Just An Unorthodox Thief (Fate/Zero-Lupin III Crossover)

[TheInfamousMan]

Just An Unorthodox Thief



Hello people of Beast's Lair, yes this is TIM from fanfiction.net and not some poser. I was actually convinced by Kiiam (Who also betas this fic) to come to this site a while back, and only recently created my profile and began posting. Kiiam told me that this place offers good criticism for fanfic works, and what can I say? I like criticism. So, I'm just going to post what I've done with JaUT so far. After the posts of the chapters I have already done are finished, I'll also update on this site as well as fanfiction.net. And since I'm new, please forgive me if I screw up with posting this thing.

And do not worry, Stay Away will be exclusive on Fanfiction. So yeah, good for you guys who don't really like it.

For the general dislaimer: I don't own anything from the Fate or Lupin III series. It all belongs to Type-Moon/Nasu and Monkey Punch.

Here's the chapter index, for your convenience.

Prologue (Below)
First Heist
Second Heist
Third Heist
Fourth Heist
Fifth Heist
Sixth Heist
Seventh Heist
Eighth Heist
Interlude 1: The Killer Called Kiritsugu
Interlude 2: The Servant Called Saber
Interlude 3: The Man Called Lupin
Interlude 4: The Cop Called Zenigata
Ninth Heist
Tenth Heist
Eleventh Heist
Twelfth Heist
Thirteenth Heist
Fourteenth Heist
Fifteenth Heist
Sixteenth Heist
Interlude 5: The King Called Arturia
Seventeenth Heist
Eighteenth Heist
Nineteenth Heist
Twentieth Heist
Twenty-First Heist
Interlude 6: The Guy Called Jigen
Interlude 7: Fuyuki Chorus
Interlude 8: The Kid Called Waver- Part 1
Interlude 9: The Kid Called Waver- Part 2
Twenty-Second Heist
Twenty-Third Heist
Twenty-Fourth Heist
Twenty-Fifth Heist
Twenty-Sixth Heist
Twenty-Seventh Heist
Twenty-Eighth Heist
Twenty-Ninth Heist
Thirtieth Heist

The original fanfiction.net format (Feel free to review there too)...

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8868025/...orthodox-Thief

And the TV Tropes Page for you all to add your two cents in...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...northodoxThief

So without further ado, enjoy.

xxXXxx

Prologue: Summoning the Emperor of Thieves

xxXXxx

The Holy Grail War.

A contest between seven Magi for the ultimate prize.

The prize, you may ask?

Why, the Holy Grail.

Not the cup Jesus drank from during the Last Supper with his twelve apostles, but it is glorious enough to warrant the name.

It grants whatever wish the holder desires, no matter how big, small, useless, or insane the wish may be.

Only one wish though, otherwise there wouldn’t be a need for this war.

In order get this wondrous object, the seven Magi must summon seven Servants and make them battle each other to the death.

But these Servants weren’t just mere slaves, oh no. They were revived legendary heroes. Given form once more and allowed to walk the earth and fight for their summoner, their Master. They do this in the hopes of getting their own wish from the Holy Grail, hoping to either correct mistakes in their life or selfishly acquire something.

Do these Magi, the Masters, volunteer in order to take part in this glorious battle?

No, they are chosen by the Holy Grail itself. The Holy Grail chooses the seven Masters that would take part in the war by giving them three Command Seals in order to control their Servants. The Grail chooses the contestants of the battle based on their need for it.

It should also be mentioned that sometimes non-Magi are chosen to be Masters, but that is beside the point.

It should also be mentioned that the Grail has access to the Throne of Heroes. A realm of reality that is beyond both time and space. This ‘Throne’ contains the spirits of both heroes and anti-heroes. Some of these spirits are from the past, the present, from separate realities, and even from the future.

Sometimes, Masters choose specific artifacts, Catalysts, in order to summon specific heroes as a Servant. If no Catalyst is present, then the Grail chooses a hero that is close to the Master in terms of personality or desire.

But in the end, it is the Grail’s choice as to what Servant the Master will get.

And there is no better example of the Grail demonstrating this power than the Fourth Holy Grail War.

Turin, Italy (1991):

In the room of an elegant villa built atop a small hill in the neatest district in the south of Turin, three men stood facing one another.

"The markings that have appeared on your right hand are called 'Command Seals'." One of them spoke up, his voice smooth and carrying as he addressed the other two, who wore priest robes that identified them as members of the Catholic Church. "They are the proof that you have been chosen by the Holy Grail, and the qualifications that grants you the right to control a Servant."

