Chapter Text
"Is it really necessary? To go to such extent? Why not just let the police and intelligence handle it?"
"Shinichi, my dear boy, it is exclusively the police and the intelligence who request for our help mostly. Some things have to be rooted out so that they are never repeated again. Some parasites have to be exterminated before they crawl into every vein of our society and rot it. Our group's role is important."
Kudo Shinichi recalled the conversation he had with his dad at age 7. While most kids would think of fairytales, Shinichi was guessing the culprits in mystery novels at his tender age. He was born into a special organisation afterall so it was only natural and in fact expected that he was this way. The Silver Bullets expertised in taking out high ranking criminals, silently. They were assassins, contract killers, working in a partnership with the police, but kept secret from the government.
But Shinichi often wondered if this was the only way, if this was too quick or too brutal, though he never dwelled on these thoughts for long. Afterall it was hard to sit at the dinner table with your father, thinking he could have just taken a life few hours ago.
Shinichi remained in the bed though he was already awake. He had turned 18 just last week and his birthday party had been a big event, celebrated lavishly, planned mainly by his mom and twin sister. He knew he had to join the group sooner or later. He didn't hate them; infact he loved much of the training he had received all his life for that. It just always felt a little too much to him, there was some hesitance, some reluctance in him. Though he always brushed off those second thoughts thinking it was only because he was inexperienced.
"Shinichi, come here" his dad called, just as Shinichi was returning from leaving the plate in the sink after breakfast. "You are being assigned your first project today. This is a work of honour and I trust you would carry it out well. The black organisation is reportedly making a lethal drug. Your duty is to capture the top scientist in the research and kill her."
The black organisation was a notorious criminal syndicate that had been running for nearly a decade now despite multiple attempts from the national agencies to take it down. It was a big rival of all law enforcing agencies in the country.
"But what if the report is false?"
"The report has been sent by Shuichi and you know his findings are never wrong."
"Ofcourse, Shu, your perfect son, the apple of your and ka san's eyes, blah, blah, blah."
"Nonsense, we love all our precious 3 kids without distinction."
Shuichi was his older brother and often tasked with researching on criminal groups. He was also a star in their community because he was virtually perfect who hardly ever made a bad decision or a mistake and everyone couldn't stop singing his praises. Shinichi though brilliant and well appreciated, often felt living in the shadow of his older brother. Soon I will be able to change that, he thought. Sera, his twin sister was a few minutes younger than him so Shinichi was the one stuck with receiving the middle child treatment. Moreover, Sera was a genuis hacker, had already started early and in fact made her mark in the field.
"Yeah, yeah." Shinichi muttered while looking at the file, his dad had handed, containing the details relevant to the mission, planning on executing the job perfectly.
"Leave it to me to handle dad, it looks like a piece of cake."
Just in a few minutes he's going to be a killer.....and then turn into a serial killer, a hitman. Shinichi shook his head and regained his focus. He had read more than enough detective novels to know how to do a clean job, commit the perfect murder.
His mom was in America currently, otherwise if she was present, she would have definitely insisted on not letting him go out without a more perfect disguise. And showered him him a dozen kisses and pinched his cheeks. He always cringed at her cheesy shows of affection, but he missed them today.
He listened while leaning on the wall. The walls were pretty thick but he could still make out that two people were fighting and hear the sound of objects being thrown perhaps. Shortly after it grew quiet and the sound of the room's door being opened came. The man leaving the room turned and walked in the opposite direction to where Shinichi was standing to remain hidden from the view behind a wall. Shinichi leaned forward to peek from the corner and caught the glimpse of the long silver strands of hair covering the back of the departing man.
As he entered the facility, he immediately felt something was off, his detective instincts kicked in and his eyes carefully searched for signs of trouble. His breath heaved at the sign of an unconscious lady lying on the floor. He forgot that he was supposed to be disguised as a delivery person to carry out his intended job and rushed forth to the body.
The body was badly bruised, there were few glass pieces lying around her. As he turned the body towards him and pushed the locks of strawberry blonde hair away, his breath hitched, it was the girl he was ordered to finish off. His heart was thumping right now; someone had tried to hurt her but perhaps not enough to kill. Someone had tried to hurt her, was it some rival group that had gotten to her before he could or someone within her organisation? She was still breathing, which ironically made him feel relieved.
At this moment he heard footsteps and his quick reflexes helped him slip into the other room through a door. This new room was built to be sound proof though and it seemed he couldn't make out the actual conversation going on but only hear sounds indicating some people were speaking inside the room.
When he felt the room had grown sufficiently quiet again, he peeped into it through a window, moving the curtain slightly and found it to be empty, save for the woman he had found lying on the floor earlier; who had now been shifted to a bed.
He drew a deep breath in. He would just inject the unconscious girl with the poison and leave. It was simple and will be over before he knew it. He decided to take one last good look at girl lying in front of him. Suddenly the eyes of the woman lying in the bed fluttered open, revealing apple green eyes that met his cobalt blue orbs. "Shit!" He thought, "so it was all a master plan of the mighty black organisation to trick me and I am doomed now?!?
"Who are you?" came a frail whisper
"I-I just came here to deliver some food that had been ordered a-and found you here lying-- all covered in bruises." he replied swallowing his saliva
"Who...." there was a pause and then the girl continued "who am I?" Shinichi waited for her to drop a just kidding but it never came so Shinichi replied, "Ma'am, can you tell me er-what you remember?
"I- I don't know, the last thing I remember is a violent man with grey hair shouting at me in anger and throwing something at me. After that I found myself lying here on the bed and when he came in with a doctor I suppose, I couldn't remember who he was in my life or anything else for that matter. So he became angry again and left."
"Then we have to get away from that man, right?" He spoke with determination and a smirk.
"Have you come to save me?" She looked at him in a naive, pleading way.
"Yes, so now, let's get away from that monster, asap."
All he knew in this instant was that she wasn't a ruthless evil mastermind scientist. She was just a helpless girl, who needed to be saved. And he was her knight in delivery man clothes.
Though in the back of Shinichi mind he knew perfectly well who that grey haired guy was; he was a top member of the organisation along with the amnesiac girl Shinichi had rescued. No one dared to challenge him and it was probably an especially foolish decision to mess with his girl. Shinichi had just set his foot into the lion's den and he knew this very well; even the consequences it might lead him to.
"Have I hit Shiho too hard? She seems like she has lost her memory"
"Or maybe she's just acting that way coz she is angry at you aniki"
"Who knows, she is one troublesome woman."
"But with pretty legs" Vodka smiled like the creep he was
"Keep you mouth shut about my woman, Vodka" Gin growled in a low voice
"Sorry, I'll not repeat this mistake."