DISCLAIMER: Yeah… Don't own it… La di da dum da… What? Were you expecting something witty? It's the middle of the week… Shoo… I'm too tired for funny.
Hallo!
Gwwa… I need to quit the two weeks of nothing and then dropping another chapter routine… I'd ideally love to get back to writing one chapter a week, like in the old days. I need to quit slacking… Well, aside from that, everyone seems to love to hate Victor… I know a lot of people hate him, but I personally love him. I love writing for him… He's such a jerk, I don't know where the appeal is, but I guess I just like the bad guys. Enough of that, enjoy the chapter! Sorry it was a while in progress… Hopefully that Scrapbook story'll be done soon. I think I'll go work on that now. Who needs to do math homework—HA! Bye!
Fun fact of Boredom: If these chapters seem longer than when you starting reading the first series, you aren't imagining things. Whereas usual chapters used to run six to seven pages, the usual now is eleven to twelve.
Chapter Twenty-seven: He Ain't Heavy…. He's my Brother
"I don't see why they sent me with you…" Victor grumbled darkly and stumbled a bit in the rain forest surroundings. He fell into Leo, who turned around and gave Victor a warning glare. "I guess I should be glad I'm a relative of yours; you're not that sick, Ari."
"My name's Leo," Leo answered quickly as he tore through more thick vines and continued to trace back lines which he hoped would run to a main power source. "And the fact that you'd even suggest that is sick."
"Well, your ex seems to like me," said Victor as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "….She loves you, though," he added darkly and looked over to Leo. "You have no idea what it is to love someone and then hear them call you someone else."
"You know what love is? Victor, I'm impressed," Leo admitted.
"I do love her. I'd kill for her, I'd put myself in harms way for her. The former I've offered and the latter I've done more than she knows," Victor continued. "I'm willing to give up anything for that woman, even if it meant giving up being a thief."
"How did it even happen? I mean, you two…. I thought you liked Odori."
"Hrm, I only liked messing with her because of how touchy she was about everything… It all changed after she had her child. Besides, I knew at that moment that one day her child would be grown and in the Ishikawa tradition come after my blood for dishonoring her mother…. Now, as for me and Ryoko… She… She looks like she needs someone. And—Why am I even telling you this?"
"I have no idea," Leo admitted with a shake of the head. A small smile grew upon his face, and he continued through the brush, "Better me than Fuji, though… She'd bag on you for going on like a giddy little school girl."
"Giddy?" Victor snapped and stopped in the middle of the pathway he and his cousin were creating. "I'm not giddy! I thought you hated me for seeing her!"
"Yeah, but I kinda like that snake next to you… He likes you, too," Leo smiled, and watched as Victor shrieked and jumped back from the python and into Leo.
"You JERK!" Victor shouted, "You near-sighted, man-whoring bitch! Why'd you do that to me?"
"Because it's funny," Leo replied with a shrug, and turned back to the brush ahead of them. He was unprepared for a steep fall in front of him, and went sliding down steeply about twenty feet before stopping inches from a large tree.
"Ha ha," he could hear Victor say in the distance.
Meanwhile, in the bunker, the young man they had rescued from the beach had come to, and Gabe immediately went to his side. Jared was a little more than weary of the Irishman, and spoke to him very little.
"How you doin' there, chum?" asked Gabe as he felt the man's pulse and then forehead.
"Been better," he answered as he sat up in his bed. "Any idea where we are?"
"That's what I've been trying to figure out all morning," Alsenia muttered from her place at the map.
Peter, who had sat silently by the unnamed man, quietly rose to get him water from the bathroom at the end of the bunker. He disappeared into the back room for a few moments and then handed him a glass of lukewarm water upon his return, "Here. Drink."
"Do I know you?" the man wondered aloud as he looked over at Gabe while sipping his water. Gabe, in turn, grew outwardly nervous and shook his head.
"Nah, don't think you do," Gabe replied quickly and rose to check in more with Jared.
"Are you sure?" he asked with a frown. "You look really familiar, like I worked with you once."
"Yes, what do you do, Gabe?" Alsenia asked as she set down her glasses and looked upward at him with interest.
Gabe turned about and begun nervously, "Well, I—"
"GAGHHHHHHHHHH!" Fuji came bounding through the door, never quitting her run until she fell right into the unsuspecting Peter. The priest tumbled, and only opened his eyes to come face-to-face with Fuji's chest. He turned bright red and quickly sat up upon his elbows.
"What's wrong? Where's the rest of your group?" asked Gabe, secretly glad that Fuji had come to save him an explanation.
"I left them with Jordan's group," Fuji responded as she sat back, allowing Peter to wriggle away from her and go back to tending to their last member. "And I went looking for Ari and Victor… It was Jordan's idea, he wanted to make sure neither of them had killed one another yet… Well, I…. Let's just say we aren't alone on the island."
