Chapter Text
Murder of a foreign citizen on Japanese soil, Furuya already had a bad feeling about that the moment he was assigned the case by Kuroda but it’s not like he can reject a direct order. His curiosity was piqued, knowing that this was not his usual expertise, but the moment he saw who else was assigned the case, everything clicked in place and for the first time in a long while, he wanted to strangle his boss.
“Furuya Rei-kun.” Akai, that bastard, gave him a polite nod as if he didn’t register the molten lava level hatred that flashed in Furuya’s eyes. Ever since he figured out that Subaru Okiya was none other than Shuichi Akai in disguise, he had been actively avoiding that man since he had no time to do constant breathing techniques while trying to be civil. But now he’s stuck on an actual mission with this imbecile.
“Should’ve known FBI would need some handholding in dealing with their own people’s murder.”
“I’m really thankful for the PSB for reaching out to us first to offer assistance.”
“Is that so? Then assume that I am here willingly.”
“I dare assume nothing, Furuya Rei-kun, but I can feel the sincerity in your voice.”
Jodie closes her eyes when she walks in and sees Akai grinning while a dark cloud figuratively emits from the PSB agent they were apparently assigned with. Ignoring the animosity between them, Jodie slides the case files to Furuya and Kazami, reminding them subtly that they are here to work and that she also does not want to be here.
“Alright, let’s start.”
Jodie presents the case to all the agents in the room which consists of the three FBI agents and two PSB individuals. There has been a string of murders by arson in the houses of American citizens working in the US agency, the FBI and local police had of course assumed that it was politically motivated as a form of retaliation from the earlier bilateral economic treaty between Japan and the US. But further investigation suggests that the culprit, whether it be individuals or a collective, had also targeted the Japanese police force and agents that were assigned to the case.
Well, with this information, it makes sense for the PSB to have direct handling in something that concerns murder attempts of their active duty officers. It’s just his luck that the FBI personnel he has to work with is… this guy.
“We assume that these–”
“JODIE!” The meeting was suddenly interrupted when Camel burst into the room, he didn’t even apologize for barging in unannounced as he hands her his tablet. “We got a problem.” She takes one look at the ‘problem’ before swallowing down a loud groan, sliding the tablet across to Furuya and Kazami. “We have to go.”
=
This must be the damn FBI agents’ fault because his people are not this reckless. Furuya thinks begrudgingly as he speeds down the highway, Jodie and Camel on his left while Akai is taking a different route just in case.
Right as they were having their meeting, the criminals had taken another drastic action. This time they didn’t kill any agents but they captured them instead, the motive of the kidnapping is still unknown but they assume that these people wanted a safe passage out of Tokyo so they could lay low and disappear.
“Nakamura and Sakamoto’s GPS have been disabled, Furuya-san.”
“So, they manage to find out where they hid that too, huh.” They can’t underestimate these people it seems, all on-duty PSB agents are equipped with a GPS tracking device synched to their headquarters, it’s far from any standard practice so whoever these criminals are, they must be trained, or paranoid enough, to find them. “What about those FBI agents?”
“Hodges’ phone had been destroyed.” Akai’s voice comes through their comms, Furuya groans because of course they won’t have anything useful too. The last known location is the pier and they’re rushing there now but that area is packed full with containers and empty warehouses, their agents could be hidden anywhere.
Once they arrived, all three parked their cars in different locations before they rendezvous at an agreed location, one of the loading docks owned by the PSB as one of their many safe zones.
Seconds after they enter, Furuya already has other PSB agents stationed there giving their estimated zone on where their agents might be kept, there are three most probable locations. They quickly dispersed, his unfortunate soul of course stuck with Akai Shuichi on his back as they infiltrated the area.
And that’s how they ended up here.
Two purple bruises left on their backs, fresh marks of a powerful taser burn. Furuya feels bile in his throat as he comes to only to realize that he has been captured, stashed in a smaller loading dock, wrists tied behind his back on a pole. Looking around, he sees his two fellow PSB agents and FBI agent Hodges.
“–and I don’t see him in the next 2 hours. I’ll kill one of your little agents, yeah? No! I don’t care if you need more time! I want Ueshima out here in fucking 2 hours, or they’re dead, you hear me!?”
Ueshima… Where… has he heard that name before?
Oh. Oh, right… Ueshima, the arsonist that tried to blow up the building on last year’s multilateral economic summit… His target was the CEO of an insurance company, hm... The reports said that the motive was personally driven, that the CEO had made new regulations that made it impossible for Ueshima’s wife to get treatment and eventually passed away. That man has been in jail for a few months now, if Furuya remembers correctly, it was Kuroda himself who arrested him.
