Joker's journey is about to reach its conclusion, but the story's not over yet. Disclaimer: I don't own Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, the Persona series, Lupin the Third, or any other referenced media.
Fifty-Fourth Caper: Toast to the Emperor, Child's Memory
'Lupin's actions have exposed the full dangers of PeopleLog,' Alibaba noted, 'But Shake Hands is refusing to have the posts taken down in spite of the repercussions of the posts, with CEO Enzo Bron simply stating that it's the fault of all those people for holding such secrets in the first place.' "Sometimes illegal actions benefit society," Joker pointed out, "George Washington's revolution was technically illegal, yet without it America as it is would not exist. And Joan of Arc was technically not allowed to dress as a man or lead armies, yet without her France would never have won the Hundred Years' War."
"And we're technically thieves," Violet chimed in, "Yet our actions have saved lives and exposed criminals. It's a bit of hypocrisy on Enzo's part. He's trying to use PeopleLog to make the world a better place, yet it's doing so using the same philosophy. Then again, it's mostly because of Lupin that this is happening." Joker chuckled. "Enzo thought he could use data to track the world's two greatest master thieves. So what else is new?" 'Enzo turns out to be Ami's father,' Alibaba quipped. The two thieves blinked. "That is new," Violet admitted.
'Right now I'm in contact with both our network and Lupin's,' Alibaba continued, 'The UN is in session and ready to label Shake Hands as a terrorist organization.' "A little harsh but understandable," Joker admitted, "After all, the repercussions of PeopleLog have just been laid bare and while Lupin was the one who posted all those secrets, Shake Hands did nothing to dissuade him or quell the damage. Enzo just had his company sit back and let the A ranks roll in, thinking he was doing the world a favor." He looked at one final post. "Enzo Bron recently purchased a piece of the Joestar Collection." The post had an A rank.
Suddenly the sound of jet could be heard overhead. "There's our ride," Joker said, "Courtesy of Gabriel Agreste." He grabbed Violet by the waist and launched his grapple line, bolstered by W Boiled Xtreme. "This is going to be our biggest heist yet!," Violet said excitedly, "I don't how we'll ever top this!" "And if things go our way!," Joker said, "I may finally fulfill my promise to Lupin!" Violet nodded. "Then let's go steal the future!" They hopped aboard the private jet and flew off for Shake Hands' corporate headquarters.
From inside her room, Futaba Sakura, aka Alibaba, grinned as she watched Enzo futilely attempt to get further data on Lupin from a captive Fujiko. "Data's useless against living beings," she pointed out, "No matter how much you plan for something, something can always go wrong." A green, mechanical tentacle pierced the computer and information streamed into Futaba's glasses. "Even with my Stand knowing everything about a person is literally impossible. Because the second you think you do, they learn something else about themselves. That's how evolution works... You always learn new things."
On the private jet, Joker was watching a news feed from President Trump. 'My fellow Americans, following closed-door discussions with our nation's strongest allies, we have agreed to order military strikes against the Shake Hands corporation headquarters. As of this moment, they are officially being labeled a global terrorists.' "Enzo likely had dreams of a world without prejudice or hatred," Joker noted. He looked over to Violet, who was finishing off their next calling card. "But while prejudice can certainly be wiped from the world, at least for a little while, hatred never really goes away. After all... You can't fight an enemy if you don't hate them."
"Finished," Violet said, "Okay, Alibaba, stream the card." 'Right away,' Alibaba said with a hint of glee in her voice. "Enzo Bron, we are the Phantom Thieves Joker and Violet. Today we will steal the Child' Memory from your possession." "The last of the Memories of the Dead," Joker noted, "After this we'll only have four more pieces left to collect." Violet nodded. "We're almost there." The two held hands as they leapt from the plane, which was now flying over the island where the Shake Hands building was, deploying parachutes shorty after the jump. "After all!," Joker called out, "We may be Stand users, but we can't fly!"
Joker noticed that Lupin was racing in from a golden submarine in his traditional Fiat. Joker chuckled. "The wild card is in the deck. Going all in. Activate Shadow Cycle." His motorcycle was airdropped from the jet, soon landing right near the duo. "Lupin never does things by halves, does he?," Violet asked. "The guy's crazy," Joker noted, "But the fun kind of crazy. Better get ready, we'll be riding right into a war zone." "Wouldn't be the first time," Violet pointed out. The Shadow Cycle raced off. "But that's half the fun!"
Soon enough Joker had caught up to the Fiat just as Caren popped out of the roof to down an incoming helicopter with a sniper rifle. "Gee, I hope no one was on that thing!," Violet called sarcastically. "We're in a war zone!," Caren pointed out, "It's kill or be killed!" Joker and Violet sighed. "We're supposed to be thieves, not soldiers," Joker muttered. Soon enough they reached the corporate headquarters. "Violet, you deal with the escapee," Joker said, "This menage a trois concerns only me and Lupin." Violet nodded before pecking Joker on the cheek. "For luck." She leapt off the bike and disappeared from sight.
Joker, however, leapt after Lupin. "Back to just the two of us, huh?," Lupin asked, "You've been very prolific." "I had to be," Joker pointed out, "You've been operating for decades, but I only debuted two years ago." Joker chuckled. "You sure left one hell of an impression, though. Taking on organized crime, mass conspiracies, even supervillains! What's next? You do battle with a god?" "I hope not!," Joker replied, "Sure, my last encounter with a god turned out well, but I'm not sure I could handle an evil god without an entire team backing me up!" Lupin blinked. "I... Was joking..."
