Chapter Text
Lupin III: The Hybrid and Devil's Serum
Chapter 1: Amolin, West Virginia
"Here we are, gents. Amolin, West Virginia." Lupin smirked, rolling down the window of the car they were in as the sign showed the town's name and the population.
This place was hard to find on the map, knowing the town's reputation of keeping the down low from the other places as it was inside a large woods area by a large mountain, the nature only being heard as the townfolks go on with their daily lives. And Lupin could not blame them, it could be a really great hideout if it weren't for his old home on the opposite side of the world.
Jigen slowly raised his hat up slightly as he saw a few people giving them weird stares before looking away to their own activity. "...not much of a friendly greeting. You sure the details we're looking for is here?" He asked, lighting up a cigarette. Goemon remained quiet, his eyes closed as Lupin parked a car by a small hotel that don't seem to have a lot of customers. "You should never underestimate my sense of directions, Jigen. It is here, it's only a matter of time to find it is all. Shouldn't be too hard." The thief smirked, turning the car off.
The three walked inside of the hotel, seeing an old man who looked up at them from his papers. "Can I help you, gentlemen?" He grunts, looking at them odd of their usual style of clothing. Lupin smiled and laid his hand on the desk. "Yes, we need a room for three, please." He smiled. The old man raised an eye brow at them and sighed before finding a key. "Tourists...don't get many of 'em these days." He said before handing Lupin the key and the book to sign in.
"Hey, why make a town all the way out here if you don't mind me asking?" Lupin asked, the old man grunting once more. "We don't need bad filths comin' to our town. We had that problem far enough a few years back when...." He looks over at a bulletin board of a news article with a man and woman on the main page, "...when those two were around...." Jigen looks over at the article.
"Angela and Gregory Hammington, huh? Names sound familiar." He said before letting the paper go.
"...surprise you never heard of 'em...wanted with multiple accounts of murder and kidnappin'....even their daughter went missin' years ago...no one has seen them for years...like they disappeared off of the planet. But as long they ain't back in town, that's all I care about...." He said, grabbing the book once Lupin was done signing them all in for the night. Jigen eyed the old man for a bit before following Lupin and Goemon to the hotel room they were staying in.
Goemon simply sits on the bed, Lupin over at a table as he looks over at the map to find their loot that was rumored around in the black market. Jigen lights up another cigarette before taking a long drag, huffing out smoke. "So what's the big prize we're after again, Lupin? Devil's somethin'?" He asked, looking back at Lupin, who nods. "Yep. They called it Devil's Serum. Whoever injects this into their blood system can have imaginable powers. Just imagine, not havin' to worry about sneakin' around Pops anymore when we have the stuff, huh? We can hide in plain sight and he wouldn't find us." Lupin snickered.
"Don't we already do that?" Goemon pointed out, opening one eye to glance over at him.
"Yeah, we do. But with this serum, it'll make the game a lot more fun." He pointed out, winking over at the samurai, who just sighs. "How do we even know it existed. Nothing of what it does existed before." Goemon stated once more, Jigen nodding with him. "Even if the serum is real, how do we even know it's safe for us. It could make us explode for all we know." Jigen said, looking out the window once more.
"Ah, but it does exist, my friends." He then pulled out some files, making the two men glance over at Lupin. "It's being held here at this facility that's a few miles away from town. We go there when it's night, look at what security they have, and we'll be in and out before Zenigata even catches us." Lupin smirked, looking over at his two comrades.
"Which brings us to another problem. Aren't you a little worried that Pops might find us here. He's been able to before and he could try again." Jigen points out, Goemon nodding in agreement with the gunman. Lupin sighs, shaking his head and then smiled. "Don't worry. Pops never comes out this far to find us. Besides, how can he find us when there's no officers in this town?"
A police car pulls up to the motel a few hours later, parking it in place. The door opened to reveal the Inspector, Koichi Zenigata. He straighten his coat before going inside. the old man from before looking up. "You here for a hotel room? Sorry to disappoint you, but we're booked in for the night. You'll have to try again, tomorrow." The old man grunts, going back to his newspaper.
