Well Conan fans, this is it. My last real chapter.
If I do a sequel it will have to wait a really long time because it would probably include Kid, the B.O, the Cats, Kinkalow, and a ton of other stuff and my brain is kinda dead from writing this. I'm taking a break from DC until summer because of my schedule. I'll be writing some fanfiction, but mostly for other fandoms I don't have to think about so much... If there are any teen titans fans reading this, I probably will be spending some time on that fandom, and maybe danny phantom.
I am sort of planning a DC and Psych crossover, but that will take a lot of planning and won't be coming out for a while.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of you who reviewed, favorited, alerted, or even just read. Its been a fun ride, and this story is more popular and longer than I ever would have imagined when I started it off, thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy this final chappie!
A red car sped throughout Tokyo, going at least twenty miles over the speed limit and obeying absolutely no traffic laws, leaving dozens of near accidents in its path. One needn't worry about this reckless driver however, for they were in complete control and had little to worry about from the police. After all, the driver was Satou Miwako, and she was speeding to where her kidnapped love waited.
The woman sped through the streets, determination written all over her face. She never slowed, not even when she passed the curious sight of Hattori using an umbrella as a bokken and beating up a man while the detective boys and an older child she'd never seen before crowded around cheering the tan teen. She swerved around the cop car in front of her (the slowpoke was only going ten over, didn't he know what was at stake here) and stopped short in the driveway to see Ran standing in shock with tears running down her face. Satou barely made it out of the car when the teen rushed to the door, blasting it open with one kick.
Satou followed the girl. In the back of her mind she heard Ran and Kazuha yelling something about hearing a bullet shot and it might be too late, but she paid no mind. Takagi was in there, she just had to pray that she wasn't too late.
Lion scowled at the child, and the first bits of uncertainty started to bite at his heart. For the first time he wondered if Kitten was in charge, not him. He had done everything according to the child's plan. Aiming for the heart, leaving the officer's jacket on, he'd even shown the child the night before that there was only one bullet in the gun.
He pushed the fears aside and growled lowly, turning to his second in command who was looking at the child with a disgusting impressed expression. "Tiger, go get me another bullet. Two. I won't kill my Kitten but he will regret defying me."
The man turned and crouched at the child's cage as Tiger made his way up the stairs. The manic leader whispered lowly to the boy. "And regret it you will. You have so many friends that I could go after, so many ripe for the picking. And you seem to forget that you are at my mercy as well. Well then," He picked up the poker that had been sitting in the box of coals. "I suppose our deal is broken."
He picked up the poker just as Tiger reached the top of the stairs. The man sighed as he realized that he would be getting the bullets as Lion branded the officer. He always missed the interesting stuff. The man felt a stark frown as he began to open the door.
Down below, Lion was advancing upon the bound man against the wall. He unbuttoned the top of the man's shirt, revealing the pale patch of skin over his heart. Takagi struggled and pulled at the restraints holding his arms, but to no avail. He wasn't going anywhere. Lion held the fiery badge inches from the man's heart. Conan began yelling things no child should ever know.
Lion was just about to press the scalding metal to Takagi's bare chest, the officer watching with horrific fear as Lion came nearer and nearer to the skin. Finally there was no distance left, Lion thrust slightly and- "Hiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh hhh!"
The man jerked back, nearly dropping the poker with the badge in surprise as Tiger's form fell from the top of the stairs nearly on top of him. He looked up to see a furious teenage girl standing at the stairwell, her long hair flying and drying tear stains on her cheeks. Tiger groaned on the floor before losing consciousness, and Lion was shocked to see a perfect imprint of the girl's shoes on his face.
"Ran!" Kitten yelled, his eyes wide and voice hopeful.
"R-Ran-chan!" Takagi exclaimed at the same time, his body going limp as relief filled him.
"Conan-kun!" Ran yelled, her voice so relieved that it cracked as though in tears. She turned her gaze from the child to the kidnapper, the man still holding his heated weapon. Fury encompassed the girl's face and she crouched in a ready position, as if prepared to jump the entire length of the stairs and lay him out with one blow. Out of the corner of his eye her say Kitten moving as far away from him as he could get in the small cell, as if Lion was condemned and the child didn't want to be anywhere near him.
Lion held up the only weapon he had, the poker. But he did not hold it up to her, but to the officer in chains. "I wouldn't move if I were you, girly. Not unless you want this guy here to feel hot metal molded into his skin."