Ah… suddenly everything makes sense now, the targeting of diplomatic members, the hatred for local law enforcement… are these people his friends? His followings? Furuya’s eyes are starting to focus, the man on the phone seems to be the boss, there’s another person next to him, way older with bleached yellow hair, another woman on the table with her laptop out, a hacker maybe?
“Which one of you is the PSB agent?” The boss, still walking back and forth in the room has his gun aimed at them, wait… not at him, that man is pointing his gun at Nakamura, the agent behind him who…
Oh, that looks bad.
Nakamura has obviously been beaten up, the bruising on his face being the worst of them. The boss puts the phone near his face, telling him to beg for his boss to hurry up. In Furuya’s eyes, he has only been in this place for a few hours, but these guys could’ve been cooped up in here for days, right up to the start of the failed bombing… They’re impatient, and that’s not–
“FINE! IF YOU WANT TO STAY FUCKING SILENT!!”
Furuya’s body jerked when the sound of a gunshot blew up his left eardrum. Nakamura, who was tied next to the pole right next to him, slumps onto the ground unmoving, his blood splattered on Furuya’s sides.
“Now…” The man’s voice, gruff and devoid of any empathy, looks around the room at the other two agents, himself, and… “Who’s the new PSB agent?”
“Me.”
Disoriented and rough, a familiar voice croaked out, Furuya turned to the owner of the voice, tied on a pole just out of reach from him.
Akai’s body involuntarily twitched when the boss kicked his sides, Furuya’s ears caught the wet sound of soaked fabric, breath shaky when he realized that he must’ve been out way longer than he thought, because Akai was sitting there, face already bruised, his blood dripping from his black shirt.
“I’m the PSB agent,” Akai said. “Give me the phone, I’ll talk.”
And talk he did. Akai talked to… whoever was on the other side of the call that Sakamoto and Nakamura have been shot, and that he would be next soon enough.
No.
No, they can’t– Damnit, Shuichi Akai… for once in his life can that guy just shut the hell up? Just shut his damn mouth up. Furuya is getting increasingly frustrated, that taser did a number on him and he still can’t feel parts of his body, his tongue still feels numb, and it’ll take a few minutes for him to be able to talk properly. Goddamnit.
Furuya’s eyes widen when the boss cuts the call and the sound of something breaking fills the air as Akai is pistol-whipped till the man’s consciousness disappears yet again.
=
The room is so quiet… Furuya can hear the sound of his damn watch ticking and the hacker’s fingers typing non-stop on her laptop.
He counted all the while, two hours huh? Only five minutes left until the deadline. Furuya feels wet, the blood of his agents has pooled and soaked his pants. By this point, the captors already know that he’s awake, but Furuya stayed put, not saying a thing because he knows these kinds of criminals; frustrated and trigger happy, they’re the most dangerous kind there is.
The only thing they can do is wait. The criminals waiting for Ueshima to be freed, and Furuya waiting for Kazami to save them already.
And Akai… he’s quiet. His breathing hasn’t slowed down and his skin is still flushed so at least he’s not bleeding out, perhaps he was just grazed and the earlier blood was from the original impact, but this is the thing. In the last two hours, he has been answering the arsonist’s questions, acting sarcastic and uninterested to keep the man’s attention away from Agent Hodges and, well, him.
Tick. Tick.
Three minutes.
Tick.
Two.
Tick.
One.
Two hours. The deadline passed and still no phone call.
Akai didn’t cower away, he had never been that kind of man, Akai didn’t break eye contact when the gun was pointed at his face.
Tick. Tick.
"WAIT!"
Why… is he even doing this? Furuya inwardly groans at his own actions. Will this even work…?
The arsonist’s attention wasn't on him at all until he said that. Furuya could've kept his mouth shut, and yet.
Furuya stands his ground as the gun is now pointed at him, a mere breath away from his forehead.
"You can’t kill him."
"And why is that, FBI?" Yes, Akai had told them earlier that Furuya is the FBI agent, with his blond hair and blue eyes, they just accepted the lie.
"Because he's a Father."
Furuya spat out, as if he was forced to get that fact out. Here goes nothing.
“That man is a father.” Repeating his words, Furuya is trying to sell this cover story of Akai hiding the fact that he has a family so that it will look like he is so selfless that he won't bring up his child when asked if he has a reason to be spared. Furuya didn’t choose this background on random, he theorized that, since Ueshima committed his crime because his family was killed by the CEO’s actions, that Ueshima’s underling would’ve joined him because of the same cause.
