"Good to see you again, Jii-chan!" Agasa greeted Jii as the Beetle came to a stop outside the Kuroba household.
"Good evening, Jii," Yuusaku added from the passenger seat.
Haibara went without a greeting, just eyeing him cautiously, while Conan slid over to the middle seat in the back row to make room for Jii, who took his seat with only a slight hesitation.
"Agasa, Kudou-san," Jii acknowledged weakly. Conan noted with some concern that the old man looked about ready to faint. No wonder, considering everything he'd been through in the past twelve hours.
"Don't worry, Jii-san, I'll get Kuroba back safely, I promise," Conan assured him with conviction. When the old man continued to look at him as if he expected to be bitten, Conan frowned and asked, "What?"
"I-… I'm so sorry, Great Detective. I was wrong about… earlier," Jii said in a trembling voice, hanging his head in shame.
"Oh. That." Conan felt a twinge of annoyance mixed with vindication. So he was right – it hadn't been Kuroba's idea at all. Well, he would be lying if he said he wasn't upset with Jii, but he also understood (after being told repeatedly over the past few hours) that Jii really didn't have any reason to trust him. But none of that was a priority now – from the moment he'd woken up, Conan's only thought had been Kuroba's safety.
"Forget it. The only important thing now is to rescue Kuroba," Conan declared with finality. "So show me your tracking software."
Jii blinked back a wave of relief then hurried to open his laptop and spin it around for Conan.
The software powered up to reveal not one but five different locations scattered about the city. "It seems they've identified and removed the trackers," Haibara observed mildly, leaning over Conan.
"Ah, this is the real one," Jii said, pointing.
"How can you be certain?" she asked.
"That's the one he swallowed," Jii admitted awkwardly.
"Hmm, thorough," Haibara commented appreciatively, with a slight gleam in her eyes that Conan found disconcerting. Hmm. He might have to be careful about eating anything at her place from now on. He turned his attention back to the screen and zoomed in as far as he could on the specified tracker.
"Oh!" Conan exclaimed in relief. "It looks like they've taken him to that mansion we noticed in the Akutou neighborhood!"
"I'm on it!" Agasa responded energetically, sending them on a sharp turn to merge onto the highway. Yuusaku communicated the location to the rest of their team via his own laptop and began to sort through their massive database of surveillance data for the relevant details.
"Um," Jii began hesitantly. "We recorded video footage. Evidence, I mean, that we can use against them."
"Jii, that's excellent!" Yuusaku told him emphatically. "Please give me a copy, we'll make sure it gets put to good use."
It seemed a weight was lifted from Jii's shoulders; his posture sagged in relief, and he simply nodded, looking entirely overwhelmed.
Meanwhile, Conan had reached into the bag at his feet and taken out a weapon that he began to disassemble.
"We'll be there in about twenty minutes," Conan explained to Jii, trying to reassure him. "The Akutou area has several things we can make use of, so this is good news for us. The cops should be finishing up with the bomb scare soon, so they'll meet us there."
"Bomb scare?" Jii asked.
"Yeah, you know, all those bombs that the organization planted around the city earlier today to divert the police away from your theater? Anyway, we figured out how to disarm the bombs, so that'll be over soon. Don't worry, we have contingency plans for this, so everything is going to be ok."
The old man stared at him in wonder for a long minute. Then he shifted his attention to the object in Conan's hand and asked cautiously, "Um, is that really…?"
"Kid's card gun? Yeah. It's one of the spares. Since you were kind enough to let me stay over at Kuroba's house, I took the opportunity to grab some supplies while I was there. I'm just making sure it's in proper working order, but, as expected, he takes good care of his tools."
"Um…" Jii frowned in concern, seemingly trying to decide how to word his next question without sounding rude. "How… um… wasn't the door locked?"
"Oh, that reminds me!" Agasa piped up. "Please tell Kaito-kun to get a better security system! It was pretty easy to lift a fingerprint from his desk to use on the fingerprint scanner for the secret door."
"Oh. But I thought… um, what about the passcode, though?" Jii asked.
