voidtreckerexpress | [OPEN] Haibara adjusts

Entry tags:

[OPEN] Haibara adjusts

Who: Haibara & OPEN
Where: Quiet Car, Medical Car, Triage Car, Library Car
When: From just before mission through end of the mission
What: Haibara puts off worrying by making herself busy
Warnings: nah

[ A: Before Mission - Quiet Car ]

Things were unraveling around Haibara. Secrets revealed from all sources, putting everybody in even further danger. But those unraveled threads of secrets and conspiracies were also coming back together, forming a tapestry of new norms and possibility. She was roomed with Mouri, she could mitigate the danger Ran was in while gaining another set of eyes and ears around her. Kudo knew that she had the antidote with her, but... no, honestly that part was bad, he was far too reckless with it. And then there was Masumi Sera, Haibara still didn't know what to make of her.

But the people around her were becoming more aware of and conscious of Haibara's role in the APTX-4869, and Haibara needed to think about how to continue work on the antidote. She couldn't hide from Vermouth forever, not and still pursue any sort of goal... and so she had braved the world outside her cabin.

She was back at the place she had tried to gain access to so long ago, when she had first arrived. A lab space created in the Quiet Car, by one Tony Stark. He had left the train some weeks ago, and so she figured the space would be open for all - assuming people hadn't simply taken the equipment from it. But what she didn't expect was...

"Why is this still locked?" Who would even manage a lab now?

Crud.

[ B: During mission - Medical & Triage Cars ]

Haibara had opted to stay behind again. But something nagged at her in the back of her mind, telling her to get up and stop being a burden, and she couldn't ignore it. In her mind, the best she could do now from the train was simply to make sure things were ready for those who came back.

And with her skills, that meant ensuring that the train was prepared to treat anybody who came back injured.

So she could be found in both the Medical and Triage Cars, organizing the medicines, ensuring the supplies were ready and sanitized properly, and in general doing a lot of things a seven-year-old shouldn't be doing.

Feel free to spot her and give her a talking to. Also if your character DOES come back injured, they might have to deal with the bedside manners of a little girl without manners.

[ C: After mission - Library ]

Haibara does make some trips out of her room. A girl still has to eat and shower, even if hiding for your life. But she might be growing more bold lately, even heading over to the Library Car to find some books to read. When she's sure there will be people around besides Vermouth.

Mostly, she seems to stick to mystery novels or non-fiction. The lengthy, boring kinds of non-fiction. It might deserve some comment...

Or it might just be a good place to run into her, if one is looking.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Masumi’s taken off guard by this, but doesn’t comment on it and instead just does as asked.]

I already know about Conan being Shinichi, and knew for a while. I already talked to him about it after the faire, too. You, I’m not as sure about, but I think you’re in a similar situation.

As for how I found out any of this, someone poisoned my mom with what I assume is the same poison, so I’ve been trying to get help for her.

[ That answer draws a swift and precise... rebuke. ]

That's impossible. Every victim has been confirmed deceased.

It’s true. Someone poisoned her shortly before I moved back to Japan. She’s been trying to get an antidote to go back to normal.

[She’s a bit annoyed at being doubted, but to be fair it’s a big claim.]

...Wait, how do you know about every victim being confirmed dead?

[Did no one tell Masumi about Haibara’s involvement? No one told her.]

[ Of course no one told her, that's Haibara's secret to tell. ~~For once, KUDO.~~ Which, thankfully, she is, more or less.

Still, she has one hand on the door, ready to open it and get out if needed. ]

Obviously, I've seen the report.

The Organization is thorough, they don't simply assume somebody is deceased without seeing the body. Kudo's house was staked out for months until I marked him as deceased.

...You worked for them.

[Masumi’s not sure how to react. On one hand, she hadn’t exactly expected this. But on the other hand, she apparently got them to think Shinichi was dead. And would Shinichi trust Haibara if she still worked for them?

Still, she’s playing it cautious, wanting more details about her past.]

If you worked for them, then what happened? I assume you left, if Shinichi trusts you?

[She is of course, assuming he knows.]

I see. If it was shortly before you came back to Japan, then it could have been after I left the Organization. [ It's the only thing that makes sense. The Organization is, if nothing else, meticulous when it comes to something that could reveal any information about them. That includes ensuring nobody survives to talk, and that there are no pills unaccounted for that could fall into the hands of an intelligence or police agency. ]

Apoptoxin 4869. The skeleton, muscles, organs - everything aside the nervous system - reverts to a childlike state. That's what your mother took. [ Queen of not answering the actual questions asked - Haibara. ]

So you did leave. [That’s a relief to confirm, but it still leaves a lot of blanks. But now the topic’s gone back to the poison, so Masumi doesn’t get the chance to try and press further on that for the moment.]

...Sounds right. I didn’t know exactly what it was called, though, just that it somehow reverses people’s ages.

[What else...maybe the identity of who did it?]

I didn’t witness what happened, but apparently the attacker was a woman who disguised as my dad. I’ve been told by Shinichi that it could be Vermouth, but I can’t say for sure without proof.

