"As usual, I thank you all for coming. Is everyone here? Good...let's
begin."

As was the custom at the beginning of these bi-weekly meetings, Officer
Chiba wheeled a slide projector into the centre of the police conference
room; the device saw very little actual use during these clandestine
affairs, but Megure-keibu was a stickler for doing things properly...and
since he was gracious enough to allow the use of a secured room at the
Metropolitan HQ, nobody really objected to the formalities.

"New business?" Megure asked, glancing around.

"Hai," a voice piped up from those assembled. The inspector nodded to
acknowledge the speaker, and Mouri Ran stood, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"The latest forced revelation operation failed...as usual," Ran scowled.
"Agasa-hakase got the drop on us again. We need to be more careful, guys. I
think they're starting to catch on. If Shinichi figures it out, we'll ALL be
in trouble."

"Che," her father snorted. "Like that punk can do anything to us the way he
is..."

"Oh, really?" This came from a refined, cultured voice in the corner, tinged
with amusement. "You seem to have forgotten the incident with the brick,
Mouri-san. How many bones in that killer's hand did he shatter? And do you
really want to think about what would happen if he aimed a kick like that at
your...shall we say, personal valuables?"

Kogoro turned an odd pale green colour and fell silent.

"Mou, Shiratori," Satou Miwako admonished, though she was chuckling
slightly. "We don't really need to get into another round of examples of
Reasons To Avoid Pissing Kudou-kun Off. We go over that every other time we
do this."

"True enough, Satou-san. I digress."

Megure coughed. "I believe Ran-kun still has the floor. You were saying?"

"Hai. It's becoming harder and harder to fake being tricked, and the schemes
Shinichi and hakase come up with are getting more and more ridiculous. And
that's not even counting that idiot Kaitou Kid butting in."

"Do we have ANY new clues as to why he's involved in this at all?" Megure
asked.

"None, keibu-dono," Takagi replied. "The best guess we've been able to come
up with is that he's doing it because he knows it annoys Kudou-san."

"That certainly fits what we know about him," Megure agreed, rubbing his
chin thoughtfully. "What bothers me is that we're never able to outright
expose Kid as a fake when he's disguised as Kudou-kun."

"I still think he must look exactly like Shinichi, or close enough, on his
own," Ran said.

"God, I hope not," another female voice put in airily. "I'd hate to think
I've spent forever mooning over a clone of Ran-chan's husband."

"SO-NO-KO..."

"AHEM!" Megure glowered at the wealthy airhead. "Sonoko-kun, PLEASE refrain
from making those comments during these meetings, or I shall be forced to
prevent you from further attendance."

"Hai, hai!" Sonoko said, smiling and raising her hands in a gesture of mock
surrender.

"Do we have any new information on Subjects Black One and Black Two?"

"Actually, yes. We recently learned that Black One owns a fairly rare
classic car. I've placed photographs of the vehicle in the official folder.
However, he and Black Two have been keeping rather well out of sight
recently. We think they might have realised someone is watching them."

"Hmm. That's not good. Especially since we can't get any cooperation from
those FBI agents or Yusaku-san's Interpol contacts. Nobody who actually
knows anything is willing to tell US anything..." Megure grumbled in
irritation.

"Is it really that surprising?" the crisp, calm voice of Kisaki Eri asked.
One slim eyebrow arched, she stood, arms folded. "If too many people get too
curious about these men, they'll disappear completely. If that happens, it's
possible Shinichi-kun will never be able to return to normal and seek
justice against them. I can hardly blame Yusaku-san and Yukiko-chan for
being skittish."

"I don't know," Kogoro rumbled. "If it were Ran, I'd want every police
officer in Japan and probably the entire JSDF hunting those bastards down."

"Yes, but you're an idiot with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer cracking
an egg, dear husband."

"It's not like Kudou-senpai's being very subtle himself," a younger voice
piped up. Everyone glanced at Mitsuhiko, who shuffled nervously before
continuing, "I mean, it only took *us* a month to figure it out, and we
didn't even know who Kudou Shinichi *was*."

"True, but he's handling his enemies with far more tact than he's handled
his friends and his secret," Eri replied. "Which, all things considered, is
a good thing."

"Ano...do we have any new information on Haibara-san?" Mitsuhiko asked,
flushing slightly.

Satou couldn't hide a smile as she replied, "We actually did find a DNA
profile match. There's a 99% probability she's related to the deceased
female member of that gang from the billion yen robbery. Unfortunately, we
can't find any records for either that aren't complete forgeries."

"Can we even be sure that girl's like Kudou?" Kogoro asked. "She could just
be a really weird creepy little girl."

"No...she's involved too deeply in Shinichi's mess to be normal in any way,"
Ran replied.

"Besides, her lab has lots of clear signs she's trying to make a cure for
Kudou-senpai, and using her own blood for it, and hakase is NOT helping
her," Mitsuhiko added.

"You've been inside her lab?" Ran asked sharply.

"Un. I kinda snuck in..." Mitsuhiko flushed.

Megure turned his full attention to the boy. "Did you find out anything else
useful when you were in there?"

"Well, I think I found the name of the drug that shrank Kudou-senpai and
Haibara-san," the thin boy replied hesitantly. "The name 'Apoptoxin-4869'
was all over all her notes."

"4869...that's the same as the passcode for Shinichi's mobile," Ran mused.

Shiratori snickered. "No surprise. 'Sherlock'..."

Megure groaned. "I thought that old number game went out of fashion when I
was still a rookie."

"I'd like to make a proposal," Ran suddenly spoke up.

"What is it, Ran-kun?"

"I think we should bring Toyama Kazuha into the fold." She fidgeted.
"Hattori Heiji, we know, is in on Shinichi's secret. And he does a really,
really terrible job of covering up for it. I think...if Hattori-kun has
anything really incriminating lying around that we can use to force Shinichi
to drop the act, or any information about the enemy or Ai-chan..."

"Kazuha-chan would be the best way to get at it, since she's his girlfriend,
right?" Satou finished. "Not a bad idea, if a little dirty and underhanded."

"Like 'Edogawa Conan' isn't a dirty, underhanded little lying sneak?" Ran
retorted archly.

"Oh hell, here she goes again," Genta groaned.

"Hush!" Ayumi chided. "Ran-neechan has every right to be mad at Conan-kun!
It's so mean of him to make her so worried..."

The door suddenly burst open. "MEGURE-KEIBU!" an officer bellowed.

"This is a closed conference! You know better than to come in here!" Megure
roared.

"There's been a murder!"

"When ISN'T there a murder?" Genta commented in a stage whisper.

"Shush!"

Megure sighed. "Let me guess. It was called in by..."

"Edogawa Conan-kun, hai."

"Alright everyone...that's a wrap for today. Usual dispersal patterns on
exit, just in case Kudou-kun or the enemy have someone watching the
building. Everybody who needs to be on the scene, game faces on. Everybody
else, usual assignments until next time. Meeting adjourned."

Thus did eleven people--only five of them actual police officers--disperse
from the secured police conference room, each hoping that by the time two
weeks had passed again, the next meeting would no longer be necessary...

...and, as usual, all of them prayed it would be for the right reasons.

***fin***

Meitantei Conan belongs to Aoyama Gosho, Shogakukan, Yomiuri Television, VIZ
Communications, and Funimation. No permission has been obtained
from any of the copyright holders for the use of characters and situations
from this series. This work of fiction is not for profit and not intended
to infringe on copyrighted intellectual property in any significant or
harmful way.

================================
Please do not stare at my crotch.
              ~~*~~
The Eternal Lost Lurker
www.lurkerdrome.com



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