Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ Hidden Links ( Chapter 71 )

Chapter Seventy-One

Hidden Links

“What is it?” Ai wondered, tapping her fingers on the desktop. “What's the link?”

She should really be focusing on APTX 4869, she knew; there had to be some special link between her, Kudo and Hattori to produce the identical effect. But her mind kept drifting to Vermouth, her disbelief that the bitch could actually die. It was an oddly freeing sensation, knowing that she was gone; she could never hurt her or Kudo again. It was a freedom that Ai hadn't felt since before meeting Vermouth.

At sixteen, she'd graduated early from college overseas- with honours- and had returned to Japan to begin on her parent's APTX research. One week in, just as she was settling into her lab and adjacent apartments, Vermouth appeared.

“So you're the new head researcher for Project Pandora?” she said, her gaze sweeping over the lab. “My, but aren't you young.”

“I'm very capable of continuing the research,” Sherry said, keeping her voice calm and inflectionless though instinctively feeling that Vermouth, well doing the same, had meant her comment in a derogatory way. “My codename's Sherry.”

“I'm Vermouth,” she said, with a thin token smile. “I don't suppose we shall see much of each other, but I will be overseeing certain aspects of your research. I'm also here to inform you precisely what your parent's aims were in the research.”

“I understood that it was something to slow down the effects of aging,” Sherry said.

“Not slow them down- stop them,” Vermouth said softly. “You, like your parents and grandparents, are going to seek a way to develop the Elixir of Immortality.” She said the last words in an odd tone of voice, half mocking, half... hateful.

Sherry stared at her in shock. “Immortality?”

“Do you doubt its possibility?” Vermouth said sharply. “This project was demanded by Anokata... if you do not feel capable-”

“I am very capable,” Sherry cut her off. “Well... Immortality, eh? That will be a challenge... but I haven't had a real challenge in a long time.”

“Good,” Vermouth said, though it was thin and cold. Sherry could already tell that she hated her, even though she wasn't sure why. “Oh, and just remember, little girl... this project may be important and you may be brilliant, but that does not mean that you are not expendable... is that understood?”

From the first moment, they'd simply rubbed each other up wrong; and on Ai's end, at least, that dislike had been turned to fear by Vermouth's elevated position, and thus her power over both herself and her sister. Things had only been made worse by her friendship with Gin.

Though he wasn't on the Project- he was an assassin, plain and simple- he was privy to the truth of it, though she hadn't known why for a long time. He had been fascinated by it. And his fascination led to him spending a lot of time with Ai, both in the labs and out of it.

Looking back at what she now knew Gin to be, she had been a foolish child to think that she'd formed a real friendship with him, or anything more; she had to wonder if he was even capable of friendship. But she'd been flattered by what she'd thought was his interest in her, and perhaps that was why she hadn't seen what he really was, or perhaps she'd blinded herself to it. Whatever the case, all it had lead to was a broken heart on her part when he'd killed her sister and then come for her; the realization that to him she was, like so many others, expendable, only necessary so long as she turned her talents to the Syndicate's aid.

“Then again, maybe I did get through to him,” she thought with a sad smile, remembering when he'd almost killed her on the roof of the Haido City Hotel.

“I could have killed you there, but I thought I'd let you go out with style...”

“For him, that's practically sentimentality...”

“How're ya doin', Ai-chan?”

She glanced up to see Kazuha coming in with a tea tray. “Oh... Toyama-chan...”

“Call me Kazuha-chan,” she insisted. “I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd come see how you were doin'... Yukiko-chan was complainin' that ya were probably up all night researchin'...”

“Arigato,” Ai said, grabbing a sandwich. “I guess I'm not really getting anywhere, I'm sorry... I know you're worried about Hattori-kun...”

“Hey, at least the baka didn't put me through all the worry Ran-chan went through,” she snorted angrily. “Though I don't think he coulda... Clark Kent glasses or not, that's Heiji, an' he never coulda hid it... he could barely hide Kudo-kun, fer Kami's sake...”

