No Mercy

"What's the plan?" the man in black asked in a low voice.

"We take back what is rightfully ours and show them what it means to mess with the Lupin gang. But before I make any final plans, let's see what the ass hole has to say." Lupin then took the DVD that had accompanied the note informing the two girls had been stolen and popped it into the player.

"Hello Lupin. I would ask how your day is, but I'm quite sure I ruined it for you just as you ruined my fortune." It was the Lord Evershine. He was the man whom the gang had stolen a whole suit case of rubies from. Known as the Ruby King because of his almost complete control on the trade, he denied the gold standard and kept all his money in rubies. This mistake led to his complete fortune being stolen on a fateful trip to London. "It's not like I'm bitter or anything! Anyways, I have two very precious objects of yours and your associate's – seen here." The shot cut to the two ladies in a totally sealed off room. It was definantly them, there was no denying it since the one got up and flipped the bird to the camera upon realizing she was being watched.

"That's my girl," Jigen mumbled under his breath.

"If you wish to see them again, I recommend you bring the rubies you stole from me to this address (address was flashed across the screen.) If you don't do so in the time span of 3 days I will be forced to rid myself of them as they are quite a nuisance. Oh, and by rid, I mean kill them. I wouldn't blame you for not coming, though, since the one is very high maintenance while the other is just plain mean. Remember Lupin, 3 days to bring the rubies or they die." The video cut out at that point and Lupin sat back in his chair to think.

Taking revenge was part of the trade he was in, but when his enemies took the one thing most valuable to him, all bets were off. There was going to be no gentlemen like behavior in this operation.

"Jigen, Goemon: gather your things. We're leaving in 20 minutes."

Meanwhile, in a not so disclosed location, two ladies sat in a small white room that possessed no objects save a flickering fluorescent light. One was laying flat on her back with arms behind her head. Her face showed no sense of concern but her eyes reflected all the worry in the world. The other sat idly in the corner, arms crossed and eyes fixed on the other with interest. The two had been silent for 2 hours now, and the complete lack of conversation was too much for the one in the corner to handle.

"Honey, if I don't break this silence I'll go mad."

"Oh, yes, sorry. I'm not much for conversation at the moment. Being captured and threatened will do that to a girl," the reclining lady remarked. "I prefer not to be called honey though; call me Jess."

"Fair enough, I'm glad you are no nonsense. I'm Fu…"

"Fujiko Mine? I know."

Fujiko was very confused. A woman she had never seen or heard of in her life knew who she was. "And how do you know my name."

"Lupin. That's the reason we are here isn't it? I never had this kind of trouble till I met those men." Jess never unfixed her upward gaze. She wasn't thinking much about introductions at the moment. All she knew was that she needed to get the hell out there.

"I'm sorry, are you and Lupin…uh…"

"No, believe me, he's all yours. I did try and tell him to stop being so forward all the time, but I don't suppose that worked much, eh?"

"Then, how do you know them?"

"It's really a very long story that involves many details and many broken ribs." Jess paused for a moment and then continued, "They're using us as bait, aren't they?"

"Yes, as much as I enjoy playing with Lupin, I'm worried as hell for him." Fujiko continued to look at the girl who wouldn't even give her the decency to look at her while she spoke. "One thing I don't understand is why you're here. No offence, but if they wanted Lupin they only needed me," she remarked with a condescending air.

Jess knew the answer, but didn't wish to say it. Nothing of them had been said out loud and saying it now would make it lose some of it's mystery. This just made Fujiko become more heated at being totally ignored on top of not being looked at. "I said, what makes you so important so as to bring you here?"

The quiet brunette turned her head, stared right at Fujiko, and turned right back to the ceiling again. "I guess its to get Jigen here." Jess grimaced at the thought of being used so as to possibly hurt him.

Fujiko was shocked. Her relationship with the gunman was less than stellar, but he had never shown any interest in the opposite sex. To think he could actually get involved with anyone was beyond her comprehension. "Are you serious? You must be his sister or something…"

"No, no relation."

"I just can't believe he would get involved with anyone. He's not much of a romantic."

"I like him just fine," her forehead wrinkled though as she added, "aside from the smoking; that I could live without." Jess then went off on one of her famous random tangents that never had to do with the pressing subject. "Why do people smoke? There is no point. You get all those years of health class with its pictures of gross lungs and whatever and people still do it…" Her rant was cut short when the two women felt a vibration throughout the floor. It was enough to make them both stand up.

"Hello ladies, nice to you are doing well…well, not for long," a rough voice boomed over a speaker. "It seems we have company and since I don't need you both directing attention to yourselves, I need to take a little insurance."

"Shit," the two women muttered under their breath.

"I would say goodnight," the voice continued, "but I don't know if you'll wake up from this sleep." At that moment a green mist began filling the room. The stench of it was overwhelming and caused the two women to fall to the ground.

"It's poison gas!" Fujiko yelled, but her scream was stifled by the toxin entering her lungs. While the two fought off their bodies want of falling asleep, they couldn't hold out too long and were soon lying unconscious.

The loud boom that had caused the women to be startled in the first place came from a loud disruption beyond the house. Outside the gate stood three men; one with a brief case, one with a sword, and the other with a bazooka.

"Nice shot."

"Thanks. Goemon: that should clear out enough for you to take care of the rest."

"Already on my way."

While the man in the fedora and the man in the red jacket sauntered up to the house, the samurai made quick work of any men left capacitated after the first round of attack. Lord Evershine was too cocky for his own good and needed to be taken down a few pegs. There were going to be no stealthy tactics, this was going to be messy and done out in the open. Needless to say, these men were pissed.

With a swift kick to the front door, the three thieves were confronted by Evershine's five last guards. They were fully armed and had their guns cocked. That fact turned moot, though, when without flinching, the gunman with the .3 second draw, disarmed every single of them.

"There's one left bullet for you, Evershine," Jigen said to the overweight man who stood in shock in the back of the foyer. The Lord never saw this coming and thought that with numbers on his side, he would finally defeat the great Lupin.

"Lupin, I am disappointed with you. Usually you send a note indicating when you will arrive," the stout man said as he moved forward.

"When people steal what is rightfully mine, they do not deserve that gratuity."

"Ah, you think are so clever coming in here and taking out all my men, but I still possess the trump card. You see, the women that you claim to be 'rightfully yours' are lying on the floor in the room adjacent poisoned. Oh, don't worry, I have the antidote, but only if you have my rubies."

Lupin then took up the briefcase he carried in, opened it to reveal the red shine of rubies and shoved it towards the Lord. The greedy man picked up the suitcase, picked up one of the rubies and inspected. It was definitely his ruby. He motioned to the men which room contained the girls to which Goemon and Jigen walked to retrieve them.

"Oh yes, you'll be needing these Lupin," Evershine remarked as he threw the antidote. "Give it to them immediately as the time is coming when even that won't save them."

"Right," growled the furious thief. "Let's go." The three men walked out to the car they had hidden outside the compound with their unconscious cargo. Laying the women carefully in the back, they hit the road without a word. Lupin looked behind him to see his Fujiko grimace in pain.

"That's it," he thought. From his pocked, Lupin produced a small remote control with one single button. With one push a loud noise came from behind them. "He'll never bother us again." Lupin had hidden about 10 sticks of dynamite underneath the Lord's precious rubies. With a push of that button came the end of greedy life. Lupin did it all without flinching; his only concern now was getting the girls well again.