"You know, a guy says he hates bloody Lost and it comes back 'round to bite him in his ass!" Gabe sighed and tossed his arms up into the air.
"I managed to pull this off of one of them," Fuji smiled and pulled out of her jacket a long knife. Peter bent down in front of her and studied it a moment, briefly looking at his own mixed-race features in its reflection.
"We shouldn't use violence," Peter said in a mumble.
"You know, Father, that'd be great, except for the fact that they're attacking us," Fuji said with slight annoyance as she rose. She had never particularly cared for pacifists. "And anyway, Peter, you look like you've done some fighting, yourself."
"Only what was asked of me," Peter responded.
"Hey, new guy!" Fuji turned her attention to the dark-haired boy on the bed and seated herself on its edge. "So you got a name?"
"Chris," he replied as he took another sip of the water Father Gabe had given him. "You're Lupin the Fourth…"
"The one and… Well, I can't say only," Fuji chuckled. "Anyone here care to fill him in on what's been going on? I really don't feel like a synopsis right now."
"Yeah, I'll take care of that… I'm a journalist, we're good at condensing the truth," Gabe pulled a chair over to Chris's bed while the young man's vision veered off to Jordan, who had not let his bed since he had been brought to the island.
"Nothing," Jordan sighed and stepped into the bunker with the group he had taken with him a few hours after Chris woke. "Absolutely friggin' nothing!"
"Friggin'? Jeeze, even after all of these years Yukiko's never far from your mind," Fuji gave a chuckle and did not even bother to look up at the table, where Jordan could tell she was working on something… What, however, he had no idea. If it was Fuji, he didn't even want to know.
"Is that everyone?" Chris asked Gabe quietly.
"Nah, there's two missing, still. Look like a couple of doppelgangers, them," Gabe replied in a mutter. "I'm gonna check on the kid."
"Yeah, he probably needs it more than anyone…." Chris muttered and looked over at the darkened features of the standoffish boy. "…I think I'll mingle."
"Yeah, you do that, man," Gabe patted him on the shoulder, and Chris studied the Irish man carefully, and then the priest, and then the others who had strolled in afterward. There was a connection, he knew. Hopefully from talking he'd be able to figure out exactly what that connection was.
The other side of the island:
"Say it…" said Victor.
"No!"
"Come on…. You know it's true…"
"Damn it, Victor, do you—"
"So it is true?"
"Yeah, yeah, fine, okay?" Leo growled and threw up his hands in frustration, "I got us lost, all right!... Happy?"
"I'd be happier back at that blasted tin can," Victor admitted as he watched thick storm clouds move in around them as they continued their trek down the thick forest path. "Although I'd be most happy at home…"
"Yeah, I'm sure your mother loves it every time she sees your face grace her doorway," Leo muttered.
Victor gave a glare and hissed, "I only wish she could. My mother's totally blind, you son of a bitch."
Leo stopped dead in his tracks and gulped, "Ohh… I, um, had no idea that those were the circumstances… I always thought your dad married Michi Mine…"
"Michi left him when he needed her most, and my mother was there to pick up the pieces," Victor continued to trudge along, keeping a good distance from Leo now. "I hate Fuji mainly because she looks like her."
"And you hate me because I look like your dad?"
"No, I hate you because I hate you," Victor replied. "You seriously want to know what I think of you, Ari? I think you run away when things get too hard for you. You snap like a pole under the slightest pressure. I think you're weak. I think you're a little girl."
"Excuse me! One week of my life and you'd go home crying, Victor!"
"Yeah, well I'm sure if I got it from where you do I'd be sore for a while, too," Victor muttered and removed a cigarette from his pack.
"I've got two kids at home… One's deaf and the other's standing to get curious about things I can't even answer! I've got Zenigata at home, who I love, but we're going through a rough time, yeah, I'll admit it. I'm not even sure whether to stay with Interpol at this point, and I already had to give up one of the jobs I was doing… Sixteen languages and I hardly ever get to use any of them anymore. I'm just Inspector Lupin, Papa, Mankii-chan, now. At first I was trying to run away from Ari, but now I don't even have time for him."
"You're Mankii-chan?" Victor blinked and nearly swallowed his cigarette. "You're kidding… You do voiceovers? Damn it, you really are gay with a vengeance."
"Shush," Leo placed a hand on Victor's shoulder and stopped dead in the middle of the forest, "…What is that?"
"Sounds like a koto…" Victor murmured, "You know, the Japanese instrument…"
"Yeah, I know that… How do you know that?"
"Had one at the house laying around. I picked it up… I'm not half bad," Victor replied with a shrug.
"Shhh…" Leo began to step quietly towards the noise, creeping as lightly as possible beneath the underbrush. Victor walked beside him, and when Leo stepped into the well-hidden net and went flying up into the air, Victor did, too. Their skulls first collided with one another as they were thrown together in the next and then against the tree branch as the net bounced up and then swung a bit.