"He's a single parent." He hissed out once again. "He has a son barely 8-years-old. You can't orphan an innocent child. You can't punish him for the sins of his Father."
"A son?" The white-haired man next to the boss hissed out an order to lower their weapons for now. "He's lying, our research said that no agent in this unit has a family."
"Did you forget? Any and all information of family and relatives is closed off even to the most senior operatives." That's not true, there's no need to hide the identities of regular agents, but they don't know that. "Besides–"
"No."
Akai, who has been quiet all this time, finally speaks up. "I have no son."
His voice sounds final, Furuya swallows his frustration. The beaten-down real FBI has a hard look on his face, he's annoyed, angry even, his emotions laid bare because he's too exhausted to hide them properly. Deep down Akai thinks he's getting really rusty.
But he can't help his feelings, this stunt Furuya pulled enrages him.
It's not hard that figure out what Furuya is playing but hearing that description. Single parent of an eight-year-old child. Eight. The only eight-year-old they know that could possibly be roped into this is. "I said." Akai hissed again, his jaw stung every time he opened his mouth but he couldn't care less. "I have no son. I never wed and I didn't parent any child."
"Blondie could be telling the truth."
"What?"
No… Akai's eyes widen at the woman operating a laptop on the other side of the room, the phone he himself destroyed earlier is on the table, stripped bare with its card poking out from a modified card reader. She turns the laptop to show what she found to her boss.
It's a photo of Conan.
Or to be more precise, it's a photo of the both of them since it captured him in the background, busy putting different sweaters on colour-coded hangers.
Akai remembers that night, it was one of the first nights he spent as Subaru Okiya, the picture is set in the Kudo Mansion's giant wardrobe, Akai in the back unpacking all the new clothes Yukiko had bought for him, while Conan was in front of a mirrored wall. He was wearing a ridiculously bright, abstract patterned sweatshirt thrice his size that looked like a battlefield of noncomplementary colours. Yukiko had obviously mixed in some of Yusaku’s old clothes from the house itself and of course, some of them turned out to be these weird 70s disco fits. Conan was obviously having fun rummaging through all that pile of disaster, posing with some random pieces. The boy must've been especially bored that day.
Akai's eyes widen in horror, an uncharacteristic show of emotion so clear as the woman swipes through a few more pictures of Conan wearing more ridiculous clothing, taking pictures just because. Ah. One of them seems to be an accidental video:
'Akai-san! Look at this!' Conan turned and showed himself wearing a thick, black sweater with the words 'POLIZIA' on it. 'I look just like you, huh, Mr. Police Spy?' Conan cackled loudly as Akai just agreed, telling him that if he grew out his hair, they would be identical.
"He's just a relative's boy." Akai said yet again, "No kid addresses their father like that."
The lady snorts, waving him off saying that the boy was obviously roleplaying as his dad. Akai's insistence on denying the boy's existence despite the proof has an opposite effect, now the arsonists are more convinced that he has a family, that he's just denying it to keep the boy safe.
"I don't see any woman in the pictures though." The hacker adds. "Blondie's right, this guy's a single parent. So, what should we do with him now, boss?"
Furuya purposely lets out a sigh, showing them that he is truly sincere.
Akai is glaring at him. He doesn't have to see it, he could already feel it on his skin. Never has Akai looked at him like that, hell, even as he's staring death in the eye, when he would've been killed if Furuya hadn't interfered, he didn't have the same level of terror.
But he does now, because now they think Conan is his son, that now these people, these arsonists that had killed and burned down countless now know of Conan's existence.
"Who knows, some kids are better off orphans." The white-haired man said and Furuya's eyes widened. Ugh, what now?
"Just because your father beat you, it doesn't mean this guy does, his kid looked pretty happy to me." The hacker said, she seemed to be the most sympathetic of the bunch. "Daddy over here is pretty protective of him too."
…
Akai really has no cards to play anymore, huh?
It's obvious that this group has their own set of codes, Furuya figured out that the boss in particular is not a family annihilator, he must've lost his own in the past but the other members? They don't seem to care much. Furuya has to press harder on the man's sympathy if he wants to stay alive.
"What about you then, blondie?" Furuya sees one man approaching and putting the muzzle of his gun right on his forehead. "You don't have a kid now, do you? Why shouldn't I blow your brains out right now and send the pictures to your boss as a nice souvenir?"
"My boy needs him."
Eh?
Furuya turns to look at Akai, that man's eyes have this… jumbled look on them, as if he has resigned to the fact that this is where they're at, that these people are already fully convinced that Akai has a son and that… son, Conan , is their only way out. Deep down, his blood is boiling… Furuya Rei, how could you?
