A/N: The fic is now off hiatus. That said, given both the fact that my chapter backlog has run out and that real life has gotten realer in the colloquial sense than I'd like, I'm adjusting the update schedule. New chapters are now coming every other week instead of every week. I'm sorry, and I really hope not to be disappointing anyone too badly.

Also, I'm updating the AO3 tags to better reflect coming chapters. I have a number of reasons for not tagging in comprehensive detail, but I like to think that the kind of umbrella tags I'm using-"mental health issues," "dysfunctional families," ect.-are enough to warn people who might need to use the warnings in the end notes. If you think I've missed an important tag, please tell me-though I stand by my statement that deaths in the other timeline don't count as "Major Character Death" since the characters in question are alive in this timeline and in some cases present for the reveal.

Not many warnings for this chapter, but they're in the end-notes anyhow!

Chapter 24

Chikage startled when the phone rang. With no venues she was scheduled to perform in, and now no careless-of-his-own-health teenager to worry over, Japan was pretty boring. And waiting by the phone for word from London? Even worse.

"The h*** is going on?" her old poker buddy, Julie Cassidy, demanded, irate.

"In what sense?" Chikage replied carefully.

"Chikage, the blood I told you I found matched the sample from Kaito that you gave me," Julie said. "You said that someone would be in to ask me about it and then hung up. You could have warned me that you were sending Kaito himself."

"I could have," Chikage allowed.

"And that he apparently is trying to convince everyone he's with that the blood belongs to a missing kid named Saguru Hakuba," Julie added. "Who, by the way, is apparently a local boy, according to Homicide, and I would really like to have warning before you ask me to be an accomplice to that level of interfering with investigations." She paused. "Specifically so I can tell you no."

"You aren't interfering, though," Chikage said, wincing. "That really was his blood. Kaito was in Japan when the crime you mentioned happened; I can produce witnesses if you want them."

"So, what, Saguru and Kaito have the same DNA?" Julie asked.

"Yes," Chikage said. "I mean, that is the logical conclusion."

"I talked to the guys in Homicide," Julie said. "Saguru is half-Japanese, half-English, blond and brown eyes. You've never really been clear about your ancestry, but I know most of it's Japanese and none of it's English; Kaito's hair is black and his eyes are blue."

"And?" Chikage asked lightly.

"And only identical twins have identical DNA," Julie said. "Which those two are not, obviously."

"I only have one kid," Chikage said, amused. "I did not secretly adopt out Kaito's twin brother to the police."

"Then you're making an impossible claim!" Julie shouted, sending a rush of static over the line.

"It's the truth," Chikage said. "So it's clearly possible somehow."

"And you know exactly how, and you aren't going to tell me," Julie said, tone acid.

"That's right!" Chikage sing-songed.

"What if we played a few rounds of poker for it?" Julie asked, clearly grasping at straws. "I win, you tell me what the bleeding h*** is going on?"

"That wouldn't really be winning, trust me," Chikage said. "You know how I ask for things, sometimes, and then tell you to forget about them? This is one of those things."

"Okay, but...are you certain about all of this?" Julie asked. "Kaito's English is horrendous, and the rest of those kids...they seem competent in an investigation, but I'm not sure they're all right wandering London by themselves."

"Promise me names and descriptions of the kids and I'll give you a hint," Chikage said.

"What happened to this being too dangerous?" Julie asked, skeptical.

"It is way too dangerous, but so is what Kaito's doing," Chikage said. "Did you see how pale he was? He got injured a little while ago, and now he's associating with detectives, and he won't let me help."

"Associating with detectives, oh the horror," Julie said, deadpan.

"Am I getting information, or not?"

"I don't have names," Julie said. "But one of them looked almost exactly like Kaito, except he had slicked-down hair and a cowlick. Another was like six foot and mostly muscle, with green eyes, sort of mid-tone skin, and short hair with long bangs. The third one was actually near normal height, with short hair and glasses-I think his eyes were blue too."

