She felt like she was in hell.
Her head was in hell.
It hurt so much.
She groaned as she sat up. The only thing she remembered was the headlights of a car when she was taking a stroll. She couldn't remember if the car stopped in time or if hit her. She remembers the wave of pain she felt go through her body when she felt a huge metal hit her. Was that the car hitting her? Was she dead? Was she in heaven?
"You idiot,we should take her to the hospital.",a feminine voice growled.
Ayumi's questions faded quickly and she looked at her surroundings. It didn't take long to notice she was in a car. A car that was moving. And it wasn't going to the hospital.
"You're the idoit. If we take her to the hospital,we'll never get the ransom money.",another voice spoke,this time a young male.
"The first thing that popped up in your mind was call her parents and kidnap her. You're a stupid bastard.",the feminine voice mumbled angryily.
The man ignored her and kept on driving.
Ayumi didn't know what to do. Yea she did get kidnapped a lot of times when she was 7,but back then she had her badge and hopes of Conan saving her. But her badge was nothing but wires and pieces of metal after what happen on Valentine's Day.Her hopes of Conan saving her were dead. The only person he'll likely save will be Haibara.
She turned her head to look out the other window. She almost gasped at who was next to her.
A 12-year old girl with medium length light brown hair and forest green eyes.
She didn't look scared. She looked calm,but the look she was giving Ayumi,terrified her. The girl looked at her with dark and cold eyes.
The girl finally turned her gaze away from Ayumi and towards the window.
"Look Moscato,the girl's awake."
Ayumi turned her gaze to the two people at the front. The man,who must be Moscato,seemed to be about 19 or 20,he had black hair and bright hazel eyes. The woman beside looked about 18. She had short and disheveled dirty blonde hair,green eyes,and was wearing a t-shirt with a labcoat over it.
"Good. Wait till Aniki meets her. We're low on members.Fixin,keep her entertain.",Moscato said as he turned his gaze towards the road.
At first Ayumi thought the dirty blonde was Fixin until she felt a pack of cards hit her head. The 12-year old was the one who threw them.
She must be Fixin,but who's-
"Merlot. That's my codename.And you'll have to address me by that name from now on and not ask what my real name is.",the dirty blonde replied in a montone voice,not glancing a single peek at Ayumi.
Ayumi looked at her with a shock expression.
How did she know what I was thinking?
"Where are we going?"Ayumi asked,trying hard to hide the nervousness in her voice,but failed.
"No questions. You'll find out soon. We're almost there."
Ayumi gulped.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
The police car sped as fast as it could at lighting speed. The sirens blared,letting any cars know to move out of the way.
Haibara looked out of the window a anxious look on her face. She ignored everything around her,even the blushing glances Mitsuhiko kept giving her when he saw the hickey on her neck. A mark left by a tantei. The only thing in her mind was Ayumi. How did she get kidnap? Wasn't she held in her home,having a "there's tons of fish in the ocean" talk by her parents?
She snapped out of her thoughts when she saw Ayumi's apartments come to view. Police cars were gathered around the parking lot. Her parents were talking to a police officer. Her dad was comforting her mom who was weeping.
Before the car could even stop,Haibara was already out of the car and running towards the police officers and Ayumi's parents.
"Ai-chan!"Ayumi's mother cried as she released herself from her husband and wrapped her arms around Haibara in a warm embrace as she wept.
Inspector Megure and Takagi hopped out if the car,followed by Conan,Genta,and Mitsuhiko. Midori had stayed back at the station and was put in charge of Gen's murder case till Megure came back. The first thing Conan did was run over to Ayumi's father and asked,"What happen Yoshida-san?"
Ayumi's father didn't respond. With a dour expression he gave Conan his phone,which was on Messages.
Conan's eyes widen in shock as he read every letter in the text message which was sent from Ayumi's IPhone.
