What Crooks Love

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to Lupin III or anything remotely noteworthy for that matter.

Author's Notes: The heist is going as planned, until Lupin decides to stay behind. His friends struggle to understand his decision. What's happening to the master thief? As always, enjoy!

Chapter Two: Someone's Missing

The job had been a success. Well, at least for the most part.

The target was the house of a well renowned French entrepreneur. To the public he was known for his impressive collection of paintings. To the underworld, for the shady businesses he ran to be able to acquire said paintings. Lupin wasn't particularly interested in the works themselves, the guy seemed to have a thing for postmodernism, while the thief was more of a romanticist . But while their artistic value was up for debate, their price tag was not! Fujiko had managed to find some blueprints of the security system and Lupin was still waiting for an opportunity to utilize his hologram projecting bug drones. Hopefully he'd come up with a decent name for them at some point. With the samurai joining them a day before the heist, the stage was set.

The security was tight as hell, as was to be expected with Zenigata in charge. The paintings had been moved to an extremely secure safe which was monitored 24/7 and getting inside of it undetected would be nearly impossible. But with the blueprints in hand, the thieves had the upper hand. The plan was not to disable the security system but rather to take control of it. Lupin deployed the drones through the air vent and they projected images that made it seem as if the paintings had already been stolen. With the drones in place Goemon activated the security system, forcing the inspector to charge in, only to find a seemingly empty safe. Fujiko, disguised as a cop, then claimed to have spotted them, leading everyone outside the room and giving Lupin and Jigen just enough time to swipe the goods. Luckily, no explosion would ruin their plans this time.

"Look at them running, they're like headless chicken!" laughed Lupin. He was interrupted by a bag being thrown at his face.

"Shut up and get to work, we don't have much time. Zenigata is not a tool, he'll figure out we're playing him soon enough."

"You're no fun at all ya know," said Lupin as he and his partner started grabbing the paintings. "We've got plenty of time until they come back, you should lighten up Jigen!"

"You should take things seriously for once dammit! And what the hell are we even stealing, these paintings are hard to look at!" came Jigen's response. The gunman was far from accustomed to modern art and risking his life to steal something like that was ridiculous to him. "These things had better make us a good buck."

"Turns out rich kids are buying these things like crazy. I swear people have no taste nowad-" but before Lupin could finish, he heard the sounds of a police radio behind him.

"I have identified Lupin the Third and Daisuke Jigen! The paintings and the suspects are still in the safe! All units respond!" They'd been made. But that wasn't Zenigata's voice. No, that voice belonged to one ICPO officer Yatagarasu.

"Both of you freeze!" he shouted, pointing his gun at them. Jigen immediately went for his Magnum, he had seen the kid use a gun better than most but he still lacked experience. Not to mention, no man could ever hope to match his speed. But before he could shoot, his partner stopped him.

"Take the paintings and go." was all Lupin said without even looking at him.

"Huh? What about you?" Jigen did not like the sound of this.

"I'm staying here, now go." There was no identifiable emotion in his face. Jigen would never admit to it but it almost scared him.

"What are you, fucking nuts? They'll be here any second! We gotta go, NOW!" he yelled at his partner, but Lupin was silent, once again not even looking back to face him.

Instead his face was fixed on Yatagarasu. He owed the kid an explanation for what had happened, and he would not miss this chance.

The sound of the charging policemen was getting louder. Jigen knew that if he didn't leave they'd both be caught and all their effort would have gone to waste. Grunting in disapproval of his partner's stupidity he shot at the window and went through it, taking the paintings with him. Yata moved his gun towards Jigen but before he could shoot he heard Lupin's voice.

"It's not him or the paintings you're after, kid. It's me. That's what your boss is here for. And I have a feeling that's what you're here for too." It was hard to think that the two of them were sharing a table just a few months ago. Of course the young officer had no idea who the man sitting across from him really was.

"Everything has to revolve around you doesn't it?" Yata couldn't blame Lupin for what had happened to his partner, but he still had an intense hatred for the thief. How he wished he could put a bullet through his smug face.

"The girl, Arianna, how is she?" There was genuine concern in his voice. Arianna had found out Mattea's true identity long before he did, which was a testament to her skill. But he couldn't help but blame himself for not finding out about Mattea sooner. If he had, Arianna wouldn't have been at the brink of death.