Chikage cursed. "I don't know the last one, but the other two are trouble. I mean, one's a friend of the family, technically, but also-trouble."

"So, where's my hint?"

Chikage just hummed a few bars of the song she used as background music for the start of the second half of her Vegas show.

"Do You Believe in Magic?" was a hint, whether Julie caught it or not. Though judging by that scream of frustration, she hadn't quite appreciated the delivery.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Heiji brushed off the fast-food restaurant's table again before he set down the file. "Everyone got all the food they ordered?" he asked.

It was nice to be using Japanese again. He was okay in English-he'd gotten a lot of practice translating for English-speaking witnesses and suspects after his father decided that was a good way to keep him from running off and solving cases himself. Not that it had worked, though. The man would have needed to have Heiji translating in his sleep to keep him from doing detective work entirely.

Heizou wouldn't have gone that far, though. Heiji was almost sure of it. Except...he had to admit that after he came back from this, he would probably be pretty grounded.

But for now, all he had to worry about was making sure he knew where his three friends-and he was beginning to think he could include even Kaito in that grouping-were, and that they were all eating enough that they wouldn't pass out halfway through the investigation.

"I think they forgot my fries," Kudou said, peering into his bag with a troubled expression.

"Should ya even be havin' those?" Heiji asked. "They're, like, bad fer your heart an' stuff, right?"

He tried to grin, and not to think about Kudou screaming in the bathroom before the flight, or the poisoning case when the two of them first met, when Kudou had been pale and sweating, clutching his chest intermittently as he worked through deductions.

Kudou rolled his eyes. "They taste good," he said. "And I paid for them. Also, you're not Haibara, not that she's a doctor either. Wait for me; I'll be right back."

"Start without him," Eisuke said, tone flat.

"What do you mean, bad for his heart?" Kaito asked.

"I'm not gonna say anythin'," Heiji managed.

Eisuke put his head down in his hands. "You're actually Hagrid, how has Ran not found you two out?"

Heiji blinked at him, confused. Where did that come from?

"Never mind," Eisuke sighed. "Seriously, though, can I at least look at the eyewitness report while Kudou-san is hassling the cashier?"

Heiji shrugged. "Go fer it," he said, handing Eisuke the papers.

"Yeah, there really isn't a lot of detail," Eisuke said. "They think it was a guy, and the hair's described as 'dark,' but no more detail. Uh...that's weird."

"What is?" Kudou asked, sitting down, with a satisfied smile on his face and a package of fries in his hands.

"Something gold, hanging from his pocket...they said it was a pocketwatch," Eisuke said. "They can't even remember what he was wearing, but they remember that?"

"It was weird, of course it would stick out," Heiji said.

"It's weirder that he was wearing the pocketwatch," Kudou pointed out. " That thing was practically his signature as Hakuba."

"You guys never mentioned a pocketwatch," Eisuke said slowly. "Kiyoshi had one. She'd get it out sometimes, when we were talking, and check the time, at the weirdest moments."

"Sounds like Hakuba," Kaito muttered.

"Sounds more like a comfort object than a disguise prop," Heiji said.

"Kiyoshi called it an heirloom," Eisuke said. "You think that was even part of the truth?"

"Could be," Kaito allowed.

Heiji picked through the case file while Eisuke worked on the eyewitness report and Shinichi and Kaito started eating.

"The murderer's name's Jerry Hansen, and he's organized crime," Heiji said aloud. "This arrest record...it looks like one of the yakuza guys from back home, who can't settle down inside the organization, so they keep gettin' passed around."

"You know he's bad when even the criminals are playing hot potato with him," Shinichi said, smirking.

Kaito's expression was a little more sober. "What if Hansen-san finally got passed outside of the gang?"

"So you really think he's with Them?" Heiji asked.

Kudou was nodding. "It's very possible. Even if he's not actually Theirs, I still think there's a good possibility that he's being used by someone else who is."

