AN:- Mystic is recovering. Thanks to all those who wished her well! she appreciates them all! But, between real life and writing, updates are slow coming... Here we go with the next chapter, though!
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Warning: Ratings may change. Slash, M/M pairing. Non-explicit content for now.
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Do read and review!
Chapter 1: Captured
It had begun as a perfectly normal day. Kaito would have called it a good day, in fact, if it hadn't been for its horrible end.
KID had sent out a notice as usual; no riddles this time, only a target and time; and ran circles around the Task Force as he swiped away the jewel and made his escape. Easy – as usual. After all, he was the Kaitou Kid and no one could get the better of him. Be it the Task Force or Snake and his lackeys. Kaito would admit to being a bit cocky about it, but his advance preparations and cautiousness always paid off in the end. All would go well, he was sure.
Then, the snipers arrived.
It was immediately clear that they, whoever they were, were not Snake. Snake was sneaky, cunning and held the aura of a particularly aggressive Beta. But he was also easy to goad, quick to distract, effortlessly out-smarted. Kaito knew Snake. Snake was simple to overcome. This was not Snake.
Yup, definitely not Snake, Kaito sucked in a breath as he narrowly dodged a bullet. It skimmed his glider though and he was losing height progressively. Now, fear began to creep up on him. This was not how it was supposed to go. This was not how it usually went, period.
Because for once, they had waited till Kaitou Kid had glided away before shooting him, calculating his landing and lying in wait for him. Playing the perfect role of a predator luring in his prey. Cold, ruthless machinations that did not allow a chance of failure. Whoever they were, they far, far outclassed Snake.
"Shit," Kaito muffled a cry as he plummeted the last few feet to the ground, vision swimming as he tried to run and hide.
It proved futile. Bullet lodged in his arm, KID had been unable to make a successful escape, and had been immediately captured and sedated. The excruciating pain from the bullet wound only helped further in making Kaito black out.
Two hours later, safely ensconced in one the organisation's base, Brandy tore open KID's shirt to remove the bullet out and stitch him up.
"I told you to be more careful," Brandy complained as he dabbed the wound clean, "I don't want to clean up any of your messes, Chianti. And Gin wanted KID alive – something about interrogating him – for showing off to the Boss how useless Snake is,"
Chianti grunted, "It was a perfect shot. He's alive, isn't he? Gin can't complain."
"I wanted to shoot too," Korn muttered softly.
Ignoring the other man, Brandy continued, "Yeah, alive, just barely. If too much blood had been lost… I think this might mean the end for Snake though."
"Nah," Chianti grinned, "I think Rum wants him as bait – some plan the Boss had been deciding about since weeks. Maybe we'll get to shoot some FBI dogs too!"
Brandy ignored her insane cackle as he systematically disrobed KID, putting him into a standard hospital gown, an off-white coloured yukata. He might be a prisoner, but they did want him alive. And hygiene was the first step to ensure it.
"Say, wasn't Snake going on about KID being some old magician called Toichi?"
"Yeah, so?"
"He doesn't look quite old, really. About nineteen or twenty, I'd say."
"I told you Snake messed up, didn't I?" Chianti replied, "No idea who he is, but I'm sure he'll spill the beans after a little… persuasion."
Brandy blinked at her sadism before sighing. Well, his job was done already; he had nothing to worry about what happened further.
"I'm going back to the main lab," Brandy told them, "I think, Sherry and I are going to finally make a breakthrough with the wonder drug… So, take him where ever, put him in one of the cells and what not. Just tell Gin that I'll be around to take a blood sample of his, later."
"Blood sample?" Chianti raised an eyebrow, "No, on second thought – don't tell me. I don't want to hear any scientific mumbo jumbo. Yeah, I'll tell Gin."
Konosuke Jii had only ever felt this apprehension once before – the night Toichi-sama had been killed. There had been a feeling of foreboding that just refused to go away and a similar emotion gripped him now. It had been two hours since the heist ended and Kaito-bocchama had not yet returned. There had been no phone call either, or a message that he was home, safe and sound.
Jii did not dare think of what could have happened, even though he knew that Kaito-bocchama's disappearance must have had to do with Them – the Black Organisation.
Jii did not want to assume, but that was the only logical conclusion. Catching hold of KID was not easy, and Snake was not what you'd call competent. He had only managed to kill Toichi because it had been unexpected that he would target him outside of a heist.
Which meant that today's opponents were different. The organisation was pulling out the big guns, so to speak. And Jii couldn't handle this alone. With shaking hands, he pulled out his phone and dialled a number, waiting for the line to connect.
"Chikage-sama, it's about Kaito-bocchama…"
Kaito awoke to pain. And hunger. But mostly pain.
It radiated from his arm and spread out, stopping his attempts at sitting upright. Taking a glance around, he could make out a low ceiling and a door. He was laid down on a bed, and there was a low bedside table and a wooden chair as furniture. Apart from that, it seemed to be a bare and closed room.
Then the panic set in.
'Where am I? Kami-sama! Was I caught?'
A look at himself, and the stitches adorning his arm, set the truth apart. He, the Phantom Thief Kid, the greatest escape artist ever, the Heisei Lupin, had been caught.
'Damn,' Kaito swallowed down his terror, 'there's no use if I hyperventilate now. First, I must escape.'
That thought was soon discarded when he realised that he'd been given no anaesthetic (Of course not, not like they're going to make the pain manageable for me, Kaito realised dryly) and his arm ached agonisingly.
Then, he quickly sniffed himself, checking to make sure the scent blockers were still working. They were.
Scent blockers were essentially a type of perfume, sold in bottles and cans with a spraying facility. They could be sprayed or dabbed, either on a person's body itself, to cover up their scent glands and let it soak into it, thus giving out an aromatic smell (which varied for different types of products), or it could be sprayed inside a room like an air-fresher.
