Sorry for the long update. It seems I'm more productive in typing my stories when I type them on my college computers than at home.

Another chapter in which it was totally redone from what was written in my notebook. Tell me if anything's wrong and I'll try to fix it.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters from DC, MK and LTT.

Chapter 12: The Battle of Emotions

Lupin was slightly enjoying this; seeing the faces of the meitantei duo. He had learned through Goemon how quick-tempered Hattori-kun could be and to see the raging dark-skinned teen cursing him was too much. Edogawa-kun… or rather Kudou-kun's expression was intriguing to say the least. Through his own studies of him, Lupin learned that Kudou-kun was usually calm under pressure, so seeing a stormy-eyed, calm-faced child would be surprising, given that a child shouldn't look that way.

But you're not a child, are you? Lupin chuckled again. He knew full well that he shouldn't mess with nor underestimate kids; experience had told him so.

He leaned back in his chair, surrounded by monitors and radios. He was in the apartment where he and the gang were stationing their operations. He was by himself now; Jigen wouldn't be here until about seven, Goemon, 6. He had no idea where Fujiko was. She's probably dating some rich, old, fart, or at least someone who's rich. That thought strangely didn't make him mad. He didn't even react when Fujiko was worming her way with Mouri-san. The way Mouri-san was acting reminded Lupin of himself, just more out there. He shuddered. I guess I have changed when I got here. He hadoverheard Jigen and Goemon's little conversation before entering the restaurant. But he was here on a personal mission, adding a heist didn't help him and also was putting an invisible strain on him; he hadn't slept for days, he didn't know how long. Maybe when this is over, I can finally get some shut-eye! But until then….

A white pigeon landed on the balcony of the apartment. Frowning to himself, he rose and opened the screen door, letting it in. It landed on one of the radios, from which he was listening to the meitantei duo. He noticed a container on the bird's leg so he gently lifted it up to open it. As he did so, the pigeon immediately flew away, leaving behind a neatly folded sheet of paper. Lupin opened and read it. He grinned.

"ANSWER US!!!!!!!"

The Red-eyed Hattori-kun rearing his ugly head, huh?He quickly sat back down on his chair, flipping on the switch to his microphone. Lupin hoped that Kudou-kun would be a little more entertaining.

"Lu-Lupin?" cried a shocked Hakase. The surprise on the old man's face was nothing compared to the looks on the faces of the kids. Haibara could tell that they had no idea what was happening, and the voice coming from little black dots must have unnerved them.

Tsuburaya-kun and Kojima-kun immediately went in front of Yoshida-chan.

"We'll protect you, Ayumi-chan!" cried Tsuburaya-kun. Kojima-kun nodded.

"Genta-kun, Mitsuhiko-kun," Yoshida-chan said, teary-eyed. She then turned to Kudou-kun. "Conan-kun, what's happening?"

A flinch, then a quick flash of a smile appeared on his face. "Everything's alright, Ayumi-chan." He looked at Hakase. "Can you please take these three home, Hakase?"

Hakase raised an eyebrow while the kids began to protest.

"Conan-kun, you're doing it again!" whined Yoshida-kun. "We're supposed to work together because you're part of the Shounen Tantei, too." The boys nodded again.

The storm clouds again appeared in his eyes as he shuddered slightly. Surprisingly, instead of yelling at them, he said calmly, "I understand that you want to help but… I don't want you to get involved in this…. Can you please listen to me, just this once?" The kids, Haibara, Hakase, and Hattori-kun were taken aback by this. Kudou-kun, why are you so calm? This isn't like you. What did this man do to the two of you? She still couldn't get his voice out of his head. Memories began flooding in; she slowly shook her head to get rid of them. It can't be him... he died a long time ago.

"He's right, Yoshida-chan." Haibara said coolly. "Was this the reason the two of you were so upset?" She noticed again that the tantei duo's faces paled.

Tsuburaya-kun frowned, staring at them. Nodding in understanding, he said, "Let's go!!!" The other two agreed. As they left, Yoshida-chan cried, "Tell us everything, Conan-kun, Ai-chan." The kids and Hakase left the basement, closing the door.

After what seemed like a minute, Kudou-kun said in a calm voice, "It's considerate of you not to say anything as I told my friends to leave."

