It was clear that Kid had tensed up ever since they went outside. Despite that, the disguised thief maintained a relaxed walking pace. Taking advantage of the fact that he looked like a real child, Shinichi turned his head around to look for danger. If 'Ran' did that, she would appear paranoid and fearful which would break the illusion. But if Shinichi looked up, it could be easily passed as a child being curious or bored while on a walk.

Something caught his attention, so he pointed up at the evening sky in an excited manner. "Ah, Ran-neechan! There's a thing flying!"

"Really, Conan-kun?" Without looking at what he was pointing at, Kid leaned down with a smile as if humoring a child's mundane observations.

"It's the thing I saw this morning!"

"Ah, you did tell me about that, didn't you?"

Even as he maintained the façade of a child, Shinichi felt that the mechanical eye in the sky had focused its gaze on the two of them ever since they stepped out of Agasa's house. If Kid and him played their roles well enough, the only questionable move from them would be where they were headed to. But before that could happen, Shinichi hoped that the help he called for came soon.

'Ran' glanced up and added her own thoughts to the drone in the air high up above. "That thing is like the moon, Conan-kun. It looks like it's following us wherever we go."

They had little idea how much the camera could see from that distance, but in case the person behind it could lipread, they had to be careful about what they said out in the open. Plus, there was always the risk that there was more than just the drone keeping an eye on this area.

A few blocks later, they almost reached outside the residential area. From the reflections of passing cars, Shinichi could still see a dot hovering above their heads. Meanwhile, Kid was stalling their progress by occasionally stopping near stray cats or windows of small shops, all to make it look like they were on a leisurely stroll.

Suddenly a popping sound similar to a firecracker rang out in the distance above.

That was the sound that Shinichi had been waiting for. Stopping in his steps, he looked up to the sky just in time to catch the sight of large pieces of debris falling and disappearing behind a house with a crashing sound.

"Detective-kun, was that the help you called for?" Kid asked him in a hushed tone with some concern.

"Yeah." Not even a few seconds later, Shinichi's phone beeped from an incoming call. He picked up his phone and answered it almost immediately. "Thanks for the assist again, Akai-san."

"It's not often I get target practice on drones." The man's voice sounded slightly muffled from being in a windy spot, likely at a high perch on the rooftop of a tall building.

Another shot simultaneously echoed through the phone and from somewhere nearby.

"My apologies. There was a second one flying in from another direction. I expect there will be more coming later."

"I'm currently heading out to the Metropolitan Police Headquarters with Kid. What is James-san's plan?" Knowing it was safer to hurry up, Shinichi signaled to Kid that the path was clear. What began as a slow walk turned into a quick jog to the closest train station and past its fare gates.

Shifting sounds came from the FBI agent. "Jodie and him are splitting up surveillance work with Camel. We'll have Beika under our watch. Also, James does want an explanation once things settle down again."

"Tell him that I will, or at least Kid will be doing some explaining. Keep my friends back there safe for me please, Akai-san." Shinichi threw a glance up at Kid, who remained concentrated on running as he pulled 'Conan' with him. But he was fairly sure that the thief had paid full attention to the call since the beginning despite not showing active interest.

"We'll do our best on our side. Good luck with your own mission, Shinichi-kun."

Just in time, the call ended as they reached the waiting platform after going down a set of stairs. Once he ended the call, Kid gave a slightly mocking remark. "The FBI again, huh? You've sure got some scary friends at your beck and call, Detective-kun."

"Be quiet, you. You're lucky that they were still around in Tokyo, let alone in Japan at all." Shinichi grumbled. While he was on good terms with the agents sent from America, he preferred not to get into the habit of falling back to them as emergency help. The Black Organization going away also meant they were leaving too. It had been almost a miracle that they hadn't left yet. The loose threads left behind must be taking them a long while to tidy up. "Speaking of allies, what happened to your assistant?"

Not many people stood around at the station since it was after the peak evening rush hour. The skies above started to turn a deep blue, leaving only a bit of faded orange in the horizon. The lack of any crowds allowed them to be on the watch for any person that got too close and could listen in on them.

Looking elsewhere for a second, Kid answered without much seriousness. "My assistant is capable of hiding himself without my help. He is my collaborator for a reason. Not that it doesn't make me worried though."

