DISCLAIMER: Uh… I dunno… Don't own Lupin III… So there.

Anyong!

Oh, what to say, what to say?… I hope everyone's had a nice summer so far—As always, I'm open to any ideas that anyone would like to pass by me, and, who knows, I'll probably use them. Thanks for the reviews, again, and I how you all give me your wonderful opinions in the future. Thanks! See you until next time, boys and girls!

Chapter Fourteen

The Next Morning: I've got the World on a String

'I tried to telephone,

They said you were not home,

That's a lie,

Cause I know where you've been

And I saw you walk in your door,'

--The Beatles, 'No Reply'

An Inn in Cagliostro:

"Good morning, Carmen," Ally yawned with a stretch as he awoke in the early morning, "Carmen?" he inquired, looking about and noticing her missing, "Carmen!?"

He rose and quickly searched around the room, and became aware of a knocking on the door. He drew his gun, and watched as the room opened, revealing Carmen carrying a tray of breakfast foods for the two. She gasped in surprise, and nearly dropped the tray, but Ally was quick, and he caught the tray with his free hand, "Where were you!?" he inquired as he sheathed his gun and set the food down on an old wooden table.

"G-Getting breakfast," she replied quietly as she closed the door behind herself, "I'm sorry." She added with a look like she had just committed some horrible crime.

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay. You make up for it with this great meal!" Ally replied as he looked over the food, "Come on, let's eat. And then we'll head out. We'll have to go out a slightly different exit, though."

"Really? Which? I only saw the one," said Carmen as she seated herself to breakfast.

"You'll see," Ally smirked as he looked over at an open drawer with a few pieces of clothing someone had left over.

Later, through the Cook's entrance of the Inn:

"Allen! This is wrong—We haven't paid!" Carmen whispered as she drew her scarf over her hair and followed Ally out the back to a series of other smaller buildings behind the inn. The two quickly fled the area of the inn, and waited until they were out in a main street to walk normally once more.

"Okay, we're good now," Ally said, removing the long jacket he had put on for a disguise.

"That was so very wrong," Carmen muttered as she removed her coat and scarf.

"Well, we don't exactly have the money right now, so it's either we sneak out or I go prostitute myself," Ally replied, "And I'd be a sorry excuse for a prossy."

"What's a prostitute?" inquired Carmen. Ally nearly fell back in shock, and blinked a few times in surprise before venturing to answer her question, which he managed to fumble through with an extremely red face. "You'd go and do that for the both of us?" she inquired after she got the gist of what he was talking about.

"Hey, I've done worse," he replied, scratching the back of his head, "Anyway, let's try to figure out where exactly we are, so we can both get back home." Ally walked over to a middle-aged shopkeeper, and cleared his throat as he went to speak, "Excuse me, Ma'am, do you know the name of the town we're in?"

"What's it to you?" she inquired irritably.

"I—Why you old hag!" Ally growled, balling his fists in anger.

"Here," Carmen reached in her pocket, and pulled out a gold coin in front of a stunned Ally. The shopkeeper's eyes lit up as she laid her eyes on the coin, "Do you think you can remember the directions to the palace of Cagliostro now?"

"Certainly! I'll be right back with a map!" she replied, rushing into her shop and nearly tripping over her skirts in the process.

"Well, you're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Ally sighed, half-exasperated, half-amused.

"You bet!" she smiled and laughed.

"Here's your map!" the shopkeeper ran out of her store with a map, "And lunch for the both of you! Wouldn't want a nice little couple like yourselves to starve! You don't cook for your husband much, do you, Ma'am? He's quite thin!"

"Husband!?" Ally's eyes shown visible through his bangs, and Carmen saw that they had grown wide in shock.

"Thank you for your kindness," said Carmen with a smile as she handed the woman the coin and received the map and lunch. She tried to hold back laughter as she led Ally off, and the two were soon out of the small town.

"So, I take it you live near the palace?" Ally inquired a little later when they had traveled some through the woods.

