Chapter 45 Helpful Detective and Scientists.
To the reviewer who requested for Hattori to come back… He will. The next Arc will be about him, so just wait a little longer.
Two days ago… (from Vongola's POV)
"Keiman, pass me two syringes please"
The crocodile moves over to a set of drawers and taps his nose against one of them. It opens on motorised runners. The crocodile uses his tail to grab the requested items before walking back over to his Partner. With a mumbled thanks, Verde sets about taking a few blood samples from the man on the table before him. Jumping off of the table he walks over to a sideboard where the microscope is and starts to analyse the blood in front of him. Of course everything in the room was barely off the ground, suitable for his new height. It's been so long since the change that he didn't even think about things like that anymore. It only ever annoyed him when he was going through dark days and saw his form in the mirror. Those kind of days often ended up with quite a few needle mark, failed experiments and a major headache.
"Laptop" The order was short, not all that harsh, especially since it was half mumbled since Verde's interests were currently focused on the most bizarre blood sample he had ever seen. Keiman wanders over and grabs the laptop from a different counter before holding it aloft on his tail for Verde to use. Verde calls up the previous files he had created about this test subject: Kudo Shinichi. It had been over half a year since he had last looked at this data, so he re-familiarised himself with it.
"Kudo, can you still hear and understand me?" Verde asks, climbing the stairs to stand on the table Kudo was laying on. Verde is shocked to find a black glazed look instead of the blue one he was expecting.
Noticing Verde's confused look, Shinichi forces his body to smile, somewhat reassuringly. "Don't worry Verde… just my Flames reflecting in my eyes… I'm having to read your lips to understand you." The sentence is slow and laboured, all coinciding with Shinichi's body going into shock, so Verde wasn't worried about it.
"I need to ask you a few questions." Verde explains, to which Shinichi half-heartedly nods permission "Since we've implanted these Nano-bots, have you changed forms?"
It takes a few moments for Shinichi to remember through the haze of the poison. "Yes, I have… twice… once straight after the operation and once again about a month back." That was during their Phantom Game against Dino.
"Did you have any problems with either of these transformations? It all went smoothly?" questions Verde, taking the pen and pad of paper from Keiman.
"No… no problems at all. Hurts less like you said, but nothing has… gone wrong." Verde nods his confirmation, scribbling down the results.
"That's good then." He jumps back off the table before going back to the microscope. That meant he didn't have to take anything else into account.
"Vial, please Keiman" he requests whilst adjusting the settings on the microscope. He reaches into a drawer to grab a pipette and a few other things before he holds a hand out for the Vial of Ricin Kudo had been poisoned with.
For the strange thing was, there was no poison in any of the blood samples he'd taken. Now whilst this may have been because of the miniscule amount Kudo had inhaled, Verde actually suspected otherwise.
Dropping a few drops of the liquid into the blood sample, his theory is confirmed. Writing it down, he wanders back over to Kudo.
Shinichi looks up at Verde, finding everything to be a blur. He vaguely thinks he hears Verde say something. Knowing it must be important, he turns his flames up higher, forcing the world to come back into sparkling black clarity.
Noticing the white sparks in Kudo's eyes this time, he assumes that it's something to do with the Flames, and repeats his order.
"Transform"
"Really?" Shinichi mumbles, hardly believing that's going to help. Surely the smaller body and smaller volume of blood would only get him killed quicker.
"I… explain later… do it… already…" Shinichi couldn't quite hear Verde correctly anymore, but he got the gist of it. Verde obviously wasn't used to his experiments not following his orders.
"C-command C" Shinichi orders his body. He doesn't feel the transformation take place over the pain of the poison. He does however, feel the effect of the poison lessening.
A few minutes later, a rather exhausted Conan looks over to the World's Greatest Scientist. "How?" is the only thing Conan can say right now.
"It was quite simple actually. The original poison-" he takes a look at his notes "The Apo-toxin as you called it, actually attracts other poisons to it. Instead of attacking your body, the Ricin was attacking that. So, by increasing the levels of the Apo-toxin in your blood- hence the transformation- all of the Ricin will be attacking that rather than you. After an hour or so, I'll get you to change back. The second transformation will effectively 'eat and destroy' the Ricin affected Apo-toxin, removing all of the Ricin from your system."
"That's going to work?" Asks Conan, amazed.
"Of course it will. Are you doubting me?" asks Verde offended. He'd just explained it all after all. "And I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I hypothesis this will happen for most poisons too."
Conan's eyes widen. "Really?"
Verde nods "The same principle applies. A transformation should remove the poison from your system assuming it enters your blood stream. I'm not sure how the Toxin will react to normal diseases however. So if you ever contract something, come back here. I want to observe it." Conan rolls his eyes over that comment and immediately regrets it. He's got a tremendous headache coming on.
