Kogoro took a deep breath and carefully scooted his way closer to the hole, peering inside as best he could. It was a tight squeeze. He would be army crawling most of the way it looked like. Gritting his teeth, he rolled onto his belly, moaning as lightning bolts shot up his legs. He really shouldn't be moving, but the boy was right. The creaking above him only seemed to get more ominous as he strained to hear Shinichi. How long did it take to crawl through a doorway? Unless, the entire hallway on the other side had collapsed as well? Kogoro squinted, trying to see a glimmer of light in the dark opening. Maybe Shinichi was blocking it. Was the boy stuck? Had something collapsed further on? Kogoro's breathing accelerated. "Come on, boya." He muttered.

"I'm clear!" Shinichi's faint voice sounded through the hole. "It's about fifty feet until the space opens up again."

Kogoro grimaced. So part of the hallway had collapsed. He stared down the hole, steeling himself for an uncomfortable trip.

"Ojisan?" Shinichi called.

"I'm coming!" Kogoro called back, spurring himself into action. If he didn't move that boy would only crawl back through to check in on him and it would be better if they both only made this trip once.

Working to keep his legs as still as possible, Kogoro pulled himself into the hole. His breathing quickly grew haggard, his tongue feeling the sting of his teeth whenever he jarred his legs too much. The space was more than narrow, it was claustrophobic. Wires catching in his clothing and hair, shards of concrete jabbing into his arms. His shoulders brushing either side, while the splints seemed to catch on everything little thing; meaning he was constantly having to edge backwards and forward to free himself from whatever they'd gotten stuck on.

How had Shinichi managed to do this just wearing his jacket? The boy had to be a mess of cuts and scrapes now and, Oh Kami. Was the space getting tighter? He could feel the ceiling of the tiny tunnel pressing against his back, bringing back the all too fresh memories of him being trapped earlier. What if the ceiling collapsed on him again! The boy wouldn't be able to get him out by magic strength then. No, Kogoro would be a pancake, flatter than a pancake really. Was that the sound of the ceiling beginning to collapse above him? He couldn't quite hear over his gasps for air.

How had the brat managed to keep crawling through this! Kogoro pressed himself as low to the ground as possible, inching his way forward. He shivered as something cold trickled down his back. Water? Sewage? Gasoline? He remembered smelling it when he'd come to earlier. Was that why Shinichi was anxious to get them both out of here? Had he seen something Kogoro hadn't? Was the place going to explode again?! His fingers scrambled at the rubble as he jerked himself forward away from the cold trickle. Fifty feet. Fifty feet. It hadn't seemed that far, but by Kami, he'd been crawling for a mile already!

"You're almost there, Ojisan. Just a few more feet."

Kogoro jerked, crying out as he slammed his head into a metal pipe above him. Brat! He rubbed the back of his smarting head, cursing under his breath. Not even near him and the boy was still causing him grief.

"Ojisan?" The boy called out once again.

Kogoro growled, lowering his hand. "I'm coming, brat. One of us isn't as skinny as the other." He pulled himself forward, sucking in his stomach in hopes it would make the space feel less tight. It didn't help. But Shinichi's voice sounded close. He had to be almost out.

Shinichi chuckled. "Need to go on a diet, old man?"

Kogoro rolled his eyes. "You got a way to shrink me too, brat?"

"Not anything that isn't incredibly painful." Was his quiet response.

Kogoro winced at the boy's tone. The retort had just slipped out. "I'll pass then. Got enough on my plate already with my legs." He replied, trying to figure out a way to dig himself out of that particular hole. Just exactly how painful was it for the boy to change sizes? He recalled Conan's screams when he'd grown and winced. Okay, it had to be as bad as the boy had said. Extremely painful. Shinichi didn't strike him as the type to scream when he was in pain-well he hadn't even cried when recovering from that bullet to a stomach as Conan, so for him to scream while changing- Kogoro ducked his head, pressing his cheek to the ground as he inched through a tiny gap created from fallen pipes. His scrambling hands met Shinichi's overly warm ones as they clamped around his wrists.

"About time Ojisan." Shinichi stated as he dragged Kogoro from the hole. "Did you actually get stuck?"

Kogoro carefully rolled onto his back, meeting Shinichi's eyes as he rubbed his wrists. Oh, it felt so good to draw in a full breath of air. To be out in the relative open again. "No." He denied a bit too quickly. Not really, he'd gotten out hadn't he! He'd done just fine for not being able to use his legs.

Shinichi raised an eyebrow, his blue eyes standing out on his flushed, grime covered face as he crouched down next to Kogoro, double checking the splints and readjusting the alignment on the right one. Shinichi didn't believe him. Kogoro could tell that much.

"Well, hopefully that's the smallest gap we'll have to go through." The boy said instead of pointing out Kogoro's lie. Again, another change in the boy. He had liked proving himself right before. No matter what the cost.

Kogoro had to fervently agreed on that point though. They just needed to get down to the first floor and out. It shouldn't be too difficult, if the rest of the building was in better condition.

Kogoro raised himself onto his elbows, studying Shinichi. He frowned, noting the boy's hands seemed to tremble a bit more in their work. "You okay, kid?" He grimaced. It was a dumb question. A really dumb question considering their predicament. But Kogoro was right in thinking that the trek through that hole hadn't been easy for Shinichi. There had to be at least a dozen new bleeding cuts on Shinichi's arms and legs. Who knew how many more were on his torso as well with it hidden by his ragged jacket.

