A/N: Updates may happen at odd hours from now on, since my job seems to like odd shift times. The chapters will still be showing up on Tuesdays, though.

So, this isn't gonna be immediately apparent in the text because none of the characters are aware of it, but I do headcanon Hattori Heiji as autistic and undiagnosed, partly because of Ellen Brand's An Unprofessional Opinion, and partly because of my own observations. I will say, I am using "headcanon" in my best understanding of it—I don't think that Gosho is deliberately writing an autistic character, but I really don't think that writing him as autistic is writing him as different from canon. As for him being undiagnosed—while Japan's autism screening system is pretty effective, it's still full of human diagnosticians and I'm sure that, just as in most other countries, there are people who simply slip through the cracks.

I have a lot of headcanons about Eisuke too, but they're more obviously present in the text, so no rambling about them in the A/Ns this time.

There's a reference to an anime original case, Episode 303—"The Victim Who Came Back"—in this chapter, but the solution is not going to be spoiled and everything you need to know about it is in the text.

Thanks for reading; and please enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 5

Still riding high on the elation of winning his last kendo match of the day, Hattori Heiji walked out of the dojo and headed for the locker room, only to startle when the cell phone in his gym bag started ringing.

He started fumbling with the laces on his kote—the long protective gloves he had to wear for matches—rushing more as he realized that was the ringtone he'd set for when Kudou called him on his own phone, not Conan's.

Somehow, he got one of the kote off and accepted the call, probably just before it went to voicemail. He was about to complain to Kudou about his timing, but Kudou managed to speak first.

"You were right about Hakuba," he said flatly.

For just a second, the rare thrill of Kudou admitting that anyone else was right about anything eclipsed pretty much everything else…and then, what he'd said Heiji was right about penetrated, and his stomach churned.

Please don't let anyone be dead.

He cursed aloud. "What'd he do?" he asked.

"Officially, he ran away from home," Kudou said. "Unofficially…I talked to KID. And apparently Hakuba rescuing him after he got shot on the last heist and then pretending to be him for the Task Force is part of a pattern of behavior."

More than a little thrown, Hattori took a few seconds to try to jam that new information into his understanding of Hakuba, and failed completely.

"Wha—what kinda pattern, exactly?" he managed after a few seconds.

"One where Hakuba's apparently been doing things to keep KID alive and safe for a while," Kudou said. "And, as near as KID can tell, it's probably because he—KID, I mean—pisses off a certain group."

"Ya ain't tellin' me…" Heiji started. KID and Hakuba are both involved with Kudou's guys in black?

"They're apparently both up to their necks in it," Kudou said. "I don't know exactly how much KID knows or why they've taken an interest in him, but, Hattori, he got shot on the last heist and that wasn't the Task Force."

"Well s***," Heiji said.

"Can you come to Tokyo?" Kudou asked. "KID wants to find Hakuba, I want to figure out how much KID knows and it'll be easier with you here—he thinks you can help, since you had suspicions about Hakuba from the beginning—"

"What, does he think the guy got kidnapped?" Heiji asked, finally feeling as though he had a handle on the situation again. "He's gotta be panicking a little, if he's asking for both of us in the same city as him."

"No, he thinks Hakuba ran because he thought he was in danger," Kudou said. "And that he's not going to be able to find him and explain that he isn't without a lot of help."

"Kudou, you know as well as I do that if he's got himself mixed up with that group you're after, he is in danger," Heiji pointed out, baffled.

"Not past what he can handle, though," Kudou replied, tone layered with something that Heiji almost thought was jealousy. "Look, this one gets complicated, and I'm not sure we should be getting into all the details over the phone, but—I'll say it again. You were right about Hakuba; there are things about him that are weird and that the rest of us should have noticed."

Heiji huffed out a laugh, at once annoyed and amused by how well Kudou could predict him. "So, what you're sayin' is, if I want more details, I gotta come to Tokyo."

"Pretty much," Kudou said. Heiji could almost picture his grin. "So, what do you say, Hattori? You in?"

"I'll see when the next train is," Heiji said, adding a good natured, "Brat."

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Hondou Eisuke toed off his shoes and left them on the mat he'd placed inside the door as a sort of mockery of a genkan—as if a square rug with cats on it was in any way similar to a raised wooden platform for leaving shoes on. But it was at least a little more like home, and he needed that.

