Happy New Year everyone. My resolution is to update more regularly. We will see if that works. This is shorter, but want to keep the next part one part.
Conan felt the cool night hair whip his hair as he was dragged out of the building. He glanced up at the thief, still disguised as Ran, wearing a stony look he had never seen on her face.
"KID?"
Kaito looked down at the worried detective. His mind was going a mile a minute, trying to figure out what to do next, and the little detective's one word grounded him in an instant.
"What is it Tantei-kun?"
Conan's gut feeling was back, instincts telling him that he was in danger, and he was going to listen. Something wasn't right, and when he couldn't see the danger it made him more worried. The sleuth pulled slightly on KID's hand, trying to lead him back to the shadow of the building they had just exited, trying to explain.
"This is very open."
Kaito glanced around. Yes, they were standing in an open plaza like area, surrounded by trees, taller buildings, and bright streetlights that illuminated them in the night. Perfect for sniping. He nodded.
"Yes, I just wanted to make sure our friend was truly gone."
He had wanted to do what though? Follow and try to catch Snake? What a laughable idea. His priority now that most of his lackeys were in police custody, was to get Conan and Pandora home safe and sound. He would tangle with Snake later.
He barely finished the sentence when a gunshot cracked through the air. Conan leapt to the side, shoving the thief as hard as he could as they hit the deck, glancing around as his hand jumped to his glasses, turning on the night vision to try to see the assassin. Kaito hissed as he rolled back to a crouch.
"Of course, he didn't leave."
Snake was persistent on a good night; this was the night they had found Pandora. He wasn't going to leave until it was in his grasp, even after he lost all of his minions. He already had a plan in place though for this. Thank goodness he had come earlier this afternoon to set up, and Luckily, they were still close enough to the building to make it work.
Conan reached for his belt, intent to kick the soccer ball as hard as he could when he felt an arm wrap around his waist.
"Hold on tight Tantei-kun. I would hate if I dropped you."
Conan looked up at KID, just as he shot his grappling hook to the roof of the museum. Conan bit his lip as they started to rise far too slowly in the air for his liking. KID's hands were full with him and the grappling hook and couldn't defend them. Meanwhile, his shoes and soccer ball couldn't do much damage from where he was dangling in KID's grasp with no solid ground to kick off of and give power to. They were practically sitting ducks with a determined gunman that wanted target practice.
Thinking quickly, Conan reached up, groping KID's chest, much to KID's confusion.
"Tantei-kun, didn't think you were like that."
Conan tried not to blush; of course even in the middle of this chaos KID was trying to tease him. Finally he found what he was looking for and he smirked triumphantly as he whipped out the card gun, pointing it at the ground. He readjusted his grip, grasping it steadily with two hands.
"I assumed you wanted some cover you idiot thief."
Another pistol shot cracked the darkness. Conan jerked to the side, seeing the silhouette of a man ducking under the foliage of a nearby tree. Lining up the sights, he waited patiently, using his glasses to help with the binocular function, ready to fire. He murmured.
"Come on, do it again."
As soon as he sees the man peek out again, gun pointed once more in their direction, he fires three times. The first hits the man's hand, the other two cuts both his arms, causing him to reel back to the safety of the shade of the tree. Conan tsked in disappointment; it was enough to injure, but not enough to incapacitate. He might have messed up his aim though, so maybe that would convince him not to shoot again.
Kaito freezes, stiffening as Conan fires the gun, trying to keep him as stable as possible to help him with aiming. He was once again pleasantly surprised at Conan's ingenuity and quick thinking; of course, they were unprotected and open, and Conan was already proving his usefulness by providing that cover and protecting both of them. He was beginning to feel more and more satisfied with his decision to ask Conan to help; he was already taking great lengths to solve this case.
Conan was ready to shoot again when he was yanked backwards and rolled underneath the larger thief. They had reached the roof safely; KID's luck once again proving useful. He swallowed thickly as he glanced up at the thief.
"What now?"
Kaito rolled off the detective and away from the edge of the roof, staying low.
"You think I didn't have a plan?"
No, Conan almost answered; KID was never unprepared. He looked and saw Kid blowing up several dummies, all equipped with a smaller dummy attached to their chests. Kaito saw the comprehension dawn in Conan's eyes as he rushed to help. He explained.
"They have red dye in them so when they get shot, they will at least cause a big enough diversion to buy us a lot of time."
