"Preparing the cloaking device. I do hope this will work, Akko," Diana said, as she pressed a couple buttons.
The ship turned invisible as it was approaching the first set of satellites. Piloting very carefully, Barbara was reading the screen to see if the ship had been found or not. The computer was beeping and beeping and beeping and nothing happened. The crew let out a sigh of relief as they were approaching the atmosphere of the blue and green planet. Entering into the atmosphere was a bit rough as Akko and Diana were having trouble controlling the ship and equalizing it with the gravity. But they managed to prevent it from stalling. Flying at a good altitude, Lotte was looking at a map of the planet, trying to help Diana and Akko find a place to land.
"Here, I found a good place to land. It is isolated, but not too far from New Orleans," Lotte said, putting the coordinates onto the navigation computer for Akko and Diana to follow.
Akko flew the ship towards the coordinates and proceeded to land it. The ship landed in a bog of some sort. The ground was a bit soft, but it managed to hold the goliath sized ship. Akko and Diana figure it was a better idea to keep the cloaking device on, in order to prevent them from getting found out.
Akko, Diana, Lotte, and Barbara exited the cockpit and proceed to go to the gangway area. There they were met by Constance, Amanda, Hannah, Omega, and Hunter. Hunter and Omega were wearing their usual clothing which caused Akko to laugh a bit.
"You guys are definitely going to be looking super out of place," Akko said as she grabbed her wand and said a few words.
Sparks flew out of her wand as a huge blanket of magic covered the girls and the clone, swallowing them. As the magic disappeared, the group looked on in shocked as their clothing has been changed a bit. Hunter was wearing what seems to be a leather jack, with a green shirt, and a pair of jeans. The girls were wearing blouses, a few of them were even wearing a band shirt, skirts, or even ripped jeans. Omega's clothing was a bit similar to the witches, although a bit different. She was wearing what seems to be a band shirt of some kind, with the words Black Sabbath on the front, whatever that means.
"There, you look like a fellow Earthling. Just, stay close and do not wander off. There are things different here than you see on other planets," Akko said smiling.
Akko opened up the ramp as she guided the group outside to the fresh humid air. The group was hit first with the smell of the bog, then the sticky humidity, and lastly the heat. Opening up her holomap, Diana led the group out of the swamp and onto a road of some sort. Hunter noticed that the road is paved with some kind of concrete. Diana looked at the map and then looked at the sun and calculated in her head.
"Town is about 20 clicks East," Diana said as she pointed towards the road. Diana put the map in her pocket.
The group walked towards the direction Diana was pointing at. They continued walking as the heavy sun was beating down on them. It took about two hours for them to finally reach the beautiful city of New Orleans as Akko saw the French Architecture in view. The group entered the thriving city as the clones looked on in awe. Diana saw this and smiled a kind smile. New Orleans is a thriving city as the streets were very busy and line with decorations. As they were walking towards the museum, Omega spotted some weird vehicles with some huge creatures on top of them.
"What is that?" Omega asked, pointing at one of the vehicles.
"That is a float. Looking at it, it seems we arrived in the middle of Mardi Gras," Diana said.
"Mardi Gras?" Omega asked.
"Also known as Fat Tuesday, it is generally the last day of eating fatty, rich food before Lent. Lent is a Catholic and Christian ritual which was when Jesus was fasting, preventing him from being tempted by Satan," Diana explained, "You see this world has many religions, many gods, and many faiths. This is a celebration of one of those."
As the group continued walking through the marketplace a few people gave the group some necklaces that were covered in beads. The witches thank them as Hunter and Omega were interested in how these necklaces are important to the culture. Diana explained it in great depth as they were walking, saying they symbolize the Chirstian idea of justice, faith, and power in each color.
The group passed through the market place and was now near what seems to be an ancient building of some kind. Some vehicles were parked down the line as Hunter noticed men and women in police attire bringing in what seems to be a book of some kind. The writing on it he did not recognize, nor did Tech or Echo through the recordings. The book itself was an old and beat up book, with what seemed to be in some kind of skin covering.
"The Liber Mundrom," Akko said, in awe.
"What language is it written in?" Hunter asked.
"Creole, a language that is spoken in Haiti and here. One of the many languages spoken in this town," Diana said.
"Security seems tight," Amanda said.
"Yeah, they have this place heavily guarded. It seems like no one is getting in or out," Hannah said.
"Never stopped us before," Akko said.
The group then heard someone shouting as their attention turned to an older looking man. The witches deduce that this man is of Japanese heritage as his accent was heard. The man was wearing a hat, with a tan trench coat.
"There is Inspector Zenigata," Akko said.
"Shit, if he is here that means Lupin can't be far," Amanda said.
