DISCLAIMER: Don't own Lupin III. But you know that…
Hey!
Thanks for all of the positive reviews, again! The Julia mystery's killing most readers I know, hee hee hee. But don't worry—All questions shall be answered in due time! With summer coming up, I'm hoping to start work on other fanfics in addition to this one, as well as some of my original stuff, which I'll admit I've been abusing in recent months. Well, guys, enjoy for now! Hope to see you around soon! Bye!
Chapter Three
A Few Days Later: Badge
'He's a real Nowhere man,
Living in his Nowhere land,
Making all his Nowhere plans for Nobody,'
--The Beatles, 'Nowhere Man'
INTERPOL HQ, Paris, France:
"Ma'am, am I at the right place? The INTERPOL offices?" Max Zenigata asked hopefully as he entered the waiting room.
"Yes, Dear. Go right in," she replied, nodding back at the offices, "It's a slow day."
"I need to see about a job," Max added.
"Well, right in the back, to the left," she answered. Max nodded his thanks, and went through the left door, and all the way down the hall, where the Commissioner's office was located. Max knocked at the door, and meekly entered when a voice ushered him in.
"How can I help you, Son?" asked the Commissioner.
"I'm looking for a job," Max replied.
"I'm sorry—We're all full right now and—Well, how about I take your name down, and call you in case we have any openings? What's your name?"
"Zenigata, Max," Max answered. The Commissioner stopped the reach he had begun to make for his pen, and looked upward at Max.
"Zenigata? As in, Koichi Zenigata? As in, the man who's responsible for the beginnings of my career! I think I just found an opening!" the Commissioner announced happily.
"Huh?" Max frowned in confusion.
"Many years ago, your father helped me to get a job at INTERPOL, giving out the mail! I told him, someday when I was the Commissioner of the place I would help people get jobs here, just as he helped me! It's wonderful to have you with us, Zenigata!"
Great, three seconds and I'm already my father, Max thought with a brief role of the eye, "Thank you, Sir," Max answered.
"We can have LeBlanc give you a tour of the place," said the Commissioner as he led Max out the door of the office.
"LeBlanc?" Max repeated.
"Leo LeBlanc, a translator here. He's intelligent, but extremely pedantic…" sighed the Commissioner sadly, "He came here about two years ago, seemingly distressed… I gave him a job out of pity, and he's been working in the back room ever since… Well, follow me…" he added.
"You know, you don't look like your father… Save for the eye color… But everything else is different about you…" the Commissioner admitted.
"Well, I've been told we have similar tastes in clothing," Max chuckled as he pushed up his wire-framed glasses. The young man wore a brown suit with a sky blue dress shirt and a tastefully-shaded blue tie, along with a pair of brown leather shoes. His hair was about as blonde as Natasha's, and he also inherited his mother's skin-tone, although he stood at the almost exact height of his father, which was about 5'9. He wore his hair somewhat long, but not long enough to fall over his ears.
"Here's his office," the Commissioner opened the door to Leo LeBlanc's office. Max looked around confusion as he was unable to find the said translator, but instead numerous books, stacks of papers…. And a knitting kit in one corner of the crowded office. A small radio was on, tuned in to older French songs. A soft whistling was heard amongst the castle of papers, and Max walked a few steps towards the covered desk, and peered downward into the paper palace. He saw the back of a purple jacket, apparently picking up a stack of papers from a crowded drawer.
"Er, hello?" Max coughed. The figure shot to attention quickly, hitting his head in the process.
"Ow! Orange du—Uh, how can I help you?" the tired translator sighed as he threw his tack of papers onto the desk in front of himself.
"I'm Max, Max Zenigata. The Commissioner sent me here…" said Max in a friendly tone.
"Oh, hi, Max, I'm--" Leo stopped dead, and his smile fell, "…Zenigata? Like, uh…"
"Yep… Him…" Max pointed over Leo's shoulder to an old picture on the wall. It was of the former Inspector Zenigata. Right next to Zenigata's picture was an old wanted poster for Lupin III. Leo coughed uncomfortably, and rose.