Verde turns to the Vindice who had been leaning against a wall out of the Scientist's way. "You can take him now. After one hour, make him transform again, then let him sleep. He'll be fine after he wakes up again."
Jager nods before walking towards Conan on the low table. Just as he settles the boy over his shoulder Conan says. "Wait, Verde!" The small scientist and his Partner stop and Verde looks backwards over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised. "Thank you"
"Hn. If that is all, I have another experiment to check up on." Verde leaves, shutting the door behind him.
Kaito immediately runs to the bedroom of the hotel they were currently in, having felt Night Flames being emitted from there. Since Bermuda had been sat on the sofa opposite him, there was only one other person it could be.
"Shin-chan!" he shouts, throwing the door open.
Jager puts Conan down on the bed since the boy can't go anywhere at the moment without tripping over before leaving the room to report to his Boss.
"Oh, Tantei-kun's arrived. That's interesting. It's the story of your life once again, shrinking due to a drug. Are you going to make this a habit?" Conan looks up and deadpans.
"Haha, very funny KID. I thought you'd like the surprise especially since it's one keeping me alive at the moment." Conan kicks his too large shoes and socks off of the edge of the bed, not caring where they land. The tie makes a similar tip, flying through the air to some unknown part of the room.
"Then it's an even more lovely surprise than I first thought" says KID kneeling next to Conan's bed. "You'd know I'd never miss the chance to meet my favourite critic once again."
For Conan was KID's.
Totally ignoring logic that only ever worked in KID's mind- He was Conan so what difference did it make?- he fumbles to remove his jacket.
"Tantei-kun, you're back home now, you can stop with the Star Flames, you're not in any danger." Soothes KID, noticing the black sparkly glare Conan had given him.
Conan shakes his head and continues to remove his jacket, eyes never leaving KID's face the whole time, which KID found rather weird. "Can't. I'm lip reading at the moment. There's this buzzing in my head and I can't really hear anything. Since I'm not as good at reading lips as you are, I need my Flames to do it. Plus it's all good training. The buzzing is slowly going though, it's not as bad since I've transformed."
"Oh silly silly Tantei-kun" smiles KID before clicking. As if presenting one of his roses, he flicks his wrist and holds out one of Spanner's lollipops. Conan is quick to grab it and place it in his mouth, relishing the feeling of the headache fading. He didn't know how he'd survive without them. Looking back at KID, he watches as KID smirks and presents his hands out in front of him. Slowly, one at a time, he uses sign language to ask: Is this better?
KID's answer is in the relieved smile and the return of bright blue eyes.
So you all fixed up? Asks KID, before checking Conan's pulse.
Conan pulls his hand free, before wiping sweat off of his brow with his sleeve. "I've got to wait for an hour before I go back to being Shinichi. Then I'll sleep it off and wake up fine, according to my Doctor at least."
Conan misses the next question KID asks him, due to Bermuda's Flame message appearing between the pair.
I've reserve a table for the both of you in the restaurant. You'll next assignment will take place there. Don't worry, no deaths this time.
"Really?" whines Conan, not wanting to go anywhere at the moment. Chucking the lollipop stick in the bin, he rummages around in his jacket for another one. Finding one, he turns and looks at KID.
"Um, KID, you wouldn't happen… to have on you…" he looks away, rather embarrassed to have to be asking KID for this. He really should be more prepared for this himself. Dare he say it, but he may have to ask KID just how he hides things on his person. Yay more Phantom Lessons! Of course, when he was Conan, there was very rarely the fear of changing back into Shinichi. And even if he did change, quite often it was planned by him and Haibara. Plus finding adult's clothes was easier than finding children's clothes.
KID smirks, his very superior KID smirk that taunted him every time he couldn't figure out how a trick was done or when he was hanging upside down in a net.
Say Please. KID signs back, and even without the voice, Conan can still tell exactly what tone would have been used. He crosses his arms, looking like a petulant 9 year old- which he is at the moment.
"Please" he says quietly. In a cloud of smoke, KID's changed his clothes and he's finally in something that fits.
So where are we off to then? KID signs once the smoke has cleared. I'm assuming Bermuda gave you your next mission.
Conan nods. "Yes, we're off to the restaurant."
KID grins, and before Conan can prepare himself another cloud of smoke fills the room. It's amazing this stuff never sets the smoke alarms off. In front of Conan now is Kuroba Kaito, V.F's greatest Magician in his trademark baby blue suit.
"You know what that means then!" sings Magician, grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the hotel room.
This was going to be a long breakfast.
Once they arrived at their reserved table it was to find a black and silver envelope waiting for them. Conan raises an eyebrow at this. "This isn't KID's doing is it?" Magician shakes his head before starting to sign back his answer. "No, it's alright, I can hear a lot better now. Give me another 5 minutes and it'll be back to normal." Conan picks the envelope up, and when he flips it over it's to find a black top hat drawn on the back. "Seems like Bermuda left it here for us."
