Chapter 25

Despite getting his handcuffs off within the first few minutes, Shinichi waited at least an hour before trying to escape his cell. It wouldn't do to escape only to walk right into someone patrolling the hallway. He'd wait until morning, he thought, just to make sure that whoever was on nightshift were exhausted or leaving, then make his escape.

This flew out of his hands when gunshots began echoing through the building.

What was happening!? What luck, though, for this organization to be attacked right after he was kidnapped. Perhaps the police followed them? Or Interpol?

No matter. Shinichi picked the lock, neat and fast like he'd been taught. Taking a steading breath, he pushed open the door.

No one was there. Shinichi smirked. Good.

He only had a vague direction to go in, but he was unmasked when that Vermouth woman took him from the Superintendent General's office to his cell. He knew exactly how many turns it took to get there; all he had to do was reverse engineer the process. And since people were attacking the building, all the higher ups in the organization, like the Superintendent General, would be escaping. Leaving the office unguarded.

Shinichi sprinted through the halls. No one was in this part of the building; had it been evacuated already? All the better for him. It's not like he had any idea what to do if someone did try to stop him.

It took too long yet didn't to find the office. The door was locked—of course, he should have expected that—and Shinichi wasted precious seconds picking the door open before rushing inside.

It was empty, looking nearly the same as when he left only the Superintendent General was gone. Shinichi rushed the desk, bypassing the computer entirely. He didn't have time to waste trying passwords and had nothing to store information on. Paper files were much more useful since he could hide them on his person.

He wanted his file. Sure, any of these files could indict the Superintendent General if he gave them to the police, but he wanted to see his file. The file from his first kidnapping, where he lost his memory. There should be one. If what that man said was true, then Shinichi Kudo—possibly him—was kidnapped in a blackmailing scheme, so there should be some record of it. If he's telling the truth.

His fingers brushed over the file with the date from his kidnapping written on its tab. He read it. Everything seemed to match his memory.

Pressing his lips into a thin line, Shinichi exhaled, closing his eyes. This… this was who he was. Who he had been. He shook with relief. For so long, he'd been ready to curse his birth parents, to condemn them, to get them arrested for abandoning him. But he wasn't abandoned. It felt like a broken arm was finally set after years of being loose.

A loud squeak filled the room as the air duct above him on the wall fell to the ground. Shinichi jumped back. Out popped a brown-haired head, followed by a white suit, tumbling to the ground in a heap. "Ow…" the suit groaned, rubbing his head.

"Kaito?" The head jerked up, revealing Kaito's startled face. "Kaito!" Shinichi leapt at the thief, landing on him roughly, clutching him tightly. "You're… you're alive…" he said breathlessly.

"Shinichi." Arms wrapped around him, fingers digging into his back, afraid to let go. "Shinichi, oh thank God…"

"You're alive… you're alive…" Shinichi shuffled back to look him in the face. "How did you…?"

The thief smirked. "Blood packs. I always wear them over a bullet-proof vest. No matter how many times Snake's shot me, he still hasn't figured it out."

"Ah… ahahaha…" Shinichi ran a hand through his hair and smiled. "It's good to see you again."

He winked. "I know. Now, come on!" Kaito hauled them to their feet. "We need to get out of here."

Kaito tried to pull him towards the exit, but he resisted. "Wait! There's evidence that we're going to need!"

"Evi—You're risking your life for evidence!?"

"Yes!" Free, Shinichi started taking random files from the desk. Who knew which were important? Better take a variety, just in case. "Okay, now, let's—"

The office door opened again. Kaito's face brightened. "Tantei-san!" Hakuba stood in the doorway, visibly disheveled. A gun was holstered at his waist.

Hakuba sighed, shoulders sagging. "Good. I found you both." He gestured for them to come over.

Kaito moved to join him, but Shinichi stepped away. Hakuba's face turned confused. "Lupin?"

"Don't speak to me so familiarly, traitor." Shinichi voice was cold and accusing. Hurt flashed across Hakuba's face. "Did you think I wouldn't find out? After your father was the one who ordered my kidnapping?"

"What do you mean?" Kaito asked.

"Superintendent General Hakuba is a high-ranking official in this organization," he told Kaito. "He's the one who ordered all my kidnappings. This one, the one with Valentine, even the first one." He glared at Hakuba.

"Lupin, please—"

Shinichi cut him off. "Did you know about any of this? Were you involved in your father's plans?"

"No!" Hakuba insisted. "No, I swear, I didn't know about my father's organization until this year."

"Really." Shinichi didn't buy it.

"Shinichi—"

"Not now, Kaito—"

"Shinichi, he's the one who organized this raid."

His eyebrows jumped up. "What?"

"Hakuba is the one who got Interpol, the CIA, and the NPA together and organized this raid. Hell, he even got me and your family in on this."

That was impressive. "I—Hakuba?" He looked back at his friend, who he had wrongly? accused.

"I got in contact with the NPA earlier this year, when I learned about my father's crimes by accident. My connections with the FBI happened later. Both wanted to remove the two of us from the situation entirely, but… I insisted that we stayed." He looked away in shame. "Not only would it be suspicious if we both disappeared, but I… I convinced them that I could feed them information about the organization without my father finding out. I never even considered that my father would desire to use you for some nefarious reason.

"Though, I probably should have guessed." He laughed, self-deprecating. "I've long figured out that he's been using my own skill as a detective to cover up his nefarious deeds. Still, for me to put you in danger, Lupin… it's unforgivable. You have my most sincere apologies."

Oh no. Oh no, what had he… Shinichi bit his lip. He was wrong. He had to own up to it, or…

"Hakuba…" The detective had bowed deeply in his own shame. "I must apologize as well." Hakuba's face fell into shock. "I accused you with only circumstantial evidence and in the outcome, I hurt both of us—"

"Yes, blah blah blah, you're both sorry, you're forgiven—" Kaito interrupted, grabbing both of their hands and dragging them out the door. "If you both forgot, we're in the middle of situation here, can we hurry it up before we all die? You two can apologize when we live."

Shinichi exhaled, glancing at Hakuba. "Yeah, I get agree with that."

Hakuba smiled back at him. "I concur. Let us leave this mess behind us."

And they escaped, without looking back.