A/N: Hello again! Well, I've put a lot of effort into this chapter, namely because I had no idea how to proceed from where I left off. When I was planning the story, I simply wrote down the ending details of that case, and then the starting details of this one. I thought making them transition together smoothly would be simple enough. Well, I was wrong. ^_^

Anyhooow... This chapter is sort of a 'meh' chapter to me, but I'm always overly critical of my own writing. But some times, it is absolutely warranted. For example, last chapter, I see several places where I'd cut and pasted different segments together and it just screwed everything up. That whole awkwardly hanging/seemingly pointless bit about Mogi's accent was actually supposed to have a purpose, but I cut it in favor of something else. Buuut, that one part somehow avoided my editing scissors. (Just think of this rant as the commentary they add to DVD's for some reason.)

All I can say is the same thing as I've said on every other chapter. If you see an awkward part, or see something that you think should have been done different, or if you have ideas or... Anything, anything at all. Just hit that little review button, and let me know.

And see if you can figure out what the top portion has to do with what we've already seen. Bonus point if you figure out what their code names came from without looking it up.

- - - - Reviewers! - - - -

Miruial: Hmm, true. Not even something that crossed my mind. (Conan getting Takagi to give the deduction that is.) But it's not actually all that unusual for Conan to give deductions when it's just him and the cops. It's just rare that he's ever left alone with them. In fact, the only example that immediately comes to mind is the "Genta's Dad" case. I think that's around the 550 mark? Idk, it's on the wiki. :P And I'd love to hear your theory, actually. I have a theory of my own that might just make it into this story, but I was more thinking of starting another story once this one was over to try and work that in there. Not set in stone, though, so who knows.

x.S T R E A K Z.x: Haha friend it is! After that review, I couldn't call you anything less! And if ever I fail to do any of those things, character wise, plot wise, or any of it, let me know and I'll start scrubbing at it until it shines. I'm a tad on the perfectionist side some times, but I honestly can't stand the thought of giving this series anything less than my best. I'll jump on anything that is pointed out to me. (Often why my updates take as long as they do. It takes me two days to write them, two days to rewrite them, and two days editing, then alternating rewriting and editing. XD) And actually, I do just come up with them off the top of my head. Actually, that one I came up with (and was still figuring out myself) as I wrote it. Funnily enough, I watched OVA 8 and from the very beginning I was like "Crap... I just wrote an ark like Sonoko... I feel so stupid." And if you see any more of that tense-hopping (and it is a problem I have pretty often) just point it out, and I'll get at it. (Like I said, until it shines. :P)

Chelseaj500: Well, the murder has been resolved, but Kazuma-san is still missing. We aren't through with him quite yet. But that's all I can say for now. ;D

Serial-Doodler: Kogoro wasn't there. He was out in the car. Had been since Taichi confessed. ^_^ Though, that part about being careful is a good point. But, it wouldn't be the first time that he'd given a deduction in font of the police when no one else was around. As I mentioned in one of my review responses above, the only example that immediately comes to mind is the "Genta's Dad" case, somewhere around the 550 mark, I think. (Now, if you meant Takagi and not Kogoro, I think he could have already figured it out if only he had the right clues to lead him in the right direction, even before that deduction show.)

She was whistling. That always got on his nerves when she did that. He gave a quick, fiery glare to the back of the black clad woman's head, but continued to follow her nonetheless. It wasn't like she was his superior or something. They were equals. If anything, people in his line of work were more important than assassins like her. But he wasn't comfortable away from his office. Away from his chair. His computer.

He was a tech person, through and through. Going in somewhere, guns blazing... That just wasn't his style. He'd rather rig an explosive, or build a weaponized robot, or... Anything other than this. Unfortunately, there weren't very many occasions where a remote controlled robot with a machine gun mounted on to its head would go unnoticed.

So, here I am, with Corvus of all people. God, why does it have to be her? She's so obnoxious, and cocky, and just absolutely smoking hot. How's a guy supposed to concentrate when she's wearing that black... Thing? We're doing a job for the Theft division, not cruising down a runway.

The only thought helping to keep him from panicking was knowing that she was taking the 'breaking' part, and leaving the 'entering' to him. Which really should be fairly easy. Just get into Whiskey's computer, check his history, wipe all traces of his existence off of any servers he'd visited, and then launch a scrub utility. Simple. She was the one who had to get him in and out safely, though. That would be more difficult if the rumor about the security measures some of those executive members went to had even the slightest glimmer of truth to it.

