The heist was held in Beika, practically in Kudo's back yard. Saguru was less familiar with Beika's museums although due to Suzuki Jirokichi's obsession with challenging Kid, he had spent time in the Beika area before. Once upon a time it would have felt like stepping into a well versed role, returning to a Kid heist like this. Tonight, however, it only emphasized how much he didn't fit in here anymore. There were police officers from all over Japan, drawn together for the sole purpose of outsmarting Kid. Saguru hung back from the chaos. He could make out Kudo examining Kid's target on a stand, and Aoko as she coordinated the groups of officers, making sure everyone knew what their part was and minimizing the interdepartmental conflicts.

He could even make out Hattori Heiji. He'd never liked the man much due to personality clashes, but he couldn't deny that he was a good detective in his own right. Hattori was with a group of officers most likely brought in from Osaka, arguing with a woman over something written on a paper he held. There were other detectives here as well, a man he vaguely remembered from a few heists, the infamous Sleeping Kogoro who looked too old to be caught up in all of this and almost as out of place as Saguru felt, a woman with short hair, and possibly more.

The reporters at least couldn't get too close. Aoko had kicked them outside the police perimeter half an hour ago because they were disrupting the preparations too much. They'd pounced on Saguru when he arrived, so at least he could be sure that the school would have proof he'd attended the heist.

"Hakuba-san," a voice said. Kudo approached, pulling Saguru out of his thoughts.

"Kudo-san." Kudo held out his hand for a Western handshake and Saguru met it. Kudo's grip was firm and his gaze as sharp as Saguru could remember from the brief moments the two of them had met before.

"It's been a long time," Kudo said. He looked back over the museum. Saguru followed his gaze. There were a multitude of cameras and sensors that Saguru knew each had separate power grids and backup generators attached. The target itself, an almost unassuming uncut ruby set into a Mesopotamian necklace, had been surrounded by traps and an electrified pedestal. Everything that could be tried against Kid probably had been done before; they'd taken to doubling or tripling the methods that had tripped him up or slowed him down in the past. There were rotating patrols that stuck with their source division so that there would be no unknown faces among them and have the best cooperation. Searchlights covered the sky and a thorough search perimeter kept people from crossing into the museum. Saguru knew that Aoko even had officers stationed in nearby buildings in the hopes of discouraging any potential snipers. Outside the perimeter were hordes of Kid fans. Not even the increased dangers of heists over the years had discouraged their enthusiasm.

"What do you think?" Kudo said.

"I think Kid is going to have to work hard to reach his prize," Saguru said. "Although it seems unwise to have so many people from around Japan attending; Kid has always thrived through impersonations, with so many unfamiliar faces it will be much easier for him to get away with wearing someone's face."

"That was Nakamori-keibu's opinion as well," Kudo said. It took a beat for Saguru to realize that he meant Aoko and not her father, the dissonance of the title sitting oddly in his mind even if he knew that she was the inspector now. It was also odd that she went by Nakamori in her police work when Saguru was fairly certain she had kept Kuroba's last name, if the name plate on her house was anything to go by.

There was a loud yell and Saguru frowned at Hattori as he and the woman he'd been arguing with got in a shouting match.

Kudo sighed. "I'm not sure why they're both here."

"Both? Hattori I am familiar with," Saguru said, dry tone implying he would rather he wasn't, "but not whoever he is speaking with."

"Hattori Kazuha," Kudo said, equally dry, but with none of the distaste Saguru held. Kudo was friends with Hattori if Saguru remembered correctly… "She's Heiji's wife. They're on the outs again at the moment though." Saguru raised an eyebrow and Kudo shrugged. "They're hot and cold sort of people."

"…I see." That couldn't be healthy.

"It works for them." Kudo nodded toward where the detectives were starting to congregate around Aoko. "Join in the pre-heist analysis?"

"Of course."

Kudo gave him a friendly smile. "Good to have you, even if it's not the best circumstances."

Saguru felt a bit bad for all those times he'd thought uncharitable thoughts about Kudo in the past. He wasn't too bad.

The detective huddle had more people than Saguru was used to, including Hattori though thankfully he'd lowered the volume on his argument to barely audible hisses and grumbles at the edge of the group. Aoko looked around the circle and Saguru felt her eyes land on him. She frowned deeper than she had already been frowning. "Hakuba."

"Nakamori-keibu," he said in a neutral voice; this was not the time for familiarity.

She gave him another hard stare, no doubt over his broken promise, before continuing her sweep of the people around her.

"As all of you know, tonight's target is Tiamut's Hope. This is the first time this thing's being showcased to the world, so let's do our best to keep it safe." A Mesopotamian necklace of uncertain age and origins found recently in a Greek dig, of all places. Its name was callback to both Greek and Mesopotamian mythology due to the almost cult-like setup that had been found around the stone and the single body buried with it. Saguru wasn't surprised that it was Kuroba's target; it fit too well under his parameters. "You all know what we have set up to stop Kid, now I want you to turn your heads toward what ways he'd get past it."

