Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK
A Curse Marked Fate
56: Reconnect
Kaito's steps slowed as he reached a fork in the road—or rather a cross in the hallway. White tiled halls with equally white walls stretched away ahead of him as well as to the left and right. He could see closed doors spaced along those walls in every direction as well. Unlike the halls that housed them, however, the doors were not identical.
Ai had mentioned something about this, he recalled. The doors were color coded based on the type of room they opened into. Brown doors were offices, conference rooms and mundane workrooms. Blue doors indicated archives and other important storage facilities. Labs had gray doors and lights set into their frames that announced whether it was safe to open the door.
Kaito took a moment to pull up the blueprints that Ai had drawn for them in his mind's eye and study them. He knew he had just come from a lab, but it was a lab where the people working it had been perfectly happy bringing in their dinners. That suggested low risk of contamination and low risk of danger when all was as it should be. So this had to be an upper level lab. The really delicate and complex works were kept lower down.
That was good news. If he was in one of the two upper levels then, he recalled that there should be an elevator at the far end of the office block.
Peering down each hall, he spotted several brown doors towards his right, so he turned and trotted in their direction, murmuring his reasoning to the book still cradled to his chest as he did so.
Three office doors and three empty offices later (because he'd just had to peek into them when he realized that the security cameras around here were a bit sparse), he came upon a green door. Not remembering anything about green doors from Ai's briefing, Kaito turned the knob and eased it open just far enough to peek inside.
It was dark beyond the door, but he didn't have to see to realize what kind of room he'd found. He could smell the lingering aroma of coffee and tea and hear the humming of vending machines. So green doors were recreation rooms or supply rooms of some kind, he mused.
An idea struck, and he darted inside, shutting the door firmly behind him before casting a mage light to illuminate the room.
As he had expected, it was a relatively spacious and well stocked pantry of sorts with a small table and chairs for guests to use while they grabbed their midday snacks.
"Shin-chan," he hissed down at the book as he set it on the table. "Get out here for a moment."
Shinichi appeared a moment later, looking equal parts exasperated and worried. "Why are we stopping?"
"We're restocking," Kaito replied, raiding the cupboards and coming back with entire boxes of chocolate bars, bunches of bananas, apples, oranges, and even a pack of sandwiches, yogurt drinks, and granola bars galore.
"I can't eat all that right now," Shinichi spluttered, horrified at the thought that Kaito might be about to try and insist that he do just that.
Kaito sniggered. "I know. I'm not going to go all Ran on you. Just get it all together and we'll take it into the library."
"We're stealing their food?" Now Shinichi sounded horrified for an entirely different reason.
"Evil organization plotting to take over the world here? The reason you have to go through elementary school all over again and the lady's got no home or family at all left? I think some food and beverages is the least that they owe us. Besides, beggars can't be choosers. You're going to have to keep eating, and it's better if it's not all junk food."
Since Shinichi couldn't argue with that, he helped Kaito ferry their ill-gotten gains into the pocket library (though he insisted that Kaito return at least part of each category of munchy. After all, if they cleaned the place out, someone would definitely notice sooner rather than later). It took them three trips, but their food stocks were definitely much improved after the detour.
Shinichi still felt a bit guilty about the whole thing, but passing out and getting them caught because he refused to eat from the Foundation's employee break room would be dumb.
"So what's your plan?" he asked as he munched on a roast turkey sandwich and watched Kaito rearranging the break room contents so that it looked more like the aftermath of gradual usage and not of a one night raid. "I know you're heading for the elevator, but they have cameras on those. Doors opening and closing on their own will attract attention."
"That's a pretty common elevator prank though. You know, pressing extra buttons to make the doors open on random floors."
"…I suppose there are inconsiderate people like that, but I doubt the people who use these elevators would make a habit of such behavior."
Kaito chortled. "Probably true. Fortunately, that's the thing about being invisible. We can just wait around next to the elevator until someone else opens the door. Then we stay until someone gets off at a suitable floor and join them."
"That's risky. We can't guarantee that Takagawa-san won't be the next person to approach the elevators. He might also arrive while we're waiting, but I'm not sure there's anything we can do about that."
"You do have a point there." Kaito frowned. "I guess we could hide in an empty office instead of standing by the elevator. Then we'll follow someone who isn't Takagawa. And if we pick someone who's headed up, we at least increase our chances of being able to get off before we run into objection number two."
It was a very simple plan, which, in Shinichi's opinion, was good because simple plans were generally less likely to go wrong.
They found two empty offices which offered decent vantage points from which to observe the elevator doors and chose to hide in the farther one because it contained several small, stocked bookshelves in addition to a computer table and a strange, glowing box thing etched with runes that both boys unanimously agreed to stay away from. The presence of other books meant that, if they had to retreat between the covers of their secret lair in a hurry, its outer shell wouldn't be immediately out of place the way it would have been in the closer office. That room had continued only a table. It hadn't even had any chairs.
