The Detective Prince
Chapter 108
Neighbor City
He had checked all rooms on the upper floor, finding no sign of him. This opted him to check both the book room and the study. In the end there was no sign of him, or where he had gone for that matter. He returned to the front room, pulling out his phone as he did.
"Did you find him?"
"Not a trace."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to try calling him," Bruce replied. "Chances are wherever he's gone off to he took his phone with him."
He wasted no further time in attempting to call him. He stood there for seconds, hearing nothing but an empty ring from the other end. He lowered the phone after knowing there would be no one to answer.
"Now what?" Damian asked.
"I'll wait for him to return my call," Bruce replied. "It appears I need to have a word with him on a matter or two, in the meantime I'm going to see how that analysis is coming along."
"The same analysis from the extracted blood?"
"Yes," Bruce confirmed. "If anyone calls let it ring, I'll return any important calls when I come back."
With that he turned back for the other side of the room, heading directly for the study. He smiled at this late development before finally standing back to his feet.
"Excellent."
There searches hadn't mounted up to too much, but they continued to look around none the less. After scoping around the train tracks they made their way back to the left side. He kept the light out in front to help guide the way as they walked, pointing out something about halfway across the room.
"Look there," Dick said. "That's defiantly something we should check out."
"It's quite obviously a booth," Tim said being able to make out what it was as they neared. "This must have been where the tickets were purchased when this place was up and running."
"No doubt," Dick agreed. "Make sure you get some good photos of this area."
"Already ahead of you."
He raised the SSC 4.0 once again, making sure to get clear shots of the apparent booth sitting before them. He rotated from left to right, making sure to get imagery of all angles.
"That should do."
"How many pictures did you take?"
"Twelve in all?"
"Good, that should be enough," Dick said. "Come across anything unusual?"
"Not on contact," Tim replied. "But maybe something will register to our radar when we examine the photos later."
"That tends to be the case in most scenarios."
"What else is down here?"
"Why don't we find out." Dick said flashing the light to the side of the room they had yet to check.
What they found was a nothing but emptiness, the only thing to be seen was that of a lone poster that could be found pinned to the wall. His curiosity was enough to have him walk over to have a closer look. He stopped once reaching it.
"Find something?" Tim asked.
He didn't reply initially, feeling around the wall for something that was apparently there.
"What is it?"
"Air," Dick replied. "There's a current of cool air blowing through here, I just can't seem to pin point where it's coming from."
He continued to massage his hand across the wall, finally coming to a stop after reaching the side of the poster.
"Could it be?"
The possibility was there. With little thought he reached for the top of the poster, tearing it away with one quick move to reveal what was on the other side.
"You better head over here," Dick said. "It looks like we've got something."
He had taken back to examining the area around the booth, responding to the sound of his voice almost instantly.
"What is it?" Tim said walking his way.
"Check it out," Dick pointed. "Looks like we have ourselves a little disturbance."
He came all the way to his side, coming to find a marginable sized hole that had been hidden behind the poster.
"And just when I thought this was going to be another generic scavenger hunt."
"It would appear an explosion caused this," Dick said reaching down for a couple wall bits which still sat in place. "You can still see the explosive residue that was left behind, it's present on most of the ruble here."
"But why?"
"That's a really good question," Dick said. "But we have no real way of finding out without a deeper examination, besides we don't even have a time frame for when this could have occurred."
"Not necessarily." Tim said.
He moved in further, not coming to a stop until after reaching the wall. He lowered the SSC device down to his side before reaching out to grab hold of a piece of ruble.
"Mind holding out the light?"
"Sure," Dick replied. "What are you looking for?"
With the light provided he took those next few moments to look over the small bits in hand, running a finger over each in the process.
"A week," Tim finally answered. "Maybe two."
"You mean when this wall was blown open?"
"Yes."
"That would imply someone was down here before the two of us."
"But why put the poster here to hide the hole," Tim questioned. "Were they expecting others to come down here?"
"You're right, this place has been abandoned for a good couple years now."
"We need to figure out how deep this hole is."
"Agreed."
He aimed the light into the clear, looking ahead to see much distance between them and where the path of the hole ended.
"Didn't notice the depth," Dick admitted. "That's at least fifteen yards in."
"Makes you wonder what might have been going on down here."
