HI everyone, sorry if this is a little late. I had both Volleyball and work this week, and an 11 hour tournament this Saturday. Plus I got into a new fandom so I didn't write as much. Oh well, its here now so I hope you all enjoy this long awaited chapter! I really hope I did an okay job with it so review and tell me what you think! I have to go now, I'm late for work!
Thank you for everyone who read and reviewed! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!
The lips of a woman clothed in black curled into a smirk as she removed her helmet, allowing her flowing blonde locks to fall free. Swinging one leg over, she dismounted her bike, glancing at a sign in the corner of the parking garage. There was plenty of parking in the garage of the scratching post, but she chose instead to park here and walk the remaining block to her destination. Sure she loved her bike and would have loved riding it to the house, but the sleek black machine with its fearsome roar was flashy, and the Cats didn't like flashy. They preferred sneaky and subtle. Not that Vermouth cared what they preferred, but the noise would be noticeable and recognizable, and the last thing she wanted was for her little Silver Bullet-kun to know she was there before she could peek in on him. By the time she would get there she would have missed all of his best facial expressions, and where would the fun in that be?
No, she wanted to surprise him. Her smirk only widened as she reached the house, standing in front of it a moment before she went in. The woman wanted to time this well, she knew that Lion had an appointment at noon, and that he would probably show off his little "prize" for his guests whether she wanted him to or not. After all if she got too pushy he could call That Person, and Vermouth had no real excuse for seeing the boy, at least none that she wanted to tell Him. She also didn't want to come in too early when Lion would be waking them, she wanted to speak to the child without that man's interference.
Her smile slipped slightly as she continued to watch the house, seeing no sign of life and knowing she never would. Lion liked to make his hideouts seem empty, places where no one would look. Not even the nearest neighbors would know he was in there. It was one of the man's few true skills.
"Mam, are you looking for someone? I think you have the wrong address, my mommy says that house is supposed to be empty." A young voice suddenly spoke, Vermouth whirled to see a young girl about Silver Bullet-kun's age looking up at her curiously. The woman smiled slightly. She had time, might as well have a little fun.
"Oh, I know. I actually was friends with a girl who lived in that house. At least I was until that accident happened."
"A- accident? What happened?" The child asked, her eyes alight with excitement and a glimmer of fear.
"Oh, I don't know if I should tell you. It might scare your young little mind."
"No it won't! I'm really, really brave!"
"Well... okay, it you're sure. Apparently, it was just a normal day, everything was fine, until suddenly there was a large crash! My friends mother had fallen down the stairs and hit her head, causing a fatal wound. My friend and her father had called an ambulance, but as they tried to comfort the dying woman, the chandelier above the staircase fell, crushing the two. They both died instantly. When the ambulance arrived they were all dead, no one has been in the house since."
The child now looked up at Vermouth with terror in her eyes and the woman made herself look very concerned. "Oh dear. I'm so sorry child, I thought you told me you were brave enough to handle it."
"N-n-no I am! B-but the other day I saw a shadow go past that window." Her breath was hollow and scared, and her finger pointed to the window of what Vermouth knew was the kitchen.
"Oh dear. I suppose that poor family never found peace." Lion would owe her for covering up this little slip up. Who knew what would happen if that got out to the right person.
The child squealed in terror, and Vermouth chuckled showing a facade of an amused adult. "Don't worry, I was only joking. It was probably just a trick of the light."
"R-right." The girl said, but it was obvious her mind was locked on the 'haunted' house.
"Well now, aren't you going to be late for school? I'm sure your classmates will be worried about you."
Suddenly the girl's eyes widened. "My classmates! I could- You're right! I'm going to be late! Bye!"
Vermouth smiled. Well, that was enough wasted time, Lion should be done by now. She looked back to the child once and a larger, much more satisfied smile filled her face as she watched the girl rush to school. She allowed herself a small self-satisfied chuckle before turning back to the house and slinking slowly towards it. She pushed her encounter with the girl out of her mind, she had more important things to think on now.
In the building she heard the sound of a door closing. Well, that was better timing than she had thought. Silently she glided into the kitchen to watch Lion as he frustratedly dropped a tray still full of food onto the table. The man turned, grumbling under his breath, only to jump in surprise as he noticed the woman.
"Panther," he spat, "Impeccable timing as ever." She simply smirked in response. After a moment the man continued. "Let me guess, you want to see Kitten."
"Yes, I am fairly interested in you newest little member. I would relish the chance to speak with him." Her grin showed that she knew that she would get what she wanted. The man grumbled but knew he was in no position to deny her desire.
"Fine." He turned to lead her to the boy, only to stop when a firm hand gripped his shoulder.
"Alone. You can watch all you want on the silly little camera of yours but I am going down to speak to him myself."
The man growled, a sound that inspired fear into many yet had no effect on the woman before him. He turned sharply, tearing his shoulder out of her grip. "You know where to go."
The woman smiled, she loved seeing the cocky man put into his place. Though now it was much more satisfying than it ever had been before. Perhaps she was angrier at the man than she realized for taking her little Silver Bullet-kun and claiming the boy as his own. He was hers and hers alone, the man had no right to claim him.