Zenigata pulled out his wallet, showing his badge. "I am Koichi Zenigata, Inspector of the ICPO. I'm here to ask a few questions if you don't mind." He said, then placing his wallet back when the hotel owner saw the badge. "...alright...what do ya want?" He asked, looking at the inspector.
Zenigata then pulled out a small picture of a young woman, the picture being black and white as she looked a little young. "Have you seen this woman? Her name is Lilian Hammington." He said, the owner looking at the photo and sighed deeply. "....they called that search off years ago...you won't be able to find Lily here, Inspector...." The owner said, but his voice had a hint of sorrow as he looks at another photo, showing him at a younger age holding a small girl with black hair, a small red ribbon tied around her hair.
"...I was told that I was needed here for her cold case, aren't the other officers down here?" He asked, only for the hotel owner to laugh sadly. "Yeah...we use to...but they got disband after abusing their powers over us, especially to those that needed help....you're wastin' your time here, inspector. If Lily was alive...she would have been here by now years ago....not on the run..."
Zenigata walked out of the hotel, sighing deeply as he takes out a folded map from his pocket, looking at the surrounding area to see if there were any leads.
He was told by his Chief that there was a case that went cold for many years in the Western continents of a woman that went missing; no trails, evidence or anything. He looked over which town was the closest but then saw a building on the map. 'Voldin Expedition, huh?' Zenigata. Maybe they might know where Lily is or might find a clue of where her whereabouts were.
00~00
Night comes.
Jigen, Lupin and Goemon look at the facility, seeing a few guards were at the front gate, looking for any intruders to try to invade the facility. Jigen looks through the binoculars as they hid in a tree, seeing security lights and guardsmen on each floor. "Place is packed up...you sure there's a hidden entrance here?" Jigen asked, pulling the binoculars away. Lupin made sure that his disguise was on as he studied one of the guards earlier.
"Yeah, it's right about...there...." He points over to a wall where a single tee was looked like was growing into the wall. He made sure to walk over, silently gesturing Jigen and Goemon over as a guard kept looking around, letting out a yawn. Lupin then silently felt around the wall before finding the panel hiding, After cutting a few wires, the secret door opens and the three men got in.
"...that's security? That's easy." Jigen chuckled as they sneaked through the hallways, completely white as only a few doors had supplies. Goemon glanced around, keeping his hand on his sword in case things go south. As they venture down the hallway, it went three ways, the three boys looking at each other. "Okay....Goemon, take left. Jigen, you take right...and I'll take the middle." Lupin said, the three now going their separate ways.
00~00
"It already killed two guards and the science team?" A guard asked a scientist, Jigen secretly listening in.
"We're running out of options. It was passive earlier...but then again....626 is known for aggressive behavior. We've managed to activate the sleeping gas protocol and added extra chains and shackles to restrain it. " The scientist said.
"Can't we just tranquilize it like we do with the others?" The guard asked.
"We cannot...it's starting to become immune to the tranquilizers we give it."
Jigen peeked around the corner as he watched the scientist and guard start to walk away. Immune to tranquilizers? 626? "...the hell is going on here?" Jigen whispered, keeping an eye out as he continued to walk down the hall--
Jigen felt something blunt hit him on the back of the head, his vision fading in and out before blackening out.
00~00
Lupin opens the door to an office, whistling loudly as he saw many files and a computer as it was downloading some files. "Don't mind if I do..." He smirked, locking the door as he searches through the computer files. "Let's see...devil's serum...devil's serum....Ah, there you are." He smiled, clicking on the file to find out where they were keeping it inside of the warehouse. As he clicked on the file, it turned out that there was more than one devil's serum that was made and kept away. He glanced at the map, then looks at the picture of the serum.
He then heard noises coming towards the room he was in. He slowly unlocks the door before finding a vent and gets inside before anyone found out that he was in there.