"Mind holding onto the light for a minute?"
"Not at all," Tim replied. "You going in?"
"At this point one of us needs to," Dick confirmed. "I won't be long."
"Your call, I'll cover everything from out here."
"The holes about fifty two inches in height, forty six in length," Dick said making a brief examination. "That's wide enough for me to fit in without much problem."
"Be careful in there," Tim pointed out. "There are several sharp edges along the wall to look out for."
"Thanks, I noticed," Dick said readying himself to make an attempt in. "Here goes nothing."
He lowered his hands down to the bottom of the passage, leaping up with a careful jump in. Before making any move to head in deeper he turned back to face him.
"Make sure you keep that light steady."
"Loud and clear."
With that he turned back for the path ahead, wondering what he would find in the coming moments. He moved his arms in closer before beginning to crawl his way through. The flash from the light made for a relatively clear path on. About eighty feet in he stopped, finding a small metal of some kind sitting in the middle of the path.
"I wonder what this could be."
It was a little bit hard to see, but tucked it away into his back pocket none the less before pushing on once more. The rough pavement from all sides of the wall became very apparent, clawing at his sides every few seconds or so. He blocked this from his mind, not making a single stop until reaching the end of the path.
"Have you reached the end?" Tim called out.
It was a bit hard to see what was out in front of him, holding out his hand which came into contact with the wall soon after.
"It would appear so."
"What can you see?"
"Hold on." Dick replied.
The distance he had crawled left the light used to help him on his path rather dim. Wanting to get a clear view on things he reached into his pocket for his phone, turning it on after retrieving it. He held it out to provide for lighting in the direct area. He crawled a little further in, shifting the lighting of the phone from one side of the wall to the other.
"This is where it ends, but why," Dick thought. "There's nothing here that would suggest why this path was made."
There had to be a reason, and he was determined to find out what. He eased in just a bit more, finding it in himself to roll to his back side. His eyes widened at what he saw.
"It can't be."
He raised the phone up, straightening its light to the ceiling to reveal the numbers, the declining numbers that counted down before him.
"Tim, we've got a problem."
"What is it," Tim asked still holding the light in position. "Did you find something?"
He fell stiff for the next moments, lowering the phone down to his chest.
"A bomb," Dick finally replied. "There's a bomb attached to the top of the wall."
"A bomb," Tim exclaimed. "Are you sure?"
"No doubt."
"The time, how much time?"
"Less than eighteen hours," Dick replied. "Seventeen and forty eight minutes to be exact."
"That should be enough," Tim said. "We need to disarm it."
"Agreed."
"How is it connected to the wall?"
"Looking into that now."
He slightly pushed up from his position on his back, surprised to find what was connected to the back side of the confirmed bomb.
"Tape?"
He was hesitant on trying to remove the bomb from the wall, quickly deciding against it before easing down to his back once more.
"What's the situation," Tim asked. "Can you tell what has it clamped into place?"
"Tape."
"That's unexpected."
"I think we had better try disarming it from here."
"You don't want to try removing it from the wall?"
"There's no telling how this thing may react."
"Obviously not motion censored," Tim said. "If it had been there would have been some kind of response."
"I'm coming out now."
"You sure about this?"
He didn't respond, focusing strictly on making his way out from the hole in the wall. This took under a minute, dusting himself off after dropping back down to the ground.
"If we're not going to remove that bomb, how do you propose we do it within a timely fashion?"
"I've got a bomb kit in the back trunk of my car."
"Wow, you really did come prepared." Tim said.
"I've always kept it back there, just in case of an expected turn like we have here today."
"None of this makes any sense," Tim said. "If someone wanted to plant a bomb why not just set it up in this general area, why in the wall."
"Not just that, but the way it was concealed by the poster that had been covering it."
"It doesn't make sense for anyone to go that extra length, especially since this place has been abandoned."
"Unless of course they were expecting someone would come through here."
"There's no real way of finding out the answer to that without finding the person who set it there."
"You're right."
"That may be in the dark for the near future, but I'm certain we'll be able to figure out how long that bombs been here," Tim said. "That is after we've disarmed and made sure there is no safety measures needed."
"I wouldn't doubt it."
"So what's the plan from here?"
"For you to wait here while I go and retrieve that kit," Dick replied. "I'll return as soon as I can, keep your guard up."