Meanwhile, Albert was holding Enzo's former secretary at gunpoint. "Did you seriously think we didn't know about these tunnels?" 'I know we did,' Violet thought with a coy smile as she recorded all of Albert's speech. "Lupin's not the only one who can make use of PeopleLog." She smirked when the whole conversation was giving an A rating. Before long, Albert was called by his superiors. The color draining from his face was satisfying. "A funny thing about democracy," Violet said as she dropped down, pointing her rifle at Albert, "Half the world subscribes to it. Not so stupid an idea now, is it?" Albert dropped his pistol and raised his hands, the secretary doing the same.
Meanwhile upstairs, a sudden explosion hit the building just as Lupin and Joker were climbing the fire stairs. Joker threw up his Stand's wings as a defensive shield. "Not good! A hit like that likely compromised the fire suppression system! This whole building could come down any minute!" "We don't have time to lose then!," Lupin said, "Enzo's expecting us, and we don't want to disappoint him!" The two of them hurried back down. "Alibaba!," Joker called out, "We need the elevators working!" 'He'll see you coming that way!,' Alibaba pointed out. "Not if we work it just right," Lupin pointed out.
"What are you thinking?," Joker asked. "Can Alibaba get us administrator access?," Lupin replied. 'Please,' Alibaba bragged, 'If I wanted I could make you both CEO of the entire company.' Lupin detailed his scheme to Joker. Joker nodded. "Okay, not a bad idea. By now Violet will have stopped Albert's plans. Once his superiors realize that he's intending to steal the country they'll be on him like sashimi on sushi. W Boiled Xtreme!" His Stand wrenched open the doors to the elevator. "Plenty of darkness," he noted, "Better hold on."
Once the duo was at the top, Joker had his Stand rip open the doors to the penthouse, much to the shock of Enzo, Ami, and Fujiko. "How on earth did you that without touching anything?," Enzo asked. Joker grinned. "With the very power of my soul. You've heard of Stand power, I'm assuming?" "Yes, and it's strange," Enzo said, "There's verifiable evidence that such people exist, yet PeopleLog refuses to agree with any of it." "That just proves how flawed PeopleLog really is," Lupin pointed out, "It can't see past the curtain. It's nothing but data. And data is not all the world is comprised of."
Joker tapped on his mask. "These are here for a reason. Not all masks are visible. This world isn't one that can survive without secrets. And trying to make it quit cold turkey..." He shook his head. "There's nothing in this world more evil than telling the truth one-hundred percent of the time. Just look at the movie 'The Invention of Lying' for how boring the world would be without lies. Think about it. It took lying just to make PeopleLog." Enzo's eyes widened. "That's impossible." Joker smirked. "Not according to your own app." Enzo gasped when he saw Joker's statement was indeed given an A rank.
"Lies beget imagination and storytelling," Joker explained, "What is a dream, a fairy tale, a work of art, but a lie told to entertain the masses? Sure some lies truly are evil, but the same could be said for truths. In reality neither lies nor truth are truly good or evil, but purely neutral. This world relies on such moral grayness to exist, chaos to induce change, but order to insure common sense." A sudden rumbling occurred. "Um," Ami chimed in, "It looks like the tower is collapsing!" "Not to worry," Joker said, "I've got us a ride out of here." He tapped his mask and the private jet flew overheard, ropes extended. "Anyone care for a lift?" He took advantage of Enzo's surprise to swipe the Child's Memory from his finger.
Enzo sighed as the plane took off from the island. "In the end my biggest mistake was relying on PeopleLog to track down one man. That left the door wide open for him to exploit the very tool I was using to corner him." Ami cleared her throat in annoyance. "Don't worry," Enzo said, giving a warm smile, "I plan on making up for not being there for you." "You'd better," Ami replied, "Do you know how close I came to losing my virginity at age ten?" Enzo's eyes widened in horror. It looked like he would have a lot to make up her.
Lupin chuckled. "Heck of a way to showcase my retirement." "Oh?," Joker asked, "You finally settling down?" "Sort of," Lupin admitted, "To be honest, Rebecca's gotten pregnant, and I wanna make sure I'm there for the kid this time. Besides, it's not like I'll be getting bored. I still have my second identity as Detective Jim Barnett III to fall back on. It might be nice doing things on the other side of the law for a change." He smiled as he placed hand on Joker's shoulder. "Looks like you'll be the Emperor of Thieves now, but keep in mind Riko's likely gonna try and take it back." Joker grinned. "I'll take that challenge."
The warning was sent out to every corner of the world. "Phantom Thief Joker is now the Emperor of Thieves. All righteous criminals are encouraged to join him. All villainous criminals beware. This is the age of the Wild Card." Deep inside a dark hideout, a mysterious figure grimaced. "We are righteous, Joker. Yet time and again you steal from the agents we select to aid us." He turned to a set of monitors. "The situation of Joker is escalating in all the wrong ways, and the remaining four Joestar Collection pieces have been distributed. Soon our next stage will begin. Finish preparations for the elections in Japan. Control of that country is where our schemes will begin to take hold..."
Next time, Hikari has finally tracked down the mysterious figure responsible for the conspiracy against her movies. Joker and Violet find the answer mundane, but as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. Read and review.