"...Okay, the message's nearly good to go onto the card except for one last missing detail. An alias for us." Akira says to Manic with a cigarette in his mouth, the two sitting in the kitchen as they worked on the concept idea of their calling card before the latter goes to make the card. The green hedgehog having penned the core message to Anton with Akira going over it to revise his friend's initial writings to help give it some needed polish plus making sure the language of the message comes off as someone else's.
The revision to Manic's original draft took longer than the writing itself while they workshopped ideas between each other. Initially, Akira didn't think an alias was needed nor necessary but soon saw the use for it as a means of giving their enemy Anton something to attach a name to and knowing that the lizard has enough enemies where they'll need one which will give their target the impression that another group is out to get him except they happen to know his darkest secrets.
When they were assembling their case against Anton, they had planned to organise their findings in two sets. The first about the Hooligans and the other about Anton Veruca himself with the first half still in the middle of the compiling process.
Luckily, the pair realised they had only kept the real hard-hitting information from the Palace regarding Anton himself written down on their phones as they had planned to write down his crimes in their now-stolen manuscript and Akira kept his own written notepad based on his group's findings hidden away in his apartment sort of a precaution in case what happens with Jean's evidence happens to them. Meaning that whatever the Hooligans had seized from them; they only got the stuff against them as a gang but nothing specifically against their boss.
Knowing that, they're going to take advantage they still have on Anton. The only roadblock they're encountering at the moment is a good name for the sender of the message.
"...The alias for our group is definitely the most important part..." Manic says, tapping the table with his pen while brainstorming for names. "Hmmm... What about... Crimson Emerald?"
He gestured to himself and Akira, then added, "Get it? Because you're red and I'm green and I figure it could be like a play on that..."
"Under other circumstances, that would work but I think Anton will just figure it out and sic Captain Krouch onto us. Let's not go for ones that reveals too much of who we are." Akira sighs, scratching his chin. "What about the Diamonds? No. Crap name and we'd probably get confused for the people behind that recent museum robbery if we go with it."
"True..." Manic rubs the back of his head and rubbing his eyes. "God, this is like the toughest part of this... Let's see... Say, what about... The Phantom Thieves?"
"Phantom Thieves? I don't know what..." Akira wanted to argue against the name that Manic had just suggested but stopped to give it some serious thought. He wasn't sure of it til he really thought about it some more.
The Phantom Thieves. That's just a plural of phantom thief, another term for gentlemen thief.
Yes. They had been stealing items from Anton's Palace and the gang leader's secrets right under his nose, sneakily without him knowing about what they're nicking out of his subconscious world. Anton may know they're investigating him but not how they're conducting it. The first time they went into his Palace, they were being pursued by his gang and to their pursuers; it was as if they had vanished like phantoms when they lost them.
Akira glances over to the TV to catch a glimpse of a trailer for a Luke Periwinkle movie based on the life of Yusuke Kitagawa, an artist from ancient times whom was the former student of notorious plagiarist Madarame Ichiryusai and the son of the woman that painted the Sayuri before her tragic death.
Madarame was someone that Yusuke saw as his father in spite of his horrific living conditions since he never personally knew his own growing up as noted in old surviving memoirs and accepted his life with the fraudster. That was til he crossed paths with the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, a group formed by teens who had been let down by the system meant to protect them and the soon-to-be famous artist had personally opposed them initially when it came to his foster parent... At least til he had opened his eyes to the truth of his parent's crimes.
Becoming known to historians as Fox that day henceforth.
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts. They weren't the kids of master thieves or descendants of any legendary figures, they were young people just like they are and they had lived normal lives when they weren't busy making criminals confess to their crimes with their founding leader Joker originally just another unassuming youthful face in the crowd before a false assault charge on his record changed everything for him.
The members of the outlaw group became remembered in history because of what they had achieved in their lifetime: Exposing injustice and bringing down the real criminals to justice by making them confess to their own crimes while baffling those hunting for them on how they did it. That is exactly what they're going to do to Anton; it all makes sense now as Akira finally sees the parallels between what his group are doing now and what they were doing then.