"Do we need ta find him ta find Hakuba?" Heiji asked. "Because trackin' him down probably won't take us that long, but it's still time."

"I don't think we need him, but if we get a good lead, it wouldn't be a bad idea to follow it," Kudou said. "Knowing what Saguru is planning here could be one of the fastest ways to figure out where he is."

"In the meantime, though, we should visit the crime scene," Eisuke said, handing the case file back to Heiji. "It'll tell us at least some of what talking to Hansen would."

Heiji nodded as he accepted the file. "Plus, I thought about it, and...however he's gettin' money, even if it's illegal, that's gonna leave a trail, right?"

"Yeah," Kudou said. "Even pickpocketing does, because people report it, and anything larger-scale would leave more traces."

"And most legal ways of getting money involve paperwork nowadays," Eisuke said. "What are you getting at?"

"He's smart enough ta know that, under the circumstances, that's the last thing he wants ta do," Heiji said. "So, he's probably pinchin' pennies left an' right. Includin', if we're lucky, stayin' off the subways and buses as much as possible."

Shinichi's eyes narrowed. "That makes sense. So, we might be able to narrow the search radius."

"He's probably still gathering information," Heiji said. "This place is about as big as Tokyo. If They've got the same presence, all he's got to do is turn over the right rock, especially if he picked a bad neighborhood to base himself out of."

"And he would have, on a budget," Eisuke said.

Kaito made an odd sort of humming noise and bit into his burger.

"I picked one that was safe but still pretty cheap," Eisuke said. "But, thinking about it, it was probably close enough to the ones that weren't for his purposes. My city's smaller. Here...it might be a little trickier, since things are more spread out."

"And we don't even have a way of contacting one another over distances," Kaito said, frowning.

"About that…" Shinichi said. "The antidote wasn't the only thing I picked up from the professor's house."

He reached under the table and pulled out a small canvas backpack, unbuckled the flap holding it closed at the top, and rummaged through it for a few seconds. After a few seconds, he pulled a small plastic bag out.

"I know it's a little embarrassing, but they're practical," Shinichi said, face tinged red.

Heiji leaned over, squinting. "Are those...Detective Boy Badges?"

Yep, they were. He thought someone else might've said something after that, but he was too busy laughing his head off to hear.

Shinichi swatted him in the shoulder, hard. "They're like walkie-talkies, which means we can use them overseas without paying extra charges. Look, do you want to be in contact or not?"

Kaito was snickering, too. "Is it really appropriate to give me one of those?"

"You better not take advantage," Shinichi said with a scowl. "I'm not chasing you anymore, but Genta, Ayumi and Mitsuhiko didn't make any promises, and if you use this to learn how to jam their badges' signals…"

"I wouldn't!" Kaito said, holding a hand to his chest, eyes wide.

Eisuke rolled his eyes. "Thank you, Kudou-san. It was a very practical thought."

"See, look, someone appreciates me," Kudou said, handing out the badges.

Eisuke pocketed his, Heiji tucked his into his wallet, and Kaito vanished his-to where, he only knew.

"Hondou-han jus' has really good manners is all," Heiji said. "I'm sure he thinks you're ridiculous too but he's too polite to jus' say it."

Eisuke snickered.

Shinichi pouted, lower lip out and all.

"Don't pout, Conan-kun!" Kaito chirped.

"Come over here and say that again; I'm tall enough to punch you now," Kudou threatened.

Eisuke shook his head. "Enough, you two. If you've got time to banter you've got time to read the files Officer Cassidy gave us."

"And eat," Heiji added. "Even if British McDonald's tastes weird."

"The sooner we get done with this, the sooner we can check out that crime scene," Shinichi said. "Hey, where is it, anyway?"

Heiji checked the files. "Well, technically, there's two of them. One where the murder happened, and one where the arrest almost did."

"Are they close together?" Eisuke asked.