If the gunman saw 'KID' go down bleeding, he would chase after him, giving them a bigger window to escape. Conan couldn't believe the attention to detail. Then again, this was KID, and he had no idea how often he had to do this before. That left a sour taste in his mouth.
That's right. That was something that was bothering Conan, just like last time. KID was so nonchalant about all of this. If he ever met Gin or Vodka, he would be freaking out way more then what KID was, whether from anger, or excitement, or fear he was always hot blooded when facing his own organization. Why was KID so calm? Maybe he could ask later.
Kaito leaned back, examining his four dummies. They were crude, but from a distance, they looked like the real deal. He sat down calmly on the rooftop, taking a deep breath. Now was time for the next step, which was…what exactly?
He had planned for several routes from here. A: he could pretend to be one of the dummies and fly to the Kudo Mansion. B, he could disguise the pair of them and they could walk to his house. C. he brought his motorcycle and they could ride to the mansion. D. go down and face Snake once and for all, taking him down and then escaping A-C. He just didn't know which one to choose.
He was about to pick D, because getting rid of Snake would be a real joy, when he paused looking over at the young boy who was checking the dummies for a final time. Right, he had forgotten; he wasn't alone for once in his heists, besides Jii-chan. Let's see what the detective thought about all this.
"These guys will go in different directions, distracting him. Meanwhile, what should we do?"
Conan blinked, slightly startled as KID settled him with a clear gaze.
"What, you want me to plan the next step?"
KID nodded seriously. There was a reason Conan was still alive when he was on the run from his own organization, and why he was such a threat at KID's heists; his strategies were second to none. He planned ahead better then anyone besides KID himself.
"Your planning and counteracting criminals is the best around, and this guy is not nearly as hard to figure out then I am. What would you suggest we do next? I can fly us to your house, or maybe disguise us and we can walk? Or maybe another mode of transportation? What do you think is best?"
Conan glanced over at the wall, sitting down across from KID, folding his arms. He pointed toward the access door to the roof.
"We don't have to worry about the police as they will be busy downstairs, but we should definitely make our move before the ambulances and other police officers to show up. Less to worry about that way. That gives us another five minutes or so."
He would rather not be seen as the accomplice to the international thief if he could help it. Conan took a deep breath. Now that bullets were once again not flying and there was a slight pause in the action, it gave his mind to a chance to work without panic and fear to cloud it. His chin fit into his hand naturally as he continued to mutter his thoughts aloud.
"You are right, flying would be faster, but the wind isn't going in the direction we want it to."
KID leaned back against the wall.
"I have the jet pack you know."
Conan narrowed his eyes as he remembered the tool that KID had used in Singapore. That was useful, but loud, and very noticeable.
"That would be a lot faster, but he would pick us out easier, and it is easier to spot by normal civilians as well. They expect you to fly, as most of your escapes end in you flying away. They want you to panic, and when you panic, you want to do the thing you are most comfortable with, which means flying. Unfortunately, flying is out of the question. We need a different mode of transportation. Walking is less conspicuous, however far too slow giving the fact that I bet they can check security cameras and I don't want them to catch up. Do you have disguises?"
KID raised an eyebrow, a smirk growing on his face as he asked excitedly.
"Does that mean I can disguise you as a little Conan-chan?"
Conan winced, opening his mouth to protest, but KID held up a hand, shushing him.
"They are looking for two males, and it would be a lot easier, but I know you are reserved from that."
Conan sighed.
"If it can't be helped, I can. But that doesn't solve our transportation problem."
"I have a motorbike."
Conan gaped at the thief.
"And you are just now mentioning it to me?"
Kaito shrugged.
"I told you Tantei-kun. I am very prepared."
Conan nodded. Out of walking or a motorbike, the bike was the better plan.
"Then let's change into disguises, let the dummies go and head to the motorcycle then. That would be the best. I think."
Kaito smirked slightly. It was as he had planned first, but it was nice to get a second opinion.
"All right, give me a second."
He flicked his wrists with practiced dexterity, materializing what Conan recognized as smoke bombs. Conan covered his face as the white smoke dispersed around them. He heard the rustling of fabric, and several sounds of the dummies shooting off into the night. Suddenly he felt light feathery touches on different parts of his body. He almost panicked, but figured it was KID, and tried not to hinder his work. The smoke cleared relatively quickly due to the wind. Conan gasped aloud looking over at where 'Ran' had been standing.
