Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ The Detective Prince ❯ First Team Case ( Chapter 17 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: SSJBowser 
Finding the truth.
Anime/Manga: Case Closed Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Mystery / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 03.25.2011 | Pages: 11 | Words: 8.2K | Visits: 400 | Status: Completed
Finding the truth.
Anime/Manga: Case Closed Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Mystery / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 03.25.2011 | Pages: 11 | Words: 8.2K | Visits: 400 | Status: Completed
The Detective Prince
Chapter 17
First Team Case
The sound of a glass bottle can be heard, smashing up near the sidewalk just outside the window. Conan laid up wiping the sleep from his eyes. He pushed out of bed, walking over and getting dressed for the day. He grabbed his bag while walking out of the room. Ran laid at the couch, her head resting on a pillow. Conan walked over placing a hand on her shoulder.
"You going to school today?" Conan asked.
Her eyes poked open, slightly pushing up.
"Dad said I should stay home at least one more day."
"Don't see any harm in that, how are your feet feeling?" Conan asked.
"Still a little sore, but it's getting better."
"That's good to hear, I'll see you after school." Conan said heading for the door.
"Conan, are you sure you don't want something to eat before you go?" Ran called out.
"I'll be fine, lunch is only a few hours from now." He replied.
Conan headed to the bathroom brushing his teeth before heading off to school. His hands rested in his jacket.
"It feels good I no longer have to lie to Heiji."
He remained in thought the whole way to school, thinking about the little details they had already gathered. Conan walked to class, most everyone already seated. He took to his seat as well, pulling out his supplies for the day. Class began shortly after. He constantly found himself looking to the clock throughout the day. To his surprise the fire alarm went off an hour before the end of class.
"Couldn't have come at a better time."
Everyone headed out into the hall, exiting one of the many side doors. Sumiko lead them to a small hill nearby, joined by other teachers and students. Conan took a seat on the grass with Ai joining at his side shortly after.
"How's Ran, did she go to school today?" Ai asked.
"She's going to give it one more before heading back." Conan replied.
"You planning on doing anything after school?"
"Yea I...Kogoro is working on a case, and, thought I'd go with him after school and help work it out." Conan quickly came up with.
"Good luck, but when you get the chance you should come over."
"What for?" Conan asked pivoting is position.
"Agasa has something for you." Ai answered.
"I'll be sure to be over when I can."
They sat for the next few minutes, waiting to be cleared to head back in.
He walked down the side of the street, taking the long way to the apartment, making a couple stops along the way.
"According to Heiji this was the street he chased the suspect down."
Tim kept on the trail turning into the alley. He came upon the fence which he climbed, landing on the other side.
"This must be where the van picked him up."
He scoured the area, looking to the ground to see if anything was left behind to make a break in the case. He didn't find anything alarming. Tim continued a few yards up turning the corner. He walked up the next street, catching a glimpse of skid marks just off of the side walk.
"That skid looks fresh, bet the police didn't check this far up." Tim thought to himself as he stared down.
He reached into his bag pulling out a digital camera, taking a few shots.
"I'll take these back to the shed and give it further examination, maybe these tire types are registered to a purple van."
Tim placed the camera back into his bag, turning and heading back into the direction of the apartment.
Conan pushed the front door open to see Ran sitting at the table writing something in a note book. Her eyes wondering away from the paper, a smile coming to her face when their eyes met.
"What did you learn today?" She asked.
"We just went over a few things we already knew, not to mention we had a fire drill."
"It's nice out, I'm sure you enjoyed that."
"Sure did."
Conan slid his shoes off before heading to the table. He placed his bag to the side of the chair before taking a seat. He silently looked on, Ran continuing to draw. He sat there for a little over a minute, just watching her.
"I wonder what she's drawing." Conan thought to himself.
At that second someone began knocking at the door.
"I'll get it." Conan said jumping down from the chair.
He walked over opening the door to see Heiji standing over him.
"Come on in." Conan greeted.
"Heiji, I thought for sure you had headed back to Osaka." Ran said looking up from the paper.
"Couldn't do that until returning this to you." Heiji said holding out her cell.
"My phone!," Ran said standing from her seat. "Where did you find it?"
"It was in...the grass not to far away from the scene." Heiji answered with hesitation.
"Guess Tim won that argument." Conan thought to himself with a slight grin.
Ran took the phone into her hand. She looked over at him, a skeptical look in her eyes. Heiji noticed causing him to take a step back with a gulp.
"So...I guess I'll be leaving now." Heiji said turning for the door.
"Not so fast there." Ran said placing her hands upon her hips.
Conan turned to the side putting his hands to his mouth, nearly laughing out. Heiji slowly turned facing her, a smile slanted across his face.
"What's seems to be the problem Ran?" Heiji asked, his smile widening.
"Oh let's see here....how did you find it, who made the call to my father, and why do you seem like you're in such a rush?"
"I just gave the area a harder look, besides I have a..dinner to get to." Heiji came up with.
"Really, why do I get the feeling you aren't being totally truthful with me."
"That I can't answer." Heiji said.
Conan began giggling from the side. Ran quickly struck her attention to him.
"Is there something funny I didn't catch." Ran snapped.
"No, It's something else."
"I bet.. I know how close you two are, you both are probable in on something."
"I can promise you we aren't hiding anything." Heiji said.
Before another word can be spoken Heiji's phone went off.
"Drake, not exactly a good time." Heiji said stepping to the side.
Ran crossed her arms, waiting for his little phone conversation to end. Nearly a minute went by as he slipped the phone from his ear back into his pocket.
"Who's Drake?" Ran asked.
"Someone we're supposed to meet." Heiji replied.
"We?" Ran questioned.
"Conan and myself, he's a witness for a case I'm working."
"And why do you need Conan to go with you?"
"Just to tag along."
Ran kept her eyes fixated on him for awhile longer. Her shoulders dropping as she took back to the table.
"Have him home by eight thirty, is that clear?"
"As a crystal ball." Heiji assured.
Conan walked over placing his shoes back on, looking to Ran who gave him a half smile. They walked out the front door. Once out the two of them sighed out in relief.
"That could have ended ugly." Conan said.
"No kidding."
"So what did Tim say?" Conan asked.
"Wants us to meet him at the hide out, says he made a break in the case." Heiji said.
"Sounds good, let's go see what he has."
The two of them headed to the hide out, traffic speeding by in all directions.
He sat, leaned back in the chair. The computer conducting a search. The door slid open the next second. Tim turned in his seat to see the two of them enter.
"That didn't take long."
"Did our best to get here as quick as we could." Heiji stated.
"So what do you have?" Conan asked as the two walked over.
Tim clicked to the side, another window appearing on the screen.
"I found our mystery vehicle, it's a Chevrolet Astro."
"Good stuff Drake, do we have an address?" Heiji asked.
"Working on that right now, checking for all purple registered Chevrolet's in a one hundred mile radius." Tim replied.
The three of them stood in silence, waiting for the scan to be completed.
"I have one question, how long do you calculate until Ran finds out about our secret visits?" Heiji asked.
"What's wrong, you run into a problem?"
"She's already on to us, you sure you don't want to just tell her you and Conan are friends?"
"That won't be necessary." Tim said.
"Well don't come looking for my help when she's geared up ready to kick your ass."
"I don't know Heiji, Tim's pretty good himself." Conan stated.
"Have you even seen him fight before?"
"Not exactly."
"My point. I think Ran could take him, come to think of it.....I might be able to." Heiji said.
"You do realize I'm still sitting here, right?" Tim asked.
The computer began beeping, the three of them directing their full attention to the screen.
"Bingo, the vehicle is registered to a Riko....interesting no last name available." Tim said.
"That's a red flag for sure." Conan said.
"Where's this guy live?" Heiji asked.
"One second."
Conan and Heiji waited as he looked further through the files. A minute passed, Tim snapping his fingers.
"You find the address?" Heiji asked.
"Better, the van has a GPS system."
"That mean we have an exact location?" Conan asked.
Tim nodded as he sat up from the chair. He walked over to the counter near the locker, reaching down and placing a pair of shades over his eyes.
"It's not to far from here, just a couple miles west."
"So what's the plan when we get there?" Conan asked.
"We'll decide that when we arrive." Tim replied.
He held the tracker out in front of him as the three of them headed out. They caught a taxi taking them in the direction of the signal. Within forty minutes they arrived. They stepped out, paying the driver.