"You must be snakebit, Victor," Leo muttered as he rubbed his head in an attempt to make the stars in his eyes vanish.
"I see we caught two in the pack," they heard in a laugh. In the position that they were in, however, it was impossible to see who was speaking. When the net was cut from the tree, and they both went falling to the ground, however, they were able to get a better look at the tall Italian amongst a group of men in kimonos. "Some of the premium wolves…" He added as he bent down and lifted up Leo's chin. Victor, who was on top of Leo, kicked with his foot and his boot made contact with the back of the man's head.
"Little bastard!" the Italian pulled Victor over Leo and raised Lupin above the ground, "If you weren't one of the more expensive ones, I'd shoot you dead!"
"More expensive?" Leo muttered as the Italian then lifted him by the back of the neck and walked the two into a large glass and steel structure. They were walked into a room that looked like it would house a Japanese tea ceremony and seated in front of the Italian with their hands on the back of their necks. The Italian was in the center of a semi-circle of the Japanese men in black kimonos, and there was an armed guard in an unrecognizable uniform with a gun to either Lupin's head.
"Just proving that you could make it here is a testament to the potential of the others, although the tall blonde and the one with the large bust are just as effective," the Italian explained.
"Would someone care to explain what's going on?" Victor asked with a growl, only to feel the barrel of the gun against his head.
"Victor, knock it off or they'll kill you, you idiot!" Leo snapped.
"They won't kill us… I don't know why, but they won't kill us," Victor looked to the Italian and studied him with deep concentration.
"You're right, Mister Lupin," the Italian smiled. "I worked too hard to find all of you… And if you two have a few moments, I'll explain it."
"I don't think we have anywhere else to be," Leo said as he glanced once again at the armed guard.
The Bunker:
Chris studied Gabe's movements as compared to Jordan's. He then switched over to Peter, who was speaking with a woman in a head covering. Alsenia was taking a small break with the doctor of the group, and Fuji was exchanging stories with the assassin, who was from France.
"Hey," he said suddenly. "Who had a parent involved in the crime world?"
Many looked to him like he had said something terribly inappropriate, and a few, like Peter, turned pale at these words.
"Just asking," Chris said with a shrug. "I might have figured out the connection is all…"
"Well, my mother did some spy work for Germany…" Peter admitted uncomfortably.
"And maybe… Just maybe… IRA connections run in my family," Gabe said as he cleared his throat and looked about the room nervously.
"Well, my mom was pretty decent… Just ran with some wrong crowds is all," Jordan shrugged.
"Was Lupin the Third among them?" Chris sat up on the bed and set his feet down, clasping his hands together and looking upward at the tall blonde with a sense of scrutiny.
"Yeah, well, he's my biological dad," Jordan looked downward as if there was some difficulty involved in saying this.
"Then that's definitely the connection," Chris nodded.
"What are you talking about?" Fuji inquired, turning away from the assassin and taking a step forward toward Chris.
"He's my biological father, too," Chris explained. Fuji looked at the sixteen on her collar, and then at Chris' seventeen, and felt her stomach sink.
"Wait a second," Gabe looked back at Alsenia, and blinked.
"….What?" Alsenia narrowed her eyes, almost as if she were daring Gabe to continue.
"Eh… Nothin'…" Gabe replied with a light chuckle.
"Like she said, she's named after her father, and L's and R's sound alike…" Chris said with a shrug. "Arsenia."
"Thank God for language consistencies," muttered Alsenia with a roll of the eyes. "I probably would've shot myself… I always thought his name was Alex."
"Wait! This is all wrong! There is no chance of a relation!" Peter shouted. "I cannot be…"
"Why not?" Jordan frowned.
"Because that man is a thief!" Peter snapped.
"Yeah, who your mom probably loved at one point," Fuji concluded.
Peter's face reddened a little and he grit his teeth together, "I know I am a bastard, I have come to terms with this, but there is no way that I am the son of a thief!"
"Listen, you collar-wearing God jockey," Jordan poked Peter in the chest and leaned down to face the reasonably shorter man. "You've never even met him!"
"Aye, I have," Gabe placed his hands in his pockets and approached Peter. "He's a good man, Pete."
"Yeah, right!" Peter snorted. "My mother would never have anything to do with his kind!"
"You hold him, Gabriel, I'll punch him," Jordan muttered. "I don't care if I didn't meet him until I was almost seventeen, I'll still defend him any day."
"Now, come on, guys, there's gotta be a way to sort this out differently," Fuji nervously spoke as she placed herself in between the two. "Can't we all just have a nice family reunion?"
"What about that boy?" Alsenia nodded to the silent Jared in his corner. "Is he a relative, too?"
"Yeah, but I don't think he's related to us in the same way," Chris said with a nod.
