Chapter 4: Face the Lie

"Not in my car." The man stood obstructing the doorway, arms crossed. He was towering, with long, straight silver hair that reached his thighs, and a bulky black trench coat that exaggerated his already enormous frame. "Those are leather seats."

Conan was trembling. Something about this guy was scaring the crap out of him, something other than "big scary guy," since Kaito had never seen Conan so terrified before. He buried his face in Kaito's chest, right into the bruises. Kaito was starting to regret insisting that no one else hold him.

"I can smell them from here."

Amuro scowled. "We need to get them to the hospital. There's not enough room in my car for Kyr and the kids."

"Wash 'em off first. This is a vet's; they should have tubs or something."

"Fine," sighed the only person not in combat gear. She was a woman dressed in black like everyone else. "Bourbon and I can rinse them off. Then we can go?"

The man nodded, and they turned around. Kaito slowly hobbled back past the lobby where the corpses of the veterinarian's employees and their captors had been piled carelessly. He tried not to look, but he could smell the gunpowder and blood, and no matter how hard he tried not to, he laid eyes on the mangled corpses. One of their captors didn't have a face anymore. Despite the pain, Kaito held Conan's face to his chest, preventing Conan from having that memory. The kid was fucked up enough already.

The woman had a slight limp, and she looked familiar. Little stray hairs curled at her forehead having escaped her tight ponytail. Her voice stayed calm, even as she organized and ordered Bourbon around. She sent him to look for soap and a tub, while she helped Kaito put Conan on one of the examination tables. She started peeling off Kaito's shirt.

It hurt. The material separating from his back stung, making him cry out. His eyes were blinded by the upturned shirt, but she stopped mid-action.

"Bourbon! Change of plans!" she barked out.

"What's wrong?" Kaito asked.

She didn't answer, and instead pushed his head down over the examination table, so that he was partially laying across it. "I need gauze, disinfectant, and medical tape!"

Bourbon charged back in and started rummaging through the cabinets in the room.

Kaito turned the good side of his face up, so he could see Conan sitting beside him. Conan's face was pale and wide-eyed.

"What's wrong?" Kaito asked again, this time directing it to Conan.

He swallowed nervously. "Your skin's coming off with your shirt," he said, his voice small.

"They must not have turned you properly while you were unconscious," the woman explained. She snatched a pair of scissors off of one of the counters, and limped back. Then slowly, carefully, she cut away the fabric that hadn't fused with his skin, careful to not rip any more of his skin off. The disinfectant came next, and it felt like his back was on fire. Kaito bit back screams, focusing everything on staying still. Conan whimpered and cried for the both of them, his hands clasped over his mouth to muffle his voice. Finally, the gauze was applied, and bandages wrapped around the whole of his torso, almost like a shirt. He was left to curl up in a ball on the floor while they started on Conan.

There was a tenderness to the way they handled Conan, that they hadn't shown Kaito. It was hard to place, but their actions seemed as though he was very important to them, as though he should be treated with reverence, not just the usual gentle hand given to children. Agency. That's what they were giving Conan. They were asking him what hurt, what to do next, telling him what they observed, giving him choices in his treatment. It reminded Kaito of the cryptic way that Bourbon had warned Conan that he was there with other evil organization members. Was this guy another ally then? Berumotto hadn't mentioned him. He'd have to find a way to ask Conan what was going on later.

As Conan dried off, they allowed them one mouthful of water each, with the promise of one more every hour. Bourbon diagnosed them as suffering from severe dehydration, and warned that if they drank too quickly, they could go into shock and die.

When it came time for Kaito to be bathed, Bourbon stopped Kyr with some urgent words spoken into her ear. Her expression stiffened, and she nodded.

"Sorry Kuroba, you'll have to bear it for a little while longer," she said, her lips tight holding in her emotions. "A change of clothes is the best we can do for now."

They pulled some loose-fitting, oversized clothing (sweatpants so big they felt like a skirt) from the giftshop, and put them on Kaito over the rough bandaging. For Conan, they found a new adult T-shirt, one with the snake logo cheerfully declaring that it was a friendly "ssssssssnake." Conan went back into Kaito's arms, and they started out the door, only to be blocked by the tall guy again.

"What's wrong now, Gin?" Bourbon snapped.

"The interior is hand-crafted." He glowered down at Kaito, his thin lips pressed tightly together. "Kyr and the brat will come with me, and Kuroba can go with Bourbon."

Conan shuddered and wrapped his spindly arms around Kaito's neck. His voice squeaked and trembled. "I wanna stay with Kaito."

"Com'on," Bourbon moaned. "We've gotta get Kuroba to the hospital."

"Not in my car."