"You don't have to tell me," Tim said. "I'm fully aware the person to have set this all up may have plans to return at some point."
"Glad to know we're on the same page," Dick said before turning back for the tunnel they had come. "I'll see you soon."
"Wait," Tim said stopping him in his tracks. "You might need this."
He turned back just in time to see the flash light tossed back to him, catching with relative ease.
"Thanks." Dick said with a nod before finally taking off.
It didn't take long for him to fall out of sight, with the fading of the light following in his place every second that past.
"What in the world is going on?"
It had past the two hour mark from the time they had departed. By this time he had fallen into a brief rest which was interrupted by excitement from a few of the other passengers a few rows back. He immediately looked down at his watch after this occurred.
"Twenty four hours have passed since the transformation," Shinichi thought. "I don't know if I should be pleased or concerned."
His thoughts were quickly washed away with the sight of him returning back to his seat across from him.
"I see you've awoken, good."
"Where were you just now?" Shinichi asked.
"On a stroll of the train," Conner replied. "I needed the walk."
"How long were you gone for?"
"No more than twenty minutes," Conner replied. "You were out the entire time."
"Which I needed," Shinichi said. "It was an up and down night."
"Didn't get much sleep?"
"Not for the first couple hours."
"That would imply you've got something on your mind."
"That's a fair point."
"Want to talk about it?"
"I'd rather not."
"Speaking of ongoing activities, I saw that story on the news about that heist," Conner said. "The one that occurred at the building that just opened."
"You mean the Futures Building?"
"That's the place."
"What about it?"
"They had an update on the morning news about the situation," Conner continued. "Have you been following the story?"
"We've been on that case for days now," Shinichi informed. "It wasn't until two nights ago that we discovered that the person at the heart of these crimes was Kaitou Kid."
"Somehow I knew you were involved," Conner said. "Especially after learning Kaitou Kid's known grounds, which tended to be in Japan."
"A known fact by most," Shinichi said. "I've had my share of run in's with him over the past months."
"Now that I didn't know," Conner admitted. "But why here, any idea why he's traveled across the world to alter the field?"
"That I'm uncertain of," Shinichi replied. "But rest assured we will find out."
It was at that given time that a loud noise could be heard from outside the train, feeling the grinding of the tracks from below.
"Any idea what's going on?"
"We're here." Conner replied.
That came very apparent within the moments that passed, sitting back as the train finally came to a complete stop all within the next minute. They decided to wait it out for the first moments, not wanting to get themselves caught up in the cluttered line leading to the exit. He pulled out his phone as they waited.
"Who do you plan on calling?"
"To try and get a hold of one of the others," Shinichi replied. "I want to make sure they are aware of my whereabouts."
"Don't bother," Conner said. "I already called Tim while you were out, though he didn't answer I did leave a message."
"How long ago was that?"
"Fifteen minutes ago I'd say," Conner replied. "I'd give it some time, he's probably just busy right now."
"I wouldn't doubt it."
It didn't take long for most everyone to find their way out past the exits, making way for the two of them.
"I think we're good to go." Conner said being the first to stand to his feet.
The two followed those who continued to the left side, not taking long for them to reach the exit as well. He put a hand over his eyes upon stepping out, taking the time to adjust to the sun that still shined bright.
"And here we are."
"Where to?"
"This way." Conner pointed.
The two took to the right where most everyone else walked. It was very apparent where they were heading in the seconds that past, inching in closer to the large structure which he assumed to be the train station. It was then that he took note of a sign molded into the ground which read 'Welcome to Metropolis.'
"I guess that answers my question."
"What was that?" Conner asked glimpsing back at him.
"Nothing," Shinichi replied. "Nothing at all."
He had waited over for thirty minutes in quietness, turning at the sound of him re-entering the room.
"How's it been, anything change with the situation since the time I left?"
"Not at all." Tim replied.
"That's good to know."
"Did you bring the kit?"
"Right here." Dick said pointing to the strap around his shoulder.
"Great."
"What have you been doing for the past thirty minutes?"
"I'm glad that you asked," Tim said. "I actually took the time to finish my search of the room, using that SSC device of yours."
"And what were you able to find?"
"Nothing significant," Tim replied. "Well at least not at first glance, we can look over the photos after we're done here."
"Sounds like a plan."
