Disclaimer - This is strictly fanfiction and I don't own any legal rights to any of the trademarked characters or properties within.
"Wearing a bright red jacket and a banana yellow necktie," Lupin heard the TSA man saying.
"Sure hope they catch the guy," he muttered, slipping into the crowd in an electric blue jacket and neon red necktie.
He clutched his ticket tightly. Almost to his gate. Then he'd be bound for another country. Another continent. It wouldn't be long until Zenigata was back on his trail. And Jigen. And Machii and all of his henchmen. And maybe even Fujiko. He just wanted to be one step ahead of all of them. One step was all he needed. For now.
He was scanning the crowd when, out of the corner of his eye, he recognized two thugs. Two of Machii's henchmen he and Pops had fought with in Benjamina Carson's house the other night. Lupin did his best to not react.
Then he realized they weren't looking for him. They were already chasing someone else.
"Good," he thought. "They're already distracted. None of your business, Arsene. Just take care of yourself, Arsene."
But even as he kept telling himself to leave it alone, he found himself following the two goons, some baser instinct, or perhaps better angel, taking control of his legs.
"We need to get you to a hospital," Goemon said.
He pressed a thick wad of toilet paper against Hilary's abdomen, trying to clot the bleeding where a stray bullet fragment was buried.
"We can't," Hilary insisted, gasping for breath. "Dr. Carson would know right away, and then I'm a dead man for sure. Why are you helping me?"
"It's part of the warrior's code," Goemon said. "I can't stand idly by when I witness an attack on the innocent."
He rose from the dirty tile floor when he heard the bathroom door open, his hands going to the hilt of Zantetsuken as he turned to face Machii's men, their guns already drawn.
"You know, you're really not supposed to carry those around an airport," a voice behind them said.
A fist swung into one gunman's face, hitting him hard enough to push his skull into the gunman next to him. They both crumpled to the ground as Lupin massaged his aching hand.
"Need some help, fellas?"
Fujiko was wearing a silk bathrobe from Machii's collection of nice things, casually strolling around one of his many homes away from home, his extravagant Massachusetts estate, carefully noting its elaborate layout of well decorated corridors. She almost screamed when she turned a corner and came face to face with an old man in a wheelchair, his eyes wide opened, staring at her but not seeing a thing. His face was as expressionless as a cadaver's.
"My father, Goro," a voice said, and Fujiko nearly screamed again, turning around and finding Fumio standing directly behind her. "Sorry to startle you, my beloved."
"I just didn't think we were at the 'meeting your parents' phase of the relationship, yet," Fujiko said.
Fumio walked around the wheelchair and put a hand on Goro's shoulder.
"Before his current condition, my father was a very powerful man," Machii said. "The world's most feared Yakuza, an entire empire at his fingertips that he ruled from the shadows. Soon, thanks to the Asimov Project, his empire shall be restored."
"And then I shall be the empress, right?" Fujiko said.
Machii grabbed her chin, a tad less gently than she would have liked, and she did her best to appear as though she enjoyed his touch.
"Come," he said. "I'm sure you'd love to take a look at Sir Matthew's research, see just exactly what you had in your possession."
Fujiko just nodded and let Machii lead her into his study, where several of his men were already waiting.
Machii booted up his laptop and then inserted the flash drive.
An installation bar quickly filled up, and then a single folder opened on the desktop, containing a single icon. It was a crude smiley face, surrounded by two stick figure arms. Fujiko felt a knot in her stomach as Machii's face twisted into a snarl and he clicked the icon.
"Is this thing on?" a familiar voice said through the speakers.
A fist wrapped on the camera, and then Lupin backed into frame.
"Hi, Fumio," he said, smiling and waving. "And hugs and kisses to Fujiko, who I'm sure is watching over your shoulder right now."
Machii turned to see Fujiko inching backwards towards the exit. Two of his men side-stepped close behind her, cutting her off.
"For what it's worth," Lupin said. "I'm sure Fuj is just as surprised by what's on this drive as you are. Hey! Remember that time she helped me break into your office in Tokyo?"
Machii let out an angry growl, and the two toughs grabbed Fujiko's arms.
"If you're watching this, it means I'm on my way to your plant in Australia. I'm going to steal Dr. Vincent Chung. Toodles."
