DISCLAIMER: I don't Lupin III, or a decent computer table, currently… Hee hee…

Hey!

As I am writing this, I am sitting in my kitchen, constantly glancing over at a box of cookies which get better looking with every glance. Due to household repairs, I was forced to relocate my main base of operations to 'Lucy's Kitchen, Suburbs, USA'. Hopefully soon I will be broadcasting my updates from a more comfortable station… And with fewer temptations…. (sigh) Screw the diet (reaches for box of cookies) Happy readings!

P.S.: This chapter dedicated to my godmother…

Chapter Twenty Six

A Little while Later: I put a Spell on You

'Oh I can't sleep at night,

But all the same,

I never weep at night,

I call your name'

—The Beatles, 'I call your Name'

Seventeen Years ago, Paris, France:

"Ari, what's wrong?" Lupin inquired as he saw his son on the porch of their home, crying. Lupin looked over to Fujiko, who stood next to him, but she was of no help. It was not her fault, though. No one understood why the boy wept like he did.

"Daddy, can I talk to you?" asked Ari through sobs.

"Yeah," Lupin nodded, and seated himself next to Ari. Fujiko let out a small sigh, and turned away from the duo, leaving them to their own devices, "Now, what's up?"

"Jean won't talk to me anymore because he says you made his daddy's business bad!" Ari wept, "He punched me!"

"What?" Lupin choked. It was true. Jean's family came from a long like of art dealers, and he had recently abducted their entire stock. It had left the family in ruins, although Jean's family had deserved it—They were a family of crooked art dealers, everyone knew, "Ari, I—" Lupin leaned towards his son, but Ari pushed him away.

"Make it good again!" Ari wept, "Make it good again, Daddy! I don't want him to hate me! Please, Daddy!"

Lupin shuddered as Ari clutched onto him. This had never happened before. He had never stolen something and caused these sorts of repercussions.

Lupin sighed, and looked downward at his son, "Ari, I'd never do anything to hurt you, you know that. I…. I'll give them back everything I took, okay? Will that make you happy?"

"Yeah!" Ari gasped happily, "Thanks, Daddy! Love you!"

"Yeah, I love you too, Pal. I love you too…" sighed Lupin tiredly, "Boy is this going to take a chunk outta my pride…"

Leo awoke with a start, and looked around at his surroundings, "Oh, boy… What a dream! Hm… Guess you really did love me, huh, Dad?" he chuckled tiredly, "I wish I could just show you that I loved you, too."

"LeBlanc, what are you babbling about?" sighed Max as he sat up in his bed.

"Oh, nothing…." Leo sighed, "Just thinking about…. About years ago… You know, I really never got along with my dad, Max, but… He really loved me… No matter how much of an idiot I was…"

"Same, here. Well, my dad was also too old to chase after me a lot. But after I got too out of hand, my mom threw my ass into the police academy," Max shrugged, "I'm going to turn the news on…. You can sleep some more, if you want."

"No, thanks. Once I wake up, I'm up for the day," Leo yawned, stretching and rising out of bed. Max turned on the television to the news, and began to walk into the bathroom, but stopped dead as he heard a familiar voice. He saw Leo turn pale, and he craned over to look at the television screen. It was a film of Leo's exploits of the previous night—When he had become the obnoxious womanizer that Max had been frightened of.

"Oh… Oh my God…." Leo whispered, putting a hand to his mouth in horror, "You… You knew I did that, and you didn't tell me!?"

"Leo, listen, I didn't want to hurt you!" Max started.

"You freakin' lied to me!" Leo yelled.

"Well, that's rich, coming from someone who won't even tell me their damn name!" Max snapped, "Who in the hell are you, LeBlanc? What are you hiding from that's so awful that you had to run away from your life!? Leo, who was that on the TV!? It couldn't have been you…"

"I…" Leo looked downward, and seated himself on the ground, "This isn't supposed to be happening!" he muttered.

There was a long period of silence, filled in only by the newscaster's voice, "In related news, two members of the Lupin gang are said to be held hostage. The captor's demands include the resurfacing of the true Arsene Lupin IV. If these demands aren't meant, both Yukiko Jigen and Goemon Ishikawa XIV will be executed. A public challenge was made earlier today by the unknown assailants."