"The Phantom Thieves of Hearts..." Akira said aloud, putting it all together. "No matter how far removed we are from their era, we all share their values: Justice for all wronged by the corruption. We may not be able to spook him as ourselves but they surely can because they're not afraid of their enemies."
"Yeah..." Manic said, nodding with a beaming grin; "I could see that. Yeah, we'll use that."
"...We'll avenge your father together. Even if we never knew him personally, he means the world to you and you both deserve the justice that was denied to you all those years ago." Akira looks over to Manic. "You never went down the path Anton took because he's the reason why you didn't. You aim to be the man of the people just as he was in his time."
Manic nodded in agreement. "We'll do it for him. We'll do it for everyone."
"That, we will do..."
West High Resort, Westropolis
Night
Shadow would make his return to the luxury apartment via Chaos Control following his investigation into the leaker, having discovered their involvement in the Director's death through process of elimination on the list of those whom saw the proposed bills firsthand. Plus the fact that he caught the leaker trying to skip town helped him narrow down it to one suspect for him to interrogate.
"Have you discovered who the leaker was?" Omega greeted Shadow whom placed a written notepad on the kitchen table.
"Hmph. It was George Lars, an up and coming hotshot that forwarded the information to his associates." Shadow said with closed eyes and crossed arms. "He didn't want to talk at first but after getting a good view of Westropolis with me from a high vantage point, he changed his attitude very quickly and spilled everything he knows to me. Mr Lars was planning to go off to Soleanna tonight before I caught up to him. Right now, he's being detained by the local police for an offence unrelated to our case."
"At least we culled our list of suspects down to one leaker." Topaz remarks with a sigh of relief.
"You find anything on your end?" Shadow enquires. Opening his eyes to look over to Topaz.
"Well, we haven't found too much on the involvement of the Vastas but we found a somewhat promising lead on the Nasty Hyenas."
"Contrary to what you said about the Vastas, they're very much involved like the Hyenas. As a matter of fact; they're in league with each other in the counterfeiting scheme." Shadow said to the slightly stunned Topaz and Rouge whom walked in to greet him. "I got that information through one of George's friends in the cartel after he gave me a name. The rest of the details are on that notepad."
"I see…" Topaz replied, picking up the pad. "Jeez, even your investigative skills are more enhanced than the rest of us. Not that I'm complaining though I will admit it's hard to keep up sometimes."
"What have you also uncovered?" Omega asks.
"That the two are only half of the party involved in the counterfeit ring." Shadow answered. "The Vastas are only buying the printing materials needed while the Hyenas are the couriers who brings them to the people that does the actual printing of the fake bills and they covertly do them in batches each mouth. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any info on the third group other than the fact that they run a sizeable gang in one of the Northamer cities."
"Well, then it's just a matter of culling down the list of gangs in Northamer one by one." Topaz taps her chin. "Unless you found out anything that could make that list even shorter that is."
"I'm afraid I have nothing to help with that. We'll either have to do a surveillance on his gang to get a city location along with perhaps a name as well or find a member of the Nasty Hyenas to snatch up for questioning." Shadow said with a head shake. "We still have ways to go before we'll find the one who hired the culprit behind the mental incidents."
"We have put in a request for surveillance on the cartel's transmissions and an APB for the latter group." Omega told Shadow. "We had believed the cartel were aware of themselves being watched but with your information, I conclude that the use of various unrelated gangs is the ringleader's method of carrying out their counterfeiting scheme in the shadows without being under suspicion from the likes of us as we'd be looking at the more apparent suspects. Likely the groups involved are paid an amount for their roles in this counterfeit network."
"Then that's how we'll do it." Topaz says as Rouge lounged upon the nearby couch in the room. "Should be a piece of cake no doubt."
