Disclaimer: Detective Conan © Aoyama Gosho. RavenShooter and I own nothing except this story.

A/N: Hello again! So sorry for the lateness! Me and RavenShooter are busy with our school and college live, so there, 1 month without update. My mother's death make me kinda down too T,T.

Special thanks to yukari-desu and Enji86, and people who add this story to fav list and story alert! Love you all! XD

Sorry if there's any mistake like grammar, tenses, etc. English is not my native language.

Hope you enjoy this chapter ^^

Our Battle For a New Life

By: RavenShooter

Aizawa Li Syaoran Vessalius

CHAPTER 3- Jealousy

"Here's your room Conan-kun."

Jodie swung open the metal door and stepped aside to allow me in. I walked into the room, taking note of the prison-like features. There was a small slit on the wall, near the high ceiling so it was impossible for me to reach it. From that tiny slit that goes around the room, light poured into the bare room that consists of only a bed and a small table and chair. The bed covers were grey and its bed stand was metal just like the circular metal table and chair. The floor was tiled, the wall was of a dirty grey cement and there was a huge glass window that faced into the corridor. The room was no doubt a prison or at most a holding room.

"Sorry about the conditions Conan-kun," Jodie said sheepishly, "It was kind of last minute so we can't get better quarters for you."

"It's fine," I replied, dumping my backpack on the bed. It creaked at the slight weight and I grimaced slightly.

"We'll clean this room up for you," Jodie offered, "We can get a new bed and curtains to cover up that huge window that's used for observation."

"That'll be nice," I answered gratefully, knowing that I would not like to be observed like a test subject.

"No problem."

I smiled at her and she returned the smile cautiously before indicating that I should follow her. Falling into step behind her, we brisk walked out of the holding area and back to the first floor. She led me through the busy lobby and I watched every single person warily, not wanting to be caught off guard. Then, she whispered to me to hold my head high and not look so paranoid. I nodded slightly and tried my best not to look so afraid but I had a feeling that I was being watched closely.

"So where are we going now?" I asked her, trying to distract myself from the uncomfortable feeling I had.

"We're going to find out what are your strengths," she replied, pulling me into the lift as the doors were closing.

"Strengths?"

"That's right. That is the first part of your training. Finding out your strengths."

"So everyone," Jodie announced to the room at large, "As you know, this is Conan from Japan and he is here to help us bring down the Organization! Let us all work together!"

Murmurs filled the room and I felt hundreds of eyes on me. I shifted, not wanting such attention so I looked everywhere except into those eyes. This training room was just a plain room with a long glass table in the middle with office chairs. From the room, there was a spiral staircase that went through both the floor and the ceiling, showing that there were other training rooms connected to this room. I was impatient for something to happen. I had waited too long and I can't wait any longer.

"Buzz…Buzz…"

I stared at Jodie, attracted by the sound of her cell phone vibrating. She hurriedly fished out her phone from the pockets of her tight jeans and she gave everyone a warning look which quietened them.

When they went silent, she pressed the 'Answer' button and raised it to her ears:

"Yes sir."

Sir, I thought, most probably her boss.

"Yes, we are all safe in the headquarters sir."

"No sir, I have not started any kind of test or training yet."

"I am positive he'll be a great help Sir."

"What?"

What's going on? I thought, staring at Jodie, What's going on?

"But sir-!"

Silence. Jodie fell silent and her eyes were down casted to the floor.

"Yes sir," she said after a few minutes in a monotonous voice, "I will do as you asked."

She stopped the conversation and looked at me squarely in the eye. "I'm sorry Conan," she said, "I need to go. The boss called me and he said to leave you with the training officers."

"With the training officers?"

"Them," she replied, nodding to the people inside the room, "They'll be in charge of today's training."

Arching an eyebrow at her, I realised that there was more to her leaving that meets the eye. She was signalling at me to be careful and I gave her a subtle nod to acknowledge the warning. She turned on her heel and said loudly, "Then I'm off then! See ya when I get back! Good luck Conan!"

With that, she rushed out of the room, leaving me completely alone in the room. After staring at the door for a few seconds to make myself believe that she was really gone, I turned to face the rest of the people in the room. They were now watching me very intently, their emotions not hidden very well. I could feel their suspicion, hatred and curiosity blatantly pointed at me. I felt like an exotic animal trapped in a cage that was the centre of all the attention. Remembering Jodie's advice, I raised my chin and met their eyes evenly, giving them a cold look each in return.

A woman sitting on one of the many office chairs around the glass table suddenly giggled. I focused my coldness at her and the others looked at her wonderingly.

The woman, dressed in slightly provocative clothes, looked at me, amused. "Well, we have to depend on a kid for help now?" she stated, her tone mocking and displeasing to me, "The FBI had not fallen so low that we require assistance from a kid."