“So where’s the van?” Heiji questioned.
“Just over that hill.” Tim answered.
The three of them headed up the hill. Once at the top they looked down to see a large farm. Conan’s head waved to the right catching sight of a parking lot. There were about ten vehicles, which ofcourse included the purple van they had been tracking.
“Looks like we’ve got our van.” Conan pointed.
“Indeed.”
“Drake, how do you want to play this?” Heiji asked.
Tim gave the whole landscape a look, not seeing anything that screamed danger.
“It dosen’t look like we have anything to worry about, don’t see any harm in doing this casually.”
“Men with questions?” Heiji asked.
“Right you are.”
Tim lead the way as they walked over to the lot coming to a stop infront of the van. They began looking it over, checking for anything alarming. It wasn’t long after that a man walked over approaching the three of them.
“Can I help you?” He asked leaning his shovel up against a fuse box near the side walk.
“Would you happen to know who owns this van?” Heiji asked.
“Maybe...but who are you, and why do you need to know?” He asked.
“Detective Hattori, this van is of interest in our investigation.” Heiji stated holding out his ID.
“I’ve heard of you, you’re that great detective of the west.”
“That would be me.”
Conan stepped up directing his attention to the farm man as well.
“Do you know who owns this vehicle?” Conan asked as well.
“That would be Riko.”
“Know where we can find Mr. Riko?” Tim asked joining the conversation.
“Yea, he’s working in house C.”
“Where can we find that?” Heiji asked.
He turned pointing to a large barn not to far away.
“Thank you for your time and corporation.” Heiji said as the three of them headed into that direction.
“Be careful of the bull manurer, we’ve had a couple incidents these past few weeks.” He informed.
The three of them took this into account as they continued walking. It took them just over two minutes to arrive infront of the barn. They scoured all sides, looking for a way in.
“How are we supposed to question this guy if we can’t even get in.” Heiji stated.
“There.” Tim pointed.
They walked to the side to find three levers sticking out. One to the left, which happened to be the smallest. The lever in the middle being the largest, the last one somewhere inbetween.
“So which one opens the door?” Heiji questioned.
“Let’s go with the small one.” Tim suggested.
Heiji reached forward pushing down on it. The door began sliding up as they headed back to the front.
“How did you know it was the small one?” Conan asked.
“The big ones always seems to bring bad or unexpected results, thus I go with the small one.” Tim replied.
“Interesting analogy Drake, I’ll have to keep that in mind.” Heiji said.
They walked up just as the remainder of the door pushed toward the upper wall. Heiji stepped in first, the two right behind him. It was dark, the lighting from the entry way keeping things visible. They could hear the sound of two voices echoing through the walls, but where was it coming from? The three looked to eachother, coming to a mental agreement they would follow the path of the voices.
As they walked deeper in, a foul stinch can be smelled drifting through the air. It wasn’t long after they caught sight of hanging carcasses. The voices became clearer as they turned yet another dark corner. Chains swayed back and forth, hanging from different parts of the wall.
“Is this a farm, or a Halloween scare house?” Conan thought to himself.
They finally came to a stop, kneeling down behind a few barrels. They peaked out to see two men chatting. Heiji immediately recognized one of them.
“That’s him, that’s the guy I chased after.” Heiji whispered.
“Which one?” Conan asked.
“The one on the right.”
“Are you positive?” Tim asked.
“Absolutely.”
“I wonder which one is Riko?" Conan questioned.
“I’m guessing that other guy, he looks like he works here, by the way he’s dressed." Tim said.
They sat in place, listening to the conversation at hand.
“I told you this was a bad idea.”
“What do you want me to do, I made the hit just like required Riko!”
“Tim was right, that guy on the left is Riko." Conan thought to himself.
“What about the weapons?”
“Relax, no one knows about them.”
“Good, that’s the last thing we need is those damn west side Outworlders finding out. The shift in power is happening as we speak Ryo.”
“Outworlders, this sounds big.” Conan thought to himself.
“If it makes you feel any better, I took out those nosey salters.” Ryo said.
“Did you now, where did you slip the bodies?” Riko asked.
“The spot, the bodies will be long gone before they suspect a thing.”
“Good. We must prepare for next week’s meeting, we have an outside guy coming in.” Riko informed.
At that second foot steps can be heard heading into their direction. Ryo reached into his jacket, pulling a gun from the pocket. A few moments later the man that had greeted them out in the parking lot entered the room.
“Riko did you see the gentlemen who came to see you, and who is this young man?” He asked looking to Ryo who pointed the gun at him.
“Kar you shouldn’t be here.” Riko said.
“Bad timing I’m afraid.” Ryo said placing his finger on the trigger.
“Dammit.” Tim muttered.
He quickly kicked a barrel over knocking him to the ground, the bullet flying just over his head.
“Who’s there!!” Riko yelled.
Conan, Heiji, and Tim all jumped out of hiding.
“Who in the hell are you three?” Ryo asked pointing his gun to the three of them.
Tim snapped a bird disk with the use of his wrist knocking the gun from his hand.
“Now we can all talk as civilized men.” Tim said.
Riko and Ryo looked to eachother, then darted for the back door.
“Predictable.” Conan said as the three of them chased after them.
They turned the corner as the two of them neared the door. Heiji looked on, noticing the bottom of Ryo’s pants were wet.
“Heiji push down on the lever!” Tim yelled catching sight of three more levers.
Just as they were about to exit Heiji pushed down on the lever. Conan looked to see Riko and Ryo both make it out.
“You pushed down the big one, I said the small one!” Tim yelled.
“If that wasn’t for the door, then what?” Conan questioned.
They heard a slight crack sound from above. This caused the three of them to stop running. They looked up to see the ceiling slide open, a dark substance falling down at them.
“That’s Bull.” Conan got out just as it landed on them, knocking all three of them to the ground.
Heiji held his breath, pushing up from the warm and slippery substance. He wiped it from his face, emptying it out of his hat in frustration.
“Shit.” Heiji stomped.
“Nice going Heiji.” Tim said wiping it from his face.
“I think I got some in my eye.” Conan complained.
Within the next second laughter can be heard, the three of them turned to see Kar.
“I warned you about the bull manurer,” He said continuing to laugh. “Come around back, I’ll hose you three down.”
Kar lead them out, lining them up against the side of the barn. He hosed them down, washing most of the manurer from their clothes and bodies.This lasted for about a minute.
“What exactly was going on in there?” Kar asked beginning to roll up the hose.
“We believe he might have been involved in a murder.” Heiji replied.
“Riko, didn’t know he had it in him to kill someone.”
“Not sure if he killed anyone, but his van was used in a getaway.” Tim said.
“Do you think he will come back?” Conan asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to report him.”
“If he shows back up, give me a call.” Heiji said giving him his number.
“Sure thing, you boys take care now.”
With that the three of them walked off, heading back over the hill. A warm wind blowing across their faces.
“The first thing I’m going to do when I get back to the apartment is take a shower.” Tim stated.
“More like two showers.” Heiji said.
“Better make that three.” Conan added.
They couldn’t help but laugh, the foul odor still flowing from their bodies.
“Tim, after we get all cleaned up you think you can still track the van through it’s GPS?” Conan asked.
Tim looked to his watch, an unsure look coming to his face.
“I’ll see what I can do, kinda got to head to school in a bit.” Tim said.
“School?” Heiji questioned.
“Yea....I was late to chemistry again, so I get a session of night school.” Tim said.
“Why, couldn’t you have just served an after school detention?” Heiji asked.
“That was an option. Mrs. V decided to have a class vote, I think you guys know how that went.”
“Isn’t Sonoko in that class with you?” Conan asked.
“Should have seen how quick her hand went up for the night school option.” Tim replied.
Conan giggled at this. Heiji reached for his phone calling for a taxi, they waited forty minutes for it to arrive. On the drive back they made sure all the windows were rolled down, trying not to alert the driver. Heiji and Conan were dropped off first.
“I’ll catch up with you two later.” Tim said.
The two watched as the taxi took off turning the corner. Conan pushed infront of Heiji, the both of them heading up into the house. They walked trough the front door, Kogoro was nowhere to be seen. Ran lay on her back, talking on her phone.
“We’re in luck, you go on in and take a shower, I’ll wash your clothes while you do so.” Conan said.
“Let’s try and make this quick.”