Within a few minutes, a train heading deeper into the city center pulled over at the station. Shinichi boarded it with 'Ran', remaining vigilant as he did so. Finally letting go of Kid's hand, he took a spot in an empty row while Kid sat across from him. The inside was fairly empty, safe for a few half-asleep salarymen and students dotted about.

For the first couple of stops, they remained in silence. The way Kid sat would convince Shinichi that it was really Ran in front of him, if it weren't for the unfittingly tired and expressionless look on his face. Kid's eyes drifted around, watching people go in and out of the train. Shinichi could understand why Kid didn't feel like keeping up the 'cheerful big sister' act. It probably took a lot just to look calm when the situation demanded that they hurried up. But no amount of panicking will make the train go any faster. According to the number of stops left, they were only halfway there.

"Ran-neechan." Shinichi broke the silence, retaining his child-like manner of speech but without the excessive cheeriness. He certainly wasn't planning on calling him 'Kid' while there might be accidental eavesdroppers around in such a enclosed space. "What are you thinking about?"

Blinking out of his trance, Kid's head turned to face forward again. "Huh?" Somehow, he maintained Ran's voice. "Oh, I'm just a little nervous about going to the headquarters, Conan-kun. I've never been there before."

Shinichi didn't believe that for a second, but he understood what the thief meant. "I don't want to downplay your fears, but I don't think there is much to worry about." Yet. He mouthed afterwards. Because the missing girl had connections to Kid and the inspector, whoever caught her was likely planning to use her as a hostage.

Kid closed his eyes for a moment in contemplation. "You're right. We have the element of surprise on our side but we still need to make it on time. They don't know where I went but they might be there too. So, you better behave your best, Conan-kun."

"Yeees." So they had to worry about undercover agents around Nakamori.

"Once we get there we need to talk to the inspector face to face, okay? I know he's the stubborn and loud kind, but he still needs to understand that it's very dangerous to let a small boy like you run around. I worry so much every time I see you run off on your own!"

"Y-yes, Ran-neechan… " He said it in such a Ran-like fashion that Shinichi felt goosebumps from the contradiction between what he saw and heard versus what he knew. In fact, it irritated him a little but this was marginally better than stewing in tense silence during the entire trip there.

As Shinichi suspected, Kid knew exactly where to go to find Nakamori inside the police headquarters. Letting himself be guided around, he and 'Ran' arrived at the section where the Second Division offices were located after acquiring visitor passes. The level of activity at that floor seemed normal, until they neared a corridor.

"This should be where the inspector's office should be." Kid muttered.

Right outside in the hallways, Nakamori paced around with a phone held up to the side of his face. Visible distress was painted all over his face.

Walking forward, 'Ran' greeted the man with a simple bow. "Inspector Nakamori, may I have a word with you in private? It's very important. Right, Conan-kun?"

"Uh huh!" Shinichi responded right on cue.

"Nothing!? Then search the next area, damn it!" Nakamori got done yelling before ending the call with a frustrated growl. He then looked towards the two visitors. "You? You're that Sleeping Kogoro's daughter. What do you want? I'm kind of busy right now. My daughter is missing, and I don't have time to deal with side business."

"But Ran-neechan needs to speak right now!" He added a little more whine in his voice along with the best puppy eyes he could muster. Taking advantage of his appearance had been oftentimes helpful to Shinichi whenever he wanted something. However, this time he misjudged Nakamori's susceptibility.

Instead of giving in to the child's pleas, the inspector leaned forward to yell at them both. "Then talk! Now!"

Kid shrank back a little from the ear piercing volume. "I-it's a bit sensitive though, Inspector. I would like to discuss things while inside your office."

"What?" His face got redder by the second. "I said that my daughter is missing! And not only that, but my neighbors' kid is also gone after being shot at yesterday! Can't you see that I'm in no mood for this?! There are lives on the line!"

"Yes, I know that. But-"

An unknown voice coming from behind Kid and Shinichi cut him off. "Sir, I'm here to drop off the witness statements and observations from Team B."