Her emphasis on the word 'kid' just riled me up. I was not a kid. Eventhough I looked like any other ten year old kid, I am twenty years old in my mentality and maturity and I had proved myself to be more useful than most of the FBI agents here. I was acknowledged as an important help in the police force in Japan and I was seen by the FBI agents that were located in Japan before as a valuable asset despite my age. I was no kid even if I looked like one.

That woman continued, "I had not heard any wonderful, heroic stories about you just yet. All I heard was stories of your skills that every agent here has. And you are just very lucky that's all. You're not as great as how Starling sees you."

"If you are so great, why not show us something that no one here would be able to do?"

I bit my bottom lip in anger, mad that she was provoking me. She was giving me a smile that should be only given to kids. I was no kid and I was not going to be treated like one. I had helped the FBI so much and now I was being treated like a child and some sort of joke. I could not accept this at all. Despite my anger heightening every minute due to the giggles that had spread around the room, I reined in my outburst and just continued looking coolly at them, making my face seem as uncaring as possible.

The woman looked unfazed under my calm, pointed stare at her. She stood up and brushed the front of her extraordinarily tight and short skirt before saying, "Follow me" which everyone did as she walked up to the stairs and climbed it. I waited until everyone was ahead of me before following behind them, not wanting to be caught in between such hostile adults. I climbed it, keeping my eyes on their backs and maintaining a bit of distance between us. I did not want to be caught off guard if they suddenly come up with a surprise attack.

Once I reached the next level, I realised it was just another corridor leading to many other rooms. I carefully continued tailing them as they led me down this narrow corridor. There were no windows on this level and the walls were of a sickly grey that was illuminated by the bare light bulbs that hung from the white ceiling. Footsteps echoed around as we walked hurriedly on the tiled floor over to our destination. I tried to figure out where we were going but there was nothing that gave me the slightest clue.

"We're here."

I stopped when everyone stopped in front of a solid metal door that was near the end of the corridor. The woman who remained ahead of all pushed open the door and strode in, leading everyone in. I followed tentatively, half expecting a bunch of torture equipment in the room.

There were no torture equipment, much to my relief but instead, the room itself was a shooting range. With some pistols and head gears to block out the sound of the shot, the room was prepared for shooting practices. The room was long but nearly three quarters of it was cut off from the door due to the long line of counters a few feet away from the wall. There were dividers in between the counters and at the restricted area, there were already a few sheets of human shaped targets moving around from the machines that were attached on the ceiling that dragged these targets around.

I watched the targets and looked at the woman who was now smirking at me. She gestured with her head to the target and mouthed, "Go."

I glared at her for a while before walking over to the different pistols arranged neatly on the nearest counter. The guns ranged from the basic Glock 22 Pistol that most FBI agents carry to the Springfield Professional Model (PC9111 and PC9111LR) pistols that SWAT teams carry. I ran my fingers over the cool metal of the guns, deliberately taking my time choosing a pistol to use and showcase my talents in shooting. I felt the tension and anticipation building behind me but I did not care. They wanted a show and I would give them one. I need the FBI's help and that includes the stuck-up people behind me. The only one to receive their help was to show them that I was just as good as them or perhaps better. If they know where my ability stands, they would respect me as one of them.

Grabbing a Glock 23 that was my preference over the Glock 22 due to my current small size, I slammed the cartridge of batteries into the magazine and clicked off the safety. Without placing on the head phones to block out the noise, I began to shoot at the moving targets without warning the rest to put on their head gear. I held the Glock in my right hand, using my left hand to grab another one, easily loading it with bullets before raising it up to head level to continue shooting the targets. I did not care about the ringing in my ears, nor did I care about the guns heating up precariously in my hands, nearly burning my flesh. I cared only to impress the whimpering adults behind me who were overcome with ringing in their ears.

After firing twelve shots from each gun, I stopped and released the almost-empty cartridges from the magazines, allowing them to fall to the counter. I placed the Glock 23s back to their respective positions before looking up to inspect my result.

I fired twenty four bullets and only twelve targets were shot. However, each target had two bullet holes. One in the centre of the head and one in the chest, slightly to the left so it was exactly where the heart should be. Each of my targets looked exactly the same, with two bullet holes in the two places that would guarantee a human's death if a bullet went through it.

Smiling at my success, I turned around to enjoy the shocked expressions of the agents. Their hands were still pressed to their ears, most probably hurting from all the explosions the guns created when I fired them. Their eyes were wide open, staring at the targets with gaping mouths. Strangled sounds escaped from some of their mouths as they took in my masterpieces. I could see disbelief and horror in their eyes and somehow, I felt glad that I was much better than they expected. Hopefully, they would accept me as part as the FBI.

