Narrators POV:

The blonde looked at the cages with something akin to regret. Most of the cages were empty now, no trace of the horrors left behind save for three name-plates. The first Subject 32, wild wolf dog cub. The second was Subject 96, retired racing greyhound. And the third, also seemingly empty, read subjects 398 & 399: feral silver bengal and feral Amber bengal. These labs had supposedly been destroyed in an accidental explosion, but everything, even the cages, had been moved to another facility. Out of the four-hundred and fifty odd animals used for experiment, only a handful of them had survived. And, due to this woman's interference, and influence, not one survivor was documented, only observed.

The blonde put a soft hand against the cage labeled 398 & 399, pressing her thumb against a well hidden switch in the door. The back of the cage slid back, to reveal a second part, about twice the size of the original part of the cage. Vermouth smiled to herself as two Bengal cats, barely six months old, tumbled into the light, mewling excitedly. Both cats were so covered in soot and dust and dirt, it was hard to tell their colours, save for a tip of ginger ear, and a smudge of silver under and eye. A tall man appeared behind the blonde, dark hair, thin features, and a startlingly bright look in his eye most.y hidden by the black suit, top hat and cape he was wearing.

"You've taken good care of them, haven't you?" The man asked, as vermouth let the two young cats out of the cage. The taller cat ran over to the man, climbed up his trousers, and draped itself over his shoulder, purring softly.

"I had to, Sensei. I feel responsible for their suffering, and despite all my killings, I'm still....." she sighs, turning to the man, after crouching down to pick up the calmer of the two cats. She tickles it's chin, making the cat purr loudly.

"So can we trust them? These... children?" The man asks, though he already knows the answer. After all, he considered one of them to be his most talented apprentice.

"You already know the answer to that, Sensei. The real question is, are you ready to give up all this deep cover nonsense and go back to what you were before all this?" Vermouth looks to the man slyly, which the man notices, but ignores.

"Are you?" It wasn't really a question, but she answered anyway. They knew each other too well, she thought amusedly.

"Mostly. But I'd have to find suitable homes for all twelve of my friends here." She gestured at the seemingly empty cages. "But finding suitable homes for animals like these will be difficult. Two cats who have been trained by you, Sensei, a Harris hawk that can read and write, four mongrel dogs who don't age, three twenty year old Maine coon cats that are now kittens and two African grey parrots that don't just mimic, but speak fluent Japanese!" Vermouth was, despite what most people thought, a serious animal lover, and the thought of finding understanding homes for the victims of the aptx4869 and pandora experiments was a troubling matter.

"I didn't come here for idle chat, Sharon, I thought you'd like to know that Kudo Shinichi was hospitalised last night. Wasn't he supposed to be the mastermind behind your...."

"We're to stick to the plan, Sensei. Wolf, Arthur and Watson will find us if we need to change anything. For all I know, he could be making himself a target for gin, hospital security is so disgraceful these days." Vermouth didn't sound worried, but inside, she was not concerned exactly, but... well, it wasn't like they could execute the plan without the teen, so what on earth was he planning?

BACK AT THE HOSPITAL.

"Mitsuhiko, can I ask you something?" Shinichi asked his young friend, afraid of the boy's answer. The boy nods.

"Do you remember I told you about that criminal group I took down a while back?" He nods, 'conan' had been withdrawn for a few weeks, how could he forget?

"Well, shin~chan was going to assist the FBI and NPA tomorrow in bringing down the boss and the last serving member. But he can't anymore, and if I'm right, he wants...." Kaito trails off, letting his boyfriend finish.

"Mitsuhiko, could you disguise as conan and work with haibara, Kaitou Kid and Hattori Heiji tomorrow? I'll explain what you need to do, but it..."Shinichi trails off, seeing the strangest expression on the younger detectives face. It was fear, joy, and curiosity, mixed into one.

"What do I have to do?"

🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊TIME SKIP 🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺

"You understand how dangerous this is, don't you? I do have someone else in mind, if your not comfortable with this." Kaito asked the smaller boy, as Mitsuhiko adjusted his bow tie and marvelled at how skilfully Kaito-San had disguised him. If the boy hadn't already suspected it, this was almost concrete proof. Kaito-San was wearing a white suit, top hat and cape, a polished monocle finishing off the outfit. Who else could Kaito-San be but the infamous phantom thief? The famous Kudo Shinichi was friends with the infamous Kaitou Kid. He just couldn't quite believe it.

"Yes, but we have to do this, for conan and Haibara-San, ne?" Kid nodded, flinching slightly as a voice yelled at them from behind a door.

"Are you ready yet? God, I thought us girls were slow!" Kid rolls his eyes in a mocking manner, before opening the door to let his doves out. Mitsuhiko was still in awe of the magician, but he couldn't help but laugh when a panicked shriek rang out, before something flew into the room and hit the thief on the head. A closer look at the projectile revealed it to be a sensible shoe.

"BAKA! Can't you be serious for two seconds? Or is it beyond you? Aho!" The woman shrieks, storming in. Mitsuhiko blinks, recognising the woman from a fair while ago. He clears his throat and speaks to her.

"Ano, but aren't you the lady who rescued me and my friends from that burning cabin back in the mountains?" He asked, seeing a flicker of recognition on the woman's face.

"You remember that? Yes, i was, tsubaraya-kun."

"You must be mistaken, I'm Edogawa Conan" Mitsuhiko corrected, managing to stay in character despite the pressure. The woman smiles. Her friend clearly didn't recognise her as anyone other than the lady who saved them from a fire once.

"Kudo-kun was right, ne kid? He's a convincing actor. Kudo-kun was right to introduce me like this, ne?" Kid grinned, a typical, cocky thief grin he'd perfected specifically for the police, to be extra irritating.

