NOTE*
This particular story will be set in two different parts, possibly three, but definitely two. Enjoy!
Chapter two:
Tales of a Kaitou:
Three birds in a cage Part 1
Kaito groaned. His entire head pounded as though a little man had laid claimed to his skull and was currently beating it with a jackhammer. The pain was so intense, so strong that it hurt to even open his eyes, but the moment he did he wish he hadn't, for more than one reason.
Struggling against the ropes holding his hands and feet together, bound tightly to the point the ropes were cutting into his flesh, he got himself into a sitting position and took a look around the dark room. Wherever he was, he didn't recognize it and he doubted it was a 'friend' that dressed him up like this. The only relieving thing about his situation was that he wasn't in his Kaitou Kid clothes, so it hadn't been someone trying to discover that particular secret. Then again, maybe that made this all the more creepy, because if someone wasn't after Kid…why had they kidnapped him, ordinary Kaito Kuroba?
A groan to his left had him jerking in that direction and he was shocked to see Hakuba lying only a few feet away, blinking in an attempt to get his eyes completely open. His head looked about as good as Kaitos felt, as blood ran down the side, pooling beneath him.
"Hakuba?" he whispered.
The teen groaned again, before looking up, his eyes finally focusing on the person in front of him.
"Kuroba?" he whispered, confused.
"Yeah."
The blonde froze for a moment before sitting up slowly, looking around. His own feet and hands were bound, but the other seemed unfazed with his own predicament as he took a long look at the thief across from him.
"You're bleeding", he whispered.
Kaito rolled his eyes.
"If you haven't noticed Hakuba, you are too."
The blonde detective blinked for a moment before wincing.
"Guess I am", he mumbled glimpsing the puddle of blood beside him where his head had previously laid.
The sound of heavy footsteps had both teens tensing as they watched the door, waiting. It opened with a click before a loud bang followed, indicating whoever it was had just slammed the door open. With the light of the hall and the darkness of the room, they couldn't make out the kidnapper.
"Well, well, the kids are already awake. Well whatever. Make this one feel at home, will you? After all, it's not like you will be leaving anytime soon", the mysterious man stated before walking away, laughing after locking the door back.
The two teens stared in surprise at the third body the man had thrown in with them. Words could hardly express their shock as they made out the small appearance of Conan Edogawa or who Kaito knew to be Shinichi Kudo, shrunken version.
"Edogawa-kun!" Hakuba yelled.
Kaito watched. He wanted to say something, but it dawned on him that only Kid knew Tantei-kun. Kaito Kuroba did not.
"Come on Edogawa-kun, wake up", Hakuba encouraged and finally he was rewarded with a small, pained gasp.
"Easy", stated Kaito before he could stop himself, "take it easy. You have an injury on your head, so you may want to take it slow."
Hakuba glanced at Kuroba before turning his attention once again to the child nearest to him. Said child was currently blinking, trying to achieve consciousness, just as the others had before him.
"W-Where am I?" he whispered, clearly just as confused as the rest of them.
"No idea", muttered Kaito with a sigh.
"Kidnapped", Hakuba stated, sitting back as he watched the child sit himself up, bracing against what appeared to be an old metal desk.
Looking around, Hakuba was intrigued to notice the entire room was filled with what looked to be old, abandoned office furniture. A couple desks, a few chairs, some old lamps and bookcases with a few books. All of it was covered in dust, this obviously told the detective that the place they were currently being held was either abandoned or sparsely used.
"Hakuba Saguru?" Conan whispered in surprise, recognizing the teen beside him.
"Yeah", the blonde nodded, "You okay Edogawa-kun?"
Conan nodded before turning his attention to the other roommate he seemed to have. He stared unblinking at the sight that met him.
"Kudo…Shinichi?" Conan whispered completely baffled and somewhat suspicious.
The teen in question blinked in confusion before recognition lit his eyes, however he quickly hid it behind a mask of neutrality. Had Shinichi not been looking for it, he wouldn't have noticed the look of recognition pass, as it had only been for a mere second.
"Err… I don't know who you were talking too, but my name is Kaito Kuroba."
Shinichi stared at him in disbelief before Hakuba sighed, nodding. The action threw Shinichi off. Hakuba knew him?
"Kuroba is my classmate", confirmed Hakuba.
So there went that angle, thought Shinichi to himself with a frown. It seemed this Kuroba was merely someone who looked a lot like him, rather than someone trying to pass himself off as his original identity.
"I'm…" he started when Kuroba interrupted.
"Conan Edogawa right? Kid killer? I have heard a lot about you!"
Shinichi blinked.
"You…you have?"
"Yeah!"
Hakuba sighed.
"Kaito is something of a Kid fan", he stated, but Shinichi noted in look Hakuba sent Kuroba, there was something more to that sentence.
"Any idea why we have been kidnapped?" Conan asked.