"He says he's from the 'Fuma' Clan," Gabe explained, turning his angry down and looking away from the priest. "I don't think Lu—Eh, Da, would have anything to do with them…"
"Fuma? What is…. This is starting to make some sense, and if what I think happened actually did happen, I'm going to kick myself for giving this kid away. I'll talk to him," Fuji whispered, and perched herself on the bed next to Jared. "Hey, sweetie. Do you remember me?"
"Yeah," Jared nodded quietly. "You're Ari's sister…"
"Sure am," Fuji winked at him and looked down at his collar briefly before looking upward at him once again. "What's with the samurai act? You aren't Toshiro's kid, are you?"
"No," Jared looked away toward a wall. "I just miss my dad… I don't want to be here. I'll bet he's on his way to find me!"
Fuji bit her lip as she looked down at the collar, "Jare, I think that there was a mistake on which Asian guy your dad was…"
"Huh?" Jared blinked and turned to her. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I—" Fuji was stopped at the doors swung open and Victor and Leo went crashing in, their arms bound behind their backs. "Crap… What the heck happened to both of you guys?" Fuji hopped off of the bunk and went to cutting the ropes off of one with a knife, and then tossed Jordan the knife to cut the ropes on Victor.
"Something tells me I shouldn't be doing this for you," Jordan muttered to Victor as he fixed the knife in his belt and helped him to rise. "I think I'll save that rope so in case you piss me off again I'll make a noose for you."
"The more and more we watch you the more and more we're convinced you each have one of his personality traits," the Italian entered the room and smiled as he looked over the family reunion. "As intelligent as you all are, you must've figured out what connects you all… What trouble DNA can get you in, hrm?"
"You jerk!" Fuji began to storm forward, only to be pulled back by Jordan.
"Very wise, Mister Lupin…. You wouldn't want anything to happen to someone you love…." the Italian smirked. "And I'd be careful of what you do, yourself… You wouldn't want something to happen to your husband or children."
"Crap! You really are gay? I thought ole' blue eyes here was just joking with you!" Gabe said to Leo as he pointed to Victor.
"Well, hee hee… It's a long story," Leo admitted sheepishly.
"Okay, could someone explain to us what's going on?" Jordan asked annoyedly.
"I wouldn't get too cocky, Mister Lupin… You have someone you love, too," said the Italian sternly. Jordan clenched his jaw and let out a low inaudible growl. "Even if she did leave you for a Broadway actor. How's it feel to be left for someone who played the lead in Miss Saigon? I'll bet that still stings… He was good enough to marry, you weren't…. I'm sure there's an interesting story there."
"I didn't get that, but I know that's bloody low," Gabe murmured as he cringed at Jordan's expression.
"It's so good my wolf pack's together," the Italian smiled and began to pace. "You all have superior abilities, due mainly to your genetics… We believe with some fostering these talents can be brought to the forefront…"
"And we'll make great soldiers," Leo concluded. "All for a profit, of course…"
The Italian smiled, "Aren't you the bright little bulb? Yes, we based this attack after an old idea of M. Victor Lupin."
"Oh, I thought this seemed familiar," Victor murmured. "Not even I could get the proper funding though…. How in the hell did you manage?"
"You stick 'children's orphanage donations' on a box, put a few sad pictures on there, and everybody comes running to give you money…"
"Okay, that's low, even by my standards," said Victor in a hiss. He looked over to Jordan, "Come on, I know you want to kill this bastard as much as I do."
Leo remembered donating to several of these organizations, and wondering if any of them had contributed to his being brought to Wolf Island. He cringed at the irony, and began to question once again whether his mother had been right when she had once called him naive.
"I'm agreed with you on that one," Jordan said to Victor. "But what in the hell can we do when he has something over each of our heads?"
"Hey, I'll fight you, ya son of a bitch!" Gabe shouted. "I ain't got no one! Come on, then! Let's have it!"
"You touch me, and I kill the boy," said the Italian. "He's probably just as much of a defect as his brother and we just don't know it yet."
"Brother?" Jared muttered beneath his breath.
"Wait until they leave," Chris had risen from the bed, and was no whispering to Leo. Lupin nodded in silent reply, and continued to silently watch the Italian.
"You're more than welcome to try to leave—I'll consider it your training," said the Italian with a smile. "Dinner's through those back doors… Enjoy, my treat."
They watched the Italian exited, and Fuji turned away from the door and frowned, "Okay, now we've got to think of a way out of this rat trap…"
"I've got a few ideas," Chris raised his hand and gave a weak smile.
"Kid, we are all ears at this point," Jordan stepped toward the younger boy and placed his hands in his pockets.
"Let's get dinner, first," Alsenia rose from her seat and walked toward the back of the bunker. "I'm sure some here are hungry, and children especially need to eat."
