Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ Ground Zero ( Chapter 83 )

Chapter Eighty-Three

Ground Zero

“Time is running out,” Ushi snarled quietly, looking through the sniper scope at the Kudo home. “We have two days.”

“Everyone is in position,” Gin reported.

“Go.”

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“What's that?” Miwako wondered.

“What?” Shiratori asked. Miwako waved her hand at him to be quiet.

“That!”

A second later, they both heard it; the screeching of tires and bursts of gunfire. A moment later, two cars squealed around the corner, inhabitants firing heavily on each other. One overturned at the end of the street. Miwako pulled her car into gear, braking in the middle of the road, forcing the other car to brake so hard that they crashed into the other.

“Dammit! Can we get some help out here?” Shiratori demanded into his radio. They rushed over to the overturned cars, where a number of the passengers were lying on the ground clutching various injuries and the upright were engaging in violent fistfights.

As the police were distracted by the warring gangs, a number of dark figures slipped over the Kudo's wall from the adjoining property.

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“Are you sure you can do this, Kuroba?”

“We have to. Look, they're coming.”

“Then we're coming with you.”

“Will they really fall for this?”

“Watch and learn.”

“Have fun stormin' the Syndicate...”

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“The Kudo house is empty,” Chianti said, opening another doorway. “Could they have known we were coming?”

“Impossible,” Red Rum growled.

“Don't worry, they didn't. They were simply moved to one location when the FBI strike was brought forward.”

All turned, in some cases in total shock, as Vermouth sauntered into the room, pulling off a police officer's uniform to reveal a black tank top and black jeans underneath. “Evening, all.”

“You! How-?!” Chianti shrieked, raising her gun at Vermouth. A single shot was fired. Vermouth remained smiling.

Slowly, Chianti dropped to the floor, her rifle falling from her limp grasp. Red Rum pocketed his gun again, without his face moving a muscle. Kir and Vodka stared in shock.

“I will take no insubordination, not at this point,” he growled. “Vermouth, my dear, where have you been?”

“Away,” she sighed. “In any case... they are all next door, if you're interested.”

“You may wander too much, my dear,” Red Rum said with a smile, “but you always come up trumps...”

Kir stared from Chianti's dead body to Vermouth's living one. “What... how...?”

“I see,” Gin said quietly. “So she is like Him. That's why she's His favourite...”

“Aniki?” Vodka asked quietly.

“Say nothing,” Gin said quietly. Kir could understand why. This was, she had to admit, the first time that she had seen the Organization's shadowy leader. She had now realized why even Gin deferred to him. She hadn't even seen him draw the gun, he had been so fast. And so ruthless. But Vermouth...

“Like him.” She had survived a bullet in the head without a visible mark. Did that mean that mean that he, too, could-?

“There,” Vermouth said, running for the wall between the Kudo's and the Kuroba's.

Then something red flashed in the moonlight, as the Kaitou Kid burst from the house in a shower of fireworks.

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“Go!”

Jodie burst through the last doorway, gun raised. But this room, too, was empty.

“What the hell's going on?” she asked aloud. “This is their leader's house! But-”

“It's empty,” James said, glancing around. “He knew we were coming...”

“How?!” Jodie demanded. “It'll take us at least a couple of hours to make it back to Beika... Kami, in that time, if they've...” then she looked around. “Hey, where's Shuu?”

“Perhaps he too sensed something wrong and left already,” James said, striding towards the front door while cops began searching the house. “Which makes me even more certain that things may well have gone horribly wrong...”

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“Bring him down!” Ushi demanded, firing at the Kid as he took to the skies, the red jewel shining in his grasp. Vodka and Kir complied, without much success- the thief was dodging too skilfully. Gin and Eta held back.

“The jewel-” Eta began; though she would love nothing more than to smash the cursed thing, she could not risk hitting Kaito- but Ushi cut her off.

“That's a fake,” he snarled. “There's a red flashlight up his sleeve...”

“I see,” Gin said quietly, and began shooting, but Kid was already almost out of sight. There was a blinding flash that obscured their sight, and when it faded Kid was gone and the lab next door in darkness.

Eta felt her heart freeze. She'd seen that it was a fake, obviously, but she'd prayed that Ushi would fall for it anyway; prayed that he'd follow Kaito away from them…

“It is a blind, making us think that they are moving the Pandora,” Ushi growled. “It must still be in there somewhere. Come on...”

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“Did they buy it?” Ai muttered, rapidly decanting some liquid into the large cooking pot that was the only receptacle at hand large enough to submerge the jewel and take boiling liquid, and was now three-quarters full.

“Probably not, nobody would be dim enough to buy a blind like that, certainly not the likes of Gin and Ushi,” Shinichi said, scurrying up the stairs. “Damn, I wish we'd had time to take a temporary antidote, even a couple of hours would have done it...”

“Be careful!” Yukiko cried after him. She and Agasa were helping Ai brew a large quantity of the antidote, the jewel lying on the counter next to the pot. Shinichi closed the door behind him, listening for Agasa pushing a cabinet in front of it, and ran upstairs, where Hattori was grimly watching through an upstairs window.