"S'cuse me…" Leo mumbled as he ran out and down the hall to the bathroom. Leo returned a few minutes later, ill looking. He fell back in an old leather chair, on another stack of papers, "Zenigata…"
"Hn?" frowned Max, "Yeah, I'm…"
"Would you like a drink?" asked Leo.
"Ur, sure…" Max replied, and watched as Leo rose and walked over to a minfridge hidden by papers. He pulled out two cans of root beer from the fridge, and tossed one to Max, and seated himself back in his rolling chair. While Max sat and drank his root beer, Leo laid it over his eyes, and groaned. Max took this time to study Leo's looks. Somehow, they struck a familiar chord with Max.
Leo was about an inch shorter than him, and was of mostly Asian origin. He wore brown leather loafers, tight black jeans, a black button-up shirt, a purple sports coat, and an orange tie. His hair was brown, and slicked back tightly on his head.
"You know, you'd look better with a buzz cut," Max admitted. Leo let another loud groan, and Max was taken aback by Leo's reaction, "What? You… Would…. Mr. LeBlanc, are you all right?"
"I've been better," admitted Leo, "Sorry, my eyes are hurting me… I'm learning Hebrew… Oi…"
"Hebrew! Hey, I'm Jewish! Well, half, at least… My other half's Japanese… I guess that makes me… Jewpanese! My mom would always say that!" said Max laughingly.
"You know Yiddish?" Leo inquired. Max nodded in response, and Leo sighed in relief, "Great. Then let's go get some files from intelligence down the hall… C'mon." Both walked out, and down the office. Along the way, they ran into the mail room clerk, who was busy pushing a cart down the hall. Neither really seemed to take notice as he continued to squeak down the hall, and Max laughed gently as he bumped into the cart.
"Sorry, I'm a little clumsy," Max laughed.
"Yeah, me, too," Leo admitted, "But hopefully we won't get into much trouble between the office and here!"
By the time the two returned back to Leo's office from intelligence, they had done over $20,000 worth of damage to the INTERPOL offices, and Leo somehow ended up with a strange form of tar in his hair, from reconstruction that was being done to a nearby window. The duo had also almost managed to kill the kind Commissioner with a photocopier machine. The two took cover in a local bathroom while the numerous angry employees searched them out. Max put his hairstyling skills to the test while he cut the tar from Leo's hair. By the time he was finished, Leo was left with a choppy and very short haircut.
"I'm going to put these scissors away before you stab me in the eye with them…" Max muttered as he spied the look on Leo's face. Leo sighed as he heard Max close the door, and he looked upward at himself in the mirror.
"I look just like him… I might as well stamp 'Lupin' on my head…" mumbled Leo angrily, "I'm sure Fuji would find this funny… If she still liked talking to me, that is…"
New York, New York:
"Nothing like the fresh, clean air on a mild morning in Brooklyn," sighed Yukiko happily, followed by a long cough.
"On the rooftops, it's wonderful," Toshiro admitted, "I hope Kome's been taking care of my birds…"
"Oh, yeah, you mentioned you had a few birds," Yukiko nodded.
"I have a few more, now," Toshiro said as the two came up to his apartment building. Some time later, the two were on the rooftop, and Yukiko was staring at what looked to be close to a thousand trained pigeons flying in and out of boxes on the rooftop of the apartment complex.
"I feel like I'm in a friggin' Hitchcock film! Are they all yours?" Yukiko looked upward at a pigeon that had decided to nest on the top of her hat.
"Yeah. Come on, I'll show you where I feed them," Toshiro smirked, and nodded her towards the feeding area. Yukiko followed Toshiro around the rooftop, the pigeon on the top of her head the entire time, sitting complacently while Yukiko was led on a guided tour of the rooftop.
"Well, what do you think?" Toshiro inquired after he had finished their tour and he had seated himself on the ledge of the building while Yukiko preferred to stand.