"No, we'll have to start right away," Chris rose and sprung forward with an energy none had known he had possessed. He spoke in a low whisper as he removed the top sheet from his bed and began to collect the others. "It's all dependant on who's willing to go."
"Me, Victor and Jordan'll go," Leo said quickly as he followed Chris from bunk to bunk, passing off the sheets he was handed to Fuji, who was also following them to hear this plan.
"I love how he just volunteers us for these things…" Victor muttered to Jordan.
"Do you think you can make a rope of this?" Chris asked Fuji as she took hold of the last sheet.
"Are you kidding, I was almost a friggin' girl scout!" Fuji chuckled. She sat down on Jare's bunk and smiled at the young boy. "You want to give me a hand? I'm sure time with the Fuma clan resulted in you knowing at least a few sailor's knots…."
"How do you know them?" Jared picked up the other end of one sheet and began to attach it to another one.
"Eh, I knew a lot of sailors…." Fuji shrugged. "That Chris kid's definitely blood… He's got that look in his eye that my dad always had when he was working on a plan…"
"Now what?" Leo stood back from Chris and folded his arms.
Chris looked Leo up and down and spoke in an even tone, "I'll need three cocoanuts, a bunch of blankets and what you're wearing…"
"Woah, what!" Leo yelped.
"I haven't heard a request like that since I went to Mexico," Gabe said with a chuckle to Peter.
"They are all mad," Peter murmured.
"Pete, I love you like a brother, 'cause you are one, but climb offa your cross for three seconds," said Gabe with a slightly annoyed tone.
"You better be right about this, and you're not doing this for a laugh," said Jordan warningly.
"Trust me, I map stuff like this out all of the time," said Chris as he looked about the bunker. "I always loved strategy games…"
"Well, this isn't a game…" Victor said with a glare.
"Shut up and take off your pants, Lupin, before someone makes you… I'll go get the cocoanuts," Alsenia, who was a good foot taller than Victor, said on her way out the door.
"I hate these stories… They always involve someone making a raft and killing a boar and whatnot," Gabe muttered absently.
"I think the only beast that willed be killed will be the blue-eyed man, if he keeps up what he is doing," Peter said quietly in response to Gabe's rhetoric.
Interpol headquarters:
"I don't… Get it…." Max laid his head upon the desk, and sighed. "How… In the hell… Does someone just vanish?"
"I don't know," Heiji sighed without looking up from the large filing cabinet. There were stacks of files all about him in growing numbers as he continued to search through the cabinets while Max did the phone work. Avery was in a playpen in a corner of the office next to Max's desk, and Dako was helping Heiji search through files. Max raised an eyebrow as he looked over and saw the little girl looking over at Heiji once again. This was the third time he had caught her doing this, and he was starting to worry. His gaze then turned to a photograph on his desk of his family, and he sighed as he briefly picked it up and looked it over.
"You know, a lot of people have gone missing… Fuji's missing, Jordan's missing… A guy who worked for the IRA is gone—He was one of the heads of it. A woman who worked planting bombs for the Australian Navy… A priest who was reported to be in cahoots with a group of guys who goes out murdering Neo Nazis…"
"I like that priest guy," Max mumbled as the phone rang once again and he went to answering it, "Allo?"
"Hey, Max?" it was his father-in-law on the other line. "Do… Do you think I could come down to your offices? I think I have a lead on why all of those people are missing…"
"Sure thing!" Max swiveled around in his chair and looked to Dako. "Make coffee, your Grandpa's coming over," he ordered her quietly.
"All right," Dako nodded and looked to Heiji. "Do you need anything?"
"Eh, no… I'm fine…" Heiji blinked and looked up from his filing, "Thanks, though…" He watched the little girl exit the office and then turned to Max. "….Does she…?"
"You betcha," Max sighed and hung up the phone; Lupin had already hung up on his end moments before. "She's been looking at boys more and more… "
"Isn't a crush on me slightly incestuous?... You know what that word means, r—"
"Of course I do! And no, it's not. She's adopted," Max opened another folder as he searched for a number in vain. "…."
"You're worried about him, huh?" Heiji sighed and rubbed his forehead tiredly. The files would be given a rest for a few moments. "I'm worried about Fuji… We may not like one another, but we both love a Lupin."
"Wait—You love Fuji? I always thought it was just a fling…"
"Of course, I'd give anything I could to know that she was safe," Heiji answered tiredly. "I'm sure you wish the same about Leo…"
Max gave a nod, "You're damn right… I don't know how he took care of these kids without me… I guess this is the crappiest way possible of me finally getting to bond with them…"
"Three coffees," Dako bustled back through the door, which a familiar older gentleman held open for her.