The person who had spoken was Tohsaka Tokiomi, current head of the Tohsaka family, one of the three founding families behind the by now infamous Fuyuki Grail Wars. He wore a red tuxedo with a white dress shirt and a blue ribbon tied around his neck. He had black hair, blue eyes, and a small goatee. The other two members consisted of Father Kotomine Risei, an old 'friend' of the Tohsaka family and his son Kirei, to whom Tokiomi's words were directed. Risei himself was an old man who had wrinkles on his face, seemingly closed eyes, and combed back grey hair. Kirei himself had more youthful features on his face, brown eyes, and a bit more rustled up short brown hair.

Kirei had to admit, for a friend of his father, a pious man of the cloth who would soon reach eighty, the eccentric Tokiomi was surprisingly young, possibly little older than Kirei himself, though the feeling of composure and confidence he gave off spoke of experience Kirei had only felt from senior members of the Burial Agency.

It was unsurprising really, as even by the standards of Japanese Magi, the Tohsaka were an old, distinguished lineage. What surprised, or rather intrigued Kirei, was that the casual ease by which he'd revealed his identity as a Magus, as one would have to be a fool to so blatantly purchase property within striking distance of the Church, and especially so to declare their status before members of the Burial Division of the 'Holy Church', who followed a doctrine of exterminating the stigma of heresy, such as Mage-Craft, and burying it into oblivion.

Typically, Magi conspired and interacted only with other Magi, preferring the safety of the Magus Association to avoid clashing with the enforcers of the Church. Recently both sides agreed to a 'cease-fire' of sorts in order to maintain the peace in the wake of the last World War, but even so it was a rare state of affairs where members of the Holy Church and a Magus would gather in the same building to discuss one of the most 'blasphemous' of rituals without someone losing a limb.

The Tohsaka were an exception, however, having made a point of keeping on good terms with the church, in particular the Kotomine family, a relationship that was maintained through generous donations that went both ways since before the foundation of the Grail Wars.

Risei had known Tokiomi's Grandfather and had overseen the previous Grail War, which had fallen short as was fast becoming a trend. Now, in the waning of his years, he was rather eager to see the ritual to fruition, and couldn't be happier when Kirei had come to him the previous night, revealing the surfacing pattern on the back of his hand which identified him as one of the 'Masters' chosen by the Grail, and had contacted Tokiomi immediately.

"Does the Grail have preferred people to select?" He pondered during a break in Tokiomi's explanation, not liking the way the older man was eyeing him.

"The Three Founding Families: Einzbern, Matou and Tohsaka are always included amongst the participants." Tokiomi confirmed with a nod, raising a hand to reveal a threefold ring pattern "As the current heir to the Tohsaka family, I will participate in the next battle."

Kirei said nothing, but inwardly tensed, eyeing the elder man before him warily. While he doubted his father would have agreed to the meeting if Tokiomi intend foul play, never mind the fact the man would have to be suicidal to attempt anything within spitting distance of the Church, it never paid to be careful. "I'm curious about these 'Servants' you mentioned earlier." He muttered at length, eyeing the older man before him carefully. "You said they were Heroic Spirits summoned and used as Familiars?"

"I know it may seem hard to believe, considering your upbringing." Tokiomi noted, sighing as if the very idea dumbfounded even him. "Summoning seven warriors from amongst the ranks of Heroic Spirits that existed since the Age of the Gods into the present and pairing them with Seven Masters to battle it out in a bloody battle for supremacy." He then nodded in acknowledgement to the very fact he stated. "That is very much what the Holy Grail War is."

"And you allow such a monstrosity?" Kirei demanded, addressing not only Tokiomi, but also his solemn faced father, who had maintained his silence thus far. "In a place where thousands of citizens live?"

It went without saying that, even BEFORE the ceasefire between the church and the Magus Association, all Magi carried out their practices in secret in order to avoid drawing attention to themselves. In this modern era, where science and technology were quickly replacing Magecraft as the most prevalent force on the planet, to reveal one's existence as a Magus was tantamount to suicide, even without factoring in the edicts of the Holy Church.

"Since the third Heaven's Feel an agreement has been made so that we at the Holy Church would dispatch a supervisor to keep the potential damages from the War to a minimum." Risei spoke up, startling his son. "It is our duty to not only conceal all traces of the war's existence, but to ensure that the magi do so as well."

"The Church is serving as a referee in a conflict between Magi?" Kirei repeated, admittedly stunned by the revelation, though naturally he hid it well.

