Author's Note: I finally get to write. Free time for me is rare nowadays. I'm just glad I have the time to type this here. I love writing, don't worry. It's just; everything is coming to my life too fast. When I was starting this when I was 14 years old, I have all the time in the world. Now, I would be dead lucky if I even have 1 hour to write. I just hate it how this series slowly fades in my mind.

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan.

The Moment Where Everything Was Lost

Part I: The Eclipse

"Not every night is a happy ending, but all of it is important. All of it was leading somewhere."

Ted Mosby (How I Met Your Mother)

Chapter XXIV: Reminiscence Part V

Mashiro's point of view

Tick tock. Tick tock.

With a blink of an eye, everything changed. The fact that in a matter of hours a tragedy that will happen still hasn't sunk into me. I was speechless and immobile; I didn't know what to react or what to do. All seemed desperate, and I'm losing hope myself. I was hoping for someone to come and to put a stop to this, but no, I can't delude myself with fantasies. We were the only hope, and no one else can carry the burden.

"Mashiro, what do we do?" Saiko said tearing up.

I looked at her face, and no words came out of my mouth. I didn't know the right thing to say. "Mashiro," she whispered my name on the verge of crying.

There, I saw her crying, and thought of the consequences if we don't move. All the families that will die, all the futures that will be destroyed and all the lives that will be killed were flashing between my eyes and a bolt of strength finally surged within me.

"We'll follow them. Before they test the drug, we'll intervene. Contact the cops for back-up. Say be ready," I ordered.

"Fools! Don't underestimate them, and I can't let you interfere here. They deserve what's coming," Ayesagawa exclaimed.

"Yeah, they deserve what will happen, but don't pull other people into your fight. You're causing too much damage to innocent people," I shouted back.

Ayesagawa soon swiftly stood and pushed Saiko down to the ground. I ran down to assist her, but Ayesagawa pointed a pistol in front of my forehead.

"I can kill you this instant," he threatened.

"Go ahead then," I blurted out.

I closed my eyes and counted every second that passes by.

I awaited the shot, but all I heard was a faint click. I opened my eyes and still saw the gun in front of me. "You're lucky," Ayesagawa said walking away, vanishing out of sight.

"I know. We're both shocked, but let's talk about that later. What do we do now?" Saiko asked.

"We'll go with the plan," I replied.

Author's point of view

Meanwhile in an underground headquarters…

"So, we have a new rookie here," a man said. "Woah, you're cute," another man said.

"Shut your mouth. Don't give me a reason to slit your throat," a blond beautiful woman said. "The rookie's a feisty one," the man said. "I'm not a rookie. I've been transferred here from the Intelligence Department. One more trash talk and I'll make you beg for your life," she said.

"Either way, you're new here, so what do they call you? You do field work, so you must have your alias," the man said.

"Vermouth, that's what they call me, so let's stop this chitchat. I've been sent here to accompany you to test the new drug," Vermouth said. "Straightforward are you. Well then Vermouth, we're about to test a class S drug in an abandoned warehouse near here," he replied.

"What does the drug do?" she asked. "That's the mystery. We don't know yet. We wouldn't be testing it now if we don't know what it'll do, will we? What we though are that it will surely be dangerous," the second man explained.

"Let's just go and finish the job," she ordered. "We can't move until we don't get the boss' permission," the man said.

Vermouth giggled as if she found that sentence humorous.

"Don't worry, he won't get mad. By the way, everything's ready. The scientist and the specimen are already outside."

"Don't get too cocky, rookie. You better learn to shut that trap of yours before it gets you into trouble. The boss doesn't answer to anyone. The boss himself called me. I may be a rookie, but I'm closer to him than you'll ever be, so you're the one who should take caution. Who knows, one day, we'll see your body floating in a nearby river, cold and dead." the second man said.

The two men shot a hateful glare at her and said, "Come on, let's move. I might just strangle someone here."

Vermouth simply snickered at his threat and followed them. They led her into a near garage just around the corner from where they left.

"Pike-san, you're here. The drug has been secured, and we're ready to go. I just need your go signal," one scientist said. "Let's go, we're burning daylight here," Vermouth ordered with authority. The scientist looked like he was about to complain, but the man beside him made him hushed. "It's no use talking to her. Just do what she said. Seems like she's the boss' princess," the man said.

The scientist understood what he said and fell into Vermouth's commands.

"We're testing the drug in an abandoned warehouse near the Beika City Hospital. The specimen is already there," the scientist said.

