The night of the heist for the Whisper of Lady Green arrived. As planned, the display case was relocated to the top floor, right underneath a glass dome ceiling. Having not known that the peridot would be at such high altitude, Inspector Nakamori didn't have enough time to summon a helicopter squad. He had to settle for a basic stationing of officers at the roof.
Mingling amongst the task force members at the ground floor, Kid awaited the promised time. There were a good ten floors between the ground and the top floor. Hanging out within the inspector's vicinity was a terrible idea since the man had become pinch-happy. The lower the floor, the more lax the guards seemed to be. Kid has used that to sneak in as an officer. The real task force officers barely noticed the new member since there were so many people packed in together.
There was less than a minute left until the gem was to be stolen. In the meantime, Kid used the chaos to slip away towards the elevators which had their power shut down. But that was a non-issue for him.
"H-hey! What are you doing?" One of the inspector's men yelled out when he saw the disguised thief prying open the elevator door with a crowbar.
Kid shot back a wide grin and then did a mock salute. Just then, darkness consumed the entire building. With the dense crowd and lack of visual feedback, there was no way the officers could reach him in time.
After reaching the inside of the elevator, Kid quickly unscrewed the panel on the top and climbed up to reach the shaft. Shedding his task force uniform, he revealed the flashy white suit underneath and put on the rest of the accessories. A little over thirty seconds remained until he had to be at the top floor. Normally, that was going to be a problem. But Kid had a special gadget prepared for this very heist.
From within a hidden pocket, the magician thief materialized a device about the size of a matchbox. At its side were two grooves that fit perfectly together with the steel cords inside the elevator shaft. Once he had a good grip, he pressed a button with his thumb.
Almost immediately, the gadget whirred into action and Kid felt his body being lifted up. It went faster and faster, pulling the thief upwards along with it. With fifteen seconds to spare, he had made it to the tenth story.
"Tch. A power outage. Someone get the emergency lights!" The inspector yelled.
Armed with flashlights, the task force ran to fetch the lights. Unfortunately, Kid had foreseen that. "Sir! The lights have been tampered with! There appears to be a layer of dried clear glue inside the power outlets of the generators!"
"Raaaaagh! Get that fixed before that rotten idiot of a thief shows up!"
Piercing the blinding darkness, a beam of spotlight turned itself on from the ceiling and pointed itself at the display case. A smooth voice projecting from somewhere was heard. "No need to stress yourself out over the lights, my dear inspector."
A dove flew in and landed on top of the glass. With a poof of smoke, the bird was replaced by Kaitou Kid, his cape dramatically falling behind him. The man's white clothes made him glow unnaturally against the dim backdrop. "Good evening, gentlemen."
"Wh-what the…Get him!" Nakamori directed his men with a finger.
Just when the surrounding officers were about to pounce on the thief, the single source of light went out of existence. The sounds of people shuffling and struggling rang out in the darkness. At last, power was restored but both the gem and the thief were nowhere in sight.
Kid kicked out the thin metal grating that blocked his exit through the ventilation system. The dented sheet rattled onto the rooftop ground. Hopping down gracefully out of his escape route, the thief looked around.
Strange. It was quiet. He had expected the guards stationed up there to come rushing towards his location. Was this a trap?
Cautiously, he stepped forward from hiding behind the network of ventilation units protruding from the rooftop. Not far from there was the glass dome. He could see the inspector waving his arms wildly inside the hotel's top floor lobby, unaware that Kid had gone outside already.
Keeping himself out of the inspector's line of sight, the thief looked around. The stillness was giving him a bad feeling. The eerie chills he got only intensified when he saw one of the guards face down in a small puddle of blood. He hurriedly approached to check the man. Luckily, the officer still breathed.
Once he got closer, Kid noticed that the officer had been shot. But by who? Were Snake and his henchmen around? But they were never quiet or subtle.
Swiveling his head, he noticed that another officer was sitting back against the stairs' entranceway with a gun held limply in his hands. His eyes looked dazed and empty. His mouth twitched ever so slightly, mouthing words only he could understand.
Questions about what happened raced inside the thief's head. The more he looked around, the more of Nakamori's men he saw who were in a similarly entranced state. Quite a few of them were bleeding out from wounds inflicted by each other.
"Kaitou Kid, you really should have seen what had happened here. They made quite a good show!" A deep silky voice filled with contempt rang out from somewhere.
Having no idea where the enemy could be at, Kid went back to the center where the glass dome was at. He recognized that voice. "What did you do to them, Spider?"
It was a rhetorical question. From their previous encounter, Kid knew that Spider was an expert illusionist and was capable of trapping the minds of people through hypnosis. Once ensnared, it was hard to break out and the assassin could even manipulate their bodies to do his bidding.
"The usual. Nothing special." A figure rose out of hiding above the stairways. Three red dots flashed menacingly. "Although, I am a man of the arts so I do like to experiment." Lifting a closed hand, he showed two long needles held tightly between his knuckles. They gleamed sharply against the moonlight.
With Kid's iconic carefree tone, the thief replied. "Needles? My, I wouldn't call those experimental since I do remember seeing you use them before."
Spider was unfazed by Kid's remark. The smirk that showed beneath the white beak-like protrusion of his mask remained carved on his face. He jumped down from his perch and rushed towards Kid, closing in the distance in a flash.
Seeing the assassin run at him armed with the needles, Kid could only think of one fastest escape route. With a flick of the hand, he produced one of his special glass breaking miniature firecrackers and tossed it behind him. As soon as he heard the sound of glass shattering, he jumped backwards.