"What!?" Leo and Max both shrieked.

"How'd I miss that!?" Max wondered aloud.

"Ryoko-chan's sister…." Leo said under his breath, "Max, I gotta go!"

"To where?" inquired Max as he watched Leo hurriedly dress, "Where are you going? Leo, talk to me…. Why are you loading your gun? Damn it, LeBlanc, stop for a second!" growled Zenigata, "What's going on?"

"I… I'd tell you, but…" Leo shook his head, "Never mind. I'll talk to you in a little bit…. Hopefully…"

"Leo—"

"See you in a little, if all goes well!" Leo shouted, running out of the hotel room and quickly vanishing. Max came to a start as he heard his car engine sound, and he scrambled to the window.

"LeBlanc, you get back here now!" Max roared, "I, I…. I'm gonna have to call a cab…."

At the Lupin Hideout:

"Great… Those two idiots try to steal that diamond from beneath me, and now they're going to get their freakin' heads chopped off! Just perfect!" Fuji grumbled, folding her arms and looking back at the television.

"Why don't we go, then!?" Ally snapped.

"Because whoever it is wants Lupin. The real Lupin…" replied Fuji.

"As far as I'm concerned, you're the main Lupin," Ally snapped in response, "Ari's a freakin' chicken, if you ask me!"

"No, he's not," Ryo said, shaking her head, "No matter how much you have trouble admitting it, Ally, Ari will always be Lupin IV. Fuji is Fuji, Ari is Ari."

"It's about time someone around here figured that out!" Fuji snapped, "Now we've got two friends in trouble, and I don't care if I'm the Easter Bunny—As weird as this sounds coming from me, Ally's right—I'm going to go rescue them. We all are, right?"

"Right!" the others nodded.

"I just hope they can hang in there long enough…" Fuji said to herself.

Later that evening:

Ryo drove the Alfa Romeo as usual, while Fuji sat in the passenger. Odori and Heiji sat in the back seat, while Ally zoomed next to them in Toshiro's Vespa, which he drove with an unusual amount of talent.

"Where should we start looking?" asked Ryo as she leaned over and looked down at Fuji's map.

"I've narrowed it down to three places. All describe the place that the captor told Lupin to meet him," said Fuji as she studied her map. Fuji saw a glint from out of the side of her eye, but shrugged this off. She did sense something was wrong, though, when both vehicles slowed to a stop in front of a dockside area. She knew something was very wrong when Ally shot a hole through the map.

"Well… This is an interesting development…" Fuji muttered as she peered through the fresh hole. She looked back at Ally, who glared at her, and looked around at the other three. Fuji jumped out of the vehicle only a moment before she heard the distinctive swipe of Zantetsuken.

"W-What's going on with you guys!?" Fuji yelped, "What in the hell are you trying to pull!? Now, I like jokes, too, but this one's giving me the willies, personally." Another shot fired, and Fuji felt one of her earrings fly off.

"Ryo-san?" Fuji questioned in awe as she saw in Ryo's hand a still smoking gun, "Wh-What's wrong with you guys?" she faltered, backing up against a sidewalk, "Would someone please tell me what's going on!?"

"They're under my control now, Fujiko-chan," Fuji gasped, and turned to see Victor standing on the sidewalk, smiling widely, "Now if you don't go I'll give the order to have the nerd with the crush on you kill you with his sister's knife."

"I don't believe in this crap!" Fuji shouted angrily, "It's all mumbo-jumbo! Magic tricks!"

"You tell that to these two," said Victor, nodding back to two people behind him.

"Yuki? Toshiro?" Fuji blinked in surprise.

"Both just two more puppets…" replied Victor with a smile, "You know, this could be fun, having Ari's girl under my control. There's a lot that I could do that would upset him, you know…"

"If you lay one hand on her—"

"Don't worry, I don't waste my time on skanks," Victor reassured her, "God only knows what it is she has that makes her as bitchy as she is…."

"What's your game, Victor?" asked Fuji suspiciously.

"There's going to be a world-wide peace conference a few days from now. Ari shows, or I glint this little baby, and order them all to blow the crap out of one another!"

"What do you want from Ari? What would anyone?" Fuji chuckled.

