Chapter 7: How Do You Ally Yourself With The FBI? By Invading Them, Of Course!


In an inconspicuous building nestled amidst Tokyo's bustling streets, the FBI operatives had discreetly established one of their covert bases.

They had entered the country using fake IDs to track down the notorious organization members and apprehend them.

Initially this was conceived as a short term operation, however; circumstances soon transformed it into a bigger mission after their lead agent Akai Shuichi got discovered to be a mole. He had barely managed to escape with his life. The mission was unsuccessful and they had failed in capturing Gin, a ruthless criminal believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 10 of their agents plus numerous civilians. But one good thing from it was that they had gathered a lot of the clues on the inner workings of their enemies. They had also figured out, based on the codenames heard by Akai, the number of members in their top branch.

Jodie offered heartfelt congratulations to her teammate. "It's truly fantastic to see you back in the field after your year long undercover assignment. Your deductive skills remain as sharp as ever."

"Ah, yes, my time in the organization did force me to rely on them often enough." Akai responded, a hint of bitterness in his words for the wrongdoings he had committed working for them.

"Which reminds me," turning his attention to the most senior member of their group, he inquired, "Have you received the approval from the agency for Akemi's entrance in the witness protection program? She reached out to me recently, expressing her intent to leave the organization with Shiho. I want to ensure we have contingency plans in case anything goes wrong."

...

James Black, the current head of their operation, met Akai's gaze with a solemn expression. He had indeed submitted their request to higher authorities in America, but responses had yet to arrive.

"They're working on it, but it's proving challenging, considering she's still an active member," James replied.

""We'll do everything in our power to ensure her safety," Jodie added, even though her voice laced with a hint of personal conflict. She had been dating Akai before. But to enter the organization he had to prioritize his focus on the person who allowed him to enter the organization-Akemi.

"Hmm". Akai understood how complicated this must be for Jodie. But with the time he had spent with Akemi, he had begun to develop serious feelings for her.

"Thank you, I know this must be hard for you, too."

"No, I don't want anyone innocent to suffer either. That's the entire reason I joined the FBI," was her response.

...

"Honestly though, it would be so much better if we just got Japan's police department involved in our operation as well. I don't know why we have to gather the information in hiding." One of the rookie agents joined their conversation.

Though Akai understood their sentiment, he explained, "We still don't know who among them might be working as a mole in the organization. Besides, we still lack crucial evidence tying any of their high-ranking members to any major crimes."

"And even if we end up bringing some of the junior operatives in, we'll just make their organization even more elusive. That's how they operate." Based on his understanding of how they worked, he knew they would vet their agents even more and would kill any undercover operative on the spot, with little to no evidence if they made any reckless moves. It was a fearsome strategy, but it kept their agents in check.

"I am sorry, Akai-san. If I hadn't made that mistake, we would have captured Gin by now." Camel, who had been his partner during their stakeout mission, conveyed his regrets.

"Let's not focus on our past mistakes. We need to plan for the future. Not even I anticipated Rum to be there, in disguise, to scan out our hiding spot."

Suddenly, piercing alarms reverberated through their current headquarters, jolting everyone into a state of alertness.

"Jodie-san! There's been a breach!" One of the agents working as surveillance called out urgently, his voice filled with dread, sending shivers down their spines.

"What?!" James yelled, "Is it them?"

"We don't know who it is yet. They've only activated our monitor yet," the agent replied, his face tense with worry, mirroring the apprehension of the entire room.

...

A strange voice from a stranger video materialized on their screen, addressing them directly,

"Greetings!" the voice began, its tone oddly cheerful.

"It has recently come to my knowledge that you and I are chasing the same group, so I thought, why not join forces to bring them to justice?" The proposition hung in the air, and Jodie's mind raced with suspicion. Who could this be, and how did they know about the people they were chasing? But she remained composed and listened carefully.

"Since I am the one intruding in your meeting, I'll share who exactly I am looking for:

The first one is a male, around 6ft 3 inches tall, dressed fully in black, oh and he goes by the code name Gin! He also has a partner, Vodka. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture their picture," the voice continued, its tone having the audacity to be sad at being unable to find photographic evidence of the men they themselves had been chasing for years.

Though changing his tone, he quickly added, "But I do possess the photograph of the other person I am looking for!" He sent them a copy of her face. "The code name she goes by is Sherry, or so I've heard!" the voice revealed.

Jodie exchanged a quick glance with the other agents, all of them equally stunned by this unexpected turn of events. How did this stranger have such sensitive information about the individuals they were chasing? This was either an elaborate trap, from someone high up inside the organization or perhaps someone from another intelligence agency? They did have a feeling they weren't the only ones after the Organization.

However, not wanting to reveal the FBI's true knowledge of the organization, Jodie decided to deflect his responses. "Oh, and how did you come across these people? I'm afraid we have never seen them."

The voice chuckled. "Let's just say we got acquainted in a prior case of mine. They took something really important from me, and I want it back."

This wasn't exactly wrong. They had made him lose his real identity, and he wanted to go back to his original body.

"And as to how you may be wondering, I found out about you all…well, when I was tailing them, I ended up tailing one of your agents too!" The voice confessed. He had indeed found out the base by tracking another FBI agent he had seen with Akai and that man wasn't as careful as Akai.

The agents' mind raced with possibilities. A skilled and daring individual who had managed to track both the Black Organization and the FBI without notice? This was no ordinary adversary.

"That's how I came across this institute. Hacking into your system was then just a matter of breaking your code. It was rather simple!" the voice explained confidently.