"Well, I guess you could say that…" she replied, closing the map and stopping in the middle of the road, "I really don't want to go, though, but I know if I don't go, I'll cause a lot of trouble for everyone."

Ally stopped, and rolled his eyes tiredly. It was going to be one of those days, "Listen, Kid—If it's really so bad, I'll talk to the guy for you, okay? I'm sure with a little reasoning, my friends and I can get you out of whatever trap you're in."

"Are your friends miracle workers?" she inquired with a tone of sarcasm.

"Well, no—But it never hurt to try," Ally replied with a shrug.

"I suppose you're right," she nodded, and walked over towards him, "Let's go, then."

"Best idea you've had today," Ally said, and continued walking with her down the path. The castle was now within sight.

Inside the Palace:

"How're the troops holding?" Toshiro inquired as he advanced towards Yukiko, who sat in a windowsill in one of the towers of the palace.

"As still as ever. I'm starting to think they replaced themselves with dummies," Yukiko replied as she lit a cigarette and looked back downward at the barrage of guards, "We can't get out. Odori tried last night, but she got her ass royally handed to her. Check out the new haircut they gave her when you get the chance. We're stuck in here with Zenigata and Ari, and Ally is out there, along with Clarisse's daughter."

"Leo's been comforting the Lady in the absence of her daughter," Toshiro said as he looked out at the guards, all with swords and bayonets.

"I know. It's borderline creepy, if you ask me," replied Yukiko, "Where's Fuji?"

"She went down into the dungeons to see if Carmen wandered down in there," Toshiro answered. He watched as the guards started their daily marching routine, and Yukiko smirked.

"Watch this; it's kind of cute. Three times a day—Kick, one, two, march, left, right, left, right," she chuckled as she watched their marching routine. Toshiro gulped as he saw them unsheathe the swords in unison, and Yukiko, seemingly knowing, took her cigarette out of her mouth and placed it in Toshiro's. He nodded his thanks and took a drag of the cigarette as he looked down at the guards.

"Jesus…" he muttered, shaking his head, "I hope Fuji knows what she's doing."

Beneath the Palace, in the Dungeon:

"My, my, my—What a happy place," Fuji muttered as she swung her flashlight about, looking at the mounds of corpses, "Could use curtains, though…." she added as an afterthought, "And maybe an coffee table or two… Yep, curtains and coffee tables… Hee hee…" her blood ran cold as a rat ran over her feet, and she shivered in her own disgust, "Oh, when Ari comes around, they'll be hell to pay for making me go through with all of this so as not to let down the Lupin Dynasty and carry on the family business."

She turned about a corner, and screamed as she found another living figure. He screamed in surprise as well, until he realized that it was Lupin and she realized that it was Zenigata.

"Lupin!" growled Max.

"Zenigata?" Fuji blinked in surprise, "What in the hell are you doing here?"

"I… Was doing research, and…"

"You were snooping around, accidentally fell down here, and are currently looking for a way out…" Fuji sighed.

Max's face twitched, and he looked downward and cleared his throat, "Well, I—"

"Please, Zenigata, you're just like your old man. You're your dad in the body of your mom, which is a frightening thought," replied Fuji, "How'd your dad land someone like your mom, anyway? Mail order?"

"That is none of your business!" Max yelled, his face flushing, "You need to help me get out of here, now!"

"I don't have to do jack, Blondie," replied Fuji with a hint of annoyance in her tone, "And why I should help you, out of all of the people in the world. I'd sooner save LeBlanc!"

"Oh, please! I've seen the way you look at him—You like him!" snapped Max.

"I WHAT!?" Fuji yelped loudly, her voice echoing off of the walls, "I can reassure you, Leo doesn't like me, and I don't like him in that way!"

"What makes you think that?" Max inquired.

"We're wasting time! Let's get going… There's nothing here," Fuji sighed, shoving her flashlight in her jacket pocket, "Carmen's out and gone."

"Shush! Get down!" Max whispered, grabbing Fuji by the shoulder and bringing her down next to himself.