"You ready to get this thing started?"
"I need to make a few adjustments first," Dick said. "Mind holding onto the light for me?"
"Not at all."
With that he tossed him the flash light before dropping down to a knee. He then resorted to removing the bag from his shoulder, placing it out to the ground out in front of him.
"What's wrong?" Tim asked flashing the light down at the bag.
"Nothing at all," Dick replied. "Just making sure everything is in place before moving in."
"You sure you don't want me to take over this time?"
"I'd rather do it myself."
"Your call."
It didn't take much longer for him to get situated, pulling out what he needed before zipping the bag shut.
"Wish me luck." Dick said standing back to his feet.
"Anything different you need me to do this time around?"
"Not at all," Dick replied. "Just keep that light in place."
"You got it."
With that he turned back for where the hole could be found in the wall, wasting no time in heading back over.
"You sure you don't want to take the light in with you this time?" Tim asked following from behind.
"No need, I grabbed an extra I had in the trunk." Dick said coming to a stop upon reaching the wall.
"Then I guess we're all set."
"Here goes nothing."
He raised himself back into the wall once again, feeling as if it were a tighter fit than it had been before. He slowly maneuvered his way in, careful of the sharp edges on the sides of the wall. He made it to the end of the path in no time, rolling to his back once again to still see the bomb still in place.
"Now comes the fun part."
No time was wasted in him reaching for the spare flash light that was tucked away around his belt. He placed it to a flat section of the ground before turning it on, slowly removing his hand to see it balanced in place.
"Step one completed," Dick said. "Now for the bomb."
He reached for the tools obtained from the car, readying himself for the next stage to be met.
Everything seemed so different, the tone, visible structures, the atmosphere even. They had traveled so little in distance, yet it seemed like a great leap had been taken. He looked out the window of the cab as they drove, gradually becoming familiar with everything that surround them.
"So what do you think?"
"What's that?" Shinichi asked looking his way.
"I mean compared to Gotham." Conner clarified.
"Couldn't really tell you," Shinichi replied. "I haven't really got the feel for this place yet."
"Fair enough."
"So where is this place of yours?" Shinichi asked.
"Further west," Conner replied. "But that's not where we're going."
"It's not," Shinichi questioned. "But I thought you said that's where that file is, the one on your computer."
"Why head down there when we can access the file elsewhere?"
"Now you've completely lost me."
"You'll understand when we get there," Conner said. "Which isn't far from here."
The cab continued to move down the road, not coming to a stop until after passing the next street light. Unsure of where they were he took a look out of the window to see a large building to the right size.
"This is it." Conner said
The two exited the cab, watching as it continued on down the road.
"What is this place?"
"The public library." Conner replied.
"What are we doing at a library?"
"This is where we can gain access to the files."
"How do you plan on accessing those files from here?"
"This is a common place I tend to visit," Conner said. "And with that being the case I had a little something set up."
The two then made their way up a fleet of stone stairs, walking past a set of automatic doors which allowed them into the building. He couldn't help but stop to take a quick look at all that filled the room, admiring the amount of books that could be seen.
"I like the choice."
"We'll save the tour for later, come on." Conner said leading him to the right.
It was clear where they were headed, not stopping until reaching the front desk where a man could be seen looking over something on the computer that was sat out upon the desk. It took all but a few seconds for him to notice the two of them standing, putting on a smile as he looked to attend their services.
"How might I help the two of you today?"
"Just the usual." Conner replied before pulling out a card which he held out for him to see.
"You're free to pass," The clerk said in acceptance. "Just be sure to keep the noise level to a minimum."
"As always." Conner replied with a nod.
He kept the lead from there, heading toward a door which could be seen at the far wall.
"Where now are we going?"
"The backroom."
"What's in the backroom?" Shinichi asked.
"All the electronics," Conner replied. "Computers, printers, they even added a scanner not too long ago."
"And this is where you plan to access the file mentioned?"
"That's correct."
They reached the door in a matter of seconds. He opened it while stepping to the side, giving way for him to walk in. The room was wider than he was expecting, turning out to be the size of a small classroom. There were four computers on each side, with the printer and scanner being at the far wall opposite of them. There were only two others in the room besides themselves, both who sat on the right side of the room.
"So," Conner said stepping in after him. "What do you think?"
