Chapter 2: "Jim's" first case. (Harley)

Kudo and I walked to a grassy area in a park near Dr. Agasa's house where we planned to test out the new gadgets that Agasa had given me and so that Kudo could teach me how to use them in case I needed to. Agasa had briefly gone over the basics with me, but Conan had actually mastered using many of the gadgets that I now had, so he planned on teaching me how to use them.

"First and foremost," began Kudo,"You should learn how to use your gadgets in a combat situation."

"I'm fine in combat," I complained,"I'm as trained in Kendo as you are in soccer."

"Yeah, but you're not in an adult's body, so therefore an adult with any strength would beat you in a fight no matter how trained you are."

"I was also given a sword that with the press of a button enhances the strength of my arms."

"You'll still be beat at any range."

"Prove it." I ran at Kudo from a good fifteen feet away, and in two swift motions of his arm, a soccer ball came out of his belt, and then his leg flew out sending the ball right into my head, all went black.

When I woke up, I was disarmed of all of my gadgets and was at Kudo's mercy.

"You have more than one gadget," Kudo laughed, then pressed a button on his wristwatch preparing it to fire."

"You got me," I said annoyed.

Kudo simply chuckled then disarmed his wristwatch and helped me up,"Why didn't you calculate the situation, you knew we were at range enough for me to prepare my attack, yet you still rushed in, hoping to defeat me with your kendo, using your wristwatch simply would have been a better choice," the boy taunted.

"I thought that you expected me to use the wristwatch and would misjudge your attack because of that," I muttered,"A shot from the wristwatch is lazy combat anyway, a free victory if you hit in the right location."

"Same with a gun," he said,"The men in black don't care if shooting you once is enough, they'll shoot you again and again and again."

"You have a better aim with a gun then anyone I know so I have no idea why you complain about a gun being lazy combat."

"You know what is lazy combat?" he then asked chuckling.

"What?" I asked wondering if this would be serious or a joke at my expense.

"Walking up behind your opponent, hitting them overhead with a metal bar, then feeding them a toxin," he said into my ear in an annoyed manner.

"We should have noticed them." I said sadly,"To give them a little credit, they are quite sneaky."

"You should not talk of these matters in public," I turned my head as I heard the dull voice of Vi.

"Nobody could be listening," Kudo said,"We are in an open field with no people within a hundred meters, and no listening devices in the immediate area."

"Besides," I continued,"Lip readers would be too far away, and no cameras are focused on us."

"You should not be too sure," said Vi,"as you said, the organization is sneaky, and they will plant cameras and listening devices where nosey detectives like you two can't find them."

"So that's what they think of us," I asked,"just nosey detectives?"

Vi stared directly into my eyes,"Eight months ago, Gin and Vodka returned to my lab, "I tested the APTX 4869 on some nosey kid, they called him Kudo," Gin told me."

"Where is their base?" I asked.

"I don't know, they moved it after they burned down my lab."

"HELLO!" we heard a yell from across the field as Amy ran towards us, George and Mitch at her side."

"Why do you three keep talking in private without us?" Mitch asked annoyed,"It's almost like you are keeping a major secret from us."

"Why would we do that?" I asked,"Friends."

"We just met you Jim," George said,"Yet you act like you've known Conan almost as long as us."

I turned to Conan and Vi questioningly to their heads shaking,"no" frantically.

"We have our secrets," I responded to George and Mitch,"And you have yours, but I reckon you should stay out of ours, they lead to dark places, do you hear me."

The kids looked frightened,"What do you mean?" asked Amy,"Have you guys been going out on cases without us."

"No," said Vi,"He was just mistreated by his mean Aunt, and now mistrusts everyone, and believes everyone has dark secrets, right Jim?"

"Uhh," I replied,"Yeah."

"Conan, Jim!" I heard a female yell across the field,"Come on, we've got to go on a case with dad!"

"Can we come!" I heard the three other kids shriek."

"Yeah," Rachel said,"Sure."

"I guess I'll come to keep you in line then," Vi said, angrily eyeing me."

Conan, Vi and I ran across the field together to meet Rachel at the road where we all squeezed into a car with Richard.

"I thought we would just bring Conan and Jim along," said Richard half suffocated,"This car would be squeezed enough with you and Conan."

"Yeah well, they all wanted to come," Rachel said annoyed.

"So what's the case about?" Conan asked Richard enthusiastically.