Shinichi felt his hand being gripped hard for a moment as 'Ran' carried a shocked look that faded away the next second. Dialing it down to one of mild surprise, Kid turned around to look at the officer that butted into the conversation. It was a man with sandy hair and tired eyes whose right arm was resting against his body on a sling. Papers in hand, he walked around the two of them to get closer to the inspector.

"T-thank you, Nishitani-kun. It's good to have someone as reliable as you with us tonight." Snapping out of his rage, Nakamori accepted the report papers. "What happened to your arm anyways?"

"Nothing to worry about, sir. Just got hurt while doing some gardening work." Nishitani's gaze moved to look at Shinichi and 'Ran'. "Oh! You must be the famous Kid-Killer, Edogawa Conan-kun. And you, his caring sister, Mouri Ran-san. What brings you two here tonight?"

After getting the papers from his subordinate, Nakamori went inside his office to leave them on his desk.

Flashing a small grin, Kid answered Nishitani with a meek voice. "C-Conan-kun and I are here to talk with Inspector Nakamori about the heists. I wanted to let him know that the boy won't be attending them anymore." He looked down with sad eyes. "It's too dangerous. But I was willing to ask the inspector to increase security or discuss other options, since I know that Conan-kun is a big help for the task force."

"I see." A ringing came from the inside of the man's pocket. "Excuse me." Turning around, Nishitani answered the call.

Shinichi's arm was suddenly tugged by Kid, pulling him quickly into the office room without warning or invitation from Nakamori. It seemed that Kid took the opportunity to slip in while the man named Nishitani got distracted.

Once inside, Kid closed the door and turned the lock on the handle.

"What the hell?" Nakamori looked up from his desk, confusion setting in at the sound of them inviting themselves into the office room.

Dropping the 'Ran' voice and act, Kid glared into the inspector's eyes. "I can help you find your daughter, Inspector Nakamori."

The man froze for longer than reasonable as if his entire being had malfunctioned upon hearing Kaitou Kid's voice out of nowhere. Shinichi let go of the thief's hand, also allowing his innocent child act to also slip away. Meanwhile, Kid looked ready to rush in and gag the man in case he yelled out the thief's name.

It felt like a long eternity had passed before Nakamori finally moved again. As if caving in to the stress, he tiredly slumped down on his chair, and dragged both hands down over his face. "You better be serious about this, Kid. I don't have time for jokes… " There was hope in his voice but with some heavy doubt mixed in.

Taking a step towards the slumped figure of Nakamori, Kid rested a hand on the man's shoulder as an act of reassurance. "It's my fault for causing all this trouble, so it's only right that I lend a hand."

"Y-your fault?" He lifted his head up to gawk at Kid. "... It doesn't matter right now, but you better explain after we find Aoko."

"I promise, sir."

Nakamori stood up from his desk with a grunt. He briefly glanced at Shinichi, before speaking. "Seeing that even Conan-kun is working with you, I will call this a truce for now. Call this a joint operation between the task force and Kaitou Kid. I will have to notify my men about this change in-"

"Inspector." Kid interjected. "Before you do anything else, I want you to know that Officer Nishitani is one of the people behind your daughter's disappearance."

"WHA- Mmph!?"

Kid shot forward and clamped a hand over the inspector's mouth. Meanwhile, Shinichi kneeled down to look underneath the door, watchful for anybody who could have stood too close and heard their discussions. Thankfully, he saw no sign of any person right outside the office room. As for what Kid just said, it seemed like he recognized Nishitani as one of the undercover operatives inside the police. No wonder Kid looked shocked when he heard the man's voice.

Prying the thief's hand off of his face, Nakamori huffed out in a low and seething voice. "You're accusing one of my officers of being a traitor!? Do you have any proof?!"

Faced with the man's refusal to accept that his trust was betrayed, Kid dug his heels in and insisted. "That's correct, and you can only take my word for it. The man is lying about his injury. I didn't see his face when I was confronted by him, but I do recognize the voice. Plus, you will only need to check his wound to see that it came from my card gun."

"Y-you shot and injured him?"

Shinichi could see the gears working behind the inspector's eyes. If Nakamori knew the thief well, then he would understand that Kid would never hurt anyone on purpose unless absolutely necessary.

Slowly, the man nodded in grim acceptance. "I… see. So, what do you propose we do? Now I have no idea who else might be secretly working with Nishitani-kun."