"So what's it say? I bet it's your latest assignment. Agent Edogawa, if you so choose to accept you shall have to…" starts Magician is a falsely deep voice, copying a certain spy movie.
"I want to assess your Flame control in this new form. We don't know whether the change of body shape and size will affect how well you can control the Star Flames. As a result, run through the basic exercises, starting with occupational factors." Conan recites.
"This message will self-destruct in 3…2…1…" Back with the voice again, Magician eyes the envelope with glee in his eyes. Oh~ what to do with it?
Conan, expecting something, holds the letter as far from him as possible. But it's not as bad as he was expecting. For with a click of Kaito's fingers, his hand suddenly gets heavier and there is a dove. It coos before spring-boarding off his hand to fly in the air slightly, bringing attention to himself.
"Um, excuse me Sir, but Pets are not allowed in the Restaurant." Says the Manager, coming over at the sudden commotion.
Magician laugh. "Do not worry good sir. For I am a Magician!" He bows to the manager and the room "To apologise, how about I put on a show!" Conan watches as Magician looks backwards at him with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. Conan shudders. However he is slightly confused when the Magician's face drops a fraction- it seems like Kaito's taken back control, but why, just before a trick?
"For my first trick, why not let us know each other better? We all know I'm a magician, but I can tell what you are all too."
Oh god, Conan just knew it; he was being dragged into this too. Pretending to be the excited 9 year old he should be, he sits on his chair and swings his legs, bringing out his Scalpen. It didn't really matter to him how he did this assessment, and he supposed he owed Kaito a little fun for making him worry last night. So for now, he'd go along with Kaito's plan. "Go on Cousin Kaito, show them all what a great Magician you are!" shouts Conan, internally flinching at the pitch of his voice. This comment was sarcastic of course since Kaito wasn't doing any of the work this time around, he was.
Kaito smiles brightly, knowing Conan is on board for this trick, and strides over to a lady seated near to them. With a flick of his wrist he offers her one of his roses. "A beautiful lady like you can only be-"
Stains on hands from chemicals, nails well-kept and coloured, skin up to elbows more shiny then rest of arm due to massage oils… Beautician
The lady gasps when Kaito gets it right, confirming herself as a beautician from a salon across town here on holiday for a week. As the crowd clap, Kaito makes his way across the room, dove sat on his shoulder, to a man watching with bored interest.
"And now you Sir, it is clear to me that you are-"
Calluses on fingertips from constant keyboard use, calluses on right thumb and first finger from constant use of a pen too. Expensive suit with designer labels, very expensive if Haibara's magazines are anything to go by… Banker.
Hey Kaito, go to him next, requests Conan, ringing a particular waiter.
"And it seems to me that you are a multi-talented man for not only do you serve as a waiter, you are also-"
Burn marks just above the wrist from catching the oven shelves. Cuts on tips of fingers from knives, slight staining of fingers and nails yellow from recent use of turmeric- used in a main dish from the menu. He also works as a chef.
The waiter gets sheepish at the sudden attention of the room and rubs the back of his neck. "That's correct sir, I work both on alternate days."
Kaito spins around and walks to a girl about the same age as them. "A woman such as yourself must surely be-"
Dark circles under eyes, slightly bloodshot eyes, kink in hair from constant tying up, fingers stained by lots of coloured ink, mainly blue and black, paper cuts on fingers. Clothes on the cheaper end of the scale… University Student currently staying up late for exams, but went out partying last night.
The girl blushes from the rose, and looks down when Kaito gets her occupation correct.
Kaito doesn't jump when another Flame message appears before him since he was expecting one, however he is surprised by the change of handwriting. Of course his Poker Face doesn't show anything. The message was from Bermuda instead with his slanting cursive scrawl. Snap Shinichi awake now.
Kaito looks over to Conan to find his eyes glancing all across the room and his Scalpen writing faster than usual. It reminded Kaito of the first time Shinichi had used this technique. He whispers to the dove on his shoulder. It coos happily before flying over to Conan and pecking him none to gently on the nose. Conan blinks and blue eyes return once more. Conan shakes himself before calling a waiter over to take his breakfast order. Assuming Conan was okay now, and knowing they should talk later, Kaito carries on with his show, amazing the audience with disappearing acts and card tricks.
When Kaito finally finishes and returns to their table, it's to find the waiter returning with their breakfast orders. Before both of them is placed a huge pile of pancakes dripping in syrup. Kaito also receives a mug of black coffee, whilst Conan gets a hot chocolate covered in whipped cream and sprinkles. As soon as the waiter leaves, Conan swaps their drinks around. "Adults don't let me have coffee" he mumbles in explanation before talking a sip.
"That's a rather sweet breakfast for you" comments Kaito, digging into his own pile of pancakes.