Lupin waved to the camera again and then fell out of his chair, rolling on the floor in laughter.
Machii shoved his fist through the monitor, silencing the laughter, then picked up what was left of the laptop and smashed it to pieces on his desk.
"Get me a new computer!" he shouted at one of his men. "And as for you, Fujiko, I don't think you're worthy of being my empress after all."
Fujiko smiled meekly between the two guards, still tightly clutching her arms.
"Can't we still be friends?"
Hilary's eyes opened. He blinked and weakly looked around at his surrounding. Priceless treasures were littered casually around the room.
"Where am I?"
"The Lupin safehouse in Sydney, Australia," the man in the blue jacket said. "A remnant of the Lupin Empire, when my Pops controlled an international syndicate. The problem with organized crime is, unlike Lupin II, I lack the organizational skills it requires to maintain. I'm more of a hands-on type of guy."
He looked around at the piles of loot and sighed.
"Shame I have to say good bye to it. I already tipped off Interpol. They should be here any second."
"We tended to your wounds as best we could," Goemon said to Hilary. "Just hang on a while longer."
Lupin went to a bookshelf on the wall and pried it away to reveal a secret tunnel.
"Tell Inspector Zenigata everything," Lupin said. "About Benjamina Carson. About Fumio Machii. He'll listen."
"I don't trust the police," Hilary said. "I already tried blowing the whistle on Dr. Carson, and look where it got me."
"Zenigata's different," Lupin insisted. "You can trust him."
He looked at his watch, just as they could hear a battering ram outside.
"That's him now. My cue to leave."
He nodded at Hilary, but before he could pull the bookshelf closed behind him, Goemon sprinted into the tunnel and was at his side.
"What are you doing?" Lupin asked.
"I owe you my life," Goemon replied.
"But I don't want your life," Lupin said, walking deeper into the tunnel.
"I want to see Machii punished for his reprehensible deeds."
"Yeah, well, I'm about to perform some pretty reprehensible deeds myself."
Goemon kept following.
"As long as we share a common enemy, my blade is yours."
"What were you doing working for Machii in the first place?" Lupin asked.
"His father Goro once did something to prolong the life of Ishikawa Goemon XII. Ensuring the success of the Asimov Project would have repaid the debt, prolonging the life of Goro Machii."
"The first Ishikawa Goemon was a bandit, right? Robbed from the rich and gave to the poor like a Japanese Robin Hood? Boiled to death for his troubles?"
Goemon just scowled in response.
"And I thought my pedigree in larceny went way back," Lupin said. "Okay. We're here."
He pushed up against a grate above his head and pulled himself up through it.
"Where's 'here'?" Goemon asked, crawling up through the grate beside him.
"Machii Robotics Australia," Lupin said.
They were standing in some kind of employee breakroom. Lupin's hand went to the door handle, but he stepped back and to the side of the door to peer through the glass panel as Jigen and the mafia-type in the ice cream suit led Dr. Chung down the hall.
"Isn't that man your friend?" Goemon asked.
"It's complicated right now," Lupin replied. He pulled something up on his phone and then showed the screen to Goemon. "So here's the plan . . ."
The Machii Robotics guard stopped and stood at attention when he heard something coming down the hallway towards him. He drew his gun as the man in roller skates came flying at him, trying to fire off a shot too late as he was bowled over.
Lupin spun on his heels and turned around the next corner, Goemon running along the wall beside him.
Two armed men appeared from opposite sides at the next intersection of the corridor. Goemon drew his sword and sliced their guns to pieces as he leaped to the floor, then knocked them out with the sword's hilt before gracefully stepping to the side so Lupin could continue rolling through.
More guards assembled further down the hallway. With some quick swordwork, Goemon transformed a nearby end table into a makeshift ramp. Lupin hit it, flying over the heads of the guards. Flying so high, in fact, that he hit his own head on the ceiling and crashed to the ground.
Goemon ran back up the wall, over the startled guards, just as Lupin shouted "I'm okay!" and steadied himself back on his roller skates before zipping around the next corner.
Now a wave of guards was trying to run them down like a tsunami, firing their weapons and missing as Lupin zig-zagged on his skates and Goemon ran up and down the wall.
"Weren't you supposed to make a left at that last hallway?" Goemon asked.
