Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan.

Culmination

"You call that a disguise!" exclaimed Ran, casting a critical eye over the sunglasses and jacket.

"Well, you're not forcing me to wear those glasses again," Shinichi shot back.

Ran shrugged and fixed the collar of his jacket.

"Ran!"

"Shut up and listen. I've got a feeling that we might have trouble finding where Rum is."

Shinichi waited for her to explain. She didn't. "That's no surprise. But what makes you say that?"

"I was watching the numbers above the elevator. The light that was on the panel that marked the basement vanished for two minutes, and then appeared again on the basement panel before going to the lobby. How d'you explain that, Shinichi?"

His hand went to his chin, and he began slowly, "From what we've got so far, the two likely places that Rum can be at are room 3816, and wherever the elevator went off to. Jodie-sensei, or whoever she really was—"

"Vermouth," mumbled Ai.

"What?"

Ai looked up at Shinichi and sighed. Reluctantly, she said the dreaded name again. "Vermouth."

He nodded. "Vermouth went to the room first, then to the elevator. And from the way the elevator was constructed, it seems that wherever it went to is where Rum is. But where did it go to?"

The three were quiet, each lost in his or her own thoughts, in their own fight against the tides of despair.

"Wait," Ran said, interrupting the silence once again. "I recorded this Vermouth, and the elevator panel, when I was following her. It's not likely that the camera recorded anything that could help us, but since we've got no other lead, why not give it a shot?"

Shinichi hesitated, and then nodded dubiously. "I guess we could try…"

Ai cut in, "No need, and there might not be enough time to get at them. By the time we can get to Dr. Agasa's place to play the recording, Vermouth might've already left, and there might be a chance the Rum doesn't spend all his time at the Beika Hotel. Although Vermouth is pretty high up there as far as ranking goes…" She shook her head and continued, "I've heard enough about Rum to know that he's too tricky to settle for a plain room, where anyone can stumble upon his plans. The basement is a far more safer bet."

"True…although if he's that clever, wouldn't he think that, if someone was trying to catch him, they would head for the more obscure place, the basement, and therefore put himself in room 3816?" wondered Ran.

"Although why would he be worrying about someone trying to catch him? Gin and Vodka's words were precaution enough," Shinichi said. "Even if they aren't, we still don't know where the elevator dropped Vermouth off. Since it's hard to find—certainly harder to find than room 3816, wouldn't he be safer there?"

Ran nodded, shaking her head and grinning.

Shinichi jerked his head to the elevator. "I'm going to go investigate, just in case."

"What'd you find?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

Ran bit her lip. "So what're we to do now?" Her hand went to her earring again. Shinichi glanced at her, and then at her hand, grinning as his mind took on an idea. "Ran, did you leave the camera on when you were waiting for Vermouth to come out of the room?"

She nodded. "Why?"

"Then we might have a lead."

"But I thought you said it wasn't likely that I got anything—"

"I forgot that Dr. Agasa and Ai made it so that it recorded things normal human ears couldn't hear."

Ran shot him a questioning look while Ai said, "But it might take too long. By then, Vermouth might've already left—"

"It's a risk we're going to have to take, Haibera. Playing the recording here is sure to arouse someone's suspicion, since it seems that the owner of the hotel is associated with the Kurozukume, or else there's a very little chance they would locate Rum here."

Ai still looked reluctant.

"Right now, there's no other way," said Ran.

The eighteen-year-old finally sighed and said, "Okay, fine. Since that seems to be the only rational way to go…"

"Okay, I think this is it, Dr. Agasa," Shinichi said.

Ran's clip-ons lay on the table, and one of the artificial pearls appeared broken in half. Near them, a short man dressed in the characteristic white lab coat sat atop a computer chair and typed away. The top of his head was completely bald, and what hair he had on his sides was the shade of dirty snow even though he was only in his mid-fifties. A pleasant face, mostly dominated by a round nose, was inches from the computer screen, which showed a murky window set in a door that was still visible despite the darkness of the setting. "Okay, adjust the volume a bit, and we should have it," he instructed himself.

Shinichi, Ran, Ai, and Dr. Agasa jumped simultaneously at the chaos of noise that assaulted their ears, and through it all, one could barely make out a voice almost equally as emotionless as Gin's that said, "I don't think I've seen you before. Who're you, and what's your business with the boss?"

A pause.

"Relax, moron, it's me. This wig has been giving me a headache since lunch."

"Ah, Vermouth. Great disguise, as usual. It's been awhile. How've you been?"

The feminine voice Ran had associated before with her English teacher had been transformed into the one Ai feared, cold as winter wind and every bit as effective. "I've been better. This is urgent, Bourbon. I need to speak to Rum. I went over to Gin's place, and waited there for hours, and he never came back. I think it might have something to do with what I told him and Vodka earlier on. Boss said he'd be here."