Heiji headed into the bathroom, quickly undressing. He stepped into the shower turning the knob, the steaming water trailing down his back. He reached over spreading the jell through his hair, washing up as best he could. Once finished he looked to see his clothes sitting near the sink.
“Good to see he washed my hat as well.” Heiji said getting dressed.
The door slid open the next second as Conan entered once more.
“How are the clothes?” Conan asked.
“You did a half job drying them, but it beats the predicament we were just in.”
“Just wait outside the door, I’ll be done shortly.” Conan said.
“What if Ran see’s me?”
“I doubt she get’s up from the couch, her phone conversation should hold her.” Conan said.
“I hope you’re right.” Heiji said stepping out.
He waited in the hall, looking down at his watch every so often. His phone began vibrating, he pulled it up to see an incoming call from his mother.
“Not a good time, I’ll have to call her back.”
After another minute of waiting the sound of the shower came to an end. He waited awhile longer, Conan whistling for him to head back in. He moved the door to the side to see Conan tieing his shoe.
“Close the door.” Conan alerted.
“How was the shower?” Heiji asked closing the door.
“It’ll do for now, I think we should start breaking down what we know.”
“There’s a lot at that. They said something about weapons, sounds like this is a case involving a lot of guys.”
“Ryo said he took out the salters, I’m betting that’s code for anyone who may have been a threat.” Conan said.
“We find those bodies, we make a huge step in solving what’s going on.”
“Question is...where are the bodies?”
The two of them stood in thought, trying to see if there was anything they could go off of.
“Wait...didn’t he say by the time anyone suspected anything the bodies would be long gone?” Heiji asked.
“Yea, you got something?”
“When we were chasing after them, I noticed the bottom of Ryo’s pants were wet.” Heiji said.
“Wet.....are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Conan asked.
“If you’re thinking he dropped the bodies in a lake or river, then I’d say we’re defiantly thinking the same thing.”
“That must be it, why else would he say the bodies will be long gone.” Conan said.
“He expects them to drift away.” Heiji completed.
“Now all we have to do is pin point a location.” Conan thought to himself.
Heiji reached into his pocket pulling his phone out, leaning against the wall. Conan looked over, lifting a brow.
“What are you doing?”
“His pants were still wet, that means he must have dumped the bodies not far from there.” Heiji replied.
“Good point, not to mention he didn’t have a car.”
“I’m checking this online map, we should have a location shortly.”
Conan walked to the sink, brushing his teeth to help further refreshen himself from their little episode they had endured.
“Kudo, looks like we have our drop site.” Heiji said holding out his phones.
He finished rinsing out his mouth, looking up.
“The docks?”
“It has to be, that’s the only place within ten miles of that place.” Heiji said.
“Then I guess we better go give it a look.” Conan said.
As they turned to head out, the door swung open. Ran stood in the doorway, a look of command in her face.
“I thought I heard voices, what are you two doing in here?” Ran asked.
“Just discussing a case.” Heiji lightly said.
“Why was the door shut, is it top secret or something?”
“You could say that.”
The scent slowly came to her. Ran stepped further in, walking up to the both of them.
“Did you both just take a shower, together for that matter?” Ran asked crossing her arms.
Conan and Heiji both started laughing, slight tears coming to their eyes. Ran reached down pulling Conan up by his shirt, grabbing Heiji by his with her free hand.
“Answer the question!”
They both immediately stopped laughing, the tears still draining down the sides of their cheeks.
“No.” They both said at the same time.
“No what?”
“No we didn’t take a shower together.” Conan said through his teeth trying not to laugh once again.
Ran released her hold on the both of them taking a step back, with a deep breath.
“Let’s start all over, what are you two doing in here?”
“Trying to solve a case.” Heiji answered.
“Did you two take a shower?”
“Not together.” Conan replied.
“Do I even want to know why?” Ran asked.
“No.” Both Conan and Heiji said together.
They stood in silence for the next few moments, Heiji checking the time on his phone.
“Hey Ran, think I could borrow Conan for another hour or so?” Heiji asked.
“What time is it?” She asked.
“Just a little after six thirty.” Heiji replied.
“Go right on ahead, eight thirty is your limit.”
“Understood.”
Ran walked them to the front door, holding it open.
“I don’t know what you two are up to, but I’ve got my eyes on you.”
“Nothing is going on.” Heiji said as the two of them stepped out.
“Uh huh.. just remember, I’m watching.” Ran said closing the door.
The sun fell from the sky, a cool breeze blowing through the streets. He approached the school, entering to find the halls empty. He entered the classroom, looking to see five students besides himself.
“You must be Mr. Wayne, I heard you’d be joining our class tonight.”
Tim turned as someone walked up to the side of him.
“I’m professor Bao, you may take a seat anywhere you please.”
“Thank you Professor.”
Tim walked over taking a seat near the front. He looked to the clock to see it was twenty five after seven.
“Just a couple more minutes until class begins, I wonder how Conan and Heiji are doing on the case.”
The taxi came to a stop. Heiji paid before he and Conan walked. Cars could be found piled atop eachother, wheels and license plates scattered about. It could easily have been mistaken for a junk yard. They made their way through the small maze of garbage, the smell of the fresh water gliding past their nostrils.
“We must be getting close.” Heiji stated.
The wind whistled through the many car parts, creating a wispy musical tune. As they got closer they began to hear sounds, it wasn’t much at first. That changed as they got closer and closer.
“You hear that?” Conan whispered.
“Yea, but what is it?”
A small laugh carried through the wind, followed by the sound of commotion. Heiji and Conan quickly made their way into that direction. The sounds became very clear as they turned the corner. Conan hid behind a car, Heiji did the same. The two of them peaked out from the side, looking to see a man lying on his back, blood dripping from the side of his face. Multiple men stood over him.
“That’s Ryo.” Conan thought to himself.
They stayed put watching on as the men standing over him kicked him from all sides, hitting him with pipe bars, sticks, anything they could find. Conan looked to Heiji who looked back.
“We gotta do something.” Conan whispered.
“What can we do, there’s atleast ten of them.”
They directed their attention back over. Their assault didn’t last much longer. One of the men raised a gun to the air, firing one shot.
“Enough, that will do.” He said lowering his weapon.
“Are we going to let him live Scar Eyes, send a message to them damn Black Yangs?”
“We’re going to send a message alright.”
“So we have the Outworlders and Black Yangs, looks like Tim was right about the gangs.” Conan thought to himself.
Scar Eyes walked over placing his boot upon Ryo’s chest.
“Looks like you’re road ends hear.”
“You really think you have it all figured, the Black Yangs are making their way up.” Ryo said spitting blood to his boot.
“I really doubt that, we’ve got guy’s in the service, police force, you name it. What ever you think is happening, will soon fall.” Scar Eyes confidently stated.
Ryo began laughing.
“Is that so, bettin you aint heard of ‘The Tiger of Oni’s’. There’s no challenging him.”
“Who’s he, your boss?” Scar Eyes questioned.
“Never seen him before, no one really does. One thing I can assure is he’s no man, your whole gang will ultimately fall....your families will die a horrible death.” Ryo said as he is kicked across the face.
“That’s for spitting on my boot.”
Heiji and Conan watched on, frozen from the details they had gained.
“Conan we gotta do something.”
“Not like we can go to the police, you heard him, they have guys working within the system.” Conan whispered back.
“That’s why we have an ace card up our sleeves.” Heiji said.
“Ace card?” Conan questioned.
“Call Drake.” Heiji said.
“Gotcha.”
Conan quickly pulled out his phone, hitting the speed dial. All he got was the answering machine. He tried once more.
“Darn it, he must still be in class.”
“Leave him a text, make sure it sounds urgent.” Heiji said peaking from behind the car once more.
Scar Eyes reached into his jacket pulling out a cigar, lighting it not long after. He whistled out after taking a few huffs, the smell drifting through the air.
“Knightez go and fetch the gasoline.” Scar Eyes ordered.
“This is not good, this is really not good.” Heiji thought to himself.
He came back nearly a minute later, bringing a small tank of gasoline with him. Scar Eyes took another puff before taking the tank into his hand.
“I hope you have insurance.” Scar Eyes said as he began dumping the gasoline over Ryo.
Ryo began coughing out as some of it entered into his nose and mouth.
“This is a message for Mr. Oni Tiger....go to hell.” Scar Eyes said dropping the cigar down, his body consumed with flames.
He screamed out as the others surrounding him laughed out, taking a few steps back. Conan clenched his fists in anger. The smell of human flesh soared through the air, the flames twirling toward the night sky.