"There's too many people," Hattori said at once, and it was off from there, one weakness pointed out and a plan made to cover it, pin balling back and forth.

Saguru held back any observations he had. Most of them were covered by the others anyway, but he it would feel like a betrayal to Kuroba to actively help plan how to catch him these days. There was discussion of how Kid would escape if he got the stone, but despite many good points made, Saguru couldn't shake the feeling that Kuroba would choose the glider today. The wind was steady but it was a cloudy night. All the more perfect to blend in to once he was airborne. It had been years since he last attended a heist though. Saguru didn't know what to expect. Kuroba always strove to do the unexpected. How he had kept people guessing for almost two decades was a testament to his brilliance, and that the combined best minds around Saguru now hadn't caught him only emphasized that fact.

The discussion broke with Aoko sending people off to different posts to best handle the problem areas they'd identified. When she got to Saguru, she stopped again.

"I promised to stay out of heists," Saguru said. "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't being forced into it. I am retired after all."

"You better keep the rest of your promise," Aoko said shortly. Kuroba remained hers to catch; it wouldn't be Saguru who interfered with that. "I understand that you didn't have much choice being here, but if you're not getting involved, go watch the cameras and stay out of the way. That should be enough to give a show of joining in."

"I will do that then." He nodded to her and watched her center herself. He could only imagine what it must be like to throw herself into hunting the man she once loved—and still did even if the hurt and anger were stronger—month after month. Saguru couldn't have done it.

It was a bit weird to be staring at black and white monitors instead of being in the thick of things. It wasn't unfamiliar; he'd had plenty of cases where he's spent hours in surveillance, but for a Kid heist? He'd always been as close to the action as possible. If not near the target, then in Kid's path waiting to trip him up. Now he hoped Kid would escape. Looking at the sheer number of things being used against him, it seemed like it would take a small miracle for that to be possible. But he really truly hoped.

The clock ticked down toward Kid's stated time. Saguru watched the monitors for any sign of something out of the ordinary. Kudo was near the target. Hattori on the second floor of the museum near a stairwell. Aoko on the main floor with the target. One of the unknown detectives out near the outer perimeter— Saguru frowned at the monitor. He'd almost thought he saw… Yes, there it was again, a familiar shape on the edge of the screen, barely sliding past the camera's near blind spots. He waited for it to appear again and this time the figure couldn't avoid the camera as well.

It was like high school all over again, Kuroba's appearance and all. Only it was the wrong Kuroba on the screen.

*o*o*

Aoko was going to pitch a fit if she realized her son had successfully gotten past the police perimeter and into the heist proper. Actually, Kuroba would probably join her.

Saguru slid away from the monitors, calculating the route Takumi would most likely take. The only person who noticed him leave was the officer guarding the door. He'd have to point out that security flaw to Aoko at some point; hyper focus on the monitors was open invitation for Kid to infiltrate the room.

Saguru caught up to Takumi right as he was trying to get into the museum, lock picks in hand as he took advantage of a brief gap in the guard rotations.

"You know," Saguru said, "the camera covers this spot and the door has three different alarms armed at various points along it."

Takumi dropped the picks, slamming back against the door. "Holy shit when did you get there?!"

"Just moments after you got here from the looks of it." Saguru picked up the dropped picks. All handmade from bits of scrap metal and wires. Impressive. Also something Aoko no doubt would disapprove of on principle. "What are you doing here, Takumi-kun?"

Takumi straightened, shoulder squaring. The stubborn jut of his jaw was all Aoko even if he still resembled Kuroba more than not. "I wanted to watch the heist."

"I'm sure you're perfectly capable of watching the heist from behind the police line. Or better yet, on home on your TV."

"I want to see it firsthand!" Takumi waved a hand at the building behind him. "Kaa-san has spent half my life chasing after Kid and I've never even gotten to see what goes on behind the scenes. For some reason this 200th heist has both Kaa-san and Tou-san acting more stressed than normal and I want to know why."

"So you came to the heist as clearly that isn't going to have any negative repercussions if you got caught," Saguru said.

Takumi flushed, hands balling into fists and teeth gritted together. "Look, I get it, it's stupid and impulsive. I still want to know!"

Saguru shook his head, glancing at his wrist watch. Barely any time now… "Regardless of what you want, you can't be here. If Aoko sees you on those tapes, she's going to have a meltdown and she can't afford to be distracted right now."