...Certainly no sane individual would do something like this. The agents exchanged worried glances. Their security had been breached so easily by this stranger. It was a wake-up call that they were dealing with a formidable opponent.

He demonstrated his code-breaking skills by effortlessly solving their encrypted meeting locations. The agents who had devised the system were left stunned by his abilities.

Whoever this mysterious voice was, they were no joke. The team now faced the daunting task of navigating this scenario while keeping all of their secrets intact.

"So, why do you need our help? If you have managed to find all this information about us and them, why not just hack into our systems to find the information you want?" James asked, wary of him for the way he had approached them.

The mysterious voice responded calmly, "Please, I'm not planning to turn into a criminal anytime soon just to bring people like them to light. I'm a detective, not a criminal!"

"A detective?!"

"As for the second question," the voice continued, taking on an almost philosophical tone, "there exist two ways to uncover someone or something concealed in the shadows. When faced with a labyrinth of mysteries, humans often navigate with memory and intuition, retracing their steps and seeking answers in the echoes of their experiences." He started rambling.

"But what if you are looking for something that is hidden?"

He continued, "In contrast, computers tend to employ methods such as brute-force algorithms, where they exhaustively explore all possible scenarios until they reach a solution.

"I have come to the profound realization that I cannot confront them all alone," the voice admitted. "Thus, I wish to embrace the brute-force method... employing the numbers game, if you will!"

"Sadly I'm confined to a position where direct meetings are impossible." He lamented his current body size and age. "Therefore I had to use this unorthodox method to appear in front of you." He apologized for intruding on them like that.

"But don't worry. This wouldn't impede my ability to help you all either!"

He concluded, now waiting to hear the thoughts of the agents in that room, one person in particular.

...

Who in the world are you?" Jodie's voice carried a mix of surprise and suspicion as she confronted the mysterious voice on the screen.

"Me? I'm glad you asked. My name is Conan. Edogawa Conan. A detective!" The voice replied. Almost sounding happy as if he was waiting for just this question!

While everyone else in the room scrambled to determine if this was indeed his real name and searched their databases for any trace of him, one person in the room had a moment of realization after hearing that name.

"Hmm, your offer seems worthwhile, but I'm afraid we can't just share classified intel with you, so…you'll have to look for someone else," James stated cautiously. With no information on this individual in their classified files, the risk of sharing sensitive data was far too great.

But someone did.

"You're right. That is Sherry, our current intel states her real name is Shiho Miyano. She's currently a scientist working for them in the preparation of a drug I'm afraid is still unknown. We do have a list of their potential members, but we haven't uncovered all of their real identities, yet," Akai started revealing everything he knew, shocking everyone in the room at his indiscretion.

"What are you doing, Shuu?! Why are you telling him everything? How do you know he's not an enemy?" Jodie questioned, her concern evident in her speech.

"This was bait, laid out entirely for me. The moment the voice revealed his name, I had no choice but to accept my defeat," Akai replied cryptically, leaving the others curious about what the heck was going on.

Akai explained Conan's strategy. "He provided enough accurate information about the organization to see what my reaction would be. He wasn't interested in what anyone else had to say. He knew that I had worked for them in the past. The real Organization knows that I have betrayed them."

"But this voice, using the identity of Conan, was unaware of my true allegiance and had planned this meeting carefully to see whether I was trustworthy or not."

Caught in a tight spot, Akai could make one of three choices. Denying the accuracy of Conan's intel would imply protecting the Black Organization and turn him into an enemy of the person behind the voice.

Accepting the information and collaborating with him would mark him as an ally.

Technically, Akai had the option to ignore the situation, resulting in a draw. But would you even want someone like this as your enemy?

"I'm glad you're on this side as well," the voice commended, appreciating Akai's decision to be forthwith with him.

But before the voice could continue, Akai asked a question of his own to Conan, "Why would you involve a kid as bait?"

...

"Bait? You're mistaken. The boy named Edogawa Conan is under my protection. And by using his name, I've effectively placed him under the radar of the FBI. An additional layer of protection, if you will. So if anything were to be amiss, you'd be the first one I'd suspect," the voice explained confidently, revealing his strategy in safeguarding the young boy he knew Akai had met in the past.

The room fell into a contemplative silence as the agents tried to grasp the complexities of this unexpected alliance and the enigmatic detective leading it.

"Kudo Shinichi. Do you know him?" Akai asked the person in the video.

The person behind the screen smiled. This was his only weakness in attempting this game. But even then Akai had managed to figure him out rather quickly.

Nobody would suspect an actual 7-year old to perform this stunt. Neither would they assume a 17 year old had shrunk. There were only a few adults around the kid who would do this, and the most likely candidate was the boy's supposed cousin who had gone missing.

From inside another building, Conan replied using his voice-changing bowtie, "Can't say I have met the guy. Isn't he the detective that disappeared? There are rumors he's dead, though."

"But that's enough of that. Considering that you've accepted my truce, here's what I would like you all to do first."

While the other agents were focusing on the information provided, Akai received the news about Akemi's successful heist and subsequent death through his cell phone.

His eyes widened with terror. She had paid the price for his betrayal.

"Gin!" He wanted to scream.


A/N:

The change I've made here is that Akai was still working for the BO until recently, because otherwise, the message from Akemi just feels odd considering it's been 2 years. If they know she still has his number, why haven't they found it out?
Also, in the original, Ran tells Conan that she met Akai before and that he works with the FBI. But Haibara is also terrified of him. Given that it doesn't actually specify whether he is a mole in the FBI or a mole in the Black Org, how would you figure out who he actually works for? So, I used this game. Let me know if you have any questions!