Hello again! It's time for a new installment of the story! You know… it's a goofy thing… when I started writing fanfiction, I went back to writing mostly on paper instead of the computer, because it forced my thoughts to slow down (I can type almost as fast as I process thoughts, which is bad for stories because I might miss something). Anyway, I was just kinda going along, and then took a break to transcribe it to the computer, and suddenly found myself at a good chapter break. Usually I see them coming, but this one snuck up on me, so you all get a treat today /grin/.

I still don't own the characters, but I am still having fun playing with them.

Chapter 11: Phantom Thieves

Kogoro ripped open the letter as soon as he saw it, knowing as well as his daughter had, who it was from. He gritted his teeth as he read the contents.

Ran and Conan watched over his shoulder, and the boy took out his small notepad to jot down the riddle for later. 'Great! This is my chance,' he thought with a big grin on his face.

Ran noticed his excitement. "Is everything okay, Conan-kun? You don't usually get quite this worked up about KID heists."

"Huh? Oh, it's a secret!" He ran off to find a quiet place to decipher the riddle, leaving Ran and her father to attempt it themselves.

When Conan sat down again with his notepad and opened it to the page with the riddle, he was surprised to discover that it wasn't as hard to understand as he expected it to be, as if it had been formulated in haste. He determined the target to be a piece in the new exhibit he'd seen in the newspaper, which pinpointed the location for him. The toughest part of the riddle was figuring out what day and time KID would show up. However, as with previous heist riddles, that detail didn't prove to be much of a challenge either. The more he thought about it, and thought about the news report, he remembered that the exhibit would only be there for a week – meaning that if the thief wanted to do his thing, he had no choice but to do it soon.

He took out his cell phone and placed a call to Osaka.

"Yo, Kudo! Has there been a break in the case?"

Before Conan could voice a reply, he heard someone else in the background behind his friend. "Is that really Kudo-kun? Tell him that if he doesn't come back soon, I'm gonna tell Ran-chan to forget about him for good!"

"Mind your own business, Kazuha! This is important!"

"More important than a woman's feelings… I get it." She left in a huff, and Conan heard the door slam.

Heiji sighed into the telephone. "She's gone now. What's up?"

"I'm going after Kaitou KID."

"Really? What kind of antics is he up to this time?"

Conan shrugged, even though he knew his friend couldn't see it. "He's up to what he's always up to - stealing something. The difference is this time there's a hairline crack in my case... and it involves making contact with him."

The diminutive detective could hear the surprise in his friend's voice. "Really? What happened?"

"I talked to my dad."

"He didn't ask any questions?"

Conan hesitated for a couple seconds. "He asked some questions. I told him I couldn't give him complete answers. Somehow he was satisfied by that, but I know I'm gonna get an earful later."

" 'K, so what's the deal?"

"I can't tell you the whole thing over the phone, but suffice it to say that the thing he's searching for might be the key to fixing some problems."

"That piece of ro..."

"Don't talk about it! The heist is in two days, that's Wednesday. Ed and I are the only ones going, although Ed doesn't know that yet. Come to Tokyo on Thursday, and we'll see what happens from there."

"Yeah, fine. Okay. See ya in a few days."

"Good. I look forward to it."

On Wednesday afternoon, Conan went to Dr Agasa's after school instead of going back to the detective agency. While they walked, he called Ran to let her know. She told him simply to have fun, and not come home too late.

After hanging up the phone, he turned his attention to Ed. "Got plans for tonight?"

"Not that I can think of. Why, you have an idea?"

Ai sent a warning glare in Conan's general direction, which he ignored.

"I thought it'd be a nice night for a walk."

"Okay, sounds like fun."

"Be sure to bring a notepad. You never know when we'll come across a case."

Ai stared straight ahead of her. "Edogawa-kun, can I speak to you privately when we get home?"

Both boys glanced sideways at her, saying nothing.

When they got inside, she pulled Conan downstairs to the laboratory. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm going to the heist tonight, whether he comes with me or not. I'd just rather have a little leverage. Is that so wrong?"

"It is when you don't tell him where you're going. Less than a week ago, he expressly told us he doesn't want to get involved again. He's a smart guy… what will you say when he figures it out?"

He grinned sheepishly and put one hand behind his head. "I hadn't quite gotten that far yet." His expression turned serious again when he saw how nervous she was, and they sat in silence for a minute.

A disembodied voice floated down to them. "Hey, Conan! Are you ready to go yet?"

"Be right up!"

"You had better think of something," Ai warned.

Ed and Conan walked casually down the street, watching the last of the red tones drain from the sky. Ed knew the detective was up to something, but he couldn't quite figure out what, so he let the silence linger until the other boy was ready to reveal the cards in his hand. It didn't take as long as he had expected.