[ Okay, yeah. Masumi obviously has a one-track mind, and that is focused on finding information pertaining to her own situation.

Haibara was expecting a barrage of questions, but not that one. It's probably better this way, though. ]

That sounds like Vermouth. If it was an agent with a codename, anyway.

What would she have done to get targeted by somebody like that?

[ And the asker becomes the askee. ]

[Hm. To share what kind of job her mother had held? Masumi hesitates briefly before deciding to share what she knew about why this happened.]

Both of my parents worked for MI6, and from what I was told afterwards, the attacker was trying to infiltrate as my dad and purposefully lured my mom out to meet 'him'. She realized it wasn't him, and ended up poisoned.

[She's really not happy about that, since she'd kind of wanted to meet her dad before it turned out to be a trick.]

[ Ah. Counterintelligence. That makes sense, actually.

Still, the ramifications aren't great. If Masumi's mother isn't confirmed dead, then the Organization is still pursuing her. If they discover her, they'll realize the truth behind APTX-4869, and Kudo and Haibara will be in far more danger.

And. Being in this train means that this realization is for nothing. She can't do anything here. ]

I see. I hope she and you realize the precarious nature of the situation.

She does. She almost never leaves the hotel room we stay in, unless we’re switching hotels, which happens a lot. I was supposed to confirm that Conan is actually Shinichi and tell him about what had happened, but she wanted me to be less direct so that he would figure it out on his own. The last thing she told me to do before I got brought here was to get an antidote, since I had just confirmed that there is an antidote of some sort.

[Masumi, that last part isn’t very cautious, given what the antidote does.]

The antidote is only temporary. I don't see how she could get much use out of it. If anything, it would only put her in even further risk. Surely she understands that much.

[ And left unsaid: Surely you understand that much as well, don't you? ]

I don’t think she knows it’s temporary. At the very least, I only got the chance to tell her that an antidote exists, so I don’t know what she assumes about it’s effectiveness. She just told me to get it for her.

[And Masumi hadn’t thought too hard on it in her willingness to help however she could.]

I know she wants to go back to normal as soon as possible, and I think she wants to find her attacker once she does that.

Give up on that. The Organization isn't something one or two people can go up against.

I guessed, now that I have more info about them. This is a lot bigger than what I expected, at least.

[Admittedly, Masumi wasn't sure what she had expected.]

I wish I could give her this info, but she's not here.

Now you have information ready for her if the train kidnaps her, too.

Is that all you needed from me?

I hope that doesn't happen, but you're right that I'll have the info for when I see her again.

[While that does more or less cover what she'd originally wanted to talk about, Haibara had brought up a few things that Masumi wanted to ask about as well.]

That's it about my mom. However, you also mentioned that you used to work for that organization earlier, and I'd like to know why.

[She trusts her, she just wants to know why.]

"Why?" You'll need to be more specific. Morally? My reasoning? My history?

The shortest answer is that I'm a biochemist. I was designing a drug for them.

The same one that they gave your mother.

You made it?

[Masumi hadn’t expected that answer, and for a few seconds all she can do is struggle for a response before coming up with what’s likely the most obvious question.]

...Why did you make it? Why make a drug that’s being used to try and kill people?

Surprised? But who else would even be able to make an antidote, even a temporary one?

[ Her grin is half-fake, but it's also easier for Haibara to slip into a "role" during something like this. Easier than being completely genuine, anyway. ]

As for why I'd make a poison.... the simplest answer is that it's not meant to be used like that. The Organization used it as one against my wishes.

[It made sense. Only the person who had made the poison in the first place or otherwise had access to it could have made an antidote, and there couldn't be that many ways to have access to the original poison. Still, it's a shock to know that Haibara had made it, even if she apparently hadn't intended it to be used that way.]

What was it meant to be used for then, if not as a poison?

[Come to think of it, deaging is a really odd side effect for something being used as a poison...]

An ending to mankind's quest for immortality... or something like that.

[ Is that a good answer? Not particularly. But it's an answer that is very Haibara, so take what you can get. ]

...It was an attempt at immortality?

[That would explain why it can shrink people, if that was the intended goal. Still, even knowing what it can do, it's a little unbelievable.]

Alright, why exactly were you working for those people in the first place? I trust you, but what led to you working to make a drug for them?

For a detective, you should be more suspicious. [ Just said very flatly.

But she sighs before giving a real answer. ] Not that it matters much, but they didn't give me much choice. My parents worked for them, they died, and they had me take over their work.

I wanted to finish their work myself, though. So even if I didn't have a say in the matter, I wasn't exactly clamoring to escape.

Ah. You didn't exactly choose to join them. [The fact that she had wanted to finish the work is alarming, and she's right that Masumi should probably be a bit more suspicious of the person who had made the drug in the first place, but it's just a bit too late for that.

Still, that does raise the question of what exactly made Haibara choose to leave.]

So what made you leave in the end? What made you decide to get out?

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