Getting up after awkwardly crawling on the floor like a real child, Shinichi proposed a straightforward idea. "We can just apprehend Nishitani-san and search his belongings."

Staring at the child with surprise, Nakamori tapped his desk with a finger. "True, Conan-kun. But how would we go about finding other spies?"

The thief sighed. "We can't."

"What do you mean, Kid?" asked Nakamori, taken aback by the sound of Kid giving up.

"Not yet, at least. We have to focus on finding your daughter before the enemy realizes that we know about her being captured or me being here."

"Right." The inspector breathed out. "Let's interrogate Nishitani-kun then."

"But he might not want to talk." Shinichi pointed out. "And I rather not spend my only dart shot on him unless things go south."

"Hm. That is a problem indeed, Detective-kun." Bringing a hand to his chin, Kid appeared to be formulating a plan already. A lightbulb almost materialized over his head when he perked up from an idea. "Inspector, I have an simple job for you."

Opening the door, 'Ran' and Conan walked out. With a courteous bow, she bid her farewells to the inspector. "I'm glad that we could come to an agreement, Inspector Nakamori! Good night!"

For added effect, Conan grinned and waved back at the man inside. "Bye, Inspector!"

Acting as if they were leaving after a successful talk with the inspector, Kid and Shinichi walked past Nishitani. While Kid kept his head looking straight ahead, Shinichi's gaze was glued on the man.

Ducking into the stairways, Kid released the breath he had been holding. "So? What do you think?"

"He looked at you strangely." Shinichi reported back his observation of how Nishitani acted when they walked by. If the man wouldn't talk, then they had to infer what he knew from his behavior. "I think he might suspect that you're Kid."

"That phone call he received earlier. It might be his colleague reporting about the time period after his surveillance drones were shot down."

As Shinichi worried, their enemies took notice the time period blind spot between when they saw 'Ran' and him leave Agasa's place, and where they arrived, as well as the presence of a third party watching Beika.

Nishitani, or 'Termite' as Kid revealed his codename to be, had probably relayed the fact that Conan had appeared at the police headquarters to the person behind the drones. And Termite would have known that during the morning, Conan had been tagged as someone connected to Kid when he and Hattori were observed rescuing the thief at the park. By connecting the two occurrences, Termite could deduce that Conan was highly likely to be with someone that was Kaitou Kid in disguise right now.

"Time to get ready, just in case." Kid sat down on one of the steps and let the shoulder bag slip off of him. Pulling out the required material, he began crafting another mask.

In the meantime, they heard Nakamori's loud voice rally his entire task force currently inside to report in front of his office room. Just like that, the inspector kept Termite busy.

As Kid focused on making preparations, Shinichi took a peek through the stairway door to see what was happening. Obediently, every task force member in the building gathered around their leading inspector. Nishitani stood at the very edge of the congregation, occasionally glancing at the stairway entrance where Shinichi spied from.

"Everyone here? Good." Nakamori cleared his throat. "I have an important announcement about the progress on finding Aoko and Kaito-kun. It's good news, but it also gave me a damn good shock."

The majority of the people's faces there brightened up a bit from hearing the inspector's words. But to Termite, Nakamori telling about good news after 'Ran' and Conan left the office only confirmed to him that Kaitou Kid had indeed dressed up as the boy's older sister figure. A heavily displeased expression clouded over his face.

Nakamori then loudly proclaimed. "I am officially including the help of Kaitou Kid in our operation!"

Shinichi caught the sound of laughing from Kid behind him. What a day it was, to hear the inspector yell about including the infamous thief into their ranks.

While the officers around the area were left speechless and hopeful from the unexpected alliance, Nishitani looked less than delighted.

Continuing with his speech, the task force leader moved to the next part. "Along with Kid, we also have the help of Conan-kun!"

That was his signal.

Upon hearing his name, Shinichi rushed out of hiding. Out of trained muscle memory, he quickly activated his shoes and belt buckle to use his signature soccer ball attack. Aiming for Termite's face, he launched the ball straight at the man.

