Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Heiji and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
After making a fool of himself in front of what was clearly his intellectual equal, Hattori Heiji swiftly made his exit from Mouri Kogoro’s tenuous hospitality. He sighed heavily with one last glance up at the second-floor windows before moving down the street.
“I told Kazuha I’d be gone fer at least two days,” he grumbled to himself. He had completely underestimated Kudo Shinichi’s capabilities, having expected the other teenager to hide a bit longer before revealing himself. He sighed again.
Didn’t expect him ta actually be able to keep up with me, he thought glumly. And clearly sick as a dog at that. Admiration and respect swelled up in his chest before he deflated with the realization he’d made a terrible first impression. Kudo was someone he’d be able to really talk to. And he fudged it, too self-absorbed in proving himself, forcing a competition the other teen hadn’t even acknowledged.
He considered his options. He did tell everyone he’d be gone a few days… He could spend a day looking for decent souvenirs, and hope no one questioned him too hard about his encounter. “Yeah, that’s probably the best option,” he muttered. With that, he set off to find a hotel.
Settling in the hotel took a large chunk out of his saved allowance, but it wasn’t too big a deal. He could save some more, after all. He set his duffel down on the small bed and shed his hat and jacket.
Maybe I’ll bump into Kudo while I’m out buyin’ souvenirs tomorrow, he thought. It would give him an opportunity to give a better impression, but he wasn’t holding his breath. His so-called rival shouldn’t have been out and about, and he only showed up because Heiji was being aggressively nosey. He sighed again.
“Mom always did say I was needlessly competitive,” he murmured as he moved to look out the window. It was getting dark. In his defense, getting his dad to be impressed with any of his accomplishments was a herculean task. The times he was praised by the man were few and far between, and the older Heiji got, the more difficult it became to receive acknowledgement.
Movement out of the corner of his eye pulled him out of his depressing thoughts. He refocused on the street view from his window, and his eyes narrowed. Two men in black clothes lingered under a streetlamp. The one in sunglasses (really? At night?) was talking to his partner—a tall man with long silver hair, eyes hidden beneath the brim of his black fedora. The only thing Heiji could make out was the cold, hard frown on his face as he listened to whatever the sunglasses guy was saying.
Sunglasses guy pointed to something down the street, out of Heiji’s line of sight, and the two started walking. As they turned, he caught sight of a distinctive shape bulging out of sunglasses guy’s tailored suit jacket. His eyes grew wide.
That’s a gun! he thought just before bolting from the hotel room to follow the suspicious men. He made it onto the street just in time to see the men disappear around the corner. He gave chase, sparing the stray thought that he’d left his jacket, where his wallet and hotel key were. He could explain the situation to the staff when he got back. At least he still had his phone tucked away in his back pocket. Small mercies and all that.
When he reached the corner, he slowed down to cautiously peer around it. Black clothes blended into the shadows and disappeared around another corner Heiji suspected was an alleyway. He followed.
That’s where he found sunglasses guy, chatting with an extremely nervous looking businessman Heiji didn’t recognize. He heard quiet voices but couldn’t make out what they were saying. He didn’t see the long haired one anywhere, but the thought was wiped from his mind when the businessman handed over his briefcase. Sunglasses guy opened it revealing way too much money.
Well, this’s definitely illegal, whatever it is, he thought as he slipped his phone out of his pocket to take a video.
“That’s enough out of you,” came a cold voice from behind Heiji. He barely had enough time to be surprised before something hard came down on the back of his head. His vision blacked out for a moment as he fell forward, face down on the pavement.
Surprised curses preceded hurried footsteps away from the alley. Less hurried were the ones coming closer. Heiji’s vision swam nauseatingly. He could just barely make out the expensive-looking shoes coming to a stop near him.
“Shit, again?” came a gruff voice. Again…?
“So it would seem,” came the voice of the one who’d hit him. He wanted to move, but his body wouldn’t cooperate. His head throbbed in time with his pulse. The sound of rustling fabric drifted quietly to his ears, followed by something that sounded faintly like fabric rubbing against metal.