Ignoring her possessive thoughts the woman heading towards the door she knew would lead to the two captives. She would ignore the officer for now, after all he wasn't nearly as impressive as her true objective. Though, it might be fun to mess with his mind as well, just to see the child's reaction. She chuckled to herself, this could be fun.
Vermouth slowly opened the door and walked calmly down the stairs, her only expression a slight smirk. The child however, was much more expressive. As the door opened both of the captives looked up in curious surprise as the door opened so quickly after Lion had left. The officer's expression had not changed when the woman entered, but the same could not be said for the child with him. Conan's eyes widened and his fists clenched, a look of pure fear and horror on his face. Then the boy's face shifted, forcing the terror out to be replaced with a serious, hate filled glare. Vermouth inwardly smiled, though her outer expression never changed. Save for the moments when he was surprised the child had a poker mask to rival Kid's. He had tight reign over his emotions, but Vermouth knew what buttons to push to make those reins loosen.
There was utter silence in the cell as the woman sauntered down, eventually ending up half-leaning against the chain link door and smirking down at the small child within. The child glared at her, but she could sense his fear, his worry about what her being her meant about the Cats and what it could mean for him. She smirked; it would be fun easing some of his fears while raising the others.
"Well well Silver Bullet-kun. If I knew you were this easy to catch I may have tried harder."
From the corner of her eye the woman saw the officer give the boy an incredulous look, surprised that she knew the boy, or more accurately, that the the child knew her.
"From what I remember you've never tried to catch me, in fact you had the perfect chance when I was unconscious in your car and yet you let me go free."
"Yes, I was focused on someone else. Funny how well you do protecting that traitor and how bad you are at protecting yourself." She chuckled and Conan glared up at her.
"I was focusing on something else."
"Ah ah! That was my excuse. Find your own." She laughed before continuing, deciding it was time to abate a few of his dark fears. "And you don't even have the excuse of being kidnapped by a true opponent like us. Instead one of those foolish Cats got to you." Once again a laugh interrupted her words. Now Conan simply looked confused.
"What? You mean your not... they're not... but then why..." A feral grin lit Vermouth's face. She prided herself on being the only person, save his girlfriend of course, who could perplex the boy to such an extent. She had turned the intense genius into a blabbering idiot.
"Did Lion tell ever you what I was called in his silly group? Panther, a cat that is known for their inky black fur. The name is no coincident." Suddenly the boy's eyes were slightly unfocused, his chin rested in his grip as he went into deep thought. When he spoke, mumbling to himself, his voice was so quiet that even the man in the cell with his wouldn't be able to hear.
"But if he knew about Them, and that you're one of Them then why would he let you- unless he had no choice. They made him make you a member, to monitor his group."
"Bingo! Of course it had never been much fun until today." She brushed her hand along the chain of the fence door, and Conan growled in reply. "Now now, you may want to be more polite to me. It seems you are in a fairly sticky situation after all." The boy grumbled to himself, still not comfortable with her presence.
"So are you going to help us out of here or not? After all, your Silver Bullet is useless if its still in the gun safe."
"Tsk tsk. So impatient. I'm afraid I told Lion that I would not come between him and his little pet. Though I think we both know that I'm not seriously going to stand by word on that. However, if you escaped now then, well the suspicion would certainly be on me and I can't have that. Also, I think you could use a little punishment after getting captured so easily. Besides, I have all the time in the world to do something. After all, your not going anywhere."
"What are you talking about? We only have two days left!" The boy snarled, but the woman continued to smile as though this were all just a game.
"Correction: HE only has two days left, Lion plans on keeping you alive. It doesn't concern me whether or not your friend here lives. You, my little Silver Bullet-kun are the only one I'm worried about."
Conan stared at the woman with wide eyes, his breath coming out in gasps. It was obvious that he hadn't expected that answer from the woman. The officer on the other hand did not seemed surprised by her casual disregarding of his death, as if he had come to terms with his fate. Instead he looked up in her with continued wonder and curiosity. For the first time since she entered he spoke, though it was not to her.
"Conan-kun who is this, and how do you know her?" The woman laughed and answered the flustered man's questions. As much as one could expect a person like Vermouth to answer.
"How do we know each other? Well my dear officer, if this child is Holmes, then I am Moriarty, or at least a piece of him. And as for who I am, well, a secret makes a woman, woman." Conan rolled his eyes slightly and mumbled something about her overusing that line but Panther paid no attention to him. Instead she continued to speak to the officer, her small smirk always present. "Besides, you should be grateful, Takagi-keiji, if it weren't for me your precious little girlfriend would be engaged to Shiratori-keibu."
"EH?" The man shouted, seeming more upset about that than the mention of him immanent death. Vermouth simply smirked at the wide-eyed man. "Yes, she was seconds away from losing a bet when Conan-kun here used me to trick them into thinking that you had arrived. You remember that day, don't you?" The man stared at her incredulously, but seemed too shocked to say anything. Beside him, Conan grumbled.
"I wouldn't have done that if I knew who you were at the time."