“We’ll leave his burnt carcass in their streets, a message at dawn.”
“There’s just to many of them, there’s no way I could take them all.” Heiji thought to himself as he felt cold metal touch upon the back of his neck.
Heiji quickly spun to be knocked over the head rendering him unconscious. Before Conan could react he to was hit with the metal bar sending him rolling to the ground. Everything went blank from there. The tempature dropped as the night went on. The wind blowing through their hair. Pain lingered over his head, his eyes slowly opening. It took a few seconds for his vision to fully come back. Heiji could feel himself tied to a chair. He slowly lifted his head, looking to see all the men surrounded them.
“I see you’re awake.”
Heiji turned his head to see Scar Eyes.
“Where’s the boy, and how long was I out?” Heiji asked.
“Tied to the chair behind you Detective Hattori. To answer your second question, you’ve been out for a little over an hour.”
“You know who I am?” Heiji asked.
“I’m from up west to, I know all about you. It’s a shame you got involved in all this.” Scar Eyes stated.
“So you planning on killing me?”
“Afraid so. can’t have any outsiders knowing about our operations, especially not a detective.” Scar Eyes said.
It fell silent for the next few seconds. Scar Eyes began pacing around, rubbing the bottom of his chin. Conan finally awoke lifting his head up.
“You can kill me, but let the boy go.” Heiji said.
“No can do, he witnessed a killing. I’ll make sure his death is quick and painless.”
“Please, just let him go.”
Scar Eyes turned walking straight up to him.
“This can’t be happening, it can’t end like this.” Conan thought to himself.
“I respect you Hattori, I really do. But business is business.” Scar Eyes said turning.
“So you guy’s are the Outworlders?” Heiji asked.
“You heard right.” One said from the side.
“So what happens from here, what are your big plans?” Heiji asked.
Scar Eyes smiled at his approach.
“We have a meeting in two days, Kosong Korea. Gathering of all members, including those in neighboring states and cities.”
“What for?” Heiji asked.
“You sure do have a lot of questions for someone who dosen’t have much longer to live.”
The lights surrounding the area began blinking. No one really payed much attention to this. A few seconds later they completely shut off. Everyone reached for their weapons, the moon the only source of light left.
“What the hell happened to the lights?” One of the men questioned.
“Firecode, go and check the fuse box.” Scar Eyes instructed.
“Right away.” He said taking off.
Conan took this time to slowly try and wiggle free. He found it very difficult to try and squeeze out. It was no use, the rope was to tightly wrapped. They all stood in silence, only the wind driving through the cars and crates could be heard. Over a minute went by, the lights still hadn’t come back on.
“Fuck, I knew I shouldn’t have sent his clueless ass.”
“You want me to go see what the hold up is?” Another asked stepping forward.
At that second a flying object zips by cutting both Conan and Heiji free.
“What in the!” Scar Eyes yelled as they all looked to the air.
Conan and Heiji jumped from the chair as Red Robin landed in the middle of the group.
“Run!” He yelled as Heiji and Conan both ran taking cover behind one of the many cars.
Gun shots began firing off as the two of them caught their breath.
“Was that Tim?” Heiji asked.
“That’s him alright.” Conan replied.
They could hear the fight breaking out. Conan peaked from behind the car, Heiji doing the same. Red Robin flipped over one of the men, the bullets just missing the side of his arm. He landed to his feet elbowing him in the back of the neck.
“Six of them are armed with firearms, need to take them out first.”
Red Robin flipped to the side of one of the beat down cars. Using his strength, ripping the door from it’s hinges, swinging it like a frisbee knocking four of the gunmen to the ground. Another came from behind taking a swing at him with a machete. Red Robin dodged down, popping back up with an uppercut. He could feel the force of the strike, hear the cracking of the jaw.
“Come on, he’s just one damn guy!” Scar Eyes barked out.
“I got em!!!” One yelled taking aim.
Red Robin quickly leaped out of the way reaching for a couple birdrangs. He released on his landing, knocking the gun from his hand. Someone grabbed him from behind. Tim flung his head back catching him in the nose. He then flipping him off his back to the ground with a finishing nerve strike to the neck.
“Kudo are you seeing this?!” Heiji exclaimed.
“How could I not be?”
One of them lunged forward at him with a punch. Red Robin jumped up with a kick hitting him square inbetween the eyes. He crashed to the ground, instantly KO’d.
“To hell with this.” Scar Eyes said as he turned to run only to crash into the wall.
He fell to the ground unconscious. Two of the three remaining men charged at him. Red Robin smiled at this, slamming a smoke bomb to the ground. When the smoke cleared their two bodies could be seen, laid out. Red Robin was nowhere to be seen.
“Where did RR go to?” Conan thought to himself.
The remaining member of the Outworlders reached over grabbing one of the bird disks before darting off into the night.
“He’s getting away!” Conan yelled out.
“Let’s get him.” Heiji said as the two got to their feet.
“Let him go.” A voice said from behind.
Heiji and Conan nearly jumped out of their shoes. They both turned to see Red Robin leaned up against a car with his arms crossed.
“Don’t ever do that again.” Conan said adjusting his glasses.
“Good work detectives.” Tim complemented.
“What’s the big idea, why are you letting him get away?!” Heiji yelled.
“Sending a message.” Red Robin replied.
“I don’t know how you do things back in Gotham, but we sure as hell don’t just let criminals take off!!!” Heiji shouted taking a few steps toward him.
“Looks like you have something you need to get off your chest, go ahead Hattori, try and take a swing at me.” Red Robin dared.
Heiji took an additional step forward only to have his jacket grabbed by Conan.
“Stay out of this Kudo!” Heiji yelled.
“I must really advise against this.” Conan firmly said.
“Better listen to your boy.” Red Robin said uncrossing his arms and standing up straight.
Heiji pushed past Conan stepping straight up to him.
“Sending a message, what message?!”
They stared into the others eyes, Conan standing to the side, not sure what was going to happen next.
“To let his pals know....let them know I’m coming.” Red Robin replied.
Heiji took a few steps back, turning his head to the side. Conan breathed out in relief.
“I’m sorry.” Heiji said.
“Don’t worry about it, we’re not always going to agree on certain things.” Red Robin.
“We did gather a little bit of new information.” Heiji said.
“Already know.”
“You were watching?” Conan asked.
“I’m already planning our trip to Kosong Korea, should have everything wrapped by tommarrow morning. I already alerted the police with one of my many secure anonymous lines.”
“Good thing you showed up, we might have been killed if you hadn’t.” Conan said.
“You better head home, or Ran might kill you.” Tim said.
Heiji and Conan both looked to their phones to see it was forty after nine.
“How did you know Ran.” Conan began as he looked up to see Red Robin was gone.
“Add that to the list of things for him not to do.” Heiji said looking to see Tim was gone as well.
The both of them headed out, catching a taxi just before the police arrived. It was a silent ride back. They sat, looking out to the stars which filled the night sky. Conan took a deep breath when they arrived back to the house.
“You want me to go in with you?” Heiji asked.
“I think I can handle it, thanks for asking.”
Conan headed up, his hands weighing down in his pocket. He gently pushed the front door open. Ran was nowhere to be seen.
“What were you doing out so late?” Kogoro asked walking down the hall.
“Getting help with some homework. Where’s Ran?” Conan asked.
“She headed off to bed about thirty minutes ago.” Kogoro answered.
“Guess I got a lucky break.”
Conan headed to his room, closing the door behind him. He could still feel the affects from taking that hit to the head. If it was bad now, he couldn’t imagine what it would feel like in the morning. Conan managed to get undressed switching off the light. He slipped under the sheets in his underwear, to exhausted to get in to his night clothes. He drifted off not long after, his muscles tensing up.
Birds chirped just outside the window, the sun rays tracing along his back. Foot steps approached the room. Conan rolled to his back reaching up to feel his head.
“Not as bad as I thought it’d be.”
The door pushed open the next second with Ran entering. Surprisingly she had a huge smile on her face.
“I hope you had a good nights rest.” Ran said.
“I’d say it was pretty legit.” Conan said.
“Get your bags packed, you’re going on a little vacation.” Ran informed.
“Vacation?”
“You’ll only miss two days of school, three tops.”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Conan asked sitting up.
“Your uncle called, he wants to take you on a little trip. He was so sweet over the phone.”