A chuckle came from the dots. "You're welcome… Edogawa-kun." Haibara detected the pause. Her eyes widened. Does this person…

"So, let's get down to it," Hattori-kun suddenly muttered. "What's with your bird?" His bird?

A sigh. "Come upstairs, Hattori-kun, Haibara-chan… Edogawa-kun," the calmer, smug voice replied. Haibara stared at the raven on the computer, its eyes piercing into her, she shuddered. "Don't worry, Haibara-chan, the bird's friendly, won't harm you," the voice said. Her face grimaced.

"The bird has a camera on it to watch us," Hattori-kun said with restraint. Haibara was secretly worried that Hattori-kun would have grabbed the bird and try to rip its wings and feathers out to find the camera and then spend probably the next couple of minutes yelling at it. He instead took the bird and walked to the door, opening it to let Haibara and Kudou-kun pass him. The three went up the stairs and settled on a couch where Hakase's slightly large TV sat. It was on a commercial. Hattori had placed the raven on top of it, and actually sat on the left, letting Kudou-kun sit in the center and Haibara on the right. Haibara and Hattori-kun still held the little listening devices.

"Hold on a minute," the voice said. Two minutes later, the commercial that was on fizzled out and on it came into view a fuzzy image of a man that became clearer. The man had on a smirk, which grew a little wider. Haibara turned to see why. Hattori-kun stared daggers at the man while Kudou-kun frowned. Her eyes widened when she gave a good look at the man. She immediately hugged herself. Thoughts swirled in her head; tears formed in her eyes. She tried her best to stay calm as she saw the man staring at her through his raven camera. His face was completely neutral as a glint shone in his eye. She gave a small gasp. So everything I was told… was a lie.

"Haibara-chan," said the man with a grin. "You don't look so good. Maybe you should sit this one out, too." With a chuckle, he added, "I don't want you to see these boys be defeated by a thief." Hattori-kun winced; Kudou-kun's mouth twitched.

"Okay," Haibara said calmly. "Good luck, you two." The two boys were too angry to notice. Yet she didn't see the quick glance from Kudou-kun, but this was caught by the man. She went to the basement door and entered. Closing the door, she shuddered and fell on her knees, letting all of her emotions and tears out. She held the device tightly in her hands, bringing it close to her face.

"Oniisan," she whispered.

Heiji glanced as Haibara-chan calmly walked out the living room. She looks all right to me. His thoughts, though, stayed on the man smiling at them. The man only glanced at her just to say that she should leave; he didn't look at her again. So he doesn't know…. He had a feeling that Haibara probably knew him by the way she acted downstairs. He knew that Lupin-san was listening to him and Kudou and believed that he put two and two together; figuring out that Haibara was Sherry. Lupin-san didn't react at all.

Then again, he's probably hiding it all behind a Poker Face.Heiji smirked a bit. His instincts told him this and he believed it. Panic slowly coursed through him, though. He tried not to let it show. Besides, a battle of wits was about to start.

Mulling over his thoughts only took about a second or two. However, it felt longer as Kudou and Lupin-san stared at each other. The room felt a few degrees colder. Heiji pulled his jacket closer.

With a sudden smile, Kudou said, "Well, Lupin the Third, I would like to thank you for saving me yesterday, you and Jigen-san." His voice gave nothing away. "You hacked into this channel's frequencies just to show yourself to us. How kind."

Lupin-san shrugged, his smug smile vanishing a little. "You're welcome…Edogawa-kun. I would have used the computer downstairs but that room seemed cramped and dark for this." Lupin-san had on his lap a keyboard. He placed it somewhere behind his camera. "Now, tell me what you figured out so far about what I did these last few days. I'm sure Hattori-kun would love to add his input."

Both boys blinked and looked at each other. Heiji shook his head. He was out of this game even before it began, his own infamous temper costing him. Kudou had the grace of acting civil despite the fact that Kudou was just as pissed off as he was. Even though he hates to let Kudou have all the fun, it was Heiji's own fault. There was another way to be involved and that was to read their reactions.

"No, I think the kid here has already solved much, so I'll let him do all the talking." He nodded to Kudou. Kudou smirked in understanding. Now let the battle begin!

