We get a bit of setup for later chapters. This is when Lupin starts putting his plans together, while the others begin working on their own. Also, a major change is about to come up from the original story. Those who are familiar with The Infamous Man and his work will recognize it when you see it. Disclaimer: I don't own Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the Fate series, Lupin III, Ni No Kuni, or My Hero Academia.
Chapter 18: The Plan Proceeds
Akimi couldn't help but feel disgusted at the sight of the pictures, though there was one bit of curiosity. "Why is her hair violet? Even using hair dye that shouldn't be possible within a year." "It's probably a side-affect of her magic circuits expanding," Zenigata suggested, "I spoke with the chief, and he agrees we can write this off publicly as an act of child prostitution. Given the pictures Lupin offered me, it's a true enough statement." "Yeah…," Akimi said, his stomach churning from the sight of the worms entering Sakura's body, "I think we should have these photos burned once their use as evidence is complete."
Jotaro and his friends soon entered the room. "You wanted to speak with us, Inspector?" "Yeah," Zenigata said, "It involves these photos." The mix of shock and horror was expected, especially from Fluttershy, since she was reminded of her own daughters. Sakura was barely older than Jolyne. "Officially this is an investigation into a child pornography ring," Zenigata noted, "But in reality what's happening to this girl is far worse. Apparently this is a result of the Matou family's magecraft." "Mon dieu," Polnareff muttered, "I'd heard rumors… But this…"
"I take the reason we're being involved is because we're dealing with magi?," Jotaro asked. "There's no telling what Zouken Matou has waiting at his apartment," Zenigata noted, "So I wanted to have all my bases covered. There's a few other Stand users in Fuyuki as it turns out, and among them you guys are perhaps the most famous. Especially considering your little trip to Cairo. You're the best of the best, and that's what I need right now. There's one more thing. I've no doubt Lupin is doing this as part of a scheme to rescue Sakura. Technically this goes outside the confines of the Holy Grail War, so if you get chance, try to apprehend him."
Kiritsugu was watching the entire thing on listening devices he planted in the police office. He had taken Lupin's advice all those years ago and started investing in some smaller devices that were harder to detect, even by supernatural beings. Seeing those pictures, he couldn't help but feel enraged, thoughts of his daughter Ilya drifting into his head, and how he'd feel if she were in that position. "I can guess why Lupin would bring this to Zenigata's attention," he said aloud. Maiya and Jonathan were nearby. Jonathan nodded. "Lupin's a master thief at worst. He still has morals, after all. And this sort of thing would certainly anger him to no end."
Kiritsugu wondered how Kirei would think about this. The man had almost no feelings, and only took joy in the suffering of others. Then again, he had a daughter right around this girl's age, and Kiritsugu didn't know how he felt about her, so who could really say. "Jonathan, we're joining this little scheme." Jonathan's raised an eyebrow. "There's no doubt Lupin will successfully liberate Sakura," Kiritsugu explained, "And the police can certainly handle Zouken's son Byakuya. Even Zouken himself, old as he is, can little more than retreat in the face of the police. But once that's done, he'll seek Sakura out to reclaim here. He obviously wants the Grail for himself, so we'll take him out of the equation."
Jonathan nodded as he understood. Zouken was little more than an undead at this point. Perhaps his Hamon could seriously damage Zouken, if not outright kill him. "Do you really think Zouken can be killed?," Maiya asked. "If Jonathan can't do it, Kirei certainly could," Kiritsugu assured her, "After all, an Executor specializes in exorcism abilities. And Zouken is little more than a ghost still walking the Earth at this point." He finished his cigarette. "I normally wouldn't bother with something that doesn't involve the Holy Grail… But I can't help but compare this poor girl to Ilya…"
"Are you just stupid, or is your ego too large for the door!?," Sola-Ui called out. She was really reading Kayneth the riot act once they got back to the hotel. "I mean, I can understand you sending Lancer in. He's definitely stronger than Lupin, and after the stunt at the docks he could certainly handle his tricks. But you should have known better than to take on a former Executor all by yourself! Are have you forgotten that they are trained to kill magi!?" Kayneth had to admit, it was stupid not to realize that there was a good reason why the Association and the Church were in the midst of a cold war.