"Maybe I could help? I mean I got this far didn't I? And Kid's a showman; maybe a magician's perspective—"

Saguru caught Takumi's wrist and started pulling. Takumi was too startled to drag his heels in, stumbling after Saguru wide eyed. "That wouldn't work," Saguru said, keeping calm. There was too big of a gap, the next police group should have been there, but they weren't. Kid or someone else? "Your father was brought on a few times as a consultant for that reason and no progress was made. No offense, but he is more of a showman than you are." Takumi sputtered, trying to pull away now, but Saguru's grip was firm. "You got this far because something has happened to the guard pattern and luck. We're not pushing that luck any further."

Takumi yanked hard, almost dragging Saguru to a stop. "It's not like I'm going after Kid! I just want to see what a heist is like!"

Saguru stopped. "Look, heists are not safe. No matter what hype they get, the injury rate increases every year. I know for a fact that your parents have kept you as far from this as possible for your own safety."

"I know the incident rates! That's all the more reason why—"

They froze as all lights in the area cut out. Saguru counted, waiting for the backup generators. A few lights flickered and died again, only one or two in the distance running as they should. "The generators were tampered with…" Kid or not Kid? Most likely Kid, it fit his tactics. "Come on, we need to go. The heist is in progress."

"What? Already?" Takumi hopped a few steps after Saguru. As they spoke, Kuroba was probably already in the target room. They rounded a corner and Takumi flinched as they found the missing guard rotation sprawled across the ground. That had to be on camera unless those were tampered too… "Are they…?"

"Unconscious," Saguru said, sparing them a once over. He could see their chests rise and fall as they breathed, not a mark on them. "They'll wake up in a bit with nothing worse than a small headache."

"Is that…is that normal?"

"For a heist? Yes."

Takumi's eyes were wide as they neared the police barricade. There was no hiding that they were there now, not when Saguru wasn't trying to. An officer on duty noticed and moved to wave them down, but at that moment a loud boom and crackle came from behind them.

Behind them, the museum became a mass of fireworks, whizzing and exploding in multicolored lights. It was the perfect amount of dramatic that the public no doubt expected. In the sky, one of the search lights projected Kid's caricature against the clouds much like something out of Batman.

The crowd cheered.

Everything was light and roars of sound until it was suddenly a roaring rumble and smoke, and the cheers were turning to screams. Saguru looked over his shoulder and saw a chunk missing from the corner of the museum. Not Kid. Definitely not Kid. Takumi wrenched around, trying to run toward the smoke as there was another explosion, but Saguru caught him around the waist.

"Kaa-san is in there!" Takumi shrieked, struggling.

"She has enough to worry about without worrying about you!" Saguru shouted back.

The police perimeter was broken in the chaos, Kid's fans panicking, and it was easy to get swallowed by the mass of people, elbows and pressing bodies pushing them further and further from the museum. Saguru lost track of where they were. Everything was flashes of scared faces and Kid caricatured clothing and keeping a hold on Takumi through it all.

The mess parted and they were dumped into an alleyway. The communicator Saguru got earlier in the night was going off on his hip spouting snippets of things in a jumble that made it clear that Kid hadn't made his escape just yet even in all the chaos. He could hear Aoko's voice in that jumble though, so he was reassured she was alright. Takumi slumped against the wall, wrist still in Saguru's death grip, pale and shaken. Saguru let go. There was going to be a nasty bruise on his wrist later. "Are you okay?" Saguru asked.

Takumi stared back blankly.

The communicator went off again, this time a clear statement that Kid was on the roof. Aoko's voice. "Aoko sounds like she's fine," Saguru said.

"Did Kid blow up the museum?" Takumi asked.

"I doubt it. It's not his method of operation." Saguru scanned the sky. If Kid had been driven to the roof then it was only a matter of time until he escaped via glider. He moved down the alley toward more open roads; these were closed off around here from traffic due to the heist, but eventually they'd come to somewhere Saguru could call a cab and get them all back home safe. Takumi trailed after him like Saguru was the only thing that made sense at the moment and losing him would be losing the last tie to reality. Behind them was still a mass of panicked bodies and sirens. There were no more explosions at least.

They crossed two blocks before Saguru saw the triangular blur of Kid's glider. It was barely visible in the cloud cover and residual smoke, but it was there. "Kid is escaping headed north," Saguru said into the communicator.

"Unable to pursue," came the response, Aoko's voice a frustrated growl. "Too busy containing the mess here."

Saguru planned to reply that it would be too late by the time they got out of the building anyway when the glider wobbled. It flew a few more feet before nose diving sharply. "Shit." Kid was down. Kid was down probably injured, possibly dead, with the majority of the police force containing a small riot of hysterical panic. Saguru tossed the communicator away as it kept spouting updates from different police teams. Keeping it could lead everyone back to Kid and he wasn't going to do that to Kuroba. Kid had fallen two, three blocks away at most.

Let him be alive, Saguru thought.