Ran stopped, confusion and worry in her eyes. Lion laughed and stepped back until he was spread across the small hall, strategically covering any sight of Kitten while holding the arm with the poker out near the officer still. He smirked and prepared to speak when suddenly there was the sharp and familiar bang of a gun, and a horrible pain in his outstretched arm. Lion cursed slightly even as the pain spread; he had given the shooter a clear target. He grabbed the appendage, dropping the poker and falling to the floor. The three inhabitants of the room looked to the top of the stairs in shock to see Satou standing beside Ran, smoking pistol in hand.
"Satou-san!" Takagi yelled, his eyes alight with relief and surprise. The two women wasted no time in reaching the bottom of the stairs, their first thought to restrain the horrible men who had kept the two in harm's way
Satou and Ran rushed down the stairs, the officer saying nothing when Ran gave the man a powerful kick to incapacitate him as she ran past. Lion groaned and bent over, leaving the two women to focus on the captives. Satou found the keys still gripped in Tiger's unconscious hand. She used them with shaking hands to free Takagi before giving Ran the key ring.
Takagi nearly collapsed as the bindings were removed, and Satou had to quickly grab him as he fell. The male officer staggered to his feet and gave his girlfriend a grateful look before fully encompassing her in a hug. She stood frozen for a moment, but felt water in her eyes as she joined the hug full force. She pushed the moisture away. She didn't want him to know how worried she'd been over the last week, how unsure. She didn't want him to know how hopeless she had begun to see things. Besides, it didn't matter anymore. He was safe. Her Warato was alive!
Ran was working with shaking hands to unlock Conan's cage, the child waiting impatiently to get out. Finally the latch fell away, and Ran immediately scooped the child into her arms, crying into the child's shoulder and breathing his name. "Conan-kun, Conan-kun, Conan-kun."
By now, other people began crowding around the doorframe. Other officers had finally arrived and Kazuha and Sonoko appeared beside Ran, tears streaming down the girls' faces when they saw that everyone was okay. Even Hattori had made it to the house, leaving an incapacitated Tabby under the detective boy's care until the officers he'd told arrived. Now Hattori waited at the top of the stairs, watching the cramped quarters of the scene below.
Suddenly the tan detective took in a short breath as surprise as Lion slowly stood to his feet, silently pulling a small staff from under Tiger and advancing on the unsuspecting girls. Lion wasn't one to go down that easily. Satou was still focused on Takagi, and the girls had no clue that he was behind them.
"Look out!" The teen shouted, jumping down the stairs. Conan's eyes snapped open and he squirmed out of Ran's arm immediately, kicking at the box of coals on the ground as he landed. Even without his shoes the child had powerful legs, and the box went sailing into the man's stomach, stunning him for long enough that Ran, Hattori, and Kazuha were able to simultaneously launch attacks in their chosen martial arts, leaving the man out of commission for good.
Satou pulled herself from Takagi for long enough to hand cuff the man, calling to the officers at the top of the stair to come down and take care of the groaning man. Conan knelt down to the criminal while the others were focused on the cops at the top of the stairs. "Its like I told Persian. The dogs will always beat the cats. Be ready, because this time you won't land on your feet."
Lion growled but said nothing as his arms were forced up, pulling the man to his feet. The cop paid special attention to his arm wound, but was certainly not gentle. Two others grabbed the unconscious form of Tiger and carried him up the steps. Conan looked up as the criminals were escorted up the steps. He turned to Ran with his little kid mask firmly in place for the first time in days. He looked up with a fearful and pitiful gaze. "Ran-neecahan, can we leave? I don't like this place." He whined and Ran turned to him with a shocked and appalled look.
"Of course! I'm so sorry Conan-kun, I didn't even think of how traumatic it would be for you in this room."
Conan nodded pitifully as Ran picked him and carried him up the steps, looking like she never wanted to let him go. Takagi sputtered a little behind him but Conan paid no mind. He winced slightly as he thought of how he had revealed his secret, but the past was the past. He would have to deal with it later. The group slowly made their way up the steps, leaving the room empty and open for the forensics to come in.
The group made it to the top of the stairs to a barrage of excited cheers. There were so many people in the open space that the room was extremely cramped, even more so than the small cell-like area downstairs. At the top of the steps Takagi began to walk straight to the door, heading out of the house. Satou followed with confusion. "Where are you going?"
Takagi grunted. "I haven't been outside in a week. Plus after this I may have developed a slight claustrophobia."
