Did anyone like chapter three? Hope so, I enjoyed writing that one for some reason. I apologize with all my Jigen-loving heart, I can't believe how far behind this update was. I had writers block for my VHD fic, sorry. Why are these chapters so short?! Argh!!!!!! This chapter has a bit more of Jigen then the last one did. Who is the mysterious blonde woman? I didn't plan for this fic to have a fan-character but it looks like it will. You'll see what I mean. Damn you Genevieve! Friggin' head-voice . . . Anyway, on to chapter four!

Disclamier: I own D.J., thats all. Lupin and Co. belong to Monkey Punch. I do own two Lupin manga comics though, one of them was paid in quarters, dimes, and nickels. Ten dollars in coins people!!! Plus tax!

Chapter Four: Crossing Paths Once Again

By Invader Nicole

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It was already the next day, far too early for anyone to notice though. The rays from the sun were just starting to peak through the steel bars of the window. When sunlight finally filled the room everyone started to awaken. They had only one more night to live, they remembered. Tomorrow night at the stroke of midnight was when they were scheduled to be euthanized. It was too early to be thinking about such things as that, thought Lupin. He pulled the white sheets of his cell-bed over his head, drowning out any of the light. Goemon was already awake across from him in the opposite cell. Fujiko and Jigen had the same idea as Lupin, they shouldn't have woken up at such an ungodly hour. The three of them rested under their own white bedsheets of their cells for a good five minutes before the metal door opened. They looked through the bars enough to see that it was the blonde woman from yesterday. She was dressed in a green suit this time. It was a forest green knee-length skirt and jacket with a white shirt, her blonde hair was straight this time instead of wavy. She held a black suitcase in one hand.

"Rise and shine everyone." She sounded way to perky. How could anyone at this time?

Lupin looked over the sheets a bit towards her. "What time is it?"

The woman layed the suitcase on a nearby table. "It's 9:00 a.m." She opened the suitcase and took out two objects. One was a vial about five or six inches long, it contained a scarlet-colored liquid. Next she took out a rather large syringe, the needle was atlest three or four inches long and looked quite painful.

Goemon stared at the needle and vial, a look of wonderment on his face. "What's that for?"

The woman gave him a soft smile and slowly walked towards their cells. "It's nothing bad, don't worry. Inspector Zenigata informed me yesterday that one of you broke your hand against the wall. Which one of you was it?" She looked to the four of them, she noticed that everyone was almost awake now except for the one in the far back cell. She walked towards the cell and looked inside. The man was still wrapped inside his white sheets on his bed, his back turned to her. She looked at one of the walls and noticed the new cracks on the cement.

"Judging by that wall I'm guessing your my patient?"

She didn't get so much as a grunt from the man. She gave him a stern look but then smirked.

"Fine then, I guess I'll have to sedate you."

Quickly she stuck the needle into his arm and injected the scarlet fluid. In a matter of seconds it was inside his system before he even had time to remove the syringe. He gave the woman an evil glare, much like the ones he usually gave Fujiko.

"What the hell did you put in me?!" yelled Jigen.

"Like I said before, a sedative. You broke your hand against the wall yesterday," she nodded torwards the cement wall with a few cracks scattered through it. "It should knock you out a bit while I take you to the infirmary and fix your hand."

Jigen could already feel himself slipping into somewhat of an unconscious state, his words were slurred as he tried to speak. "I don't want to go to a friggen infirmary. What the hell is the friggin' point if my hand is fixed? I'm going to be killed the next day anyway . . . "

The woman gave him a thoughtful smile, staring into his black eyes. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

In a matter of seconds he drifted into unconsciousness, a light breathing sound soon follwed. She pulled him out of the covers and pushed a gurney into the cell, after a few minutes he was attached to it and was being pushed towards the metal door. The woman turned back to his three friends and said, "Don't worry, Jigen will be alright."

Goemon gave her an odd stare. "How did you know his name?"

She appeared surprised by that question then quickly answered, "I read it on the reports last night, remember? Besides, Jigen and I go back a long time ago."

