(no subject)
Chapter 01
That month of September was being the usual one. A little rain here, a little wind there, but the blue skies never failed to show up and the sun was almost always high up in the sky. But Lupin didn’t have time to enjoy that. He had people to call, books to read, files to organize... It was a tiring job but, after almost a month of full time research he was able to put his hands on some information that would be more than useful for his latest plan.
It was, possibly, the most ambitious thing he ever planned on doing. What he planned to steal didn’t even look valuable, but if he ever had the chance to snatch that for himself, he would be set for life.
Maybe, he could even think about retiring? No, not him. No matter how much money and valuable things he got, the thrill of stealing things was what moved him and he wouldn’t be able to stop.
Still, that was huge. Not only the money involved, but the people involved as well. And even though Lupin was more than confident on his skills, he couldn’t help but be a little bit anxious about all that. More than that, he couldn’t wait telling that to all his gang. He had kept all that a secret from all of them, even Jigen. He wanted to be absolute sure that everything was perfectly well planned before telling anyone about it.
Now, with all papers ready and a whole operation all planned, it was just a matter of executing said plan. Everything needed to be clockwork, but he knew that he could count on his partners to be as punctual as he wanted them to be.
The night after he finally finished all his planning, he called everyone to join him at his most recent hideout, so then he could give them all the details they needed to know.
“I’m so glad you all could come here today. I believe you are wondering why I haven’t done anything for almost over a month and you’ll get the answer tonight,” Lupin said smiling, standing in front of a slide projector.
“Well, that’s true. It isn’t like you to sit still for such a long time,” Fujiko said, arms crossed. “So, what have you been planning all this time?”
“This is going to be the scheme of our lives. Please, pay attention,” Lupin turned off the lights and turned on the slide projector. Instantly, the picture of a microfilm could be seen against the wall.
“What is this?” Jigen asked, not sure if he should be impressed by such a plain image. It wasn’t even possible to see what was on that film due to the poor quality of the photo.
“This is our next target, the Philosopher’s Legacy,” Lupin smiled as he looked at the image on the wall.
“I never heard of such a thing,” Fujiko said, rolling her eyes.
“Of course you didn’t. Almost no one ever did,” Lupin turned around to face his partners. “And that’s why it’ll be easy to snatch it.”
“Oh, is that so? Is this worth anything then?” Fujiko wasn’t impressed. Sure she knew microfilms could be very valuable, but those were usually well known around the criminal underworld and everyone would be more than willing to get a hold a them.
“If it is worth anything? Do you really think that I, Lupin the Third, would go after something that isn’t valuable?” Lupin said, frowning.
“I’m asking again: what is it?” Jigen really didn’t like being ignored like that. All that talking wasn’t really answering his question.
“Oh, yeah, I better explain this to you better, right? So, here, let me give you a little story lesson...” Lupin changed to another slide with a world map. “You know, when Cold War started, both the US and the URSS were spending all their money on developing better weapons and even better technology, but all this ‘run’ comes with a price. A price that has to be paid somehow.”
“And what does it has to do with this ‘Legacy’ you are talking about?” Fujiko asked, getting impatient.
“Calm down Fujiko dear! I’ll get to it pretty soon,” Lupin changed slides again and some pictures of some old men appeared against the wall. “So, to finance their research, both countries needed a hefty sum of money, and that’s where the Legacy comes into play. You see, some time ago during World War II, some old dudes decided to save money to finance technology and armaments. It happens that, after the war, the money stayed with the Russians due to the actions of some guy and both the US and China, which were part of that deal, really didn’t like that. So then began a mission to retrieve it.”
With a click from the slide machine the picture on the wall changed to the one of a woman.
“This woman was known as The Boss,” Lupin said, pointing at the picture.
“The Boss...” Goemon muttered to himself, eyes closed. “Wasn’t she the former hero of the US Army that turned her back at her own country?”
“Well, that’s the story that went to the press, but the real story is far more interesting,” Lupin crossed his arms. “You see, the Boss was the main piece of a huge scheme that the US set up to retrieve the legacy from the URSS. Although, they just couldn’t ask her to go there and take it from their hands, so she pretended defecting to the Soviet Union in order to retrieve the money. But something got wrong along the way, I don’t know what, exactly, but the US had to find a way to ‘get rid’ of her and retrieve the Legacy.”
Another click and a picture of a man appeared.
“I want you all to meet Big Boss, the highest ranking soldier that has ever lived in this little world of ours.”
“Hey, I heard about this guy in the news!” Jigen exclaimed, recognizing the face on the photo. “He won a badge and everything after a mission in the Soviet Union... Is that what you are talking about?”
“Bingo!” Lupin smiled. “He was the one they choose to kill The Boss. He was the Boss’ apprentice and the only one that really could ‘eliminate’ her without much problem. Too bad poor Big Boss didn’t know anything about the government’s plans and just thought his mentor had defected for real. The government just played with him.”
“This story is... highly confusing,” Fujiko’s head was spinning a little. That was a lot of info.