We have your daughter. Her name's Yoshida Ayumi,right? She's 14. She has short black hair and blue eyes. She's wearing a long salmon pink robe over white and purple pyjamas and she's wearing old raggedy cream bunny slippers. If you want to see her again. Two weeks from now,on the new moon,come to Osaka. We'll give you instructions on how to get to our place until the two weeks come. We want $9,900,000 dollars in return for her. Don't try to track this phone. Oh we'll know if you're tracking us and we will move locations. Don't call the police or else you'll never see your sweet baby again.......and you won't open your eyes to the world again......your baby's waiting........
~~MMF
"MMF?"Conan silently spoked.
"I'm sorry Yoshida-san.It's all my fault.....if I told Ayumi earlier we wouldn't be in this doltish mess."
Haibara looked at Mrs.Yoshida as she patted her back. Conan could clearly see that Haibara had tears running down her eyes.
"It's not your fault Ai-chan. We wouldn't have known it was going to happen and we can't mess with the future......there's nothing we could've done to stop it.",Yoshida-san said,sniffing and wiping her tears away and using her free hand to wipe Haibara's tears.
"Let's just pray that nothing terrible will happen,"Ayumi's father finally spoke,but in a sober tone,"But if something bad does happen and our little walking beauty fades away to dust,her mother and I will accept our loss and know that one day we'll see her again."
Haibara stared at him with baffle look. If she and Conan ever had a child and her child was kidnapped. She would do anything to get her child back and if her child was found dead.....well she wouldn't know what to do...she couldn't stand the thought of having her future child dead.
"Don't worry Yoshida-san,I'll do whatever it takes to bring your baby back home.",Haibara said with sympathy at Ayumi's mother.
Yoshida-san smiled warmly and pushed aside a strand of Haibara's auburn locks,"Arigatou,Ai-chan. You'll be a wonderful mother when you and Conan-kun have children. I can see it now."
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
'It's been two hours and we still haven't gotten there....' Ayumi whined mentally. She couldn't stand long car rides,even at times where she was kidnap. To make things worse she could feel her stomach get overturned,which meant only one thing:
Motion sickness
"When are we getting there?"Ayumi whined.
"When we reach that place that's when we get there.",Moscato said,trying to hide his annoyance.
"Pretty good pun you did there onii-san or whatever the fuck that was .",Merlot mumbled sarcastically under her breath
Moscato looked like he was about to slap Merlot,but he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"We'll get there in about another hour,newbie...",Moscato finally spoke.
"Newbie?"
"Hai. That's what they call new child members and when they get their mentors they are known as Baby Crows till they become 18.", a small and sweet voice.
It was Fixin who spoke.
The 12-year old hadn't said a single word these 2 whole hours (inside a crammed and freezing car). She would only nod and say "uhm". Ayumi found it creepy how this girl that had a terrifying aura and look,could speak so sweet. It reminded her of a certain girl.
"But you guys can call me Yoshida Ayumi?"Ayumi said happily.
Fixin giggled a bit.
"What?"
"Nothing,Yoshi-san."
Ayumi just stared and sighed. The old Yoshi nickname. It all started at the beginning of 4th grade when Genta illegally brought a 3DS to school and was playing Mario Kart 8. He was playing as this weird dino creature named Yoshi. Haibara had a giggle a bit,but after being questioned by Ayumi,she said it wasn't nothing,she also had a mysterious hickey on her neck that day and constantly tried hiding it with her auburn hair. During roll call,when sensei called out her name,Genta just bursted out laughing and sayomg Yoshi-chan. It was after school that he explained everything and called her Yoshi Ayumi. The name stuck and it's still ongoing.
"We're here."
"WHAT!You said it'll take a hour!!"
"I lied. It'll take us a hour to arrive at the place,not the town."
Ayumi groaned and faced the window. The lights of the city illuminated the streets. The buildings they passed seem awfully familiar. Like she's been here before.
Welcome to Osaka!!
Osaka! That's where she was. Two years ago Conan and Haibara invited them for a festival.(Well it was Heiji who invited them.)
The car came to a sudden halt. If it wasn't for Ayumi's seatbelt,she would've hit her head against Merlor's seat. Or worse. Fly out through the front window and no more Ayumi.