The whistling finally stopped, putting an end to the shrill torture. She indicated a first-floor window, or more specifically, the spot under the window, as she spoke without ever laying an eye on him. "Wait here," she said, sounding just as bored as could be. "I'll come and get you when I'm done." She took a gun out of her belt, cocked it, and he felt sure that she was about to slip inside and start shooting up the place. But the next thing he knew, the black metal death bringer was flying towards him, and he very narrowly managed to catch the thing before it crashed into his nose. "Use that if someone finds you."

She disappeared into the building through the window, leaving him hyperventilating below. In case someone finds me? What does she mean? Is there a chance that someone could find me here? And I'm just supposed to shoot them? Just like that? That's crazy! I'm not a field agent! Who do these people think I am? I've never even held a gun in my life! I barely even know how the thing works! Oh god, why did they have to pick me? What did I ever do to deserve this?

His fearful fantasies continued to play out while inside, Corvus was quickly and quietly scouting out the area for guards, cameras, security systems, and the like. "It looks like Whiskey's getting rusty," she said aloud to the empty room. "Not even a motion trigger or a bomb rig." She let out a sigh as she traipsed around the room, but not a single defensive measure could be found. It was sort of a let down, really. Here she was, getting all excited for nothing. She gave a solid knock on the window, opening it with one fluid movement.

She regarded the man, sitting against the wall, hunched over, fearful of some unseen and nonexistent foe. What in the world could be going through that little weasel's head? "Alright Pyxis, get in here and do your thing. The quicker you get done, the quicker I can get home, and the quicker I can kick Whiskey's ass for making me work twelve hours in one day."

Pyxis gave her a nervous little smile, or at least that's how he thought of it. In reality, it kind of looked like he'd just been caught stealing. Shocked, scared, and more than a little nervous. She's joking, right? Corvus wasn't anywhere near Whiskey's rank, she couldn't possibly think that she could do anything to him. But at the same time, that's exactly the kind of attitude that'd gotten her through the lower ranks so quickly. There were people that had been Status-2 for decades, and she breezed through it in a couple weeks. Here she was, Status-3, and already making quite the impression on her seniors. It wouldn't surprise him at all if she made Status-4 in the next week or two. And then, well, if she held true to her threats... Suffice it to say Whiskey would wind up in an ass cast. Her attitude wasn't the only reason she was known as one of the best assassins in the organization.

"Ahh," Kogoro sighed, leaning back in his chair and patting his stomach. His sentiments were shared by Conan, though he expressed them in a different manner.

"That was really good!" He didn't even have to fake the smile that stretched his features, and it felt good to genuinely smile every now and then. The childish inflections in his voice were stronger than he'd meant them to be, but oh well. No harm done. He hopped out of his chair, carrying his plate to the sink, where Ran was already washing the dishes.

Ran gave him a smile over her shoulder. "Thank you Conan-kun, I really appreciate it." Then noting the plate in his hands, she grabbed it with a quick "I'll got that for you," and set it down with the rest of the dirty dishes.

"Thank you, Ran-neechan," he said more subdued. His tone caught Ran's interest, but he passed it off as exhaustion with a fake yawn and the rub of an eye, then started to trudge off toward his room.

"Going to bed already?" she asked, adding a pan to the stack of clean dishes building up at her side.

"No, I've got some more homework to do," he mumbled as he picked his backpack up off the floor on his way.

"Remember, no lights after nine," she called after him.

"I know, don't worry," he said, still in no hurry whatsoever to get to where he was going. Once out of her line of sight, he ditched the tired act and ran the rest of the way into his room, grabbing Shinichi's phone and hitting '2' on the way. The number for the Agency's speed dial.

It rang a few times, and Conan took this time to gather both his bow tie and his thoughts, closing the bedroom door as he waited for her to answer. Just when he thought that the answering machine was going to pick up, the ringing stopped and Ran's voice poured from his speaker. "Mouri Dete-"

"Hey Ran," he spoke. Spoke using his own voice, his own mannerisms, truly as himself for the first time in a long time. Too long. "How have you been?"

