A/N: Occurs roughly an hour or two after Conan tripped into a standoff between KID and Snake (Ch. 4, Kidnapped).

Even with Poker Face helping to manage his emotions Kid was finding it difficult not to panic. One of his detectives had been kidnapped by Snake and an unknown party (had Tantei-kun been scared because he recognized them? or had he actually been frightened by the threats?) and Kid had been forced to leave him alone with them. He was almost certain Tantei-kun would not be at the coordinates he'd received, which meant he had to confront Snake again before he could search for the detective (he had no choice really, he couldn't risk searching for Tantei-kun instead of following Snake's orders—with no ideas there's no way Kaito could find and rescue Conan before the deadline and Snake would have no problems acting on his threat).

Landing roughly a block from his destination, Kid cautiously made his way across the rooftops until he reached the large warehouse (so cliché, but this section actually seemed to be in use, which…he's not sure what that said about Snake really) and kept an eye out for anyone guarding the roof as he planned his way in. Finding an acceptable window, Kid swiftly had it open and was swinging down onto the sill before he climbed onto one of the beams supporting the roof. From his space in the rafters he couldn't see anyone waiting on the ground, but there was a dim glow back-lighting some of the crates deeper inside the warehouse. So he crept silently across the beams (and moved carefully to prevent odd shadows on the ceiling) until his math put him a short distance from where the light-source should be before dropping soundlessly to the warehouse floor. He made his way around the last stack of crates—

—saw a gun in his face and barely stifled the instinct to go for a smoke bomb; anything that looked like pulling a weapon would only get him shot (this guy somehow seemed more insanely trigger happy than Snake, which he hadn't thought was possible).

An instant later he was glad he froze, as the man spoke up, "Move and you die, thief." Apparently satisfied with Kid's stillness, the man gave a sinister grin, "Now, you have a choice—you work for us; or your brat dies."

Kid felt the blood drain from his face and forced his voice to stay calm as he questioned, "How do I know you haven't already killed him?"

The grin became impossibly more savage, "The brat is our insurance. You try to go against us; the brat takes your punishment."

Kid swallowed against sudden nausea. When he'd first met Snake and his men he'd been horrified to realize they would heartlessly kill anyone they thought would get in their way, but this—this was so much worse. All he could think was that he hoped Tantei-kun could forgive him, because whatever these men would force him to do, however horrible, Kaito knew he would never forgive himself if he abandoned the tiny detective to this group of monsters.

"Your choice, thief."

He closed his eyes and replied, "It seems I can't refuse your offer of work." There's a hissing sound and a sharp pain in his left shoulder had Kid snapping his eyes open. He looked down at his shoulder to see an ominous looking dart stuck there as the world whirled disconcertingly around him. He barely had time for a mental 'oh, shit' before his limbs collapsed under him and he blacked out.

~KK~

Consciousness returns slowly, in small pieces as his mind groggily registers input from his senses.

It's quiet here.

He's aware of being cold.

His body aches with discomfort.

The air tastes musty and stale.

He hears his own breathing; the steady drum of his heartbeat.

The space he is in smells of dust and disuse.

In the quiet he can hear a distant hum of activity, and there is a droning buzz which is loud in comparison.

His eyelids peel themselves open sluggishly and he sees a dimly lit grey wall.

He's lying on the (uncomfortable) grey floor, at the edge of his vision he sees a thin-looking blanket which he realizes he can feel underneath him.

He can feel the blanket because he isn't wearing his suit, hat, or monocle.

A surge of adrenaline brought him to full alert as he realized whoever had left him here had taken the Kid suit; all his tools were gone, and the room he's in was utterly bare of anything useful. He's not disguised. He's just been rather effectively imprisoned by Snake and his cronies. Kaito was trapped in an unknown location, with no thieving tools or even anything to create a disguise. Even worse, he still had no idea what exactly they wanted him to do. Presumably, they wanted him to go out and steal gems for them (and gods, he wasn't even sure who 'they' were at this point), but he had seen too many unfamiliar faces to believe that he knew everything these monsters wanted him to do for them. He mentally stomped on the panic threatening to take over, but he couldn't help feeling exposed and vulnerable. Gingerly standing, Kaito decided exploring the room more thoroughly might be enough of a distraction to keep him calm.

The room was utterly empty and he couldn't spot any cameras or bugs (nothing visible that he might be able to use later to escape); which left Kaito nothing to do but fret himself to pieces as he waited for someone to check on him. And he still had no idea what had happened to Tantei-kun, or where they were keeping him. If Kaito was being honest with himself, that was probably a large part of his failure to stop the panic. In this situation, not being disguised wasn't that much of a disadvantage. He had been captured as KID, they all knew he was KID, and whatever they wanted, knowing his civilian identity only meant he'd need a more detailed cover if he ever got a chance to grab Tantei-kun and run. Even though Snake had thought he was Toichi, Kid being Kaito instead likely wouldn't make much difference to the assassin. If he was lucky, knowing he was a teenager would make them underestimate him (not that he could count on that). However, without any supplies or even a method of communication he had no way of reassuring himself that he hadn't gotten his smallest critic killed.

He hated feeling this helpless, but as there was no one here to take advantage of his mental state and no sign that there would be anytime soon (probably left him to stew over their threats) he decided to take advantage and let himself freak out for a bit. Panicking mentally probably wasn't great, but Kaito had no information (how had things gotten this out of hand? he must have gotten too used to Snake being predictable) with which to even begin a plan (find Tantei-kun and get out was a distant goal at this point) so really, he might as well get it over with. Maybe by the time someone got here he'd have calmed down enough to be rational and would be able to negotiate somehow so they'd let him see Tantei-kun.

In a last attempt to distract himself he dragged the blanket into a corner, curled under it in an attempt to ward off the chill and propped himself up facing the door, so he'd have as much warning as possible when someone decided to come inside. Even as he let his thoughts of what terrible acts he might be forced to commit (as well as thoughts of Tantei-kun hating him for all of it) run wild through his head, Kaito refused to listen to the terrified voice at the back of his mind that whispered at him that his captors were killers and Tantei-kun could have been badly hurt (don't think about it) to keep him from trying to get away; or Tantei-kun could already be dead (they need him as leverage, hecan'tbedead!).

A/N: ...KID stole the muse. Hopefully he'll return them to Haibara soon.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

As a side note: this chap was almost titled '(don't) panic' but the reference to LotR and Elrond telling the council 'you have only one choice' won because I always found that line ironic.