"Hmph, this is nothing. Some other agents could do the same."

Spinning to face the woman who looked slightly impressed but not as much as the rest, I glared at her, challenging her. She was getting on my nerves. She was not smirking so much anymore but she was still giving me that mocking look. I felt the fire within me blazing; I never felt such anger at anyone except the Organization for such a long time. She could look so nonchalant of my skills that surely surpassed many. I could bet my life that she was not as good as she thinks she is. I gritted my teeth when I thought about working with her. It was a sure nightmare.

She pouted her lips slightly and continued, "You have to do something that no one else here could. That would prove your usefulness. If you can do what everyone can, which is shooting, then we have not so much use for you at all."

I shot her a look that should have killed her on the spot if looks could kill. But since it did not, she just looked at me with her scornful eyes that just made me want to best her. But what could I do that was something that no one else could be as good as me in? I looked at some of the agents, thinking hard. I stared at one guy particularly who stood at the back. He was dressed sloppily in his suit and tie and he was looking around warily as though he was watching out for something. His left hand was circled around his right wrist, rubbing it gently. His eyes were red but it was not due to some sort of sickness. He lacked sleep and he was sweating even when the air-conditioner was probably close to 17 degree Celsius. When he locked his eyes to mine, he glared at me, daring me to continue staring at him. I continued to look at him, the gears in my head whirring. It was then when I realised what I was best at. It was not at shooting and it was not at protecting the ones I love.

It was deducting.

I walked over to the sweating man and he watched me, his eyes telling me to go away which of course I did not. Once I was close enough, I held out my hand and introduced myself, "Hello, my name is Conan. Who are you Sir?"

The man took my hand gingerly and I clasped my other hand on his wrist, which surprised him but he thought nothing of it. I shook his hand with both my hands and I then said, "You're taking drugs aren't you?"

The room was filled with laughter and I heard someone said, "No way! Agent Woodman is one of the best agents we have! You're dreaming kid!"

Shocked, the man pulled his hand away from mine and he spat out, "No I am not! Where did you get that idea?"

Taking note that everyone else was watching both of us, I continued, ignoring the fact that everyone was still giggling, "You are sweating even when it is as cold as a refrigerator in here. Your eyes are red which indicate lack of sleep and your pulse is beating hard and fast, just like a hammer. Your palms are cold and clammy. This all points to you taking drugs."

He spluttered some words that I could not catch but I continued anyway. "You're taking drugs because your wife left you right?"

"My wife and I are perfectly fine and we are leaving under the same roof!" the man shouted, saliva flying everywhere.

"Nope, you're lying," I replied calmly which was enough to shut the man up together with the rest, "Your right finger ring have an indentation of a ring on it which indicates that you are married but the lack of a ring there showed that you have taken it out, most likely with force due to the slight scars around your joint in the middle of your finger. You have not shaved for quite some time and your hair is a mess. You're breaking apart and this is because your wife left you."

"I am right, am I not?"

The man stared at me wordlessly and silence fell in the room. He gaped at me, blinking hard. He did not say anything and I was even surer of my deduction than I was before. I met his gaze and made my eyes as hard and cold as possible in order to scare him slightly, which it did. The audience to my deduction show began to mutter and they were all whispering questions to one another.

Finally, the man turned on his heel and raced to the door. I watched him rush out of the door and said, "Is anyone going to chase after him?"

A scuffle was heard behind me and a large man ran out of the room to pursue the agent who had broken a law. I turned around to face the rest who was staring at me in wonder. I glanced at the woman and was satisfied when I saw her looking at me with some of her arrogance broken. I smirked at her, glad to know that I had made her feel that I was someone who would help.

"Well," I said, breaking the tension and silence of the shooting arena, "Did I prove my usefulness?"

There was no answer and just like before, I took silence as a 'yes'.

"Why is everyone so silent?"

I turned on my office chair and grinned at Jodie who stood at the doorway of the room where she left me to deal with the agents. She was looking around, slightly amused by the tense atmosphere and death-like silence. The agents were standing or sitting around, avoiding each other's gaze. The woman who had made me so mad was sitting as far away as she could from me and I knew she was probably shooting daggers at me with her eyes. Well, not like I cared anyway.

I smiled at Jodie who returned the smile. "Hey!" I greeted her, "It's nothing. Everyone here is just tired that's all."

"I see," she replied, her tone humorous. "So did you pass the training?"

I smirked at her and she had her answer.

Finish! What do you think, guys? If you find some mistakes, we apologized. Oh, maybe you remember Conan's new name from before. Conan's new name is Hida Minoru but that is only used in public and in the presence of unknown people but since the FBI knows him already from the stories about him and such, he can use the name Conan in the FBI building.

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