"Not bad, it has plenty of space."
"It wasn't always like this, that is before they remolded about two months ago."
"Does it matter which computer we use?"
"I'm glad that you asked," Conner replied before walking forward. "The last one on the left."
He followed him all the way to the left corner, watching as he took a seat in front of the computer.
"Why this one," Shinichi asked. "You must have a reason for choosing it."
"This computer is linked to the one located at the apartment."
"How's that?"
"It's a bit of a story," Conner replied. "One I'll let you in on once we're finished here."
He then resulted to turning the computer on, holding down control 'a' while sliding in a device of some kind into the usb port. The screen was blue upon switching it on for the first moments, only for a desktop to appear shortly thereafter.
"Now we're good to go."
"Interesting trick."
"Hold on, this won't take long."
With that said he dove into the first file, opening to reveal a second set.After bringing up a new page he clicked into yet another folder which read 'secret files'.
"Is this the file you spoke of?"
"This is them."
He selected two of the files, opening them both with a click of the mouse. He then used the print command to bring up the menu.
"That's eighty two pages in all," Shinichi said taking notice of the page count. "Do you think it would be ok for us to use that much ink?"
"First five pages are free," Conner informed. "From there on out it's twenty five cents each additional page."
"Do you have enough to cover the amount?"
"Of course, I made sure of that before we came."
He stood up from the chair once this was completed, heading straight toward the printer which was right of the scanner. The two stood in wait as the papers gradually slid out for them to take. This process lasted for over two minutes before he was able to grab hold of all sheets.
"Now we're good to go."
"Where to now?" Shinichi asked.
"The reading area is as good as any other location," Conner replied. "We passed through there on our way here."
"I still don't understand," Shinichi said as the two began walking. "Why bring me all the way here just to print all this stuff out, couldn't you have done that and brought all of the files needed to Wayne's place?"
"You'll understand why I didn't once you've looked over everything yourself."
They reached the door to the room soon after, exiting as quietly as they had entered.
"There aren't too many people here today besides us," Shinichi said having a look around the room. "A little surprising for a big place like this."
"Give it another hour, that's about the time you'll have the usual's pull in."
"Speaking of time," Shinichi said checking his watch which read ten after four. "You would have thought someone would have tried reaching me by now."
"Have you tried checking your phone?"
He took the time to do just that, pulling it out to find the battery had juiced out.
"I guess that would explain." Shinichi muttered before laying it back into his pocket.
They made their way around a bookcase only to come into the path of another. After walking past the second they found their way to a lone table which sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by shelves and books on all sides.
"This will do." Conner said being the first to have a seat.
He took a seat across from him, more than ready to hear what he had to share.
"Here's one set," Conner said pushing one pile of papers toward him. "And here is the other."
He looked at the two stacks laid out before him, quickly determining the contents of each.
"On the right we have records for each of the patients who suffered these heart attacks, while also sustaining brain damage in the process." Shinichi said quickly skimming through it.
"That's correct."
"And here on the left is all medical records prior to the heart attacks," Shinichi said giving the second stash a look as well. "What is it exactly you wanted me to do?"
"There's got to be a common denominator that links these attacks, which is why I came in search of Bruce," Conner said. "But since he and Tim were unavailable, you're the only viable option I could think of."
He smiled, steadying each stack before looking across to him once more.
"I'll see what I can do."
The time had finally come, gazing down at the final product that was laid out before him. It started with the black pants and scruffy belt. Next came the silver under shirt, which was then covered by a top black shirt, one which had a visible skull with two swords crossing from behind. A black leather jacket was then slid into place, followed by a black fitted hat that had the same trademark skull that could be seen on the shirt. Last of all came the shoes. The insides were a dark violet, rolling a finger on the outside which was a solid black with silver laces.
"Perfect."
There was only one thing that remained, having a full sized look from head to toe of the clothes he had put on. He was pleased at what he saw upon reaching the mirror.
"What do you think?" Kaito said turning to face him.
"Do you really want me to answer that?"
"I'll take that as a positive."
He then reached for a wallet attached to a small chain which was set on top of the TV. Once in his possession he placed it into his pocket, letting the chain hang freely.
"You still have yet to tell me what you plan to do."
"Tonight," Kaito said with his sights set to the mirror. "Tonight all will be explained."
To Be Continued