33: Test of Mettle
The moment that he saw the white-clad thief, the shrunken detective knew that something was wrong. To his consternation, nobody else seemed to notice.
Except for a fellow teenage detective who seemed oddly anxious, continually checking his large gold pocket watch.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The copycat KID announced. The voice, like the white suit, was perfect. So, why did Conan feel that something was off? The gymnastics, the manic grin, the magic tricks… they were all perfectly executed. Maybe that was the problem; this KID was too perfect, his movements too calculated. He wasn't relaxed enough to be the real KID and far too unnatural… especially his eyes. This KID's eyes lacked the mischievous glint and silent laughter of the real KID.
"Welcome to my heist!" The fake said with a smirk.
And then he proceeded to prove Conan's fears true.
"I know… you all thought I wanted to steal this little thing." The KID held up the large lapis lazuli that had been in the case behind him. "Well, you are incorrect!" He tossed the gem to Nakamori-keibu and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"KIDDDD!" The inspector bellowed, clenching his fists in rage.
"That's not KID!" Conan shouted and was surprised to be backed up by the other teen detective, Hakuba Saguru, "he's right, that guy is definitely not KID."
Before anyone could respond, KID appeared in an eruption of anesthetic gas. "I'm better than KID" he gloated, "I'm KID Version Two!" Through the wavering of his consciousness as the sedative took hold, Conan registered being picked up. With the last of his wakeful thought, Conan activated his glasses' tracking device and dropped them to the floor in the hope that someone could use them to find him.
Waking was unpleasant.
Conan was lying on a cold concrete floor and his head was aching from the anesthetic. He breathed deeply for a moment to clear its affects and then took in his surroundings. It was a small room, unusually cold, and dimly lit, with a heavy metal door – kind of like a safe or vault. Or rather, Conan mused, a walk in freezer. It was empty except for a bundle of white cloth across from him.
Curious, Conan moved towards the bundle. A sudden jerk from something around Conan's throat stopped him from getting close. Choking, the shrunken detective realized that he was wearing a collar that was chained to the ceiling. Conan glared at the chain spitefully, but he could already tell that it was beyond his abilities to get it off and the collar was locked by combination rather than key, so he wouldn't have been able to pick it even if he had the right tools.
A movement drew Conan's attention to what he had thought was a large bundle of cloth, which he could now tell was a person.
"Hey!" Conan called softly, "are you okay?"
The other person groaned and wiggled awkwardly to get into a sitting position. Suddenly Conan didn't feel as bitter at being chained like a dog. The other prisoner was not only collared, but was also restrained by a white canvas straightjacket and a pair of handcuffs. He also had a cut over his right eye from which there was a trail of dry blood leading all the way down his neck. "Who are you?" He asked with his words slurring together.
"I'm Conan, Edogawa Conan." Conan said, and the other seemed to perk up a bit.
"A detective, right? I'm Kuroba Kaito." Kaito smiled kindly, or that was probably the intent. With blood all over half his face, messy hair, and the straight jacket he looked more like an asylum inmate.
"How do you know I'm a detective?" Conan asked suspiciously. Kaito chuckled, "I've seen you in the papers, you're part of the Shounen Tantei-dan. You're also the KID-Killer, though honestly I don't really like that title." Conan grimaced, "I don't much like it either. You're a fan of KID then?" Kaito nodded, "yup! I've got to support a fellow magician."
Conan's eyes narrowed in interest, "I had thought that a straightjacket and cuffs was a little overkill, but as a magician you're probably skilled with escapes."
Kaito dipped his head in agreement, "I am, or I would be ordinarily, but I don't think that my concussion accounts for all of the dizziness I'm feeling." Conan frowned, "you think the KID fake drugged you?" Kaito nodded again with a grimace. Conan crossed his arms in thought. "I'm just wondering who he is and why he's kidnapped us." Kaito snorted, "KID-napped, hehehe!"
Conan shot him an unimpressed look and Kaito shrugged sheepishly, "sorry, I think I'm a bit loopy right now. I do know what he is though." Conan blinked, "what do you mean 'what he is'?" Kaito smirked, "he called himself KID v2 when he attacked me, so I think he's another of those robots."