“Well, it really is a complicated tale so, let me make it shorter: The Boss feigns defection but something goes terribly wrong, although, America still wants to go on with its plan, so they send Big Boss to kill her and retrieve the money. He succeeds and comes back home a hero for the entire nation. The end.”
“So, the money is with the US government them?” Jigen asked, leaning back against the back of his chair.
“Not exactly,” Lupin said, jumping to another slide with a picture showing a group of people, with Big Boss among them. “Well, the microfilm that Big Boss retrieved was a fake but, ultimately, the US recovered half the money through another agent they had sent. Some other things went down and, finally, the whole money ended up in the hands of a group of people: The Patriots.”
“These people on the photo?” Fujiko thought they were dealing with something really big. Was Lupin sure that they could handle such a thing?
“Indeed. They are the only ones that know anything about the Legacy’s money and, well, we are getting the info straight from their mouths,” Lupin turned on the lights and then grabbed three envelopes that were sitting on the table. “Even though there are six of them, we are aiming our efforts at just four of them.”
Lupin gave one envelope to each of his partners and smiled at them.
“What’s that all about?” Goemon asked, looking at the blank envelope.
“This is what you guys have to do. Unfortunately, these four people are spread all over the world, so each one of us has a specific mission.”
“You know, this is looking like some type of top secret army operation,” Jigen said, waving the envelope around.
“Why, we are dealing with army people. It’s only natural that we think like them, right?” Lupin nodded, arms crossed. “Besides, every single action in those envelopes are connected, so, you better not screw up. Everything has to work clockwork.”
“Wait, you didn’t even tell us anything about the people we are supposed to be looking for!” Fujiko got up from the couch, visibly annoyed.
“Don’t worry your little head about this Fujiko dear, all you need to know is inside the envelope. After reading it, you’ll even know what’s your target’s favourite food, believe me,” Lupin laughed, getting a fourth envelope from under the slide projector. “You know, we all need to get moving. This heist officially starts at 10 o’clock tomorrow. You don’t wanna be late!”
Lupin’s friends just looked at each other, a little bit confused. Were they really going after something they barely knew anything about?
“Just one last question,” Jigen said, looking at his own envelope. “About how much money are we talking about?”
“How much?” Lupin thought for a second before answering. “Well, they did spend a part of it to finance their own projects, but I guess that the total sum is around a trillion dollars? Yes, I guess that’s right.”
A lot faster than Lupin expected, everyone was out the door. He smiled to himself.
I knew they just needed a little financial motivation.
That month of September was being the usual one. A little rain here, a little wind there, but the blue skies never failed to show up and the sun was almost always high up in the sky. But Lupin didn’t have time to enjoy that. He had people to call, books to read, files to organize... It was a tiring job but, after almost a month of full time research he was able to put his hands on some information that would be more than useful for his latest plan.
It was, possibly, the most ambitious thing he ever planned on doing. What he planned to steal didn’t even look valuable, but if he ever had the chance to snatch that for himself, he would be set for life.
Maybe, he could even think about retiring? No, not him. No matter how much money and valuable things he got, the thrill of stealing things was what moved him and he wouldn’t be able to stop.
Still, that was huge. Not only the money involved, but the people involved as well. And even though Lupin was more than confident on his skills, he couldn’t help but be a little bit anxious about all that. More than that, he couldn’t wait telling that to all his gang. He had kept all that a secret from all of them, even Jigen. He wanted to be absolute sure that everything was perfectly well planned before telling anyone about it.
Now, with all papers ready and a whole operation all planned, it was just a matter of executing said plan. Everything needed to be clockwork, but he knew that he could count on his partners to be as punctual as he wanted them to be.
The night after he finally finished all his planning, he called everyone to join him at his most recent hideout, so then he could give them all the details they needed to know.
“I’m so glad you all could come here today. I believe you are wondering why I haven’t done anything for almost over a month and you’ll get the answer tonight,” Lupin said smiling, standing in front of a slide projector.
“Well, that’s true. It isn’t like you to sit still for such a long time,” Fujiko said, arms crossed. “So, what have you been planning all this time?”
“This is going to be the scheme of our lives. Please, pay attention,” Lupin turned off the lights and turned on the slide projector. Instantly, the picture of a microfilm could be seen against the wall.
“What is this?” Jigen asked, not sure if he should be impressed by such a plain image. It wasn’t even possible to see what was on that film due to the poor quality of the photo.
“This is our next target, the Philosopher’s Legacy,” Lupin smiled as he looked at the image on the wall.
“I never heard of such a thing,” Fujiko said, rolling her eyes.
“Of course you didn’t. Almost no one ever did,” Lupin turned around to face his partners. “And that’s why it’ll be easy to snatch it.”
“Oh, is that so? Is this worth anything then?” Fujiko wasn’t impressed. Sure she knew microfilms could be very valuable, but those were usually well known around the criminal underworld and everyone would be more than willing to get a hold a them.