"I want to get him here so I can blow his friggin' brains out," replied Victor with a psychotic smile, "That little brat's done nothing but make this family look bad!"

"Maybe, but we don't kill, Victor. Ari may be a lot of things, but he'll always be twice the man you are," Fuji said sternly, "A Lupin never kills. That's what your dad never got, and what you haven't either. Kinda sad when your old man thinks you're heartless."

"Aw, well, why should he care? Not like he pays my bills," Victor shrugged, "Hm, this is the first time I've been next to Odori-chan and she hasn't beaten me…. Maybe I should take advantage of that."

"The closest you'll ever get to landing any of them is Yuki's dog," Fuji said with a smirk. Victor growled, and whipped his head in Fuji's direction.

"I could kill them all now, if I wanted. Just give the order, and watch the blood flow."

"Go ahead, then!" said Fuji, crossing her arms, "Victor, you know as well as I do that they're all-or-nothing-at-all. Your plan will be all shot to hell if one of them is even slightly injured!"

"Oh, like the sap would care about Toshiro. He barely knows Judy Garland over there…" Victor snorted, nodding towards Toshiro.

"Any life is precious to him," replied Fuji, "Now let them go before I get angry… You won't like me when I'm angry…"

"Like I'd fear anyone who quotes from bad TV shows," Victor chuckled, "You amuse me, Fujiko… Maybe I should use this diamond on you… Wouldn't it be a wonderful headline—'Lupin IV found dead in ocean'? Has a certain… A certain ring to it…."

Fuji growled, and reached behind her back to pull out a hidden weapon. She gasped in surprise as she felt a strong arm pull her arm to the point of breaking. She saw out of the corner of her eye that it was Heiji.

"Heiji-chan?" Fuji yelped. It was only then that the harsh reality struck her that everyone she cared for had turned against her. They were no longer the friends she had grown up with—They were all bent on harming her and her brother, as well.

Her brother! He and Max hadn't fallen under Victor's spell yet! Maybe they could still help… But how would she get away? She looked to her right, and saw her only means of escape.

Fuji broke out of Heiji's grasp, ran, and jumped off of the dock into the ocean. Ally ran to the water and shot into it, but there was no sign of Lupin anywhere.

"Dammit!" Victor growled, staring down into water, "I don't have time for this crap… Come on, guys… We have more important work to do…"

Fuji breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the Alfa Romeo and Vespa start up and exit, and released her grip from the dock pole, "I can't believe this… I'm going to kill him when I figure out how to help those guys! I'd shoot them all in the foreheads if I didn't know that they were all currently flesh puppets for my twisted jerk cousin…" She swam out from beneath the dock, and swam to the nearest set of stairs leading up to the streets. She wandered the streets (and became a few dollars richer by those who thought she was homeless) until she came upon a certain annoyed blonde Asian who was still attempting to hail a cab.

She let out a sneeze, and Max Zenigata spun around in surprise, "Lupin!?"

"Zenigata…. I need…. I need yours and LeBlanc's help…. It's Victor… He's got everyone else under some weird sort of mind control… I don't know what he's done to them, but…" she sneezed again.

"You're under arrest! No way in a hell's cold winter day would I help you!" growled Zenigata.

"Blondie, I'm begging here…" said Fuji, "I'll do whatever you want if you let me talk to LeBlanc…"

"Then do me a favor and let me arrest you!" crowed Max.

Fuji paused, "Why can't you just be like every other guy and have me call it even by sleeping with you?"

Max grew appalled by this, "Don't you have any self-respect?"

"When needed, sure," Fuji sneezed, "You got a tissue?"

"Er, sure… Right next to my handcuffs!" said Max with a smile.

"You wouldn't dare arrest a lady with an oncoming pneumonia," Fuji sniffed, followed by a long hacking cough, "Jeeze, how long was I in that ocean?"

"You were in there!? It's freezing!" Max yelped.

"Well, I didn't really stop to check the temperature when I jumped the thirty feet off a pier into it," Fuji coughed.

"Er, come on, I'll arrest you upstairs," said Max worriedly, leading her into his hotel room upstairs, "You sit down, I'll get you something for that cough…."

"You really are worrying mother, eh, Zenigata?" Fuji chuckled as she sat in his hotel room, and sneezed once again.