"Haibara guessed it on the first try," Conan admitted with a scowl. "She won't tell me what it was, though."
Jii cautiously lifted his gaze toward the small girl, who immediately met his eyes with an incredibly potent combination of smugness and sadistic amusement, as if holding back a fantastic and hilarious secret. Jii shuddered involuntarily.
"I, uh… huh." The poor man seemed to be at a loss for words and just fidgeted a bit before finally settling on a relatively easier question. "What supplies did you get?"
"Kid's stuff," Conan answered plainly, as if discussing groceries. "You know, sleeping gas, smoke bombs, a spare costume, some gadgets."
"…oh, ok. And what, um… what are you going to do with those?"
"Hmm, well," he shrugged, "It depends on whether we end up following Plan B, D, G, H, J, or N." Conan finished reassembling the gun, nodded, and put it back in the bag.
"No, Plan H is not one of the options!" Haibara declared vehemently.
"Well it's certainly not our first plan, is it?" Conan shot back, just as icily. They'd had this discussion a few times already. He knew Haibara hated that plan, but he didn't take her criticisms of it too seriously. After all, the overbearing little scientist tended to hate most of his plans in general.
"No, it's not our first plan because we're already on our second plan. We could've still been on our first plan by now if somebody had been smarter about earning their trust. But no, you just always have to be so dramatic about everything!"
"Like I said, it wasn't my fault! And, if you recall, you were the one who helped me practice what to say, so—"
Yuusaku cleared his throat to interrupt them before another cat fight could break out in the back seat, then turned and smiled politely at them. "Why don't we watch Jii's videos together so we know what we're dealing with?"
—
They had two objectives at this point. First, the goal was to bring down the entire organization, not just arrest a few of the members. Fortunately, it seemed Kid's publicity stunt and subsequent capture had caused most of the important members to congregate at the mansion, judging from the reports of the few agents already watching the building and from the little security footage they had. They just had to confirm the presence of a few key targets, and maybe try to buy some time if necessary and possible. Then the police would descend en masse and take everyone into custody at once, surprising them before they could either escape or destroy any evidence.
The second, and much more important, matter to solve was the hostage situation. As long as the organization had Kuroba, they could hinder the police or even potentially escape. Worse, they could hurt Kuroba again. Conan absolutely would not allow that to happen. So the basic premise of their plan now was to secure the hostage themselves before the police made themselves known.
Plan B allowed them more flexibility in accomplishing those goals, since it involved Kuroba's active participation. Plan C, which they'd transitioned to at the news that Kid had been shot, was more of an immediate rescue mission: get to Kuroba, then stand by to guard him until backup arrived.
Watching the video of Kid getting shot had hurt Conan more than if he'd been shot himself. The logical side of his mind had been nearly drowned out by the sheer force of raw emotion he'd felt. It had taken a great act of will for him to regain control and focus on the task at hand. Conan knew that he was the only one capable of executing this part of the plan, and he was determined to do it well.
(Conan had managed to get such an important role by simply lying to the police about how exactly the hostage would be secured. He'd only said, "Leave it to me!" in his Shinichi voice and left it at that. Which really shouldn't have worked, but Megure-keibu had a shocking amount of influence over the force and Shinichi had a shocking amount of influence over Megure-keibu, which he did not mind exploiting a little bit, for Kuroba's sake.)
—
The faithful yellow Beetle parked a safe distance from the mansion, hidden in plain sight in a department store parking lot. The FBI agents were already in place in the buildings and woods around the mansion, and the police officers were steadily arriving and taking up their positions as well. So Conan, dressed in black and equipped with a small backpack, left the car to make his way into the mansion.
They had worked with local authorities to arrange a temporary blackout on the block. As expected, the lights of the mansion went out as well, though it wasn't for lack of power. Infrared goggles revealed a lattice of motion-sensing lasers across the yard powered by a backup generator. Thankfully, like most security systems, these lasers were only meant to detect adult humans; nobody wanted an alarm that was constantly triggered by rabbits or the occasional raccoon, so the lasers left about 30 centimeters of space above the ground. Just enough.