"Why? I—" she turned, and saw two armed guards entering through another entrance from the outdoors, "Spies…" she whispered. Max nodded, and both slowly approached the guards, Max picking up a blunt object in the meantime.

"Hey, you hear something?" inquired one guard to another.

"Oh, you mean me?" Fuji giggled. Both turned around, and stared in shock at the gorgeous woman in their presence.

"Hey, how'd you get down here?" one of the guards demanded.

"How'd you get so beautiful?" another inquired.

"Shut up! Start talking!" the first guard demanded.

"Oh, I'll let Mr. Zenigata do the talking," she chuckled.

"Huh?" both turned, and came face-to-face with Max and an old military rifle he had found. Max clubbed both across the face, knocking them unconscious in the process.

"Wow, where'd you learn to swing like that, Zenigata?" she inquired as she looked downward at the guards.

"My dad golfs a lot. I was his caddy for years. Developed a hell of a swing as a result," Max panted in the response, "Come on, now, let's get going. We need to let everyone else know."

"Right," Fuji nodded, and both exited, her leading the way, "Hey, does this mean we're friends now, and you aren't going to arrest me?"

"No—Wait until we're off Cagliostro soil," Max warned, "Then you better watch your ass."

"You're a riot, Zenigata," Fuji chuckled.

Inside the Palace Gardens:

"Don't worry—I called the United Nations. They'll have these guys out by tomorrow," Leo reassured Clarisse as they looked over the gates at the numerous guards.

"Thank you very much, Lu—Ur, Mr. LeBlanc…" replied Clarisse with a soft smile, "It's an awful feeling, being a prisoner in your own home… And not know where someone you love so dearly is."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," said Leo, averting his eyes to the floor, "My folks used to run off to all different parts of the world. Fuji and I would go with them a lot, but, when we didn't, we'd wonder where they'd be off to. We never knew if we'd spend more than a few days in certain places. My only friends were Ally, Fuji, Ryo, Heiji, Odori and Yukiko. But Yukiko was always older than us—More of an adult than a kid. Max and I spent time together when we were little, but he doesn't remember. I barely know Toshiro, to be honest. I don't think anyone really knows him except Yukiko."

"You act a lot like your father."

"No, I don't. My father's a loving, hyperactive, philandering, showy goofball. Well meaning, but often anything he does backfires… He's convinced 'I'll come around' to his way of thinking. And he's so smug about it, too! Grr… When I told him I was going to join the police force, he moaned and asked my why I couldn't have told him some better news, like that I was gay."

"Hm…" Clarisse smirked, "Well, you may not be a good thief, but you're certainly a good person, Mr. LeBlanc."

"Thanks, Ma'am," Leo nodded, and the two continued with their walk.

Somewhere in the Countryside, Late in the Evening:

"Oh, aren't you precious!" Carmen exclaimed as she held her hand out to the young baby in the farm woman's arms.

"Thanks a million again for fixing my engine, Stranger," said the farmer to Ally.

"No problem. It was just some bad wiring from the headlights to the front," Ally shrugged in response. He and Carmen had found a farm that they were allowed to stay the night in, in exchange for Ally's limited mechanic skills. He usually left the car repair to Yukiko, but he had managed to pick up a few tips in the meantime.

"Would you all care for any more to eat?" inquired the farm woman.

"No, thanks—We're fine," replied Carmen, "Thank you both very much for your kindness."

"All right, well, I'll show you to your room now," she smiled, rose, and walked the two up to a small bedroom, where she left them and walked down.

"Margaret, those strangers may be the answer to our prayers," said the farmer as he looked over a newspaper, and threw it down on the table, "Look."

"Well, I'll be!" she gasped, looking downward at two separate stories. One read, 'Cagliostro royalty skill missing' and the other read 'Lupin gang in town—member still missing'.

"They're offering rewards for both," said the farmer, "We could finally afford a new home…"

"I know… But, they're just children!" she sighed.

"And we have our own children—And our own well-being to look after!" he replied, folding the newspaper and rising, "I'm going out to find an officer. He'll take it from there. Just stay here and make sure they do, too."