The other voice, the one no one recognized, replied, "Very well then. Take the elevator to your right, and make sure nobody gets on with you. If they do, wait for them to get off before pressing the basement button twice. The elevator's programmed to bring you to a second basement. Pretty clever Mr. Akihiro's part, don't you think?"

"It's well enough. Where's the bathroom? There was a staff meeting at that school, or else I would've gotten here earlier."

"The bathroom's down the hall, to the right. I thought you said it was urgent."

"True, but I still have to look like myself, don't I? And Vermouth can't tolerate such a disgusting shade of green."

The faint sound of heels on carpet, then the sound of the bathroom door closing.

"Good. That's all we need to know," said Shinichi. He added silently, "We're this close to capturing the leader of the Kurozukume once and for all."

"Thanks, Professor Agasa," Ran lifted herself from the computer desk she had been bending over. "Now all that's left to do is phone the police."

Ai nodded. "But don't you think we should go over there, just in case something goes wrong?"

Shinichi nodded. "Good idea." He walked over to the phone and dialed the number. "Hey,

Inspector Megure. We know where he is."

They let themselves out of the police car and hurried through the glass doors, followed closely by Inspector Megure and a hoard of police officers. "Inspector," Shinichi said, "you'd better leave a couple people outside, just in case. The owner of the hotel is working with the Kurozukume, too."

Inspector Megure nodded. "So where's Rum?"

"Take the elevator on the right, and push the basement button twice. And there's activity around room 3816, too."

The orange-uniformed policeman nodded and directed a dozen or so people to the 38th floor. The rest followed him down the right elevator. Shinichi, Ran, and Ai remained in the lobby, watching as the owner of the Beika was handcuffed, somewhat uneventfully, by the handful of police the inspector had left there. Five minutes afterward, and three police officers came back from the secret basement, accompanying a handcuffed man in a black business suit, cursing and struggling to no avail. From his voice, Shinichi guessed him to be the one in room 3816—Bourbon. Following them a few minutes afterwards was Vermouth. She glanced at Ran, then at Shinichi, and finally rested her eyes on Ai, who had left her pigtails back at Dr. Agasa's. Her eyes narrowed, and disgust edged upon her lips, slowly spreading to the rest of her features, and she didn't look quite as beautiful as before. "Sherry."

Before Ai could answer, and before anyone could stop her, she whipped around at the two police officers holding her captive. Dished to each a good heel in the face. Despite her handcuffs, she reached into her pocket and, like greased lightning, whipped out a gun and took aim. The lobby trembled at the sound of the shot, and before anyone—even Ai herself—could do anything, Vermouth's victim crashed to the floor, a wave of red fire bursting into flame upon her chest.

"Ai!" Ran grabbed hold of the back of a sofa for support, her face a ghostly white, while Shinichi ran to the fallen girl. Their one-syllabled word was drowned out in a burst of laughter as Vermouth, like her victim, sank to the floor as if she had been shot herself, the gun tumbling from her hand to the thick red carpet. Tears streamed miniature rivers on the flawless scenery of her face, and for a whole minute or so, the whole world seemed drowned within the silence she had ejected, with the exception, of course, of she herself. Hatred, bitterness, despair, and a strange sense of joy all made themselves known within her form, and perhaps it was they, combined and blended in within each other like a swirl of light and star, that had lent her the amazing speed with which she had acted to spear Haibara Ai, Miyano Shiiho, Sherry's life into pieces no one could ever regain again.

"Idiots! Why didn't you check to see if she had a gun with her!" Inspector Megure yelled at the police officers who, slowly and painfully, were picking themselves up from the floor. He had just arrived with the third and last member of the Kurozukume, Rum, in tow, and had witnessed the whole thing.

"We did," one of them answered while the other secured the still-convulsive Vermouth.

"So why did she have one!"

"I don't know. She could've picked it up afterwards."

Ran had already knelt down at Ai's side, oblivious to both Vermouth's outburst and what had happened subsequencing it. She squeezed Ai's hand, a smile of relief washing over her face and spirit as she felt a weak response back. "Shinichi's going to call the hospital. Just hang on, Ai, you might still have a chance." She nodded to Shinichi, who had knelt down beside them, his brow furrowed in worry. "Hang in there, Haibera."

With the exception of Vermouth's attack on Ai, the police had successfully contained with all of the Kurozukume they could find. And that wasn't saying much. However, they did uncover within Rye's desk the files of everyone within and associated within the Kurozukume organization. And in the weeks that followed, every one of them had been caught as easily as the day would catch the sun. However, just as it was for every bad thing, there was always a bright side, so it was vice versa, and the dark side to the almost miraculous event seemed, at first, beyond God's common reason.

Haibera Ai had died as soon as the ambulance reached the hospital. Her heart beat its last breath as soon as the wheels stopped turning. And she had a heart. Because everyone has a heart, no matter how focused they are on living by their mind.