"Well considering I've had my Flame on since we started last night's assignment, I've used up a lot of energy. If I hadn't transformed into Conan, I would be fine. My endurance has grown greatly since I went to the Vendicare." Conan explains, setting the coffee mug down on the table. The rest of the meal is passed in pleasant meaningless conversation, since they didn't want to talk about anything important in public where anyone could be listening.
"And what happened earlier? Bermuda told me to snap you awake. Did something go wrong?" asks Kaito once they return to their room. He didn't look too worried, but Conan suspected some of it was hidden behind the Poker Face Kaito had on.
Conan looks thoughtful for a moment. "Well, for some reason it was harder to control my Flames than usual."
"I suspected as much" sighs Bermuda, suddenly appearing in the room. He hovers over to the coffee table before standing on it. "Being shrunk means your body can handle a smaller volume of Flames. However, since the amount of Flames you possess doesn't shrink when you do, you feel as if you have more Flames than usual. As a result, you're going to have to concentrate more and compress the Star Flames if you ever wish to use them when in this form. It does mean that they are stronger though. Any attacks made with Star Flames as Conan will be stronger than before, but you'll be able to do less of them"
Conan looks down in thought for a moment. "Boy these Flames sure are complicated aren't they. I wonder if mine will give me this much trouble when I start to train in them? I barely have any control over mine. But shrinking makes them more powerful? Conan-kun that's awesome! Maybe I should get shrunk too?! Do you think your little Genius can make a safe version just for me? I looked so cute when I was younger." Kaito questions, getting excited over the idea of shrinking.
"Take those stars out of your eyes Kaito." Growls Conan. "Shrinking and being a child again is not all it's cracked up to be. There are so many limitations on you, adults try to protect you and you don't get any respect." Conan gets up and walks towards the bedroom, bangs hiding his eyes "It's almost been an hour, I'm going to change back to Shinichi. See you when I wake up" he says, no emotion in his voice before he slams the door shut behind him.
"Oh Arthur, look at this!" says Clover in fake dismay.
"What is it Clover, I'm tired?" Both had just come back from their latest 'mission'. He walks over to the sofa where Clover is tying away on a laptop. He slumps beside her and looks at what's on the screen. "It's mission proposals, what's wrong with them?"
"They are just all wrong! Whoever placed these teams together was a total idiot! I mean they've just George with Jason, and on a reconnaissance mission no less. They'd argue and give the cover up before they even started the mission. Plus you've got Issabella doing an assassination when she's more suited to interrogations. And this group… well, nearly all of them are Storm and Lightning Users, that so is not going to work."
"And?" prompts Arthur. He didn't need to say anymore since Clover was already hacking in to make whatever changes she saw fit.
"Well, it just… doesn't seem like Nono made these. Maybe he's giving Boss a chance? Boss doesn't know the normal level Mafioso at the Italian branch very well yet, so mistakes like this could be understandable." She says twirling a lock of hair round her finger as she thinks.
"Possible. Better change them. We don't want anyone getting hurt" says Arthur, watching as Clover nods and leans forwards to type at the laptop once more.
"I'mmmm on it!" she sings, fingers flying.
"That's weird" comments Arthur a little while later. He flicks Clover's hands off of the laptop before placing it on his lap. Clover pouts before leaning on his shoulder to see what he's doing.
"What's weird?" she asks when it seems like all Arthur is doing is flicking through random files.
"Boss" Arthur never was one to waste words, only ever talking in full sentences if he was explaining a point or deduction. It was fine with Clover, she loved guessing games.
"Gasp! You're right. Boss doesn't have any missions at all. I know we were going to change them for him so he had less of them, but I haven't had the time to do so, have you?" Arthur shakes his head. "It's not like Boss to leave all of the missions to the others. I wonder what's going on?"
Current day: The Capture of Kitty Killer:
"So do you understand exactly what you have to do?"
Yamamoto takes one more look over the mission fie before snapping it shut decisively. "Of course I do, Boss" he smiles, joking over the title. However when he meets a glare worse the usual, he regrets the joke and quickly corrects himself "Yes Storm" He never knew Gokudera was this insistent over not taking Tsuna's place.
"There is a helicopter ready to take you over to Florence. When you arrive a car will take you to the street near where the Salon is." Supplies Basil, clearing the tension in the room away efficiently.
Yamamoto gets up and smiles at them both one last time before leaving the room and climbing the stairs to the heli-pad on the roof.
"Yo Guys, let's make this a home run right!" he says as he notices the rest of his team in the helicopter with him. They all smile and cheer along with him at the statement.
Before long, the helicopter has landed and they have driven to the area they need to be in.