Confusion came upon Conan’s face.
“My uncle?”
“Yes, Richard Edagawa, aren’t you excited Conan?!” Ran asked in excitement.
“Who in the heck is Richard Edagawa, what is going on?”
To Be Continued
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Chapter 17
First Team Case
The sound of a glass bottle can be heard, smashing up near the sidewalk just outside the window. Conan laid up wiping the sleep from his eyes. He pushed out of bed, walking over and getting dressed for the day. He grabbed his bag while walking out of the room. Ran laid at the couch, her head resting on a pillow. Conan walked over placing a hand on her shoulder.
"You going to school today?" Conan asked.
Her eyes poked open, slightly pushing up.
"Dad said I should stay home at least one more day."
"Don't see any harm in that, how are your feet feeling?" Conan asked.
"Still a little sore, but it's getting better."
"That's good to hear, I'll see you after school." Conan said heading for the door.
"Conan, are you sure you don't want something to eat before you go?" Ran called out.
"I'll be fine, lunch is only a few hours from now." He replied.
Conan headed to the bathroom brushing his teeth before heading off to school. His hands rested in his jacket.
"It feels good I no longer have to lie to Heiji."
He remained in thought the whole way to school, thinking about the little details they had already gathered. Conan walked to class, most everyone already seated. He took to his seat as well, pulling out his supplies for the day. Class began shortly after. He constantly found himself looking to the clock throughout the day. To his surprise the fire alarm went off an hour before the end of class.
"Couldn't have come at a better time."
Everyone headed out into the hall, exiting one of the many side doors. Sumiko lead them to a small hill nearby, joined by other teachers and students. Conan took a seat on the grass with Ai joining at his side shortly after.
"How's Ran, did she go to school today?" Ai asked.
"She's going to give it one more before heading back." Conan replied.
"You planning on doing anything after school?"
"Yea I...Kogoro is working on a case, and, thought I'd go with him after school and help work it out." Conan quickly came up with.
"Good luck, but when you get the chance you should come over."
"What for?" Conan asked pivoting is position.
"Agasa has something for you." Ai answered.
"I'll be sure to be over when I can."
They sat for the next few minutes, waiting to be cleared to head back in.
He walked down the side of the street, taking the long way to the apartment, making a couple stops along the way.
"According to Heiji this was the street he chased the suspect down."
Tim kept on the trail turning into the alley. He came upon the fence which he climbed, landing on the other side.
"This must be where the van picked him up."
He scoured the area, looking to the ground to see if anything was left behind to make a break in the case. He didn't find anything alarming. Tim continued a few yards up turning the corner. He walked up the next street, catching a glimpse of skid marks just off of the side walk.
"That skid looks fresh, bet the police didn't check this far up." Tim thought to himself as he stared down.
He reached into his bag pulling out a digital camera, taking a few shots.
"I'll take these back to the shed and give it further examination, maybe these tire types are registered to a purple van."
Tim placed the camera back into his bag, turning and heading back into the direction of the apartment.
Conan pushed the front door open to see Ran sitting at the table writing something in a note book. Her eyes wondering away from the paper, a smile coming to her face when their eyes met.
"What did you learn today?" She asked.
"We just went over a few things we already knew, not to mention we had a fire drill."
"It's nice out, I'm sure you enjoyed that."
"Sure did."
Conan slid his shoes off before heading to the table. He placed his bag to the side of the chair before taking a seat. He silently looked on, Ran continuing to draw. He sat there for a little over a minute, just watching her.
"I wonder what she's drawing." Conan thought to himself.
At that second someone began knocking at the door.
"I'll get it." Conan said jumping down from the chair.
He walked over opening the door to see Heiji standing over him.
"Come on in." Conan greeted.
"Heiji, I thought for sure you had headed back to Osaka." Ran said looking up from the paper.
"Couldn't do that until returning this to you." Heiji said holding out her cell.
"My phone!," Ran said standing from her seat. "Where did you find it?"
"It was in...the grass not to far away from the scene." Heiji answered with hesitation.
"Guess Tim won that argument." Conan thought to himself with a slight grin.
Ran took the phone into her hand. She looked over at him, a skeptical look in her eyes. Heiji noticed causing him to take a step back with a gulp.
"So...I guess I'll be leaving now." Heiji said turning for the door.
"Not so fast there." Ran said placing her hands upon her hips.
Conan turned to the side putting his hands to his mouth, nearly laughing out. Heiji slowly turned facing her, a smile slanted across his face.
"What's seems to be the problem Ran?" Heiji asked, his smile widening.
"Oh let's see here....how did you find it, who made the call to my father, and why do you seem like you're in such a rush?"
"I just gave the area a harder look, besides I have a..dinner to get to." Heiji came up with.
"Really, why do I get the feeling you aren't being totally truthful with me."
"That I can't answer." Heiji said.
Conan began giggling from the side. Ran quickly struck her attention to him.
"Is there something funny I didn't catch." Ran snapped.
"No, It's something else."
"I bet.. I know how close you two are, you both are probable in on something."
"I can promise you we aren't hiding anything." Heiji said.
Before another word can be spoken Heiji's phone went off.
"Drake, not exactly a good time." Heiji said stepping to the side.
Ran crossed her arms, waiting for his little phone conversation to end. Nearly a minute went by as he slipped the phone from his ear back into his pocket.
"Who's Drake?" Ran asked.
"Someone we're supposed to meet." Heiji replied.
"We?" Ran questioned.
"Conan and myself, he's a witness for a case I'm working."
"And why do you need Conan to go with you?"
"Just to tag along."
Ran kept her eyes fixated on him for awhile longer. Her shoulders dropping as she took back to the table.
"Have him home by eight thirty, is that clear?"
"As a crystal ball." Heiji assured.
Conan walked over placing his shoes back on, looking to Ran who gave him a half smile. They walked out the front door. Once out the two of them sighed out in relief.
"That could have ended ugly." Conan said.
"No kidding."
"So what did Tim say?" Conan asked.
"Wants us to meet him at the hide out, says he made a break in the case." Heiji said.
"Sounds good, let's go see what he has."
The two of them headed to the hide out, traffic speeding by in all directions.
He sat, leaned back in the chair. The computer conducting a search. The door slid open the next second. Tim turned in his seat to see the two of them enter.
"That didn't take long."
"Did our best to get here as quick as we could." Heiji stated.
"So what do you have?" Conan asked as the two walked over.
Tim clicked to the side, another window appearing on the screen.
"I found our mystery vehicle, it's a Chevrolet Astro."
"Good stuff Drake, do we have an address?" Heiji asked.
"Working on that right now, checking for all purple registered Chevrolet's in a one hundred mile radius." Tim replied.
The three of them stood in silence, waiting for the scan to be completed.
"I have one question, how long do you calculate until Ran finds out about our secret visits?" Heiji asked.
"What's wrong, you run into a problem?"
"She's already on to us, you sure you don't want to just tell her you and Conan are friends?"
"That won't be necessary." Tim said.
"Well don't come looking for my help when she's geared up ready to kick your ass."
"I don't know Heiji, Tim's pretty good himself." Conan stated.
"Have you even seen him fight before?"
"Not exactly."
"My point. I think Ran could take him, come to think of it.....I might be able to." Heiji said.
"You do realize I'm still sitting here, right?" Tim asked.
The computer began beeping, the three of them directing their full attention to the screen.
"Bingo, the vehicle is registered to a Riko....interesting no last name available." Tim said.
"That's a red flag for sure." Conan said.
"Where's this guy live?" Heiji asked.
"One second."
Conan and Heiji waited as he looked further through the files. A minute passed, Tim snapping his fingers.
"You find the address?" Heiji asked.
"Better, the van has a GPS system."
"That mean we have an exact location?" Conan asked.
Tim nodded as he sat up from the chair. He walked over to the counter near the locker, reaching down and placing a pair of shades over his eyes.
"It's not to far from here, just a couple miles west."
"So what's the plan when we get there?" Conan asked.
"We'll decide that when we arrive." Tim replied.
He held the tracker out in front of him as the three of them headed out. They caught a taxi taking them in the direction of the signal. Within forty minutes they arrived. They stepped out, paying the driver.
“So where’s the van?” Heiji questioned.
“Just over that hill.” Tim answered.
The three of them headed up the hill. Once at the top they looked down to see a large farm. Conan’s head waved to the right catching sight of a parking lot. There were about ten vehicles, which ofcourse included the purple van they had been tracking.