Working in the dark shadows cast by the mansion to hide him from the glow of the moon, Conan used Kid's grappling hook to pull himself over the fence and into the tallest tree in the backyard. He carefully slid down, then army-crawled across the lawn.
At the narrow basement window, Conan held a powerful electromagnet to the edges of the frame to disable the alarm there, squirted some oil on the hinges, then tugged the window open and squeezed through to drop into the small storage room below. He tapped his earpiece twice and the power 'coincidentally' returned.
Conan held his breath to listen to the distant voices beyond the door, but heard only grumbling about "those damn unreliable power companies." Their ruse had gone undetected.
The basement of the building was partially finished, with bare concrete floors and exposed wiring, but it had a simple ceiling of metal framing and plain drop-in ceiling tiles, the sort one might find in a common office building. Though normally not a security risk, this type of ceiling did make it hypothetically possible for a child to navigate between the rooms without being seen by balancing on the thin metal framing in the ceiling. A possibility that Conan now intended to exploit.
The backpack of spare equipment would be too heavy in the ceiling, so he hid it behind some boxes in the storage room. Then he climbed a shelving unit, removed a ceiling tile, and hoisted himself into the shallow space between the basement's ceiling and the ground floor above. It was awkward trying to replace the panel with so little room to maneuver, but he managed it. Then he activated the night vision feature of his glasses and looked around. The space was narrow, dusty, and poorly constructed. Instead of a proper duct system, there were several small gratings placed directly into the ceiling tiles for some minimum ventilation between rooms.
Light and noise filtered through those gratings, and Conan carefully crawled toward the source of the loudest of them.
He quietly approached the grating and peeked through the cracks into the room below. Sure enough, he could see Snake and several others standing around Kuroba, who was tied to a chair almost directly beneath him and secured with an appalling amount of duct tape.
Conan felt his blood boil at the sight, and he clenched his teeth hard to keep from shouting. Massive bruises covered Kuroba's chest, painfully visible since his hat, monocle, jacket, and shirt had all been removed. Though makeshift bandages were tied around Kuroba's bullet wounds, it certainly wasn't out of any goodwill. The metal bars under Conan's hands dug into his skin as his grip tightened involuntarily.
"Where. Is. Pandora?" Snake demanded.
"In my hat, next to the stuffed bunny," Kuroba retorted.
Snake struck him in the cheek so hard that the subordinate standing behind the chair had to grab it to prevent it from falling over. Aside from a grunt of pain at the impact, Kuroba refused to react.
Snake grabbed Kuroba by the hair and yanked his head up to face him directly. "We're not falling for any more of your tricks, you damn brat! You really think this is funny?! Well, you're not the only one who can have fun! Shark, go get the gardening shears!" Snake ordered one of his subordinates, who hastily left the room.
Conan cast a quick thought back to his hidden backpack, recalled that it was several rows away from the gardening tools, and put it from his mind. He had already retrieved a sleeping gas bomb from his pocket and now rolled it between his fingers. As soon as he could identify who else was in the room, the next phase of the plan was to knock out everyone there, including Kuroba. Then Conan would secure the door from the inside. He was determined to do it before anyone could so much as lay a finger on his thief again, so he quickly shifted his weight to try to get a better view through the slits in the vent.
"You might as well answer him, Shinichi-kun," a suave voice cut in, sending a sudden chill shooting down Conan's spine. "You're right that these… 'creative' gentlemen won't kill you. At least not until you tell us everything you know about the Apotoxin. But do keep in mind that we have other ways of making you talk. Wouldn't you prefer that we leave Mouri-chan out of this?"
That was Bourbon's voice. What was he doing here?! This was definitely not a part of Plan C!
Kuroba heaved an exasperated groan. "Come on! I know I look similar to him, but do you seriously think a detective would become an international criminal?"
