"You – you're not serious…are you?" Conan asked, flabbergast.
"Completely." Kaito said. "Think about it, Tantei-kun. You need somewhere to go, somewhere you can operate from in order to find the Organization without raising any suspicions. I already know who you are, so you don't have to worry about anything with me and I can help cover your ass if anything goes wrong."
"Yeah, but...America?"
"The United States of America is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Would it not make since if an underground organization like the one we're looking for would have at least some power there? Besides, corruption in America is supposed to be common place. No one would look twice at a lot of their operations unless they were open about it, which we know they're not."
"That...is actually well thought out."
"You don't have to sound surprised." Kaito glared.
"What? You are a thief who wears bright white and makes himself a target for grudges with guns. It's obvious you're more than a little reckless and, being in the situations you often find yourself in, you probably don't think very much about your actions and simply do the first thing that comes to mind. Why shouldn't I be surprised?" Kaito mumbled something uncomplimentary. "Okay, say I go along with this and we do go to America. What then? You say it shouldn't be hard to blend in, but do you have any idea where to start?"
"No? I've never been to America before."
Conan sighed. "My evaluation was correct. You go with the first thing that pops to mind and don't think it out entirely."
"Can you blame me? I've had a rather eventful day and need a fast way out. They know who I am, probably where I live, and they have connections everywhere! If I don't find a good place to hide fast, there won't be anywhere left to run to!"
"Good. At least you know some of what your dealing with."
"I'm not an idiot, Tantei-kun. 'Never underestimate your enemies' is a basic rule for anyone with enemies." Kaito sighed. "The only things I know about America I've heard secondhand and not always from reliable sources. But, based on what I have, I was thinking that somewhere like New York would be a good place to stay - big enough for one person to pass unnoticed and up-to-date with the goings of the world. Somewhere kind of low to middle class would be an ideal place to stay - doesn't catch the eye, but still safe."
Conan pondered this. "It sounds good, but like you said, you have no verified information. I've been to America a few times, but my parents are sort of celebrities, so I wasn't around the lower class very much. I don't know much about it, but I think my parents have a vacation home in New York City. If we do go, we can confer with them for some advice."
"Alright. But there's still an 'if' in there. I think you can understand that I'd prefer a straight answer while I still have time to come up with an alternate plan if necessary."
There was a long pause before Kudo Shinichi opened his mouth again. "Okay. I'll go with you. But keep in mind that I believe strongly in justice and don't condone breaking the law, no matter whose laws they are."
"Of course." Kid smiled. "I can't risk going home to get anything, at least not from a straight forward route, but..." He frowned for a moment. "Why don't you pack what you need here and go talk to your scientist friends. I have something to take care of."
"Kid," Conan stopped him for a moment. "Don't get yourself killed."
Kaito smiled. "Of course. I'll meet you in half an hour. If I take more than that..."
"You'd better not." Conan said sternly. Kaito grinned and disappeared out the door.
--
Kaito didn't head directly to Ekoda after leaving Kudo. Instead, he took a side route through the alleys toward a path that would open to a passage way his father had used from Kid's lab. On the way, he called Jii again.
"Moshi moshi?"
"Jii? It's Kaito. Did you get Mom?"
"Ah, Kaito-botchama. Yes, your mother is safe. We're not sure of what to do yet, though. The lady wanted to wait and see what your plans were."
"Well, I've figured a bit of something out. I'm going out of the country; won't say where over the phone, but rest assured, I'll make sure you and Mom know when I think it's safe. What do you think you can do for Mom?"
"Well, these people after you, they can't be dealt with simply by hiding inside. Perhaps I should take the lady out of the country as well?"
"If you do, make sure to go under fake identities. I'm sure you can get Mom properly disguised. Right now, I'm going to Kid's lab through a back route. I need to pick up a few things from there and seal it off from the house."
"Alright then, Kaito-botchama. Good luck and be careful."
"You too Jii. Stay safe." He hung up and crawled into a small duct. Sighing deeply, he coughed on the dust it stirred up. This was going to be a long trip.
--
In the meantime, Conan re-gathered the stuff he'd brought from Ran's and took some old things of Kudo Shinichi's in an old camping bag. With all his things together, he ran next door.
"What happened?" Ai asked, noting his slightly panicked expression.
"Ran threw me out." He didn't elaborate any further on that point and she didn't pry. "I'm going to America with Kid."
"Kid? Kaitou Kid? America, what're you, insane? You're planning on running across the world with a known criminal!?"
"That's right. It makes sense. He can help me look for the organization and we already know they have some activity going on there. Vermouth is an actress there, after all. Besides, it'll be easy enough to fit in and build up a safe identity."