"Shinichi," she breathed into the phone. That usually proved to be the calm before the storm. The quiet before she'd start shouting at him, demanding explanations. But if it was, then the storm was still building because she continued on in the same whisper. "I've been... Fine," she said, but the quiver in her voice contradicted her.

"Really?" he asked, in his special teasing-but-I-really-am-concerned voice. "Because it sounds like you're about to cry."

"I am not!" she yelled loud enough he could hear her from all the way in the living room, no phone needed. "I just had to sneeze, and... Then it never came!"

"Right," he said, a small smirk on the edge of his lips as he dragged out the vowel. "Well then, what's new?"

"Huh?" He changed subjects quick enough to give her whiplash.

"Well, it's been three weeks since I last called. I'm sure something happened, right?" If she didn't want to talk about whatever was on her mind, he was in no position to pry. The first rule of living under a false identity was to never ask questions of others that you wouldn't want them to ask of you.

"Um, well..." Ran quickly raced through the last few weeks events, finally deciding on what Shinichi would probably find most interesting. Then, with a tone to rival Conan's cheerfulness mixed with her own notes of taunting, "Well, I've finally come across a case that broke my dad's winning streak." Conan cringed. She wants to talk about that? "There was this guy that went missing, and my dad was hired to look for him..."

Ran went over the whole case, all the while he felt like it was some kind of unintentional torture session. From the meeting with Aisaka Hikari, to the murder of Isao Watari, to the arrest of Tachibana Mogi, she recalled everything in surprisingly good detail. He had to wonder if she'd been practicing some investigatory skills of her own.

"And, well, that's when you called," she said with a little laugh. Whatever had been weighing on her mind when she first answered was clearly gone. "So, what have you been up to?" she asked.

"Ah, well, you know," he said, desperately trying to keep the regret he felt from coloring his voice.

"I'm not talking about your case, dummy," she said playfully. "You never seem to want to tell me anything about it, so I've decided that it'd be best if I just... Stopped asking. I want to know what you've done other than that. Like maybe where you are, or what it's like. Even just what you had for lunch." Her voice caught at the end, and it stung worse than his lip as he felt like he was about to bite it in two between his teeth. "You can at least tell me that... Right, Shinichi?"

"Ran." He was speechless. He'd have felt better if she'd have reached through the phone and slapped him, or even given him one of those championship kicks, but this sad... Resignation. It was heartbreaking. "If you're asking if I'm happy here," he started slowly. He heard nothing from the other side, so he continued. "Then the answer is no. If I could come home right now, right this instant, believe me I would. But I have to finish this, Ran. I have to. If I don't finish this case, then what will all of this time have been for? We've both made sacrifices here. I can't just throw all of that away, Ran."

There was more silence on the other end, and just when he was wondering if she'd hung up on him, there was a sniff. "I know. Just solve it quickly, ok? I miss you."

"I miss you too Ran," he managed to say without his voice shaking. But it wouldn't stay that way for much longer. "I've, got to get going."

"Call me sooner this time, ok?" she asked. "Three weeks is too long."

"I will," he said with as much sincerity as he could force into those few words. "Good night."

"Good night," she whispered. And then she was gone.

Conan sat for a few seconds, still holding the phone to his ear, trying to combat all of the conflicting emotions building up inside of his chest. He just bottled them up, letting them ferment into anger so that, one day, when he was finally faced with the chance to take those men in black down, he'd have an elixir of emergency strength stored inside. "Sweet dreams."

The night passed slowly, without much sleep on either of their parts. Kogoro, however, slept like a baby, snoring away all night and leaving Conan to try and get some shuteye with the worlds most annoying soundtrack playing in the background. By the time the sun was rising, he'd estimated that he'd been to sleep roughly ten times for about twenty minutes each. And even if it wasn't broken up, three hours and twenty minutes wasn't exactly the recommended amount of nightly sleep, be it for an 8 year old or an 18 year old. Though with how foggy and drained his brain felt right now, maybe those estimations weren't to be relied on too heavily.

He went through his daily morning ritual, getting dressed, brushing his teeth, combing his hair, et cetera, only half awake, and without paying much attention to what he was doing. So when he got to the door to put his jacket on after slipping a cup of coffee when Ran hadn't been paying attention, it should have been seen as some sort of miracle that he was wearing matching clothes that weren't inside out and backwards. Of course, he had forgotten his watch, his belt, and the batteries in his shoes needed charging after yesterdays incident so he'd sneaked them into his room to plug them in and had yet to retrieve them, so it wasn't without incident.