And there they waited. They were both outside because Kaito had reluctantly agreed that, if the elevator was called by a large group, Shinichi would have an easier time smuggling himself and their book into a back corner undetected. Invisible or not, Kaito occupied considerably more space. Once they got their ride back to the normal levels of the building, it would be back into the vents.
Plans made, the waiting game grew boring again, and they traded off between keeping watch and eating until Kaito produced yet another pack of poker cards and started shuffling. Shinichi watched those sure, quick hands working those cards with a certain dreary resignation. But, when Kaito dealt him his first hand, he accepted it without complaint.
As Kaito had said, every bit of luck could help.
X
Shiho had always been something of a night owl. It wasn't so much that she liked staying up late as that she found it easier to think—and therefore to work—in the peaceful stillness that came only when most of the people around her were asleep. Even so, that night with the Kurobas and their inspector friend had been long by every standard, and the day following it hadn't been much better. So, with school to attend the morning of the day after that, she had honestly been looking forward to a good night's rest.
She was therefore not particularly pleased when her phone began to ring at half past five in the morning.
At first, she ignored it on the grounds that it had to be a wrong number or one of those automated scam calls that didn't take time into consideration. No decent person would call at such an unwholesome hour after all. But then the phone started ringing again right after it stopped the first time, and she was forced to admit that one possible reason for a decent person to call at such an awful hour would be an emergency.
She just wasn't sure what new emergency they could possibly already have after all the others that had cropped up on their radars over the last forty eight hours. Surely there was a limit to how many things could go horribly and unexpectedly wrong in quick succession?
Both groggy and grumpy, she didn't bother checking the caller ID before answering. "What?"
"Haibara?" the voice on the other end of the line whispered. "It's me, Shinichi. I'm sorry about the time, but this is urgent."
At the sound of Shinichi's (or rather Conan's) voice, Ai was abruptly very awake. "Are you two all right? Where are you? I thought you said you wouldn't be back for another few days."
"Er, well, it's kind of a long story," he said, still keeping his voice so low that Ai had to press her phone right up against her ear to hear him. "And now's not a great time to talk."
"You need help." It was a statement more than a question.
Shinichi let out a resigned breath. "Yeah, but, um. There's something else first. You need to call in sick to school today."
Haibara frowned slightly at that, though it was more out of puzzlement than displeasure. "Are you in a situation with a time crunch?"
"Er, no, it's not us. It's the Foundation. They'll be sending someone to Teitan Elementary today to do a presentation on the Choice Foundation. But the guy who's giving the presentation has a true seeing type Curse Mark. He's being tasked with presenting at all the local schools so that he can find you. He'll be able to see you as you really are."
A chill ran up Ai's spine at that, but she took a deep breath and ordered herself to calm. "All right. I was helping Mouri-san with that research into homeschooling recently. I think we should be able to work it out for both of us soon. But for today, I'll just have the professor call me in sick." She moved to sit on the edge of her bed with her feet dangling over the side of the mattress, "What else?"
"Well… Kai and I kind of need a little help leaving the building undetected. We, uh, sort of caused too much commotion. I don't think Kaito should risk disguising as an employee at this point. We think they'd notice sooner rather than later, and that would take away what little advantage we have."
"Weren't you going to use the out-facing vent openings I showed you?" she asked. "I know Kuroba-kun wouldn't fit, but his father said it wouldn't be an issue after he checked the log entry you two indicated in your letter."
"Er, well, that's true, and we were going to try that, but there was a problem."
"Yes?" she prodded, growing impatient. "Spit it out already."
"Remember how I said we may have caused too much commotion?"
"Yes?"
"Well, they've increased their surveillance. The out-facing vent covers will now set off alarms if opened, and there's at least one or two cameras outside that would catch footage of them opening even if we somehow disable the alarms. It's a similar story with all the doors and windows we've been able to check. Basically, we're having trouble finding a way to leave that wouldn't alert them to the fact that they've had intruders running around in here for an undetermined amount of time. I know we'll have to go with it if we can't come up with anything else, but…"
It was Ai's turn to sigh. "That could pose a problem… I'm going to need time to think about this. How long do you think you can safely wait?"
"Oh, uh, well, that hasn't technically changed. The urgent part was contacting you. We couldn't do that from where we were hiding."
"Are you trying to say you want to remain where you are a little longer?"
"What? Oh, no, no, it's not that," the detective said hastily. "I just meant that we can afford not to act rashly."
Ai considered the odd, exasperated edge to the boy's words. "Are you talking to me or to Kuroba-kun?"
"It's just that Kaito had this…idea."
Ai Didn't have to see Shinichi's face to hear his frown.
"And you don't think it will work?"
"Well, no, I think it would. But I have serious doubts about how safe it'll be."
"Are you talking about a high risk of getting caught?" she checked because that didn't sound like a working plan sort of concern.