"It is precisely because it IS a conflict between Magi that we do so." Risei revealed, "As it stands, there is no one in the Magi's Association qualified to act an impartial referee due to the political implications. There simply wasn't any way other than having recourse to an external authority such as the Church." He nodded solemnly. "In addition, as I'm sure you're aware we of the Holy Church cannot turn a blind eye to a ritual involving a so called 'Holy Grail' though to tell the truth, we've had conclusive evidence that the Fuyuki Grail differs from the holy relic for some time now."

That certainly explained why the Grail Wars had been allowed to continue unopposed for so long. Normally the Church would not have remained idle when faced with such a treasure, and Kirei had little doubt that, Master or not, he would've been deployed to Fuyuki along with several other members of the Assembly of the 8^th Sacrament to plunder the Grail out of the hands of the magi, cease fire be damned.

"Still it's not as if we can simply ignore an omnipotent wish-granting device." Risei admitted with a troubled frown. "Who knows what disaster could be wrought if it were to fall into the wrong hands?"

"Thus, it is best that we ensure that at the very least the Grail falls into the 'right' hands as a plan B." Tokiomi interposed, and Kirei had no doubt in his mind as to whose hands the Tohsaka head was talking about.

"While the Tohsaka are indeed Magi, they have a long history of friendship with the Church." Risei continued, confirming his son's suspicions. "I can also vouch for Tokiomi-kun's character, and moreover, his intentions for the Grail are clear."

"To reach Akasha is the sole desire of the Tohsaka family." Tokiomi verified, as if Kirei hadn't guessed that already. "Sadly, the Einzbern and Matou have both forgotten the wish we once shared."

"So I'll be participating in the upcoming Holy Grail War to ensure Tohsaka Tokiomi's victory, then." Kirei deduced, earning a nod from his father and a smile from Tokiomi.

"Of course, on the surface, we will act as enemies fighting over the Grail." The Tohsaka head elaborated, as if Kirei hadn't been able to figure it out on his own. "But beneath the surface, we will join forces to defeat the remaining five Masters, and attain certain victory." He smiled as Risei nodded austerely. "Kirei-kun, you will be transferred from the Holy Church to the Magus Association, where you will become my apprentice."

"The official orders have already been issued." Risei confirmed, taking out a letter of notification that bore the joint signatures of both the Holy Church and the Magus Association, addressed to his only son.

"You will go to Japan and study magic." Tokiomi continued confidently. "There, you will become a Magus strong enough to summon a servant to fight in the Grail War three years from now." He smiled at Kirei "So, do you have any other questions?"

"Just one of note;" Kirei admitted, turning to look Tokiomi in the eye for the first time. "What exactly is the Grail's will in selecting the Masters?"

Tokiomi blinked, his brow furrowing, the Tohsaka head having not anticipated such a question, and Kirei had to admit he felt a small burst of accomplishment for wiping the smug smile off the man's face. The moment was short lived, however, as Tokiomi soon regained his composure, "The Grail prefers to choose Masters that need it the most." He admitted, smiling calmly at Kirei, who twitched at how close that struck to home.

"Does that mean that all the Masters selected have a reason for coveting the Grail?" the younger Kotomine demanded, trying to keep his voice level, only managing it with the years of practice he'd accumulated as a member of the 8^th Sacrament.

"Not necessarily." Tokiomi countered, his tone dismissive. "There have been cases in the past where Command Spells have appeared on people you wouldn't expect to be chosen." He glanced at Kirei with a smile. "I see. Kirei-kun, are you still baffled that YOU, of all people, were chosen?" He continued at Kirei's nod. "Admittedly it is surprising, considering your only link to the Grail would be through your father in his role as Overseer." He then smiled confidently, as if something had just dawned on him. "No, perhaps it would be better to say that is the very reason you were selected. Perhaps the Grail anticipated that the Holy Church would support the Tohsaka family. In other words, the Grail is giving me two shares of Command Seals, and for that, it chose you as a Master." He smiled arrogantly at the younger Kotomine. "Does this explanation satisfy you?"

It didn't, but Kirei wasn't the sort of man to voice his opinions on something unless it involved carrying out the doctrine of the Church, in which case he was more than happy to get his 'point' across. Still, from what little he'd managed to gather of the arrogant Tohsaka Head's personality, it was clear to him that he wasn't likely to get a more satisfying answer out of the man for the time being, and so opted to put it on hold in favor of demanding to know when they were to leave so he could make preparations.

"I have a small task to take care of at the Clock Tower that requires me to stop over in Great Britain first." Tokiomi revealed "You will be travelling onto Japan ahead of me, I have already informed my family and they are waiting for you."

