Hakuba nearly let out a loud groan of exasperation when he arrived at the heist location. Without his knowledge nor the inspector's, the peridot ring display was moved to the top floor. In the back of his mind, he knew that it was likely Kid's doing. When Inspector Nakamori arrived that evening, he scrambled to rearrange the position of the guards around the hotel. To make matters worse, no helicopter could be called in due to the lack of preparation time.

Even then, Hakuba could see that any air surveillance was pointless since the surrounding areas couldn't offer much space for Kid to fly in or out of the heist. The thief will be coming by blending in with the guards or the public audience. But the detective couldn't discount the possibility that Kid would also hop in from the adjacent buildings' rooftops, so he suggested that Nakamori positioned some of his men up on the roof of the hotel.

Since the elevators' power was shut off, everyone had to climb the stairs in order to reach the tenth story. Fortunately, the Kid Task Force and the detective arrived early enough to recover their stamina by the time the heist was soon to begin. Equipment was either carried up with them by the officers or by pulleys they set up at windows that morning.

After one last lookover of the gem by the curator, Nakamori was allowed to step near the display. The man was occupying himself by checking in with the officers assigned to stand guard at the various floors below. Hakuba looked at his watch. Only one minute left, yet there was no sign of Kid being around. Every person on the current floor carried an angry red pinch mark on their cheeks. The doors to the stairs were heavily guarded and locked. Even the vents, a favorite travel route for the thief, were thoroughly searched.

Although the police couldn't find Kid and were growing frustrated, Hakuba himself felt quite excited. There was nothing more boring than predictability. Understanding that he wouldn't find the thief anywhere on the top floor, he stood idly to conserve his energy. But if there was any habit Hakuba knew the thief had, it was his rampant use of power outages. No one was immune to having habits, especially criminals.

True to his modus operandi, the lights were suddenly shut off.

"Tch. A power outage. Someone get the emergency lights!" As Nakamori was standing right next to him, Hakuba had to cover his ears from the volume of the man's voice.

Running around with flashlights, the men headed to their respective spots in case of a situation like this one. However, the Kaitou Kid was also prepared. The task force very soon found out that their generators were tampered with, delaying the return of the electricity. The inspector only raged harder in response.

Mixed with the cacophony, a creaking noise suddenly caught the blond detective's attention. It sounded like a door being forced open. The elevator? But how?

Nakamori was midway through a rant, when Kid's voice suddenly showed up in the darkness. "No need to stress yourself out over the lights, my dear inspector."

A spotlight turned itself on to attract every pair of eyes to the display case, the green-yellow gem underneath the light sparkling. To serve as distraction, a dove flew in and then a smoke bomb was detonated to allow Kid to hop on top of the case with a showman's flair.

"Good evening, gentlemen." The thief's signature grin peeked out from under his pristine top hat.

Before Hakuba could say anything, the inspector was already sending an order for his men to grab the thief. The detective only sighed and shook his head as the spotlight went out. With the darkness at his side, the thief easily made it off with the Whisper of Lady Green. When power was restored, the task force found the case wide open and empty.

The men eyed each other with suspicion. Kid also had the habit of disguising himself as an officer during scuffles like these. At their inspector's command, the men lined up and went through a routine cheek-pulling test. Hakuba was no exception.

Rubbing the sting out of the side of his face, Hakuba started to look around while Inspector Nakamori communicated with the men in the other floors after sending active searching parties throughout the entire building. All reported that Kid wasn't there. Both the inspector and the detective concluded that the thief must have gone to the rooftop.

Pressing on the side button of his radio, Nakamori called out. "Officers on the rooftop, is Kid there?"

They waited for a response. After a few moments of silent static, the inspector and the detective believed that they would receive none. Something was wrong. Did the Kid use a sleep gas bomb on the guards? "Alright, I need four men to follow me to the roof! Make sure tha-"

A loud bang followed by the sound of shattering glass interrupted the inspector. Hakuba watched in shock as a part of the glass dome broke and Kaitou Kid fell through. His shock increased tenfold at the sight of a masked man that landed after the thief in white. It couldn't be-

Spider!

In a way, Hakuba was glad that Kid stood in between the inspector and the assassin. Unaware of the danger, Nakamori stood there and pointed at Spider with an outraged voice. "Wha- Who are you?!"

Urgently, the blond detective tried to warn the inspector. But his words fell on deaf ears as the man was stubborn.