He'd been in America for months, and his written English was very nearly spectacular…but his spoken was just bordering on adequate, and that meant that things like making friends and acclimating to the culture hadn't really gone so well. Apparently, an American-born father wasn't much advantage—well, Eisuke didn't even know that for sure, he was just guessing, because his father's first name was English and he worked for the CIA. Even though, according to his memory, his dad had always said he'd been born in Sapporo.

But whether his dad was American or not, one thing was certain—Eisuke was not. He could barely manage English, and with no way to make jokes about himself, it had been pretty much impossible to avoid ending up at the wrong end of other people's jokes, instead—about his clumsiness, his accent, and his occasional cultural mix-ups. He may have lived here for a while, but he hadn't managed to make any friends, or get involved in anything…or, really, convince himself that this felt like home.

He wanted to join the CIA like his father and sister before him. And to do that, he needed to get used to living in America. But he hadn't been prepared for this. When he'd moved to Tokyo, he'd been lonely, scared and confused, but he'd had a plan, he'd made friends and he'd gotten results. Here, he was lonely and his plan boiled down to learn the language and graduate which was kind of a step down from figure out whether Mizunashi Rena is your sister or the imposter who killed her and whether Mouri Kogoro is her contact.

He wasn't quite at the point of hating America, but if he gave it a few months…

He dropped his schoolbag on the floor, sighing, and went to the kitchen to put away his lunch box. Naturally, as soon as he rounded the corner, his phone started buzzing.

He was careful to keep the apartment neat, but there was still furniture and he was still horribly uncoordinated, so when he ran for the phone he ended up bumping into the couch, overcompensating for the collision, and falling over—though, fortunately, within arm's reach of his bag. He rifled through front pocket, got out the phone, and accepted the call, all while still on his side.

"Hello?" he said, as he gingerly picked himself up. Luckily, it felt like he'd get away with nothing more than a light bruise on his hip and rugburn on his face minor enough to heal up before school tomorrow.

"Is it afternoon in America, Hondou-san?" Edogawa Conan's voice asked politely, in Japanese.

In surprise, Eisuke almost dropped the phone, then almost hung up trying to catch it. He ended up on the floor, cross-legged, as he gasped out, "Yes, I just got home from school," in the same language.

"Good," Conan replied. "I thought I got the time difference right. Hondou-san, I have a favor to ask."

That was when it registered that Conan was calling him "Hondou-san," not Eisuke-nii-chan, and that the boy's voice had dropped into a deeper register than the one he normally used. The tone he was hearing now…this was probably as close to Kudou Shinichi's tone and inflection as Edogawa Conan ever came.

"Conan-kun, did something happen with—with my sister?" he asked, carefully.

"N-no, nothing like that!" Conan said, seemingly caught off guard. "It has to do with the group that she's involved with, but only peripherally. Most of the reason I'm calling you is because of your investigation, not because of your connection to her."

"My investigation?" Eisuke repeated.

"When you came to Tokyo, you came up with a bunch of different cover stories to keep your search for your sister a secret," Conan said. "You got most of the people you met to fall for them completely, and even I jumped to the wrong conclusions…"

Eisuke did a little bit of mental arithmetic based on that statement, then asked, "Did you think I was working with my sister?"

"Yes," Conan said, after a short pause. "But, the important thing here is—you know how to do that. How a person goes about misleading the people around them, including the very intelligent ones, about their true identity and intentions."

Eisuke hesitated. "Wouldn't you know something about that, too?"

"I'm not very good at this," Conan said bluntly, surprising Eisuke. "I fooled Ran and Mouri, and so did you—but you fooled me. The first person on my level that I came across after ending up…like this…was Hattori—the police commissioner's son, from Osaka. It took two cases together for him to figure it out."

The inflection around 'like this' was odd, Eisuke noted. Though…for all that I've accepted that Edogawa Conan is Kudou Shinichi, I never really pried into "Why?" or "How?" after he told me. Judging by the way he's talking about it, the answers aren't going to be pleasant ones.

"So, what do you need a person who knows how to lie about who they are for?" Eisuke said. "Under normal circumstances, that would be a pretty suspicious request."

"What do you know about Hakuba Saguru?" Conan asked.

"The name sounds familiar," Eisuke said. "Wait—no, I'm thinking of Hakuba Tsuyoshi. Is this Hakuba Saguru related?"