Akai is not too prideful to admit that his emotions have now controlled his logic, because Furuya's plan is logical, there is a chance that this could work. Akai despises it, but it's the only strategy they have.
"After my wife died…" Akai clears his throat, he wants to drop her name but he wants to keep this image of him being overly protective of his family. It's just an image of course, his blood loss is not affecting his mind at all. Not at all. It’s of course not making it hard for him to think, to even figure out which way is up or down. "…I didn't know what to do, she was the one keeping house, made us food and took care of us, after she left… It was take-outs every night and laundry drops every week. Boya got sick after a while. But he changed that." Akai gestured to Furuya. "He was more of a parent than I was."
For a split second, their eyes met, and in that brief moment, Akai could see foreign emotions flash in Furuya's blue irises. Emotions he had never witnessed before.
"He took care of him when I couldn't. Kill me instead."
"Typical." The woman clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes dramatically. "What a useless dad."
"Heh, well that makes it easier, yeah? We could just spare blondie here and kill that PSB dog, I'm getting tired of this shit."
"No!"
"Ha?" Furuya feels the muzzle nudging his temple again and again. "Why not, hm? Kiddo has you, apparently."
"I'm not married or related to that agent." Furuya hissed. "If you kill him… social service will take that boy away. I won't be able to take care of him. He'll be orphaned still!"
"Okay, this is getting ridiculous." The white-haired man groans, walking towards the hacker and wiggling the broken phone on her face. "You can get the boy's number from here, right? Let's just call him and ask which one he likes better or something."
"No." Akai's voice sounds shaky.
Furuya stares at the other man, damnit, is the pain affecting him already? Akai, don't you dare crack now…
"Oh, shut up, we're just going to ask the kiddo–"
"I SAID NO! LEAVE MY SON ALONE!"
Akai felt blind. He didn't notice it till now but his body must be way weaker than he thought if screaming once got him all lightheaded and his vision blurry. But he has to stop them, he won't let them take Conan, he won't…
"Here you go, boss."
Akai blinked, his outburst completely ignored as the hacker copied Conan's number from his SIM card before giving the phone to their boss.
"Akai…" Akai turned towards the source of the low voice, hard eyes meeting his. "Get it together, don't you dare die on me." Akai wants to glare at him, he wants to stare down those blue eyes and curse him to hell and back but he can't, that's just not who he is. But it's also because he's seeing it again, that unknown, new expression on Furuya's face that he has never…
"Teitan Elementary School." The woman said. "The kid's GPS says he's still there. Wanna call him?"
"ENOUGH! I SAID ENOUGH!!! LEAVE HIM BE!"
Akai trashed on the spot, pulling and yanking fruitlessly at his handcuffs, his body hitting the pole he's securely tied in.
Furuya's eyes widened.
"Akai!" He hissed loudly, hitting the man's foot with the tip of his boots since that's the only part he can reach. "Settle down! Akai!! You'll bleed again!" His warnings fell on deaf ears of course. His heartbeat quickens, he knows Akai likes Conan a lot, and he knows that they're obviously close, but he didn't realize that Akai would be this…
Is it the blood loss? Is that why he completely lost it?
"No." The boss said, declining the woman's phone, the hacker raised one brow curiously before tossing the man her car keys.
"We have some spare time since these people won’t listen. So, fancy a ride?" The boss said to his henchman who huffs, saying that anything is better than being cooped up in this musty place. It's obvious where they're going.
They're going to meet Conan.
The man whom Furuya saw got worked up only a handful of times in the past is now screeching at the top of his lungs, turning into hysterics by yelling at the man till his voice audibly breaks midway, threatening him with death if they ever touch even a single hair on his son's head.
Furuya sees fresh blood trickling down the rusty metal pole.
Furuya felt a sharp pain on his wrist, surprised when he realized that he also had cut himself on the metal handcuffs from pulling at them too hard.
"Akai." He hissed at him yet again, "Akai, just– Don't you die on me. Don't… don't you fucking die on me."
The sharp hatred he always had in the past when addressing the other man… That sharpness. It isn't there.
This… this has to work. Conan… he will understand, right? If there's anyone, just one person in the entire world that can save them now, it would be him. That little genius.
The hacker watches from the table the spectacle unfurling in front of her eyes. The weakened man slowly losing his consciousness and the blond next to him looking pale, whispering words she didn't care enough to listen to.
She still has doubts about this, unsure if this whole happy family thing is a lie or not. But if it is merely a ruse, screaming bloody murder about keeping your son safe seems like a good start.