"What do you have for us, Heiji-chan?" Fuji called out from her Maserati.

"Venice airport? We're a bunch of missionaries," Heiji replied.

"How are we getting the cars on?"

"We're borrowing a millionaire's jet. He also happens to be transporting some cars from his collection. Isn't that nice of him?" Heiji chuckled as he continued typing away. "Making our flight plan now! Hope you guys don't mind if I take the liberty of picking the in-flight movie."

"What religion?" asked Ryo.

"Does it matter? Just start handing them pamphlets and they'll be out of your way in no time," Ally chuckled.

"Isn't this nice? All of us, getting along together?" Fuji sighed wistfully.

"…Fuji…" Ryo started cautiously.

"Yes….?"

"This doesn't have anything to do why exactly we're here, does it?"

"Ohhhh, Ryo-san, just let me have my fun!" Fuji sighed, looking down at her nails on the wheel of her new prize. "Toshiro-chan, could you perhaps help me a teeny bit with fixing my nails when we get to the safe house, could you?"

"I was hoping to Fuji," Toshiro laughed.

"Well, can't wait to hear about this in the office… Officially just like the old bastard now with Lupin slipping away like that…" Max stood in front of the mirror of this bathroom, his tie, suit jacket, and shirt hanging up from the shower rod while he finished wiping his face off in the mirror. He'd nearly gotten all of the flecks of purple off of his face and shirt, while Leo still held up his phone to himself as he used the camera as an aide in helping him wipe his own face off. Much to his chagrin, the flecking remained in his hair, no matter what he did.

"What'd she even make this out of…?!" Leo muttered, throwing the comb back into the tub while he sat on its edge.

"You're gonna have to get that haircut the chief was talkin' about, pal…" Max muttered, taking a towel from the rack and handing it to him. "Close the toilet seat and sit down… Think I've got some scissors in my luggage."

"W-What? You?"

"Relax. I studied to be a hairdresser for a few months," Max muttered as he rifled through the bag near the sink and retrieved a small set of scissors. "I'm just glad that I seemed to get away unscathed… It's like she was aiming for you."

"How's a guy who's a hairdresser wind up at Interpol?" Leo asked after he took a seat as Max had told him to.

"Hairdressing, accounting, and even a rabbinical school. That was my last one before I finally decided to become a cop… And I guess I'm pretty good at the cop thing. Jeeze… This stuff's in deep…"

"So you're Jewish?"

"I try my best," he replied. "How the hell about you?"

"M-Me?"

"How's a guy like you, a little wimpy paper pusher… Know how to drive something like that? And hotwire it? No offense."

"Hehe, none taken. I just... Really like racing movies." Leo gave a shrug. "And I'm a quick study of things. I dated a guitarist for two months years ago and I can still play pretty well."

Leo felt his chest tighten as he watched a large chunk of his bangs fall onto his lap.

"H-Hey, be careful with those things! That took me a while to grow!"

"Just let me work…" Max sighed. "You know, I don't get it…"

"What's that?"

"I got to meet Lupin's girlfriend today. Maybe still girlfriend? I dunno. But she graduated from Harvard... And was pretty hot on top of it… Seemed like a nice enough girl… So why go and leave that behind?"

"Well, I heard he wasn't right after that bank heist."

"Right. The one where he shot the guard protecting that kid… That was in my file about him. What there was about him. He seems like he's a lot lower-key than his dad was…"

"People make dumb decisions sometimes…"

"Yeah. I guess we're all running from something."

"What? Are you Zenigata?" Leo chuckled, and his smile gradually fell as he watched no change in the level of concentration Max used in cutting his partner's hair.

"We're all running from something," was the only reply Max gave. He stood back and tilted his head from side to side. A few snips here and there, and he shoved the scissors in his back pocket. "Good as I'm gonna get without clippers. Let me know what you think."

Leo stood up in the mirror and was aghast at the person he saw looking back at him.

Max had cut it short.

Very short.

...Lupin short.

With a darker shade of brown and without glasses, he would have been a dead-ringer for him.

"Not bad, right?" Max twirled the scissors proudly in his hand and chuckled. "Almost makes me sad I got kicked out for punching someone on wig making day."

"Y-You what?"

"He said A-line hairstyles were tacky. I made him see stars with a jug full of conditioning product and a fist full of nickels from my tip jar. Ugh. I'm headed to bed, LeBlanc. Today's been traumatizing and exhausting. We have an early flight tomorrow, so I hope you'll do the same."

Leo waited until Max shut the door to remove the glasses and look at himself once more. It wasn't like he needed them to see the person in front of him.