Heiji shrugged. "I'd need a better map-I can't tell walking distances with the one from the hotel," he said. "I...think so, but...either way, it's probably better to go to the arrest scene first, since that's nearer to where people said they saw Hakuba."

"I'm all for that," Kaito said. "How far is it from here?"

"We're gonna need to take the Tube," Heiji reported.

"Dang it," Shinichi said.

"It's the only way to get around in this city," Kaito said, but his voice was odd-just a little bit flatter than normal.

Heiji clearly wasn't alone in not liking the Underground.

But they did need it to get to the crime scene. Well, it, and a map Heiji had picked up from the hotel, because the crime scene wasn't right next to the Tube station. English addresses were weird. Simpler than Japanese ones, or at least they had less parts, but they were harder to figure out. Like, who decided the building-numbers and why were some streets numbered by thousands and others by hundreds or even just tens? Where did they start, and stop? Wouldn't it be easier to just make a grid and start having chome?

It took twenty minutes, a lot of arguing, and at least one death threat from Kudou toward Kaito that sounded kind of serious, but they made it to where the murderer had been arrested.

There wasn't much to the crime scene, now. The tape, the marked areas of evidence-everything like that was gone. But the neighborhood around it was still there, and that was a clue, too.

This was not a good part of London. The ward it was in, New Cross, seemed to be a mix of creeping gentrification and "not quite a safe place to be at night" and this particular back alley came off of a street that was definitely in the second category. There was a group of teenagers across the street, gathered together and standing in a way that looked relaxed but wasn't, a man in worn clothes who was probably homeless standing, not sitting, next to a lamppost, and all the while pedestrians walked the sidewalks with heads ducked down and bags held tight to their sides.

Halfway down the block, there was a shop with plastic covering the front window, taped down at every corner but already coming loose, and there was something about that which bothered Heiji besides the way it added to the place's not-quite-safe feeling.

And then, it hit him.

"Hey, Kudou, d'ya see-" he started.

"Yeah," Kudou said, grin bright and sharp as his eyes met Heiji's. "Come on!"

This was the best part of working a case with Kudou, the moment when the facts and deductions gathered together and formed into something solid, and there was no need to say it out loud, because coming to any other conclusion would be intellectually clumsy, in a way that both of them trusted the other not to be.

"What are we seeing?" Kaito called out from behind them as they both ran toward the storefront with the broken window.

"The window's broken," Kudou said, a bit winded, as they came to a stop.

"Okay," Eisuke said, sounding confused. He looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Oh! The glass on the jacket!"

Kudou nodded. "It's a good place to start, at least. We should talk to the owner. Hattori, would you mind?"

Heiji grinned. "Sure," he said. "I'm glad yer finally acknowledgin' my superior English skills."

"I'd tell you not to get a swelled head, but I see it's too late," Kudou grumbled.

Heiji pushed past him and into the store. A bell above the door jingled as it opened, and a blast of musty air practically hit him in the face. The place looked like a really haphazard mix of an antique store and a second-hand store. If you squinted, even in the low light, you could see glimmers of glass caught between the floorboards.

A bored-looking teenager leaned over the counter, cap pulled low over greasy hair. "Can I help you?"

"Hey, what happened to the window?" Heiji asked.

The teen rolled his eyes. "It broke."

Heiji rolled his eyes right back. He knew guys like this back in Osaka. "I mean, how. We're looking for a missing person and we think he was involved."

"Look, I wasn't even here," the teenager said, straightening to reveal a nametag that read ROHAN. "All I know is, two blokes had a row outside the shop and then they went through the window. The manager was in and he chased 'em out right quick but that didn't fix the window or put the front display back together, now did it?"

Okay, apparently dialects suck in second languages, and I understand why all the English tourists who only knew Tokyo-ben kept staring at me, Heiji thought. The heck is a "bloke" anyhow-he's using it like a noun, it's gotta be a way of referring to a kind of person, but what kind of person? And...isn't "row" what you do with a boat? Why would they be rowing a boat outside of a shop, and isn't that a weird way to form that verb in the first place...Ugh, I give up.