Hearing him yell, Spider looked pleased by the detective being wary of him. "Ah, Hakuba Saguru. It's good to meet you again."

Hakuba felt his skin crawl when Spider turned his gaze towards him. He quickly avoided staring into the red eyes on the assassin's mask. After he tried to pull the inspector further away from the more threatening of the two criminals for a second time, Kid glanced behind his back and pointed out with a calm voice. "Forget it, Detective. He's caught up in his web."

Internally swearing, Hakuba backed off. From the corner of his eyes, he could see that many of the officers were also trapped by the hypnotic light. He silently wished he carried a weapon with him to the heist. Miraculously, one of Nakamori's officers was still conscious and called for reinforcements with a shaky voice. The fact that the inspector was rendered unresponsive must be making the dispersed task force members rush towards their location at lightning speeds.

Spider himself seemed also aware of the incoming party of police officers. "Seems like my time here is over, however-"

The confident smirk on the killer grew as he readied something in his hand. Before Hakuba could understand what he was holding, Spider had already thrown them. "Enjoy this parting gift!"

Kid sidestepped with an outstretched arm while Hakuba ducked his head reflexively. The blond reopened his eyes when he heard something metallic make a dull sound against the wall behind him. A glinty object rolled on the floor, and Hakuba realized upon seeing it that Spider had thrown large needles at them before leaving.

"Ow! Son of a… " Nakamori swore as he woke up from the trance due to something hurting him.

Relieved that the inspector was no longer in the illusionary world, Hakuba turned his attention to Kaitou Kid. It was only a glimpse, but he saw that there was a needle sticking out of the thief's arm. Kid quickly hid it under his cape however. Strangely, the thief moved while keeping one side of him hidden behind the white cloth of his cape.

Without turning around to face them, Kid pulled his hat down and gave his usual smirk. "This was an eventful night! Check the rooftop for your men, my dear inspector. Do be more careful next time!" Activating a smoke capsule, the thief made his exit.

Still feeling groggy from Spider's spell, Inspector Nakamori decided to stay put while he let his men go outside and check the rooftop. In the meantime, Hakuba was still processing what had happened.

Of all things he could expect from a heist, Spider was not the highest on the list. That assassin had tried to kill the thief before but had stopped since. Tonight was the exception. Hakuba could only assume that Spider had resumed his goal of killing Kaitou Kid again.

A voice called out from the entrance of the stairway. "Sir, we need to call for medics! Hatsumoto and Yamawari are critically injured! There are also others who are not responding!"

Hearing that, the inspector immediately jumped into high gears. "What?! How?! It couldn't be Kid! He'd never- Is it that weird man back there?" He turned to the teen detective standing behind him.

Hakuba nodded. "Yes, I'm sure that it must be Spider's doing." Something colored bright red caught his eyes. "Inspector…You're bleeding!"

After looking around himself for injuries, Nakamori then touched his face. "What are you talking about? You have to be… Wha-wha-what is this?!"

The inspector yelled at the sight of his fingers being covered in slick blood. Somehow, the small scratch on his temple was pouring out blood like a waterfall. Red covered the side of his face and neck.

"I can't believe this! I couldn't feel a damned thing after something had nicked my skin. It must have hit a big blood vessel…" He grabbed a paper towel from a reception desk and pressed it on his wound. His other hand went to grab his phone to call for an ambulance.

Something was bothering the detective. Following his instincts, Hakuba walked over to the needle that laid on the ground. Using a handkerchief, he picked it up. He couldn't discern anything with his naked eyes so he wrapped the needle inside the cloth and stored it in a small plastic evidence bag.

A clattering sound made him turn around. Hakuba spotted Nakamori, whose hand had just dropped his phone. "Inspector, are you alright?"

The man blinked at the teen. "Huh?" The inspector then noticed that he had let go of his phone and let it fall. "Oh, my bad." He bent down to pick it up, but then stumbled and fell on his knees.

Concerned by the unusual behavior, Hakuba ran up to him. "Inspector?! Talk to me!"

"It's nothing, just got dizzy… Man…I can barely see. Why is my vision all… splotchy?"

Hakuba's breath stopped for a moment. From the inspector's reaction, he could tell that there was something very wrong going on.

The slurred speech, the lapse in concentration, the vision impairment, pain inhibition, and the excessive bleeding…

There has to be some kind of poison laced on the needles.

"Shit…" When that realization dawned on him, Hakuba quickly spoke as he ran towards the stairs. "Stay right there, Inspector Nakamori! Wait for paramedics and tell them that you've been poisoned."