"Why not?" Bourbon replied with a condescending laugh. "You do realize it's not exactly 'legal' for a civilian to get involved in cases like you do, right? Claiming to be Kuroba Kaito was a nice try. It's certainly very convenient for you that someone connected to the previous Kid has a face so similar to yours. But a flimsy minimum-effort disguise like that won't fool us, Shinichi-kun. If you'd done your homework, you would know that Kaito-kun has multiple solid alibis for Kid heists, while there's only one unofficial rumor about you ever attending a heist. Besides, I know that it was Kid who interfered with me back on that train. Which is more likely? That you're a self-righteous, entitled, arrogant detective playing vigilante, or that an entirely unrelated teenager with the same face inexplicably decided to help a detective on a dangerous case that he had nothing to do with?"
"Well, when you put it like that… I sure sound pretty damn great, huh?" Kuroba grumbled, earning another hit from Snake. Conan stifled a growl by clenching his teeth so hard it hurt, and his hands trembled with the strength of his grip on the bars.
Conan couldn't bear to delay the rescue any longer. But Bourbon's presence was a catastrophic problem. As dangerous and unreliable as he was, Furuya Rei was ultimately on their side, and they absolutely had to maintain his undercover position in the BO. But his bosses surely knew or could find out where Bourbon was tonight. If he were either 'captured' or somehow managed to 'escape' custody, then his cover would be blown, and he would be killed. Obviously that wasn't an acceptable outcome, but it left Conan in a dire predicament. Nobody had counted on the two organizations working together, so none of their seventeen contingency plans covered anything like this.
Conan ground his teeth. He strained to keep himself calm, knowing he was likely to make a hasty decision if his dear friend were to get hurt again. Think! He had to come up with a way to protect Kuroba while simultaneously forcing Bourbon to leave in a natural way. And he had to do it now! He mentally cataloged his current gadgets and latched on to an idea around one of them.
"Your bosses aren't sending anyone else, are they?" Snake asked Bourbon suspiciously while they waited.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, they are. Gin should be here in about fifteen minutes," Bourbon answered with one of his deceptively sweet smiles. Conan suppressed a gasp — this was another unexpected hitch in their plans. But it could be an opportunity too. He added it to his calculations and kept fervently thinking through his rapidly forming plan.
"I got the shears, boss!" the man announced as he returned.
"Time for some fun! I'll ask you nicely one last time, Kid," Snake threatened in a low voice. "And every time you give an answer I don't like, Shark here will cut off a finger. Fun, right? Now tell me, where is Pandora?! You have five seconds!"
Kuroba sucked in a sharp breath and squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to brace himself, though Conan noticed he was trembling slightly. The man, apparently Shark, set himself up behind Kuroba with the shears at the ready, poised over the helplessly bound hands.
"Five…"
Conan would never allow that to happen. He'd simply have to start now and fill in the details of the improvised plan as he went.
"Four…"
He rapidly spun the dials on his bowtie and grabbed one of the small speakers that he sometimes attached to Mouri's collar for deduction shows.
"THREE…"
Conan closed one eye and squinted to aim as precisely as possible, then flicked the speaker down through the vent, landing it squarely in the middle of the head of messy hair. Kuroba twitched slightly at the sensation, but nobody else seemed to notice it in the dim flickering light of the basement room.
"TWO…"
"STOP!" Conan shouted through the bowtie using Kuroba's voice, the sound coming from the speaker in the room. He watched tensely for the thief's reaction, but Kuroba was a world-class actor and showed no surprise at all, seamlessly transitioning his expression from defiance to fear.
"Stop! I'll… I'll tell you everything!" Kuroba added on his own, before Conan could speak again. His voice cracked as if from great distress, conveying all the shame and despair one would expect from a man breaking under torture. It also signaled to Conan what tone to use to make it easier for Kuroba to play along with his acting. Absolutely brilliant. No wonder Conan had always loved working with the guy – nobody else was as overwhelmingly skilled, quick-witted, and reliable as Kid.
"Then talk! Where is Pandora?!" Snake demanded again.