Ai gave a soft little laugh, but her mind was still half out in the snow.

“...but, y'know, if you were a little older, that drug would be the business, wouldn't it?” Kazuha mused. “I mean, if yer at the bad end of yer forties, just pop a couple of pills an' hey, yer twenty-nine again...”

“Yeah, so it's too bad the only people that it's done that for barely had ten years to give...” Ai began, then froze as it hit her. “Could it really be that simple?” she breathed, spinning her chair around to her computer.

“Ai-chan? Wassup?” Kazuha asked, confused.

“The three people to have shrunk were sixteen, nineteen and eighteen at the time of consumption,” Ai said rapidly. “The next youngest to consume the drug- the youngest to die- was twenty-eight. That's a gap of nine years between the oldest to shrink and the youngest to die...”

“Yeah...?” Kazuha asked, clearly not following but willing to wait until she could.

“There were no victims between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five,” Ai said, “but that's the period of physical maturity. In other words, people's bodies continue growing until generally sometime between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-five, and until then there are a special set of growth hormones surging through the body at all times- hormones not present after twenty-five at the latest...”

“Oh, I see!” Kazuha gasped. “Ya mean... if the drug had some kinda reaction ta those hormones...”

“That would explain why the effect was different on myself, Kudo-kun and Hattori-kun,” Ai explained, calling up chemical data. “We still had bodies full of those growth hormones... that could have had something to do with how the central nervous system was unaffected, or how the apoptosis stabilized... of course, the drug was dealing with youth and growth hormones anyway, so... Kami, why didn't I see it before!”

“I'll leave ya to it,” Kazuha said, backing out of the lab, “but try an' get some sleep at some point, eh?”

Ai nodded slightly, all her attention now focused on the chemical calculations on-screen.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

“You're getting out today, Shiratori-keibu?” Shinichi asked as he stuck his head around the door to Shiratori and Takagi's room, to see Shiratori pale but standing.

“Yes, although they've warned me to take it easy,” he said. “Takagi-kun's still in here for a few days, eh?”

“What can I do?” Takagi said, shrugging his good shoulder. “I'm just glad Sato-san wasn't at that mess last night...”

“Kami, no,” Shinichi said with a wince. He'd been kept overnight even though the bump didn't seem to have done him any damage, just in case of concussion, but thankfully he was fine and free to go. A dozen or so injured officers weren't going anywhere anytime soon, though, as well as the twenty who'd been killed. It made Shinichi sick to think about the Syndicate's power and cruelty, how much they were willing to do, how many people they were willing to kill, all for that jewel.

But it also meant that they were desperate. Secrecy be hanged, their cover had been blown to the cops, and that meant all bets were off. They were desperate, but that made them more dangerous than ever, even without Vermouth.

“No, just stuck in an interrogation going nowhere,” Sato sighed as she stepped into the room. “Yamashiro's remained mute. Even when we brought up his codename, Schnapps, we still got nothing. By the way, congratulations, Shiratori-keibu.”

“Congratulations?” Shiratori said with a frown. “On living?”

“No, though that too,” Sato said with a smile. “The purges have left a lot of room for promotion, considering how many people in even the higher ranks are now getting to see the cells from the inside. The wake of the whole Yamashiro disaster left Matsumoto as the Superintendant General, would you believe?”

“Really?” Takagi said in surprise. “That's fantastic! Give him my congrats!”

“I will,” Sato assured me. “Megure-keibu got promoted to his old position, too! And into his vacancy, they nominated...”

“Me?” Shiratori said.

“Hey, congratulations!” Shinichi said. “So they're continuing the hunt for these guys, right?”

“Yeah,” Sato said. “We're working with the FBI now, on the agreement that their previous involvement stays off the record. I'm not bothered, this has to be one of the biggest crime crackdowns in history...”