“Looks like we’ve got our van.” Conan pointed.
“Indeed.”
“Drake, how do you want to play this?” Heiji asked.
Tim gave the whole landscape a look, not seeing anything that screamed danger.
“It dosen’t look like we have anything to worry about, don’t see any harm in doing this casually.”
“Men with questions?” Heiji asked.
“Right you are.”
Tim lead the way as they walked over to the lot coming to a stop infront of the van. They began looking it over, checking for anything alarming. It wasn’t long after that a man walked over approaching the three of them.
“Can I help you?” He asked leaning his shovel up against a fuse box near the side walk.
“Would you happen to know who owns this van?” Heiji asked.
“Maybe...but who are you, and why do you need to know?” He asked.
“Detective Hattori, this van is of interest in our investigation.” Heiji stated holding out his ID.
“I’ve heard of you, you’re that great detective of the west.”
“That would be me.”
Conan stepped up directing his attention to the farm man as well.
“Do you know who owns this vehicle?” Conan asked as well.
“That would be Riko.”
“Know where we can find Mr. Riko?” Tim asked joining the conversation.
“Yea, he’s working in house C.”
“Where can we find that?” Heiji asked.
He turned pointing to a large barn not to far away.
“Thank you for your time and corporation.” Heiji said as the three of them headed into that direction.
“Be careful of the bull manurer, we’ve had a couple incidents these past few weeks.” He informed.
The three of them took this into account as they continued walking. It took them just over two minutes to arrive infront of the barn. They scoured all sides, looking for a way in.
“How are we supposed to question this guy if we can’t even get in.” Heiji stated.
“There.” Tim pointed.
They walked to the side to find three levers sticking out. One to the left, which happened to be the smallest. The lever in the middle being the largest, the last one somewhere inbetween.
“So which one opens the door?” Heiji questioned.
“Let’s go with the small one.” Tim suggested.
Heiji reached forward pushing down on it. The door began sliding up as they headed back to the front.
“How did you know it was the small one?” Conan asked.
“The big ones always seems to bring bad or unexpected results, thus I go with the small one.” Tim replied.
“Interesting analogy Drake, I’ll have to keep that in mind.” Heiji said.
They walked up just as the remainder of the door pushed toward the upper wall. Heiji stepped in first, the two right behind him. It was dark, the lighting from the entry way keeping things visible. They could hear the sound of two voices echoing through the walls, but where was it coming from? The three looked to eachother, coming to a mental agreement they would follow the path of the voices.
As they walked deeper in, a foul stinch can be smelled drifting through the air. It wasn’t long after they caught sight of hanging carcasses. The voices became clearer as they turned yet another dark corner. Chains swayed back and forth, hanging from different parts of the wall.
“Is this a farm, or a Halloween scare house?” Conan thought to himself.
They finally came to a stop, kneeling down behind a few barrels. They peaked out to see two men chatting. Heiji immediately recognized one of them.
“That’s him, that’s the guy I chased after.” Heiji whispered.
“Which one?” Conan asked.
“The one on the right.”
“Are you positive?” Tim asked.
“Absolutely.”
“I wonder which one is Riko?" Conan questioned.
“I’m guessing that other guy, he looks like he works here, by the way he’s dressed." Tim said.
They sat in place, listening to the conversation at hand.
“I told you this was a bad idea.”
“What do you want me to do, I made the hit just like required Riko!”
“Tim was right, that guy on the left is Riko." Conan thought to himself.
“What about the weapons?”
“Relax, no one knows about them.”
“Good, that’s the last thing we need is those damn west side Outworlders finding out. The shift in power is happening as we speak Ryo.”
“Outworlders, this sounds big.” Conan thought to himself.
“If it makes you feel any better, I took out those nosey salters.” Ryo said.
“Did you now, where did you slip the bodies?” Riko asked.
“The spot, the bodies will be long gone before they suspect a thing.”
“Good. We must prepare for next week’s meeting, we have an outside guy coming in.” Riko informed.
At that second foot steps can be heard heading into their direction. Ryo reached into his jacket, pulling a gun from the pocket. A few moments later the man that had greeted them out in the parking lot entered the room.
“Riko did you see the gentlemen who came to see you, and who is this young man?” He asked looking to Ryo who pointed the gun at him.
“Kar you shouldn’t be here.” Riko said.
“Bad timing I’m afraid.” Ryo said placing his finger on the trigger.
“Dammit.” Tim muttered.
He quickly kicked a barrel over knocking him to the ground, the bullet flying just over his head.
“Who’s there!!” Riko yelled.
Conan, Heiji, and Tim all jumped out of hiding.
“Who in the hell are you three?” Ryo asked pointing his gun to the three of them.
Tim snapped a bird disk with the use of his wrist knocking the gun from his hand.
“Now we can all talk as civilized men.” Tim said.
Riko and Ryo looked to eachother, then darted for the back door.
“Predictable.” Conan said as the three of them chased after them.
They turned the corner as the two of them neared the door. Heiji looked on, noticing the bottom of Ryo’s pants were wet.
“Heiji push down on the lever!” Tim yelled catching sight of three more levers.
Just as they were about to exit Heiji pushed down on the lever. Conan looked to see Riko and Ryo both make it out.
“You pushed down the big one, I said the small one!” Tim yelled.
“If that wasn’t for the door, then what?” Conan questioned.
They heard a slight crack sound from above. This caused the three of them to stop running. They looked up to see the ceiling slide open, a dark substance falling down at them.
“That’s Bull.” Conan got out just as it landed on them, knocking all three of them to the ground.
Heiji held his breath, pushing up from the warm and slippery substance. He wiped it from his face, emptying it out of his hat in frustration.
“Shit.” Heiji stomped.
“Nice going Heiji.” Tim said wiping it from his face.
“I think I got some in my eye.” Conan complained.
Within the next second laughter can be heard, the three of them turned to see Kar.
“I warned you about the bull manurer,” He said continuing to laugh. “Come around back, I’ll hose you three down.”
Kar lead them out, lining them up against the side of the barn. He hosed them down, washing most of the manurer from their clothes and bodies.This lasted for about a minute.
“What exactly was going on in there?” Kar asked beginning to roll up the hose.
“We believe he might have been involved in a murder.” Heiji replied.
“Riko, didn’t know he had it in him to kill someone.”
“Not sure if he killed anyone, but his van was used in a getaway.” Tim said.
“Do you think he will come back?” Conan asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m going to report him.”
“If he shows back up, give me a call.” Heiji said giving him his number.
“Sure thing, you boys take care now.”
With that the three of them walked off, heading back over the hill. A warm wind blowing across their faces.
“The first thing I’m going to do when I get back to the apartment is take a shower.” Tim stated.
“More like two showers.” Heiji said.
“Better make that three.” Conan added.
They couldn’t help but laugh, the foul odor still flowing from their bodies.
“Tim, after we get all cleaned up you think you can still track the van through it’s GPS?” Conan asked.
Tim looked to his watch, an unsure look coming to his face.
“I’ll see what I can do, kinda got to head to school in a bit.” Tim said.
“School?” Heiji questioned.
“Yea....I was late to chemistry again, so I get a session of night school.” Tim said.
“Why, couldn’t you have just served an after school detention?” Heiji asked.
“That was an option. Mrs. V decided to have a class vote, I think you guys know how that went.”
“Isn’t Sonoko in that class with you?” Conan asked.
“Should have seen how quick her hand went up for the night school option.” Tim replied.
Conan giggled at this. Heiji reached for his phone calling for a taxi, they waited forty minutes for it to arrive. On the drive back they made sure all the windows were rolled down, trying not to alert the driver. Heiji and Conan were dropped off first.
“I’ll catch up with you two later.” Tim said.
The two watched as the taxi took off turning the corner. Conan pushed infront of Heiji, the both of them heading up into the house. They walked trough the front door, Kogoro was nowhere to be seen. Ran lay on her back, talking on her phone.
“We’re in luck, you go on in and take a shower, I’ll wash your clothes while you do so.” Conan said.
“Let’s try and make this quick.”
Heiji headed into the bathroom, quickly undressing. He stepped into the shower turning the knob, the steaming water trailing down his back. He reached over spreading the jell through his hair, washing up as best he could. Once finished he looked to see his clothes sitting near the sink.
“Good to see he washed my hat as well.” Heiji said getting dressed.