Bourbon rubbed at his forehead, his scowl deepening. "Fine. I'll take Kuroba to the hospital. Conan will go with Kyr."

Conan brought out the little kid manipulation arsenal, aimed, and fired off a very loud, "No! I wanna go with Kaito!" The adults clenched their teeth under the pain of the blow, but didn't falter. Kyr wrenched the squirming mass of emaciated limbs away from Kaito, and they marched out the door and into the snowy twilight.

Bourbon's car was a flashy sports car designed to fit only two people, preferably a guy going through his midlife crisis and his much younger mistress. The seat squeaked when Kaito sat down. The car started with a smooth purr and they sped off, leaving a struggling Conan to make the trip hell for the rest of the adults.

An uncomfortable silence settled over Kaito and Bourbon. He had never imaged that he'd end up being driven to the hospital by the guy who almost gave him a fiery death. It wasn't long before they were far ahead of the other car.

Finally, Bourbon spoke. "I'm sorry."

Kaito looked away from the scenery that he'd been focusing on. "For what?"

"That you got wrapped up in this mess. You're a civilian, you and your family should never have gotten mixed up in all of this." He paused to navigate a tricky S-curve in the narrow road.

A sharp, needle-like pain spread in Kaito's stomach. "What do you mean 'your family?'"

"I know Berumotto promised to keep your family safe," Bourbon continued.

"How do you know that?"

"We're on the same side. Berumotto and I are Conan's allies in the organization. I manipulated the others into getting you into my car because I needed to talk to you, find out what would be best for you."

A glimmer of the ever-more-distant headlights of the other car flashed on the S-curve, easily a kilometer behind by now.

"I'd like to go home," Kaito said, his voice small. From the sounds of it though, that hadn't been in Berumotto's plan for him.

"I'm sorry, but that's not possible."

Of course not.

"Before our agents could get to them, your mother and her boyfriend vanished. From the amount of blood on the scene, it's been concluded that they were likely murdered."

"Their bodies weren't found?"

"Nope. Just evidence that they were removed."

So there was still hope. Faking her death with a grisly murder scene seemed like just the sort of thing that the Phantom Lady would delight in. That had to be it, right?

Bourbon went on, "When you're healed up, we'll be taking you to live with Conan as his half-brother."

"She told me about that part," Kaito interjected. "It doesn't make any sense. Won't people realize that Conan's way too young to be related to me?"

"She and Conan have a rare aging disease, that makes them appear to age slowly. Conan is actually nine years old, not seven."

"That's why she was talking about genetic traits!" Kaito blurted out. "Why are you guys looking for people with a disease?"

Grimacing, Bourbon steered the speeding sports car around another tricky bend in the road. "That's not important right now. What is important, however, is why she chose you. I looked into it on my own without her knowledge, and I found that Conan's real father is Kudou Yuusaku, a famous novelist. Berumotto is the longtime friend of he and his wife, and from the sounds of it, was their occasional third. They knew about Conan, and I think they even planned on taking Conan in. But, those plans changed when Conan's real half-brother Shinichi was murdered last year. After that, Conan was sent to live with the Mouris."

There was the prickling sensation again.

"From what I gathered, Conan hero-worships his brother, and it's my best guess that Conan got mixed up in this trying to find the murderer. Coincidentally, you're a splitting image of his brother."

It felt like he had swallowed a fistful of burrs. No wonder Conan was so fucked up. And no wonder that Conan was so instantly clingy to him, if he looked so much like someone the kid had looked up to.

He'd met Shinichi a few times long ago, when his father was still alive. He had a vague memory of Shinichi reading while Kaito tried and failed to show off magic tricks. Shinichi briefly watched him do his flower trick, then buried his nose back in the pages of a book after explaining in a bored, flat tone exactly how Kaito had done the trick, and how Shinichi had figured it out, and how stupid and baby-ish the trick was. Kaito may or may not have yelled "Meanie!" then ran to tell his dad. He may or may not have been crying.

Kaito rubbed his eyes, trying to remember more about him. Kudou Shinichi was a year younger than him, and apparently been murdered at the same age that Kaito had started his Kaitou KID career. Sixteen looked like it was a dangerous age for kids like them. Something nagged at the back of Kaito's mind though.

"Why tell me about Conan's tragic past?"

Bourbon raised an eyebrow as if the answer should be obvious. "Berumotto wants to make you replace his older brother as a sibling he can look up to. I want to give you the chance to make an informed decision."

"But why are you telling me all of this?" Kaito didn't bother to conceal how disturbed he was from his voice.

"I'm giving you a chance to escape. When you're at the hospital, I can arrange for you to run and help you hide. That kid isn't your responsibility. You're a civilian, and frankly, I have no idea how you could help protect Conan. Besides, he hardly needs protecting. He's one of the most ruthless spies I've ever met."