"On Tuesday, Kaitou Kid sent a letter to Yamada-san about stealing the Princess Diamonds four days from then, Saturday. I'm sure you have heard about it." Lupin-san nodded, waving his hand for Kudou to continue. His expression is blank. Tch, nothing. "The next day, you and your gang decide to steal the diamonds yourself, probably planned on doing it on the same day." Kudou's eyes thinned. "You split your crew up; since it's known that you research everything before actually stealing, to see how much trouble trying to get to your prize will be."

Kudou smirked and leaned back, a confident aura surrounding him. Heiji grinned. Give it to him, Kudou."I honestly don't fully know what tasks the four of you had, but one of you was a definite; Ishikawa-san was given the task to look at Hattori; to see if he lived up to all the press. If I had to guess about Mine-san and Jigen-san, I think that Mine-san was given the job of learning about the Beika City Hotel, the guests, the security, and the party set up. Jigen-san was probably told to find information on Occhan and I. You, on the other hand decided to look at us personally, by using disguises. Am I right so far?"

Lupin-san's face stayed expressionless, but his mouth curved up a little. Heiji blinked. Kudou didn't bother to say 'Shin'ichi and I'. Damn!

Kudou continued. "You've also read from the newspaper that Mouri-ojisan, Hattori and I were invited to the party immediately after Kid's letter. That's why, Lupin-san, you wanted to know about us." Kudou leaned forward. "You've sent your letter to the police and to the actor. But then you did something even Kaitou Kid barely ever does, by dropping the letters all over Tokyo. The reports were pretty much all over the place, but I assume that you used a plane to spread the letters all over the Tokyo Metropolitan area." The little boy locked his fingers. "As for the Kiyone incident, you probably disguised yourself as another student and asked around the school about me." Then he suddenly deadpanned, "But they probably said, 'The best person to ask about Shin'ichi is Ran Mouri.' So you decided to become someone who was familiar with Ran." The expressionless face broke into a calm smile. He was about to say something until the thief raised his hand.

"You were right, Kudou-kun. And I applaud you for that." The Osakan teen noticed the boy flinch as the thief used his real name. Heiji bit his lip. In that little exchange, Kudou was slowly beginning to loose ground while the thief held firm.

Lupin, himself, was judging the two boys in his own way, and concluded a couple of things, that they were reading his every move, that they lived up to the hype… and that Lupin just gained some ground. Kudou-kun's flinch did not go unnoticed, as well as the way he sounded about having his friend, Mouri-chan being singled out. Friend? Yeah, right!

"Since you said so much already…" He himself sat up and went into serious mode. "I overheard your conversation about finding out who 'L' was and your Osakan friend here keeps calling you 'Kudou'. You can figure it out from there." This was half right but he didn't want to get into that yet. Hattori-kun slightly stiffened. Now the boy feels worse.With a shrug, Lupin added, "I assume you figured much of this out during that drive to Mouri-san's home and before you met me?" Now the little boy stiffened. Kudou-kun lost some ground again. "It's interesting that you two became upset over a small picture of a woman, unless you know her?" Their faces paled. Lost some more ground. "Don't think I didn't see them." Lupin made sure he added a smug smile. Something began to register in his head the moment he asked, but he pushed that away. He put it in the 'worry about it later' part of his mind.

"Nice acting by the way, Kudou-kun, for leaving the restaurant. My friends are just as observant as me, and I'm sure that the little stunt you pulled registered on their 'something's going on here' radar. Now I would ask 'how do you know this woman?', but this isn't the time and place for it." Now he silenced himself to see the damage he had caused to these boys. In fairness, Kudou-kun's poker face was pleasant to see, that he believed that he had the upper hand. Staring at them now, his own poker face nearly fell.

The dark skinned boy's face was frozen in horror, as was the child's. They were both struggling to keep themselves calm but it became hopeless. Lupin's little speech nearly shoved Kudou-kun off the ledge. The little boy was able to recover quickly from the shock slightly better than Hattori-kun, but the damage was done, the thief can tell.

