For Conan!

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(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.

Comments

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Hattori had to laugh. Clearly it was Conan's turn to turn to be grumpy. And no, he didn't blame the Eastern Detective at all!

"Alright." He leaned over and- after blinking away stars- examined the bandage Conan had made. It was bleeding through. With a sigh, he started ripping up his shirt and added it as a second and third layer. He didn't need a shirt, it wasn't that cold out here! Brr. Besides, it was more important they get that bleeding to stop, than Hattori to be comfortable.

After that he tried to examine the cuff again, but it aggravated his headache. "What could possibly be the trick to this? It has to have an opening we're just not seeing. If we were someplace where we could put a match to it, the smoke would outline the break in the material."

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Conan sighs, but doesn't protest as Hattori adds his shirt to the bandages around leg. He suspected that was an argument he would lose.

He gladly turns his mind to the problem of the cuff.

"There's no place for a key, but it could be an electronic key, like a remote." If that was the case, it was probably hidden somewhere in that house. No chance of finding it now.

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He really was a great detective! Conan knew when he was going to lose an argument.

Hattori's eyebrows rose as he moved the cuff around on his wrist. He hadn't thought about this having an electric key. It would explain the lack of a keyhole. "The hinge could be inside the metal frame too," he observed, agreeing fully with the smaller boy's idea. "I should've stolen the man's gun so we could try and shoot this thing off of us." He frowned, realizing that was again evidence he wasn't thinking clearly. A gunshot out in the forest would surely bring the bad guys their way.

He looked up at Conan with an embarrassed expression. "Please don't tell people I kept making such stupid suggestions!"

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"I'll consider it," Conan says with obvious amusement. Remember when he promised himself he'd get Hattori back for the teasing earlier? Opportunities for revenge always came quickly.

"The professor should have the equipment to cut it off at his house. We can take a look at the mechanism there." If they managed to distract him from his latest line of automated watermelon slicers.

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“You’re a brat,” Hattori retorted and stuck his tongue out at Conan with his usual touch of humor to his tone. “When the professor arrives I’m telling him you need a time out.”

He leaned back against the tree and looked half ready to fall asleep again before remembering not to do that. “Tell Hubaku about the charm when you show up.” He looked at Conan as though that sentence was supposed to make sense.

whoops, forgot to switch journals

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"As long as that happens after you see a doctor." Hattori was getting less and less coherent. Conan was concerned.

"Want to try that one again?"

No worries!

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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."

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

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

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"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?"

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

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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?"

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"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."

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"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?"

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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."

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“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?”

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"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."

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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?”

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

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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.

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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.

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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.