"Well, I was sick a lot as a kid," replied Zenigata as he walked out of the kitchen with a glass of warm tea, "My parents had to take care of me, and I guess it sort of rubbed off on me…"

"Speaking of mother hens, where's LeBlanc?" Fuji inquired, taking the tea and taking a small sip from it.

"He ran off in a mad dash," replied Max. Fuji choked on the tea, and set the cup down upon the coffee table, "Lupin?"

"He's in a lot of trouble, Zenigata," said Fuji, "Victor Lupin's going to kill him!"

"What!?" Max yelped, "What does he have against Leo?"

"I…" Fuji sighed, and closed her eyes tightly, "Zenigata, there's a lot you don't know about your partner that I do…"

"How do you…? Were you two involved?" Max asked worriedly.

"What!? Hell, no!" Fuji yelped, "It's…. Sit down for a minute, Max…."

"You've never called me that before."

"Huh?"

"You've never called me Max before…" replied Max, "What's up with Leo, now? Is he okay? What's going on?"

"Listen, it's… It's hard to explain…" Fuji sighed worriedly. She jumped as she felt his hand upon her shoulder.

"I don't care how much it'll hurt me, Lupin… I need to know, for his sake. If he's in danger, I need to know how I could help… Tell me everything…"

Fuji paused, and cleared her throat, "It was five years ago when it happened… We were just starting out, the two of us… Starting out on our own… Me, him, Ryo, Odori, Ally and Heiji. Yukiko would help out when needed, and Toshiro had fallen off of our radar… It had been about a year when the accident happened…"

"What accident?"

"A guy. A guard, more appropriate. It was only a few days before his daughter's birthday. He never made in. He shot him right in the chest… He ran away a few weeks later," replied Fuji.

"Who?" Max inquired, his throat dry and hoarse.

"My brother, Ari…" Fuji sniffed, "I'll bet you've never heard Leo laugh, have you?"

"Well, no…"

"It's because he laughs like our dad," replied Fuji quietly.

Max blinked a few times, but remained stationary. He said nothing as he stood there, staring off into space, "He…"

"Ari is Leo… The guard he shot was named Leo, that's where he gets the name," said Fuji with a sigh, "He's my brother, and he's chasing me because he wants me to change my ways…"

"Leo is…" Max trailed off, "B-But, he can't be! Lupin IV was a womanizing crass---"

"No he wasn't," Fuji shook her head, "That's our dad you're thinking of. Believe it or not, they're two different people…. He deserves his own chance."

"I…" Max shook his head, "This is all too much to take… How can someone like him be, so… I don't get it! How could he just… Lie to my face?"

"He never lied to you, Blondie. He just never told you," said Fuji.

"Shut up!" Max yelled, "Just shut up…" he said, kneeling down on the ground.

"Zenigata, are you crying?" Fuji choked.

"No!" Max rose, "Come on…. Let's go find the little idiot…. I don't care who he is—He needs help, and as an officer, it's my duty to protect him."

"What about me?"

"You're my temporary deputy until I sort all of this crap out," Max replied, grabbing his jacket from the coat rack and turning to Fuji, "Are you ready?"

"Sure," she rose, and nodded.

"Where in the hell am I going to get a car?" Max wondered aloud. He watched in horror as Fuji leaned into a car with a window rolled down and began to fiddle with the wires, "What in the world are you—"

"Belt up a few and take time to appreciate the fact you're getting the chance to watch a pretty girl like me in a short skirt leaning in a car," said Fuji, "Unless you aren't into that thing… You sure as hell kiss like it."

"What are you implying!?" Max snapped angrily.

"I'm just saying… Ah, here we go! Hop in!" Fuji said, smiling as she engine sounded.

"I'm so dead," Max sighed, shaking his head and jumping into the passenger side as Fuji buckled into the driver's side, "This never leaves Amsterdam."

"Agreed. Me working with the enemy is bad for the reputation," said Fuji as she began to drive, "But, as I was saying…"

"Yeah, what were you talking about?" Max inquired.

"Well…" Fuji tapped her fingers upon her steering wheel a few times, "You really seem like you care about my brother, is all I'm saying… And I don't mean like how I care for him—More like how Ryo cares about him."

