Glasses and monocles (A DC MK1412 fanfic)[yaoi, shinkai pairing]

29: vermouth

Narrators POV:

The blonde looked at the cages with something akin to regret. Most of the cages were empty now, no trace of the horrors left behind save for three name-plates. The first Subject 32, wild wolf dog cub. The second was Subject 96, retired racing greyhound. And the third, also seemingly empty, read subjects 398 & 399: feral silver bengal and feral Amber bengal. These labs had supposedly been destroyed in an accidental explosion, but everything, even the cages, had been moved to another facility. Out of the four-hundred and fifty odd animals used for experiment, only a handful of them had survived. And, due to this woman's interference, and influence, not one survivor was documented, only observed.

The blonde put a soft hand against the cage labeled 398 & 399, pressing her thumb against a well hidden switch in the door. The back of the cage slid back, to reveal a second part, about twice the size of the original part of the cage. Vermouth smiled to herself as two Bengal cats, barely six months old, tumbled into the light, mewling excitedly. Both cats were so covered in soot and dust and dirt, it was hard to tell their colours, save for a tip of ginger ear, and a smudge of silver under and eye. A tall man appeared behind the blonde, dark hair, thin features, and a startlingly bright look in his eye most.y hidden by the black suit, top hat and cape he was wearing.

"You've taken good care of them, haven't you?" The man asked, as vermouth let the two young cats out of the cage. The taller cat ran over to the man, climbed up his trousers, and draped itself over his shoulder, purring softly.

"I had to, Sensei. I feel responsible for their suffering, and despite all my killings, I'm still....." she sighs, turning to the man, after crouching down to pick up the calmer of the two cats. She tickles it's chin, making the cat purr loudly.

"So can we trust them? These... children?" The man asks, though he already knows the answer. After all, he considered one of them to be his most talented apprentice.

"You already know the answer to that, Sensei. The real question is, are you ready to give up all this deep cover nonsense and go back to what you were before all this?" Vermouth looks to the man slyly, which the man notices, but ignores.

"Are you?" It wasn't really a question, but she answered anyway. They knew each other too well, she thought amusedly.

"Mostly. But I'd have to find suitable homes for all twelve of my friends here." She gestured at the seemingly empty cages. "But finding suitable homes for animals like these will be difficult. Two cats who have been trained by you, Sensei, a Harris hawk that can read and write, four mongrel dogs who don't age, three twenty year old Maine coon cats that are now kittens and two African grey parrots that don't just mimic, but speak fluent Japanese!" Vermouth was, despite what most people thought, a serious animal lover, and the thought of finding understanding homes for the victims of the aptx4869 and pandora experiments was a troubling matter.

"I didn't come here for idle chat, Sharon, I thought you'd like to know that Kudo Shinichi was hospitalised last night. Wasn't he supposed to be the mastermind behind your...."

"We're to stick to the plan, Sensei. Wolf, Arthur and Watson will find us if we need to change anything. For all I know, he could be making himself a target for gin, hospital security is so disgraceful these days." Vermouth didn't sound worried, but inside, she was not concerned exactly, but... well, it wasn't like they could execute the plan without the teen, so what on earth was he planning?

BACK AT THE HOSPITAL.

"Mitsuhiko, can I ask you something?" Shinichi asked his young friend, afraid of the boy's answer. The boy nods.

"Do you remember I told you about that criminal group I took down a while back?" He nods, 'conan' had been withdrawn for a few weeks, how could he forget?