Chapter Two

Eight Years Ago

"Mom, tell me that story, the one about the Princess and the thief, the one that's a fairy tale but it's real," Dick said.

"Okay," Mary Grayson smiled at her seven-year-old as they sat in his bedroom on his bed. "A long time ago, in the smallest country on earth, the principality of Cagliostro, there lived a beautiful young Princess named Clarisse. She was going to be forced to marry her evil Uncle Count Cagliostro as part of a scheme so he could get a treasure hidden in the country. One day she decided to run away, she took a car and tried to drive away, but the Count's evil henchmen chased after her."

"While she was driving, she passed by a yellow Fiatt 500 while two men were changing the flat tire. Those two men were Daisuske Jigen and the world-renown thief, Lupin III. Lupin III decided that he would help the girl and gave chase, they managed to stop the men from pursuing the Princess, and got her out of her car."

"They almost fell off a cliff together, but he managed to break his fall and she landed on him. While he was unconscious she gave him a ring before running off. Later Lupin and Jigen learned that she was a princess and they were attacked by an army of assassins. Lupin escaped and scaled the walls of her castle to find her."

Once he arrived, he returned the ring to her, but Princess Clarisse insisted that he leave.

"Lupin said, "Oh, how can this be? The girl believes in the evil sorcerer's powers, and yet, she would not try to believe in the thief's powers. If the girl would only believe, the thief would be capable of flying the skies, or even drinking the lake dry!"

"Lupin waved his arms expressively, conjuring grand images in the princess' mind," Mary continued as her son listened eagerly to her story.

"He glanced down, as if deep in thought, and turned, struggling with his hands, holding one of them back as he approached the princess, suddenly, he revealed a beautiful flower in his hands." Mary smiled at the memory, she'd been hiding, watching Clarisse and Lupin while posing as a lady in waiting.

"But before Lupin could escape with the Princess he was caught by the Count, and dropped down a trap door, but eventually, he rescued the Princess from the evil Count, just like he promised."

Mary gave him a smile.

"No matter what happens, you can believe in the thief, you can believe in Lupin III."

Lupin glanced out the window of his yellow Fiatt 500, he'd been scouting his potential escape route, after all, stealing Robin away would take planning, since Slade would be utterly convinced that Jump City's greatest treasure was something that was a physical object instead of a person, he would send Robin out to steal it.

Robin was passing by on his motorcycle, it was one of the few things Slade would let him do as a pastime, but Slade also had an explosive hidden under the motor so if Robin tried to even head in the direction of Titans Tower it would explode, killing him, so all Robin could do was explore the city.

He passed by the 1957 yellow Fiat 500. The license plate read 03LPN33 Robin noticed the blue stripes on the side, an Italian license plate? What was an Italian car with an Italian license plate doing in America?

Wait, a 1957 yellow Fiat 500, the license plate, it was impossible! No, not really impossible, Lupin the 3rd had been in the United States on many heists and capers, including capers in Chicago, Los Vegas and New York, so it wasn't impossible for him to show up in Jump City.

That explains why Fujiko Mine's here, she must be working with Lupin, but what are they trying to steal? It's not like I can warn the Titans, Slade will just send me to steal it first. No, Slade doesn't have to know about Lupin III; it'd be nice to see someone give him a comeuppance.

"Follow the thread, follow the thread. Follow the thread of my love. It's a labyrinth lousy with darkness and dread, but follow the thread…"

Robin thought her voice sounded familiar, but put it out of his mind. He had more important things to worry about.

"Dude, we are watching, Super Ninja Showdown 8!" Beast Boy said loudly in Cyborg's face.

"No, we're watching Maniac Fury: Attack of the Protozoids!" Cyborg insisted.

"I suggest we watch London: Blitz of the Lovers," Starfire suggested meekly.

"We're watching Venice of the Dead," Raven held up the blu-ray disc.

As they continued to argue Starfire's thoughts turned to Robin. She hoped he was all right, but was unsure of what they could do to get him away from Slade.

"Inspector Zenigata arrived, said Lupin the 3rd's in town," Cyborg said.

"We should go catch Lupin the 3rd!" Beast Boy said, excited.

Suddenly, the alarm went off, "Trouble!" Cyborg said.

The Titans rushed out the door, Doctor Light had been spotted, Lupin the 3rd would have to wait.