Yukiko paused, "When's the last time you actually got laid?"
"Wha—"
"Do you talk to people, I mean, other than Aunt Kome, or Julia?" asked Yukiko, "This is a hobby great, and you seem really into your birds, but you look lonely."
"I'm fine… I have my birds, and I have my city…" Toshiro replied.
Yukiko sighed, and stood next to him on the ledge of the building, "I didn't just come with you to shoot the breeze, Toshiro… I'm worried about you—We're all worried about you. You've been acting weirder and weirder lately, and you're too secretive with us… I want to know if you're—"
"You want to know if I'm working with the Rat Clan, don't you?" Toshiro sighed in disappointment.
"Well, I—"
"I thought you'd be different, at least," Toshiro rose, and stood face-to-face with Yukiko, "I may hold things back, but it's only to protect you… And even if I hold things back, I don't lie. Especially not to you; I trust you more than anyone else. I can tell you honestly that I have no connections with the Rat Clan, other than half of my bloodline is from it."
"I want to believe you, I really do…" Yukiko whispered quietly.
"They've made my life a living hell for the past year…" Toshiro seethed.
"Hrm?" Yukiko looked down at him in interest, "Whaddya mean?"
"Nothing," Toshiro turned from her, and walked towards the stairway back down to the halls of the apartments, "You wouldn't understand…"
"Try me," Yukiko smirked.
"I'd rather not…" Toshiro replied.
"Toshiro!" Yukiko called as she ran down the stairs after him, "What is up with you!? You've never acted like this before!"
"Well, maybe I'm not the same person you knew before," Toshiro countered.
"Sure you are! You're just the sa—"
"I don't mean by looks!" Toshiro snapped and spun around, "There's a lot more to this than you could ever even fathom. It's more than stealing a scroll from the Rat Clan; I came only because I wanted revenge!"
"Oh, so you finally come to visit after all of these years only to get revenge! I see how it is… Your father has a heart attack, and you don't come back then, but you come back now…" Yukiko nodded, and stepped back, "What'd they do? Key your stupid poor-cousin-of-a-motorcycle!?"
"They murdered my family," Toshiro hissed.
"You're delusional! Your family's in Japan! You've been spending too much time up there with those damn pigeons! You're the friggin' Bird Man of Brooklyn!"
"I don't mean… I mean my girlfriend and my unborn daughter."
Yukiko stood there, frozen in position, trying to let this sink in. There was no way he had just said that…
Toshiro looked down at the floor, "I came home one night… It was a long night, and a tiring one… I found the note, first… Then I ran to the bedroom, and she was there, dead… She was pregnant at the time…. I had just finished building a crib the week before…."
"Who was dead, Toshiro?" Yukiko inquired.
"….Julia…"
"You and her… You were both… She was going to have your…" Yukiko fidgeted in position, and cleared her throat, "I've got to stock up on bullets… I'll be at the hotel…"
"Yuki…"
"Hey, uh, I'll see ya around…" Yukiko muttered, and pressed the buttons for the elevator. She kicked the buttons out of frustration when no elevator came, "Fine, I'll take the stairs! I need the exercise, anyway!" she yelled in frustration as she opened the door, and began to walk down the twelve flights of stairs.
"I'm so sorry for not being brave enough to tell you the truth…" Toshiro finished quietly as he stood there alone in the hallway.
Later, at a Somewhat Seedy Café:
"Married!?" Fuji gasped as she and Yukiko sat in the small, darkened café. The others in the group had gone to do various chores, leaving the two alone.
"He wasn't married, but they were as good as…" Yukiko replied as she sipped her Scotch bitterly.
"Damn… I always thought you two would…"
"We're just friends," Yukiko snapped in response, "apparently…" she added under her breath as she took another sip of her drink, "Listen, Fuji—Don't tell anyone, please. If Toshiro wanted them to know, he'd let them."
"You have my word," Fuji replied, "This is a nice little place, eh?" she added as she looked around the café, "Very relaxing…"
Yukiko rolled her eyes, and shook her head, "I need another Scotch… I feel like getting really drunk tonight."
