Honor Among Thieves

By Jones



Act 01: Small-time Crooks



Relief. Yes, that was the feeling he felt, relief. It felt so good to relieve himself of that pressure, that wholly unnecessary pressure than had been weighing upon him for so long. He let out a sigh.

The man standing next him glanced over, then down, then grinned. His contentment suddenly drained away, now that the man next to him was outperforming him. He sighed again, this time out of irritation.

He shook, the sort of shake that's almost the slightest jump, then zipped up his pants, before reaching into his jacket and extracting a black pistol. He pointed the gun down at the man next to him, whose attention had returned to his own business.

BLAM! The man next to him screamed in agony and collapsed to the ground, curling into a fetal position and clutching what remained of his genitals. The sharp crack of the pistol firing rang in Beck's ears as he holstered his gun. "You win the pissin' contest," he conceded, motioning toward the urinals that were now spattered with blood with a grin. "But I win the shootin' contest."

Beck then made a quick check of his fine yellow suit, making sure that none of the poor man's blood soiled it. It simply wouldn't do to have his favorite suit ruined by some dumb bastard that didn't know who he was outpissing. He pulled a comb through his hair and returned it to his pocket. "You might want to get that looked at, pally," he said as he stepped through the door.



"What a way to celebrate my first day as a free man," Beck said as he strode from the bathroom, absently wiping his hands on a paper towel. He brushed past a waiter, leaving the used paper towel on the poor man's tray and walked back to his table where his three cronies, his associates, his loyal henchmen [and woman], and that mysterious blonde woman that was always hanging around Crow Boy and Rosewater, were still seated.

"How does it feel, Mr. Gold," she looked up from her salad, "to be a free man again?"

He looked at her curiously, though one might have mistaken it for irritation, before losing his composure. He snickered, he chuckled, eventually losing control and laughing loudly. Soon his "associates" had joined him and the four of them were cackling almost crazily. After a few moments, he fought for a degree of control again and managed to almost keep a straight face. "You're kidding, right?" he chuckled. "This is great! Now I can get that damned negotiator and that stupid doll of his back for what they've done to me."

"How noble," the woman deadpanned.

"Of course, my lady, and I owe it all to you." He took her hand and kissed it, which she promptly snatched away. She glared at him. "Now what, might I ask, am I to call my savior?"

Her glare softened, just a bit. "Please, Mr. Gold, call me Angel."

"Pleased to meet you, miss Angel," he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me." He pretended to bow a bit, then turned for the door, just in time to hear a cry of "oh my God!" from the men's room.

---

Paradigm City was certainly something to behold, with its great domes towering above all else, interrupting the skyline with their graceful curves. Beneath those domes rose many buildings, both old and new. Some of the grander buildings, especially in the Central Dome, were lesser skyscrapers, while the outer domes housed more modest structures.

Outside the domes, where many of the tallest and oldest buildings were, however, sat many structures, almost entirely old and in varying states of disrepair. Many of the once grand towers, once banks or offices or something of a similar sort, lay in ruin, although a few were still usable. The most prevalent sort, though, were those that one would associate with a neighborhood within a major city - apartment blocks and local groceries, that sort of thing.

The farther from the domes one went, the worse the state of the city. Indeed, only the city's wealthiest could live within the domes, with their artificial sun and clean, well-kept buildings and streets. Each was like a specific district within the city - one commercial, another residential, and so on, though, all of the city's industrial space was still outside the domes. Those outside the domes, however, were predictably of the lower class, for the most part. Nothing but everyday people leading everyday lives, albeit without any memory of the past.

Ah, yes, that was the key to it all. Memories. With them, people lived, and without they died. Or so said Paradigm, which was all at once business, state, and god. Paradigm had risen up and rebuilt the city after the Event 40 years ago, either from memories that it's then CEO Gordon Rosewater possessed, or by his wit and ability to exploit those who thought he retained or recovered some memories.

Welcome to Paradigm City, the city of amnesia, the city where people live and die by memories.

---

"So, tell us about this big score you found."

Lupin glanced over his shoulder at Goemon with a grin, "It's the biggest sort of score around. Here," he said, returning his attention to the road, "I'll give you a hint: what's the thing people value the most in this city?"

Goemon looked to Jigen, who sat before him, and the gunman simply shrugged. Then he looked, with a touch of reluctance, to his right, where Fujiko sat. She blinked in confusion.

"Oh, I can't believe you guys!" Lupin cried, exasperated, throwing his hands into the air. The car began to drift to the left and nearly collided with a black sedan driving in the opposite direction [driven by a black-clad man with unusual eyebrows], which luckily swerved to avoid him, before he thought to grab the wheel. "Ergh," he grunted as he straightened the car out. "Don't you know anything? Think about it!" None of his companions replied. "Oh, hell. It's memories, guys! You know as well as I do that this whole damn city runs on them! Everybody wants their lost memories!"

"Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot," Jigen mumbled. Goemon snorted at that.

"Fine, you guys. Let's just get back to the hotel and I'll explain what I have in mind."

They drove in silence for a moment, eventually passing a military police convoy. "Would you look at that," Jigen said, watching the passenger of one of the patrol cars.

"What?" Lupin raised an eyebrow, still watching the road in front of him.

"It's Pops."

"What?" Lupin slammed on the brakes and everybody lurched forward at the abruptness of the stop. "Zenigata? Here? How?" Jigen shrugged and tipped the brim of his hat up, trying to get a better look at the car that was certainly too far away to see into by that point. Lupin sighed and put car back into gear. "Man, that guy really needs a girlfriend or something."

---

Major Dan Dastun glared at the car's other passenger through the corner of his eye. Damned Paradigm Main Office sent him another special investigator to deal with, and a stupid-looking one at that. Who, he wondered, could be so lacking in style to dress like that, anyway? The weathered old brown trenchcoat and hat were such a cliché that any self-respecting cop would laugh. This guy couldn't be for real.

"Like I said, Major," Zenigata said, "we're dealing with quite a criminal here. This man's wanted for everything from grand larceny to murder and then some. He's a professional who can crack any safe and escape any restraint."

"Some sort of super criminal, you saying," Dastun sighed. He already hated this special investigator.

The comment left Zenigata a bit flustered. "Well, ah, yes. But that's not the point! This guy's really really for real that good at it!"

Dastun sighed again, even more heavily. Surely Zenigata could see his irritation by now. "Look, inspector, I have my own investigation to run here and I can go around chasing after some small-time crook that nobody on the department has even heard of. This Lupin guy is nothing compared to Beck, who was just released from prison last night at his own discretion."

Zenigata pondered this. The Major's choice of words was a bit unusua- "His own discretion?!" he shouted, "You mean a jailbreak?!"

Dastun couldn't believe this guy! "Yes, inspector," he said through gritted teeth, "a jailbreak. Somebody in a giant robot came and smashed a big whole in the cell wall and Beck just waltzed on out."

"Wow," Zenigata was almost impressed, "but that's nothing compared to what Lupin is capable! This Beck guy of yours is small-time! Hell, Lupin was probably in on his escape - he's probly workin' for Lupin! I'm tellin' you, Major, this guy's a genius! We've gotta catch him!"

Dastun's eye twitched, and he was sure that there was a vein on his forehead that was throbbing, though it was covered by his hat at the moment. "Driver!" he called, "Get us back to HQ as soon as possible!" Because this guy's driving me nuts, he didn't add, but he thought it as loudly as he could.

---



Author's notes:

Mad props to Al for inspiring me to do this, as well lending a great deal of creative support and proofreading this piece.

Roger and R. Dorothy will make several appearances in this fic, certainly, but this piece is predominantly concerned with Beck and Lupin and their associates. Both Beck and Lupin are going to be rather cut-throat in this fic, much like they were in their respective manga appearances [all good villains should have a dark streak]. Zenigata, similarly, will be a touch more serious than his anime counterpart - he needs a bit of ground to stand on if he's to keep going toe-to-toe with Dastun. [For the purposes of this fic, Zenigata is a special investigator for Paradigm's Main Office, much like R. Fredrick was.] All of the cast from Lupin III is now in place, while much of that from the Big O has yet to appear.

This will be set entirely in the world of the Big O [at about the same time as "Beck Comes Back"] if only for the fact that it lends itself so well to crossovers. Lupin and co. may as well be average residents of Paradigm, as they lack any memory from before their arrival in Paradigm, as well as of their arrival itself.

References:

- Beck's pissing contest at the beginning of the chapter was a reference to some movie whose title I forget ["Gun Shy", or something to that effect]. Some less-than-awesome affair with Sandra Bullock, but one character had some great lines.

- Beck's dinner with his crew and Angel comes from the manga version [volume 3, chapter 1]. It's rather close, if not for the whole bathing thing.

- The black sedan Lupin nearly ran off the road was indeed the Griffin, but it's hardly relevant at the moment.

- Dastun's and Zenigata's "released at his own discretion" bit came from episode 5 of Trigun, "Hard Puncher".


Lupin III and the Big O are copyrighted by their respective owners, who are the only ones to stand to profit from this, if anyone.


Written to Lupin III - Original Soundtrack and LateNightTales - Jamiroquai