SO glad I'm redoing this...bye-bye run-on sentences!
"This plan is absolutely insane. I can't believe that you've convinced me to go along with this, Ku-id," snapped Shinichi darkly through the tight black nylon mask currently covering his nose and the lower half of his face. He was also desperately trying to hold onto his current position on the shoulders of a very rapidly moving Kuroba Kaito, Shinichi pulling the other boy's hair at times unintentionally when Kaito made a particularly hard turn or a less than graceful landing after a leap due to the wildly swinging extra weight currently on his shoulders. It's a good thing I don't actually need the glasses I wear- they probably would have fallen off by now at this rate.
They were currently headed at this rather rapid, running pace towards their current objective using the rooftops in the area to help avoid observation. Thier target was a secure storage facility where another of the statues was being held, the strange alliance having stumbled onto that information thanks to a television documentary on the robbery/killing that had aired earlier in the day. Need to be more careful of that, can't get in the habit of calling him by his name...Now Shinichi had a better understanding of Hattori's occasional near slip-ups with his own pseudonym; keeping two names for the same person straight was harder than it seemed after all.
The colored contacts Kaito had found for him to wear during this heist were causing Shinichi's eyes to water slightly as well, though thankfully they didn't seem to be actually obstructing his vision. (Shinichi hadn't dared to or even wanted to ask where Kaito managed to get a hold of a pair of child-sized cosmetic brown contact lenses, and it was actually probably better that he didn't ever know.) On top of that, the small light blonde boy's style wig that Kaito had put in place over Shinichi's hair with expert, practiced hands was also slightly itchy where the wig cap didn't quite cover his scalp. 'You'll get used to it'? Easy for you to say since you wear this stuff almost all the time, Kuroba. The worst part for Shinichi was that he couldn't itch his head at all because he'd likely fall off the thief's shoulders if he let go with either of his hands. It was like near-torture, but torture he'd somewhat reluctantly agreed to once the full plan of attack had been explained.
Well, what else can we do about this whole thing, really? Shinchi had resigned himself to the situation awhile ago. It's not like he can just put on his Kid uniform, march into police headquarters, proclaim his innocence and try and explain things. He'd be thrown in prison immediately and without question. He also can't pull any heists at all as Kaitou Kid until his name is cleared for this murder- this heist included, thanks to how recognizable his uniform is and how much it stands out at night. I suppose that 'borrowing' this statue for an examination is the quickest way to try and figure out just what's going on with these things, although I don't know how I feel about the legalities involved here...
What Shinichi did know for a fact was that his strong, deeply ingrained senses of both rightness and justice, along with his desire to discover the truth, wouldn't let him rest until the real thief and murderer was arrested and Kaitou Kid's name very publicly cleared after that arrest- at least cleared as that of a murderer. And well, if that meant having Kid guide him through a heist or two or even aiding and abetting the master thief on occasion while they worked towards the truth in this increasingly strange case...so be it. Him being a thief in the first place is a whole other subject, one that we're going to have a chat about after this whole mess is cleared up...
The thief had somehow managed to turn the tables on Heiji and himself after the two had explained their original plan to have Kaitou Kid distract the very nosy Hakuba Saguru through setting up a fake heist. Kaito had very quickly pointed out that there was an actual heist that was probably more important and useful- one that they could use to get Hakuba's concentration back where it belonged if the heist was successful, thanks to the information it would likely provide. Well, Jii-chan and I went and cased that place where the statue they mentioned on the news is being stored earlier today. Granted we don't have much prep time at all and their security setup is fairly well done, but there's a sealed skylight window up on the northwest corner of their roof that's always unguarded, probably due to its very small size. No adult could ever squeeze in that thing, but that light's juuuuuuuuuust about right for a small kid to crawl through. Shinichi had immediately recognized the smirk following that statement after Kaito had turned to him as one that meant nothing but trouble. I'd feel too guilty about asking an actual kid to do this, but I think you're a special exception- right, tantei-kun?
"How else are we going to get to the bottom of what's going on with these things quickly enough to prevent more possible deaths? At least we know exactly where this statue is and that it hasn't been stolen yet. And we're not stealing it, we're just borrowing it for a few days for research purposes and then returning it, get it right!" replied Kaito airily through huffed breaths as they continued their approach to the facility. His deep green eyes provided via colored contacts were twinkling mischievously as a trademark Kaitou Kid grin began a slow creep from the center of his mouth outwards but didn't show due to Kaito's own black mask stretched across his face. "I'm just hoping we can beat this other jerk to the punch this time," he continued as he made one of the final leaps, the one that would place them on a rooftop that was directly across from the roof of their target facility itself. "I don't like that people are even thinking that I killed someone. This bastard is single-handedly ruining my reputation and I don't intend to let that continue." The last sentence was said in a serious, cold tone that made Shinichi wonder if there wasn't something more laying behind it besides the inconvenience that Kaito was currently enduring.