With that said she pushed the gurney out the door and closed it behind her, leaving the three behind in their cells to talk about their escape plan. The only problem was Lupin wan't talking, whatever he was planning he wanted to keep secret until the right time came. Fujiko gave him a concerned look, hoping Lupin wasn't dooming them to the ultimate fate. Goemon just sat on the bed in his cell though, he knew Lupin knew what he was doing.

In another room down the hall, about two floors above the prisoner level, the woman and Jigen were in room 202. Jigen was already beginning to slowly stir awake from the sedative, his vision began to return as he looked around the room he was in. The first thing he noticed was the plain white walls. Nothing on them, just white paint. The woman was right next to him, she was injecting Jigen with a green fluid this time. When asked what is was she told him it was a chemical used to calm patients. It began to work its magic, Jigen felt a little happier than usual and he was a bit relaxed.

"You never told us your name," Jigen said in a dazed state.

"Just call me D.J. for now."

The woman, now known as D.J., began to get everything ready to fix Jigen's hand. After about thirty minutes she was done. It had been a simple procedure really. Jigen, beginning to stir away from the effects of the earlier calming drug, stared at the bandages wrapped around his left hand. He hated this, the bandages would be annoying, he knew that, but he still didn't see what the point was of getting his hand fixed. A familiar scent filled the room, he looked to D.J. and saw that she had a cigarette in her mouth. Pall Mall to be exact, small puffs of the grey-colored smoke filled the air. D.J. noticed he was staring at her cigeratte.

"Want one?" she asked taking a pack out from the pocket of her jacket. She knew he shouldn't be smoking while healing, but he looked like he really needed one.

"I'd love one but I can't. I made a bet with Fujiko that I could quit smoking for a week. So far its been a day. God I really need one though," he said reluctantly.

D.J. began to get rid of the left over bandages while still talking. "Y'know, she's not here right now so you could smoke and get away with it." She knew she was right and stating the obvious.

"I know but I'm a man of my word," he replied with what a appeared a hint of honor.

A smile was on her face, but she hid it almost immediately, she would tell him later. "Well its 9:30 a.m. already. Do you want to back to your cell and stay with your friends or should I take you all down to the messhall?"

Jigen gave her a surprised look, "There's a messhall?"

"Yeah, they even have alcohol. Really good sangria."

Jigen smiled at this, maybe his last day of living wouldn't be so bad afterall. "Count me and my friends in then."

"Good," she said as she got the keys out of her pocket. "Let's go get them, shall we?"

"Sure."

They left the infirmary room and began to walk towards the elevator that led to the lower prison levels. Jigen looked at the doors, all of them had something written on them like 'storage room', 'chief's room', 'restroom', etc. The two of them stepped inside an elevator with the usual corny elevator background music. Jigen looked back towards D.J., he had remembered something.

"D.J., you never told us, what do you do here? You came to us on the first day while Pops was here, read us our fate, and now your a nurse?"

D.J. gave him a strange look. "Pops?" Then it dawned on her. "Oh, you mean Inspector Zenigata. Well, this building is basically the headquarters of Interpol actually. We do have infirmary incase of injuries from guns, knives, et cetera. And obviously we have our jail cells."

Jigen looked surprised at this. "That explains the chief's room. Then where in friggin' hell is my hat? Zenigata said it was somewhere here."

"Those would be in the inspector's part of the building. A small office since he's never here, usually chasing after Lupin. Anyway, I think your hat is on the seventh floor."

"If I do die here then promise me I can wear my hat when they euthanize me."

"I promise, and don't worry. I have a feeling you won't be dying here anytime soon," D.J. said more to herself than to Jigen.

Jigen have her an odd look, "What do you mean by that?"

It was then that D.J. noticed her mistake. She waved her hands in a brush off movement. "It's nothing, forget about it."

Jigen didn't say anything else but he certainly didn't forget about it. Was D.J. planning something? Or was she trying to fool him into thinking that? Was she really an undercover detective working for Pops to see if they really did have an escape plan? He didn't know what to think. A small 'ding' interrupted his thoughts as did the halting of movement.

"We're here," said D.J.

Jigen had almost forgotten they were on an elevator. They walked out and D.J. pressed in a code on the walls codepad. The metal door opened and the two walked back inside the prisoner room. Lupin looked forward and smiled, Jigen wondered why, but again his thoughts were interrupted.