"Thief-san," Kudou-kun said slowly, eyes flashing in anger. He had regained his composure after Lupin's revelations; he was gripping the couch tightly and was shaking slightly. "I don't know what you mean. Hattori and I only met her during one of our cases. Besides…" He grinned unnaturally. "Shouldn't you be worrying about your friends finding out about the REAL reason why you're in Beika City, not just for the woman and the diamonds?" Poker face fell off Lupin, not completely but just enough to see the genuine shock he exhibited. It was only for a second; the thief didn't want them to think they're regaining ground. Both of them may have practiced using masks but Lupin was far older and more experienced in it then Kudou-kun.

Lupin took a quick glance at his watch. 1:45, eh? It's almost time. He stared at his competitions as they smiled at him. Sorry, Hattori-kun, Kudou-kun, I have to end this. He leaned forward at the camera, and said in a smug voice, "That was a twist, but I see it's fine for you don't know what it is." Lupin feigned looking at the ceiling in wonder. With smug voice and smile, he added, "But if that's the best you got, then it's no wonder you can't catch Kid. Then I guess—"

"YOU AND KID WILL BE CAUGHT. I'LL MAKE SURE OF IT!!!" the little boy exploded, slamming his fists at the small table in front of the meitantei duo. He stared straight at his bird with clenched teeth and an angered grunt.

Hattori-kun, on the other hand, had flinched and leaned way back during the boy's outburst. "Kudou…" he trailed weakly, possibly understanding the rage but knowing…

Bingo!

Lupin theatrically gave them a stunned look with a sigh. "We'll see, we'll see." He then had to add it, to see the look on the child's face. "I win." He reached over to his keyboard and typed a few keys, to shut off communication. His raven then flew away, out of an open window, and so he shut off the TV.

Lupin then spent the next 10 minutes sitting in his chair looking at the ceiling, deep in thought, muttering, "So she's alive." Shaking his head, he rose from his chair and left the room. He had a lot of work to do. He gave his famous grin, as he left the apartment.

The TV fizzled and returned the show that was on during the talk. In its entirety, it took no more then 30 minutes, but it felt longer. The raven gave a small caw and flew out an open window in Hakase's house. Heiji slowly rose and turned off the TV, sitting right back down. There was a long silence as neither he and Kudou said a word nor looked at each other. Heiji flinched when he heard a pop and a crackle; the listening device that was in his hand popped.

"Dead," he muttered. He finally stared at his friend and his mouth twitched. Kudou was shaking slightly, hands firmly on the table, his bangs covering his eyes. The Osakan, in all his times associating with his rival, had never really saw this level of pissed.

Heiji slowly moved next to him, hesitantly placing a hand on his friend. The shuddering immediately stopped.

"I actually lost," he said with a chuckle. "I took his bait and let him let me push myself off the cliff." He gave a bitter sigh.

"Don't worry about it, Kudou! We'll get him next time!" Heiji had no idea how to cheer him up; he was just as shell shocked. Man, I wish Nee-chan was here. She could really help him out here. But she wasn't so he had to make due.

"Think we should walk back to occhan's place and talk about this." Heiji did the right thing by watching the match. There were a few things that he noticed from Lupin-san's expressions. And he believed that Kudou and him would figure it out and make the necessary arrangements and preparations for the Hotel Party. Grinning he rubbed Kudou's hair. "When we leave, we should watch where we step."

Kudou finally stared at him with annoyance. The rubbing of the hair Heiji knew he didn't like. But the bitter look on his face was gone, yet it didn't disappear. "What do you mean, Hattori?" he said as he fixed his glasses.

"Exactly what it sounds like. I mean, we don't wanna trip over you ego or anything. I don't like getting bruises. And it's really a big thing to trip over anyway, so —OW!"

The pint–sized detective took the liberty of shutting up Heiji with a good kick to the knee. With a smile, he started to laugh, along with Heiji (after a glare and a rub over his aching kneecap).

That's good. I cheered him up a bit. "C'mon! Let's go!"

A) Lupin vs Conan will come out On March 27 (March 26 in US timeline, it might appear on youtube on March 27) The plot is, I think, Kogoro, Ran and Conan were asked by a royal family member to help solve a case pertaining to said royal family. At the same time, Lupin has had his eyes set on stealing one of their treasures. So an inevitable confrontation will happen. The trailer is on youtube.