"I'll admit I greatly underestimated him," Kayneth replied, "But the real problem was the sudden interventions that occurred afterward. First, the infamous Magus Killer showed up. It turns out he's Saber's real Master, because Saber was there as well. And then, to make matters even worse, Archer showed up out of nowhere. Granted he was only gunning for Lupin, but the way he was carrying on he could kill all of us. Luckily Jonathan and Lupin knew how to handle him. Not only did Lupin trick him with some sort of glue rocket, but Jonathan overwhelmed him with his Noble Phantasm."
He turned to Lancer. "All that said, we might not have had to worry about that in the first place if you had only taken the chance to kill Lupin then and there. And don't give me all that crap about your 'Code of Honor' preventing you from only facing Lupin in direct combat. For starters, a man like Lupin would never take the direct route unless he knows he has his opponent right where he wants him. And Evan is right, in battle the only honor you should concern yourself with is coming back from the battle alive." He sighed in defeat. "This whole ordeal with a complete disgrace. I should have taken the time to research Kirei first instead of blindly rushing in."
"There is something we learned before Archer spotted Lupin's location," Sola-Ui said, "Evan tested a few low power but high speed attacks against him, using hit and tun tactics. It turns out Archer's tracking skills can be overcome. If the attack was strong enough, or could negate Archer's magical defenses..." Kayneth considered it. "It's a risky idea. If this doesn't work, Lancer will certainly die." Sola-Ui placed her hands on her hips. "We agreed once I became a Master that we'd do this together, right? Only fighting each other if both our Servants were the only ones left. So even if you lose Lancer, I still have Avenger, and we still have a shot at this."
She looked placed a hand on his shoulder. "I've already decided that I'm going through with our marriage, but I'll be damned if I let it only be to bail your family out of debt." It was a gamble and Kayneth knew it. Lancer was fast, but unlike Evan he might not be faster than Archer could track. And after Lupin's last stunt the mightiest of Servants was likely to stop fooling around. Not to mention Lupin likely still had Gae Buidhe, and if Lancer died Lupin would have full access to it, which meant Lancer's death would fall into Lupin's plans. On the other hand, Evan was a truly powerful Servant. It could be worth the risk if Evan proved strong enough to deal with the other Servants.
He sighed. "Very well… But I sincerely doubt this plan will work as we want it to." Sola-Ui shrugged. "Hey, I never said it was a perfect plan, just the best one we got. We need to deal with Archer sooner or later anyway. He's arguably the biggest hurdle in this war." Down below, Lupin and Kirei were listening in to what the starting-to-become-happy couple was talking about. "Well, that makes things a little easier for me," Lupin noted, "I was wondering if Sola-Ui had fallen under the sway of Diarmuid's Love Spot. But that clearly can't be the case if she's willing to risk his life over this gamble."
"My guess is being Evan's Master qualifies her as a subject in his kingdom," Kirei suggested, "Putting her under the magical protection of Evan's Kingmaker." "That'd do it," Lupin mused, "Evan once mentioned Lofty's power is strong to casually provide protection from soul stealing." He chuckled. He had planned on convincing Evan to let him render his Master unconscious for this plan. Evan certainly disliked Lancer for how incompetent he seemed. But it looked like that wouldn't be necessary. Sola-Ui had come up with the very plan Lupin was going to suggest while disguised as her, the only difference being she was hoping Lancer would succeed and remove one more obstacle keeping her and Kayneth from the Grail.
"They'll be making the raid tonight," All Might assured Kariya, "You'll likely be seeing your brother in a jail cell by this time tomorrow." Kariya nodded. "And no doubt the police will be seeing Tokiomi as suspicious. He may be paying the chief of police to look the other way when it comes to the War, but this isn't part of that. He won't be able to hide this time." He was seriously hoping to get some clarification as to how much Tokiomi really knew about what was happening with his daughter. Naturally, even those who knew about the War but weren't part of the Mage's Association would understand the need to put one of your children up for adoption just because you had one heir too many.
Of course, the real irony was none from the Association would understand why these people wouldn't understand. Even if you needed to secure your legacy, it made even more sense to have multiple children and make the best of them your heir. That was the way the Togami family did things, after all. Each generation of that family seemed to have numerous children. As he was thinking these things, he couldn't help but notice his growing positive feelings were having a detrimental affect on the worms, making them weaker. He chuckled. "Maybe if we get lucky and Zouken gets eliminated once and for all after this, I'll see about getting into a hospital."
I will be taking what little The Infamous Man left of canon and breaking it down to nothing! MWAHAHAHA! Ahem… Anyway, we'll see the culmination of all these actions next chapter. Read and review.