"Leo and Ryoko!?" Max choked, "They were dating?"

"Dating!? Why, he left before the week of the wedding!" Fuji chuckled.

"Wait, are you saying I'm—"

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, Zenigata. My brother's a nice guy…"

"I don't like him like that! It's strictly professional!" snapped Max.

"But you've never thought of him like that?"

"Of course I have! Who couldn't, as much as everyone rubs it in!" Max replied, "Even my own father thinks that he's more than my partner! Not like I would in the first place, but he's my coworker, and a workplace romance is always trouble!"

"Worked out with my parents," Fuji snorted, "You remind me a lot of your old man, Zenigata. Nice, but a little too stressed. Your blood pressure's probably the exact same number as your yearly income before taxes."

"What would you know about taxes?" Max muttered. "I can't believe I'm talking to you about relationships."

"Hey, in all honesty, I'd rather see you with him instead of me or, God forbid, Sachiko," Fuji shuddered, "Well, at least you started from the bottom, eh? You have a lot to work up from!"

"She just had a lot of personal issues," Max said, "And what about Ryo?"

"I know, that always bothers me," sighed Fuji, "She's loving a man who's dead, practically. She keeps alive this memory of an Ari who still loves her and wants to marry her… And who knows, maybe he does. But it doesn't look like it, a lot of the time. She's my best friend, and it's hard to say things like that… I know I could never tell her that to her face."

"Well, thanks for the permission to date… Your… Brother…" said Max slowly and uneasily, "But I think I'll pass. He's a nice guy and all, but not really my type. I try not to date liars."

"And that's why you liked Sachiko so much," Fuji concluded as she merged into traffic, "Your priorities are all screwed up—You know that, Zenigata?"

"I've been told," Max replied, "Hey, that's my car!"

"What? Where?" Fuji asked, looking all about for Max's police cruiser.

"Over there!" Max pointed, "Leo!" he shouted.

"Oh, no," Leo whispered to himself as he looked into his rearview and saw Max waving at him, "What's Fuji doing there!?"

"Leo!" Max shouted, "Pull over!"

Max felt as he was tugged into the car, and turned to Fuji questioningly, "Hold on, Zenigata!" Fuji shouted, "We're trying some guerilla tactics, here!" She pushed down on the gas, and swerved in front of Leo, all while Max screamed like a young girl.

The two cars impacted, and after the initial shrieking of metal and tires, there were a few moments of silence before Leo stumbled out of the wreckage, followed by Max and a dazed Fuji.

"Woah, what a ride!" Fuji chuckled, holding onto her head, "I almost wanna go again! Are you two all right? Nothing broken, I hope?"

"Max, I—" Leo started.

"Don't talk to me," Max hissed, "Listen…. The rest of the Lupin gang is under mind control courtesy of Victor Lupin. We've got to save them… And then I've got to fill out a lot of paperwork…"

"Yeah, we'll have a hell of a time explaining this!" Leo laughed lightly.

"I said me. As far as I'm concerned, you're off of this case!" snapped Max.

"What'd I do now?" inquired Leo.

"You lied to me!" Max yelled, pushing him, "I'm an idiot not to see who you were, Lupin the Fourth!"

"…Max…"

"Come on. We've got to find Victor. We'll talk later, in private," Max whispered, "Fujiko, find us another car…"

"Not necessary," they heard, and saw Victor atop the wreckage, "I'm the type who comes to the enemy… Call it a habit…"

"You look…. Just like him, Arsene…." Max said, looking upward at Victor in shock.

"Call in a curse…" Leo muttered, "Max, I'm sorry…"

"We'll talk later. For now, we've got to get him under control…" said Max.

"Ur, guys… I hate to break it to you, but it ain't just him," Fuji gulped, "He brought the whole friggin' gang!" she choked, laying eyes upon a demonic looking Toshiro, Yukiko, Ryo, Heiji, Ally and Odori.

"I think I'm going to need a few more sets of handcuffs…" Max said as he watched Yukiko load her gun and take aim towards them.

"Let's just hope God's chosen to be kind to us sinners for a day, boys!" said Fuji as she removed her own pistol, "Now put down the gun, Yukiko!"