Barely able to pay attention, the man simply sat down and closed his eyes while keeping his wound pressed. Hakuba had no idea if Nakamori heard him or not.

But that didn't matter to him right now. His thoughts are preoccupied by Kaitou Kid, who had probably received a much higher dose of the poison due to the direct hit from the needle.

If his earlier deduction was correct, then Kid must have escaped by ground. There was no space for his hang glider around the hotel. Trusting his conclusion, Hakuba descended the stairs in such a hurry that he nearly tripped and fell a few times.

After what felt like an hour of turning round and round down the steps, the detective finally landed on the first floor. The crowds were clearing away so it was not as packed as at the start of the heist. He surveyed around for any signs of a person looking unwell. No one.

Swallowing, Hakuba ran outside of the hotel. His eyes darted around the street. Still no signs of anyone who seemed sick. He should feel relieved that there was nobody in sight who looked hurt but he knew that was a false conclusion.

How would he go about finding that thief? If he was Kid and trying to avoid getting his mask ripped away by the officers, he would go to a place where it was empty…

Hakuba's head turned to the alleyway leading into the dark. There was a fence blocking the way as if separating the light from the shadows behind it. Pushing aside all the social rules he had learned, Hakuba grabbed at the chain link fence and began climbing. After a grunt, he made it over with hardly any grace.

Using his phone as a flashlight, the detective began combing through the back alleys. With the tall surrounding buildings sitting so close to one another, barely any light reached the ground. For all he knew, this was a veritable maze. How was he supposed to find Kid like this? It's not like the thief would respond or hear him call out…

"Aaaaaaagh!"

An anguished cry rang out to his left. It sounded male.

"Kid?!" Hakuba immediately bolted towards the direction of the sound. It didn't take long for him to find the thief.

The blond slid into a stop when he saw a figure collapsed on the ground. A few white pigeons were pecking at the fallen person before frightened away once the detective arrived. The first thing that caught Hakuba's eyes was the bright red soaking through the person's right forearm and covering his right hand. The most blood saturated part was exactly where he saw the needle stick out from Kaitout Kid's arm.

Without hesitation, Hakuba kneeled down and tried to reposition the thief to lie on his back. As the detective did so, his eyes widened upon seeing that most of Kid's shirt was deep red and that it was only growing larger with time.

Cursing under his breath, he looked around for something to apply pressure to the source of bleeding. He noticed that there was a sports bag next to Kid. Ripping the zipper open, the detective pulled out a blue button up shirt while ignoring all the other incriminating evidence inside the bag. It was hard to miss the oversized peridot ring resting against the white clothes. But now was not the time to analyze.

Hakuba folded the shirt up and pressed it down against Kid's side with a hand. He dialed for an ambulance with his free hand, but hesitated on pressing the call button. A feeling that sending the thief to a public hospital would be a terrible idea nagged at him.

If Spider had associates, then they could track down Kid by watching out for any incoming patients at clinics and hospitals.

Biting his lower lip, Hakuba called his father. He didn't like relying on familial connections for cases but this was an exception.

"Saguru? Aren't you at a heist? It's unusual for you to call me at this time." There was real worry in the man's voice.

"I'm fine, Father. But I need you to send an ambulance from the police hospital to my location."

"What's your reason, Saguru? If you explain yourself, I'll send one over right now."

The teen clicked his tongue. There was a reason his father was superintendent general. The man was thorough and calm no matter the situation. Hakuba wanted to keep things under tight wraps but this was an emergency and he had no time to waste on worming his way out with excuses.

"I have Kaitou Kid with me. He is in critical condition and needs medical attention now."

A tense silence played out from his phone. For a moment, Hakuba thought that his father would deny his request. And it would be understandable if the superintendent general refused. His fear was lessened when he heard the voice pick up again.

"Alright, done. I've sent a medical crew to your phone's location. They are under orders to not speak nor record anything that they witness. I'll also have an area reserved at the hospital."

Hakuba knew that his father had done him a favor by using his authority to potentially do something illegal. "Thank you, Father. I promise I will explain everything."

"Good. Stay safe, Saguru." With that said, the call ended.

While he waited, the detective finally allowed himself to look at the sickly pale face of the enigmatic thief. Hakuba realized that he could recognize the face and hair.

"Kurokawa Haneji…?"

(A/N: I updated my profile to include my personal thoughts and comments on stuff I'm working on. Again, thanks for the support!)