"It's alright," Lupin said, watching the pursuing security team over his shoulder. "I'll just have to reroute."
He looked up and realized he was hurtling faster and faster towards a dead end.
Goemon dropped down ahead of Lupin and grabbed one of his arms.
"It is time for you to follow a new path," he said, spinning Lupin around and slingshotting him down another hallway.
Right into the path of a huge flight of stairs.
"This is going to hurt," Lupin said, bracing himself.
Right before a phalanx of armed guards formed directly at the bottom of the staircase.
Lupin caught air again, bowling down the guards, cushioned by the now unconscious bodies of several of them.
"Thanks for breaking my fall, boys."
He picked himself back up, and then kicked off down one more hallway, holding his hands out to stop himself from crashing directly into the door he was looking for.
"I just need to figure out the electronic lock."
Angry footsteps thudded in his and Goemon's direction.
"No time for that."
Goemon drew his sword and slashed up and down the door until it fell from the door frame in pieces.
"That thing sure is good," Lupin said, admiring the sharp blade. "At cutting worthless objects, that is."
He pulled his Walther and pointed it at the man inside the room, who clutched his attaché case closer to his chest in response.
"Dr. Chung? You're coming with me."
"Not so fast."
Lupin spun towards Vick Vitti's voice, putting Chung in a chokehold and pressing his gun to the doctor's temple. Goemon held his sword up threateningly as he turned to face the throng of guards.
"You're not the only one with a hostage," Vitti said.
"Lupin, help!" Fujiko pleaded, struggling in his grip.
"Maybe you haven't heard," Lupin said. "But she's a double-crosser. Means absolutely nothing to me."
With his freehand, Vitti flipped open a butterfly knife and held it to Fujiko's throat.
"Knock it off, Lupin," Jigen said, strolling in casually. "We both know your code won't let you risk a damsel in distress getting hurt."
Lupin looked at Goemon, and they realized what Jigen said applied to both of them.
"Let her go or I blow Dr. Chung's brains out," Lupin said. "And I'm pretty sure he's useless to Machii without his brains."
"Please," Chung said, looking at Vitti imploringly. "I'm the only one who can perform the procedure!"
"He's bluffing," Jigen said. "You're not a murderer, Lupin. Vitti is. Just give it up."
Lupin tightened his hold on Chung. In response, Vitti put his blade tight enough against Fujiko's skin to draw blood.
"Okay!" Lupin said, completely releasing his grip on Chung and pointing his gun harmlessly into the air.
"Drop the weapon," Vitti ordered.
Lupin carefully placed his Walther at his feet and stood back up.
"Sword, too."
"Impossible," Goemon said. "Zantetsuken will not leave my possession."
"Do it now," Vitti said. "Unless you want this girl's blood all over that fancy kimono of yours."
Goemon grunted in frustration but laid his sword down.
Vitti turned to Jigen and jerked his head towards Lupin.
"Now execute him."
"Why can't you just do it?" Jigen asked.
"Because that's what I'm paying you for," Vitti said.
Jigen sighed, drawing his revolver and walking around Lupin.
"On your knees," he said. "Let's make this quick."
Lupin obliged and Jigen put his gun to the back of his head.
"Guess this is it, boss. We had some good times, didn't we?"
"If anyone's going to kill me, I'd want it to be you," Lupin said. Then he looked out at the throng of people in front of him. "Actually, you'd be my second choice. Any chance I could have Fujiko choke me to death instead?"
"Oh, brother!" Fujiko said, rolling her eyes and turning her head.
Jigen chuckled, then looked at Lupin's eyes, completely calm as he resigned himself to his fate.
"Ah, hell!"
Jigen quickly raised the magnum and aimed it at something overhead. The shot rang out, and then a light fixture swung down, knocking over Vitti and the men in line with him.
Goemon reached down as he ran, lifting his sword and deflecting the guards' bullets. Lupin scooped his gun back up, shooting guns out of his enemies' hands as Jigen continued shooting at the ceiling, dropping lights down on the attackers.
"Was this part of the plan all along?" Goemon asked.
"Hell no," Jigen said. "I really thought I was going to kill him. Just didn't have the heart to go through with it."
"But we're leaving without the girl or the doctor?"
"Don't worry," Lupin said. "This isn't over yet."