"Understood." Kirei acknowledged, wondering precisely what kind of welcome he, a former member of the Executors, was likely to receive in the home of a Magus. He nodded in passing at his father before taking his leave, stepping out of the villa and making his way slowly down the winding hilltop path. The wind of the Mediterranean Sea rustling his hair as he idly rubbed the back of his hand, the Command Spells shining red as blood in the light. However, he was deep in thought about the whole situation.

It had been some time since the death of his wife, Claudia Kotomine-Hortensia. She was a terminally ill woman that Kirei had met in church, and married to. She… loved him with all her heart, despite how cold his personality was. They even had a daughter together, little Caren, and Kirei had been hoping that he could find some completeness in being both a husband and a father.

Unfortunately, Kirei felt no happiness from his beautiful wife or daughter. Kirei was a disturbed man, even he knew that. He only felt joy whenever there was human suffering, and nothing else. That fact alone… frightened him.

One night, he confessed to his wife of all his faults and that no matter what, he could not love either her or Caren. He was hoping that by talking about his problems to someone he knew that would not tell a soul, he would feel better. And perhaps Claudia would provide him an answer. Instead, she killed herself in order to that in death, he would be sad about her dying and would thus learn that he truly loved her.

He had been sad yes, but not for the reason Claudia died believing in. He was sad that he could not have killed her himself.

Kirei had never been more shocked, disgusted, and horrified of himself in his entire life.

After this, he had sent little Caren to live with her relatives. He did not turn back once, not even when she cried for him to come back. It was for the best, because even if he did not love her he was concerned about her safety. If she stayed with him… Kirei was not sure what he would do to her.

“But why?” Kirei thought as he continued to rub the Command Seals on his hand. “Why was I chosen?”

It did not matter. What mattered was that perhaps, eventually he would be provided with a purpose.

The search for a purpose in life was the only thing he needed in order to continue living in this world…

Three Years Later (Another Plane of Existence):

The Grail, as stated before, was more or less omnipotent.

I call to thee…

It was also corrupted, not that anyone had any knowledge of that. This perhaps explained why someone like Kotomine Kirei was chosen for this war.

Your self is under me, my fate is in your sword.

It knew by the Catalyst that Kotomine Kirei intended to summon a Hassan-I-Sabbah, or more specifically ‘The Hundred Faced Hassan’, in order to serve Tohsaka Tokiomi and compete in the Holy Grail War.

In accordance with the resort of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer.

But in the end, it was still the Grail’s choice. And because it was corrupted, it was allowed to slightly bend the rules.

Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead.

More than one ‘hero’ had touched this specific mask, and this ‘hero’ is exactly what a disturbed man like Kotomine Kirei needed.

You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence…

Thus, the Grail chose the necessary Heroic Spirit…

O keeper of the balance!

And the Servant was summoned.

Fuyuki City (1994):

Kotomine Kirei stood still and eyed the Servant in front of him as the smoke from the Summoning Array disappeared with a neutral expression on his face, but his mind was racing. Whoever the Servant was, it was definitely not of Middle-Eastern descent nor was it dressed in any ancient robes whatsoever.

No, the Servant in front of him was a tall, lanky man in his thirties that looked to be of either European or Asian heritage, but it was hard for Kirei to tell. He had black hair that was plastered flat with a v-shaped bang on his forehead and sideburns that extended from his ears to almost his chin. He wore sharp clothing, consisting of khaki pants, brown dress shoes, a blue dress shirt, a yellow tie that was pinned by a silver clip to his shirt, and a bright red jacket.

Most definitely not Hassan-I-Sabbah…

Before he could contemplate this, the Servant raised an eyebrow and spoke in almost fluent Japanese, “I’m Assassin. You the one who summoned me?”

“…Yes.” Kirei responded after a moment, further absorbing this new development. What was going on? Was there something wrong with the Catalyst?

“Great!” The Servant shouted before a wide grin stretched across his face. He then got in front of Kirei and animatedly shook his right hand with his own. “The contract is complete then! Gotta say, it’s kind of a shock to be summoned by a priest of all things! Never been the religious type myself, but something tells me this partnership is going to work out just fine!”

“Um…” Kirei muttered with widened eyes at the Servant’s enthusiasm before Assassin stopped and looked back at the summoning array, spotting the Hassan mask that Kirei had used as a Catalyst.

“Hey, I remember this thing!” ‘Assassin’ shouted as he let go of Kirei’s hand, went to the array, and picked it up before inspecting it. “Swiped it from a museum in Syria once, the National Museum of Aleppo if my memory is right. Sold it to a Tohsaka something-or-other for a few million yen. Man, that guy really wanted it….”

“W-who are you?” Kirei finally asked, making the Servant turn to him before grinning.

“Arsène Lupin the Third. Just an unorthodox thief.”