"Welcome back 'ol pal," he replied to Jigen. "So what the hell did they do to your hand?"

Jigen lifted his left hand to show them the many bandages wrapped around it. "D.J. here fixed it herself," he said as he nodded torwards D.J. "She's offered to take us all down to the cafeteria."

Lupin smiled with joy for actually having the possibility to leave the cell and not getting yelled at. "I'm in!"

"Same here," Fujiko replied.

"Thank you for your hospiltality," came the answer from Goemon.

D.J. opened each of the cells and led them out. As Lupin reached to open the metal door D.J. clasped a pair of handcuffs around his wrists. He gave her an odd look but saw that she had put handcuffs on Goemon, Jigen, and Fujiko when he had his back turned. 'That was fast' he thought.

"Why D.J., if you really wanted to get to know me better then you should've asked," Lupin insisted with a smile.

D.J. rolled her eyes at the master theif as she lifted the side of her skirt a bit. Lupin smirked, maybe today would be his day. Or maybe not, his eyes narrowed when he saw a small gun holster wrapped around her thigh. She took a gun out of the holster and pointed it at Lupin.

"It's just as a precaution if any of you try something funny." D.J. nodded towards the door. "Besides, if Zenigata saw any of you walking around the building without restraints, I'd garuntee you wouldn't have to wait 'til tomorrow night to die. Now c'mon."

D.J. opened the door, the four prisoners following her out. They took the elevator a few floors up, and walked through the maze-like hallways. They all stopped at a door that read 'messhall' and walked in. It looked much like a high school cafeteria, with circular tables scattered throughout the floor and multi-colored plastic chairs. The smell of greasy food wafted through the air, as did the 'cha-ching' sound of a cash register as it accepted money from the customers and workers at Interpol. They could see a few other people in the room as well, looking through papers, writing, and eating their breakfast at the same time. Guards stood at the entrance of the door they just walked into while more guards sat at a table near another exit. D.J. led them to a table where the four of them sat, she asked what they wanted and after they told her she left to get their orders.

Fujiko turned to Lupin, her eyes filled with mischief. "So Lupin, what's the plan? How are we going to get out of here?"

Lupin put his feet on the table and leaned back in his plastic orange chair. "No plan, Fujicakes."

Fujiko gave him a shocked look before yelling at him. "What do you mean no plan?! Lupin, you actually expect us to die in here?!"

"No, I'm just saying I don't have a plan. Someone else does and it's working out great so far. We should be out of here before long."

Goemon gave Lupin the 'I-hope-you-know-what-your-doing' look out of the corner of his eye.

D.J. returned back to the table, balancing four drinks on a tray. None of them had really wanted anything to eat, just a drink. Goemon had a bottle of sake, Lupin and Fujiko had glasses of sangria, while Jigen and D.J. had scotch. D.J. eyes shifted to the four people around her, wondering about the awkward silence that had appeared when she came back to the table. She shook the glass of scotch in circular motions before finally asking the mind-wracking question.

"Okay, what's wrong here? As soon as I got here everyone got quiet and no ones talking. Are the drinks bad or something?"

"No, the drinks are fine, it's just something that doesn't involve you" replied Jigen.

D.J. flicked her hair back behind her. "You'd be surprised."

Goemon gave her an odd look, "What do you mean by that?"

D.J. turned to Lupin before she put her drink back on the table. "I'm guessing you haven't told them yet?"

Fujiko looked from Lupin to D.J. and back. "Told us what? What haven't you told us, Lupin?"

Lupin finished his sangria and left the wineglass on the table. "Jigen?"

Jigen cast a look to Lupin as if saying 'what' and that he was listening.

"Did any of you ever wonder what D.J.'s initials stood for?" Lupin asked his three friends. When he saw that none of them answerd he guessed they hadn't. "Well they stand for Demeter Jigen," he turned to Jigen, "your little sister."

Jigen eyes expanded to the most they probably ever had before a darkness spread over his eyes and he fell onto the floor. The last thing he heard and saw were his friends and 'sister' going towards him and asking 'Jigen? Are you okay?'

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