"I'm a crook. Lying and murder are like second nature to me," Lupin III said quietly. "But I'm not here to kill anyone; I am here to steal Jump City's greatest treasure."

"That treasure is Robin of course," Lupin smiled. "You know I'd do anything for you, even if there wasn't money involved Fujicakes."

"Oh don't worry, Lupin, we're getting money, Slade's money, all of it," Fujiko grinned.

"So what'd you find out, Fujiko?" Lupin asked.

"He's got a really good lawyer, keeps him out of jail by proving that Deathstroke and Slade are not the same person, but that's all smoke and mirrors anyway," Fujiko smiled, she'd been able to get Amy to access Slade's computer via remote software while the man was away, which she uninstalled as soon as she was done.

Slade had a Russian informant that he'd go sleep with at Jump City's fancy hotel; Fujiko took full advantage of that to get into his computer. Slade didn't play videogames or download videos since this was his "work" computer, the hard drive size was rather small and it took her less than 20 minutes to clone his entire hard drive.

She made sure to remove any traces of any installed programs on his computer and shut it down. Since Slade was distracted, he wasn't paying as much attention as he should be to her.

"Wow Fujiko, you're really going to milk this man for profit, you're making 20 copies of his hard drive!" Jigen exclaimed.

"Hard drives are cheap to buy, and I can make millions on just selling one copy of Deathstroke's hard drive alone!" Fujiko Mine smiled.

"The man's quite notorious, he doesn't suspect a thing?" Lupin III asked.

"Not at all, he's far too focused on corrupting my son and turning him into a criminal; it's making him let his guard down in other areas of his professional life. Even his Russian informant is a distraction; it's just what I need to take advantage of the situation."

Fujiko examined Deathstroke's hard drive.

"Paraguay, Mauritania, North Korea, the Caymans, he's got a huge stash of cash all over the world, it's going to be fun closing those accounts and taking his money," Fujiko laughed. "I had Amy hack his computer and trace his bank accounts but she also managed to make a perfect copy of his hard drive."

"That's great and all but Slade's a metahuman, we hate fighting metahumans. The last one you fought was Bincam and that was years ago."

"Our capers are never big enough to catch the attention of the Justice League, which is brilliant on my end because I'm not a threat to the world," Lupin smiled. "Jigen and Goemon are also a low priority for the big shot heroes too, which is why they never come after us."

"There was that incident in Gotham City when you tried to steal that statue of Ra out of the Batcave!" Fujiko scolded him. "That's something I'd try to do, not you."

"It was too much fun not to, and Batman was still a noob, Robin wasn't even partnered with him yet, and even though I got away with nothing it was interesting to see the man try to stop me. He's grown a lot since then anyway. But back to Deathstroke, this is gonna be a difficult caper."

"I'll do whatever it takes to get my son away from him, but don't worry Lupin, I can wrap him around my finger just like any of my other marks."

"So Fujicakes, what are you gonna do with his hard drive?" Lupin asked.

"Oh, I'm gonna sell it to the highest bidder," Fujiko grinned evilly. "Slade's got a lot of enemies, and not the heroic sort that would love to have his client list for themselves, I can also sell it to multiple governments, I'm sure they'd love to discover how many assassinations he's participated in, especially Putin in Russia."

Fujiko held it up, "Or I could blackmail him with it, that would be justice for my son, wouldn't it? Let the man taste his own medicine."

Lupin saw Jigen and Goemon return.

"You are quite pleased with yourself, Fujiko," Goemon noted, glancing at the hard drive. "I didn't think you'd have it out for another criminal so much."

"He messed with my kid, I don't take that well," Fujiko smiled.

"Say, Jigen, did you get the cars ready?" Lupin asked.

"Yeah, they're both ready," Jigen answered.

"Good, let's send the calling card then, Pops should show up too, he can't resist a chance to catch me again."

"Say, Fujiko, what are you gonna do with Slade's money once you close all his accounts and steal it? Go to the casino?"

Fujiko's grin broadened, "I'm gonna buy my son some presents, I'll buy him a Kawasaki motorcycle and a leather jacket. Slade keeps prattling on about how he wants to be a father to my son, but fathers' buy their sons presents. I think it's fitting, don't you Lupin?"

Lupin laughed, "That's fantastic! Let's get this caper started!"

Slade stared at the screen, "Inspector Kōichi Zenigata."

Robin restrained his urge to laugh, Slade legitimately sounded frightened of the man. From what Robin knew the Interpol inspector was a master at catching criminals and had an impeccable record.