​xxXXxx

And here are Assassin's stats.

Class- Assassin

Alternate Classes- Archer, Rider

True Name- Arsene Lupin III

Alignment- Chaotic Neutral

Strength- D-

Agility- A-

Endurance- B

Mana- D

Luck- A+

Class Skills-

Riding (A)- All vehicles and creatures except those of Phantasmal Beast and Divine Beast-rank can be used as mounts.

Presence Concealment (A-)- The servant is able to completely conceal all traces of their own presence, including sounds, and smells, they are able to blend in with their surroundings that when moving slowly or standing still they appear to be completely invisible. However, there are some instances where Assassin wants to be discovered, thus making Presence Concealment moot if he subconsciously wants this.

Independent Action (B)- Capable of remaining in this world for two days without an established contract. Also capable of living on for a short period of time after suffering extensive damage on his spiritual core.

Personal Skills-

Bravery (A+)- Assassin is more that willing to steal ANYTHING from ANYONE no matter how heavily guarded the prize may be or how dangerous the owner is. This allowed Assassin to steal some of the world's greatest treasures.

Charisma (B)- Assassin was able to talk his partners in life into joining him, and was able to create temporary alliances with his rival. However, he is unable to sway anyone's moral code if it is deep rooted.

Eye for Art (EX)- As a master thief in life, Assassin is able to immediately identify any artifact or piece of art he sets his eyes on and has a full mental description of its history and worth.

Discernment of the Poor (A-)- Assassin is able to immediately judge a person's character and ambitions after meeting them, unless he wishes to intentionally ignore the facts or simply does not care.

Noble Phantasm-

Tools of the Trade (E-D Rank, Support)- This Noble Phantasm provides Assassin with all the tools needed to pull of an heist, ranging from grappling hooks, false limbs, blood packs, bombs, and guns. Assassin will never go empty-handed or unprepared when attempting to steal or battle a Servant.

Mistaken Identity (B Rank, Support)- Gives Assassin the ability to disguise himself as and perfectly imitate any person down to their voice, sex, and mannerisms for any amount of time he desires.

Better Luck Next Time (D+ Rank, Support)- Assassin is able to get himself out of any situation, no matter how small or fatal, he sees fit. However, the trick used can only be performed once on the specific person a day.

The Family Lupin: A Legacy of Thieves (A Rank)- With this Noble Phantasm, Assassin is able to steal any Noble Phantasm and make it his own. However, he cannot truly wield them or access their power since they are simply stolen from the original owner. If the original owner is killed, the Noble Phantasm is transformed into an ordinary object, allowing Assassin to do whatever he wishes with it.

[TheInfamousMan]

First Heist

xxXXxx

"Arsène Lupin the Third…" Risei muttered to himself as he looked at the Servant, not even trying to hide the disdain in his eyes.

When Kirei had reported to him that something… complicated… occurred during the summoning, he immediately contacted Tokiomi so that they could meet and see how much the supposed 'complication' would change their initial plan. Tokiomi immediately had them all meet at his residence, and after half an hour Kirei arrived with… Assassin… out in the open admiring everything within the manor with greed shining in his eyes.

"Gotta say Kirei my man, you've got some high class friends!" Assassin shouted as he placed his hands in his coat pocket and walked to Tokiomi's desk and, without even asking, picked up the wine bottle that sat on it. "Oh! Thirty years old and from France! Now, don't mind if I do!" Assassin then poured himself a glass before taking a sip and continuing to sit on the desk with an amused smirk on his face as he observed the gathered men. "Now, I gotta admit it was nice and all to come here, but why are we in the house of another Master?"

"So you noticed?" Tokiomi asked smoothly, maintaining his air of confidence as he observed the Servant.

"Not that hard since I can see you've got the marks on your right hand. You should really get some gloves or somethin'." He then turned his eyes to a still silent Kirei and said, "Same goes for you. Don't want any other Masters figuring out you're one and starting some trouble so early in the war right? I know a few tricks to keep those things out of sight and…"

"That won't be necessary Assassin." Tokiomi spoke, making Assassin turn his attention to him. "While both of us may be Masters, Kirei and I are allies in this war. We will work together in order to defeat the enemy Servants. I already have a strategy in mind and decided what our first move will be."

"Oh?" Assassin asked, raising an eyebrow in obvious interest. "Does this mean you're summoning your Servant soon? Haven't felt another presence in this house, and you're supposed to be a Master. Kinda stupid don't you think?"

"Assassin…" Risei muttered while his eyes narrowed even more. "Do not insult your allies. I have worked with Tokiomi-kun for many…."