"Ah, yes. That was around the time you began to suspect me. It was the wig wasn't it?" The woman asked, absentmindedly running her fingers through her hair.
"Among other things," The boy nodded.
"Hmm." For a moment there was silence, each person seeming to ponder their own thoughts. After a while, Conan questioned the unpredictable woman.
"Won't Lion think its odd that you have so much... interest in me? He may not be up to your guys' standards but he's not completely stupid. Won't he tell your boss that you know me?"
The woman scoffed, "That man wouldn't dare contact Him over something so trivial. People have been killed for doing less than that. He wouldn't care anyways. What is so wrong with me speaking to a mere child? Lion would get laughed at while he was being killed." There was a small moment of silence in the room until Vermouth looked to her watch.
"Well, I believe my time is up. You have another appointment coming in shortly. Ta ta!"
"Wait!" Conan called after her. "You mean you seriously aren't going to help us?"
"Your skills must surely be slipping, Silver Bullet-kun if you need my help so badly. You should be able to figure a way to get you and your friend out of this yourself. As for me helping to get both of you out, well I'm afraid he knows too much about things he shouldn't."
"He doesn't know ANYTHING! All he would get information from would be this conversation and anything he got from it would be guesswork at best."
The woman shrugged. "No loose ends. I won't help someone who knows so much to escape. You're an exception of course, my little Silver Bullet."
Conan was seething with anger. "You guys aren't as good as eliminating loose ends as you think. I know living proof, after all-"
"AH AH AH" The woman interrupted. "I believe we both have secrets we want to keep, eh Shin- ah, I mean Conan-kun." With a final chuckle and a smirk the woman turned to leave the room, her mind perfectly supplying the picture of torn rage and embarrassment on the boy's face as he realized what he had almost given away to the man who shared his confinement. Well, that had been fun. She left the house without bothering to speak with Lion, stopping only once she got to the sidewalk. She looked back to the house and winked, knowing that Lion would be watching her leave.
With that, the woman turned traced back her steps from earlier until she had reached her parked motorcycle. Within seconds the bike's fearsome roar thundered once again as she took off, making sure to drive past the Scratching Post that held the two captives. She wondered if they could even hear it in their cell. It was no matter, Lion would hear it and be annoyed by it and that was reward enough.
As she drove she passed by many sights, and the smirk she hid behind her helmet steadily grew.
There seemed to be a large commotion at the police department. She caught a bit of conversation at a red light and heard that there was a breakthrough about the Takagi/Conan kidnapping. Interesting, she would have to check that out.
In the window of a famous cafe sat the dejected looking girl Angel, surrounded by two friends.
A tan teen ran with fire in his eyes towards Agasa Hakase's house, his hat set firmly on his head.
A well known group of first graders stood arguing in front of their school at recess, their moral seeming to be deflated by their missing leader.
Finally she saw the sight that she was looking for, and with a fully formed feral grin she tore through the streets, her cycles roar reverberating throughout the area.
Conan looked up sheepishly, not wanting to meet Takagi's eyes after that what he had almost given away. However, the man seemed to be deep in thought.
"Takagi-keiji?" The boy questioned, and the officer jumped slightly before looking down to meet the child's gaze.
"Hmm? What is it Conan-kun?"
"What were you thinking about?" The boy asked, worry coloring his tones.
"Oh, ah J-just what that woman said about Satou-san. I always wondered what happened that day." He laughed nervously, his arm reaching back to scratch the back of his neck awkwardly. That was a complete lie of course. He had been pondering all of the revelations that conversation with the frightening woman had brought. That small meeting brought a clearer picture of the boy than he could have hoped to gain in months of his observations, but it brought more questions than answers. Still he couldn't let Conan know that he had paid so much information to the woman's cryptic hinting, he would get even less answers. For now he would let Conan relax and think that he knew nothing. Though he wouldn't have much time left to solve the Conan case, only two days and he would never help on another case. Two days. The man shuddered, he needed to distract himself. He knew that talking to Conan about the woman now would be useless, he would be too guarded. Still he had nothing else to do, and he had to talk about something besides it would be strange for him not to question the boy about the woman. Avoiding a subject could sometimes be even more suspicions about bringing it up.
"Who was that, Conan-kun? I asked earlier but her answer didn't make much sense."
"Shes a really, really bad person! I caught her stealing something but she ran away before I could call the police to come and get her! I've seen her a couple of times since then, but she's really sneaky. She lies a lot, don't believe anything she says." As the officer had predicted Conan had reverted to his childish camouflage. The story wasn't a complete lie though. He had first seen her as Vermouth "stealing" Haibara and she had escaped before he could call anyone for back up, though Agasa had showed up quickly after.
"How did she help with the bet though? And what did you mean you didn't know who she was at the time?" True, there wasn't much point in asking any of these questions but the man knew that the boy would give half-truths more likely than full lies and if he could pick out what was true then he would have more answers and hopefully less questions.
"She helped with that before I knew she was a bad person! I didn't find out until later." Another half-truth, he hadn't known that she had disguised herself as Aride.
"Ah." The conversation may have continued, but just then the door at the top of the stairs opened. The "other appointment" the woman had mention had arrived.