Gadgets in place minutes later, he once more stood by the door, jacket at the ready, checking to make sure that his homework was in his bag and that he'd not forgotten to do it again. Everything checked out, so he slipped his coat on, followed closely by his backpack itself, which weighed heavily on his shoulders. At least it was a literal weight. Any more metaphorical weight and he might have just crumbled.

"Bye, I'm going!" he called groggily, sliding a hand over the doorknob and giving it a twist.

"Bye!" Ran called from the next room, still preparing her and her father's lunch. She did it every day, since she had the time in the mornings. But the yawn that followed told him that she felt about the same as he did. He let the door fall shut behind him, yawning as he descended the first few stairs and wondering what it was that made yawning so contagious.

About four steps down was when he started getting that feeling. That inexplicable tingle that would run down his spine that told him that someone, somewhere, was watching him. He didn't look around immediately. He didn't want whoever it was to know that he knew they were there. He continued down, keeping his eyes down and focusing more on his other senses, waiting for a better fix on where this person could be. That's when the shouting at the bottom of the stairs began.

"Edogawa-san!" A young female, maybe early twenties, yelled up, followed by a chorus of others. His eyes shot wide open, taking in the sea of people gathered in the street in front of the Mouri Detective Agency. They mostly drowned each other out, so he couldn't make out whole sentences. He was able to get a clip here or there, but that was about it.

"Edogawa-san! Is it true that-"

"...Solved before Friday?"

"Have you managed to crack-"

"How do you respond to the claims that you're the number-"

"...Boys are willing to-"

His brain finally starting up, he took in the crowd of people. Only a few were shouting at him, most just seemed to be milling about. The people who were yelling questions at him all had a tv crew with them. Reporters? he wondered. What do they want with me? Shouldn't they be here for Occhan?

Then he noticed something else. Something that, with the exception of the reporters, every person there had in common. In one form or another, they were all sporting the same symbol. Kaitou Kid's famous doodle. A few artistic liberties had been taken here or there; some winking, there were a few detached hands holding a gem with several lines sticking out if it to indicate that it was 'shinning', and one particularly disturbing shirt with Kaitou Kid standing on top of the world, flashing a peace sign and a cartoony grin.

That's when it all clicked together. Kaitou Kid had sent out a new notice. There was some kind of code or cypher in it. And since somehow he'd managed to become the Kid's nemesis, perhaps one of his larger lapses of judgement since being shrunken, everybody was expecting him to have already figured out its meaning.

He dropped a few more steps, hoping beyond hope that he'd be able to just get through the crowd without incident, survive school, find the notice online somewhere, and get to work. However, he never got to test his luck.

There was a strange sound behind him and by the time he looked, the door was already falling shut behind Ran as she descended a step before noticing him. "Conan-kun?" she asked, surprise and confusion melding into one. "What are you still doing-" that's when the flash of a camera caught her eye, and like someone had just drawn back the curtain to reveal the crowd she seemed to notice them all at once. "...Here?"

There was a strange moment where even the reporters were silent, where it was almost as if time had decided to take a coffee break and left them all hanging in suspended animation. Then the target of the questions changed abruptly. "Mouri-san!" one of the reporters called. Ran blinked, looking behind her, fully expecting to see her father. But when she realized that she was the only Mouri present she turned back with an even greater amount of confusion, slowly rotating a finger to point up toward her face. "Do you have any comments about the latest heist?"

The other reporters followed suit and, once again, the chorus of voices only managed to drown each other out. "Conan-kun," Ran asked, voice low and dangerous, making him flinch involuntarily. He'd been on the receiving end of that voice far too many time's, if only in another life. But this was different, more like a graze than a full blunt attack. Her words were aimed at him, but her anger was aimed right where her eyes were glued; On the crowd of reporters and Kid fans. Fans who, quite obviously, were no fans of his. "What do you think about staying home from school today?"

His response was automatic. A quick nod, and then she was grabbing his hand and leading him back into the Agency, Conan nearly tripping as she pulled him along. The last peep that anyone heard out of them was the door shutting with a solid thud behind them, deadbolt sliding into place.