"Do you have your manager's number?" Heiji asked. "We would really like to talk with him."

"I'll go into the back and get it for you…" Rohan said, unenthusiastic.

"It's him," Kaito said, urgently, in Japanese.

"Who?" Shinichi asked.

"Look, out on the street, that's Hansen-san," Kaito said. "The tall one, with the dark hair and the chalky tan streaks on the sides of his shirt."

Heiji saw him almost immediately. He looked like someone had tried to stick muscles on an armature dummy and had ignored how odd the final product looked. The tan streaks were makeup-he'd been trying to cover up gang tattoos on his arms. No wonder Kaito had spotted him; he was probably offended by the poor disguise on a professional level.

"Cassidy-san said to stay off her case," Shinichi said, almost as if he was reminding himself.

"He talked to Hakuba-san," Eisuke said. "We need to talk to him. This is our case."

"Okay then," Heiji said. He turned to Rohan. "We'll be back for that number!"

After that, it was like some sort of plan had been made, only no one had actually said anything. Kaito was nearest to the door, so he was out first, and then the others after, but they'd all forgotten that dang bell.

It rang, and Hansen looked over, and Heiji saw his eyes widen.

Hansen bolted, and the chase was on.

"Use the badges!" Shinichi shouted as they ran. "It's too crowded to stay together!"

It was too crowded to keep good sight of Hansen at all, in fact. At least Hansen was tall enough to stick out and Heiji was tall enough to see him, but height didn't do much when it came to getting a person through crowded mid-day London. Heiji wasn't overweight, but kendo meant that he'd put on enough muscle to be a little bulky. He couldn't just weave between people the way Kaito-the-probable-gymnast was most likely doing.

In Japan, he could've yelled to the crowd to stop the guy, but he had no reputation here and in fact was likely to get in trouble if his dad figured out where he was. Talking to Cassidy was one thing but actually getting involved in an official arrest and attracting a lot of attention was a bad idea for him.

And a worse idea for Kaito, AKA Kaitou KID. So, not an option.

Oh, right, the badges, he thought, and pulled his out, careful to keep eyes on Hansen's bobbing hair as he did.

"He's heading for the intersection!" came Kaito's voice, strained.

"I'm at least five meters behind him," Heiji reported. "I can try to keep eyes on him but I can't keep promises!"

"I'm on a fire escape," Kaito said. "I lost him, now I've found him, I think he's headed for an alley-Tantei-kun, if you go down the sidestreet on your left I think you should be able to intercept him."

"Okay," Kudou said, sounding a little breathless.

"Are you okay, Kudou-san?" Eisuke asked. "Also, Kuroba-san, someone's gonna notice you on that fire escape. People probably live in that building."

"I'm sure no one will-oh shoot I am so sorry ma'am-" There was a series of bangs, a yelp, and what sounded like a cat yowling.

"I'm fine," Kudou said. "Worry about KID."

"I'm fine too," Kaito said faintly. "The only casualties were a potted plant and my dignity."

Heiji tried to push past a man in a dark grey suit, and he pushed Heiji backwards, instead. When Heiji had his footing back, Hansen was out of sight. "I lost him," he reported.

"Me too," Eisuke said.

"I'm just lucky I didn't injure anything landing," Kaito said. "Tantei-kun?"

Silence.

"Kudou?" Heiji asked, not bothering to hide the worry in his voice.

The speaker crackled, and then Kudou finally spoke, sounding even more winded than before. "I think the antidote's wearing off. I'm going to get somewhere safe."

A/N: Warnings for a little discussion of forensics, some discussion of the apotoxin possibly damaging Shinichi's long-term health, and some slapstick injury.

Yeah, I just came off of a multi-week hiatus with a cliffhanger. Do you all hate me yet?