"What would you do if you had the opportunity to meet a legendary phantom thief?"

"Phantom thief? I dealt with one of those once… she was weird. I could never tell what her angle was." He watched Conan to see his reaction to the revelation of the woman he met in Aquroya.

The other boy tried to hide his surprise. "No, this guy is way more straightforward. He's always searching for the same thing, and he must not have found it yet, because he keeps sending his riddles to the police departments."

"Riddles? He taunts them on purpose? The one I knew did something almost every night in the town where she lived, and never bothered to warn anyone where she'd be going."

"This guy makes a game out of his heists. Even with full knowledge of where he's gonna be, he still manages to elude us every time."

"Sounds like you know this guy pretty well."

'Haibara was right, he's already catching on,' Conan thought. "Knowing is a matter of perspective. I probably do know him better than most of the policemen who are officially chasing him. I met him a few times, and we even crossed paths once before I was poisoned. But I don't know him personally. He always slips away just when I think I'm about to catch a glimpse of his real face."

They kept walking until they reached a dark building that appeared to be nearly completed, but no tenants had moved in yet. Ed was confused. "You were making it sound like we're going to a heist. There's no one here."

Conan stopped to turn on the flashlight in his wristwatch. "We are going to watch the heist. Firstly, we'll have a pretty good view from here. Secondly, it's way too crowded over there, and he'll have no trouble getting away from them. Out of all the surrounding buildings, this is the one he's most likely to land on after he escapes."

The building they had gone into was a block and a half away from the museum, and two floors taller than the other buildings surrounding it, making it both a good vantage point away from the big crowd and a good escape point where the policemen would be less likely to climb that high. Inside, they saw that only about half the walls were finished. The power hadn't been turned on yet, so they opted for the stairs instead of the construction elevator.

They were a little out of breath when they reached the top floor, so they stopped on the landing. Conan looked at his watch. "It's almost time, come on." He pushed the door open and started making his way toward one of the windows that faced the museum. Ed followed closely, even though it was only out of curiosity for why the other boy was so interested in the guy they'd supposedly be meeting in a little while.

Conan leaned an elbow on the window sill, closed his eyes, and sighed. He watched the crowd for a minute before speaking. "Even with help, Nakamori and his team never seem to come close to catching this guy. Part of that is because he's an expert with disguises, and part is because he thinks and moves faster than all of them combined."

"Except you…"

"I generally don't do elaborate disguises, but my mom does," he replied with a shrug and a grin. "So I might be a little better at spotting it. But yeah, I can usually think faster than the cops too."

Ed chuckled, sympathizing with the detective about having to deal with elders who were just a little too stuck in their ways.

Their attention was drawn out the window as every light in the block surrounding the museum simultaneously shut off. Two seconds later a pair of spotlights mounted on nearby buildings pointed at a lone figure dressed all in white standing on the roof of the museum.

"He sure knows how to make an entrance," Ed quipped.

KID addressed the crowd on the ground in front of him. "Ladies and gentlemen! Thank you very much for joining me here tonight!" The crowd erupted in an odd mixture of cheers and boos. "You are about to witness one of my greatest feats ever! My quarry is in a room in the exact center of this building. Tonight, I will attempt to go in, remove it, and return to this rooftop in no more than eight minutes!" This revelation elicited gasps and surprised mutterings from supporters and opponents alike. "Let's start the clock, shall we?" A giant digital clock showing all zeros was suddenly projected onto the wall of the museum. "Time will start when I disappear from this roof!" He took a step back from the ledge, and a cloud of pink smoke puffed up around him. One of the helicopters circling in the sky approached and three officers jumped onto the roof. They ran towards the cloud, but by the time it dissipated, KID was already gone.

The seconds started ticking on the clock on the wall.

Back at the incomplete office building, Edward was furious. "Who the hell does that guy think he is?"

Conan sighed. He was ready for the night to be over not because he had to keep explaining things to the alchemist, but because the thought of trying to approach the cocky thief was becoming less and less attractive to him. "Sorry, that wasn't at you. Kaitou KID is one of the greatest thieves in history… and unfortunately he has a lot to show for it."

"I believe it. He drinks up the cheers of his followers like some kind of elixir."

"Yeah…" Conan watched the giant numbers change at an achingly slow pace.

End Chapter 11

A/N: So yeah, that's it. Life continues to happen, so as always I'm not sure how long it'll be until I post again. I like hearing from you all, especially because you guys are just so darn smart! I had a request to add a certain character that I hadn't actually considered, but I thought of a good way to do it, so that person might show up in chapter 12, depending on story flow… you'll just have to wait and see!