"Great" Conan bemoaned, "a conspiracy theorist."
"No really!" Kaito defended himself quickly, "I probably know more than most people about KID because I'm best friends with Nakamori-keibu's daughter and he talks about it. Apparently a while ago there was some crazy robot KID that the real KID stopped. It ended up in pieces on a rooftop, but because it was such a far-fetched story they withheld the truth from the general public. This is probably another of them."
Conan sighed, "say I believe this… why does it want us then?"
Kaito looked puzzled, "well… what does any insane computer ever want?"
Conan shook his head to clear it, "whatever, we need a plan to get out of here. I left a clue behind when I got taken, so we may already have help on the way, but honestly I'd rather not rely on anyone else." Kaito shifted to test his restraints. "The handcuffs make it tricky, but I could get out of the jacket. For the handcuffs… it would be easiest if you could pick them?"
Conan shook his head ruefully, "I don't have anything to pick them with." Kaito cursed, "and I was thoroughly searched. At least it's unlikely that the robot will be back for a while."
"What makes you say that?"
Kaito laughed, "well, the robot kind of stole my memories to become an even better magician-thief and I… well, I may or may not have fed him a bunch of superhero movies at the forefront of everything else. From that, it's likely that he'll gather a bunch of his 'enemies' since he thinks he's KID and then set up a huge elaborate scheme to kill them all at once, thus giving the heroes a good amount of time to stage an escape while the villain monologues!"
Another unimpressed stare was leveled in Kaito's direction and he grinned unrepentantly. "I guess we'll have to hope you're right" Conan muttered. "Only problem is that you set us in the role of hero, something I most certainly am not."
Kaito closed his eyes for a moment before rising unsteadily to his feet. "Then I guess you'll just have to rely on a magician to do as a magician does…" he twisted and with several loud 'pops' was suddenly free from the handcuffs and the arms of the straightjacket were undone, "to make a miracle!" Kaito finished. Gingerly, he set about unlocking his own collar. A minute later it dropped with a clang to the floor. Using the wall for balance, he then stopped over by Conan and unlocked his collar as well.
Watching his movements, Conan frowned. "You dislocated your thumbs, didn't you." Kaito smiled, looking entirely too cheerful, "yup! I'm lucky I'm so flexible or I would have had to dislocate my shoulder too. I'm thinking of keeping the jacket, it's surprising how reluctant people are to sell one to a teenager!" "Maniac", Conan groused, but lightened up in gratitude as his own collar fell away. Kaito turned to the vault-like door. "It locks on the outside, I have no idea how to open it with so little on me."
Conan knelt down and turned the dials on his shoes. He grinned manically, "leave it to me." With a shout, he ran forward and kicked with all his might. The door shrieked as the metal warped under the blow. A second kick had it crumpling even more. The third kick sent it flying off its hinges.
Victorious, Conan turned to his fellow prisoner, leaning against the wall.
Kaito stared at the door in full-blown shock. As KID he obviously knew what those shoes could do, but as Kaito he wouldn't. He put a hand to his head, "I thought those drugs were wearing off, but I could swear that I just saw a little kid kick down a thick metal door."
Conan rolled his eyes and grabbed Kaito's hand, leading the swaying and dizzy magician through the opening. "Never mind that, we need to go before-" the fake KID dropped down in front of them "-he shows up." Conan's shoulders slumped. "damn it."
"That's not a word a child your age should be using." Kaito and the KID admonished in unison. Conan stared at them, "creepy." Kaito shrugged and blinked rapidly to ward off the lingering nausea from being drugged, "I did say he stole my memories."
The robot tisked, "your precious police are on their way, so unfortunately I'll have to cut this short." In one motion he pulled out the card gun, aimed, and fired. Unfortunately, improved robot or not, the fake KID was up against the real one, and Kaito knew all the quirks of his signature weapon. Predicting the projectile's path, Kaito jerked forward a step and caught the razor-edged card between two fingers. Without pausing, he whipped his hand forward and threw the card back. It imbedded itself in the robot's shoulder, revealing sparking wires and circuitry.