"I mean we might wish we'd stayed put instead," he replied dryly. "Possibly even that we'd just been caught."
"I must admit that I am interested," Ai observed, a tiny smile curling at the corners of her lips. "You've already said this much. You might as well share. We need to pool our resources."
Shinichi hesitated, clearly still no fan of the plan, but then he relented and explained.
X
Later that morning, after Agasa had called Teitan Elementary to let them know that his ward was home with the flu (he chose a common, contagious malady to hopefully discourage visitors for as long as possible), the elderly inventor and the diminutive scientist set out in Agasa's little yellow buggy to meet up with Kuroba Toichi at the now partially open Clover Institute.
Ai had to admit that she had always wanted to visit the place. It was an iconic institution for all those who gravitated towards magical research and innovation. Her first meeting with the man who had founded it the other night had only raised her expectations as well as her awe for the place.
The building however was clearly still in disarray. Structurally, it was mostly stable as the flames that had roared through it recently had devoured mostly less key walls and the interior dressing. It had, however, left ugly burn scars across both the face of the building and through many of its larger hallways. And many of the windows and doors still needed to be replaced.
Restoration was already well underway, but, due to safety concerns, there were still large sections of the building that were off limits to those not working directly on them.
Kuroba Kaito's personal office and workroom were among the sealed off spaces. It had suffered no damage, but it was filled with potentially dangerous knickknacks and half-baked inventions that just might be worse. So It had been the general consensus that no one should be allowed into those rooms until Kaito came back and could check it all out himself.
"He keeps most of what he makes here because it's safer, both for his creations and for, well, everyone else," Toichi told his two visitors as he led them to the aforementioned office door and opened it. "The items he wants us to get are in his workroom."
He opened the door on the far side of the office and entered the much more sparsely decorated chamber beyond. A moment later he reappeared in the doorway holding a pair of blue and silver hula hoops.
"I should probably show you how these work so we can decide what the best placement will be."
Ai walked into the bare workroom, Agasa behind her, and watched as Toichi fiddled with the hoops, activating their magic. Then he set them down side by side at the other end of the room—as far from Ai and Agasa as they could get—before producing a fist-sized ball of clay.
"These are Kaito's transport circles," he told the two scientists. Then he demonstrated how they worked.
Two pairs of eyes goggled at the thin, flat sheet of clay plastered across the ceiling.
Ai coughed. "I believe I now understand Shinichi-kun's concern."
X
Despite their collective concerns, however, it was a fast and easy plan that would, hopefully, cause the least amount of fuss on the Foundation end of things. And that, Kaito had pointed out, was what they wanted, wasn't it?
That being said, he knew his creations inside out, and he absolutely understood that they called for precautions.
Those precautions led Toichi, Agasa and Ai to drive some distance out of the city to a small, unnamed beach facing out to the open sea.
They spent a long time going over maps and nautical charts and using telescopes to observe the wave patterns. Then, deciding that this was the best they were going to find on short notice, Toichi used magic to set the blue hoop a foot above the beach, facing out to sea at a series of large, shimmering curtains of deceleration magic that Toichi had erected over the water.
Once that was done, he texted Shinichi, and, a few minutes later, the silver hoop vanished, conjured to Kaito's side by its master's seal.
In another part of Tokyo entirely, Kaito and Shinichi were standing at the very back of a very full coat closet. It was, as far as they'd been able to determine, rarely opened, and people rarely pushed past the mass of cloth at the front. Therefore, the second hoop was more likely to go unnoticed here until Kaito could retrieve it.
They had propped the hoop against the back wall like a doorway first then changed their minds and placed it flat on the ground. After all, if they dropped down straight into it, they should shoot out its twin in a fairly straight trajectory. That would be preferable to discovering that a super amped up forward step meant being pivoted forward and down face first into rough sand at clay-splattering speeds.
"They're both active now," Kaito whispered. "Are you ready?"
"No," Shinichi said bluntly. "But we may as well get this over with."
"Just close your eyes and try not to think about it," Kaito told him as he scooped Shinichi up into his arms. The detective mumbled something incoherent but obligingly wrapped his arms around the magician's neck. Kaito thought he caught a hint of a blush on the boy's face and saved the thought for later. For now, he had to build up as many layers of shielding as he could conceivably maintain at the same time.
He got up to twenty four layers before he knew he had to stop. Then, with a gulp, he stepped up onto a mini Sky Platform positioned just above the hula-hoop.
Another deep breath, and he let the Sky Platform dissolve.
X
Back on the beach, Ai and both men leapt back as something erupted from the standing hula-hoop. Between one breath and the next, it had cannoned out over the sea in a roaring ball of gold and orange flames. It punched straight through the deceleration spells with very little noticeable change in speed. Then it was a rapidly shrinking fireball trailing a blazing tail a mile long, followed by a pair of dwindling screams.
TBC
A.N: Sorry about the late update. I've had a hectic few weeks.