Kaito took a deep breath, thinking of Aoko's smile, touching Aoko's hand, the scent of sweat lightly clinging to her after gym that he liked but didn't know why. No roads led to her. His mom was (hopefully) on the run with her new boyfriend. Maybe she'd take up the KID mantle. There wasn't really a choice for him, it seemed. "I'll go back to Conan and be his big brother. Someone has to keep that kid from turning into a psycho like you guys. Besides," he swallowed a gulp of water, hoping it would help clear his throat a little, and stop his voice from breaking. "Even if I decide to escape, I can't go home. My life is ruined either way."

The man frowned, the cold gleam that Kaito had seen on the train returning to his eyes. He reached into an inner pocket and pulled out a cheap convenience store prepaid cell phone. Keeping one eye on the road, he typed a message to an e-mail address that was a series of random numbers.

"Just to be sure, before I send this, I need to confirm that you're all in." He glanced sideways at Kaito. "Once I send this, there's no way out for you."

"Is there a way out for Conan?" Kaito snapped back.

"There never was," Bourbon said. He paused to negotiate another tricky twist in the road. "Conan was in the thick of it the moment Berumotto conceived him."

The trees flashed by in a blur. The snow had become rain, and the windshield wipers flicked frantically, trying to keep up with the deluge. In the reflection of the window, Kaito watched Bourbon glance at him again.

"Conan's grandfather is the head of the organization." His voice was barely a whisper. "There's no way he would let his grandson slip through his fingers."

Kaito searched all of their brief conversations, trying to find some way out. "Conan doesn't think that Berumotto is his mother," he said, realizing too late how lame it sounded.

"I checked it myself," Bourbon answered. "Do you know what mitochondrial DNA is?"

Exams were coming up, or rather, they'd been coming up before he'd been kidnapped. He recognized the term, picturing in his head Aoko holding the flashcard, certain that this time she'd stump him. She had the slightest hint of dimples when she smirked, and it was super cute. He'd never have a chance to kiss those dimples. That thought hurt like another punch to his gut, and he flinched away from it. "I know what mitochondria are, but I didn't know that they have DNA."

"They do. Mitochondria come from the mother, from her own cells. Because of that, your mitochondrial DNA is identical your mother's. Conan's matched Berumotto's perfectly."

The trees gave away to a rocky mountainside, and the city lights burned in the distance, spreading like a web doused in gasoline. Kaito had thought that he'd be relieved to see them, but now… Now they were speeding towards the fire that wanted to devour them like kindling and torch all they touched. If Conan went in alone, he'd surely be lost to the inferno.

Kaitou KID's suit was fire-retardant.

"I've made up my mind." Kaito didn't bother to try to keep his voice from breaking. "I'm going with Conan."

A chime signaled that the message was sent. The agent dismantled the phone with one hand and his teeth, prying the battery out with the sharp crackle of cheap Chinese plastic shattering. He threw the pieces one by one out the window.

"You're a brave kid. Or a very stupid one." He shifted in his seat, reaching for a hidden pocket in his jacket. After a few clumsy one-handed attempts, he produced a little plastic bag with a handful of pills. He tossed them on Kaito's lap.

Kaito's eyebrow raised.

"It's a sedative, as well as a painkiller. Take one next time you take a drink. When you get to the hospital, you need to be unconscious."

Kaito picked up the bag, squinting through the darkness at them. He couldn't make out any distinguishing features, but all he could tell was they were small, white, and round. These guys had a serious fetish with drugging people. "Why?"

"I was supposed to put them in your bottle of water. You're going to a real hospital, and when you're there, the police will question you. Say that your captors drugged you, and you don't know how you got there. You can tell them about what happened before that though."

The pill started dissolving the moment it hit his tongue. He gulped the water, flushing away the bitter taste. With no food in his stomach, it'd probably hit him hard and fast. The thought made his heart pound. He was going to be helpless again. At the mercy of strangers. Nausea struck him, doubling him over in his seat. The world was spinning. No, rocking. Adrenaline flooded his veins. He couldn't sleep. He had to vomit. What nightmare would he wake to this time? It was getting hard to breathe. He heard someone cursing, but it was far away.

Then nothing.

Author Note:

So, it turns out that writing a book, especially a textbook, takes a long time. It was kinda foolish for me to expect to be done so quickly, even though I already had a lot of it done. These past 6 months have been spent on editing alone. I'm close to finishing it now, so I'm celebrating by releasing another chapter of my DC/MK fanfics! Sorry about the long wait guys; I'll be back when I'm done with the editing. Thanks for sticking with me through all this!