"Nope", Kaito said cheerfully.
The other two ignored him.
"Not yet", commented Hakuba.
Honestly if Hakuba was being truthful, he did have an idea. A couple actually, but he wasn't sure how far off he was or if maybe all of this was a coincidence. He doubted it, but he didn't rule out the unlikely possibility of that in fact being the case they found themselves in.
"I have three theories", he stated to them, "One, someone was watching a Kid Heist and decided to kidnap a select few." He wasn't about to state that the kidnapper might have wanted Kid and his two main threats as some freak's freakish trophy set.
"Two, someone decided randomly to kidnap some boys and we happened to be the ones."
"Unlikely", Conan commented, listening intently.
Hakuba agreed with a nod. He too didn't think that was the case, though in some ways he wish he did.
"Or three…someone wanted the most well-known detectives for his own personal reasons."
"Well-known detectives?" commented Conan with a blank expression, "Are you a detective too?" he asked Kuroba who blinked back.
"No…?" Kuroba whispered, also a bit confused what Hakuba meant.
"Don't you get it? You called Kuroba, Kudo before right? Don't you think if you, Kudo's cousin mistook Kuroba for him, the kidnapper might also?"
The two stared at Hakuba for a moment before they both nodded, each thinking their own contemplations about the reasons the kidnapper might have had in kidnapping them.
"So let's say you are right and the third guess is the correct one, what would he want with us?"
"Hey, better yet, what might happen if he finds out I am not Kudo?" Kaito asked, fearing the answer.
The two detectives were silent for a moment.
"He might kill you", Hakuba finally stated, his eyes serious.
Kaito glanced at Shinichi and noticed he too seemed to agree with that idea. Kuroba gulped and paled, suddenly feeling a bit sick. He really wished now that someone had been after him to get to Kid!
"I won't let that happen Kuroba, okay?" Hakuba stated, suddenly getting into his face, "Let's just focus on calling you Kudo for now and we will worry about the details later. Right now, we should be turning attention to the matter at hand; escape. Any thoughts?"
Kaito noted that Hakuba was asking him too, not just Shinichi.
"Over power him?" Conan suggested.
"We are bound", Hakuba stated, but turned to Kaito, his expression serious, "Any ideas?"
Kaito sighed. Hakuba may suspect he is Kid and while he wouldn't have worried too much about showing a few tricks to him, considering he still wouldn't have evidence, he did not want his littlest and most threatening rival to know he might be Kid. He wouldn't be able to handle two detectives hounding him all day about him possibly being Kaitou Kid.
A sudden idea popped into his mind, making him smile behind his poker face.
"I happen to be an amateur magician", he stated for Shinichi's benefit, "I may be able to try something."
Wiggling his hands, he used one of his dad's old tricks that allowed the body to literally deflate itself enough to get out. The only problem was, deflate was a rather kind term hiding the real word, disfigure. If Kaito could dislocate his thumb and possibly a couple other fingers, he might just be able to escape the tight knots that were literally cutting off his blood supply.
"Almosttttt…got it!" he shouted with a cheer of success before his cheer turned to pained gasp, causing both detectives to narrow their eyes.
"What exactly did you just do?" Hakuba asked, suspiciously.
Kaito ignored the blonde as he grabbed a hold of his other finger and prepared himself, closing his eyes.
"Kuroba-kun?" Shinichi called, but again he ignored them, silencing everything around him but his own breathing as he yanked and felt the bone dislocate from the joint. Grimacing, trying his best not to make too much noise, he felt the ropes loosen. Wiggling his hand back and forth, he smiled to himself as he slipped his hands out and raised them in victory.
The other two blinked before relived expressions crossed their faces.
"Alright, undo my hands", Hakuba stated, turning so Kaito could access his hands better.
"J-Just a second", Kaito whispered, the pain of what he had done consuming him as he held onto his hand, a sharp pain gripping his senses.
"You okay?" Hakuba whispered, concerned.
Kaito opened his eyes, noting that both detectives were staring at him with something akin to worry and concern for his well-being.
"Peachy", he muttered as he turned his attention to Hakuba's bound hands. His fingers hurt, but he ignored them as he undid the ropes, though it took him a few moments.
As soon as Saguru had his hands free, he reached down and began undoing his feet. Kaito watched him before turning to Conan who stared up at him with something Kaito noticed was suspicion and a somewhat awed expression.
"What?" he asked as he reached down and began undoing his ropes.
"You dislocated your own fingers didn't you?" Conan asked, causing Kaito still.
Hakuba who had heard it turned quickly, anger in his eyes.
"You did what?!"
"Quiet Hakuba", Kaito shushed as he glanced at Kudo, "my dad was a magician. I just did what he taught me."
"I see", Conan replied when a sound drew their attention towards the hall.