The farm woman waited until her husband had been gone for about ten minutes before she ran up to Ally and Carmen's door and pounding on it.

Ally came to the door a few moments later, only having fallen asleep recently. Carmen was still asleep on the bed, "What's wrong?" he inquired.

"My husband found out," she replied, "He went to go get a police officer!"

"The police!?" Ally yelped, and looked back at Carmen, "Carmen, get up! You and I are in some serious trouble!"

"Please, hurry before he gets back!" the farm woman pleaded.

"Hm? Allen, what's wrong?" Carmen inquired, sitting up in bed.

"That farmer went to go get the police!" Ally replied hurriedly as he threw his tie over his neck and shoved his jacket on. Carmen quickly slipped into her shoes, and after Ally had finished tying his shoes, they were off.

"Thank you," Carmen whispered to the woman, handing her a gold coin with a piece of paper wound about it, "It's the number to the palace. If there is ever anything you need, please let me know!" she said hurriedly.

"Carmen, come on!" Ally shouted from downstairs, "The cops are here!"

"Out through the cellar!" the farm woman instructed the two as she rushed down the stairs with Carmen. She led the future duchess and thief down to the cellar, and threw Ally a parcel of food and other supplies before they exited, narrowly escaping the police.

"That was close," Ally confided to Carmen as they looked outward at the numerous police officers in the distance, "Come on," he took her by the hand, and the two started down the dirt road towards the palace, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," an obviously tired Carmen replied after they had walked down the road for some time.

"Hey, let's just rest here a little while. It's got to be about four in the morning," Ally yawned, pointing towards a large tree on the outskirts of another forest. Carmen nodded, and both walked over towards, the tree, and seated themselves at the base of it. Ally looked downward in surprise as he watched Carmen lean against him and close her eyes, "Comfy?" he inquired.

"Quite," Carmen replied, "I swear, after all of this is over, I'm never going to act like a spoiled brat again."

"What? You, spoiled? I can't believe that!" Ally laughed.

"I've never walked this much in my life! I've rarely even been out of my home…" Carmen replied tiredly.

"That's good, I guess. My parents used to take us all over the world when I was a kid. Never really had time to make a lot of friends. At least you had some sense of stability," Ally responded, "I guess I got a temper as a result…" he added softly in a mutter.

"Nonsense! You don't have a temper!" Carmen chuckled.

Come to think of it, I've been acting pretty damn sane the past couple of days… Ally realized much to his surprise. I haven't even been tempted to shoot a squirrel, and this place is crawling with them!

"So, what was your favorite place to visit?" Carmen inquired.

"What? Why do you want to know that?"

"It will help me to fall asleep," Carmen replied.

"Well… Canada, I guess. Basically because I love hockey. I went because a pro team actually wanted me to play for them. Then I lost my temper, and beat up one of the coaches with the head of the team's mascot costume," replied Ally.

"You did not!" Carmen laughed in disbelief.

"Yeah—Really. Guy needed seventeen stitches in the back of his head!" Ally laughed proudly, "Well, enough story time. Let's go to sleep now, Carmen. We ought to be arriving near the palace tomorrow."

"All right. Good night, Allen," Carmen yawned, and soon fell asleep.

"I know I've seen her somewhere before…" Ally said to himself as he looked downward at a ring with an emblem of a goat on it.

The next morning, at the Palace:

Three empty bottles of Italian wine lay spread out throughout the bedroom of a certain white fedora-wearing gunwoman, while the certain white fedora-wearing gunwoman lie passed out on her bed. During this same time, a certain two blade-wielding samurai lie passed out on her couch.

Toshiro awoke first, and lifted his head up from the couch, "Oh, God…How much did I drink last night? My head… Jeeze…"

"Yuki?" he rose and walked over to Yukiko, who was still asleep. She had drunken out of hopelessness; she secretly seethed that she could do nothing to help her brother. Toshiro had stayed with her in case she went to attempt to do anything stupid, and had drunk a fair amount as well in the process. As much as Ally hated and distrusted him, Toshiro worried about him, for Yukiko's sake.