The thief was now a thin blond woman in her late thirties, with green eyes and freckles. She was wearing black jeans, a dark red shirt loose fitted as not to see her figure, leather jacket, a backpack which he assumed held all of KID's supplies, and a black biker helmet. She didn't look anything like the eccentric thief he knew was supposed to be there. How the heck had he changed himself so quickly? Not to mention he had also set off the dummies, which cost another ten seconds at least. KID grinned at the look on his face.
"You should take a look at yourself."
Conan glanced down and shook his head in amazement. He was dressed in sweatpants, and a hoodie, totally different then what he was.
"You are blond as well by the way. The dye comes out with water."
Conan pulled out his phone, looking into the front facing camera and blinked as he realized he was indeed a light blond, with it spiked up with gel it felt like. He almost looked foreign. He also realized with a mild panic that he no longer was wearing his glasses. Well, he couldn't blame KID for that; his glasses were iconic and easy to spot. He could live without the disguise for a little bit.
How had KID managed to even change him? He had barely felt him, and how had he gotten his clothes off and changed so perfectly with the smoke? He was getting even more and more convinced that KID was actually magic.
KID flicked out a mirror, examining his face, before flicking down the biker helmet. It wasn't a terrible disguise with the time he had, and it would hold up against a normal civilian, not a detective, or Nakamori's pinching, but hopefully he wouldn't have to deal with that. Not to mention, it seemed to have impressed Conan, and that was good enough for Kaito. The look on the mini tantei was priceless, giving Kaito a small sense of pride; not the miracle Conan was expecting tonight, but a miracle in his eyes nonetheless.
"I know it isn't the girl you were expecting, but is that acceptable?"
Conan smirked.
"Much more preferable, thank you. Although I don't appreciate you changing me."
KID winked at him.
"I will get you next time though, and you are too slow. I just helped."
Suddenly a shot permeated the air once again. Both turned and watched as a dummy deflated, sinking alarmingly fast toward the ground. KID gulped. Their diversion was not going to last much longer.
"Time to go."
Conan barely had time to let out a surprised yelp before KID had grabbed him unceremoniously and dove headfirst off the roof of the building. Conan had every flashback to the heist in the spring when he had leapt off the roof after an injured KID. Now though he felt slightly more terrified, as he watched the ground get closer every millisecond, and KID had made no move to open his glider or grappling hook.
Kaito almost laughed at the pale look on his critic's face as he seemed not as fond of daredevil stunts the thief was used to. He felt the small hands tighten on his shirt and heard an undignified squeak.
"KID!"
Kaito couldn't help it. He chuckled slightly as he halted two feet from the ground, suspended from the wire he had secured when he was up on the roof. The smaller hands slowly loosened, and Conan gave him a glare.
"I thought you trusted me, Meitantei."
Conan rolled his eyes.
"I trust you, but then again hurtling toward the ground with no hang glider in sight makes trust disappear very—Hey!"
Kaito slammed a helmet on his head.
"Come on, we can talk later."
It was a short walk/jog to get to the bike that was around a block away. Both of them tried to look as nonchalant as possible but both were spring loaded on alert, listening as more bullets split the night air in the distance.
There, the black motorbike Kaito had gotten before the golden Buddha heist. With one last look around, Kaito slid onto the seat easily.
"You want back or front?"
Conan hopped up behind KID, wrapping his arms around his chest, noticing how the thief stiffened at the contact. Kaito handed the backpack to Conan to put on his back, and once he was secure, he revved the engine.
"Hold on."
Conan nodded, clenching his hands together.
Kaito sped off into the night, going the speed limit and sticking toward the crowded roads. He made plans to double back and make sure they weren't followed by anyone. He was already planning a route with minimal security camera, but traffic to blend in.
Conan clenched his hands together around the thief's chest as secure as he could be on the motorbike, reminiscing about all the times he had done this with Hattori.
He smiled slightly as underneath his hands, he could feel the heartbeat of the thief. He had wondered earlier why the thief was so calm about this, but as soon as Conan sat on the bike, he realized the truth. KID was a very good actor; he had known this for a long time, but he hadn't realized how good. Now though, he understood the difference between him and the thief.
While he had his childish mask, it broke when fear, or anger shook him, and he allowed his emotions to shine through. KID was better then he was; he kept his mask on no matter the situation. Because right now, while KID was calmly waiting to turn right at an intersection, Conan could feel his heart thudding strongly in a fluttered panic in his chest. He was scared, but he wasn't going to show it. He would keep his mask, no matter what. Conan repositioned his hands, trying to feel more of the warm heartbeat, a reminder.
KID was very human, despite his name. He was also very much alive, not shot or murdered. They had escaped.