"His son," Conan said. "Adoptive, apparently, but that was kept quiet until he ran away from home last week."

"How old is he?" Eisuke asked, trying to get the facts.

"His apparent age is 17," Conan said. "And that's what his official records say." He paused, and took a breath. "But…the appearance he's been using, up until now, is apparently a disguise. A very sophisticated one, but a disguise nonetheless. This is the part where things get complex."

"Is he…connected to those people—"

"No," Conan said quickly. "Well, not in the way that you're thinking. You should be careful what you say about Them, on the phone." The word 'Them' was emphasized and pronounced carefully, Eisuke noted. "Hakuba, it seems, has some reason to be going after Them, as well."

"Alone? He'll get killed," Eisuke said quietly, thinking of how wary the trained CIA agents had been of the group.

"He might not," Conan said. "Because, along with his real appearance, he's been hiding a lot of skills. You never actually chased KID, when you were in Japan, but you know who he is, right?"

"Of course, I think everyone in Japan does by now…" Eisuke said. "But, what's KID got to do with…are you saying he's KID?"

"No, just that he's got the exact same skill set," Conan said flatly. The sarcasm was really odd-sounding, delivered in a child's voice.

Eisuke sat back. "I guess I'll be doing some research tonight," he said. "But even from what I do know…that's a lot."

"Don't worry too much about the research," Conan advised. "We've got a KID expert."

"Oh, yeah, right, I remember seeing articles calling you 'the KID-Killer' when I looked up Detective Mouri—" Eisuke started.

"Not me," Conan interrupted. "This is the other weird part. You were willing to lie your way into a hospital and basically trespass in a patient's room while you were looking for your sister. This case will involve working with a contact who goes a good deal farther than that when it comes to breaking the law, but who has agreed to be upfront about what he's doing and why with regard to the case."

It only took him a few seconds to work that out.

"KID?" he asked incredulously, well aware that his voice was rising to a painful pitch. "Why are we working with KID?"

"He's the person who asked me to look for Hakuba in the first place," Conan said levelly. "Hakuba's on the task force that chases him—"

"And so he wants him back?" Eisuke asked shrilly.

"Because he saved his life last week, at the last heist."

Eisuke's train of thought ground to a halt.

"Well, to be honest, I think there's more to it than that," Conan elaborated. "KID thinks that Hakuba's motives for saving him were that KID ticks Them off and Hakuba's been using that…but I think it's more complicated. Still, I can't prove anything and I don't know for certain that it's relevant."

"So KID's involved too?" Eisuke asked. "Not just with Hakuba…with, uh…" He tried to mimic Conan's emphasis, "Them? Did you know? Did my sister?"

"I didn't until I met with him earlier," Conan said. "I don't know if your sister does. I might be able to find out more about what KID does and doesn't know later this week, but—"

"If you're talking about that, I want to be involved," Eisuke said firmly.

"The phone lines aren't secure…" Conan started weakly.

"I have some ideas on how to fix that, not that you haven't already," Eisuke said. "If you have the technology to knock Mouri out safely, you have the technology to make a call secure."

"I do," Conan admitted. "It's not foolproof, because we worked off of open-source code…but a…friend of mine and I played with the code from Ostel and built something that They aren't too likely to get through. I can send you the file later. You should buy a burner phone to put it on, and then download that ISMI-detector app."

"If you're this prepared to make a phone call secure, what's your excuse for not wanting me to be involved in your meeting with KID?" Eisuke said, as much curious as pressing Conan to change his mind.

"Your sister wanted you in Witness Protection," Conan said, tone fierce. "This is the exact opposite of that. Just knowing that They exist is enough to get you killed; if you listen to me talk to KID you're going to know as much as both of us. I know enough to die for it multiple times over, and they've been shooting at KID. Hondou-san, is this really what you want?"

"The whole reason I came to this ridiculous country was to join the CIA and follow in my sister's and father's footsteps," Eisuke said, putting some bite into the words. "I want to be involved in this investigation and I want to know who I'm fighting—who my sister's fighting!"

"You're going against what your sister wanted, and there isn't any going back on it," Conan said deliberately. "I won't take the blame if you don't like what happens as a result."

"My choices are my own, I know that," Eisuke snapped, annoyed. "I don't think I need a lecture on responsibility from someone who's been lying to the girl who loves him for more than a year."

Dead silence followed his statement.