"He really doesn't see it?... I… Are you dumb or just dense, Zenigata?..."

An Undisclosed Condominium, Dubai

Ally let grumble of protest through gritted teeth, and Toshiro leaned forward and pushed up the Jigen's jaw again.

"You're going to ruin the cast…" Toshiro muttered, wiggling the tray inside Ally's mouth to check the hardness of the mold.

Another muffled grumble from Ally, and Toshiro shook his head and busied himself with cutting away at the excess polymer around the one he had labeled "Odori".

"For fake teeth. You should know that by now. For God's sakes, you play hockey…" Toshiro replied. "We aren't going to be able to move around as freely as before. Not until Naples gets straightened out. Right, Fuji? …Fuji?"

Fuji Lupin had spread herself out on one of the long, black leather couches in the living room as she busied herself with a magazine, and she glanced up from it briefly before returning to the latest celebrity gossip.

"Which Lars Von Trier starlet do you guys think I'd be? That isn't a quiz in here, but I've always wondered…"

"FHUYJEE!" came a growl from Ally's otherwise occupied mouth.

Odori hadn't taken a seat on one of the couches. Instead, she had opted for the plush red carpet on the floor. The samurai opened one curious eye, and put a pause on her meditation.

"Man these firewalls are great!" Heiji was slumped over towards the back of the room, closer to the grand piano Yukiko had sat down at to hem the sleeve of her suit jacket. All around him were laptops, routers, and hard drives buzzing away while he alternated typing and chuckling.

"What in the hell are you even doing?" Yuki asked, leaning over to try to make sense what was on the screen in front of Heiji.

"Eh, you'd be less culpable in court if I didn't tell you," Heiji answered. "Let's just say that it's not very legal but it's very fun."

"Oh my God seriously if it's some kind of weird porn and I'm coming into the room put it away right now, Heiji," Ryo demanded as she walked out of one of the bedroom suites, still towel drying her hair as she did. She took a seat next to Fuji and ripped the magazine away from the Lupin, and Fuji, in turn, crawled across Ryo's lap and reached for it with a whine.

"It's not porn… On this one…"

"Oh my GOD," Yukiko groaned, and rose from her seat to join the other women on the couch.

"Okay, Fuji, now's your time to tell us exactly what's going on. Exactly why we're here." Fuji halted her pawing for her magazine and draped like a rag doll across Ryo as Ryo spoke, and gave another small moan. This was followed by immediately hopping off the couch and onto her feet, with enough quickness that the surprised Yukiko stuck herself with the needle she was using to sew.

"Dammit! Warn a bitch!"

"Sorry, Yu-ki-chan~! Ryo-san, I'm so glad you asked me! It's all part of my wonderful plan!"

Ally signaled to Toshiro if he could remove the cast yet, and Toshiro only shook his head and gave Fuji the attention the others were.

With a flick of her wrist, Fuji revealed several slips of paper, all of which she passed out to the group one by one.

"What's this?" asked Toshiro.

"A slip of paper," Yukiko snorted in return, and the paper Toshiro had been holding sailed and struck her on the side of her fedora.

"That is what you will make in if you can make the one-year commitment to join me," Fuji replied.

Toshiro's eyes went wide, and he rushed over to retrieve his crumpled paper from Yukiko's side and unfold it.

Ryo studied the paper and bit her lower lip, almost dreading the question, "…Commitment to… What?"

"Bring the gang back together!" replied Fuji excitedly. This excitement didn't exactly spread through the living room as she stood in front of the silent gang, her arms waving in excitement. "…Back...?"

"Fuji… This… Is a nice idea… But I don't know if it's really the best one…" Ryo started to shake her head as she kept her eyes on the paper. "Things didn't…. Turn out so well for some of us last time when we were a gang."

Toshiro could feel several sets of eyes upon him as she said this, and he busied himself with making a cast of Yukiko's teeth.

"But that was under Ari! The Lupin the Fourth shop is under new management, and I'm making us worldwide, baby! No more of this regional garbage! I'll take this to another planet if I can figure it out! To the moon and back!"

"Well, I'll tell you right now I'm in." Yukiko gave a shrug, and passed the paper back to Fuji. "This freelancing crap blows. I'll do that for a year."

"I'm in too!" Heiji waved his slip of paper into the air happily. "I could get myself this much, probably, but the connections I could make in a Lupin gang? Now that's a lifetime of riches!"

"..It… Would be a waste to not use Zantetsuken for its purpose…" Odori said to herself slowly, eyeing the blade at her side.

