Bug sweep

AN: A lot of thanks to Eroskigal and Kencha my wonderful beta-readers that helped a lot with the grammar and phrases making this fanfic readable. If you find any mistakes, please do tell. Also, constructive criticism is always welcome.
Enjoy the story!

Since his father had brought a bug detector with him to check for bugs after Bourbon had left, Conan decided to look at the Professor's and at the Detective Agency to see if there were any he might have missed. The evening after the Detective Boys, Jodie and Camel had left his house, he went to Professor Agasa's. Luckily, Ai had gone out for groceries.

First, he removed any bugs he himself had planted, then those from Akai. They were similar to those he had used to watch the encounter between his father and 'Amuro Tooru', courtesy of the FBI, and he put them in two different plastic bags. He would replant them later. Then, he checked for any other active bugs in the house.

First the living room. He made two rounds around the room to be sure, checking behind both the TV and the computer. Funnily enough, he found an inactive bug behind the television. As they never had discussed any important things near the TV, it wasn't too worrisome. Come to think of it, this one really looked like one of those Vermouth had used during her attempt to kidnap Ai. It seemed they had missed one of hers. Much to Conan's relief, the rest of the house was clean. By the time he'd finished, Ai came back.

"What are you doing here, Kudo?"

"Just checking something."

Ai raised an eyebrow, seeing the bug detector: "Well?"

"Are you looking around because of what happened at your house last night?" She didn't let him answer. "Speaking of that, mind telling me what exactly is going on?"

"It's nothing. Besides, it's all over now." Nothing unexpected, he added silently.

"What aren't you telling me?" Ai asked skeptically.

"N-nothing, just my parents coming over and messing with me."

Ai gave him a suspicious look but didn't ask him further questions.

He left for the Detective Agency. Since Ran and Kogoro currently weren't at home, he had the opportunity to look for bugs with the bug detector instead of just manually looking for them. Again he removed his own first. After that, he found another four types of bugs in the office. The apartment itself was clean. The first type suspiciously looked like the last batch he had found belonging to Amuro. He had always destroyed them after some time. Today he wouldn't be so vicious and decided to hide them downstairs in the Café.

Since he was his new ally he would be very creative... maybe he would try the pantry? Or the kitchen?

The second type really looked like one of Vermouth's. He was sure those were inactive, too, but destroyed them nonetheless, to be sure. Another type he recognised from the Teleportation heist — KID's. He would take them to class and destroy them in school. Maybe KID would try to listen during class. The last type seemed to be from the FBI. They had planted bugs since Kogoro had been targeted during the incident with Kir. He would put them back later.

Classes were boring as always, so Kaito decided to listen into his taps in the Detective Agency. Although the sleeping sleuth normally just sat around, drank beer and rewatched Yoko's concerts (sometimes singing horribly off key), there were times where a client would appear with a case. While it wasn't exactly five star entertainment, it was better than class...

Today, Kaito found himself disappointed. A classroom lecture just as mind-numbing (if not more so) came through the earpiece — An elementary school class to be precise. Tantei-kun had found them then. As for why he had not destroyed them already, he couldn't say. Suddenly, multiple piercing sounds penetrated his ears. Wincing, Kaito flinched visibly. His taps had been destroyed.

Unfortunately for Kaito, it didn't go unnoticed.

"Kaito, are you okay?" Aoko asked.

"Yes!" he replied cheerfully, mentally preparing a prank to spice up the lesson.

Amuro was baffled. Instead of the familiar sounds of Conan and Ran getting ready for school from the Detective Agency above his workplace, Poirot Café, he only heard rummaging and clanging pans. Ran didn't cook much for breakfast, so Amuro doubted the taps were where he had planted them. That little brat must have found them (again) and replanted them somewhere. It was an improvement from their previous relationship — Conan used to destroy them while he was listening.

He knew the taps had to be nearby for him to receive the signal. Now that he thought about it, Conan had come into the Café last night to eat dinner. He had another of his long toilet breaks, raising Amuro's suspicions. After some deliberation, Amuro decided to investigate the kitchen and pantry. It was the only place that had the distinctive clang and clatter. As the Café closed, Amuro told his boss that he'd stay a little bit longer to close up.

Over the next few days, Amuro devoted hours at a time to finding the relocated taps. He combed through the pantry, searched under the sink, and even did a little dumpster dive into the kitchen's trash can. Between an overly-concerned Azusa and very little free time — the PSB and the Organization liked to keep him on his toes — it proved to be no easy task. Finally, after far too long, he found his taps stashed between bags of rice, heaps of flour, and large containers of salt. He really wondered whether it was worse to have Conan destroying or moving them around. While destroying the taps meant high-pitched screeching taking a toll on his ears, it was less stressful than hours spent combing through Poirot Cafe. If the taps were destroyed, he did not have to worry about them falling into the hands of a third party. Unfortunately, that boy was very petty when his privacy was violated. This, however, will not stop Amuro from planting new taps.

The game was afoot, and Amuro had no intention of losing.

AN: Thanks for reading!