"Yeah, yeah." Assassin drawled out with a dismissive wave while taking another sip of his wine. He smacked his lips and muttered, "Damn, this stuff is good…" before looking at Kirei and asking, "What do you think? These guys say we're allies and all, but it's still kinda dumb to invite another Master into the house without summoning their own Servant first, right?"

Kirei blinked at Assassin's pointed question. Assassin had been attempting to start a conversation with him ever since his summoning, and was not dissuaded by Kirei's silence. The man was persistent, that was for sure. From the looks of things Assassin was not going to let this go, and his father and Tokiomi were looking at him for his answer to the question. Ah well, so much for waiting for the conversation to end… "It is not my place to judge my master's decisions…"

"What? Really?" Assassin asked, only receiving silence as a response. He then slapped his hand against his face muttering, "God, you're just no fun…"

"Assassin." Tokiomi said politely, making the Servant look back to him. "Wait outside for a moment. There is much for Risei, Kirei and I to discuss."

"Aw, come on!" Assassin whined as he took another sip of Tokiomi's wine. "I can keep a secret, and trust me, I have made enough plans to…"

"Wait outside until further instructions, Assassin." Kirei repeated his teacher's command, making the Servant blink and a small frown form on his face. Assassin took one last swig of the drink before walking out of the room and closing the door behind him.

"My God…" Tokiomi muttered to himself as he sat on his cushioned chair, a troubled frown on his face as his eyes closed. "What a mess…"

"This changes things drastically." Risei agreed, his own frown seeming to grow deeper. "I would have never imagined that he would be summoned…"

"And my father assured me that the Catalyst would most definitely summon Hassan-I-Sabbah. To think that it would instead summon that thief…" Tokiomi muttered, making Kirei blink.

"You know of him father?" Kirei asked, making Risei look at his son in confusion.

"You mean you haven't…" Realization then dawned on Risei. "Ah that's right, you were never one to watch the news or listen to rumors…" Risei then took a deep breath before sighing out, "Arsène Lupin the Third is the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the world-famous thief from England. Lupin has spent many years building a reputation for himself by announcing his plans to steal various riches before promptly stealing them from under the owner's nose." Risei looked down and his hands clenched into fists. "He has stolen from the church numerous times…"

"Yes, my father did business with the thief before his death." Tokiomi mentioned, making the two turn to him. "Numerous Magi families employed this certain thief due to his… success… in stealing treasures and historical artifacts from the most heavily guarded places. I know some Magi hired him to steal objects that could be used as Catalysts in hopes of using them should they have a chance to participate in the Holy Grail War. My father himself hired the thief for one such job. Seeing as the Catalyst you used was the relic my father hired the man to steal... I suppose it is an unfortunate coincidence that resulted in the infamous thief's summoning."

"Hold on, Tokiomi-kun... are you saying you met Lupin?" Risei asked in shock.

"Only through my father when he visited here to deliver the Catalyst. My only question is how such a ridiculous man ended up in the Throne of Heroes…" Tokiomi muttered, making Risei blink in confusion.

"I can assure you Tokiomi-kun, that he is no ordinary thief." Risei said in a gravely serious tone. "He stole the Papal Tiara from his holiness John XXIII after announcing it a day prior, while several Executioners guarded him, plucked it from his head, and still managed to escape!"

Kirei blinked twice at this. He had heard of the incident, often remarked as the 'Lupin Incident'. While such a thing wouldn't have interested Kirei, he still had working ears. From what he had heard, a thief had managed to steal from the Pope by disguising himself as one of the Swiss Guard. He was so convincing that he slipped past two Executioner veterans without arousing suspicion before promptly leaving without a trace.

Such a feat deserved praise.

"Bah, such a feat is luck. Lupin the Third is simply a skilled thief, no more no less. And thus should still be an unremarkable Servant." Tokiomi dismissed, making Risei's lips crease just a bit in response.

"Do not be so quick to underestimate him, or write off his accomplishments as a result of luck alone. Even then, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say he might be the luckiest man who ever lived. Exercise caution when dealing with this man, Tokiomi-kun." Risei warned. "While he may not seem threatening or heroic, his deeds have obviously earned him a place on the Throne of Heroes. That fact should not be overlooked."

"...Then as you say, Risei-san, we'll have to be careful dealing with him for as long as he is around." Tokiomi replied evenly. Risei sighed, inferring from the Magus' tone that he still wasn't taking the matter as seriously as he should.

Risei was honestly worried because Tohsaka Tokiomi was exactly the type of man Lupin the Third was known to steal from.