"It's because of the special occasion, ne?" Fuji laughed. "Hn…" she looked downward at her table, and noticed a bit of paint from the ceiling on the table. It had not been there when they had sat down. Fuji reached in her jacket, and placed her hand on the handle of her weapon. She quickly jumped out of her seat, and shot. A ninja fell to from the ceiling onto the table where the two sat.
Fuji mumbled, "These guys are definitely not going to be on my Christmas card list…"
"What in the heck are we going to do with him?" Yukiko inquired. "Oh," she nodded, smiled, and turned back to the bar as she saw Fuji remove a piece of paper and a pen from her purse. Yukiko looked upward at the calm bartender in surprise, "Hey, aren't you…"
"You guys think you're the first celebrities to kill someone in my café?" the bartender replied skeptically, much to the usually jaded Yukiko's shock, "You'd never think that a former Mickey Mouse Club member would be capable of beheading a guy!" he added in a laugh.
"Yukiko, I'll take care of this. You check up on Toshiro at his apartment…" ordered Fuji. Yukiko nodded, and obediently obeyed the order from her 'boss'. She took a cab back down to Toshiro's apartment, and walked up the stairs to his home. She knocked on the door a few times, and after finding he was not ready to open it, Yukiko picked the lock to the door. She found Toshiro in his bedroom in the back of the large apartment, sitting on the edge of the bed. His head was hung, and he was looking downward at the wooden floor. Yukiko noticed a crib in the corner of the room as she entered, and felt a pang of sickness come over her.
"Hey," she took a few steps forward, and put a hand on his shoulder. Toshiro looked upward at her in surprise, "We'll get them back, all right? I can't tell you how sorry I am about this… I wish I could say I knew what you were going through, but I don't… I've never even been on a really serious date… And you and Julie… How old were you when—"
"Relax, I was twenty," Toshiro replied, "And I'm the one who asked her."
"Oh… Well, I just wanted to see how you were doing. Fuji's taking care of the body. I've got to head back out, now. I promised Ally I'd take a look at his car for him tonight."
"Yukiko… Thanks…" Toshiro said quietly.
Yukiko bent down, and embraced him, "Hey, you're s till my best friend! Nothin's ever going to change that, okay? We'll get 'em all, Toshiro. I'll see you later." Yukiko rose, and exited the apartment.
"I wish that I could at least tell someone everything; but I can't even let her know… I couldn't let Julia know, and look where that got me…" Toshiro mumbled as he looked upward at the crib again, and then averted his eyes to the floor.
INTERPOL Offices, Paris, France, the following day:
"Hey, LeBlanc, what's with the new haircut!?" called one coworker as Leo passed him, "I thought you didn't go for the attention of ladies!"
Leo stopped and looked upward, "I, uh—"
"Well, I think it's sorta cute, Leo," admitted an attractive secretary. Leo's face turned bright red as she approached, and he stumbled back against a desk in order to avoid her.
"I've gotta go," Leo sputtered and ran away from the group, leaving them all laughing.
"LeBlanc's too funny!" laughed one worker.
"As cute as he is, he's so afraid of girls!" sighed the female worker, "Well, I'm getting back to work… Leo's new friend's here…"
"Oh, blondie? You know whose kid he is, right?"
"Nah, who?"
"Zenigata's."
"Zeni—He's too damn young! And he's blond, like you said! Have you ever seen a naturally blonde Asian!?"
"The old man had him right after he retired…."
"LeBlanc! Zenigata! In my office, immediately!" called the Commissioner as Max entered his and Leo's new office.
"Y-y-y-y-Yes, Sir…" Leo stuttered in his soft-spoken tone as he and Max ran into the Commissioner's office. Both seated themselves, and waited intently for the Commissioner's speech.
"I'm reassigning you two. After yesterday, I realized having the both of you in the office all of the time would be less than beneficial for our insurance companies… But I can't fire either of you—Max, I owe your father too much. Leo—The real business world would eat someone like you alive in three seconds. So I'm keeping you both on board!"