Akko looked around and saw a familiar yellow car parked in an alleyway that was semi hidden. Akko nudged Diana, which got the blonde girl's attention. Diana looked towards the direction Akko was pointing and saw the yellow car too.
"Speaking of Lupin," Akko said, "It seems that he is staking out the area, planning his next move."
"You guys seem to be familiar with this Lupin guy," Hunter said, observing the situation.
"In our world, Lupin The Third is a notorious thief. You have to be living under a rock if you do not know who he and his buddies are. He usually aims towards a lot of the richer folks, especially the ones who are hiding something sinister," Akko said.
She then turned on her heel, and walked a different direction. Her friends, Hunter, and Omega followed behind her. They passed through many stores, restaurants, and even a park. Omega looked in wonder as the different styles of each place changed in an instant. She has never read or saw anything that is as unique as this place. As they continued walking, the group entered a market place, where vendors were selling all kinds of stuff. Fruits, meats, what seems to be electronics of some kind, charms, and even toys were being sold.
"So what's the plan, Atsuko?" Hunter asked.
"Akko is fine, you do not have to be formal," Akko said, cheerfully.
"Ok, so what is the plan, Akko?" Hunter corrected himself.
"Seeing as how they have that place heavily guarded to the teeth and how Lupin was there staking the place out, it will be tough trying to get the book out of there. The best bet is for Team A to play their part and for Team B to find a good getaway car. Even then, seeing how Zenigata is in the game, we have to outsmart the world's greatest thief and the world's greatest inspector," Akko said.
Akko walks up to one of the stands and orders herself and the group something to eat and drink. The vendor gave them what seems to be a meat pie of some sort, with some spices and a citrus flavor. The drinks that were given to them was a bubbly, sugary drink that had a red coloring on it and words that Hunter could not translate.
"What's this?" Omega asked.
"An empanada, it's pretty much ground beef with flour, egg whites, and dough," Amanda explained, "And it's a really good one too."
"And what is this drink?" Omega asked.
"That's soda. To be more specific, Coco-Cola. It's carbonated water with syrup and sugar," Amanda continued.
Akko paid the vendor for the food and the drinks. The group then walked towards a table and began eating. The food was really good, Hunter thought to himself. As the group continued eating, Diana pulled out a map, opening it onto the table. She then took out a pencil and circled a building that looked a bit similar to the museum.
"This is the museum, driving wise from here to the Shiny Rod, it will be thirty to forty minutes tops. And that is if we are getting a vehicle. There is one place I do want to visit before we head back and prepare. Here," Diana said, as she drew another circle on a building, this time on what seems to be a bank of some kind, "If my data is correct, this should be one of the oldest, but richest banks of the city. It is quite a distance away from the museum so that gives us about an hour to grab the book without the gentleman thief or his gang interfering."
"How would you have this Lupin guy at this bank?" Hunter asked.
"Magic," Akko answered, smiling a toothy grin.
"Why did I have to ask," Hunter asked, figuratively smacking himself.
"You are not wrong though, there is still the risk of Lupin just sending one of his goons to do that bank job," Hannah said.
"It is still better than having his entire gang on our ass," Amanda said.
"Knowing how Lupin works, what we can do is a simple card trick," Akko said.
"Huh?" Barbara asked.
"You know, like a party trick," Akko said as she conjured up some cards from her pockets. All of the cards were blank as Akko shuffled them. Then pulling one randomly out, she showed it to Barbara, who stood there amazed.
On the card, it was the same exact type of calling card Lupin will use. "Not bad thinking, Akko," Amanda said.
"Thanks," Akko said.
"Whatever we do, we have to do it fast and quick. Not only will the law be after us, but Lupin as well," Diana said.
"We will get through this no matter what," Akko said, "That's what we always do best, especially after facing the Empire. If we are able to escape from Cloud City, we are able to do anything."
"You do remember, we survived barely with our lives still in tact. We still lost Han," Hannah said.
"Yeah, I do," Akko said, her voice dropping in emotion.
The feeling was felt through everyone as the witches, especially Akko, Diana, Hannah, and Barbara, were still having trouble forgetting about the ordeal on Cloud City. Akko lifted up her drink and said, "This is going to be for Han."
"For Han," the witches replied.
"Well, may the force be with us tonight. We will need it," Diana said, as she wrapped up the map and put it back in her pocket.
The group continued to eat their food quietly, with only the sound of the bustling market place being heard. Once they were done, the gang went off to where the bank was, setting their plan in motion. As they were heading off, they were being watched by a figure in a suit and a fedora. The figure was smoking a cigarette.
"Lupin, I think there is something that might interest you," the figure said.