"I… the truth is, I never had it. I only made an electronic replica after observing it," Conan answered in an unsteady, fearful tone. Kuroba hung his head and occasionally shook it softly to obscure the imperfect lip-syncing just enough to not be suspicious. Even Conan would've been fooled by the flawless performance if he hadn't been part of it. "The person who has it is too formidable. Not even I would be able to steal it from her."
"So who was it?!" Snake yelled.
"You would already know, if you weren't blind to the evidence right in front of your eyes. Don't you know that she has the same fingerprints as her supposed 'mother'?" At this, Kuroba lifted his head to show a scornful and bitter glare that clearly mocked his audience's intelligence.
"What? Who are you talking about?!"
"Who else?" Kuroba rolled his eyes as Conan provided the words, both of them having simultaneously decided to add condescension then. Conan paused while Kuroba shot Snake an exasperated expression, then the magician turned away and opened his mouth so Conan announced, "Vermouth."
Dead silence. Everyone held their breath, none daring to be the first to speak.
"No, you're lying," Snake said finally, though his voice was now strained by fear rather than anger.
Kaito sighed heavily, then opened his mouth as a signal for Conan to continue. "Just face it, she's been playing you idiots this whole time."
"Impossible!"
"Really?" Conan said, adding a touch of Kid's classic mockery, which Kuroba quickly mirrored in his posture. "Then look it up. Compare pictures of Sharon Vineyard and Chris Vineyard and ask yourself if you really believe she achieved that through her 'fancy skincare routine'~"
Snake swore loudly and paced the room. During the exchange, Bourbon had been quiet, his frown steadily deepening until he cleared it and announced calmly, "Excuse me, I need to make a phone call."
"Oh, and Bourbon," Conan added through Kuroba before the secret agent could leave. "Tell her that I've got a Bullet here with her name on it."
Conan didn't really have any code words he could use to communicate directly with Bourbon, but perhaps if he passed along the nickname that Vermouth always used for Kudou Shinichi when she decided to help him, then either Bourbon or Vermouth might get the hint. It wasn't ideal, but it was the best he could think of at the moment. Just as long as Bourbon could escape now, Conan could try to approach him to fix this later.
Bourbon's eyes shot wide open at the comment and he froze mid-action, staring in shock at the restrained magician who stared back with equal force. Conan frowned. Was it from the code? Or had he seen through the lip-syncing act? Kuroba was smirking mischievously at him, though his eyes conveyed an incongruous intensity.
Bourbon's gaze flickered briefly, imperceptibly, to the ceiling vent where Conan was.
Kuroba must've done something to communicate Conan's real message. Oh, Conan could hug him! Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! Even despite the stress of the situation, Conan felt his face split into a wide grin of admiration. He watched in growing triumph as Bourbon finally turned and left, slamming the door after him. Now, thanks to Kuroba, as long as Conan bought just a few minutes, the PSB agent should be able to escape in a way that maintained his cover.
"In the meantime, let's—" Snake began, but cut himself off with a few shouted curses at the cloud of smoke that erupted in front of him. "What the—?!"
"Nighty night~~!" Kuroba sang out, then sucked in a deep breath and promptly fell asleep, his chin dropping to his chest. A series of thuds followed as all the rest of the men in the room collapsed on the ground.
Conan, gas mask already in place, removed the nearest ceiling tile and leapt down. After glancing around to confirm the lack of security cameras, he raced over to the door, locked it, and pulled out several metal devices from his back pocket that he rammed under the door and in the cracks between the door and its frame on both sides. The devices locked into place, expanding outwards and digging into the wood of both the door and the frame. Now the only way into the room from the outside was via sledgehammer. Next, he pulled out a pack of zip ties and a roll of duct tape and began to restrain and gag all the unconscious men on the floor.
As he worked, Conan reported to his team in a forceful whisper, "Now beginning Plan H."
Author's Notes: You know, at first I actually tried really hard to avoid cliffhangers in my writing. But then I thought to myself "ooh this would be a really funny place to end the chapter" and yeah, turns out I'm actually a massive troll. Sorry about that, I'm honestly just as surprised as you are! It's been a journey of self discovery, what can I say.
Next Up: Plan H!