"Even if the Assassin summoned was different than the one we expected, the plan will still proceed as it was originally intended to." Tokiomi informed Kirei as he turned towards his student. "Assassin will still be of use to me obtaining the Grail, that much is certain. Until then, keep him occupied until the time comes."

"Understood." Kirei replied before bowing and leaving the room. As he navigated the dark hallways to the front entrance, he blinked as he saw Assassin lounging on the frame with a slightly bored look on his face.

"Hey! Took ya' long enough!" Assassin grinned cheekily as he waved his right hand at Kirei, who simply nodded in acknowledgement before walking past him. Assassin blinked in confusion before his smile returned and he followed his Master with both his hands in his pockets. "You know, I still think that I should have been part of the planning. Don't know what kind of bug crawled up that Tokiomi guy's butt. He's even worse than his old man was."

Kirei looked at his Servant, who seemed to snicker at his own joke before focusing back on the path in front of him. Indeed, Assassin was not going to stop familiarizing himself with him anytime soon. While Kirei was not the one who usually started a conversation in the group, Tokiomi did tell him to keep Assassin occupied. So… "I can only imagine that it is because he does not wish for his plans to be denounced."

"Oh? So you do have a mind of your own!" Assassin remarked with wide eyes as he took something out of his pocket and began to twirl it around in his fingers. "Maybe you're not so boring after all!"

Kirei would have responded, but the object in his Servant's hand caught his eye. It was shining in the moonlight, and had the distinct shape of a…

"Where did you get that diamond Assassin?" Kirei asked, making Assassin smirk.

"Was bored while you guys talked, so I went for a little explorin' in that guy's place. He should really learn not to keep his jewels out in the open and invest in better locks." Assassin said before holding the diamond in between his thumb and index finger. Then, at a flick of a wrist, three more gems appeared between his fingers. A nicely shaped and polished ruby between his index and middle finger, a square-shaped emerald between his middle and ring finger, and an uncut sapphire between his ring and pinkie finger. "Not that it wouldn't help against me, but seriously…"

Kirei knew full well what they were. These gems happened to contain huge amounts of Mana, and each jewel was designed to perform a specific task at the Tohsaka head's command. However, in any other Magus' or a regular humans' hands they were simply expensive gemstones and would most likely sell for a pretty penny.

Not surprising that Assassin would steal them, since he was a thief.

"Why would you steal from our ally?" Kirei asked, genuinely curious about his Servant's actions, only for the Servant to shrug.

"Hey, just 'cause I will be working with the guy doesn't mean I have to be his little monkey boy." With that statement, Assassin simply gave Kirei a look that seemed to imply he was talking about him in a sense before grinning and saying, "Now come on! I wanna cash these in! Say, does this city sell old cars anywhere?"

Now, one should keep in mind that Kirei was a different type of man when compared to others. He is not that bothered by things that would anger most, due to the fact that said situations fail to get a rise out of him most of the time. That is not to say that Kirei was not irked by Assassin's thinly veiled insult, now his disregard for Tokiomi as their 'partner in crime'. But…

...It wasn't his property, thus Kirei did not really care.

Instead, he began to lead Assassin to Fuyuki City's shopping district to conduct their business.

Three Days Later (First Night Of The Holy Grail War):

Kirei stood on top of a hill overlooking Fuyuki City, the lights of the city glistening in the night while the full moon shone down on everything else.

Just a few moments ago, he had been informed by his father that the seventh and final Servant, Caster, had been summoned. Even though the summoner had not reported to the Church, meaning that it might simply be a regular civilian or a weak Magus who was dragged into the war, the plan was still to proceed as originally intended.

Tokiomi summoned the legendary king of Uruk Gilgamesh under the Archer class, and after disposing of Assassin Kirei would seek protection from the Church. Thus while the other Masters focus on each other, he is free to eliminate the Masters behind the scenes.
It was a good plan, all things considered. With Assassin gone, nobody would account for a former Master attacking them from the shadows. But the only flaw is that if Kirei were to be discovered (However unlikely that may be) the political situation between the Church and the Mage's Association would be catastrophic.

It was still a shame that he would be more or less out of the war and moving only when Tokiomi ordered him to. Despite not having a personal desire for the Grail, he would have liked to actually face Kiritsugu in actual combat rather than assassinating him when he least expected it. Perhaps he could demand the answer he was seeking from Kiritsugu before he died?