"Uh, thanks?" Leo replied unsurely as he briefly glanced over at Max, who shrugged in response.
"You two are going on an assignment. It's a little lengthy, but I think you're both fit for it!" said the Commissioner happily as he slid a file across his desk to them. Max took it, and Leo leaned over his shoulder as he opened it.
"THE LUPIN CASE!?" both shrieked in horror.
"Why, is something wrong with that?" asked the Commissioner as he looked suspiciously at both, namely the very familiar-looking Leo.
"No," both replied in meek whispers.
"Terrific! You two will pack and fly to New York City tomorrow! The Lupin gang caused a little trouble at a hotel a few nights ago, it seems."
"What sort?" asked Leo quickly.
"Well, read and find out!" the Commissioner laugh, "Why don't you boys take the day off, so you can go pack?"
"Sure," both mumbled numbly as they rose and trudged out of the office, both with feelings of impending doom upon them.
"Wonderful! Now they'll never come back, and I won't feel as guilty!" said the Commissioner contently after both had exited the office in dread.
"I CAN'T believe I'm going to have to track down part of my family like DOGS!" griped Max as he walked to his car.
"I can't believe I'm going to have to track down part of my family like dogs," Leo mumbled as he waited for his bus.
Max looked across the parking lot, and spied Leo waiting for a bus, "Hey, what are you doing!?" he shouted.
"I don't a have a car," Leo shrugged in response.
"You want a lift?"
"Huh? Well, ur, sure," Leo shrugged as he walked over towards Max's beaten Neon. "Thanks… Um, no one's ever been this nice to me before…"
"I just need someone to bitch to," Max shrugged as he seated himself in his car, "I can't do a deadend case like this, I just can't! Even if the ringleader's attractive!"
"Fuji?" Leo choked, and accidentally hit his head on the doorway of the car as he entered and seated himself.
"Yeah. But she goes by Lupin IV, too," Max replied, "We have no idea what happened to her brother, Arsene Lupin IV. He just disappeared a few years ago, no clues as to his whereabouts. Lord only knows where he is, now."
"Yeah, Lord only knows…" Leo laughed uncomfortably.
"I mean, he could be relaxing in the Bahamas, for all we know!"
"For all we know!" Leo repeated good-humoredly.
"I just know I can't go back to my family. I'd break my dad's heart. I've been nothing but a big screw up for over twenty years! Well, no more! I don't care who they are—I'll do it. I'll do what my dad couldn't even do! I'm going to catch Lupin IV!"
"Hee hee… Good luck, Max," Leo wished his newfound friend.
"Thanks. I'm going to need plenty of it," Max admitted, "But, hey, I'm sure you have some skills! The Commissioner wouldn't put us on such a high-profile job unless he thought we were—"
"Complete and utter morons," Leo finished.
Max paused, "You know, if we're working together, I don't want you to destroy every delusion I have. I know that's probably why, but you don't have to bring it to my attention so blatantly!"
"Sorry, it's a problem I have!" Leo snapped, "You're not the only failure in this car, you know!"
"Yeah, and what was your family like, huh? Everyone seems to know mine around here," said Max.
"Very large, very loud… I miss them all of the time," Leo admitted solemnly, "But I can't go back… That'd give them all too much satisfaction, and prove that I was wrong! I can already see how smug my father would be. 'Toldja so'. Grr, I can't stand that!"
"Sounds like you have just as many issues as me!" Max laughed.
"I think I beat you," Leo admitted.
"Well, we'll see. We're partners, now, so we'll have plenty opportunity to compare," Max admitted.
"Oh, yeah…" Leo chuckled as he looked out the window of the moving car. Leo thought heavily as the car rolled onward.
What am I gonna do, Dad? This is the time when you would've done something slick to get out of a tough spot like this, but I can't. If I quit, it'll almost be like pointing a neon sign that reads 'Lupin' to me….
What am I going to do?