"So, what are we waiting for?" Enter the car," Vermouth ordered.

All of them entered the car, and went to test the drug. The closing curtains are finally starting to move.

Mashiro's point of view

"I think I lost them," I said in dismay. "No, there they are! The black Porsche!" Saiko shouted pointing at a black Porsche in front of us. I didn't waste a single moment and stepped on the pedal. I turned every intersection just to follow them. They were fast, but I could still notice them under the sea of cars that were flooding the street.

The chase went on until the black Porsche came to a sudden halt. I stepped on the brakes and drifted to avoid crashing head through the car. Saiko went out and checked the car that came to a sudden halt. Step by step, she moved closer to the car and carefully peeked inside it.

Her eyes grew at what she saw. "It's a trap. We've been misled. There's nothing but a contraption inside that turns the steering wheel. We've been fooled," Saiko explained. "It's not yet over; it only leads us closer to them. The contraption moves with the use of its remote control. It means someone's using a lifesize toy car to fool us, but they're too careless," I said.

"We can still track down,"

"Amazing," Saiko said in awe. "That's why I brought a radio transmitter. My brother's in the CIA. I never knew that his endless rambling would be of use someday. I'll track them down," I said. I got the radio transmitter our and connected it into the car's radio.

As soon as I attached it, the GPS coupled to the transmitter traced a signal coming from a near location. "It's near us," I said. "Then let's go," she replied.

Author's point of view

"We're here," the scientist said. "Is everything set in place?" Vermouth asked. "Yes, the drug is also inside. Let's get this over with. I have an appointment later," Pike said. "I certainly hope it has something to do with our organization," Vermouth teased. "Will you just shut up! You may talk big, but I don't answer to you," he shouted.

Vermouth remained silent and seemingly but her lip. "Since you're done fighting, it's time," the scientist intervened. Pike walked on ahead of them to avoid Vermouth.

Vermouth entered a large empty warehouse. It was dim, and she can't quite see anything.

"Open the lights," the scientist ordered. The light revealed the rom. There were five people in the middle strapped down to a chair. Their mouths were muffled. No sound can be heard, but etched in their faces is fear and hopelessness.

People in black were surrounding them. It was to ensure in case the specimens tried to escape. Near the specimens, a box was on a tiny table. "Open the box and give them the shot," the scientist instructed. Pike took the syringe inside the box and choose between the specimens.

"Why are there five of them?" Vermouth interrupted.

"Five what?" Pike replied. "Is it necessary to use five specimens just for this drug? Two would have suffice," Vermouth explained.

"Two won't be enough. We need five for the very reason to see the limits of this drug. The specimens we chose are from five different age gaps. You may know that as we're younger, our immune system is functioning at its best. We want to know if age affects the drug. That's all. Ironic though that this drug is made to destroy our immune system, but it may just be countered by our immune itself," the scientist explained.

"I though you didn't know what this drug do?" she replied. "We know what it does, but we don't know up to what extent," he replied.

"Stop this chitchat! Let's just finish this," Pike shouted and confronted one of the specimens.

"Say goodbye,"

The specimen was crying, but no sound came out of her muffled mouth. The needle was near her wrist, but something exploded before it could touch her skin. "What the h-," before he could finish, with a blink of an eye, a bullet was shot, and Pike fell on the ground, writhing in pain.

The syringe was still in Pike's palm right after the explosion. Some guards were already on the floor unconscious while Vermouth was looking around for the cause of the explosion.

"Where is it coming from?" Vermouth asked herself. Her phone rang just minutes after the explosion.

"What are you doing! You aren't supposed to attract a crowd!" it was the boss, and he wasn't too happy. "Crowd? What crowd?" she questioned. "The warehouse you're in. Part of it is in flames, and why do have a specimen hanged near the entrance? She's tied to a pole. Cops are outside, and I can see it clear here in the television," the boss said hanging up.

"We have to abort! Someone's ambushing us! The cops are already outside!" Vermouth shouted. "Who are doing this!" the scientist shouted.

From the shadows, a silhouette appeared. It was Mashiro shaking, with a gun in hand. "Let her go," he said eyeing on Vermouth. For some reason, he looked deranged. His eyes were big and scared. Chaos and confusing were ruling moment while from above, someone was pulling the strings.

"Everything is going as planned," a voice said.

Author's Note: The next chapter will finally end this arc. After that, the original story resumes.

Coming Soon: Chapter 25: Reminiscence Part VI – Denouement