Ai sighed. "Do you realize the position you leave me in here, Kudo-kun? First off, you'll have to vanish without a trace, leaving the kids and the police wondering what in the hell happened to you, drawing all sorts of attention our way at the same time. Then, you say Mouri-chan knows who you are and finally threw you out? When the theory of shrinking people no longer sounds ludicrous, it doesn't take much to connect me to you. The last thing I need is attention drawn to myself and if Mouri-chan does figure it out, she doesn't know everything and doesn't know that it's unsafe to speak of. And, she may just be mad enough with you to go blabbing the whole thing about. Even if it gets her landed in an insane asylum, the Black Organization would get wind of it and they might not dismiss it as easily."
Conan winced. He honestly hadn't thought of what his leaving would do to Haibara. But...well, he couldn't just stay here, not now, not with Ran knowing and hating him like this. Besides, living with Kid for a time could actually be fun. "If there's another way to do it quickly, I'll go for it, but I'm not changing my mind and we'll need to leave soon."
Ai stared at him for a long moment before nodding. "Fine. I'm going with you."
"What?" Conan squawked.
"I don't want to have to clean up the mess you'll leave behind, especially if it'll put me in danger, so I may as well take the easy way out as well."
"I - but - you..." Conan trailed off, looking more than a little lost.
"I'll go get my things and tell the professor." She walked off, leaving him sitting on a chair, staring incredulously into space.
He was still in the same position ten minutes later when Kaito showed up, laden with three large bags. "Hope you don't mind, I sort of stole some of Kudo Shinichi's clothes. Couldn't very well raid my own closet, after all." He dropped his bags by the table and stared at Conan who had yet to even acknowledge his presence. "Tantei-kun?" he waved a hand in front of the boy's face and he jumped.
"K-Kid! I - where did you come from? Never mind. Um, about going to America..."
"Yes?"
"Well, there's one slight modification to be made."
"And that is?"
"Uh, well..."
"Spit it out, Tantei-kun."
"Haibaradidn'treallyliketheplanandhasdecidedtocomealong." He said quickly.
Kid blinked. "What?"
"Haibara...is coming along."
"Ah. I see. Wait, what!?"
--
"Ai-kun, do you really need to go? You know you're always welcome here and I'll do all I can to help you." Agasa said, watching sadly as his young charge wandered around the lab, collecting her supplies.
"Someone has to watch over Kudo. Besides, if I leave him along with a thief, I just know it'll come back and bite me. Anyway, the main reason I'm working on a cure is for him. If he's not here, who would I give it to?" She paused and turned to him with a small smile. "I'm grateful for everything you've done, Agasa-hakase, truly I am. Thank you." She leaned up and kissed his cheek.
Agasa blushed brightly at the unexpected move, but a smile formed over his face. "Do you need me to bring you all to the airport? And what about tickets?"
The two of them walked back into the main area and posed these questions to Conan and their newly acquired house guest.
"I can use Dad's credit cards for tickets. it might look suspicious, but by the time anyone notices, we'll be out of the picture. What we do need to work on is disguises and identities for when we get to America."
"The name on the passport and the ones we actually use in America should be different. I can forge them myself to erase a trail, but I could use a little help." Kaito said.
"Agreed. So...names?"
"Do we really need new ones? At least for the passports, we could use the same names, except for Kid here. If we were to pose as a family, we could all use the Edogawa surname."
"Edogawa Conan, Edogawa Ai, and Edogawa...?"
"Hmm...how about Kai? Edogawa Kai, simple enough." Kaito smiled pleasantly, trying to ignore the fact that he'd just given the tantei part of his real name, whether he realized it or not.
Conan nodded. "That's fine for the passports, I suppose, but for life in America...should we use English names? Even without appearing English ourselves, I remember plenty of American-born Asians with English names."
"Hmm...well, going with the theme you two seemed to have picked with your previously chosen names of things that relate to detectives, how about...Mary Russell for Ojou-chan? I believe she was Holmes's wife in one of the later adaptations of his work by another author?" Conan nodded. "And then, for Tantei-kun here, Arthur Russell, perhaps? You do seem to have a love for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."
"What about yourself?"
"I was thinking...have you ever seen Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief? I think I'll take John Robie's name...John Russell. Or maybe Jack. It is short for John after all, but I wouldn't want to be mistaken for a dog." He grinned at them. "As for disguises...well, you do remember who I am?"
Conan sighed. "I get the feeling you're going to have entirely too much fun with this. Why don't I reserve us airline tickets before you start playing. And go ahead with the forgeries, too."
"I thought you said you didn't condone me breaking the law." Kaito smirked at him. Conan glared.
--
The trip to the airport was uneventful, if you discount the jumpiness of the male passengers, that is. Both Kid and Conan were paranoid as could be, hunched low in their seats and watching the windows intently. Ai wondered if they even realized that they were doing it. But then, Agasa wasn't any better. She got the feeling that if he wasn't driving, he'd be doing the same thing. She sighed. At this rate, they would totally ruin their disguises. They were wanted men, they weren't supposed to be posing as such.
