deductionrival | For Conan!

For Conan!

(Stolen from bakerstreet's 'handcuffed' meme)

Upon waking, Conan will find himself in some kind of musty storage room with the faintest scent of chloroform, still lingering on his face. The lighting keeps flickering every few moments and there are several sets of shelves lining the walls sparsely full of unmarked boxes. There's a layer of dust on just about everything and as he becomes more aware of his surroundings, he'll notice something on his wrist and something heavy attached to it.

When he looks, he'll find his friend Hattori laying on the floor next to him. There's a gash on his brow near his temple with dried blood smearing that area of his face and a few other visible injuries like he'd been in a fight. His knuckles are bruised and his bottom lip is split with a dark mark on the side of his jaw where he'd been struck with something. The dark skinned detective is almost perfectly still, giving the impression he was in even more dire shape than those minor injuries if it wasn't for the very subtle movement of his chest indicating breathing.

The oddest thing is the handcuffs that are attached to one of each of their wrists, holding them together. It looks like a very simple police grade cuff, but if Conan examines them they are solid without any cracks to show they open.

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“A doctor for your thing there, I feel fine. I just need a nap then we can go back and get my key I dropped.” He said, gesturing back towards the manor. “If we run into the guy who hit you I’m going to kick his ass for you.”

He tried to lay down again but scowled and looked down at his bare chest. Where was his shirt?

Conan? Haibara’s voice called from the badge. We’re almost there. Can you and Hattori find the road?

Conan glances at his leg, and then considers Hattori's increasing incoherence.

"I'll figure it out," he tells Haibara and shoves the badge back into his pocket.

"Hattori," He says firmly. "We're leaving. I need you to give me a lift and walk north."

Better to keep it as simple as possible, with all the signs of his increasing confusion.

Hattori frowned. There was something off about the way he was being talked to, but he was distracted by the rest of the instructions to figure out how. “Right.” He agreed and got up. Or tried to. It took three attempts but he was finally vertical and not swaying. Picking up the smaller boy, he put him on his shoulders and... needed to be reminded what he was supposed to do next.

At least he was being obedient?

It took awhile- probably more than necessary- before they could finally hear sounds of a car rumbling by. It didn’t sound like the professor’s but Hattori hurried to try and catch sight of it before it vanished down the road. He wasn’t quite fast enough but he didn’t fall either! However, Conan could feel how much the other boy was sweating and struggling to keep this up.

Conan guides him to the road with uncharacteristic patience. By this point he was extremely concerned, and every thought was bent on getting Hattori to a hospital as soon as possible. With a concussion this bad, his thoughts kept going to all the articles he'd read about possible side effects.

When they finally reach the road, Conan could hear the car. Not the Beetle's engine. And what a sign of the other detective's current state that he hadn't noticed that. Not to mention all the symptoms of his physical state.

"Stop!" he says with more than a little worry. "We can rest here. They'll find us."

Haibara still had his spare glasses. She'd be able to locate the badge with that.

At the permission, Hattori nodded and as carefully as he could- which was a little rougher than he normally would- put Conan down- and plopped on the ground next to him. For a moment, he looked ready to pass out.

"You know.. you really should tell Ran." Yep, he sure did just start that conversation up again. "I asked my mom for her ring and she said no, not while I'm in high school."

Out of all the possible topics, he decided to pick this?

"...You know why I can't."

"But what if that thing had gone through your head not your leg," Hattori pointed out. "Do you really think it would change anything if she..." Right in middle of his sentence, the Osakan seemed to suddenly look lost and stop talking.

After a moment, he seemed to notice Conan was looking at him. "What?"

"...Nothing." Conan twists and stares up at the road, hoping to see whether their ride was here yet.

Hattori stared at Conan for a while before he finally shifted his gaze also to the road.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait too much longer. The familiar puttering of the professor's Beetle was the first sign they were finally almost out of danger. A few minutes later, Haibara was hopping out of the backseat of the car first and rushing over to the pair. One look at Hattori and she could tell he was in bad shape. What she hadn't been expecting was the condition Conan was in.

"Kudo-san, what's wrong with your leg?" She asked, coming up close to see the thick padding of shirts around Conan's leg.

The professor was looking over Hattori when she said this and then looked up to see what Haibara was referring to.

"Why are you two cuffed together?"

"We had a run-in with a criminal group," Conan informs her bluntly. "I got shot. But more importantly Hattori got hit on the head and drugged, and he's been showing all the symptoms of a bad concussion. My leg can wait. He needs help now."

"You both need help or did you think we came with two cars of varying speeds?" Haibara retorted, crossing her arms. "Now are you wanting some help into the car or think we should only help Hattori with that too?"

After that bit of sass, it took a little bit of work to get Hattori back on his feet and into the car with Conan still attached. About the time Hattori was in the seat, he finally passed out completely.

Haibara turned around in her seat as the car started up on the road again. "What did you find at the manor?"

Conan winces as he tries to shift his leg into a more comfortable position.

