Chapter 6

Shinichi followed Hakuba into the display room. They'd had to go past three checkpoints just to get there which included an abhorrent amount of face pulling. Whose idea was it to try and rip off someone's face to see if they're wearing a mask!? There are easier ways to check!

"Bwahahahahaha!" A mustached man cackled. "With this trap, there's no way Kaitou KID can escape this time! Enjoy your last hour of freedom, KID!"

"Nakamori-Keibu," Hakuba called out, walking towards the inspector. "I see you're as jubilant as ever."

"Tsk, nosy English brat… is this the expert you were talking about?" Nakamori glared at Shinichi who had no idea if he should be offended or not. He was called an expert... but that tone…

"Yes, Keibu. This is Lupin-kun, from school. He's a leading expert on gentlemen thieves and will hopefully prove useful to catching Kaitou KID."

"An expert?" Looking down, Shinichi saw… himself. As a kid. With glasses. He glanced at Hakuba. Was he seeing this? Apparently so, since Hakuba was looking directly at the kid. In fact, Hakuba didn't look surprised at all. A little warning would have been nice. What's with all of these doppelgängers!? "How are you an expert, niisan?" the boy continued.

"I guess that one way to describe it," Shinichi answered. "I was raised by thieves." The boy's eyes widened behind his thick glasses as Shinichi crouched down to be eye-to-eye with him. Damn, the kid even had his cowlick. How was this even possible!? "The name's Arsène Lupin the fourth. What's your name, kiddo?"

"Conan Kudo, Tantei-san!"

He laughed at the enthusiastic reply and ruffled Conan's hair. The kid pouted. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Conan-kun. I look forward to working with you to catch this Kaitou KID."

Hakuba cut it. "Conan-kun is actually the detective who's come the closest to catching KID. The newspapers call him the KID Killer."

Shinichi nodded. Newspapers? That means he should be able to skirt past the blocks on his laptop. Newspapers counted as scholarly sources, right? And it wouldn't be odd for him to look up a child he just met, especially one that looked so similarly to him. "Then tonight should be interesting. Shall we get to the reason why I'm here?"

When Hakuba had told him about Kaitou KID a few nights ago, he hadn't been impressed. Compared to some of the heists Dad had pulled off, KID sounded like… well, a kid. Sure, he was clever, but all thieves were. The only special thing about him was his magic and even then Shinichi was sure he could find someone better, like Gunter Von Goldberg II. Shinichi had never seen any of his shows, but had heard his illusions were the best in the world.

Still, something about Kaitou KID intrigued him. Maybe it was the 10 year hiatus that no one had an explanation to. Maybe it was the ever looming mystery why KID felt familiar to him. Either way, Shinichi was fascinated. Fascinated enough to do what he'd never done before and actively assist the police against a fellow thief.

He could feel his ancestor twisting in his grave at the thought.

Good. Shinichi never liked the idea of following tradition.

They walked over to Nakamori-Keibu. "Keibu? Perhaps you could go over the heist plan for Lupin-kun?"

Nakamori narrowed his eyes and tried to pinch Shinichi's cheek again. He swatted the hand away. "Do you have to do that every time!? It's not even that affective a method; you'd only need a strong adhesive. It's easier and less painful to check for a wig—" He pulled his hair and ignored the dull ache. "—which I'm not wearing. Can we get on with this now?"

"S-Sure." Nakamori looked cowed enough, but both Hakuba and Conan were side-eyeing him. Shinichi rolled his eyes. "This time, we arranged a laser trap, designed to go off when case is tampered with. The lasers only appear for several meters around the case, but our analysis has determined that KID doesn't have any device or trick that can move him that far. If he touches any of the lasers, he'll be electrocuted!"

Well, he sounded way too happy about that… Shinichi looked across the room where the night's prize, the Red Royal, was secured. The large ruby sat in the center of its silver tiara, surrounded by diamonds. "Have you checked to make sure the case hasn't been altered with?"

"Of course! It was the first thing we did!"

So it was probably tampered with after they secured it… "I can think of three different ways he can get the Red Royal, six if he's not averse to property damage," he announced.

Smoke started the fill the room as laughter echoed. "For shame, Lupin-kun! To think, the prince of thieves helping his enemies! Does your father know about this?"

Shinichi barred his teeth. Damn, he wished he had a gun. At least then he wouldn't feel so defenseless! "My father doesn't really care what I do, which shows how much you know! You shouldn't get into the affairs of others, Kaitou KID!"

"Ah, but it's such a waste of talent for your skills to be used on police work." KID was still nowhere to be seen, but the smoke was beginning to clear now. "You should really consider taking up the family business, if only so we could meet more often!"

"Nakamori-Keibu!" One of the officers cried out. "The Red Royal! It's gone!"

"WHAT!?" Nakamori pushed through the crowd, everyone scurrying up to see the missing gem. "HE COULDN'T HAVE JUST GRABBED IT—"

"Wait, the lasers!"

Hakuba's cry went unheeded as someone grabbed the case and a field of lasers activated around most the officers in the building. Shinichi blinked, but had no time to analysis as several green pellets shot towards him. He dove to the side, but Hakuba and Conan weren't so lucky. The pellets burst on contact, covering the two in sticky, green goo that held them in place.

Shinichi was already running, ignoring Hakuba's yells to stay where he was. The roof. There were no extra officers in the room and Hakuba had told him of KID's habit of looking at his gems through moonlight; add those with KID's infamous hang glider and the best place for him to go was the roof. Sides burning, Shinichi raced up the stairs like a shot, his heart pounding in his ears. Without knowing, a breathless smile had appeared on his face.

He burst onto the roof. KID was waiting for him. "You're a lot faster than you look," he said. "I'll have to take that into account next time."

KID raised an eyebrow. "Next time? You want to come back?"

"Eh." Shinichi shrugged. "High school and restricted movements can only be so entertaining."

"Oh, I can make this more entertaining for you, if that's what you need…"

They started to circle each other. "Are… are you trying to flirt with me?" He was sure, but KID's face looked similar to Auntie's when she was doing something lewd. Was this something thieves did with each other, flirt for the hell of it? Papa had never mentioned anything about it, but it would explain at lot of Dad's actions over the years.

"Why are you making it sound like a bad thing? It doesn't have to be a bad thing."

"You're like 40!"

Without warning, KID was in Shinichi's face and the thief whirled him around. Shinichi got a good look at what was under that hat and it definitely wasn't a forty year old. Warm breath brushed over his ear. "Are you sure?" Before Shinichi could process, KID was gone and Shinichi was handcuffed to the roof's railing. He tugged at it in vain and sighed. The night couldn't get worse.

Until the Interpol helicopter showed up, carting Gramps screaming at the top of his lungs.