“Hakuba, Kuroba an' Koizumi all got out safe,” he muttered. “They're meetin' up with Nakamori-keibu an' he's gonna use Kid as a pretext ta bring cops back here, right?”

“Yeah,” Shinichi said, “but where's-”

He got his answer as someone started banging into the door. Aoko and Ran ran downstairs to block it.

“No!” Yuusaku yelled, diving to knock the girls out of the way just as gunfire ripped into the blocked door, knocking it away.

“On your knees!” a voice yelled. Shinichi and Heiji ducked down behind a couch on the upper floor, as did Kazuha, who hadn't reached the stairs yet- but Ran, Aoko and Yuusaku were all still out in the open, and had no choice but to raise their hands and drop to their knees as the five black figures strode in, guns raised.

Shinichi saw Kir, face blank, following Vermouth (several faces drained of color at the sight of her, but Shinichi had been half-expecting it ever since his memories had returned), flanking a man on one side who had Gin and Vodka on his other. This man, Shinichi knew, had to be Red Rum- Ushi.

He was very tall, even from Shinichi's diminished perspective, taller than Yuusaku; definitely well over six feet. He was powerfully built, too, not over-muscled but clearly strong. His colouring was similar to Vermouth's- Eta's; Short blond hair and cold, pale blue eyes, remorselessly regarding the three before him.

“Gin, Vodka, search upstairs,” he said. “Vermouth, with me. Kir, dispose of them-”

He was cut off as Kir shot his gun out of his hand, rolling away as Gin and Vodka instantly fired on her. Yuusaku, Ran and Aoko quickly got out of the line of fire. Kazuha dropped from the upper balcony onto Gin's good arm, causing him to drop his gun.

“This is for what ya did ta Heiji!” she yelled angrily, flipping him, though he recovered quickly and slipped out of her grasp, his movements made somewhat awkward by the fact that his right arm was still in a sling, wrapped tight against his chest by his coat. Red Rum backed away, pulling another gun out of his pocket, Vermouth and Kir firing at each other. Vodka made to shoot at Kazuha, but Aoko and Ran lunged, Aoko knocking his gun aside with a mop that she had located somewhere while Ran karate-chopped him from the other side; he could not dodge both, losing his gun while avoiding Ran's knockout blow.

“Hurry!” Shinichi hissed to Hattori, trying to get to the stairs, praying to not be noticed by the shooters. Despite having two opponents apiece, Gin and Vodka were holding their own. Kir fell with a scream as Vermouth hit her, barely avoiding another fatal shot from Red Rum and ducking behind the couch.

Vodka caught Yuusaku in a headlock, but his grip weakened long enough for the writer to escape when Aoko cracked him hard across the skull with the handle of the mop. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do him any real damage; he immediately kicked out and hit Aoko in the gut. She doubled up, gasping in pain, but when he made to hit her again Kazuha deflected his fist and flipped him away from the injured girl.

Vermouth gasped, her attention distracted when Aoko collapsed, staring at her pained face. Kir took the opportunity to shoot her gun away, before ducking back and panting in pain as she dug in her pocket for more rounds.

“Where are they, where are they?” Shinichi muttered feverishly, flipping one-handedly through the drawers on Agasa-Hakase's desk upstairs.

“Whatcha lookin' fer?” Hattori asked, opening another drawer.

“The watch! He was repairing it...”

Ran leapt, aiming one of her head-height kicks at Gin, but he ducked, parrying and knocking her to the floor. Red Rum aimed at her, but Kogoro, who had been standing guard downstairs with Eri but had evidently been drawn upstairs by the gunfire, roared in anger and grabbed him, throwing the taller man. Red Rum rapidly rolled to his feet, apparently undamaged, but he lost his grip on his gun, and now he too had two opponents, as Gin and Vodka did. Aoko had recovered her wind and swung at Vodka again, who had to dodge that while boxing with Yuusaku- though unfortunately, the stockier Raven seemed to have the upper hand. Gin turned Kazuha's attempt to dislocate his arm on her, throwing her into Ran as she struggled to her feet, both girls collapsing to the floor.

“He did that with one hand! What th' hell is that bastard?!” Hattori yelped, running for the stairs.

“Hattori, no! Shinichi yelled, about to run after him before spotting his quarry at the back of the bottom drawer. He made to chase after him again, but someone who had climbed in the back window threw him back before he got into the line of fire, running for the balcony.

Gin, taking advantage of the girls' moment off-balance, dove for Red Rum's discarded gun, aiming it at the girls. Hattori let out a scream of rage as he ran down the stairs, and Gin turned, shooting at him instead. He was only saved when Hakuba, who had come bursting through the door, tackled him and rolled, the bullets scraping across his back close enough to tear his coat, protecting Hattori rather like Ran had once protected Ai from Vermouth, who was dodging bullets as she attempted to get close to Kir. The intruder grabbed the balcony and leapt over.

“Kuroba's bringing the cops, they'll be here soon!” Akako screamed, following Hakuba into the room, distracting Gin from the dark shape. He changed his aim to her, then froze for a moment, his cold green eyes widening.