“I don’t recognize him, aniki,” came the gruff voice. “This one’s probably just an unlucky kid.” The sharp sound of a safety being taken off made Heiji’s heart pound wildly in his chest. His phone was right by his hand. If he could just get it to move…
“Wait,” said long haired guy. “Even if he’s unimportant, he’s still a kid who has people who will notice he’s missing. A bullet will complicate things. Parents will ask questions.”
Almost… got it… His hand moved sluggishly towards his phone, not nearly fast enough. Relief swept through him as his fingers touched the edge of the device.
The heel of a shoe came down hard on the back of his hand with a sickening crunch. White hot pain had Heiji seeing stars, and through the persistent throbbing of his head, he managed to wheeze out a pathetic cry. The heel twisted sharply, causing more pain, before swiftly kicking the phone away from his broken hand. It slid across the pavement and landed under a vending machine located closer to the main street.
Shit…
The men in black debated what to do with him as if they hadn’t just crushed his hand. As if they weren’t discussing how to kill a teenager.
“There’s an abandoned warehouse at the end of this alley,” long haired guy was saying. “We’ll give him the organization’s poison and leave him inside. By the time they find the body, we won’t even be an afterthought. It’ll just be an unlucky kid who got trapped in the wrong place.”
Wouldn’t the autopsy detect a poison? wondered Heiji blearily. Organization’s poison? Yer tellin’ me there’s actually an untraceable poison out there right now?
“… I dunno about this, aniki,” said sunglasses guy. “That last kid, Kudo Shinichi—we never got a report. The body didn’t turn up…”
… Kudo…?
“He’s confirmed dead in the files,” dismissed long haired guy. “A team searched his house—no one’s been there in over a month, and the cocky thing hasn’t shown up alive since then, either. As for why his body never turned up…” There was a dark, somewhat amused chuckle. “There’s plenty of unsavory people out there who’d have one use or another for a dead body.” Sunglasses guy made a sound of disgust.
But Kudo Shinichi wasn’t dead. Heiji just saw him. He looked like death warmed over, but he was definitely alive. Heiji blinked as one of the men knelt in front of him and forced his unresponsive mouth open. Had Kudo really had a run-in with these guys? If he’d survived this supposed poison, it might explain why he’d been so sick. And why he disappeared.
I’m such an idiot, he thought nearly hysterically as a small white and red capsule was forced into his mouth. He was in hidin’ fer real, an’ I forced him out. Water followed the pill and he choked it down, unable to spit it out with the way his head had been forced up.
Large hands moved him roughly, and he was hauled over a large shoulder. He groaned as his broken hand fell uselessly against a broad back. He registered movement, but the pain in his head made everything too blurry to make out.
The sound around him changed, and noise echoed, strangely muffled, as an incessant ringing started grating in his ears. Heat raced across his skin, seeming to seep into his bones.
“Put him behind the cinderblocks,” long haired guy ordered. He was moved again and tossed into the air. He felt weightless for a moment before he crashed against a pile of cement bricks, a loud crack and searing pain letting him know he’d broken his left knee. He didn’t even have the energy to brace himself as he rolled down sharp bricks and onto the hard, cold floor.
“Tough luck, kid,” said sunglasses guy. Footsteps echoed, and a door somewhere closed.
His heart spasmed, punching a weak cry out of his lungs, and white-hot pain spread through his whole body in time with his pulse. A vague sensation of ants crawling under his skin made him grit strangely sore teeth that tasted suspiciously metallic.
I should’ve just gone home, he thought. I never should’ve come here. His body spasmed again, the white-hot pain sinking deeply into the marrow of his bones. His skin was so hot, his sweat evaporated into steam before it had a chance to form properly.
Oh god, I’m gonna die. The icy realization wasn’t enough to douse the lava-like heat his heart pumped into his veins. He couldn’t seem to get enough air to scream. I don’t wanna die!
He fought in vain to keep his eyes open as darkness crept into his vision, consciousness beginning to elude him even as terror at the certainty he wouldn’t wake up again tried to pump adrenaline in him.
I don’t wanna die…