“Ah, there you are, Conan-kun!”

Shinichi turned to see Yuusaku coming up the corridor towards him. “I offered to come pick you up,” he explained. “I need to stop and talk to Ginzo-kun, anyway... by the way, I heard about the wave of promotions from Megure-kun,” he added to the rest of the room. “Congratulations!”

“See you!” Shinichi called, following Yuusaku down the hall.

“How are you feeling?” Yuusaku asked.

“A bit of a headache, some nasty nightmares about that massacre to add to my currently stunted little Mental Gallery Of Horrors,” Shinichi said nonchalantly, “but obviously, it could have been worse. Did you find...?”

“Yes,” Yuusaku said, entering Nakamori's room. “Ginzo-kun... how are you?”

“It's not as bad as they make out, I could be out of here already,” Nakamori grumbled, indicating his arm. “I'd rather they spent the time and resources on the worse-injured officers. Glad to see you're alright, Conan-kun... surprised the life out of me when you grabbed that gun and starting firing back... you're a surprisingly dead shot.”

“Nah, Mitsuhiko-kun's much better than me at Robo Shootout,” Shinichi said cheerily.

“And they say video games only encourage violence,” Yuusaku commented with a laugh. “Well, it's just a good thing you got out of this heist all right... as did Kaito-kun and Aoko-kun.”

“You've seen them?” Nakamori said. “What's happened?”

“I ran into them where Kaito-kun landed,” Yuusaku explained. “Kaito-kun's currently lying at my house and healing a couple of fractured ribs. We told the doctor he's Shinichi, not hard to pull off since the two look so alike. Shinichi is in on it, by the way, but since he's doing all he can to be less than publicly visible anyway there shouldn't be a problem. I also dropped Aoko-kun off at your home. She seems to have taken the revelation with relatively good grace, although I think they'd already been talking for a while by the time I reached them and he does have a rather impressive set of nail-marks on his cheek, so who knows what kind of ups and downs they went through. But they're all right now, I think. She was saying that she was going to come visit you but the poor girl looked frankly exhausted, so I think it's good odds that she reached her room and hasn't woken up yet.”

“So they're both alive and safe...” Nakamori sighed in relief. “Did he say what he did with the real diamond? The one we picked up off of the man we scraped from the pavement was a fake.”

“It's safe for now,” Yuusaku said lightly. “The most important part is that they're both alive and safe, right?”

“Thank Kami,” Nakamori sighed, looking more relaxed than Shinichi had seen him in a while. “The remaining mysteries are how the hell to get these people to talk, since they're saying nothing under interrogation, and who the hell that sniper was...”

“Sniper?” Yuusaku asked.

“Someone was shooting at those bastards last night,” Nakamori growled. “They weren't police or FBI, and nobody got past the protective ring- but that meant that they'd have to be shooting from over 650 yards away...”

“The Syndicate does have a number of highly skilled snipers, though,” Yuusaku said. “Shinichi once mentioned that a sniper named Chianti has a range of 600 yards, and her partner Korn is even more skilled...”

“But whoever this was was aiming at the Syndicate,” Nakamori pointed out.

“Indeed,” Yuusaku said, “but only after Kid got moving and bullets started to fly. In other words, it could merely have been the covering of a botched-up mission, silencing their people there- though it seems Sake was dealt with anyway...”

“Let's not go into that,” Ginzo shuddered. “It was a long drop and he wasn't in great shape to begin with, after that flashbomb hit him in the eye... How'd that idior survive that shot, anyway? I would have thought a bulletproof vest, but the blood...”

“Stage blood,” Shinichi shrugged. “He must have had a few bags of it tacked to the vest. He must have been anticipating something like that, if They thought he was dead They'd let their guard down... I noticed it was congealing and drying too fast, that's when I realized...” He trailed off as his phone rang.

“Moshi moshi?” he said, picking it up as Yuusaku and Ginzo started to talk tactics.