"Speaking of cake…" Rouge added, looking at the room service menu, "I was thinking we could order some cheesecake to split between us tonight."
"Probably a fruity one." Omega commented sarcastically. "Full of figs too."
"Nawww. Definitely a classic style one for sure."
"Nice to know that taxpayers' money are going to a good cause..."
"Yeah about that..." Topaz said to Rouge with a stern look. "We need to talk about you running up our hotel bill."
"Oh?" Rouge asked.
"Don't 'Oh?' me." Topaz told her. "On a hunch, I asked the hotel manager what our expenses were thus far and it turns out we, well; our handlers so far owe the hotel nearly fifteen-thousand mobiums. Now, I know you like pampering yourself like a noblewoman anytime we go out but right now, we are on agency time. We can't afford to be screwing around while our suspects are out there, free as Mobini birds."
Rouge sighed, then pouted. "Fine. We're not exactly off to the races ourselves..."
"See?" Omega says to Rouge before receiving a cushion to the head while Shadow walks over to the window balcony and leans his arms on the guard-rail, looking down on the streets below. The hedgehog usually goes off to be somewhere alone but for the sake of the investigation, he's hanging in the company of his work colleagues for longer than he himself personally would. That's just how he is.
The ebony hedgehog thought of what Maria would think of all these mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns they're investigating, expecting to hear her say who could do such a thing to people even if some of the victims were corrupt scum. That's how she is with people. Always thinks the best in everyone.
"...I am thou!" He can hear TV was playing a trailer for Yusuke: A Fox's Canvas.
"I've heard so much about this movie lately." Topaz commented as she watched the trailer on the TV. "It's from the same studio behind Ryuji: A Skull's Flag and Akechi: A Crow's Mask if I recall. Apparently, they're doing a series of films about the male members of the Phantom Thieves with another currently in the works."
"According to the director in an interview, this one is more about the personal life of one you meat-bags call Yusuke Kitagawa, the relationship he has with his foster parent and the starving artist lifestyle he led from it." Omega chimed in. "Personally, I don't see the appeal in knowing that stick-figure had bean sprouts as his regular source of diet as opposed to aburagé or his various procrastinations."
"Some folks have weird diets." Rouge pointed out. "Like that receptionist back at HQ that we always see eating those Paleo cookies at lunch or the HR lady at HQ that's always eating those Atkins diet meals for lunch."
"Point still stands."
"Well unless he's vegan, he probably should have gotten more meat in his diet." Topaz muses. Knowing full well of Yusuke's unique diet issue and eccentricities.
"Assuming his colleagues in the Phantom Thieves group don't feed him including the blonde one." Omega presses a button on the remote to change the TV channel to something else involving monster trucks.
"Which one? Weren't there two blondes in that group?"
"Only one of them's a true blonde according to Rouge."
"Oh, right. Because being blonde isn't enough, you have to be a 'true blonde'… God, there's no love for us dirty-blondes…"
"You're not the one being treated like as a foreigner and stereotyped by your peers." Omega retorted. "You get grief from Rouge for other things instead including you daydreaming about being one of the Phantom Thieves once."
"Omega!" Topaz responded, blushing with embarrassment. "Jeez… I told you to not say nothing about it to the others…"
"The only promise I stick by is destroying all other creations by my creator Dr Robotnik and saving Mobinis often utilised in his Badniks. Everything else I proceed on with as I see fit." The red and black robot replied while Rouge smirks in the back. "It was you who brought up the topic of what the current day Phantom Thieves would be like and my answer to it is that they went the way of the samurai in their time. The last known figure identified as one had passed on long ago and the guild seemingly dying with them."
"Still. You don't just blurt shit like that out when you were told not to."
"I dunno girlfriend..." Rouge said with a teasing smirk, chortling to herself "I think you'd look great in Panther's outfit~"
"Rouge!" Topaz exclaimed, blushing even more; "N-N-Not every can pull off tight latex like you can..."