The main method was to let the nose smell a more potent aroma than what a person's scent glands gave out. Often times, the person applying a scent blocker couldn't smell another's scent too, since their nose became too numb by continuously inhaling the scent blocker sprayed on themselves.
Depending on the price of a blocker and the company that produced them, their time effectiveness varied. It also depended on a person's second gender, of course.
Betas, the most common and majority of the population, gave out a very neutral smell. It was usually unobtrusive and rarely needed to be blocked. Scent blockers also lasted for maximum duration on them, stretching for a period of 48 to 72 hours, without the need to reapply.
Alphas, a minority compared to Betas and almost similar in number to Omegas, had a much more potent scent. They smelt like particularly strong and overused perfume – and not always pleasant to everyone – providing most people with a raging headache if inhaled for too long; people's olfactory nerves could only sense so much before tiring out, after all. It was mandatory for all Alpha's to apply scent blockers if they worked in a large company or interacted heavily with people.
Omegas, their population as small in number as the Alphas, had a less potent smell. They also smelt more pleasant, earthy and natural; not quite headache inducing and very welcoming. But it was for this very purpose that it was mandatory for working Omegas to block their scent. After all, employers did not want their employees ogling their co-workers instead of working. Also, during a heat (that typically occurs four to five times in a year in accordance with the changing seasons) their scent became over-bearing. So, yes, mandatory.
For both minor second genders, scent blockers typically lasted for a minimum of 12 hours to a maximum of 36 hours. Once again, this also depended on the manufacturing company that created the product.
Kaitou Kid, on the other hand, used scent blockers more to fool the public than due to the laws concerning them. After all, Kuroba Toichi had been a Beta. So, Kaitou Kid, the second, couldn't possibly smell like anything but a Beta, could he?
Kaito had just relaxed, hoping to find a way to escape his captors once he regained full use of his limbs, and a bit of energy, when the door rattled. There was a distinct sound of a padlock being opened and a bolt sliding out of its slot. Then, with an ominous creaking sound, door pushed inwards, letting entrance to a man and woman. As soon as they walked in, they shut the door and the woman leaned against it to prevent Kaito from entertaining any notions about escaping.
Not that Kaito had any intention to. One look at the woman and he knew he stood no chance, especially in his weakened state – the woman was a martial artist. Nope, Kaito agreed with his thoughts, no going anywhere while she's here.
'I think I could take the man out,' Kaito wondered as the man walked towards him, placing what looked like a first aid kit on the bedside table, 'But let's just go along with what they're doing now. Trying to escape now would only end in failure and would lead to a heavier security. If the security for Kaitou Kid isn't already heavy, that is.'
The first aid kit turned out to be a mini-laboratory and Kaito wondered in horror what they were planning to do to him. His fears were momentarily placed to rest as he was only given a check-up.
The man began shining a small penlight into his eyes then, one hand running through his hair as if to check for bumps.
'He's checking if I have a concussion,' Kaito realised, 'Why? I'm just a prisoner…'
"You've been unconscious for eight hours. What do you remember last?" the man asked as he took his pulse, "Any blank areas? Dizziness? Nausea?"
The woman snorted, "I don't know why you're bothering, Brandy, that has nothing to do with his physical health,"
"On the contrary, Curaçao," the man, Brandy, replied, "His mental faculties must not be harmed. We may need to retrieve information from him at some point in time."
Kaito narrowed his eyes, 'They're talking so freely, giving out names, code names – as if they don't expect me to escape here at all,' Anger boiled within him, 'And what makes you think I won't lie about my mental state? Now that you've revealed the reason for –'
Oh. Oh…he couldn't lie. Not when Brandy was looking into his eyes and checking his pulse. The doctor (?) would immediately pick out his lies by his body's reaction. And Kaito might have an excellent poker face, but when shot and injured, not even he could lie effectively enough by controlling his pulse rate, breathing pattern or pupil dilation.
'Let's just be compliant for now,' Kaito took a breath, 'Make them lower their guard,'
"My memory's fine," Kaito answered Brandy's question with a blank face, giving out the impression that he was not pleased to be here but knew that he had no choice.
Brandy nodded at that and retreated, just as Kaito wanted.
Then, Brandy pulled out a syringe and capped it with a needle. Kaito's eyes widened.
'No! They're going to take a blood sample?'
His instinctive reaction, flinching away, was quelled forcefully. He sat still as Brandy retrieved an amount of blood from him, finally packing away his kit and standing up to leave. They locked the door behind them and Kaito flopped down onto the bed, tired.
"Having my DNA is going to be problematic," Kaito murmured to himself, "Even if they don't recognise who I am after seeing my face, it will not take long for them to do so after I escape and then cross check it. They already have people high up in the police," Kaito sighed, "Come to think of it; they must have taken my finger prints too."
Things seemed to only get more troublesome now. But the organisation having his DNA was slightly less worrying. The main source of worry was his scent blocker fading off.
Kaito had been unconscious for eight hours. If it had taken a couple of hours for them to come to this place, it would mean nearly twelve hours had passed since he'd applied the blocker. So, he had possibly another twenty four hours to escape – escape before the Black Organisation found out…
That, Kaitou Kid the second, Kuroba Kaito, was an Omega.
AN:- So, how many have figured out who RUM in this story is? Leave us a review, because Mystic surely wants to know! So far, no one seems to have guessed, but I hope to see someone hit the bulls-eye soon!
Hope you all enjoyed it so far! We hope to keep updates regular, but Mystic's health will be my priority and spell-check and revision may thus take a while.
Thank you all for your support and well wishes!
-Critic