"Interpol's hiring younger and younger, I see," said Lupin the Third with a smile. "I had to make it out as soon as possible without Fujiko knowing where I was headed to. I didn't want her to be here for this… Good thing you told me I could come; I was already outside the door when I called you," he gave a sigh and seated himself across from Max's desk. "…Even after all of these years I still get this deer-in-the-headlights expression from all of the people who have been here more than thirty years…"
"Well, can you blame them? Who'd want a guy who's been a thief for half a century?" Max said with a laugh.
"You know damn well that I work for the government now, son," said Lupin with a frown, as if he himself was not pleased with this idea. "I test out their new anti-thieving systems and locks for flaws, and I stay out of trouble, and I get to give Fuji and her friends a place for sanctuary at any of my estates. It's a pretty good deal, all things considering…"
"Mister Lupin—"
"Dad. For the millionth time, it's Dad, now…"
"Dad," Max gave a slight roll of the eyes. "You've given up thieving like Jigen's given up cigarettes. I know damn well that someone sneaks him a pack every year for his birthday…"
"Okay, okay, so I feel a little sorry for the guy! He's in his sixties now with a head full of gray hair and two kindergarteners! I think that's why I stuck to a woman around my age in the end… So I wouldn't have kids who are the same age as my grandkids, like I'm sure he would if his kids weren't all screwed up when it came to relationships…"
The door to the office flew open, causing a large stack of papers to go flying about the office liberally, and Ryo ran in, slamming the door behind her, "You guys have got to find Victor!"
"….That's a new one," Lupin admitted. "Usually people are wanting him to disappear…. At times myself is included in that category…."
"Christ," Heiji looked about the ground and the papers and flung his arms up into the air. "Yay, three more hours of sorting! Hooray…."
"I'll help you," Dako said quietly, setting down the coffee on her father's desk and walking over to where Heiji had begun his work.
"Why in the hell do you want me to find him?" asked Max. "Why are you even here, Ryoko? …You could be arrested, and Leo wouldn't like that…"
"Screw Leo! My best friend, a man I care about and my boyfriend are all missing," said Ryo.
"I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but you two were broken up a long time ago, and if you think different than you're even crazier than I thought you were…."
"I'm not talking about him—I'm talking about Victor! I'm dating… Victor…"
Lupin began to hack and choke on his coffee and turned a shade of red from oxygen deprivation before he was able to breath properly once again, "You're WHAT with WHO! When'd this happen, and why didn't your dad tell me this!"
"He has no clue," Ryo replied.
"What in the hell has been going ON with you guys?" Lupin asked as he looked about the room.
"I don't even know anymore," Max admitted. "Anyway, moving on… You said you had information about the connection to all of the disappearances…"
"Um, yeah…." Lupin shifted in his seat a bit and looked downward uncomfortably. "You see, well… Keep in mind this was like thirty-some years ago when it started, and, um, yeah… I haven't always made the best decisions… Yeah. Anyway, well… The kids, the missing people, they… I knew all of their mothers… Very well… Like I banged them at different occassions…"
"You mean to say those people are…" Max sat back in his chair, his mouth open a bit. Ryo, Heiji and Dako were silent as well. Only the oblivious Avery made gurgling noises in the background.
Dako finally broke the silence, "Holy sh—"
"Dakota Annette Zenigata-Lupin, don't you DARE!" Max said warningly.
"You're not my mom," said Dako, sticking out her tongue and going back to her work.
"Hey, kid," Heiji whispered to Dako as he bent down to help her pick up the papers. "I know you like to fight with your dad, but now's really not the time… He's really scared about your… Other… Dad…. They're both dad?"
"Leo's papa, Max is dad."
"Okay, well, he's worried about you papa then," Heiji said. "So let up on him a little, okay?"
"I, um… Yeah…" Dako gave a quiet nod.
"Thanks," Heiji leaned inward and kissed her on the cheek, and Dako stumbled back a little. Her grandfather tried not to laugh at this, and Max wasn't sure whether to beat Heiji or thank him. He was still getting over the fact that he had a lot more in-laws than he had assumed.
Wolf Island:
The guard passed down the long hall with the bunks once again, to make sure everyone was in their place… One, check, two, check, three, check, four… Sleeping very soundly. He bent downward over Jordan's bunk to inspect it, but was suddenly surprised by a loud noise. He jumped, drew a gun and turned about, and was relieved to find it was only Peter's snoring. The priest had done this on purpose; he had not snored a night in his life, but he had to keep the guard away from the dummies.
Meanwhile, in the middle of the woods, three figures marched along the path that Victor and Leo had found earlier that day.
"I still can't believe this," Leo mumbled, folding his arms and looking about.
"What in the hell are you so shy about?" Victor asked. "It's not like you're in the middle of a mall…."
"Well, I'm sorry I'm not as gung-ho about walking around in my shoes and boxers as some of us are," Leo hissed quietly. "Plus it gets kinda cold in the forest at night…"
"I've noticed," Victor said with a smirk, trying not to chuckle.
"Is that the place?" Jordan did his best to ignore the bickering of the Lupin on either side of him and pointed to a building in the distance.