Hakuba who was the only one completely free, jumped up and hid against the wall, preparing for their 'visitor'. He was utterly shocked when the door opened and it turned out to be a young woman.
"A-Are you victims too?" she asked worriedly.
Conan kept working on his bound feet as Hakuba stepped out, nodding.
"Yeah, we are. Are you?"
Kaito watched her and couldn't help but feel something was off about her. Something felt…wrong. Standing up and stepping closer to Hakuba, he was just about to say as much when the girl suddenly reached out and grabbed him, her hand grabbing a fistful of hair as she brought a sharp blade to the base of his throat.
"Move and he dies."
Hakuba and Conan froze, neither breathe, much less move.
"Father!" she called down the hall, "All is well, you may enter."
The man who entered stared at the scene before a grin split his face.
"Well done daughter", he replied with a smile, "Hakuba Saguru. Edogawa Conan. Kudo Shinichi. Welcome to my humble abode. I am your host, Momoro, but you may call me Doc. This is my daughter, Aria. Your escape was splendid", he stated with a wide grin, clapping his hands together, "Just marvelous. I watched it from my camera and I must say, Kudo-kun…you don't mind if I call you Kudo, do you?" he asked Kuroba who stared at him, not moving with the blade still resting against his throat, "You were just unbelievable wonderful. I knew there was something special about you."
"Oh Azlen!" the man called Doc yelled into the hall.
A gruff, heavy weight man stepped in; a couple other guards following at a distance behind him. He stared at the scene before grabbing a thing of rope and moving to Hakuba first. Saguru flinched, but when Aria pressed the blade further against Kaito's throat causing the thief to gasp a bit in pain, the blade drawing a sliver of blood from the point, he quickly surrendered any attempt at fighting. He was not going to be the reason Kuroba was killed.
With Azlen binding both Hakuba and Conan back up, Kaito knew any chance at escape had decreased exponentially. At least at the moment it had. He was already thinking about the camera and how best to dismantle it when the "Doc" stepped in front of him.
"We welcome you of course, you and your ingenuity, but I can't have you escaping on me just yet. You seem to mean something to these two", he said grinning as he waved at the two detectives behind him, "so I know if your life is in danger, I have nothing to worry about."
Hakuba narrowed his eyes and Conan resisted growling. They both had a very bad feeling. Kaito shared that feeling as he struggled in Aria's arms just as the knife was pulled away, but the doc merely laughed as he drew some sort of injection from his pocket.
"This", he stated, showing the needle to all in the room, "Is a slow acting poison. If you do not escape, I will administer the antidote every hour on the hour. If for some reason I do not, believe me, you will know it. If one of you tries to escape or resists, there will be a punishment, both for you and those with you. This poison can only be slowed with the antidote. Without it, he will have twenty-four hours before he dies. With it, each injection slows the poison by a half hour, giving you around a day and half before he dies if he doesn't miss any of the antidote administrations."
"What exactly do you want?" Hakuba yelled, angry.
"I want fame and glory. I want to be known for my work, for my poisons", the doctor stated, smiling a crazed grin, "I want everyone to know that even the three detectives, Japans rising stars against crime, couldn't stop me. I want to go down in history!"
"Are you going to kill us?" Conan asked.
The man chuckled.
"Kill you? Heavens no, but use you? Definitely. You will all three witness my poisons and from there you may go out and tell others what you have seen. I will be known as the greatest in Japan and nothing, nobody will be able to stop me! and should one of you need to die for the cause to work...well, sacrifices are to be expected."
Hakuba, Conan, and Kaito agreed upon one thing right then. This man was insane and if they knew one thing about insanity, it was that insanity was dangerous. Insanity was often improbability and for the two detectives who liked to say they could predict what a criminals next action might be, this was not an encouraging prospect.
Kaito gasped in pain, wincing as the needle was cruelly forced into his arm.
"Kai-Kudo!" Hakuba shouted. Conan stared in anger.
The stuff felt cold and thick as it rushed through his blood stream. As soon as the poison was emptied into his vein, the doctor yanked the needle out and they shoved him to the floor where Azlen tied his hands and feet, before they all vanished down the hall, the door closing behind them.
"K-Kaito?" Hakuba whispered, making his way the best he could with bound limbs to his friend who laid on the group, in pain.
"I'm okay", he whispered.
"No you're not", Hakuba stated, his eyes narrowing, "but you will be. I give you my word, we will get that antidote. Just hang on, okay?"
Kuroba nodded, his body already beginning to feel a bit odd.
"At least we know the cameras aren't sound recording", Hakuba sated with a sigh, "else they would know Kaito wasn't actually Kudo."
Conan nodded.
"We need to hurry and escape. Who knows what that poison will do to him."
Hakuba nodded as he glanced at his classmate and friend. They needed to hurry.
AUTHORS NOTE*
Continuation soon to come!