"You two almost ready and in position to do this thing?" came Heiji's voice faintly a few seconds later through the 2-way radio that Shinichi was currently carrying strapped onto his waist. "Konsuke-ojisan and I can't keep these guards distracted forever ya know, and they seem to be catchin' on that it's just fireworks." This referred to the hastily decided upon method that was currently being employed to prevent the guards from returning to their posts, namely setting off small fireworks or firecrackers at five-minute intervals at very random locations all around the vicinity of the storage center and causing the guards to go after people shooting guns that weren't really there.
"We're making the last jump now," replied Shinichi with a press of the button before letting go and hanging on firmly as Kaito ran, then made the final leap that placed them onto the roof that had been their quest all along.
"Here we are," said Kaito cheerfully as he took Shinichi down off of his shoulders. "I may carry you around in a backpack next time if there is a next time- my scalp can't possibly take another round of that abuse," the thief groaned in mock hurt as he rubbed his head very thoroughly while Shinichi gave him a dark glower.
"Very funny," Shinichi snorted -like HELL you'll ever be stuffing me into a damn backpack!- before beginning to look around the roof and spying what he figured was the skylight that Kaito had been referring to. "Is that it?" he inquired while raising his hand and pointing at the bump in the roof.
"That would be the one," replied Kaito in a chipper tone as he walked over to the skylight and began pulling out several small tools from his belt, ready to slowly unstick the skylight. "Jii and I already checked, they don't even have this light wired into the security system judging by the plans we 'borrowed' from their internal security website. Not too smart. Of course, neither was using plain old Scotch tape to seal this light up," he chuckled as he pulled out a small Exacto knife and sliced through the tape quickly. "I suppose I can consider this as providing them some free lessons in securing their building properly. Now to open this thing up and get you in, these things can be difficult sometimes depending on the type of latch configuration..."
"Guys, we have company. And I don't mean the guards over here tailing Hattori and I right now," came Jii's voice firmly from Kaito's own radio, tension and fear seeping through in his tone. "It looks like our real thief has decided to make his move on this statue tonight too- probably saw the same report we did. We just found three of the patrolman unconscious over here in a heap, and I can guarantee you that it wasn't us that did that to them."
"Shit! We have to hurry then! Thanks Jii," replied Kaito, quickly removing his hand from the reply button before he began furiously working at the skylight, not caring if he did any damage or made any noise now. He finally managed to thread a string through and grab the latch that was on the other side and swing the skylight open after five stress-filled minutes. "Alright, there we go. I'll lower you down real slowly, you want to go to the left then make the first two rights," Kaito muttered as he pulled out the rigging to lower Shinichi down with. "That second right will put you in front of the room, that's when the stuff I put in your pouch will come in handy." This sentence was finished as Shinichi finished putting the rigging on and after making sure that Kaito had the other end of the rope firmly in hand, Shinichi slowly climbed down and began attempting to squeeze through the now-opened skylight.
Jeez, what a tight fit...No wonder he said you'd need a kid for this...well, a kid-sized body at least. Shinichi finally managed to fully extricate himself from the light after a few moments of effort, even managing to keep the wig relatively in place in the process, then finding himself suspended about ten feet above the ground with the only thing keeping him afloat the effort of the thief on the other end. You know, if I had a time machine and went back to tell myself that I'd be doing all this crazy stuff like breaking and entering and that I'd actually be working with Kaitou Kid of all people to solve some murders, I would probably call myself crazy and not believe me... Shinichi then realized that sizing up the territory down below before he gave Kaito the signal to lower him would probably be a really good idea.
"Let me down, slowly," came Shinichi's voice through the two-way radio after about twenty seconds of silence from everyone. "I think I just saw our thief go by. A completely unarmed, beltless guard wearing an untucked uniform shirt, uniform pants that look at least two sizes too big and dirty tennis shoes just headed right towards the statue's room. I brought my knockout dart luckily, I hope I get to use it."
"Alright," replied Kaito as he slowly began lowing the shrunken tantei down, praising himself mentally for having remembered to bring gloves to avoid rope burn. "Just tell me if you need me to stop or slow down. And be careful, even if you look like a kid the guy probably won't hesitate to shoot if you get in his way."
"Yeah, I know. Keep going, speed it up a bit, I don't want that guy beating us to the statue. I'm about five feet from the ground now."
Suddenly, the rope went completely taut for a moment, then there was a lot of slack- too much slack, Kaito realized with a pang of panic after a couple of moments.
"You OK in there? It felt like you just jumped out of the harness" he finally asked into the radio, willing to risk the contact to try and see if Kudo was alright.
Silence was the only reply.