She sighed again, twirling the strands of her dark wig in her fingers. Edogawa Ai, huh? Wasn't such a bad name, she supposed. She didn't think she wanted to be Kudo's sister, though. What if his recklessness was genetic?
As they pulled up to a stop light, a car in the neighborhood near them backfired, causing them all too jump. Kid swore under his breath. Letting out another sigh, Ai decided it was time for distractions…for all of them.
"So…what are we supposed to be in America?" She asked.
Kid shrugged. "I honestly don't know much about America, but I figured a standard job could work. Or, I could forge a license and pose as a detective. Tantei-kun should enjoy it, if nothing else."
Ai cocked a brow. "You are going to pose as a detective. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you are a thief, are you not?"
"Sure, but I've often been told I'd make a fair detective. Besides, half the reason for going to America is to find leads on the organization. Law-enforcing positions, but not those bound by the law, are the best place to function from. Plus, I don't need to take on high profile cases. I'm going here to hide, not to draw attention to myself."
"Fine then. But what about Kudo-kun and I? What are we to be to you?"
"She's right. All we've really figured out are names, nothing else." Conan said.
"Well, if I'm going to work, John Russell has to be moderately old. It would be difficult, but not impossible, for me to pass you off as siblings…perhaps children? In which case, I would need to be around 28, 29 years old."
"That'd work. We'd need a cover story for our mother then, though. And ages for Kudo-kun and I."
"You could be twins. Then we could say your mother died in childbirth. Or died giving birth to whoever's oldest. Depends…do you want to go to school? It would look odd if you don't. It would be best if you two were in the same class, so twins would cover that. It's really up to you two. It's going to be your life, after all." Kaito said.
"Twins would probably be easiest. And yeah, we'll have to go to school. What fun." Conan sighed.
"You can take an advanced placement test. Just don't score too high on it." Kaito pointed out. "Anyway, any birthday you guys have in mind? Like I said, its your life now. I may be forging the documents, but that doesn't mean you can't take some liberties. Like celebration. You're young enough I could torture you with a birthday party." Kid's grin was borderline maniac and Conan groaned.
"Please no. And I really don't care about dates."
"Kudo-kun can't even remember his real birthday, much less a fake one. But if you want to be symbolic, use today's date. After all, we are officially giving birth to Mary and Arthur today. Besides, if we already had our birthday, the kids won't bother us about one." Ai said.
Kaito snickered. "Did the kids in Beika bother you about that?"
"Sometimes." Conan shrugged. "I think they gave up after a while, though."
Kid made a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat and they all drifted into silence again.
--
"Be careful." Agasa said softly, looking at all of them closely. The Edogawa family was all ready to leave not only Japan, but their old lives as well.
Conan smiled up at him. "We will." Ai nodded. "Take care of yourself, Agasa. And watch after the kids, okay?"
"Of course. You will contact me once you're settled in America, won't you?" He asked anxiously.
"We'll try. If nothing else, we could see about passing something on through my parents." Conan said.
Kaito cleared his throat. "We'd better go. Flight'll be leaving soon." He turned to the elderly man. "Thank you for your help, Agasa-san." He held out his hand and shook Agasa's with a small smile.
Together, the 'family' turned and headed through security.
--
Rising from his seat as the plane came to a stop, Kaito stretched, his spine popping back into place. Beside him, Tantei-kun gave a long yawn and Ojou-chan rubbed her eyes drowsily. Apparently none of them fancied long flights, particularly not ones that took up nearly half a day.
Sleepily, they gathered their carry on luggage and departed the plane. "So…" Kaito began. "First order of business?"
"My parents are meeting us in a café about a 10 minute's walk from the airport." Conan said quietly.
"Walk?" Kaito frowned, his feet still half asleep.
"Taking a cab in New York City oft times take longer than walking." Conan said simply.
"Once there, we need to get access to a computer." Ai said. "I take it you'll need one to get our records inserted into the system?" She glanced at Kaito.
"Yeah. And then we get to look for a place to live. And find somewhere to work and somewhere fro you to go to school." This comment was met with twin groans from the supposed children.
"Welcome to New York." Conan said grouchily.
--
"Shin-chan!" Kudo Yukiko squealed, rushing to glomp her miniature son. Yusaku stood beside her, looking over his son's companions. The teen boy looked scarily like Shinichi with only a few minor differences in posture and looks. The girl he was slightly familiar with, knowing that she was supposed to be the one that made the poison and suffered the same fate as Shinichi.
"Would you like anything to eat?" He offered. The gesture was taken up quickly by the travelers. It appeared none of them really liked the 'food' they served on planes either.
Orders were quickly taken and they all got situated around the table. "So…" Yusaku began, speaking to the teenage companion, "who are you? It seems Shinichi wasn't willing to disclose that over the phone."
The teen cocked an eyebrow, sending a glance at Conan and smiling. "Why, I'm John Russell, of course. And this is my daughter, Mary, and my son, Arthur."