Kogoro woke to the acrid scent of gasoline in his nose. He groaned, working to force his gritty eyes open. Ran wouldn't approve if she realized he'd drunk himself into the ground. Literally into the ground if he could smell gasoline. Hopefully it was just an alleyway and not somewhere-Kogoro blinked. Blinked again. He tried to pull his hand up to his eyes to rub at them, but they were pinned fast under- his vision cleared. Rubble. Destruction. His heart took off like the horse races he loved to watch, beating hard and fast as his memory came back to him.

"Ojisan, GET DOWN!" the brat had cried out, flinging himself at Kogoro as the world flashed orange and white.

Kogoro took a shallow breath. A Bomb. The mansion the two of them had come to to meet a client had been rigged with explosives. Kogoro tried to push himself up. He groaned again as the rubble on top of him barely shifted. He twisted his head trying to see. Steel? Concrete? What was pinning him down? Possibly both. The weight on his shoulders and legs made it very clear...he wasn't getting out of this on his own. There had to be help, or a way to send he- He cursed under his breath. How could he have forgotten? "O-" he broke off coughing, his throat dry and sore. "Oi!" he called out again. "BRAT!" Where was the freeloader?

He wouldn't admit that the tightness in his chest was from anything but the weight of rubble on top of him as he heard no response. Licking dry lips he tried again. "BRAT!" He called out, not sure how far his voice actually carried. Had the kid already gotten himself free? He was rather resourceful for a nearly eight-year-old. Perhaps he'd already gone for help. Still... "CONAN!" He tried to not let worry enter his voice. Despite what he said, the brat was still his responsibility. What would Ran do if-

He was saved from wondering exactly how she would react by a muffled voice to his right.

"Ojisan."

Kogoro twisted his head, relief washing through him as the soot darkened brat pulled himself over a pile of rubble, slipping down to Kogoro's level. "About time you answered, brat." Kogoro grumbled, shifting his shoulders to better see him. "You okay?"

Conan nodded, his blue eyes wide and worried. He was missing his own suit jacket, his shirt and pants torn and singed. Plus his glasses. The boy looked much younger without those frames on, familiar too, though Kogoro couldn't place why.

"Better than you, Ojisan." He said, his own voice as hoarse as Kogoro's. The kid lightly rubbed his head where blood had caked down his hair and dried. "I got myself free."

Well, the brat did seem to have all the luck in that regard. Getting himself out of situations where other people would have died. "Can you get yourself out of here?" Kogoro demanded, doing his best to meet the freeloader's eyes. "Go get help."

Conan frowned, his eyes looking far older than they should have on such a young face, as he studied the situation. "I...I don't think help would get here in time." He whispered.

Kogoro growled. That was not what he wanted to hear. The Great Sleeping Kogoro had faced and survived far too many life and death situations to die here! "So you can get out. Go. Go get help."

"Ojisan."

"Brat. GO."

"Mouri-tantei, there's no time!" Conan snapped.

Where had he heard that wording before? Kogoro shook the feeling of deja vu from his thoughts. He glared at the brat. If his hands weren't pinned by his sides, he would have given the freeloader a good thunk on the head for wasting time. Kogoro knew his time was limited. A wrong shift in weight above him and he'd be squashed flat. "Unless you can suddenly lift this rubble on your own you little four-eyed squirt," he growled, knowing full well that the kid couldn't. "You will get out of here and find help!"

Conan's eyes flashed and he lowered his head, hands clenching and unclenching.

"Go, Conan." Kogoro said, softening his tone. "You can't help me just standing there." He knew the brat was capable of many things, but this? No. There was nothing the kid could do for him here. "Go." He urged again in the softer tone. "Go."

Conan shook his head, looking up to meet Kogoro's eyes, determination in them as he came to some sort of decision. "No, Ojisan, I'm not leaving." He said, his usually higher pitched voice lowering. He reached into the pocket of his jeans pulling out a small vial.

What was a tiny bottle going to do? "Brat."

"There's no time for me to get help." Conan interrupted, still speaking in a lower register, as serious as when Ran had been kidnapped and they hadn't been able to find her right away. Kogoro had rarely heard it. "But." he uncapped the vial and dumped the mysterious contents into his mouth, swallowing. "I promise, Ojisan. I can help you now. I'll get you out."