"I'm gonna have to think on it…" Toshiro set down the paper and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "…Just give me a little time…"

"…I've gotta get a smoke, anyway…" This was Yukiko's excuse to follow him after he vanished through the doors of one of the other suites.

She found Toshiro out on the balcony, standing and looking out at the lights beneath them. And one the thirtieth floor, there were more lights than starts to admire.

Yukiko loosened her white tie after she walked out, and tapped her pack of cigarettes against her wrist before pulling one out. The breezes around them were warm, but not the stifling ones that had greeted them at the airport when they'd arrived.

"It remind you of home out here?" she asked as she rested her arms on the railing and looked down at the masses of cars below them.

"You can't get a decent hot dog here…" he answered, almost a bit depressed-sounding over the fact.

"You're so American now," she snorted, taking a drag of her cigarette and shaking her head. "Hey, how're your hands?"

Toshiro gave a roll of the eyes and extended them both out in front of her. While the right one was steady, the left still quivered as he held it out.

"…Not bad!" she exclaimed. "You really been working hard since I saw you last, huh?"

"…I'm sorry for anything I might have done back then to hurt you, Yuki."

"It wasn't you talkin', it was the coke half the time…"

"Or the pills. Or the crack."

"Or the meth?"

"Jesus. No. I can honestly say I never did meth. I lost enough of my soul to those other things… I just… I don't know if I'll be able to keep it together if I'm out there. If I get injured again, if I get another smashed elbow like that…"

"Hey. You'll have me there," she nudged him and smirked. "I won't let you get away with that crap for a minute."

She gave a yell as one of the breezes suddenly picked up, taking her white fedora with it, but Toshiro was quick to reach out and grab it before it was just a memory in the desert city. It revealed a pair of dark brown eyes that for a moment had actually shown something more than indifference, as well as thick, shaggy bangs that nearly fell to her nose. She gave a sigh of relief as Toshiro handed it back to her, and she shoved it down securely on her head.

"See? We need that. And we need you because Dori's still new to Zantetsuken. And because your disguises are awesome. And… I need you there. You're probably the one who drives me least nuts out of anybody."

"You have Ally and Ryo."

"Who are this point are both more successful than me and fully aware of it. So you wanna maybe come back inside, gimme a break, and at least give this a shot? What's Fuji gonna do if you break contract? Sue you?"

"Hrmm…"

"At least come back in when Ally can get that thing out of his mouth."

"Oh, it's been done for an hour. I just like the sound of Ally bein' quiet."

"Nevermind about joining. You're gonna be a dead man!" she exclaimed with a laugh.

Fuji stretched as she walked out into the living room the morning after her announcement to the group, leaving them with one bit of advice—If they wanted to join, be on the couches ready to go by eight.

"It's nine-friggin'-thirty!" Yukiko barked as Fuji strolled out to full couches.

"Well, my beauty regimen takes time! Dori-chan, I'm not sure if that sitting on the floor is a "yes" or no. It's very non-committal looking from here," Fuji admitted as she wandered over to the samurai woman. Odori gave a huff and slid onto the couch, in between Ryo and Toshiro.

"Everyone?!" Fuji gave a squeal and clasped her hands together. "I just… I can't thank you all enough!"

"Then don't, and tell us why we're here," Yukiko snapped.

"Right! Glad you asked, Yuki-chan!" Fuji opened the door of a closet and rolled out a white board with pieces of paper taped to it, as well as notes jotted down in red pen.

"You knew we all were going to say yes, weren't you?" Ryo asked, the exhaustion clear in her voice.

"I know you all wouldn't disappoint me!" she replied. "Now everyone knows I love a good pearl necklace, but I found something a little too big for a gold chain… The Beauty of the Ocean, everyone!"

With typical dramatic flair, Fuji spun the whiteboard to the other side to reveal a handmade drawing of a large green orb. Off to one side there was a stick figure in a red dress with a large chest that seemed to be dancing around the pearl.

"I'm too sober for this," Yukiko said to finally break the silence of the gang.

"Wait! Wait! The Beauty of the Ocean's on display for a limited time in the mansion of an oil tycoon! It's five feet tall, six tons, and even glows in the dark!"

"So you want an oversized nightlight?" Ally concluded.

"I want a $140 million pearl," Fuji replied, and members of the gang who had started to stand started to sit back down. "We're going to need an invite to that party, we're going to need a way to get in and transport this baby out of his mansion—And most importantly I'm going to need something cute to wear! Welcome to our first assignment, everyone!"