Then Robin remembered, the man had caught every criminal he'd ever gone after except Lupin III. That meant Inspector Zenigata had taken down Slade at some point in his career.

Robin had been with Slade long enough to recognize his body language and he was nervous about something.

Slade was prone to bragging about how good he was at being a criminal, but he wasn't bragging, he was uptight and nervous.

Inspector Zenigata had a drive to catch criminals that rivaled Batman's. Had Slade encountered the inspector before? Robin could see criminals putting a price on Zenigata's head for foiling crimes all over the world.

Slade watched as Inspector Zenigata began reading, "Tonight I will steal Jump City's greatest treasure at Pier 41. Lupin the 3rd". Don't you worry, citizens of Jump City, we'll keep whatever it is out of Lupin's hands. I'm working with the Teen Titans to make sure neither Slade nor Lupin will steal this treasure, although we're unsure of what it is."

"Robin, go and follow Lupin, once he steals this treasure from the docks, take it from him."

"Lupin the 3rd isn't someone that will just go down easy," Robin said.

"Then make sure he does," Slade snapped, Robin left the room.

Inspector Zenigata smiled, "So Slade the Deathstroke is here too, how convenient, two birds with one stone."

"So what do you think about what they've said about Robin becoming a criminal?" one of the officers asked.

"There's a reason for it, that boy's been fighting crime since he was eight-years-old, he's not committing crimes because he wants to," Zenigata frowned.

"It's quite obvious he's been blackmailed by Slade the Deathstroke, but if we capture him we might be able to discover why, Lupin III is just a bonus," Zenigata stared, he watched and waited.

Robin slipped into the building and was making his way towards the safe when suddenly, someone seized him from behind, covering his mouth and nose with a cloth, unfortunately, he hadn't accounted for being chloroformed and as he tried to slow his breathing, his assailant put him in a chokehold, either way, he was going to pass out.

He wasn't sure what was going to happen to him, but it was most certainly better than being Slade's "apprentice".

Robin drove in on his motorcycle, getting off, he returned to Slade.

"I saw the footage, the fight you had with Lupin the 3rd was disappointing."

"He's very skilled, very few people can stop him."

Slade slammed his fist into Robin's face.

"You failed me apprentice, you were outwitted by Lupin III, that monkey!"

"Lupin III is smarter than I was anticipating," Robin said, getting up.

Slade moved to punch Robin in the gut, but to his surprise, he caught the punch and deflected it.

"You know, Slade, if you fought me with your bare fists you'd realize that I was wearing a mask," the voice said.

"So you're Lupin III, I'm not honored to be visited by a monkey," Slade snarled.

"Well, nothing could make me happier than putting you in your place," Lupin smirked, pulling off his mask. The Gentlemen Thief and Deathstroke began to circle each other.

"The game's over already," Slade smirked.

"No, we're just getting started.

"Where am I?" Robin asked, starting awake.

"In Lupin III's Fiat 500," Fujiko Mine told him. "We've come to steal you away."

Robin was stunned to hear his own voice, or at least, a perfect imitation of his own voice come from the person wearing a convincing mask of his own face.

Fujiko floored the gas pedal and drove away from Slade's lair, but not before she took one last shot at her son's arch nemesis.

Robin stared in awe as the person next to him, dressed in his apprentice uniform tore the costume off and shouted to Slade.

"You got careless, Slade the Deathstroke!" Fujiko changed her voice back to normal when she spoke her next words, "Lupin really did steal Jump City's greatest treasure!" She gave him a flirtatious wink.

Lupin III stood in the entryway, blocking him from pursuing Fujiko and Robin as they drove away in his yellow Fiat 500.

"So that was your scheme, was it? And what was the point, so he could fight crime and chase people like you?" Slade asked, enraged.

"So that boy can do whatever he wants, people like us do what we do because we want to, and you've broken that unspoken rule for us criminals. Besides, bringing down people like you is way too much fun, but the heroics hold them back too much. I'm bringing you down because it's too much fun not to. And you're very rich so stealing your money is right up my alley. Stealing from villains is its own challenge."

"You want anything on your gravestone, Lupin III?" Slade asked, removing his laser gun from its holster.

"Here lies poor Lupin, Fujikoless, at least if she visits he can look up her dress," Lupin III replied without hesitation. Lupin held up his gun in one hand and Slade saw a device in the other.