As the thief crawls through the vents, he heard more voices. One he knows while the other he does not know.
"Ah, inspector Zenigata...heard a lot about you....what can I do you for?" A deep male voice asked, Lupin's response of hearing the Inspector's name makes him drop his forehead against his arm in frustration. There's no way of getting away from Zenigata!
"I'm sorry to intrude on your research, Dr. Groves. I'm here on a special assignment and was hoping if you would provide some answers." He pulls out the same file and then pulled out a picture. "I'm looking for a young woman named Lilian Hammington. I was hoping that you would help to see if you know where I can start looking for her." He asked, the elder man looking at the picture. Lupin looks at the photo, seeing a young woman on the profile, then looks at Dr. Groves.
He had peppered black hair, glasses on as he looks at the profile. He seemed to be down at age, his grey eyes then glancing at the inspector. "I'm sorry, Inspector...but Lilian has been dead for many years. You've wasted a flight down here, Inspector." He said, giving the photos back. Lupin kept listening to the conversation. So Pops does have a life outside during his job instead of chasing him 24/7.
"I'm sorry to disagree with you, Dr. Groves. But I've been hearing reports and rumors that she's still alive; here in this small town in hiding. I just wish to help her against her case against Angela and Gregory Hammington." Zenigata explains, the two guards that were with them exchanging worried looks, Dr. Groves's stare turned to sudden cold before taking a deep breath. "...we are aware of the two criminals...but as I stated....Lilian is dead...she was reported dead a few years ago." He then gestured to the guards, who nods and stood beside him.
"If you follow my men, they will escort you back out, Inspector. I have a tight schedule to run right now." He stood up and left a different room.
"Inspector. Please follow us." A guard said before leading the inspector out of the room they were in. Lupin narrowed his eyes before opening the vent and silently dropped to the floor to look at the computer that was at Dr. Groves' desk. He logs into the network and then looks through each file, then saw a video file. 'Experiment 626 test number 242' that looked like the screen was cracked on the video. He clicks to the beginning.
"H-Hello, this is Dr. Bilder. This is test number 242 with number 626 to see any immunity--"
"S-Sir, it's not moving." Another doctor said, looking back at the lead doctor with concerns. Dr. Bilder then looked over and then sighs before going inside of what looked like a chamber. It was silent before Lupin jerked back a bit when he heard screaming, seeing the doctor from the beginning from the video thrown through the glass, landing against the camera as it fell to the ground, the screen cracking. Lupin could see something a figure of some sort through the fog and smoke when the machinery was broken around it, an ear piercing roar being let out.
"626 IS ATTACKING! START THE SLEEPING GAS PROTOCOL!" One shouted before a blue light of beam hits another doctor, the doctor falling dead as his chest had a large whole gap.
There was another loud roar before the video ends.
"What the hell are they doing--"
There was a gun click. "Don't move."
Lupin smirked before holding his hands up. "Took you long enough..." He said, glancing back at the guard who was aiming a rifle at him. The guard had his finger on the triggered before Lupin smirked once more before taking out something quickly from his pocket, revealing the rifle cartridge. "You would need this, wouldn't you?" He snickered, dumping all of the bullets from the cartridge. Before the guard could react, he used the cartridge to knock the man out cold.
"Shame you fell for that...but I gotta get away." He smirked before going out of the room....
....before seeing a few more soldiers waiting outside of the door, aiming their weapon at him.
Lupin blinked in surprise before he raised his hands up in surrender, dropping the empty cartridge magazine on the ground. "Doctor Groves, we've detained another suspect. We may think he belongs with the other two men we've captured along with the Inspector." One said, another guard grabbing Lupin's arms and placing handcuffs on him to restrain him.
"Place them in the cell number 13 with the others. I'll deal with them soon enough." Lupin could hear Dr. Groves through the walkie. The thief smirked as he was being escorted deeper into the facility they were in.