Chapter Text
"Damn it," Lupin cursed at the TV as he flicked it off.
"Another one?" Asked Jigen as he came into the room with two cups of coffee. He sat on the couch next to Lupin and handed him one.
"It's the fifth one." Lupin took the coffee and took a sip only to immediately burn himself. "Fuck!" He quickly put the mug down on the table in front of the couch and jumped up. He was angrier than he had been in a long time, and that was without having just burnt his tongue with hot coffee. "What in the hell does he think to gain impersonating me?"
Over the past few months capers were prominent in the news that spoke of the one and only Lupin III doing his usual bit of thieving. That would be all good and well if only it had been the real Lupin behind those heists. To make matters worse, the things that were being stolen by the phoney Lupin were all items that the real Lupin was working on stealing himself. The nights before he, Jigen, and Goemon planned to have their heists, they found that the fake son of a bitch had already beaten them to it.
Pacing around the living room in nothing but his underwear and a off-white wife beater, Lupin tried thinking of a way to outsmart the guy. He wouldn't take such treatment lying down. No, he would catch this phoney-baloney Lupin and show him who was boss. He would show him what happened to people who tried to scam him of a score that was rightfully his. "I got it!" Lupin looked at Jigen and rushed back over to the couch. "We're going to move up our plan in England to nab the Crown Jewels. Since this guy seems to always beat us to the punch, we'll show up early and wait for him to make his move before stealing the jewels and teach him a lesson he won't forget."
Jigen nursed his coffee. "How much are we moving it up? We were originally going to do it June 15th."
"We'll get there June 10th and stake out the place." Nodded Lupin, grabbing his coffee back up. He blew on it before drinking this time. "He always hits just a day or two before we do. If we show up earlier than him we should be able to take him by surprise."
"Alright. I'll call up Goemon and let him know the plan's changed."
***
The night was June 12th and for the past two nights Lupin, Jigen, and Goemon had been stationed strategically around the Tower of London. Lupin felt it deep in his bones that this night would be the night the imposter showed up. He couldn't explain it, but he just knew it. It was a hunch, and usually his hunches were right.
As he raised his wrist to his mouth, Lupin clicked on the communicator hidden in his watch. "Remember," He spoke into the communicator which transmitted directly to Goemon and Jigen's own communicators. "Don't kill him if it can be helped. I want to make this guy pay myself."
" We know. " Spoke Goemon and Jigen together on their lines, sounding thoroughly irritated. It was the third time Lupin had said something of the sort to them just that night, and maybe the hundredth time he had said it to them since devising the plan.
Just then, multiple gunshots rang out inside the tower, followed then by the noise of muffled shouting and a loud alarm. Lights went up inside the tower and a shadow against the night sky appeared suddenly on top of the building. Bingo.
Without so much as a second thought Lupin began his pursuit. As he neared the base of the tower he shot a grappling hook from a metal cuff on his wrist and started to climb up the side of the building. More than anything he was eager to unmask whoever the hell was using his name. At that point in time he didn't even care about the jewels, what he cared about was righting the wrong made against him and his family name. At the end of the day, a man’s name was all he had, and Lupin wouldn’t have his name stolen from him. As he climbed he could hear the continued shouts from the guards inside muffled by the loud alarm.
Once he made it to the top of the tower Lupin ripped off the metal cuff off his wrist and threw it over the side of the building. Jigen and Goemon had already beaten him to the top, he could see them already hot on the imposter's tail. Luckily for Lupin he wasn't too far from his friends. He looked and saw that the imposter was close to the edge of the roof. If they didn't stop him here then things would get harder, messier. It was no picnic chasing someone through the streets of London at 1 in the morning while already being pursued by the police, no matter what the circumstances were.
With his thoughts moving a hundred miles a minute, Lupin reached inside his jacket and pulled out his pistol in a flash. He took aim not to kill, but to scare the imposter fucking shitless. As soon as he fired, he yelled, "Goemon, go!"
Within seconds it happened. The bullet passed deathly close to the fake Lupin, grazing his shoulder in the process and causing them to trip. At the very same time the samurai had leaped into the air, and when he came down upon the phoney he used his Zantetsuken to slice his green jacket right off his back.
As this all happened, Lupin ran to his friends' side, his gun still drawn and aimed at the fake’s back. The fake seemed to have some common sense at least, because he stopped running away from them at that point and threw out his arms to show he had no weapon. Still, Jigen and Goemon also had their weapons out to strike in case the faker tried anything.
Lupin couldn't help grinning. He felt like laughing, but he didn't. No, he had to seem serious and deadpressed on showing this guy what he did wrong. "Turn around!" He commanded. "C'mon, I wanna see the face of the guy who thought he could steal my name."
The phoney laughed and it didn't sound like a man at all. Then he turned around and Lupin saw that he wasn't dealing with a man like he had thought, but a kid, a teenage girl. She had short, shaggy brown hair and dark eyes. "I wouldn't call it 'stealing'." She said, grinning. "It could be my name if I wanted it to be. But it seems I finally got to meet you, Lupin."
“I’m flattered, but meeting me can’t be the reason you pretended to be me. I’m not into kids your age, sorry to break it to you.” Lupin said after a few seconds of being confused at the fact that he had been outsmarted by a literal child. “Now, what is the bright idea that caused you to impersonate me? Because from where I’m standing it looks like you have a death wish, kid.”
“You recall a lady named Shoshanna from New York?” The fake asked, looking rather unbothered by the fact that she had two guns and a sword that could cut through anything drawn on her.