It was a small square box with buttons and dials and a switch.

Lupin saw Slade's one eye go wide in horror.

"A micro-sized, high-frequency wave generator!" Slade was surprised Lupin had one in his possession.

"Yeah, it's perfect for fighting people like you, metahumans with superpowers, this'll only last a couple of seconds for me, but it'll feel like an eternity for you!"

Lupin flipped the switch and covered one of his ears as Slade collapsed onto the ground, clutching his head.

"Lupin, you little—" Slade groaned, struggling to get to his feet, he fired his gun, aiming wildly.

Lupin III took out a grenade and threw it straight at Slade's face, uttering his parting words with all the mischievous sarcasm he had, "Hasta la bye-bye!"

Slade saw Lupin III rush out of the building even as he was blasted off his feet by the explosion.

Lupin ran away, laughing, humiliating Slade was too easy; at least Pops was his own challenge because he could see through all his tricks. For a man that prided himself on his intelligence to fall for the oldest disguise tricks in the book was too amusing.

Lupin saw Fujiko pull the Fiat 500 to a stop and let him get in.

"Fujiko, floor it!"

Robin heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed from above his head and saw Slade's robot minions leap at the car only to be cut into pieces.

As they were chased throughout the city, he saw Daisuke Jigen shoot down a sign above the highway, crushing Slade's robotic minions and their car to pieces. They were terrifyingly competent, no wonder they were wanted all over the world.

They pulled up to a nondescript building in the middle of the city, one of Lupin's hideouts.

Robin walked into Lupin III's hideout and stared in awe at the table heaped with food, expensive foods, the stuff he'd eaten at Wayne Manor. Also, chicken and expensive steak, wine, beer, soda, anything anyone could ever want to eat was there.

Robin stared in surprise at the crab-stuffed mushrooms. It was something he loved to eat but he hadn't ever mentioned it in any conversations with Fujiko.

"Wait, is that a Kawasaki motorcycle?" Robin asked.

"Yes, Richard, and it's yours," Fujiko smiled, "I bought it with Slade's money."

Robin was startled when she pulled off his mask, and pulled him into a hug. "It's okay, little Robin, it's okay."

Robin knew the truth, he knew it was her. He hadn't seen her since he was eight years old, the last time he'd seen her, she'd been lying in the dirt, her own blood dribbling out of her mouth.

"Mom, is-is it really you?"

"Yes, little Robin, it's me, you're safe now. You're safe from that man, and I will do anything to keep you safe from him. It took me years to learn to walk again and years to regain all my skills, but when I found out what Slade did to you, I had to interfere."

"But Fujiko Mine is a notorious criminal; wouldn't she be proud of her son following in her footsteps?" Robin asked.

"You're not doing that, everything I've done, I've done by choice, you were blackmailed into it, and that is why I came, I believe in freedom, freedom to do whatever you want."

She let him go and got him a plate, the group sat together and ate and drank.

It was so strange, to see a band of notorious criminals behave like ordinary people.

"So tell me, Robin, why are you doing this?"

"Slade shot my friends full of nanoscopic probes, if I don't do what he says, he'll—"

"Use this on them?" Lupin asked, holding up a remote and Daisuke Jigen carried in the probe container."

"You stole all that while getting me out of there? But how?"

"I'm Lupin the 3rd; I can steal anything, even personalities."

"I'm just surprised; you'd go through all this for me."

"I'm doing it for your mother," Lupin admitted.

"I'll do what I promised, Lupin, just behave yourself until then," Fujiko took one of Lupin's cigarettes.

"Oh how nice, how typical that you're holding his cigarette while holding his OTHER cigarette," Jigan said sarcastically.

"Mom, you didn't promise him—" Robin began.

"I promised him and I'll keep it, but only because it suits me. Don't worry, I'm fine. We used to be married a long time ago, before you were born."

Robin sighed, they were adults, there wasn't anything he could do, his objections meant nothing.

"Get some sleep," Fujiko told him. He headed off to a room.

As he got in bed, he heard her voice.

"Shiawase o tazunete watashi wa yukitai. Ibara no michi mo itetsuku yoru mo. Futari de watatte yukitai," Fujiko's voice was soothing and warm and he let himself drift off to sleep.

"Lupin will visit your friends and help them with the probes, don't worry about them."

Robin let himself drift off to sleep and for the first time in ages, felt safe and at peace.