Yata was almost disgusted at his question. "Do you seriously expect me to believe that you care, even in the slightest about her? You don't care about anyone! You just don't want anything on your conscience!" he all but spat out.

The cops would arrive at any minute. Lupin had to get on with this as soon as possible or he'd get caught. "You know that's not true Yatagarasu, Zenigata must have told you that-"

"That you were worried about her? Yeah, he did. You've somehow convinced him that you have morals. That deep down you care about others. He's the best detective in the force, he should have been chief by now! Yet he wastes his talent on a scumbag like you!"

"That's enough kid." came Lupin's cold reply. He almost pulled out his Walther but he realized that wouldn't achieve anything. "Zenigata and I go way back. I know him a lot better than you do. In time you'll understand my relationship with him."

"Relationship? Is that what you call it? All you've done is ruined his life! That's what you do Lupin! Whether you want to accept it or not! You hurt people!"

At the sound of that he froze. As much as he wanted to deny it, deep down he knew it was true. So many people had died or suffered because of him. And while most had it coming, many of them were just bystanders, simply unfortunate enough to be in the way. He was even hurting those he loved. He had become exactly what his 'mother' had planned for him to be. And it sickened him down to his core.

Before he had time to get back to his senses, the rest of the force had just arrived and before he knew it, Lupin had approximately fifty officers tackling him to the ground. But Yata's words stung a lot more.

A good distance away, Jigen was driving the getaway car, a bent cigarette in his mouth. Fujiko was riding shotgun while Goemon was sitting cross legged on the back seat next to the stolen paintings. After Jigen had explained the situation the three of them had been quiet for a while. Surprisingly, it was Goemon who broke the silence.

"We should go after him." is all the samurai said.

"No." Jigen knew all too well that if Lupin wanted something done, no one and nothing could stop him. "He stayed behind on purpose. He'll break out when he does whatever he sets out to do."

"Yeah, I don't know about you Jigen but I'm not going to wait a year for him to break out again," said Fujiko in an irritated voice. "If he's not out by tomorrow I'm breaking him out whether he likes it or not!"

Although Fujiko tried her best to keep her cool, her mind was racing and worry was starting to take over her. "Say, Jigen, you mentioned that he was stoic when he told you to leave, you don't think…"

"I doubt it, but we can't be sure." Jigen knew exactly what she was thinking and, truth be told, the thought had crossed his mind as well. If only he knew exactly what the problem was then maybe he could find a way to help.

"It is clear that the events of the previous months are clouding his judgment. As his friends it is our duty to help him," came Goemon's characteristically calm response.

Jigen was starting to get irritated. "And what if he snaps and starts trying to kill us again? I'm not taking that chance. After all it's a simple jailbreak, he's done a million of those. What we gotta do is we gotta wait for him to come back and then we'll see what we'll do."

Goemon's temper was beginning to go bad with his partner's indifference. "It seems to me Jigen that you simply want to avoid confronting him about what happened."

If Jigen was irritated before, he was practically fuming now. "Hey, I'm the one who's been helping him through this shit all this time! Meanwhile your ass has just been training under some fucking waterfall! Don't you come at me with this bullshit!"

Goemon's grip on his sword increased by a lot, but the samurai didn't say another word.

"Will the two of you stop acting like toddlers for once?" The two men were starting to get on Fujiko's nerves. "It's true that he hasn't completely been himself after the whole Tomoe thing. But he'll get back to his senses, he always does. When he breaks out I'll take him out on a trip wherever and he'll forget all about that witch in no time!"

'That's actually a pretty good idea!' she thought to herself. 'Dammit, I should have done it sooner.'

"Yeah, why don't the two of you take a trip here in Paris? After all that went so well last time." Jigen instantly regretted his choice of words, and he said nothing when Fujiko slapped him across the face strong enough to force him to spit his cigarette.

"Go fuck yourself Jigen." is all that she said as she turned her head to face the window.

The atmosphere was very heavy at the car and the three of them were in no mood to say anything else. There was lots of booze waiting for them back in the hideout. But without Lupin around, all they wanted to do was get some much needed sleep.

All they could do now was wait.