Maybe I went too far… Eisuke thought, suddenly nervous.

"Maybe I deserved that," Conan said, a bitter edge to his tone. "And maybe you deserve a chance to understand the circumstances. You're in this as deep as you are already—might as well drag you down the whole way with us.

"But if you want to be involved in this conversation, you're agreeing to work on the case," Conan said. "That means working with KID, who I know for certain isn't telling me everything. Well, and Hattori Heiji, but all you have to worry about with him is his loud mouth."

"Why do you trust KID?" Eisuke said, not agreeing yet.

"The first time we worked together, we broke a dog out of a supposedly-uncrackable safe," Conan said. "A while later, while I was chasing him, I picked up one of his doves when it was injured and took care of it…and in return he got me out of a burning building and then impersonated Shinichi for me."

"So he really likes animals?"

"Well, since then…" Conan sounded embarrassed. "Since then, he's helped me out a few more times. It seems like me taking care of his dove established some permanent goodwill. Don't get me wrong, we're still opponents, I'd still arrest him in a heartbeat, and he's still more than aware of that, but…he trusts me, for whatever reason. And I trust him—he's got his principles, and while I'd rather not stress-test them, I think he has every intention of keeping to them.

He chuckled softly. "So when a case KID is involved in goes south, he'll help me make sure it doesn't do so violently—and sometimes, when I'm in over my head in something that doesn't involve him, I'll get unexpected help. We each know how the other works, and between the two of us…well, there's not a lot we can't handle. Besides, we're both good enough to counter each other if an alliance ever broke down."

"So it's a kind of mutual respect," Eisuke concluded. "But, if you're calling me for help, now…"

"Hakuba is shaping up to be something that the two of us can't handle alone," Conan said. "KID seems intimidated; it's creepy. You know more than either of us about the kind of methods Hakuba would've needed to use pass as a normal teenage detective, and Hattori's been suspicious of him from the start. So, all four of us going after him together is probably our best shot. Will you help?"

"Yes, but I want in on that conversation about the people my sister is…involved with," Eisuke said firmly, stomach churning. He didn't want to risk alienating Conan, but this was important. "Otherwise, I block your number."

"Right," Conan said. "I really should've known better than to try to keep you out of it. Get that burner phone, and text me the number so I can send you the security program. I'll call you on that to set up a meeting time."

"I will," Eisuke said, a strange mixture of relief and dread pooling in his stomach. I've been wondering for months what exactly Hidemi got involved in. Now, I guess I'm gonna find out.

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Shinichi was with the Mouris, picking Hattori up from the airport when his phone buzzed. Shinichi's phone, not Conan's. He glanced toward the front of the car, but Ran was still talking with her dad about an upcoming karate tournament, not paying any attention to him or Hattori in the backseat.

The sender was blocked, which by itself was a pretty good indicator of who the text was from.

"Found a place," Shinichi read aloud in a whisper. Hattori peered over his shoulder at the address.

"Looks residential," he noted, before settling back into his seat.

"Yeah," Shinichi said. "Can't help thinking I've seen the address before…" He scowled at the end of the message. "How'd he get an emoji of his signature?"

"Prob'ly coded it himself," Hattori said.

"I'll set up a time with E," Shinichi typed. "H is already here."

Less than a second later, the phone buzzed, and another message appeared. This one was a lone KID-grin emoji, which Shinichi took as agreement.

"Sure that meeting place isn't gonna be trouble or somethin', since you know the address?" Hattori asked. "Maybe we should run it against past heist sites, to be safe."

Shinichi made a "shhh-ing" noise and then, abruptly, remembered where he knew the address from. "No need. It was from a case, but not one with KID."

Hattori raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"The Detective Boys and I found a woman screaming after she found a corpse hidden in a couch," Shinichi said. "It turned into a little bit of a circus."

"How do you find those cases?" Hattori asked, wide-eyed.

Shinichi shrugged.

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A/N: The next chapter is the big DCMK-spoiler chapter, so if you need to, please check back to Chapter 1 for what this fic's gonna be spoiling. I don't wanna be ruining anything for anyone who cares about not knowing plot twists ahead of time. It's also the first meeting of this fic's iteration of the Gosho Boys, which means it was incredibly fun to write. Again, the update will still be on Tuesday but may not be at the same time of day as usual.

Thanks again for reading, and leave a review on your way out if you've got time!