"Hm?" Yukiko lifted her head, and looked upward at Toshiro, "What are you doing here?"

"It was a late night, I guess," Toshiro replied, scratching his head, "How do you feel?"

"Like I'm going to throw up," Yukiko admitted, her head bobbing back and forth. She awkwardly rose from the bed, and Toshiro watched as she stumbled forward onto him. She looked upward, and laughed, "I think I'm still a little drunk…" she admitted with a laugh.

"Well, you should lay back down, then," Toshiro said uneasily as he looked downward at her. He watched in confusion as Yukiko put a hand behind his head, and drew closer to him.

"Nah, I don't think so," she chuckled, and leaned inward even more.

"Yuki, I—" Toshiro stopped as Yukiko kissed him, "had no idea you felt that way, too..." he added in a whisper as she broke off.

"Yeah, we'll you've been away a while, and there's a lot you don't know," Yukiko replied with a smile, "But there's always time to catch up on things…"

"Hey, get up! Up!" Toshiro heard as he came crashing back to reality. He opened his eyes, and saw Yukiko looking downward at him, "It's nearly the afternoon! Hey, why's your face so red? Drink too much last night, buddy?" she chuckled, and slapped him on the back good-humoredly.

"Uh, did we…" he started as he rose off the couch, unable to look Yukiko in the eye, "Er… Nevermind…" He replied as he rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"What we did was drink a little too much. I'm going down to get some grub, okay? See you there!" Toshiro then watched as Yukiko exited, and banged his fist against the couch when she had left.

"I can't believe I fell for that dream sequence crap!" he growled angrily. He rose, and walked to the door, and banged his head against it a few times, "It wouldn't happen in reality, anyway… Dammit!" he grumbled as he exited, and walked down to the others, who were in the middle of a tense breakfast.

Along the way, however, he saw something quite curious. A very nervous Max exiting another room. Max looked at him a few moments before he turned away and quickly ran down the stairs to breakfast. Toshiro followed soon afterward, and came down the breakfast hall, where the others were seated. As he seated himself, he noticed Fuji was unusually quiet at breakfast, as was Max. The others were also behaving strangely, but because of the disappearance of Ally and Carmen. Heiji figured it was something dealing with the two spies in the dungeon.

"Are they still outside?" inquired Ryo.

"Yep. I checked," Heiji replied with a nod, "Dori, maybe they'll finish your haircut, if you want."

"Burn in hell!" Odori growled, her chin-length hair bouncing as she leaned forward to pounce on Heiji. Heiji laughed as Ryo held her back, and Odori finally calmed down after coaxing from Ryo.

"All of those bastards deserve a taste of my blade for what they did to my head!" Odori said authoritatively as she took a bite of her toast.

"Language, language, children," chided Ryo.

"We've got to devise a plan—Something to surprise them in case they try to get out again!" said Heiji.

"Well…" Toshiro paused, "There is a little trick I learned in the theater a while back… It's far out there, but anything's worth a shot if it'll keep them out of that entrance, right?"

"We're all ears, Toshiro," replied Fuji, leaning inward towards the samurai.

Later, the Dungeons:

"This place gives me the creeps…" muttered one guard to another as they looked about at the corpses.

"Yeah… But, hey, they're all dead, right? So what's to worry about?" the other soldier laughed.

"Oh, are we?" they heard in a hiss. They both spun around to see what looked to be a skeleton standing on his own two feet.

"Who said that?" asked one guard nervously.

"Us!" another skeleton replied, rising to face them. Both men screamed, and backed away, only to come face to face with a sword-wielding spirit from beyond.

"I—I don't believe it!" the one guard shouted.

"Come on!" another shouted, pulling the guard away from the skeletons and through the exits.

Toshiro jumped off of the beam he had been standing on, followed by Yukiko and Odori, who proved to be handy puppeteers. "Men will believe anything when their sense of fear is increased," said Toshiro as he jingled the bone puppet on its strings.