"The youngest son was embezzling from the family company. He was also involved with a criminal group which objected to being investigated. I'm not sure yet why they decided to hide us in the basement, but I suspect that they recognized at least one of us. It would explain why they locked us up, but didn't try to kill us." He checks quickly to make sure that he still had the folder of evidence, and then leans forward to get the professor's attention.

"When we get a moment could you check these cuffs? I couldn't find a way to pick them."

The professor chuckles."Of course, Shinichi-kun! I might even have the equipment for it in the trunk."

“A handcuff neither you or Hattori-san can unlock? They must’ve known who they were dealing with,” Haibara observed in her quiet tone with just a hint of humor. “How did you get out?”

They came across and easy spot to pull over so the professor could go rummage through his trunk. While he was gone, she looked back at the two boys again.

“He’s in really bad shape isn’t he?”

"They put us in a secret room," Conan says with some amusement. "The door was hidden, but they didn't bother to lock it."

He frowns as he glances over at Hattori again. "He definitely has a concussion. He was confused, and it was getting worse."

Haibara smirked at the stupidity of the criminals. They had been so close to being smart! It seemed the only group that ever gave them any serious challenge without mistakes like this was the Organization.

“Hmm.” She nodded looking from Hattori back to Conan. “And you? What symptoms are you feeling? Any light-headedness? Nausea?”

"Only as much as I'd expect after being chloroformed and shot," he points out irritably.

Before Haibara could make a comeback, the professor was back to work on the cuff. It took a bit of experimenting and Haibara pointing out Hattori didn’t need this delay before a magnet finally broke the cuff open. There was a dark groove on Hattori’s wrist when it was removed, but he didn’t react at all.

The rest of the drive was relatively quick. It was kind of a blur before they were both put on stretchers and taken into the hospital. Conan was greeted by the whole kid crew waiting anxiously along with Ran and her dad. The stretcher with Hattori didn’t wait for any greeting as he was rushed in for treatment.

Conan winces as he is met by a mass outcry of concern. Ran... He had made her worry again. And the kids too. The guilt weighs down on him.

But there was no time to talk before he was being quickly whisked into an examination room. The staff there quickly unwrapped his makeshift bandage and properly treated the injury. Minutes later he is wheeled back out, his leg properly stitched and bandaged, and he is left to recover in one of the hospital rooms.

It wasn't too long after Conan was brought in, that a soft tap came to the door. Poking her head in, Ran gave him a gentle smile. "Conan-kun, may I come in?"

Only after getting the okay, she approached him like he was something very fragile and made of glass. "Oh, Conan-kun! We were so worried about you! And look, you got hurt." Her bottom lip quivered slightly as she imagined how much pain he must be in. If only she could wrap him up in her arms and make everything better.

He'd made her cry again. That was the last thing he wanted to do, and yet it kept happening.

Conan forces a smile.

"Don't worry, Ran-neechan! I'm okay. I was with Heiji-niichan the whole time."

She couldn't help herself from reaching out and brushing back his bangs and put her palm on his cheek briefly, the way a mother might her child. She also couldn't draw her hand away immediately after and left it rest very gently on his shoulder. "You two always seem to get into trouble together. Maybe you shouldn't hang out with him so much."

She worried her bottom lip a moment but before she could come up with anything else, the person in question was being wheeled into the room by a medical tech. Hattori was still sleeping, but there were bandages over his injuries now. Once the bed was locked into place, the tech glanced their way and said, "Don't be too loud, he needs to rest."

"We won't," Ran promised. Although now she knew the Boys Detective Club shouldn't come in here till Hattori was awake. To Conan, she explained (not that he'd asked), "His parents and Kazuha are on their way." She reached into her pocket and pulled out his lucky charm. "If I'm not here when he wakes up, would you give this to him? He must've dropped it before he left this morning."

Conan holds himself still as she places a hand on her shoulder, and imperceptibly leans into her touch. "It wasn't Heiji-niichan's fault. We weren't expecting a whole criminal group to show up like that."

He closes his hand around the charm, and nods."I will. He was worried about it earlier."

He frowns as a thought occurs. "Ran-neechan? Could you do something else for me? I gave the professor a folder. Could you make sure that Megure-keibu gets it? It's important."

Ran can't argue with that, but it doesn't help how much she worries. He was so little and fragile and yet he acted like he was indestructible! No matter how often he got hurt, it didn't seem to change his mind either. For all his smarts, he was downright oblivious about his own safety.

"Of course, Conan-kun! Why don't you try and take a nap and I'll go talk to everyone outside? Is it okay if I come back in a while to check on you?"

Hattori mumbled something about a foul ball and rolled over in his sleep.

"Mmm, I'll still be here." He suspected that it would be a while before he'd be able to run around again. It was annoying to him, but at least he wouldn't worry Ran while he was stuck in bed.

Ran gave him a warm smile and promised to be back in a bit.

It’s an hour or so before Hattori stirs. His head hurts and he has no clue where he is. Groaning, he rolled over and blinked when he saw Conan in a hospital bed. What happened? He tried to sit up and groaned again- ow! Bad idea! Oh right. He was in a hospital bed too.

“Psst! Conan-kun! What happened? We were in the woods...”

No worries!

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