"We're here....",Moscato grumbled as he opened Ayumi's door.
She got out and instantly felt Moscato grab her hand.
She blushed.
There destination was a factory. A abandoned factory. The ones with vines and overgrown plants,nothing works,and it's far away from town. It looked like the type of place where crimes were being secretly committed every day and night. It was a place out of Goosebumps.
They walked up to the back entrance of the factory,which was a metal rusted door that had a small crack in it.
Moscato knocked on the door.
Seven long knocks.
A pregnant pause was feared to last long until a crispy voice spoke out.
"Password?"
Moscato groan in frustration and whispered into the crack.
"Oh mother crow,Why do you cry?"
The sound of many chains being unlocked could be heard from inside. The door finally opened to reveal a old man wearing sunglasses and a old beaten down cap. "Hey Mos-wait,who's that!!"
He pointed a wrinkly finger at Ayumi,who was hidding behind Merlot.
"New recruit.",Moscato said as he nudge the man aside.
"Hey wait!You know that intru-erk!"he stopped immediately when Moscato pulled out a gun and pointed it at the man's forehead.
Ayumi yelped in fear and gripped Merlot's arm tighter. She glanced at Fixin and goosebumps started forming on her arms seeing how calm the 12-year old was.
"O-o-ok Moscato. You win,"the man stuttered in fear,"But I'll warn you. Gin or the boss won't like this. You're only suppose to bring recruits that are newborns to 10-year olds. This girl's 14!If they don't accept her,you'll know what they'll do to her since she knows lf this place and saw our faces. And you don't know how long it took us to rebulid this syndicate to the way it was!"
A eerie silence followed before Moscato spoke up,"I know......7 years...."
"And you know who's fault was that!"
"The female traitor and the supposedly dead high school detective."
The female traitor?
Without a single word being spoken between the two males,Merlot was getting annoyed and impatient.
"Gomen,but we don't have all day-I mean all night.",Merlot said as she pushed both men aside as she led Ayumi and Fixin inside.
~~~~~~
She expected the factory to be dirty and populated by rats. Boy,was she wrong. Well only the back entrance lobby was different. It was dark and even had vines growing from the sides and it had broken glass and furniture. After passing the back entrance,everything changed. Lights were on. They had T.V's and furniture. One thing Ayumi noticed was that they had planks of wood nailed on the windows. Probably to hide the light that gave the whole place away.
Ayumi slowly followed behind Merlot and the others through a long corridor until she felt someone push her on a chair.
It was Moscato who pushed her. "You guys wait here. I'll go and talk to Gin....."
Ayumi nodded and watched the young man go inside a room.
~~~~~~
The room was pitch black,with a dinner table in the middle and a laptop on top of it. The laptop was very special to everyone living here. It was there only way to communicate with imprisoned members that were captured during The Black Crow Battle.
Moscato walked over to the laptop and silently turned it on. A bar with the words 'Which member do you wish to contact?' shone brightly on the screen.
I just hope he's awake.....
There was a beep before the top assassin's face appeared on the screen. He had bags under his eyes,sign that he was lacking sleep,he was wearing his prisoner uniform,he had his silver hair tied in a low ponytail and since he knew this assassin since he was small,Moscato knew he was not happy. Not at all.
"What the bloody hell do you want!"
Moscato closed his eyes shut as the man yelled and scolded him waking him up at 12 a.m.
"This better be good if you had the courage and nerve to wake me up!"
Moscato took a deep breath before he spoke.
"I found a new recruit."
Gin's attention was instantly caught,like a cat with catnip, and he looked at the boy straight in the eye.
"Details. Now."
"Uhm.....her name's Yoshida Ayumi. She has shoulder length black hair. Blue eyes. Petite body. Her body looks good to be a sniper."
"Interesting. Age?"
"14.",Moscato beamed proudly.
Poor Moscato. He got hit by a outrage screaming bullet. The poor boy cowered as he was scolded for kidnapping a fourteen-year old instead of following the age rule.