"Fine." Shinichi replied with an air of distraction as he retightened each splint.

Kogoro rolled his eyes. "I'm beginning to think you don't know the meaning of that word, boy. You hardly look fine."

"You should look in a mirror."

"If I look as bad as I feel I won't be surprised." Kogoro replied sitting up, reaching out a hand to feel Shinichi's forehead before the boy could pull away. "You're burning up." The brief contact was enough for him to tell that the boy had warmed up drastically in the time it'd taken them both to crawl through the hole.

Shinichi grimaced, rubbing at his forehead where Kogoro had touched him. "I know, but I'm...I'm as fine as I can be until the effects of the pill wear off." He straightened, jerking his head to the stairwell. "Let's get you out of here, Ojisan."

Kogoro glanced to the stairs leading upwards, and frowned, there was something wrong with that image though he couldn't place what, beyond that it was only half there. The outside railing had collapsed, leaving a jagged parody of an actual staircase in place. He turned his focus back to Shinichi, unable to hide his worry. "Can you even carry me now? Up that?" The boy didn't look well at all, his face held a fine sheen of sweat.

Shinichi's eyes flashed. "I carried you this far haven't I?" He asked jutting out his chin in a stubbornly familiar way.

How had Kogoro not pieced together before that Conan was Shinichi? They had the same tenacious streak in their mannerisms. Right. It was because normal people didn't normally shrink.

Kogoro took a breath, pretty sure he was about to waste it. "We can wait here you know. Let you rest for a bit." The boy should be lying down, not using all his energy to get the two of them out of this disaster.

Shinichi shook his head just as Kogoro expected him to. "I'm getting you out, Ojisan." He repeated, his hands clenching.

Yep. No surprises there. Kogoro rolled his eyes, wishing the boy wasn't standing just out of reach so he could knock some sense into him. He reached up, grabbing onto a jutting piece of concrete. "The moment you drop me, boya, I'm making you sit down."

"I'm not going to drop-!"

"Just saying, brat." The moment Shinichi couldn't hold him was the moment they would stop and wait for rescue. That was that. No matter what the brat said. He drew in a steadying breath. "Let's get going before you keel over, Shinichi." He pulled himself to his feet, biting his tongue to keep from crying out as he worked to keep the weight off his more painful right leg. Not that Shinichi let him stand for more than half a second before he was there, again lifting Kogoro into a fireman's carry.

"I got you." He reassured him a bit breathlessly.

But who has you, Shinichi? Kogoro thought, twitching as Shinichi shuffled them to the stairwell. The boy was radiating heat like a furnace now. That wasn't a good sign. It had to not be a good sign. The boy had said an hour before he became Conan again right? Was the heat a symptom of it wearing off? Kogoro gripped Shinichi's good shoulder as the boy made it to the first stair. He looked upwards and realization of what was wrong with it finally hit him. "Why are we going up, boy?" He demanded. "The exit's downstairs. You're at the wrong stairwell." They'd been on the second floor of the mansion when the bomb had gone off.

Shinichi paused turning his sweat drenched face to Kogoro. He cracked a smile, not at all patronizing, but understanding Kogoro's confusion. "I'm not, Ojisan. The bomb blew a hole in the floor. We fell two stories to the basement."

Oh. Kogoro looked upwards again, tensing as Shinichi began to climb one slow step at a time, keeping as close to the wall as he could. The stairs groaning alarmingly under their weight. "How did we survive that?" A bomb that strong...shouldn't they both be dead? If not from the explosion, then from the fall and rubble?

"I...used the... inflatable soccer ball of mine to block most of the explosion." Shinichi managed, gripping tightly onto the remaining handrail as he swayed. "I...I don't know after that…" He moved again, his breathing accelerating as he climbed faster. "Something struck me… from behind and... I blacked out."

"Inflatable...wait." Kogoro shifted uncomfortably on the boy's hot shoulders. Once they reached the ground floor he'd make Shinichi put him down. The boy needed to rest. "Don't you have other little toys?" he demanded as they neared the top. "A what was it-a badge? You and your little friends talk into them all the ti-"

Shinichi stumbled then, his body flashing inferno hot, his knees colliding with the next step as a painful scream once more tore from his throat. Shinichi doubled over, sending Kogoro flying off his shoulders and nearly plunging over the railless side of the stairs as he clutched at his chest.

Kogoro just managed to grab onto the handrail as he tumbled, his arm too screaming in protest as he nearly jerked it out of it's socket. His legs joining in on the agony outcry as they smacked down on the edge of the stairs, his feet dangling over the broken side. Kogoro briefly saw black from the pain, but he kept enough presence of mind to keep a hold onto his jacket Shinichi was wearing, preventing the boy from tumbling over the side as he curled up in a ball, fingers digging into his chest.

He knew Shinichi wasn't fine! Foolish boy, trying to do things beyond his physical capabilities. Kogoro gritted his teeth, blinking his vision back into focus. With Shinichi's agonized scream echoing once more in his ears, he used the railing to pull himself closer to the 'safe' side, swinging his legs around so that he could at least be sitting on the steps. Once he was stable, Kogoro let go of the railing to grab onto the boy with both hands, pulling him upwards, hissing as the boy's weight dragged across his legs to settle in his lap. "I got you, Shinichi." He managed, wrapping both arms around the boy, holding his burning body tightly as he writhed in Kogoro's grip. "I got you."

Chapter 4 Published: 9/7/2017