"We're going to need people in most of the alleyways between here and the end of the street. Rico, I want you to stay at the end of the street to be our last resort" Rico, a large muscular man nods, and leaves to go to his position. "Reina and Romano, I want you guys to take the two main stream split off streets in case she decides to stay in the public eye. Rizza, could you take an aerial view?" The woman nods, adjusting the sight on her sniper rifle- there were no bullets, only tranquiliser darts. "The rest of you, take a smaller alleyway each, stay in radio contact." His men nod before discretely leaving the heliport in pairs or small groups.
Just as Yamamoto is leaving the heliport himself he shivers, having the feeling like he's being watched. He looks around himself, even looking at the roofs but nothing catches his eye. He shrugs the feeling off since the stare doesn't seem like a bad one. It doesn't feel dangerous. It feels familiar.
Since they still had about 5 minutes before the Kitty Killer was due to leave the hair Salon of all places, Yamamoto goes next door and orders a coffee, sitting outside in the sun. This was why he was chosen for this assignment since he could easily blend into the crowd. He wasn't going to attract attention to himself by shouting extreme, or cursing, or having blue pineapple hair and odd eyes, or demanding candy, or biting crowding herbivores to death. He could sit here quite naturally and happily watch the world go by until he was needed. Hands fingering his baseball bat the whole time. He may be relaxed but he wasn't unprepared. Thoughts wander to Tsuna, wondering if his friend is okay or not, hoping that they find him soon.
However he doesn't have a lot of time to think about Tsuna since a woman's just walked out of the hair salon. He looks down at his phone, looking for all the world like any teen these days, checking the woman before him with the blurry black and white CCTV image they have of her. It was in the case notes Arthur sent. He shivers once again at the feeling of eyes on him, but downs the last of his coffee and calmly gets up to walk down the street keeping the woman with hair that now resembles a tabby cat in his sights.
"Execute the plan guys" he whispers into his headphones- recently back from Shoichi and Spanner. He was a few paces behind the Serial killer, often looking in windows or across the road to make it look like he wasn't following her. He made sure never to look at her for too long either in case she gets the feeling of being followed.
Just as Kitty is walking past a small back alley, a man bashes into her hard, causing her to fall to the ground. The man looks down at her, 'tch'es and walks off. Yamamoto and a few 'members of the public' crowd around to help her up.
"Maa Maa, are you alright Miss?" asks Yamamoto taking a firm grip of her wrist, eyes wary for any signs of a blade or weapon. His team members behind him direct the public away, saying the cliché line of "Nothing to see here, everything's fine"
He helps her to stand, pushing her slightly further into the darkness of the alleyway. "He grazed your knee, just what's his problem anyway?" says Yamamoto, noticing the cut on her knee. "I think I've got a plaster for that. Ah sit over there and I can help clean it up for you. Haa Haa I'm sure a lady like you doesn't want it to scar" He pulls her over towards a box in the alleyway.
However he meets resistance. "No, it's alright, I've got to get going. I have an appointment." He keeps on dragging her anyway, using his superior strength. She keeps on resisting, even trying to pry his hands off her wrist, manicured nails drawing blood. Sadly her heels don't give much friction nor grip to pull backwards with.
Once they are far enough down the alleyway, Yamamoto turns to her. "Maa Maa, I wouldn't call going to kidnap and kill a child an appointment, would you?" She blinks not expecting those words from a smiling face like his. A trick that works on nearly every Mafioso at least once.
"W-what are you talking about? I need to meet my husband actually" she stutters, trying even harder to get out of his grip. When she looks back up once more, it's to find cold hard eyes looking apathetically at her. The Freezing Rain had arrived.
"There's no need to pretend, I know exactly who you are. And You've been breaking the rules, Kitty Killer." Reaching out behind her, she brings out a gun before aiming it at him. She shoots at him when he does nothing to retaliate. There is a clang of metal, and she finds a katana in her captor's hands, the bullet casing clinking against the ground. "Oi-oi, that's not very nice. We know who you are, where you live, even if you escaped now, we'd easily be able to find you once again. Vongola has you Out, Kitty."
He wasn't expecting the stamp on his foot (high heels hurt, godamnit), causing him to loosen his grip enough for her to escape. He swears that the eyes watching him roll in exasperation. Not that she gets very far mind you.
"I have her in my sights Capo" reports Rizza from her position on a roof across the other side of the street.
"Hold fire" Yamamoto hisses, rubbing his foot through his shoe- high heels should be classed as a dangerous weapon.
Kitty thinks she's gotten away as none of the people in the alleyway come after her, a few just aim their guns at her. As she turns the corner, out of the shadows steps a man and he catches her in his grip. She hadn't even noticed him, almost as if he had materialised out of the wall somehow. Whilst still reeling from the smack that had felt like she'd run into a wall, the man handcuffs her hands behind her back before removing her gun. Since she'd only planned for a trip to the Salon, she didn't have any more weapons on her. She screams as he lifts her into a fireman's carry, hoping for someone in the crowd just a few metres away to come and save her. However none hears her screams.