"I guess it's a bad time to tell you that I figured out what we did last night. I took a pregnancy test and it turned out positive," said Yukiko as she set her puppet down, "Congrats, Daddy."

"What!?" Toshiro choked.

"Joking, joking. I just was testing your theory," Yukiko chuckled.

"That is not funny!" a red-faced Toshiro fumed, "The last time a woman told me that, it wasn't a joke!"

"Heiji and Ryo ought to be doing their part about now…." said Odori as she tossed her puppet aside.

The three began to run down the hall to a secret exit in the dungeon, and found Ryo and Heiji anxiously awaiting them, "We couldn't have held off much longer!" said Heiji with a sigh of relief, "Come on!" He shouted, and ran out with the others. He pressed a button on a control panel as he ran away from the wall, and the bombs that he and Ryo had carefully placed around the doorway exploded in a barrage of orange blooms.

"Well, that's out of the way… Let's hope Leo can pull through…." Said Heiji with a tone of exhaustion.

Inside the palace, Leo LeBlanc had worked four hours over the telephone, speaking with various Interpol and United Nations representatives in over a dozen different languages in order to receive some sort of assistance, but to no avail. No one was willing to enter a place like Cagliostro during the hostage crisis which they were facing.

"Maybe I could go talk to their leader," said Max to Clarisse, "I mean, this guy can't be totally heartless!"

"I doubt that," replied Clarisse with a frown, "The Lord Mordella is slow to kindness, and quick to anger."

"Mordella?" Leo spun around in his chair, looking obviously frazzled his purple jacket lay tossed aside, and his orange tie hung loosely from his neck. Amongst Leo was a fortress of language and customs books, and well as telephone books, and LeBlanc's reading glasses looked as though they were about to slip off of the bridge of his nose.

"Yes," Clarisse nodded.

"I'll go get you some coffee, Leo," Max said, patting Leo on the shoulder as he exited the room. Zenigata returned moments later with a hot cup of bitter-tasting coffee with only a hint of cream in it, as Leo usually took his coffee, "Anything I can do?"

"Yeah… Um, go through the phone numbers I've gone through on this list, and cross them out with this red pen in the phone book, okay?" Leo sighed tiredly, putting a hand over his eyes, "What a mess…."

"Okay," a more understanding and placid than usual Zenigata replied, seating himself cross-legged on the floor next to Leo and beginning to cross out the names. Max occasionally ate from a Styrofoam cup of Ramen as he did so, but for the most part quietly did menial chores for Leo.

About six hours later, Leo closed his phone book, set the phone back in its cradle, and turned to a barely sleeping Clarisse. He removed his glasses, and spoke softly and tiredly, "That was my last outlet… No one wants to help us… We're facing this one alone…"

Max looked upward at the disappointed Leo, and took this opportunity to swallow his pride. He rose up from the floor, stiff from sitting on it so long, and picked up the telephone, and dialed, "Hi, Dad? Yeah, yeah, I know… Listen, I need a favor," Max sighed tiredly, "Do you remember your old connections with Interpol? Do you still have them? Great… Well, I'm kind of in Cagliostro right now, and…. You will? All right, thanks, Dad. Send my love to Mom. Bye." Max hung up the phone, and blew his bangs from over his eyes, "Interpol will be here in the morning, and, unlike the UN, they won't pull out."

Leo watched silently as Max polished his glasses, and then walked past him silently, "Good night, Leo…"

"He might not admit it, but it took a good chunk out of his pride to make that call," Leo frowned as he spoke to Clarisse, "Come on, Ma'am, let's get you to bed. It's only a few hours until daylight."

"You've made a good friend, Lupin," Clarisse said to him quietly as she rose.

"I know. That's why he can't know who I am," replied Leo, "I'm going to go to my sleep now. And considering this is my room, I don't really have to go very far…"

"Good night, Mr. LeBlanc," said Clarisse.

"Good night, Ma'am," replied Leo with a nod.