The door slid open the next second as Conan entered once more.
“How are the clothes?” Conan asked.
“You did a half job drying them, but it beats the predicament we were just in.”
“Just wait outside the door, I’ll be done shortly.” Conan said.
“What if Ran see’s me?”
“I doubt she get’s up from the couch, her phone conversation should hold her.” Conan said.
“I hope you’re right.” Heiji said stepping out.
He waited in the hall, looking down at his watch every so often. His phone began vibrating, he pulled it up to see an incoming call from his mother.
“Not a good time, I’ll have to call her back.”
After another minute of waiting the sound of the shower came to an end. He waited awhile longer, Conan whistling for him to head back in. He moved the door to the side to see Conan tieing his shoe.
“Close the door.” Conan alerted.
“How was the shower?” Heiji asked closing the door.
“It’ll do for now, I think we should start breaking down what we know.”
“There’s a lot at that. They said something about weapons, sounds like this is a case involving a lot of guys.”
“Ryo said he took out the salters, I’m betting that’s code for anyone who may have been a threat.” Conan said.
“We find those bodies, we make a huge step in solving what’s going on.”
“Question is...where are the bodies?”
The two of them stood in thought, trying to see if there was anything they could go off of.
“Wait...didn’t he say by the time anyone suspected anything the bodies would be long gone?” Heiji asked.
“Yea, you got something?”
“When we were chasing after them, I noticed the bottom of Ryo’s pants were wet.” Heiji said.
“Wet.....are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Conan asked.
“If you’re thinking he dropped the bodies in a lake or river, then I’d say we’re defiantly thinking the same thing.”
“That must be it, why else would he say the bodies will be long gone.” Conan said.
“He expects them to drift away.” Heiji completed.
“Now all we have to do is pin point a location.” Conan thought to himself.
Heiji reached into his pocket pulling his phone out, leaning against the wall. Conan looked over, lifting a brow.
“What are you doing?”
“His pants were still wet, that means he must have dumped the bodies not far from there.” Heiji replied.
“Good point, not to mention he didn’t have a car.”
“I’m checking this online map, we should have a location shortly.”
Conan walked to the sink, brushing his teeth to help further refreshen himself from their little episode they had endured.
“Kudo, looks like we have our drop site.” Heiji said holding out his phones.
He finished rinsing out his mouth, looking up.
“The docks?”
“It has to be, that’s the only place within ten miles of that place.” Heiji said.
“Then I guess we better go give it a look.” Conan said.
As they turned to head out, the door swung open. Ran stood in the doorway, a look of command in her face.
“I thought I heard voices, what are you two doing in here?” Ran asked.
“Just discussing a case.” Heiji lightly said.
“Why was the door shut, is it top secret or something?”
“You could say that.”
The scent slowly came to her. Ran stepped further in, walking up to the both of them.
“Did you both just take a shower, together for that matter?” Ran asked crossing her arms.
Conan and Heiji both started laughing, slight tears coming to their eyes. Ran reached down pulling Conan up by his shirt, grabbing Heiji by his with her free hand.
“Answer the question!”
They both immediately stopped laughing, the tears still draining down the sides of their cheeks.
“No.” They both said at the same time.
“No what?”
“No we didn’t take a shower together.” Conan said through his teeth trying not to laugh once again.
Ran released her hold on the both of them taking a step back, with a deep breath.
“Let’s start all over, what are you two doing in here?”
“Trying to solve a case.” Heiji answered.
“Did you two take a shower?”
“Not together.” Conan replied.
“Do I even want to know why?” Ran asked.
“No.” Both Conan and Heiji said together.
They stood in silence for the next few moments, Heiji checking the time on his phone.
“Hey Ran, think I could borrow Conan for another hour or so?” Heiji asked.
“What time is it?” She asked.
“Just a little after six thirty.” Heiji replied.
“Go right on ahead, eight thirty is your limit.”
“Understood.”
Ran walked them to the front door, holding it open.
“I don’t know what you two are up to, but I’ve got my eyes on you.”
“Nothing is going on.” Heiji said as the two of them stepped out.
“Uh huh.. just remember, I’m watching.” Ran said closing the door.
The sun fell from the sky, a cool breeze blowing through the streets. He approached the school, entering to find the halls empty. He entered the classroom, looking to see five students besides himself.
“You must be Mr. Wayne, I heard you’d be joining our class tonight.”
Tim turned as someone walked up to the side of him.
“I’m professor Bao, you may take a seat anywhere you please.”
“Thank you Professor.”
Tim walked over taking a seat near the front. He looked to the clock to see it was twenty five after seven.
“Just a couple more minutes until class begins, I wonder how Conan and Heiji are doing on the case.”
The taxi came to a stop. Heiji paid before he and Conan walked. Cars could be found piled atop eachother, wheels and license plates scattered about. It could easily have been mistaken for a junk yard. They made their way through the small maze of garbage, the smell of the fresh water gliding past their nostrils.
“We must be getting close.” Heiji stated.
The wind whistled through the many car parts, creating a wispy musical tune. As they got closer they began to hear sounds, it wasn’t much at first. That changed as they got closer and closer.
“You hear that?” Conan whispered.
“Yea, but what is it?”
A small laugh carried through the wind, followed by the sound of commotion. Heiji and Conan quickly made their way into that direction. The sounds became very clear as they turned the corner. Conan hid behind a car, Heiji did the same. The two of them peaked out from the side, looking to see a man lying on his back, blood dripping from the side of his face. Multiple men stood over him.
“That’s Ryo.” Conan thought to himself.
They stayed put watching on as the men standing over him kicked him from all sides, hitting him with pipe bars, sticks, anything they could find. Conan looked to Heiji who looked back.
“We gotta do something.” Conan whispered.
“What can we do, there’s atleast ten of them.”
They directed their attention back over. Their assault didn’t last much longer. One of the men raised a gun to the air, firing one shot.
“Enough, that will do.” He said lowering his weapon.
“Are we going to let him live Scar Eyes, send a message to them damn Black Yangs?”
“We’re going to send a message alright.”
“So we have the Outworlders and Black Yangs, looks like Tim was right about the gangs.” Conan thought to himself.
Scar Eyes walked over placing his boot upon Ryo’s chest.
“Looks like you’re road ends hear.”
“You really think you have it all figured, the Black Yangs are making their way up.” Ryo said spitting blood to his boot.
“I really doubt that, we’ve got guy’s in the service, police force, you name it. What ever you think is happening, will soon fall.” Scar Eyes confidently stated.
Ryo began laughing.
“Is that so, bettin you aint heard of ‘The Tiger of Oni’s’. There’s no challenging him.”
“Who’s he, your boss?” Scar Eyes questioned.
“Never seen him before, no one really does. One thing I can assure is he’s no man, your whole gang will ultimately fall....your families will die a horrible death.” Ryo said as he is kicked across the face.
“That’s for spitting on my boot.”
Heiji and Conan watched on, frozen from the details they had gained.
“Conan we gotta do something.”
“Not like we can go to the police, you heard him, they have guys working within the system.” Conan whispered back.
“That’s why we have an ace card up our sleeves.” Heiji said.
“Ace card?” Conan questioned.
“Call Drake.” Heiji said.
“Gotcha.”
Conan quickly pulled out his phone, hitting the speed dial. All he got was the answering machine. He tried once more.
“Darn it, he must still be in class.”
“Leave him a text, make sure it sounds urgent.” Heiji said peaking from behind the car once more.
Scar Eyes reached into his jacket pulling out a cigar, lighting it not long after. He whistled out after taking a few huffs, the smell drifting through the air.
“Knightez go and fetch the gasoline.” Scar Eyes ordered.
“This is not good, this is really not good.” Heiji thought to himself.
He came back nearly a minute later, bringing a small tank of gasoline with him. Scar Eyes took another puff before taking the tank into his hand.
“I hope you have insurance.” Scar Eyes said as he began dumping the gasoline over Ryo.
Ryo began coughing out as some of it entered into his nose and mouth.
“This is a message for Mr. Oni Tiger....go to hell.” Scar Eyes said dropping the cigar down, his body consumed with flames.
He screamed out as the others surrounding him laughed out, taking a few steps back. Conan clenched his fists in anger. The smell of human flesh soared through the air, the flames twirling toward the night sky.
“We’ll leave his burnt carcass in their streets, a message at dawn.”
“There’s just to many of them, there’s no way I could take them all.” Heiji thought to himself as he felt cold metal touch upon the back of his neck.