"Here you are Capo" says the man who had caught Kitty. Yamamoto smiles at the man before patting him on the other shoulder heartily.
"Haahaa, great job Rocco." The man tips his head in thanks, not able to take the offered fist bump due to keeping a tight hold on the struggling murderess. Yamamoto walks around to be able to face Kitty in the eyes. "You've broken the rules, going after children. Vongola doesn't like that one bit. Rule Breakers need to be punished." Kitty goes to protest but is instead awed and shocked by the sight of… blue flames covering his hand. She goes cross-eyed as he brings that hand to her forehead. Suddenly, despite the situation, she gets the urge to sleep, and nothing she does can keep her awake.
Rocco relaxes when Kitty slumps in his grip.
"Rain Capo to Decina, mission accomplished, report back to helicopter." There are various responses back down the line, but Yamamoto counts ten and that's good enough for him. Feeling those eyes on him once more, he turns in that direction and waves- he's sure the watcher is an ally not an enemy. However, he doesn't get a wave back. He pouts before shrugging his shoulders and walking back to the helicopter, hands behind his back, whistling a tune. The car is brought to the alley entrance so that they don't have to walk through town carrying an unconscious woman- that would look suspicious, even Yamamoto knew that.
When they arrive back at Vongola HQ, it's to find Arthur waiting for them. "Good job Rain Capo" he smiles.
"Haha, we couldn't have done it without your accurate information" laughs Yamamoto, clapping Arthur on the back. He slings his arm around Arthur, following Rocco who is still carrying the unconscious killer.
"May I handle the interrogation?" Arthur asks. "You need to go tell Storm you're back and to help find Boss don't you?"
"Hmm, but Nono's just gone to a conference?" says Yamamoto, slightly confused.
Arthur laughs shortly. "My loyalty lies with Decimo, not Nono. Clover's too" Yamamoto's smile grows, if that possible.
"That's great. Well you're right. I'll leave it to you then." Yamamoto spins around and heads back towards Tsuna and Gokudera's office.
"I'll do it Rocco" he says to the man after Rocco puts Kitty down in an interrogation room. After the man leaves, Arthur makes sure to stop the recording of the camera in the room.
Kitty wakes up to a hard pinch. She looks up and her eyes widen in fear. For glowing blue eyes are staring at her from behind a white mask. The man in front of her is in an all-black suit, the only white being the tie and the mask along with the bandage wrapped around the top hat. But it was the symbol on the mask that scared her.
Surely it was no coincidence that Vongola had found her and this man was wearing a Star mask.
"You-you're… but you can't be…" she stutters. The man, who could only be the mythical Star Guardian of Vongola, smiles at her yet gives her no answer. "So that note, the one that said you'd cornered me like a rat, with the Star and Clam at the bottom, that was you?"
The man spreads his hands out in a presenting gesture, still not saying anything.
"H-how did you find me?" she asks. She was almost positive that she had hidden her tracks up correctly.
Black gloves reach up to touch a lock of black hair hanging peeking out from under the hat. "Your hair. You shouldn't have been cuddling the Kitty toys when you take the photos. A strand of your hair was caught up in with the fur of the cat. Being almost the same colour, most people wouldn't notice, but I'm not most people" He might not have noticed it at all without his Star Flames. "After that, all I had to do was analyse it under a microscope. It didn't take a genius to know that your hair was dyed to be like it is. So I took it to a friend of mine and she ran a few tests on it before telling me the ingredients. She just happens to be interested in fashion and had heard about this brand new hair dye. All of the ingredients are totally natural, yet produce unnatural colours. Admittedly there are a few salons using this product in Italy. So I narrowed it down by finding out where these Kitty toys were made. You don't waste money do you, getting each one hand made." Star brings out an evidence bag carrying one of these designer Kitty toys in it. "Finding out where these were made was even easier than finding salons, since only one shop in Italy is called "casa dei sogni" or House of Dreams, as stated on the label. And lo and behold, this shop just so happened to be down the street from the only salon in the area to use this brand new hair dye."
After that, all it had taken was for him to ask the manager of the store who brought a large supply of these Kitty cats. Shinichi had convinced the man to show him a CCTV image of her- the same one now sat in the Vongola files. He took this image over to the Salon and confirmed that this lady did indeed come to this salon. He was in luck since she was coming for an appointment in 5 days' time. His Star Flames had confirmed that everything he had been told was the truth. So he took a gamble and told Gokudera about it under Arthur's name. All of this investigating had happened 5 days ago, one day before Kaito had arrived at the Vendicare. Amazingly enough, once he had told Haibara that this was for a murder investigation involving children and that he didn't trust anyone else to get it right, she got on with it. A few questions were asked, all easily avoided under the cover story of being in Italy and working as a V.F. Detective.