“Kudo, I'm on a major breakthrough so I want to try a drug trial tomorrow, does that work for you?”

“Does it ever,” Shinichi breathed.

“I mean, it's a weekday, so...”

“It's only third grade, been there, done that,” Shinichi said. “I'll try visiting a few familiar places, maybe go back to Tropical Land...”

“Good. I'm giving Hattori-kun a test drug too, but a slightly different strain, just testing something... if I'm right... never mind, I'll spare you the scientific gibberish. But if I'm right… this could be the real cure.”

“No kidding...” Shinichi breathed. “That's brilliant!”

“We'll just have to be careful, is all... never mind. I'll see you when you get back. Glad you're all right, by the way.”

“Can't kill me if you try,” Shinichi said. “Gin should know. Anyway, see ya...”

“Who was that?” Yuusaku asked.

“Haibara-san, she's invited me over to play while Ran-neechan's in school today,” Shinichi said, affecting his “kiddy” act again.

“I suppose I'd better go drop you off there, then,” Yuusaku said. “Look after yourself, Ginzo-kun. Watch your blood pressure.”

“Very funny,” Ginzo snorted.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

Saguru tried not to yawn, wondering why he'd even bothered to come in today. He hadn't gotten home until 3am this morning- working from the Witching Hour to the Devil's Hour- and then he'd been researching all night. Besides, to be frank, he was a little lonely. Kuroba still wasn't back for obvious reasons, and Aoko hadn't turned up either. Neither had Akako, for some reason.

She had been acting oddly lately, ever since Kuroba had decided to go full-time on his night job. She acted oddly anyway, but he was used to her normal weirdness, and this was something new. Rather than saying odd things, she was quiet, fidgety, often lost in thought. And the past few days, she wouldn't stop fiddling with her left wrist.

Saguru hadn't wondered to long about the reason for that. He'd noticed that she'd never worn the short-sleeved summer uniform, and though she always dressed like a Goth Loli anyway she never wore anything with short sleeves if she could help it. There was one obvious reason for covering your wrists, and Saguru found it unsettling. It was just difficult to imagine the confident, flirtatious girl shutting herself in a bathroom and opening her wrists up with a razor- but then, there was a lot he didn't know about her past, wasn't there?

Whatever it was, though- whatever had made her into what she was now, possibly deep into dark magic, Saguru wasn't much up to disbelieving anything anymore- was hardly a fairy tale. Whatever it was just might be dangerous.

“And given the way things are these days, what are the odds it has something to do with Them...?”

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{ }{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

I like Akako a lot too, TwilTye, and I wish she would appear more… I think there could be a lot in her… well, there'll be a lot of her here ^_- here's more, but how long have you been a ned? O_o XDXD

XDXD Shinichi's here, Pretztailfan95… It's an American chain, but like most American chains it's got outlets worldwide (there's a big one near Edinburgh)… It'll probably be in aisle 3. They always tell us that things are in aisle 3 XDXD Dunno about stun-gun wristwatches, but I do know that they have a sale on Sonic Screwdrivers… XDXD Remember in the first drug trial, Ai said “the only thing I'm certain of is that it won't turn you into a pink elephant”? Akako said that badly-mixed Amnesial could produce “elephantitis”… XDXD

MUAHAHAHA, International DCFanficNut1207! XD Akako's going to have to come to a decision very soon…

Guess away, Mimzsilver… You're close at some points… but I'm not telling you which XDXD *evil*

Wonder who'll remember first, StargateNerd? XD

Vermouth told Shinichi all she knew, FHP2208, but perhaps some things are even beyond her… I like Yuusaku as a character and I'd love to know him as a person, but I'm not too sure I'd want him as a father… XD

Neither can do it alone, Kayla Edogawa, as Akako prophesized… Akako's time is coming ^_- XDXD hmm, there might be something in that theory… EVIL KOGORO! XDXDXD “Have fun stormin' the castle…” XD I think a pic of chibi-Hakuba would be cute. All chibi are cute ^_^ I'm back already… OMG, I'm a sixth year… IT'S SCARY! (in America, equivalent of… whatever the final year of high school it. Do you have 13th grade?)