"Perhaps you and I oughta match outfits sometime~" Rouge teased, making Topaz get even more flustered and irritated. Making the bat chuckle to herself.
"What do you think Shadow?" Omega asks the ebony hedgehog, turning his head over to him at the balcony.
"What I think?" Shadow replied with his back to the others when he spoke. "They came to be because of the ineptitude of their system allowing their founding leader to be falsely charged with a crime, the incompetence of the the law servicing as lap dogs to the whims of one and their culture allowing the likes of a sexual predator for a volleyball coach to get away with his crimes for so long because they're respected in their society. If they existed now, they'd be a pack of self-serving dirtbags with a chip on their shoulders..."
"Probably like a bunch of those hypocritical moralists who'd call others degenerate but get caught out as even more degenerate weirdos no doubt…" Rouge added with a confident smile. "Still, you can't deny their sense of style is quite unique~"
"They may have been popular in their time but most folks now think they're antiquated." Topaz commented.
"Except you, right?"
"W-Well…" Topaz stammered a bit. "Admittedly. they've fascinated me quite a bit. Especially the targets they went after and who's apart of it."
"Including the ones by the codename Wolf, Sophie and Violet." Omega interjects. "Their mascot Mona too. There's also that young National Diet individual who got involved with them once though details are sketchy on the specifics."
"They're probably among the most unique thieves I've ever heard of." Rouge agreed. Both her and Topaz would chat away on the topic of Phantom Thieves of Hearts while Omega does his own routine self-system diagnosis. The human agent sorting through her investigation work with the new information she's got for it.
Shadow is left to silently reminisce about his late friend Maria, the subject of the old outlaw group being something he remembers her telling him about. Saying that in spite of their status as outlaws, they've helped so many people including the ones considered confidants of Joker's with one by the name of Shinya Oda; an elementary son of a single mother whom would have spend his free time gaming at an arcade with him earning the moniker of 'The King' for his great skills. Enough to attract the attention of the group's leader who came to him to better hone his gun skills but soon became something of an older brother figure to the young kid according to his diary.
Maria always liked the story with Shinya in spite of the youngster having a troubled personal life because the founding leader showed off his kindness by taking on the role of the understanding big brother and helping him through his personal problems by being there for him, later trusting him to keep his knowledge of the leader's secret identity as a Phantom Thief when he figures it out. Saying that stories like them helping to rescue Futaba from her own pit of despair are why the group are still remembered today outside of their many vigilante escapades because they're very much people orientated, adding that Wolf became a member of the team because of that quality.
If there existed a current day incarnation of the group, Shadow doubted the newer generation of Phantom Thieves would hold a candle to the values, ideals and integrity of the originals. Assuming the newer generation aren't just a bunch of wannabe glory-hounds that pretends to be good people while robbing honest decent folks blind.
As far as he sees it; the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are no more than folklore figures with historical evidence to back their existence today.
Author's Note: Some big plot progression has occurred and new revelations have come to light. One of the heaviest, longest and most visceral chapters yet. Had some reservations on some parts here and there but remembered Persona 5 and associated games had some heavy moments of that nature too.
Keep in mind that this whole arc was written up when Persona 5 Tactica hadn't been fully revealed yet and little was known of it then but since I'm editing this now, we know what happens in it. Though since I know there's those who haven't played the games, I try to refrain from making spoilers even in this day and age of spoilers.
Besides them coming together to become a useful item and be upgraded later to be really useful items, the Will Seeds also playing pivotal memories from Anton's past is an element from Persona 5 Royal where you were to get some backstory on the Palace Rulers when you get each Will Seed but went unused. Though Persona 5 Strikers; developed around the same time as Royal would make use of the flashback concept instead.
That's an example of me using scrapped or discarded concepts to repurpose them to serve a new narrative function because why waste good ideas if you can make something out of them? And who doesn't love a good deep cut too?
Be sure to leave a review and stay tuned because you know full well we're getting to the big one soon. You don't want to miss it.
I'll see you dear readers another time.