"Yeah," Leo nodded and whispered. "Just watch out for traps…"
"Relax, we had some field tester from China search this place out," said Victor. "Damn I wish I had my cigarettes with me…"
"I'm sure there was enough room in your shorts, I don't see why you didn't," said Jordan as he continued to walk toward the building cautiously.
Victor narrowed his eyes, "Oh, we're making jokes like that now, are we?... Stupid hulking dumb blond…"
"Listen, Vicky, this is your last warning… You even talk again and I'll rip your throat out and let Leo hide the body."
Victor flushed and gritted his teeth together, "No one calls me Vicky except my mother!"
"I think you actually managed to push a button of his," Leo said, obviously impressed by this.
"It wasn't anything… He wants to play with fire, I'll give him fire… Now how'd those plans go?"
"Chris said that there was a weak panel at the top of the building when he and Fuji went through here earlier… Alsenia made a map," Leo looked upward at the building and passed Jordan the map that had been drawn out. "It's at the very top…"
"Any idea how we get up there?" Victor inquired. He looked over at Leo and Jordan and did a double take as he realized they were both looking to him. "What?"
"You're the tiniest… You weigh less than I do…" said Leo as he looked up at the rooftop.
"You just climb up the tree and drop this down to us," Jordan tossed him a rope constructed of bed sheets, and Victor gave an insulted look.
"Couldn't you have done this with someone else?" Victor asked.
"We're the only ones with thieving experience," Leo explained.
"What about the bitch?"
"We couldn't get enough fabric together to make melons big enough for a Fuji dummy. So shimmy up the tree, dummy," Jordan instructed.
"This is all one long insult for a toe-headed bastard child from Maui and a French queer," Victor grumbled as he began to climb up the tree, the rope over his shoulders. He rose cautiously on the branch, and inched toward it, until he was able to jump onto the roof. He then dropped the rope and waited.
"Do you think we can trust him?" Leo asked quietly.
"I don't think we've got a lot of options on who to trust right now," Jordan admitted, and was the first to climb up.
"Damn, how much does he weigh?" Victor muttered to himself, and stretched briefly after Jordan had climbed up onto the roof before helping Leo up.
"He said it was over here," said Leo quietly as he glanced down at the map. Victor and Jordan looked over his shoulders, and then went to moving the large piece of roofing. Both men looked downward at the blackness in front of them, and Jordan looked to Leo.
"I say we toss in your cousin…."
"That's be a good idea, actually," Victor said in a low voice.
"Huh?" Jordan and Leo shifted their glance to Victor.
"Believe me, if it's one thing I know, it's the dark," without another word, he hopped down into the blackness, and called from above, "Damn! You won't believe this!"
Lupin's home in Paris:
"So me and Yukiko and Toshiro check out that lead in Milan?" Jigen stood in front of Lupin's desk, beside him stood Goemon, and off in a distant corner was Zenigata, who was flipping over some case files and slipping quickly back into detective mode.
"Hm-hm," Lupin gave a nod, and looked to Goemon, "And you, Ryo, Ally and Odori check out those islands I mapped out for you… Ryo drives, of course… No offense, Goemon, but for some reason if it's not construction equipment you drive it like crap."
The samurai nodded silently, letting this statement slide off, "We will see to it."
"Hey, Lupin… How are you holding up?" Jigen asked, dropped his voice and leaning closer toward his friend.
"Well, I… I'm not at my best right now, guys," Lupin admitted. "Someone took my kids… I don't care if I never even met them, they're still mine… And if he even touched them… Well, if you think Goemon can go feudal on a guy's ass, you should see me when someone's put my family at risk. It ain't pretty."
"War usually isn't," said Jigen.
"Jigen, on your way out, could you turn on the TV…. There's something I've been meaning to watch," Lupin said as he leaned back in the leather chair behind his desk.
"Sure thing… What are you watching the game? I've got to TiVo it, myself… Well, actually Ming does… I've yet to figure out that crap…"
"No, it's a man I've taken quite an interest in… I don't know why, but he reminds me of someone I knew once. What pisses me off is I can't remember from where!" Lupin sighed. "I remember the time when I could never forget a face… Now sometimes I look in a mirror and I barely recognize me!"
"I do the same thing…" Goemon said sternly. "But usually it's because of the medication."
Lupin turned to Goemon and blinked a few times, "I don't know if you were crying out for someone to talk to or just being funny, Goemon. Channel 138, Jigen."
"Gotcha," Jigen nodded, switched on the television and seated himself on the edge of the chair Goemon was sitting upon. "Yeah, he does look familiar, doesn't he?"
"He's running for presidency of an international arms board," Lupin explained. "Mario Sarante."
"Sarante… Yeah, I think his dad might've done business with mine," said Jigen with a nod. "Shoot, I remember Sarante now! His dad was in the business of… Damn it, what was it?"