*applauds Mel72000* XD Yes, I suppose I must claim no ownership to anything created by those great gods of fiction, JK Rowling and George Lucas…. I can only bow before their magnificence XDXDXD I'll miss you! T_T All powers, if not judicious and fair, inevitably create their own downfalls… the Syndicate is no different.

I have to do… nothing at all next year, Marie Ravenclaw! XD except possibly sit in front of the school with some speakers blasting “Welcome to the Jungle” at the new first years… XDXDXD These are the rules of witchcraft that I have created for max angst purposes, though I probably won't reuse any except the “no crying” maxim laid down in the manga… They're all dealing with a lot right now. As if being a teenager wasn't hard enough… XD

Why do I go back before ALL of you, KageNoNeko? DX As a Furuba fan, I'm addicted to the power of the flashback… XD They try to drive people until they break, but there's just no telling what may cause people to rally… we're an unpredictable lot, humans XDXD

Muahahahaha, Desperatembrace. Muahahahaha. Blame Sueric, my fanfic role model. It is from her that I get my love of intricate- and overall LONG- plotlines and merciless teasing of the commenters XDXD You never can tell with bees… XD I think the sight would probably make Hakuba's day too… XDXD

Don't run yourself to death, JapaneseAnimeFreak16 XD with the school and club years fully underway, I know exactly how you feel… -_- I don't think even I would do that, though… XDXD although Gin certainly dresses a bit like Vader… *gets demented idea for Space Case* no, no and hell no… XDXD I always wondered how Toichi got into it in the first place… that's what I think. Witches don't tend to make friends beyond other, fearful witches, which gives Akako some rather unique possibilities… well, Shinichi will be back to normal for a little bit… Heiji'll get his chance to feel the burn XDXDXD Weird shit ahoy! XD

Kawaii! The fansub does tend to be different, PlayingThePiano, but the official dubs tend to be worse, in my opinion… You're in Vietnam? Wow, cool! I'm amazed that my fic's being read so far away… ^_^ I dunno about college, I don't get there until next year, but I don't have a lot right now (6th year, 13th year of formal education… 7 primary, 6 secondary…)… unless you count the fact that I have to do pretty much all of my coursework independently… T_T I have escaped math forever, however! :D Good luck! ^_-…. KEEP THE MOP AWAY FROM MEEEEEE! XDXDXD

Arigato, Girl Wonder 2005! Your review reached me! *party* I love writing Akako, I'm glad you like what I came up with ^_- I actually adore HakAko as well… I think both of them have been developing so much that they deserve a little romance, don't you? XD I do know all that about the police, by the way. They were wearing body armour and riot helmets, it's just that that's very little use against shots in the face… and they were far from expecting an attack to come from fellow officers, especially after the purges… as for the officers that they got to in the first place, I'm putting that down to the immense power and ruthlessness of the Organization. I know I'm somewhat underselling the police, but it was necessary that the Organization could get past them… I think Heiji would be very pissed at me for it, though XD I mean no disrespect for the Japanese Police, it was just unfortunate that several plot points demanded that the Syndicate be more powerful at that stage… Gomenasai!

I do not claim to own any of the characters in Meitantei Conan. They are the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho. All characters, couples and locations, if Canon, will be faithful to the manga, so if you're into fics with weird pairings like Shinichi and Heiji, the back button is at the top there. The fic may not make sense if you have not read up to chapter 698, which you can do at a site called (read between the lines) O/n/e/ma/n/g/a, but I advise you to buy the official Tankoban novels (up to volume 30 are out in English at the time of writing) so that Aoyama-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with his imagination. Now, I hope you enjoy the fic! (If you don't, please see my previous comments re the back button).