"During your life time, you have killed 22 children. Anyone would forgive us for killing you right here and now" Blue eyes flash dangerously against the white, causing the woman to lean back. She was not a Mafioso, just a woman who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and had her life ruined by them. Her son had gotten caught in the crossfire of a Mafia fight and died. So she had gotten revenge, kidnapping their children and demanding a ransom before killing them off anyway. She did not deal with criminals every day, she very rarely had interaction with that side of the world apart from the Arms dealer and her informant. So she was scared of the Star Guardian before her. She'd heard the rumours from her informant, how no body survived a meeting with the Star and Moon of Vongola. How they were like Phantoms, getting inside impossible places, doing impossible things. To catch their eye meant certain defeat. All myths and underground legends, never confirmed since Primo's time. But here he was, sitting before her and she was frightened like never before. He could kill her and no one would know she had even died.
The one and only door slams open and a sliver haired man with dynamite in his hands and a cigarette in his mouth storms in. "So this is the wench eh? Good work Arthur." Arthur? That was the Star Guardian's name? Kitty looks back towards the man across the table to find someone completely new there. This man had different coloured hair, different eyes, and a standard suit adorning his small frame. He is nothing like the man from before.
"Thanks. Her Verdict?" Arthur asks.
The Silver haired male looks at her before snarling "It's the Vendicare for her." He stares at Kitty, directly in the eyes. "Be grateful bitch that Vongola found your sorry ass. If it was anyone else, you'd be dead and in the river bottom by now. But Vongola are better than that. We're not going to kill you. Bermuda, I know you're watching."
The air in the room becomes thick, almost choking. Out of the shadows where the light doesn't reach steps a man totally covered in bandages. "Only Decimo can call Boss, you'll get me instead." The voice echoes in her ears. If she was frightened of the Star Guardian then she was terrified of this new man. Although they both had similar auras to be honest.
She jumps as a chain wraps round her throat and she closes her eyes, assuming she's going to be suffocated. Her hands are tied down and she can't get them out. She was going to die here. She didn't want to die. Tears fall down her cheeks as she feels her body go numb. Slowly the world around her darkens.
"You're going to live little girl. But you'll be an eternal prisoner until we can find a use for you" Those words are the last thing she remembers hearing.
As the Vindice Officer disappears, Gokudera finds he's able to breath once more. He had no clue how Shinichi could train with them, how he'd even be able to move, let alone learn anything. He turns to Arthur to congratulate him on a job well done only to find a vacant seat and a swinging door. "Che, must have been scared". He was forgetting that those scared of the Vindice were frozen in place.
"You did well looking over that information Shinichi." congratulates Bermuda once Shinichi had returned with Jager and Kitty. This had been a trial they had started quite a few days ago, to show Shinichi how these powers could be applied to his normal detective life- a little bit of motivation. "Another assessment passed."
"Hey Bermuda, do you mind sending me back to Verde's lab? I left my watch back there and I want to get it back" How Shinichi had forgotten his dart watch of all things he's not sure. However it had slipped off during his transformation into Conan since it was currently set to an adult's size. Handling Kaito at breakfast along with the murderer case in LA after he had returned to normal meant he hadn't had the time to think about it- the day after was spent looking over case files. It wasn't until he watched as Kitty stomped on Yamamoto's foot and ran off that he had gone to aim at her just in case and realised the watch wasn't on his wrist where it was supposed to be.
"Fine, Jager, take him back there." Agrees Bermuda, knowing how important the watch was to him. He himself had lost the need for material desires long ago, but then again Shinichi didn't have Night Flames.
Ryohei and Lambo didn't find it weird that they of all people had been paired together. No, both were too busy having an extreme time in a China shop. Gokudera had sent them to deal with the late protection payments that Rico Paulo owned them. Neither knew why Gokudera looked evilly smug with himself, nor why Basil looked sorry at the piece of paper. What was wrong with sending them?
A Boxer and A Bull in a China shop, sounds like the start of a bad joke…
"We are extremely here to talk to your Boss!" shouts Ryohei as he enters the foyer of the Head Quarters for this trading and shipping company. This company dealt in trading and shipping antiques from all over the world- everything from Victorian China to Egyptian pottery to rare paintings and Georgian furniture.
The poor receptionist looked scandalised, but retained her calm quickly. "Do you have an appointment?" she asks.
Lambo looks up from the bowl of sweets on the reception desk and nods, "Of course Lambo-sama had an appointment. He should want to see Lambo-sama even without an appointment." The woman sweat-drops over the 10 year old's attitude, mentally noting not to let her child become like that.
"And what name is the appointment under?" Both Guardians look at each other… they don't know, they weren't exactly listening during the briefing. Ahodera was being boring and not extreme enough for anything he said to penetrate their skulls. Basil had promised candy if they were successful though, Lambo remembered that much.
"We're here on behalf of the Tenth" There was no need to say which Tenth, there was only one after all. It was the one sure ticket to get them into most corporate places, so they were glad it worked this time too.