"It's ok, edogawa-kun, it's me, Haibara." She smiled, stressing the name edogawa to show she knew the truth. Mitsuhiko frowned, giving the woman a funny look.

"Don't lie, Haibara-San is my age." He corrected her, confused now.

"It's ok, she's the same as you, Conan-kun." Kid reassured, glaring silently at the biochemist.

"I'm not going to say I understand, but all I have to do is follow the plan, ne?" The two teens nodded, kid flicking his wrist to call his doves back. They vanished into his clothes in a way that made it impossible to tell he even had them. The trio, the scientist, the magician thief, and the mini detective, headed out of the building, walking together towards their destination. Halfway there, a white dog barked joyously, dragging a rather dazed looking seven year old boy behind her. A brindle dog appeared too, an elderly man shuffling behind him. Kid raised an eyebrow at this, noting the clever disguise, assuming it was vermouth until she appeared on a motorcycle, throwing a basket to the elderly gent before disappearing. (No one paid attention to him because he was currently wearing a set of black clothes over his kid costume, the monocle and hat hidden away out of sight.)

The group didn't say anything, reaching their destination and splitting up into pairs. 'Shiho' and 'conan' as one pair, kid and the young boy as another pair, and the elderly gent heading over to where vermouth was on her motorcycle. It would be a few hours before they saw each other again, but kid's mind was whirring. He knew only three people as skilled at disguise as him. Vermouth, who currently wasn't hidden behind a mask, his mother, who was (according to the FBI) still in LA in America, and shinichi's mother, whose name had escaped his memory and was in Hawaii with kudo yuusaku. So who on earth was it?

The elderly gentleman smiled behind his disguise, seeing the well hidden confusion behind his young apprentices poker face. The young man was trying to figure out who he was, but it was clear to the man that the boy wasn't thinking along the right lines. The young boy however, edogawa Conan, had given him a strange, revealing look, that clearly said 'I know who you are, but it's not my place to say, is it?' The young boy unnerved him, but if his friend and apprentice trusted him, then he supposed he had to as well, not that he was comfortable taking orders from a seven year old.

🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺TIME SKIP🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊🐺🕊

      "Hurry, Edogawa kun!" Miyano shiho screamed, the boy doing exactly that, but doubling back on himself once out of sight. Everything was going to plan, the whole place was now crawling with police and Interpol, but there were a few things left unsolved. The mysterious man who looked so much like an older Kaitou Kid dressed in black, and the animals that had surrounded him. They weren't normal. Mitsuhiko felt sick, seeing the one handed man shoot two people.... if it wasn't for the woman, shiho-San, he'd have been stuck frozen with fear.

    The boy adjusted his bow tie and glasses, hiding in the predetermined place. A white wolf-like dog appeared, pressing herself firmly against him, as if she were shielding the young boy. A note was tied around her collar, almost hidden by the animal's long fur. Mitsuhiko read the note, eyes widening slightly. He was worried, but it's not like he was much use now. So much had happened, it was still all a but confusing for him. After all, it isn't every day you discovered your crush and her supposed half brother were actually ten years older than you and both famous.

    The white dog's ears pricked up, twitching as she listened carefully. Mitsuhiko noticed the raw mark on her shoulder, realising with horror that she'd been shot too. The white dog turned her head to him, bowing her head and placing a paw gently on his shoulder, almost human like. She then crouches down, allowing the young detective to clamber onto her back. A special harness was hidden by her furn, but the boy felt it beneath his fingers, digging his feet into her soft fur, he found footholds as well, leaning across the animals back, unwittingly making it easier for the three legged dog to move. It got up, took three hesitant steps, then broke into an all out gallop, her three legs moving as fast as they could.

   A brindle greyhound came up beside them, seemingly nodding to the white dog, before disappearing in a blur of brown and black, as he raced ahead......

BACK AT THE HOSPITAL, SHORTLY AFTER THIS.

    Kaito's POV:

    "Shin~chan!" I gasped, hardly able to breath from running most of the way. I was still in my Kid costume, but I didn't really care right now. "Did you know? That he...." I trailed off, as Shinichi chuckled at me.

     "Yeah, I knew. So did my parents. We promised not to tell anyone, even you. I'm sorry." He said softly, avoiding my eyes. I sit down next to him, and place a hand on his cheek, making him look at me. I speak softly, afraid to know.

       "Why, Shinichi? Why? Why didn't you tell me!" I kept my voice soft, but even so, I, sure he could hear the pain and tension in there.

     "Because they would have killed him, Kaito, you know that. Heck, if it hadn't been for Sharon-San, he'd be dead! And also, otousan only told me when he saw you in our house. I haven't known for long." Shin~chan...... I should hate him for keeping such a game changing secret from me, but I can't. Because I understand. He did this to protect me. And him. A sudden commotion makes me leap away from the door and quick-change into my civilian self. Wolf-chan and Arthur rush in, 'Conan' clinging to wolf-chan's back. Arthur is holding something between is teeth, which he drops into my outstretched hand.

     "Thank you, Mitsuhiko. You've been really brave. You can take the disguise off now." Shinichi tells wolf-chan's passenger, before turning to me and pulling me into a soft embrace. He whispers something in my ear, which makes me smile. Yes, I thought, that would be perfect.

A/N: hey minna, I'm sorry to leave out key bits here and there, but I'm struggling to come up with a good idea right now. I'm sorry to say this is coming to an end, but I hope it's satisfactory for you.

       I hope you've enjoyed this so far, and I'm grateful for your support, arigato.

~moonclaw