“If it is worth anything? Do you really think that I, Lupin the Third, would go after something that isn’t valuable?” Lupin said, frowning.
“I’m asking again: what is it?” Jigen really didn’t like being ignored like that. All that talking wasn’t really answering his question.
“Oh, yeah, I better explain this to you better, right? So, here, let me give you a little story lesson...” Lupin changed to another slide with a world map. “You know, when Cold War started, both the US and the URSS were spending all their money on developing better weapons and even better technology, but all this ‘run’ comes with a price. A price that has to be paid somehow.”
“And what does it has to do with this ‘Legacy’ you are talking about?” Fujiko asked, getting impatient.
“Calm down Fujiko dear! I’ll get to it pretty soon,” Lupin changed slides again and some pictures of some old men appeared against the wall. “So, to finance their research, both countries needed a hefty sum of money, and that’s where the Legacy comes into play. You see, some time ago during World War II, some old dudes decided to save money to finance technology and armaments. It happens that, after the war, the money stayed with the Russians due to the actions of some guy and both the US and China, which were part of that deal, really didn’t like that. So then began a mission to retrieve it.”
With a click from the slide machine the picture on the wall changed to the one of a woman.
“This woman was known as The Boss,” Lupin said, pointing at the picture.
“The Boss...” Goemon muttered to himself, eyes closed. “Wasn’t she the former hero of the US Army that turned her back at her own country?”
“Well, that’s the story that went to the press, but the real story is far more interesting,” Lupin crossed his arms. “You see, the Boss was the main piece of a huge scheme that the US set up to retrieve the legacy from the URSS. Although, they just couldn’t ask her to go there and take it from their hands, so she pretended defecting to the Soviet Union in order to retrieve the money. But something got wrong along the way, I don’t know what, exactly, but the US had to find a way to ‘get rid’ of her and retrieve the Legacy.”
Another click and a picture of a man appeared.
“I want you all to meet Big Boss, the highest ranking soldier that has ever lived in this little world of ours.”
“Hey, I heard about this guy in the news!” Jigen exclaimed, recognizing the face on the photo. “He won a badge and everything after a mission in the Soviet Union... Is that what you are talking about?”
“Bingo!” Lupin smiled. “He was the one they choose to kill The Boss. He was the Boss’ apprentice and the only one that really could ‘eliminate’ her without much problem. Too bad poor Big Boss didn’t know anything about the government’s plans and just thought his mentor had defected for real. The government just played with him.”
“This story is... highly confusing,” Fujiko’s head was spinning a little. That was a lot of info.
“Well, it really is a complicated tale so, let me make it shorter: The Boss feigns defection but something goes terribly wrong, although, America still wants to go on with its plan, so they send Big Boss to kill her and retrieve the money. He succeeds and comes back home a hero for the entire nation. The end.”
“So, the money is with the US government them?” Jigen asked, leaning back against the back of his chair.
“Not exactly,” Lupin said, jumping to another slide with a picture showing a group of people, with Big Boss among them. “Well, the microfilm that Big Boss retrieved was a fake but, ultimately, the US recovered half the money through another agent they had sent. Some other things went down and, finally, the whole money ended up in the hands of a group of people: The Patriots.”
“These people on the photo?” Fujiko thought they were dealing with something really big. Was Lupin sure that they could handle such a thing?
“Indeed. They are the only ones that know anything about the Legacy’s money and, well, we are getting the info straight from their mouths,” Lupin turned on the lights and then grabbed three envelopes that were sitting on the table. “Even though there are six of them, we are aiming our efforts at just four of them.”
Lupin gave one envelope to each of his partners and smiled at them.
“What’s that all about?” Goemon asked, looking at the blank envelope.
“This is what you guys have to do. Unfortunately, these four people are spread all over the world, so each one of us has a specific mission.”
“You know, this is looking like some type of top secret army operation,” Jigen said, waving the envelope around.
“Why, we are dealing with army people. It’s only natural that we think like them, right?” Lupin nodded, arms crossed. “Besides, every single action in those envelopes are connected, so, you better not screw up. Everything has to work clockwork.”
“Wait, you didn’t even tell us anything about the people we are supposed to be looking for!” Fujiko got up from the couch, visibly annoyed.
“Don’t worry your little head about this Fujiko dear, all you need to know is inside the envelope. After reading it, you’ll even know what’s your target’s favourite food, believe me,” Lupin laughed, getting a fourth envelope from under the slide projector. “You know, we all need to get moving. This heist officially starts at 10 o’clock tomorrow. You don’t wanna be late!”
Lupin’s friends just looked at each other, a little bit confused. Were they really going after something they barely knew anything about?
“Just one last question,” Jigen said, looking at his own envelope. “About how much money are we talking about?”
“How much?” Lupin thought for a second before answering. “Well, they did spend a part of it to finance their own projects, but I guess that the total sum is around a trillion dollars? Yes, I guess that’s right.”
A lot faster than Lupin expected, everyone was out the door. He smiled to himself.
I knew they just needed a little financial motivation.