"How?" Kogoro demanded unimpressed, not daring to hope the boy was actually speaking truth. What could be in that bottle that would convince him that he could help get Kogoro free? It was delusional. A child, get him out? The boy must be suffering from a concussion or more serious head injury if he believed that that was even remotely possible.

The boy grimaced, rubbing at his chest, as he moved forward, pulling off his torn shirt in the process, letting it drop to the ground. "Just be ready to move, Ojisan, when I say so. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold this up." He kicked off his dress shoes, and knelt. His breathing hitched as he placed his hands on the concrete pinning Kogoro down.

Kogoro turned his head with the brat's movements, frowning at his odd behavior. "Brat."

"I know what I'm doing, Ojisan." He flashed one of his sugary smiles in Kogoro's direction.

Kogoro's hands clenched. He really wished he could thump him. What sort of plan was this! The shrimp could barely lift a full pitcher of water, let alone a pile of rubble. "How hard did you hit your head, boy?" He asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm fi-" he cut off, one hand grabbing at his chest, inhaling sharply, before lowering his hand back to the concrete. "Fine. I'll be fine." he managed, looking away from Kogoro, though he hunched a bit more.

Was it his imagination or was there steam coming off the boy? Kogoro wiggled his fingers, about the only movement he could do in his current predicament. "You're not fine if you think you can lift this rubble off of-"

Conan cut him off again as he groaned, lowering his head to rest against the concrete. Kogoro could see sweat beading on the boy's skin and his concern flared higher. "Oi, brat you're not fine!" And Kogoro was more than helpless in doing anything about it. Ran would be devastated if Conan ended up in the hospital again.

Conan gave a quiet painful chuckle. "No. But I'm used to th-" he cut off biting back a scream. "To this type of pain." He managed, drawing steadying breaths. He flashed another smile, more tense than the first one to Kogoro. "Get ready, Ojisan."

Kogoro flexed his muscles as best as he could. It was hard to doubt the boy's confidence, even if the sweat pouring from the child's tiny body told another story. "You better be right about this, brat." He didn't need the boy getting himself stuck trying to get him out. Then they'd both be helpless.

Conan flashed another pain filled smile. "I usually am." He said all confidence even if he looked awful. That was steam that Kogoro could see coming off his sweat drenched body. His chest moved up and down in quick shallow breathing as he adjusted his position, placing one shoulder underneath the rubble holding Kogoro down. "Ready?"

For what? The boy to faint on him? Kogoro kept the comment to himself, as he readied himself to pull himself out of this. "Yes." Despite how impossible it all seemed, he did trust the brat to know what he was doing. He was a smart kid.

Conan's body spasmed and he threw back his head as an ear piercing scream tore from his throat.

Kogoro tensed, flinching away from the agonized cry. Yet he couldn't help but stare, words dying in his throat, his mouth dropping open as Conan...he couldn't believe...no, it wasn't. But the boy. The brat. He was growing right before Kogoro's eyes, shooting up in the fastest growth spurt Kogoro had ever seen. And as he grew, the weight of the rubble on Kogoro's back lessened, stirring him into action. Right. MOVE! He forced his arms up and pushed himself onto hands and knees, only to freeze as a wave of agony rushed up his legs, a familiar pain he'd experienced before in one of them. Broken. He hadn't realized before now because he hadn't been able to move them.

He gritted his teeth. Move Kogoro! He reached out dragging himself out from under the rubble, cutting himself on shards of glass and other shrapnel as he pulled himself to relative safety as quickly as he could. "I'm clear." He called, twisting his body to lean against a different pile of rubble. He looked up in time to see the debris that had trapped him collapse to the floor, sending up a cloud of dust.

Kogoro's heart stopped. "BRAT!" He yelled momentarily forgetting his own pain as he tried to push himself to his feet, only to be met with agony. He fell back, nearly forgetting to breathe, but forcing himself to call out through the pain. "CONAN!"

Notes:

Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan or the characters.

Chapter 1 Posted: 8/28/2017