At the very last second, Spider extended his arm and Kid felt pain shoot through his side.
Landing with a backroll, the thief got up to his feet as soon as he could. Bits of glass that had been caught up by his movement fell off of him. Thankfully, none of it had cut him.
The number of task force members had thinned out considerably. Of the few that remained, they had scrambled away in panic when a section of the glass dome above their heads suddenly broke with a loud bang. Meanwhile, the Inspector stood his ground and watched with mouth agape as Kaitou Kid reappeared by dropping from outside in a shower of glass.
Following his target, Spider dropped down into the building and landed on his feet like a cat.
Even though Kid stood in front of him with his back turned, Nakamori's attention was drawn by the assassin's presence. "Wha- Who are you?!"
With horror, Hakuba yelled out from behind the inspector. "Spider?! Get back, Inspector! He's dangerous!"
"Ah, Hakuba Saguru. It's good to meet you again." He let a grin split his face. The triple red eyes glowed eerily.
"Inspector Nakamori! Didn't you hear me?!" Hakuba grabbed the man's shoulder with a rough hand.
Kid looked back and saw the reason for Nakamori's lack of response. "Forget it, Detective. He's caught up in the spider's web."
The inspector had stared too long into the hypnotic lights of Spider's mask and was currently trapped in his own inner world. While still shaken up by Kid and Spider's sudden entrance, one of the officers called for backup with his radio.
A sigh of false disappointment escaped the assassin's lips. "Seems like my time here is over, however-" Pulling two more needles out from a pouch, he readied them to be thrown. "Enjoy this parting gift!"
With a malicious sneer, Spider threw the needles while aiming at Nakamori and Hakuba. He swiftly put down a smoke bomb of his own to make his escape immediately afterward.
Knowing that the inspector was in no condition to move, Kid reached out an arm to shield the man. One of the needles sank into his forearm while the other one grazed Nakamori's temple and flew past Hakuba, bouncing off against the lobby wall behind them.
The pain from the scratch snapped the inspector out of the hypnotic daze. "Ow! Son of a…"
Kid looked at his right arm. Although it looked gruesome, the pain wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. Two needles also stuck out of his side right above his hip bone. He wanted to yank them out but that would risk leaving DNA evidence behind.
Turning around, Kid glanced at Inspector Nakamori and Hakuba. Apart from a small scratch they looked to be fine, so he decided that it was best if he also left before more of the task force members showed up. With his usual flourish, Kid tipped his hat. "This was an eventful night! Check the rooftop for your men, my dear inspector. Do be more careful next time!" With a poof of pink smoke, the thief was gone.
After rappelling down the side of the building, Kid pulled out the three needles and removed his costume. He stuffed everything inside a sports bag and put on a plain outfit. His wounds no longer stung despite the needles being nearly the size of his hands. Not even the ache that should be present from tumbling back into the hotel from the rooftop affected him. Perhaps it was the adrenaline still pumping through his system.
His planned route was a small detour from his house, just in case someone was following him. Due to the timing of the heist, he had yet to do a routine check of his birds. After he did that, Kaito just wanted to sleep. He'll do the gem check tomorrow night. Preparation for the next heist will take place after a well deserved break of a few days.
As he walked, he felt his wounded arm becoming strangely numb and heavy over time. Annoyed, Kaito looked at it again.
His eyes widened when saw a weird dark blob hanging off of him. He quickly used his other hand to rub it off, but he felt nothing of that sort. His forearm felt normal under his touch, albeit warm and sticky. What's happening?
Kaito looked down at his side where Spider had stabbed him with the needles. The same tar-like substance had appeared, clinging to his waist like a tumor. Same as before, his hands felt nothing when he reached to touch it. Warm and wet.
He tried his best to swallow the trembling concern rising in his throat. He must be seeing things…especially after such a terrible few days with barely enough sleep.
The sound of his own breathing became louder, almost deafening the surrounding city noise.
Closing his eyes, Kaito drew in deep breaths to calm himself. There was no need to panic. What would his father and Jii think if they saw him like that?
For now, just concentrate on getting back home…
The numbness on his side spread until he couldn't quite feel his core anymore. Even his right arm felt hard to lift. That was definitely not good.
He was struggling to find a possible cause for what's going on. Think!
Did he hurt himself and he didn't remember? His mind swam back to the heist. Did Snake shoot him? No. That's not it.
The floor was tilting underneath his feet. Propping himself up on the side of the alleyway, Kaito regained his balance.
Blood dripped down from somewhere.
Needles…That's right! He got stabbed by…someone. The name and face was currently slipping out of his mind.
Why is the sky above him so bright? He shielded his eyes with a shaky hand. Kaito could feel sweat running down his face.
Now that he looked at himself again, he realized that the black shapeless blob from his arm had spread on his entire body. He extended his arm and could only see a collection of dark wobbly shapes.
Why was he seeing this? Kaito pressed his hands over his face but he couldn't feel them, as if they were made of air.
His peripheral vision was being taken over by the same dark spots and no amount of blinking could get rid of them.
He knew he was hyperventilating but he couldn't stop it. It felt like he was suffocating from being unable to feel his chest taking in air.
Kaito was losing himself.
He felt his body dissolve into wobbly shapes vaguely resembling a human body. His mind spun in place, trying to piece together a coherent string of thought.
He had no thoughts with no body.
Amidst the sheer panic and fear, he let out a cry.
He needed to hear himself make even the most basic of sounds, just to make sure that he still existed.
…
But he heard nothing.