Conan watched the officer for a moment before he shifted around to meet Ran's eye. "I wanna go outside too."
When the group finally made it out they all breathed deeply in the warm air. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze, almost as if the day was celebrating the rescue. Both of the former captives took deep breaths, glad to be rid of the stale air of their cell.
"Conan-kun!" Childish voices yelled as the detective boys appeared, Kinkalow at their heels. Ran set Conan down and the children cheered as they surrounded him, excited that they had played a part in rescuing them. Chiba and Shiratori walked over to the two officers, seeming very relieved. Chiba smiled as he neared his friend.
"How are you feeling? Megurue-keibu called for some medics to come to check you two out and make sure you're okay."
"We should be fine. Other than being pretty hungry we just have some shallow wound. Ku- Ku- *Cough Cough cough* I uh, mean Conan-kun was kinda of banged up but it looks like most of the bruises are gone." Hattori's eyebrows rose. He recognized that stammer, he himself made it almost every time he was talking to or about Kudo. The Osakan said nothing, but looked to the man with intrest.
Ran looked down to the child. "That reminds me, where are your glasses?"
Conan looked up with his bare blue orbs, suddenly realizing how much he must look like a young Kudo Shinichi. He turned his face away from the teen quickly, latching his eyes on the ground below. "They, um, were ruined by Lion."
"Oh, yeah." Hattori pulled a pair of the lenses out of his pocket. "I forgot I had these."
Conan gratefully replaced the spectacles and turned back to the girls, the last piece of his mask back in place. "Thank's heiji-nisan!"
Megure chose that moment to approach the group. "Good to see that you're in one piece Takagi-kun. The precinct has been strange without you."
Takagi nodded once, a weary smile on his face. "Thank you sir."
The inspector nodded before turning to Chiba, Shiratori, and Satou, holding up a small laptop. "Seems we caught the head haunch here. His computer has detailed information about several people classified as part of his group. Lucky for us he was watching the security feed for the cell before he went down to… complete the deed, and he never locked up his computer. I'm just worried that with some good lawyers some of the members will get away, after all there is no definite ID or any real proof that this belongs to the leader of a major criminal group."
Kinkalow stepped up shyly. "I could probably identify some of them. I could give you a lot of information too."
The inspector looked at the boy as if seeing him for the first time. "And who are you?"
"I'm… Kinkalow. I had a name before, but I forgot it. I was one of the cats, but I don't want to be anymore." The child glanced back at Conan, who nodded encouragingly. Haibara gave the officers a serious glance.
"He helped Edogawa-kun to escape by covering from us when one of the kidnappers came home unexpectedly."
Megure faltered slightly at the girls look. "Well then, uh… welcome to the good side then, kid. Maybe you could come with me and give me some of that information now."
The eleven year old smiled shyly and took a hesitant step forward. He wasn't used to officers, he didn't think he'd ever spoken to one other than Ocelot, and he didn't count. After spending his entire life as a Cat, he wasn't yet comfortable with dogs. Conan's keen eye noticed the hesitation.
"Maybe you should take the detective boy's with you. After all, they pretty much know how to give perfect police reports by now." The children clamored in agreement, and Kinkalow tossed Conan a grateful glance before following the portly inspector and detective children. Suddenly Satou's voice stopped him.
"Wait, are you Hayao?"
The child looked up with interest and nodded, "That was the name Persian made me use when we were getting information. He was my mentor. How did you hear it?"
"Someone we interrogated whose crime had been copied told me, the man Harao-san."
Kinkalow's eyes brightened. "That was my first time doing an assignment by myself. I remember him, he was really nice and had a cute little kid with him."
Satou nodded slowly, an idea forming. Maybe Harao wouldn't mind taking in another child. The boy took that as a dismissal, and the group of children followed the inspector. Eventually Mouri and Eri showed up, and Ran rushed to their side to tell them the good news, Sonoko trailing after. Eventually the group dwindled until only Hattori and Haibara remained with the two ex-captives. Hattori rose an eyebrow at the officer.
"So, you know too."
Takagi jumped slightly and rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly. "Ah, was I that obvious?"
"Yes." Haibara intoned. "But no more than Hattori-kun usually is, and no one has figured it out from him yet… amazingly."
"Oi!"
Conan rolled his eyes. "I should have waited before telling you. Just a few more minutes and I wouldn't have had to worry about it. Ah well, I suppose it will be nice to have someone on my side in the investigation. As long as you think you can keep from slipping up."
"I will! Don't worry."