"I thought crosswords were supposed to keep your mind sharp, Jigen," said Lupin with a light chuckle. "This guy's broadcasting from his private island… He's rolling in it."
"Look at the shadows," Goemon nodded to the background of the Sarante's set where he addressed his audience. "Isn't that peculiar?"
"I bit," Lupin muttered. "Jigen, make sure this records, all right?"
"Already on it."
"You know me too well…"
Wolf Island:
"It's a set!" Leo whispered, stunned as he looked down at the same Italian who earlier in the day had threatened the life of his family. The Italian was different now, though. He was in a suit which Victor recognized as being Italian and quite expensive, and had cleaned up his entire appearance.
"We should've stolen guards uniforms, we could've gotten down there," Jordan muttered. "We could've let them known what was going on."
"By the time help came he would've killed us or transported us, probably," Victor murmured.
"Hey, you!" a guard shouted, and all three mean turned their attention to him.
"Crap!" Leo shouted, and began to run down the shaky catwalk with the others. They began to scale down a metal ladder, but the guard grabbed hold of Jordan's shoulder. The blonde managed to grip him about the wrist and sent him flying over his shoulder, down a good twenty five feet and onto the floor of the set. Sarante looked away from the camera, obviously nervous. He motioned for his cameraman to cut off, but by the time he had turned his attention back to the camera Victor was holding the knife Fuji had stolen to the man's neck.
"Get them!" Sarante shouted, and rose from his desk. Leo and Jordan went running past the camera, Leo running behind the desk while Jordan sent another guard flying off camera. The cameraman managed to get out of Victor's grasp and tried desperately to shut off the camera, but Victor pulled him in front of the camera by the hair. Another guard got to the camera equipment, and cut off at the exact moment before Victor killed the cameraman.
Paris:
Lupin said nothing. Jigen was speechless. Goemon was his usual silent self.
"Did your kid—Er, kids just go running past the camera in their boxers?" Jigen said finally, breaking the silence.
"…Yup…."
"And did your nephew just commit murder on an international broadcast?" Goemon continued.
"He sure as hell did," Lupin replied with a nod. He sat there thinking a moment, silent, before jumped from his chair and bounding for the door. "Come on, we've got to find where that signal was coming from! Goemon, where's Amaya?"
"Playing with the children," Goemon answered.
"Good. Get her. We need her here," Lupin said as he stuck his hands in his pockets and walked down a long stretch of hallway, "…This is just like the old days…"
Later that night, Paris:
"You can't go alone," Yukiko sighed as she seated herself on Ryo's bed. "Why in the hell are you going to go with them all the way to Australia, anyway?"
"It's something I have to do," Ryo said quietly as she folded another shirt and placed it in her suitcase. As she did this, the box that she keep in her pocket slipped out when she leaned forward to place the shirt in the suitcase, and Yukiko picked it up before she had opportunity to snatch it from her.
"Ryoko, who gave you this?" Yukiko asked as she opened the box. "It's nicer than my wedding ring!"
"…Victor," Ryo answered after a pause. She finished zipping up her suitcase and looked away from Yukiko, toward an open window in the room. "He…"
"Are you in love with him?" Yukiko wondered aloud.
"I think so. I'm not sure yet," Ryo admitted with a shrug. "He just… I can't explain it, but he's not like he is with the others when he's with me. He treats me… I don't know…"
"So you're traveling across the world to save someone who everyone thinks is a complete jerk?"
"Basically, yeah. You're going to call me a moron now, aren't you?"
"Nah, you're just in love, is all. That isn't anything I haven't done for Toshiro before," Yukiko tossed her the ring and stood. "Toshiro, Dori, Ally and I are coming."
"But, Yuki, you're pregnant…"
"So? The baby wants to see some action, too! I don't want it to feel left out… God, if you and him have a kid, you'll have your ex's nephew… Or cousin… Hell, I don't know."
"I don't even want to think about kids now," Ryo chuckled. "I don't think he does, either. Who knows where it will go? I feel like a moron for doing this, but I feel like I have to."
"Like I said, it's love. Come on now, let's get the hell out there," Yukiko patted her sister on the shoulder and met her brother, husband and sister-in-law in the hall way.
"You guys already packed?" Ryo asked, blinking with surprise.
"Yeah, it was all a matter of waiting to see how long it would take Yukiko to convince you to let us go with you," Ally answered. "Let's get going… The sooner this is over, the sooner I can get back to trying to fix my own love life."
"The island Mom traced the signal to has some rough waters," said Toshiro to Ryo. "I think you coming along was one of your better ideas…"
"And whatever I've got going on with Victor is one of my worse ones?" Ryo ventured to finish.
"No comment," Toshiro replied, turning the hall to the elevator doors. The metal doors opened, and what was left of the gang was on its way to Australia.