"Dang, I missed." Kaito groused, rubbing his eyes to clear his vision, "everything's a little blurry still." Conan, for his part, was staring in awe. His companion had just managed to catch a deadly playing card and prove that the fake KID was indeed a robot.
The shrunken detective was quickly pulled out of his amazement when the robot, enraged, tackled the unsteady Kaito and clamped one hand around his throat. Charging his shoes, Conan launched a kick in an attempt to free the magician.
It was blocked, and Conan was tossed against a wall – hard –, but the robot sacrificed its remaining good arm. The other arm was still busy trying to crush Kaito's throat. The magician was lucky that the arm was malfunctioning and weaker than before or he would have probably died instantly with his neck snapped. Instead he was left choking and gasping as he was slowly strangled.
Vision tunneling, Kaito desperately tried to find something to use against his attacker. By digging through the pockets of the suit the fake KID was wearing. The only useful thing he managed to get his hands on… was a lighter.
Feeling more faint as the seconds passed, Kaito flicked the lighter on and jammed it into the robot's eye. Growling in anger, the robot put more weight on its arm, ignoring the melting of its latex based skin and its burning top hat and hair. With a last feeble spasm, Kaito fell still and the lighter dropped to the ground.
"KID!" Came a shout and Conan, stunned and winded from his rendezvous with the wall was immensely glad to see Inspector Nakamori and Hakuba Saguru enter the hall. Gun in hand, Ginzo shot three times, forcing the robot to retreat.
The half-Brit teenage detective dropped by his classmate's side as Kaito spluttered, coughed, and heaved in a great lungful of air. "Kuroba!" Hakuba exclaimed, grabbing the magician's shoulders.
The robot hissed, held at bay by the threat of Nakamori's weapon. "At least this one isn't weaponized." The inspector muttered darkly and he shot a last time. With a crash, the robot KID collapsed, a hole in its clockwork brain.
Conan grunted as he stood up. "Is he okay?" The shrunken detective asked in concern, approaching his fellow detective and his (previously) fellow captive. Kaito was unconscious again, but Hakuba nodded, "we got here just in time. I believe you dropped these." He held up Conan's glasses. The faux child snatched them back and put them on, comforted by the familiar disguise.
"The lenses are fake." Hakuba remarked, his eyes piercing. Conan nodded, "it's a personal thing, plus they're useful." Saguru nodded slowly, not entirely buying it. "We'll need you to file a statement and answer some questions." Nakamori-keibu remarked, joining them as a group of paramedics loaded Kaito into an ambulance, "I don't believe Kaito-kun will be up to such things for a while." Conan tilted his head questioningly, "you guys know Kaito-nii-san?" Hakuba grimaced, "he's a schoolmate of mine, along with the inspector's daughter."
Conan's eyes followed after the unconscious magician. "I guess I'll go in the ambulance with them." He said. "Kaito-nii saved me, I want to make sure he's alright." As the shrunken detective traipsed after the medics, he heard Nakamori behind him: "I wonder why the real KID never showed up." Hakuba glanced to Kaito, "maybe he wasn't in a position where he could appear."
The ambulance doors closed.
Gazing down at the teenage magician's lax face, Conan thought over Hakuba's words. Maybe KID couldn't appear because the robot did something to him… if the robot stole KID's memories first…. Conan blinked. Without the blood and if his hair was combed, Kaito would look practically the same as Kudo Shinichi, and he was a magician, and he knew about the robot, and… the list went on.
Conan snorted, shaking his suspicions away. Surely, if Kuroba Kaito were the phantom thief KID, Hakuba would have proved it by now. After all, the half-Brit wasn't a half bad detective.
(WOW! It's so long! Don't worry, Kaito is fine. He'll be quite bruised for a good while and he'll have a sore throat, but his head wound isn't deep and the concussion wasn't that bad… the worst thing for him is that his dislocated thumbs will probably be stiff and sore for a while, making his sleight-of-hand a little slow. Lapis lazuli mean protection and brings one a clear mind. In Egypt, they would bury lapis lazuli with their dead and it was a symbol of truth. I mostly just wanted him in a straightjacket and a friend of mine wanted duplicate Kaitos/KIDs.)