After Gin stopped to take a breath,the boy spoke in a timid and shaking voice.
"S-sir a-act-actually I ha-h-have a-a pl-p-plan!"
He spoke all about his plan. Asking for ransom and never bringing the girl back.
Gin facepalm three times.
"Moscato,"Gin said softly through clenched teeth,"You're a good member,but who in mind almost runs over a girl and decides to kidnap!! A RETARD!"
"I WAS SCARED GIN! I DIDN'T WANT CHARGES PRESS AGAINST ME!!"
When he realized that he yelled at his mentor he quickly bowed down.
"Moscato. Just because you almost ran over a girl doesn't mean the parents will press charges. It'll be worse if you actually killed her! What's worse than that is that you kidnapped her!",Gin said.
"So,what do we do with her?"
"Keep her. Train her. We don't have a other choice. She may be a good use for us in the future. She may become one of the best snipers or better yet,be the woman who gave birth to the next syndicate boss."
"Yes Gin."
"Go and tell the boss. I put her in your hands. I think you're ready for your first apprentice. Train her well."
"Yes Gin I won't fail you...."
~~~~~~
"This is the room you'll stay in."
Ayumi looked at her "new" room.
It had a lonely,dark,and murderous feeling to it. The windows were nailed with wood planks and the wood planks were hidden by the curtains,which had cat scratches.
"Did the previous person had a cat.",Ayumi asked.
"No. Why?"Merlot answered.
"The curtains."
Merlot went and inspected the curtains.
"That's weird. We got new curtains just yesterday. There's no way a cat would've entered this room. Oh well. You better get some sleep. You'll wake up at 8 tomorrow.",Merlot said as she walked over to the door.
Ayumi nodded.
"Please don't get offended if they call you Baby Crow. Its the name given to you young apprentices."
Ayumi just nodded and watched as Merlot slammed the door.
She sighed and flopped on the bed. She quickly stood up when she felt a jabbing pain on her side.
She reached inside her pocket to feel that something was inside.
A bowtie.
It was Conan's bowtie. The one she stole from him when it was his 10th birthday. Conan had desperately been looking for it for two weeks until Hakase made him a new one.
A tear fell on the bowtie,staining a small portion of the red silk.
You'll save me. Won't you Ai-chan.
~~~~~~
Conan woke up immediately from the bed. Sweat drops all over him.
Was she really kidnapped by....them?
"Conan?"
He turned around to see a Haibara with a worry expression on her face. He totally forgot she had stayed over and they were sharing his bed.
"If you keep waking up like that you'll wake up the others."
Mitsuhiko,Genta,Araide,and even Ran had stayed over so they can help search for Ayumi tomorrow.
Conan ignored her and grabbed his cell phone.
"What the hell you want Kudo! It's like 3 a.m. here!"
"Heiji listen. I want you to keep a watch for Ayumi. I have the hunch she may be in your area.",Conan said in a stern voice.
"What?"
Before Heiji could speak more,Conan hunged up.
Don't worry Ayumi. We will find you.
~~~~~
Heiji yawned as he drove through the highway.
Today was not his day.
First, he drove Kazuha to the doctor,second, his car had a flat tire,and third,Kudo called him at about 3 am asked him to come over here for no damm reason. He better have a goo-
"Hey! Hey!"
He stopped the car as a young woman of 18 with short dirty blonde got in front of the car.
"Yea? Wha ya want?"
"Can you give me a ride to Tokyo?"
"Why?" Heiji asked suspiciously. He swore he saw her before.
I have to pick up some clothes my aunt's daughter left. She just moved here yesterday,but forgot her clothes. She's such a klutz!"
Heiji,without word,opened the door for the young woman.
Something wasn't right. He could feel it in his guts.
The young girl smirked as Heiji closed her door.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Done! I'm currently at this Cinco de Mayo party since my mom participated to work in this Mexican restaurant just for today. And I found it a good opportunity to finish this chapter early! So enjoy dear Mudkips!
Merlot,Moscato,and Fixin belong to me. Detective Conan belongs to Gosho Aoyama.