That moment was all Akai needed to blow his fucking head off.

“That's from my Koishii, Koibito,” he growled.

“No!” Red Rum roared as Gin fell to the ground, his silver hair turning bright red. Akai just stared remorselessly down. Akako ran past, not noticing, leaping over and around prone and fighting figures in her desperation to reach Hakuba as he struggled upright, still trying to pull Hattori out of the way.

“Aniki!” Vodka cried, then slumped as Shinichi shot him with the sought-after tranquilizer watch. Red Rum bellowed angrily, an almost inhuman sound, and flung Eri hard, suddenly possessed with a powerful fury. Kogoro ran to catch her, but even so the force of the throw slammed him hard into the wall, where he collapsed, gasping, unable to pull himself to his feet. Ran shrieked and ran to her fallen parents' aid. Kazuha was also trying to reach Hattori and Aoko was knocked aside as Red Rum ran for the stairs. Vermouth ran after him, ignoring Kir's occasional, far off-target bullets; she must be losing blood.

“No, nobody's guarding-” Yuusaku yelled, trying to get in their way, but without breaking his run, Red Rum pushed him back, then grabbed the bookcase sitting next to the staircase and tipped it over, in front of the doorway. Vermouth just slipped in front of him towards the stairs, so they alone got down the stairs before the bookcase collapsed on top of Yuusaku.

“Tou-san!” Shinichi yelled as Yuusaku have a terrible scream of pain, accompanied by a horrific crunch as something smashed under the wooden bookcase. He flung himself down the stairs two at a time, careless as to whether he fell or not, to where Kazuha, Hattori and Hakuba were all trying to pull Yuusaku out from under the heavy bookcase, which had crushed one of his legs at a horrible angle.

“Empty the damn thing so we can move it!” Akai growled- the bookcase was packed so tightly with books that few had fallen out in the collapse.

“We don't have time for that, they're in the basement!” Shinichi cried, climbing up onto the bookcase, praying his negligible weight would cause his father no further discomfort, and slid through the tiny opening at the top, pelting down the stairs towards the lab.

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Hidemi struggled to maintain consciousness- she'd sustained a serious injury, she knew, and she'd lost a lot of blood- but...

“They can't die,” she croaked.

“Oh Kami,” the green-eyed girl who'd appeared just before Gin's death gasped. “Somebody help me with her, she's been shot...”

“Who are... wait a minute...” the girl with the mop gasped. “Aren't you Mizunashi Rena? The announcer?”

“Hondo Hidemi,” she muttered, clutching her wounds. “CIA.”

“She's Eisuke-kun's sister!” Mori Ran cried. She and her mother were trying to hrlp her father to his feet as the blond boy and Akai heaved at the bookcase while the little dark-skinned boy chucked books aside. “Help her out of here, we have to get her to safety- don't you dare die, Hidemi-san, it would absolutely destroy Eisuke-kun...”

“Ei-chan...” Hidemi muttered, grabbing the mop girl's sleeve. “You can't... Vermouth and Him... they can't die... they'll kill...”

“We know, we've planned for it,” the girl said soothingly. Then she glanced up at the door, her face instantly breaking into relief.

“They're in the basement!” she cried. “Ai-chan and Yukiko-chan and Agasa-Hakase... oh Kami, two of them went down there and Kudo-kun went after them...”

“On it,” someone said, then a white flash was all Hidemi saw, her vision fading out as sirens drew nearer...

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Happy Birthday to me! 17 today, which means I get my Provisional Driver's Licence- the roads are no longer safe XD One year to the day that I started writing this thing (it was a few months before I dared to post)… wow. Thanks to everyone who's read, reviewed and enjoyed so far! ^_^ I did a slightly wistful oneshot called “I Wish”. Mention of the Banterfuls. Love you guys! ^_^

Welcome back, Yuki Taiki! XD

XDXD not as much comedy in this one, though, International DCFanficNut 1207…

Here goes the showdown, FHP2208… there are 88 chapters plus prologue and epilogue.

That describes my MIND, Mel72000 XDXD

Darth Ushi, StargateNerd? XD could well be, but I guess we won't get to hear what he remembers now…

Your disturbing guess is probably right, Marie Ravenclaw… maybe she'll be able to deal with it someday. When she can finally forgive herself…

The ghost influenced Shinichi, Pretztailfan95… delirious people can sometimes be very susceptible to suggestion, thus if Hanako indicated what to draw he would probably draw it… COULD IT BE? XD Awww, she was just tormenting him a little, she's not really pissed. I think he's going to head for the hills… XD HAIL DON TACOS! (I'm not going to heil, not ever. Nobody has heiled since 1945. THERE WILL BE NO HEILING!)

It's the final realization, KageNoNeko… now onto the final assault!

Could well be, Pu7o…

It totally does, Nataeiy, since it's pretty much what I was thinking… Shinichi could probably do a light makeup job really well. Like you said, it doesn't take a lot to make them look similar, so it wouldn't take a heavy-duty full-on mask like Yukiko had to make for Shinichi and Heiji on the Monster Party case…

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).