Detective Conan FF: ♤The Poisoned Trio♤ (English)

Chapter 28 Final Part I

The two agents held on to the wall, breathing heavily. This couldn't...this couldn't be happening!? Ash felt dizzy. She moved away from the body slowly. The girl heard voices. Lights twitched on, but it all felt so surreal. So infinitely bizarre.

Minoru and Ash exchanged a look in disbelief. "Gin..." hissed Ash, looking at the dropped, sunken eyelids and contorted mouth. What had they done to him? It took some time to realize that the other guests were quite shaken. "What...what is the meaning of this?" gasped Sebastian. Minoru wrestled with himself. "I...don't know," he answered truthfully. Gin was dead?! No...he was...murdered...but why? And why on earth was he here, on this train? "There's a body that just crashed through the ceiling! It can't get any worse," the conductor interjected, frightened.

"We have to stop the train! We're all going to be killed here. One by one," Misuzu sobbed out. Minoru shook his head. "No...that man...he's been dead for several hours. Someone hid him...here," he whispered coldly. Ash stepped up to her colleague. "Someone is playing with us here. Gin is fucking dead! Dead!" she murmured almost tonelessly. "But...why would...someone hide Gin here?" he asked more to himself.

But before the two could even think further, a loud crackling sound was heard. Immediately, the agents braced themselves, but it was a speaker of some sort. "Very nice. You've found them," a distorted, ghastly-sounding voice filled the room. Chardonnay winced; he knew that metallic rasping sound after all! Was that...? "First of all, I would like to thank everyone for this great performance. Now it's finally time," the voice chuckled. "What the fuck is going on right now?!" cursed Ash, searching for the source of the voice. "You'll be looking for a long time, Brennevin," the person remarked, amused.

"Damn it, that guy is filming us too!" she shouted angrily. Minoru stood in front of her. "Who or what are you? What do you want from us!" he stated icily. The person laughed. "Who am I? Don't you know? No? Well...", the voice made an artificial pause. "I've been watching you for a long time. A very long time. All of you, are playing in my game. And so far, you're doing well, really!" the voice laughed. Ash had had enough. "That's it, did you kill Gin and hide him here?!" she yelled, "Yes. That was me. I killed Gin and hid him here. I also bought the train empty, and I planned this murder game. It was pretty fun," the person replied. "Just disgusting," Ash hissed. "But why?" interjected Chardonnay, ignoring the frightened and confused looks of the guests. "Why? I thought it would be obvious! To test you...Chardonnay and Brennevin," the person explained.

"And that's why you kill gin? While I'm glad the guy is finally dead...", Ash was interrupted. "Who said I killed Gin?" the person commented. "Weren't you going to-", again the voice didn't let the agent finish. "The others will never know...at least...", the person chuckled. "At least what?", Minoru had found the camera and tried to remove it, but he didn't have a gun or a sharp weapon with him. "What if I say YOU killed Gin?", those words drilled into every muscle and bone of the agents. Gasping for breath, Minoru paused.

"WHAT?" his patience was wearing thin. "Wait...you're saying WE killed him? Have you gone completely insane?", Brennevin tussled her hair. "I see you guys like my little twist," the person didn't falter. "I'll tell the organization that you are NOCs, rats, traitors who had killed Gin," the voice had become a dangerous, low whisper. "You wouldn't dare," Ash breathed. "Yes, I dare," it laughed, "Whoever thinks we're Nocs has an ass open!". Surely none of this could be true! It was all a ridiculous nightmare. "Well, just unfortunately...no one will believe you," the voice emphasized her words. "You have no choice...except..." "Except what?" both Ash and Minoru wanted to know at the same time. The person took extra more time. "There's a bomb in the last train car. Either...you kill yourselves by blowing up the bomb, thus saving everyone else..." it suggested.

"Or...you let the guests die, and save yourselves". Ash stared at Minoru. How on earth did they get out of this situation!?

"Oh yeah, before I forget...there's another little surprise for you guys," the voice recalled. Suddenly, footsteps sounded on the train. There was someone there!? Had someone been sent to kill Ash and Minoru? The footsteps came closer and closer, Ash instinctively prepared to dodge the attack. Just at that moment, the train passed through a tunnel. Everyone present froze. The person stopped; breathing could be heard. Then, as the train left the tunnel again and the light streamed through the windows, it happened. Slowly the door slid open, the figure stepped out of the shadows...and....

Ash's heart slipped into her heels.

A cold, tight noose wrapped around her neck, squeezing the air out of her.

She didn't believe her eyes.

This couldn't be real. But it was. Not a hallucination, no. Such a realization hit her like a bullet. "Impossible..." she gasped. And yet she looked into Dubonnet's brown, warm eyes.

♠♠♠

There was a huge commotion at the Tokyo police headquarters when Takagi and Sato issued a warning. "What exactly did you see?", Inspector Megure wanted to know and pulled his hat deeper into his face. Beside him, Shiratori tensely played around on the computer. "There was something...a figure...I couldn't see clearly what it was...but there was something! I'm sure of it!" replied the police officer on the other side of the line. "That's right, I saw it too. But in an instant, it was gone," Sato agreed. Megure grabbed his chin.

Who or what was watching the house? And why? Was it the kidnappers? Or...someone else after all? "There's nothing on the cameras. All you can see is the dark forest," Shiratori reported, sighing in exasperation. "Very well...keep your eyes open in case there really was someone there. We have to make sure that the sick people don't get to the girl!" the inspector ordered. "Of course. We'll keep you posted," then Takagi hung up. "It's strange that the cameras hadn't picked up anything," Shiratori muttered, rubbing his forehead. "Probably the person was dressed in dark clothes...", Megure pondered aloud. Just at that moment, another policeman rushed in. It was Chiba. "We found the kidnapper's car! The black Porsche!" shouted Chiba excitedly. Immediately Megure and Shiratori jumped to their feet.

"Where, when?" the two wanted to know. Chiba laid the photos on the table for them. "In Shibuya, rather more on the outskirts," a voice said suddenly. A tall, burly man entered the department. With his serene look, he greeted everyone present. Piercings gleamed in his one ear, while his hands were in his pants pockets. "Keiichiro? What are you doing here?" wondered Megure. "Well, I had seen the ad after the Porsche...and you could say I found it by accident," the man recounted.

"Was the perpetrator in the car?", Shiratori wanted to know. However, Keiichiro shook his head. "No. Absolutely nothing. No weapon. No prints. Nothing. It's like someone cleaned everything up," he looked thoughtfully at the photos. "It seems like we're not dealing with simple hostage-takers here. But with professionals," Chiba concluded a realization. "We must stop them at all costs. We can't put any more lives in danger," Megure finally said, hastily leaving the room while the others looked after him in confusion.