"Ah, yes, I can see the appointment. Please go straight ahead, Boss is waiting for you on the top floor" The receptionist points to a pair of elevators before bowing to them. Ryohei and Lambo hi-5 at being allowed entrance and stride over to the elevator.
They are let straight into the Boss's office as soon as they arrive on the floor- the receptionist had called ahead.
"Good evening Gentlemen, to what can I own the pleasure of the Tenth's men?" asks Mr Rico Paulo the 3rd.
"Yare, Yare, you don't even know why we are here? Someone's rather forgetful" says Lambo, sitting down in a very comfortable chair and kicking his feet up to rest on the desk.
"We are here because you forgot to pay Vongola your protection fee to the extreme!" Shouts Ryohei. Mr Paulo has to cover his ears at the loudness, not expecting it in the first place. His hands are quickly removed from his ears when he hears a crashing sound. During his speech, Ryohei had flung his arms out to the side and knocked down a vase. A very expensive, one of a kind, irreplaceable vase worth millions.
"Ah, sorry about that to the extreme" shouts Ryohei, getting onto the floor to pick the pieces up. In his haste, he bumps into the office desk making it jump and move. The CEO's coffee spills all over important documents before falling onto the Persian rug. The rug made by an extinct tribe using extinct lamb's wool and rare weaving techniques, also worth tens of millions.
"Ohh, that's sparkly" sings Lambo, looking at a piece of jewellery the CEO was in the middle of evaluating before he was interrupted. He reaches out with grubby, sugar coated hands, which are quickly smacked away by Mr Paulo.
"Children should not touch" he scolds.
Lambo looks up, tears in his eyes. All he'd wanted to do was touch it.
"Oi, that's extremely not nice. Apologise to Lambo" orders Ryohei, dropping all of the vase shards he had collected so far in favour of protecting Vongola's Baby.
Mr Paulo sighs. "I am sorry, but this piece is due to be sent off today and I'd rather not get sugar all over it. You came here for the Protection fee? I was sure I had my accountant send that over. Let me just call them."
He picks the phone up, only to receive an electric shock from it where it had been soaked in coffee. Mr Paulo accidentally drops the phone into the coffee once more, splashing it all over Lambo. The cow gasps over how hot it is and the miniscule burns he's getting before quickly jumping out of his seat.
"Wahh! Lambo-sama's been burned! First he slaps me and then he burns me, what's Lambo-sama done wrong!" he bursts out into tears, wailing like the 5 year old he used to be. "And you're mean to Tsuna-nii too, not giving him any money. If Tsuna-nii doesn't have money then he can't buy Lambo-sama grape candy! Lambo-sama wants grape candy!" The thought of losing his grape candy privileges is horrifying to the sugar addict and his tears slowly turn to sparks. These sparks land on the desk- the one with the laptop and the computer and the smart phone and the telephone and the one hundred other electronic gadgets. Lambo's electric sparks soon start to affect the electricity in the room, making the lights go dim and then back on a few times.
"Now you've made Lambo cry!" shouts Ryohei in outrage, his fist accidentally slamming into yet another priceless piece of furniture.
Inside his short circuiting room and the clashing of broken artefacts, Mr Paulo suddenly regrets not sending Vongola their Protection Payment, and mentally kicks himself for trying to be cocky with the Mafia. Everyone knew that these protection fees were often to protect against the Family as much as it was protection from other Families. He is quick to call his treasurer and order that the money be brought to them immediately- he didn't want anything else destroyed by these ham handed brutes.
"I'm getting your money!" he shouts into the chaos of the room.
Lambo immediately stops crying and sits back down in the chair "That's better" he smiles, sugar fix assured for the next month. Now that Lambo wasn't crying, Ryohei calms down.
Mr Paulo couldn't be more relieved when the man arrives with the suitcase filled with money. He quite literally thrusts it into Ryohei's hands before directing them to the door. Just as Lambo goes to shut the door, he looks back over his shoulder "Don't be late next time, ne?" and with a childish giggle he closes the door.
Mr Rico Paulo the third will remember this lesson well. Don't ever be late with Vongola's payments.
When Ryohei and Lambo describe their mission later on, Gokudera can't help but laugh out loud, amazed that his plan worked even better than he had hoped. Sure he had been expecting for a few broken vases, but nothing like these two had managed in the space of 20 minutes.
He was proud of them for once.
Now if only they had found more leads as to where Juudaime was, Gokudera's day would have been perfect.
I've decided to split this chapter up into two parts. Mainly because I'm not feeling well, and it's only been in the past three hours that I've been in the mood to write- I was on quite a roll though as you can see. But I have work tomorrow and have to cut my time there.
I promise that Haibara will appear next chapter instead, but since she's going to move the plot along I want to write something decent for her part.
See you next time
Phantom Hitman 1412
First Published 08 August 2012