It didn't help that Shinichi and Ran were obligated to stay and make sure every one of the Kurozukume present had been dealt with, and by the time they were finished, the ambulance had already come and gone. So all they could do was linger in the waiting room, armed with a sense of impending dread.

A nurse walked into the room, carrying the hat Ai had worn to the Beikan on more than one occasion. She walked to the two sitting on the couch, the unwanted but needed message she was about to deliver overshadowing a voice that was trained to console. "This was hers. I think you might want to have it."

Ran raised her eyes to the nurse's, unconsciously reaching for Shinichi's hand but stopping herself. "She's—"

"She died as soon as they got her to the hospital." No matter how many times she had been trained to say it, numbers alone couldn't take away the concern within the nurse's face. Ran silently thanked her for that.

She lowered her head again, to the hat the nurse had set on the table before them. "Ai."

Both of them were dry-eyed as of then, dry eyes full of the regret and panic and worry that tears had yet to wash away. Shinichi squeezed her hand, trying to comfort her while having to deal with his own agony at losing a colleague, and more importantly, a friend, to the indescribable, unknown force he had often deployed his work around. "C'mon. We've got to tell Professor Agasa." He got up, looking at Ran, who was oblivious to his words as she wrapped herself in her own memories, sparse as they were, of the one who had left their presence, undoubtedly for God's. After all, Ai had died with a good heart. Slowly, Ran got up too, blinking rapidly. "Yeah," was all she could say.

Shinichi picked up the baseball cap and, with Ran, walked out of the room that he never wanted to see again.

"Good, you're back!" Professor Agasa's smile faded rapidly as he noticed the stolid expressions on both of their faces and Ai's presence replaced with that of her hat. "What happened?"

"She's—" Ran began before her voice gave way.

"Vermouth shot her," her best friend said between clenched teeth. "It was already too late when she arrived at the hospital."

Whatever Professor Agasa was expecting to dread, it wasn't the words that confronted his ears. The cup of coffee he had been holding crashed to the ground, and he made no attempt to soak up the brown liquid that was already staining the carpet. Instead, he pasted his eyes on the hat, his fingers trembling with the shock his voice expressed with its absence. A dreadful silence reigned within the room, until one of them felt a tingling beneath her eyes. "Um, I think I'd better go."

Shinichi nodded, understanding immediately, looking after her as she left.

She ran home crying. Ai had been haunted by her own past so much that it was her past that ended her. If only she had changed back into Shiiho when she had the chance…! An adult body was much more inept at surviving bullets to the lungs than a child's. But that realization alone wasn't what caused the relentless, twisting knife within her. It was hard to turn one's life around, to turn one's back on the thing that one had relied on for the eighteen years of one's life. And yet, Ai had coped. Coped, and in a way, thrived in the change. All her life, all she had known was the Kurozukume. Her parents had died before they could give her many memories, and the syndicate killed the only family she had left. They were going to kill her if she hadn't thought of depriving them of the satisfaction. What little taste she had of life outside of the organization that had put invisible bars around her, she had appreciated. She deserved more. She deserved more. She had liked Shinichi, yet she had managed to accept his feelings toward her as only that of a friend's. Even if she did think too scientifically, and sometimes forgot to feel when she was bitten by hate. She deserved more. Some people always seem to deserve more than what they got.

She was gasping for air when she reached the door to the detective agency. Whether it was from the running, or the crying, or the mixed feelings, or all three, she didn't know. She leaned on the hand that clutched the doorknob and waited for her breathing to settle. Then she entered as her father slammed the newspaper he had been reading onto his desk.

"About time! Where the hell were you? It's eleven, and I haven't—Ran?" His expression turned from impatient to one of concern as soon as he saw her cover her eyes with a hand. "What happened?"

She didn't answer, and her silence made Kogoro, being Kogoro, jump to conclusions. "What'd

that Kudo kid—"

She cut him off sharply, not anticipating what he was going to say but not really caring. "No, it wasn't him, Dad. I'll explain, but not right now."

He nodded. "I'll go outside to eat. You can skip dinner if you want."

She nodded back, still too traumatized to be thankful. It wasn't often her father even made an effort to be considerate. Somehow she found the door to her room despite the blurry veil her tears cast over her eyes. She collapsed onto the bed, weeping in a sense of loss that she was no stranger to. Except this time, there was no hope. Only despair, and the remembrance she knew and loved so well. She cherished her memories of the people she cared about, and she knew that Ai would've, if only she had the chance. Even if they had died, as long as someone could pick out the goodness that inhabited everyone and everything, then their death wouldn't be half so painful, their legacy a thousand times more endearing.

She didn't know if Ai even had a life from before. Before the Kurozukume. But she had experienced it in those long, long months, and for one who had nothing but the things that came along with her being, it wasn't fair that her freedom from wrongdoing was reduced down into those months, long as they were for Ran. She deserved more.