But like Kid had warned beforehand, Termite's reflexes were good. A sidestep and a slight duck later, the speeding projectile shot past him and hit a bulletin board behind. The officers stood around with wide confused eyes, wondering as to why Conan popped out of hiding and had just attempted to knock one of them out so violently. They only unfroze when they heard Nakamori's voice.

Lunging at Termite, the inspector tackled the undercover spy before he could recover from Shinichi's attack. "Got you, you traitor!"

With only a single working arm, Termite easily got immobilized by Nakamori. Termite fell onto his face as the inspector roughly pushed him from behind.

When the nearby task force officers saw Nakamori fighting a so-called traitor, some of them pitched in while others simply gaped at the scene.

The rough scuffle left Termite with blood running down his nose as he was lifted up from the ground by two officers.

Shinichi had gotten closer during the struggle, ready to fire a dart if the man had the strength to fight back. "Inspector, search his arm sling."

Nodding at the little detective's order, Nakamori did a quick frisk around Termite. It didn't take much time to find a pistol hidden inside the sling. Kid stayed out of direct line of sight from Termite, in case the man had a weapon on him. That precaution was well worth it since he did indeed have a quick access firearm on him.

"This gun isn't the one we are issued, Nishitani-kun." Nakamori commented as he handed it to one of his subordinates to be locked away as evidence. "With that and Kid's statement, it's enough to believe that you've been working against our rules."

Termite was left breathing hard due to his injury and the sudden brawl. "To think that the task force would side with Kaitou Kid… You guys have gone truly insane as police officers. I've been on the right side the entire time."

"I think you've underestimated what the task force is capable of, Nishitani-san." Kid emerged from the stairways, wearing an exact copy of the man's face and hair. "Especially one that was made just for me." A satisfied grin stretched his mouth when he said that. Even Shinichi could feel the strange sense of trust existing between Kaitou Kid and the task force, one that said that neither Kid nor them were rarely in the wrong. Their unique relationship bore fruit in the form of cooperation for a common cause that night.

Termite glared flatly at Kid, going silent when he saw the mask.

Walking up to the man being held back, the thief stuck his hand inside the other's pocket and fished out a set of keys and a phone. "I'll be borrowing these, if you don't mind."

The man got dragged off to be put inside one the headquarters' holding cells, under accusations of illegal ownership of firearms and conspiracy. Kid's shoulders relaxed when he knew that Termite was no longer an active threat.

"So now what?" Nakamori asked the thief as he dusted his clothes.

Kid was looking at the phone he 'borrowed' from Termite. A sigh left him when he put it down, and then threw the phone at the same officer that had just returned from storing the gun away. "It's protected by password, and I don't have time to crack through it. Nothing was on the lockscreen either."

So the only way to get more information was if Termite spoke, but Shinichi knew that the agent would likely remain silent.

"I guess I could search his car and his personal locker." Kid said as he twirled the key ring around a finger.

Agreeing with the thief, Nakamori turned towards his office. "You do that. I'm gonna go arrange for vehicles and equipment."

But before they could split off, a strange beeping came from Kid. Pocketing away the keys, he whipped out his own phone which had been the source of the noise. From the sound, Shinichi was certain that it was neither an incoming call nor a message since he had heard the ringtones for those before.

Staring at the screen as he blinked dumbfoundedly, Kid whispered. "It… worked." Quickly, he showed the city map on the screen that came with a marker stating where and when the latest detected signal came from.

"What? What worked?" Both the inspector and Shinichi exclaimed the same thing.

"Um, it's a little side project I made a long while ago." Strangely, Kid seemed hesitant on clarifying but he owed them an explanation. "To put it simply, it's a tracker made to last long term. But the catch is that it only emits a signal when a button is pressed, hence the lasting battery life."

Once again that evening, Nakamori struggled to unfreeze from the shock given to him due to some positive development in the situation. "Y-you mean that- that…"

"Yeah. I slipped the thing in Aoko's skirt pocket at some point. I almost forgot about the bug because I thought she got rid of it..."

"So, she might really be okay… " After taking a deep breath, the inspector's face then contorted into a terrifying combination of anger and joy as he looked at Kid. "I don't know if I should strangle you for coming close to my daughter or hug you for finding out where she could be."

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I'm wondering if I should include chapter summary/recap at the start from now on like I do when I post in AO3. Do let me know!