Heiji quickly spun to be knocked over the head rendering him unconscious. Before Conan could react he to was hit with the metal bar sending him rolling to the ground. Everything went blank from there. The tempature dropped as the night went on. The wind blowing through their hair. Pain lingered over his head, his eyes slowly opening. It took a few seconds for his vision to fully come back. Heiji could feel himself tied to a chair. He slowly lifted his head, looking to see all the men surrounded them.
“I see you’re awake.”
Heiji turned his head to see Scar Eyes.
“Where’s the boy, and how long was I out?” Heiji asked.
“Tied to the chair behind you Detective Hattori. To answer your second question, you’ve been out for a little over an hour.”
“You know who I am?” Heiji asked.
“I’m from up west to, I know all about you. It’s a shame you got involved in all this.” Scar Eyes stated.
“So you planning on killing me?”
“Afraid so. can’t have any outsiders knowing about our operations, especially not a detective.” Scar Eyes said.
It fell silent for the next few seconds. Scar Eyes began pacing around, rubbing the bottom of his chin. Conan finally awoke lifting his head up.
“You can kill me, but let the boy go.” Heiji said.
“No can do, he witnessed a killing. I’ll make sure his death is quick and painless.”
“Please, just let him go.”
Scar Eyes turned walking straight up to him.
“This can’t be happening, it can’t end like this.” Conan thought to himself.
“I respect you Hattori, I really do. But business is business.” Scar Eyes said turning.
“So you guy’s are the Outworlders?” Heiji asked.
“You heard right.” One said from the side.
“So what happens from here, what are your big plans?” Heiji asked.
Scar Eyes smiled at his approach.
“We have a meeting in two days, Kosong Korea. Gathering of all members, including those in neighboring states and cities.”
“What for?” Heiji asked.
“You sure do have a lot of questions for someone who dosen’t have much longer to live.”
The lights surrounding the area began blinking. No one really payed much attention to this. A few seconds later they completely shut off. Everyone reached for their weapons, the moon the only source of light left.
“What the hell happened to the lights?” One of the men questioned.
“Firecode, go and check the fuse box.” Scar Eyes instructed.
“Right away.” He said taking off.
Conan took this time to slowly try and wiggle free. He found it very difficult to try and squeeze out. It was no use, the rope was to tightly wrapped. They all stood in silence, only the wind driving through the cars and crates could be heard. Over a minute went by, the lights still hadn’t come back on.
“Fuck, I knew I shouldn’t have sent his clueless ass.”
“You want me to go see what the hold up is?” Another asked stepping forward.
At that second a flying object zips by cutting both Conan and Heiji free.
“What in the!” Scar Eyes yelled as they all looked to the air.
Conan and Heiji jumped from the chair as Red Robin landed in the middle of the group.
“Run!” He yelled as Heiji and Conan both ran taking cover behind one of the many cars.
Gun shots began firing off as the two of them caught their breath.
“Was that Tim?” Heiji asked.
“That’s him alright.” Conan replied.
They could hear the fight breaking out. Conan peaked from behind the car, Heiji doing the same. Red Robin flipped over one of the men, the bullets just missing the side of his arm. He landed to his feet elbowing him in the back of the neck.
“Six of them are armed with firearms, need to take them out first.”
Red Robin flipped to the side of one of the beat down cars. Using his strength, ripping the door from it’s hinges, swinging it like a frisbee knocking four of the gunmen to the ground. Another came from behind taking a swing at him with a machete. Red Robin dodged down, popping back up with an uppercut. He could feel the force of the strike, hear the cracking of the jaw.
“Come on, he’s just one damn guy!” Scar Eyes barked out.
“I got em!!!” One yelled taking aim.
Red Robin quickly leaped out of the way reaching for a couple birdrangs. He released on his landing, knocking the gun from his hand. Someone grabbed him from behind. Tim flung his head back catching him in the nose. He then flipping him off his back to the ground with a finishing nerve strike to the neck.
“Kudo are you seeing this?!” Heiji exclaimed.
“How could I not be?”
One of them lunged forward at him with a punch. Red Robin jumped up with a kick hitting him square inbetween the eyes. He crashed to the ground, instantly KO’d.
“To hell with this.” Scar Eyes said as he turned to run only to crash into the wall.
He fell to the ground unconscious. Two of the three remaining men charged at him. Red Robin smiled at this, slamming a smoke bomb to the ground. When the smoke cleared their two bodies could be seen, laid out. Red Robin was nowhere to be seen.
“Where did RR go to?” Conan thought to himself.
The remaining member of the Outworlders reached over grabbing one of the bird disks before darting off into the night.
“He’s getting away!” Conan yelled out.
“Let’s get him.” Heiji said as the two got to their feet.
“Let him go.” A voice said from behind.
Heiji and Conan nearly jumped out of their shoes. They both turned to see Red Robin leaned up against a car with his arms crossed.
“Don’t ever do that again.” Conan said adjusting his glasses.
“Good work detectives.” Tim complemented.
“What’s the big idea, why are you letting him get away?!” Heiji yelled.
“Sending a message.” Red Robin replied.
“I don’t know how you do things back in Gotham, but we sure as hell don’t just let criminals take off!!!” Heiji shouted taking a few steps toward him.
“Looks like you have something you need to get off your chest, go ahead Hattori, try and take a swing at me.” Red Robin dared.
Heiji took an additional step forward only to have his jacket grabbed by Conan.
“Stay out of this Kudo!” Heiji yelled.
“I must really advise against this.” Conan firmly said.
“Better listen to your boy.” Red Robin said uncrossing his arms and standing up straight.
Heiji pushed past Conan stepping straight up to him.
“Sending a message, what message?!”
They stared into the others eyes, Conan standing to the side, not sure what was going to happen next.
“To let his pals know....let them know I’m coming.” Red Robin replied.
Heiji took a few steps back, turning his head to the side. Conan breathed out in relief.
“I’m sorry.” Heiji said.
“Don’t worry about it, we’re not always going to agree on certain things.” Red Robin.
“We did gather a little bit of new information.” Heiji said.
“Already know.”
“You were watching?” Conan asked.
“I’m already planning our trip to Kosong Korea, should have everything wrapped by tommarrow morning. I already alerted the police with one of my many secure anonymous lines.”
“Good thing you showed up, we might have been killed if you hadn’t.” Conan said.
“You better head home, or Ran might kill you.” Tim said.
Heiji and Conan both looked to their phones to see it was forty after nine.
“How did you know Ran.” Conan began as he looked up to see Red Robin was gone.
“Add that to the list of things for him not to do.” Heiji said looking to see Tim was gone as well.
The both of them headed out, catching a taxi just before the police arrived. It was a silent ride back. They sat, looking out to the stars which filled the night sky. Conan took a deep breath when they arrived back to the house.
“You want me to go in with you?” Heiji asked.
“I think I can handle it, thanks for asking.”
Conan headed up, his hands weighing down in his pocket. He gently pushed the front door open. Ran was nowhere to be seen.
“What were you doing out so late?” Kogoro asked walking down the hall.
“Getting help with some homework. Where’s Ran?” Conan asked.
“She headed off to bed about thirty minutes ago.” Kogoro answered.
“Guess I got a lucky break.”
Conan headed to his room, closing the door behind him. He could still feel the affects from taking that hit to the head. If it was bad now, he couldn’t imagine what it would feel like in the morning. Conan managed to get undressed switching off the light. He slipped under the sheets in his underwear, to exhausted to get in to his night clothes. He drifted off not long after, his muscles tensing up.
Birds chirped just outside the window, the sun rays tracing along his back. Foot steps approached the room. Conan rolled to his back reaching up to feel his head.
“Not as bad as I thought it’d be.”
The door pushed open the next second with Ran entering. Surprisingly she had a huge smile on her face.
“I hope you had a good nights rest.” Ran said.
“I’d say it was pretty legit.” Conan said.
“Get your bags packed, you’re going on a little vacation.” Ran informed.
“Vacation?”
“You’ll only miss two days of school, three tops.”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Conan asked sitting up.
“Your uncle called, he wants to take you on a little trip. He was so sweet over the phone.”
Confusion came upon Conan’s face.
“My uncle?”
“Yes, Richard Edagawa, aren’t you excited Conan?!” Ran asked in excitement.
“Who in the heck is Richard Edagawa, what is going on?”
To Be Continued
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