"Some guy saw these two men in trenchcoats, then later his wife disappeared, or so he thought, but it turns out his wife had been turned into a child, it's weird, almost sounds like a prank or something."

Vi and Conan looked at each other intently and nodded their heads.

"That's weird," said Conan,"That a grown woman turned into a little kid, it probably is just a joke, worth the pay to check it out though."

"I've told you not to play detective, kid!" Richard's yell echoed across the car with the sound of his fist coming down on top of Conan's head.

Suddenly the car pulled up to the location that we were supposed to be at, and the husband who had called Richard walked up to him, and who appeared to be a little girl at her side, I turned to her and nodded sadly even though I felt Conan tugging me away via the back of my shirt.

"Sir, please believe me," the man said to Richard desperately,"The men in black came to my door asking to see my wife, I refused, then the next day my wife was gone and I had to flee from my burning house, the burned house, as you see, is right behind me."

Vi and Conan pulled the man's wife aside, and away from everyone else's earshot.

"You need to hide your identity," Vi said to the woman sternly.

"They'll kill all of your friends and family," Conan continued.

"How do you know this?" asked the woman.

"The organization is a dangerous group, and that is all that we are willing to explain." said Vi,"Now, you need to come up with an alias, and you also need to make sure that your husband keeps this a secret, same with Richard because once the word gets out that you are actually, well, you, your friends will be tortured and killed just because they are connected to you."

"Detective Jimmy Kudo?" she guessed, pointing at Conan.

"No," he said.

"Then how do you know what is going on?"

"I figured this out because I have heard of this happening to poor people like you, a cure is in the works, but is currently incomplete."

"I know it's you, you are Jimmy Kudo, yes, this is why you disappeared eight months ago?"

"Yes," he said,"But if you tell anyone."

Vi finished Kudo's sentence,"I will kill you by myself."

"Got it," the woman said sadly,"I'm Sara Renita, they called me Margarita, but now I will go as Rey Borris."

"If you were Margarita," said Vi,"Then why did they go after you."

"I found a file about… Yes I believe it was you, what they did to your sister, and you, and I went looking for you, planning to help you escape their watchful eyes, but they found out."

"This smells fishy," I warned Conan and Vi warningly.

"How did they further my research on the APTX 4869?" asked Vi curiously.

"They made it so that the original side effect is even less common, they want it as a death weapon, they don't want want it as a way to turn their enemies into children, then hunt them down later, I also found a way to scan people affected by the apotoxin from up to a hundred meters away, I deleted the data on it when I left, and only one scanner was able to be produced, last I saw it, Gin was using it. Also, I think that the original side effect's chance was decreased, I mean obviously it worked, but it can kills much more often."

"I know why they made it to kill," began Kudo,"They lost track of Vi and I, and were therefore never able to mark us a dead, which naturally created problems for them, and now they are going to keep losing targets, but now they have that scanner to find us, right now there are only five of us, as far as I know, and let's hope no more"

"That's not good," replied Sara,"I also read that people in this form get sick easier due to their immune systems going into a sort of overdrive mode trying to fight the Apotoxin."

"Yes," said Vi,"But that can be good as Jimmy Kudo found out that drinking hard alcohol while ill in this form works as a temporary cure."

"A temporary cure," the woman said,"I thought you said one was being developed."

"An actual cure is being developed."

"Conan!" called Rachel,"Jimmy, Vi, come over here, Dad is going to make his deduction."

"The culprit is you, Mr. Renita!" called out Richard,"Your wife made you angry, so you murdered her in a house fire, then adopted an orphan who you are forcing to act like her for this case!"

"Sir you have no evidence that I committed arson and murder, also, there would be adoption files!"

"Goodnight," I heard Conan whisper as he hid behind a box, and fired his wristwatch,"No," Conan continued in Richard's voice,"I'm sorry for that joke, I do that a lot, but your wife did actually turn into a child, there is no doubt about it, and no matter how magical or unnatural it seems, you are in serious danger, for the men in black who did this to her will come back to kill you, her, and everyone you know and love, with that I recommend you and your wife not only go into hiding, but you hide your and your wife's identities, I would keep this case secret from the police at all costs, if you ever see a man in black who looks like a part of their organization, call me."

"Thank you sir," Mr. Renita and his wife ran off together, promising to go into hiding, and Richard woke up confused.