As soon as Lupin heard that name he blushed. “Vividly.” He said, clearing his mind of some rather fun memories that had resurfaced in a matter of seconds. “That doesn’t answer my question. What has she got to do with you?”
“Because I’m her kid. Howdy, pops.”
Before Lupin could even absorb what the girl had just said, scrambling members of the Queen’s Guard appeared through a door on the roof some ways behind them. “There he is! There’s Lupin! Retrieve the crown at whatever cost!” Then bullets came whizzing past them, shattering holes in the roof where they landed with a bang.
It was a split second decision, but Lupin reached out and grabbed the girl's hand. “You’re coming with us, I’m not done talking to you.” He growled, feeling rather annoyed with how the night was turning out. “C’mon!” He started to run, pulling her alongside him.
The girl ripped her hand out of Lupin’s but nonetheless ran beside him. “I don’t need your help!” She removed a pistol from the holster on her belt and took aim over her shoulder at the guards chasing them, firing and hitting two of them who were in the lead in the foot and the leg. The shots caused both guards to immediately fall and those directly behind them to trip over them, making a dogpile of at least six guards fall behind them all with all of them clamoring at once to get back up again.
At least the fact that he didn’t have to help the girl escape removed some of the weight from Lupin’s shoulders. He looked away from her to the edge of the roof where they were rapidly approaching one of the tower's three turrets. The turret wouldn’t be a problem to get down itself, but Lupin was still worried if the girl could do it. However, after much running and an escape into the sewers near the tower, Lupin found that the girl was just as good as getting away from the scene of a crime as she was committing the crime.
Despite getting away safely without much of a hitch, no one talked for some time until they had regained their breath down within the sewers.
Leading the trudge back through the sewers to a manhole close to where their hideout was, Lupin looked around at the girl who was walking between him and Jigen and Goemon in the back. A precaution in case she tried to get away, but Lupin doubted she would even try. “What did you mean back there?” He asked, removing a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from within a pocket of his jacket. “What’s this ‘pops’ crap? You can’t mean-”
“Oh, I mean.” The girl sighed, resting her arms behind her head as she strode past the visibly stunned Lupin. “I’m Kris by the way.”
“Shit-” Lupin muttered, lighting the cigarette and putting it between his lips. A second of silence, that anyone would have upon finding out they had a grown ass child, passed by painfully. He couldn’t believe that he of all people could be so stupid as to have a kid- one he didn’t even know about to boot.
“She does look like you.” Jigen suggested from behind him.
Already tight on his tether from too many shocks that evening, Lupin spun around to yell at Jigen. “I see that. Thanks, Captain Obvious, for that wonderful observation!” He pushed his hands into his pockets and grumbled to himself, falling behind Kris but still thinking about her whole existence. “S’not like I needed a blood test, I believe her.” A kid, a kid- his kid. A grown ass one by the looks of Kris too-. Ugh, the whole idea of having a kid just made Lupin feel so very old. Too old.
“So, that’s it?” Lupin sped up again until he was by Kris’ side. “You wanted to meet me and that’s why you took to impersonating me?”
Without meeting Lupin’s eyes, Kris shrugged. “Yes and no.” She slowly cracked her knuckles. “I was hoping you’d come to hunt me down sooner or later if I kept using your name, but that’s not everything. I used the money from the stuff I stole to pay for things for my siblings.”
“Siblings? Well, it’s nice to know that your mom settled down at least.”
“Oh, no.” For the first time since entering the sewers Kris met Lupin’s eyes. “They’re not my mom’s kids.”
Beginning to feel sick, Lupin paled. “You can’t mean- not me. You can’t mean that there are more of you?”
“Two,” Kris said and Lupin felt like he needed a drink more than anything in the world. “That I know of.” Hearing that, Lupin stumbled. Scratch that, not a drink. Maybe a whole bottle of something with a deadly alcohol content would work better.
Jigen whistled from the back. “That’s what you get for abandoning Goemon and me just for some chicks.”
“I agree.” Goemon nodded. “Maybe this will teach him to behave in a more honourable manner.”
“Alright! I get it!” Lupin yelled back at them. “When did this turn into the peanut gallery at the ‘Slutshame Lupin show’? I swear! ’” He grumbled. Looking around he saw they were nearing their exit. “Now, if you have all had your fill picking on me, let’s get out of here.” He sped up and moved to the side of the sewer path near the wall where there was a metal ladder installed with a cracked open manhole cover above it.
Lupin climbed up the ladder, pushed aside the manhole cover, and was the first one out of the sewers. Next came Goemon and Jigen, and finally Kris. Lupin held out his hand to her to help her out.
Upon seeing Lupin’s hand Kris hesitated a second before finally taking it. She didn’t thank him as he helped pull her out of the manhole, but she did give him a stiff little sort of nod. They were alone in the dark street, Jigen and Goemon already having started to the safehouse without them.
Lupin could never remember feeling so awkward around someone. “So, you’re my kid, huh?” He asked, not knowing exactly what to say. He had never been in a situation such as this before. He was in unfamiliar territory, something that usually excited him. But this time the stakes were completely different. Lupin took his burnt down cigarette from between his lips and tossed it on the ground, it's butt growing faintly in the dark for just a second before he crushed it with his foot.
Kris reached under her black shirt and removed the Imperial State Crown out from under her bra. “Does this answer your question?” She asked, holding the crown in her hands as if it was nothing more than some plastic replica from a costume shop.
"You stole that by yourself with no help?" Lupin asked, looking at the crown and badly wanting to get his own hands on it. "Yeah, you're mine. No doubt about it."