Conan sighed, as though he would worry all the same. Haibara looked at him with an evil smirk. "Kudo Shinichi is in very hot water by the way. Ran-san has left a total of 103 messages in your phone with 174 missed calls. None of which have you replied to."
Conan groaned and sunk his head into his hands. He was so dead. Hattori smirked and leaned up against a tree trunk. "So, Kudo, why did the "Cats" take you anyway? Doesn't seem to fit with their MO."
The mini-detective rolled his eyes. "They wanted to make me a Kitten."
The group froze. Haibara's eyes were wide with horror at the thought of Conan turning into a heartess criminal, and Hattori simply becoming dull in shock, suddenly- "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Hattori burst out laughing doubling over and clutching his stomach as he fell to the ground. Haibara glared at the teen for making a joke of such a serious and horrible potential fate. The teen attempted to speak between laughs. "Sorry, just thinking 'bout what kinda idiot it would take to think they could make Kudo go to the dark side. That guys more stubborn than a mule." He lost control and let laughter overwhelm him. A small smile quirked at Ai's lips and even Takagi smiled slightly, the idea seeming ludicrous now that they were safe. Hattori continued to bust a gut. "And what kinda name is kitten? Oh no, run! It's too fluffy!"
Conan smirked at his friend. "It gets worse, Kinkalow calls me Puppy because of an unfortunate analogy."
Hattori only laughed even harder. "It's settled, next kid heist you're telling him this and when he's incapacitated by laughter we'll cuff him!"
Conan chuckled himself, picturing the thief's reaction to the news. It would probably be very similar to Hattori's. "You know, that might work." He joined Hattori in light laughter as Haibara spoke to Takagi, filling him in on some of the information Conan had neglected to mention earlier. Suddenly Conan saw a flash of black out of the corner of his eye. He snuck away from the group as fear spread through his stomach. He slid around the house to where he'd seen the dark color, stopping dead when he saw Vermouth leaning against the wall, looking like she was waiting for him as she played with her phone.
"Vermouth," Conan spat, fury written across his face. She looked up to him with a smirk, but never stopped messing with her cell. "What are you doing here?"
"Just making sure that there isn't any incriminating information on Lion's computer. About us of course, they'll likely find every one of the cats. And… delete. It will be nice to get rid of such a pesky group, they had no originality. Congratulations on escaping by the way, Silver Bullet-kun."
"No thanks to you, if it were up to you I would still be down there and Takagi-keij iwould be dead."
"Really now. You know, you got really lucky."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, just think about how fortunate it was that one of your classmates heard the legend about this "haunted house" just in time for you little friends to investigate and find you. You might want to thank that mysterious foreighn lady who told that little girl the scary story."
"What!" Conan glanced back at where the detective boys stood with the professor. "You mean you-" When he looked back she was gone with no sign that she had ever been there. He would have to talk to Haibara about that later.
Conan shook his head and looked back. The medics had arrived and Satou was leading Takagi to the small ambulance. As much as he was reluctant to say anything, it really would be nice to have someone who could give him information in cases, and maybe tell him when there was a case possibly connected to Them. If it had to be one of them, he supposed Takagi was one of the better options; he would never leak his secret. Not intentionally anyways.
Kinkalow was well on his way to shedding his cat pelt, and was now talking to Megure with no problem, even as other officers crowded him. Conan saw as the child pointed to one of the rookie officers, and watched with muted surprise as the man was cuffed and led to a car, yelling curses at the young boy. Kinkalow didn't even seem guilty.
"Conan-kun, Conan-kun!" Ran's terrified voice sounded, and the child realized with a wry grimace that she would be overprotective for a while.
"I'm right here, Ran-neechan!" He stepped out from behind the house to see her extremely relieved face.
"Oh thank goodness. Come on, the medics are here and I have to show you the good luck charm Kazuha-chan made you. I really hope it works, you could really use it.
"Hai, Ran-neechan." The little boy chirruped. Maybe someday he could tell her as he did Takagi-keiji. Maybe one day he would tell her everything and wouldn't have to worry about the Black Organization endangering her life. Maybe someday, but as he was picked up and placed on the back of the car for inspection he knew that today was not that day.
I am doing an "omake" of sorts to be out in a few weeks, but it is more of a collection of alternet endings. For example did you wonder what would happen if... The Detective Boys never found him and Takagi ended up dying? If Lion got away? If kinkalow wanted to stay a cat and didn't help the detective boys out? Read the Omake for this and more!