No matter, he had to proceed with the plan…

"I gotta say, this is a mighty fine view." Assassin said as he sat on the hood of their transportation. "But what was the real reason for bringing us here? I mean, I appreciate it an' all, but…"

Kirei looked to Assassin, who continued to grin on top of his (Or soon to be Kirei's) Fiat 500 R. Assassin's pockets seemed to be deeper than they looked, because he stole numerous other gemstones from Tohsaka Tokiomi and several stacks of yen (Most likely the reason why his teacher seemed uncharacteristically eager to proceed with the plan.). After cashing the jewels, he used the money to buy a Fiat 500 R from a dealer within the city. His Servant seemed to have an… affinity for the car. And while Kirei himself was never one to enjoy cars, he could admit that having one felt… nice.

"I have received word from my father that the Servant Caster was summoned only moments ago." Kirei informed Assassin, who blinked at the information. "You will go to the Tohsaka household. The Bounded Fields should not be any trouble for you."

"Huh. I know it's just for appearances, but isn't that stick in the mud supposed to be our ally?" Assassin asked cheekily, only for Kirei to shake his head.

Despite their short time together, Kirei thought he might miss the Servant's positive attitude towards everything. Oh well…

"Do not worry. Even if you have to fight Archer, there is nothing for you to fear." Kirei said evenly, making his Servant shrug before getting off the car and walking to the edge of the cliff. He then took off his jacket, revealing that he was wearing a parachute pack strapped to his back.

"Nothing to fear… gimmie a break…" Assassin muttered before he jumped off the ledge, the wind rushing past his face before he pulled the cord. The parachute instantly sprung to life, catching the wind and slowing his descent. "But I guess this just makes things more exciting." Assassin then tugged on the parachute to make it float towards the Tohsaka residence.

While the Bounded Fields that surrounded the Tohsaka residence guarded against any straightforward intruder, like one that wished to use the backdoor, front, or even the windows as an entrance into the household, it did not seem to account for one that wished to enter through the ceiling. Assassin grinned as he closed in on the roof before disengaging from the parachute and landed on the top of the building, rolling to prevent any serious injury.

"Hm, would have expected Archer to attack by now…" Assassin muttered to himself as he dusted off his clothing while getting back up. "Maybe he's got the runs or something?"

"You seek to stand on the same ground as I, mongrel?" A haughty, arrogant voice sneered out, making Assassin blink before turning…

...Only to see numerous swords flying straight toward him, pointy ends first.

"GAAAAHHH!!!" Assassin yelled before the swords impacted the area he was standing on, making wood, dust, and smoke cover everything while Archer stood several feet away, his expression completely blank as he heard the distinct sound of metal piercing flesh echo through the night. Before the smoke cleared, golden ripples appeared behind him and several swords and scythes were flung out with deadly accuracy, once again pounding on the area that Assassin formerly stood on.

"You are unworthy of such a privilege, let alone beholding my face, dog." Archer repeated as the smoke cleared, expecting to see the mangled corpse of the lower Servant…

...Only to find his treasures gone, and sitting on the ruined portion of the roof where the mongrel's body should have been was a puppet made out of paper with a cartoonish face sticking its tongue out. As if to mock him! Oh yes, now the dog would die slowly. He would pay dearly for…

Wait…

His treasures were gone, and he did not feel them return to his vault…

...Did the dog actually…?

"...You…" Archer growled with barely restrained fury. His eyes snapped open, red and clouded with rage as he shouted, "MMMMMOOOONNNNGGGGRRRREEELLLL!!!!!" The golden portals now appeared in the hundreds in the air behind him before numerous weapons rained down on the courtyard and surrounding forest. "YOU DAMN MONGREL! HOW DARE YOU!? YOU DARE TO STEAL FROM A KING!?!" Spittle flew from his mouth as the weapons kept rending the earth, destroying stone, trees, and even the forest itself. "Stealing from a king is the greatest of sins! Stealing from ME is the cause for greatest of punishments! A slow death is too good for a worm like you! My treasures with rend your body, but they will not kill you! No, that will be my pleasure and mine alone! Once I locate your bleeding carcass I will inflict such tortures upon you, you shall be begging for death! Your agony will be legendary, your descendants will know my wrath, and their children will suffer for your sins! I will…"

So lost in his rage, Archer only focused his attack on the courtyard and did not notice Assassin calmly walking away on the road in front of the Tohsaka Manor, lugging with him an armful of weapons of various shapes and sizes and made with precious metals and decorated in priceless jewels.

The very same weapons that Archer intended to kill him with in his first attack.

"Wow, looks like someone has a temper!" Assassin whistled out as Archer continued to strike at the ground spouting off various death threats and tortures. "Maybe I should recommend the guy for counseling or somethin'…" Assassin muttered with a satisfied grin on his face before walking down the street.

Later:

Kirei sighed as he listened to the classical music playing on the radio as he drove the Fiat down the streets. Right now, if everything had gone according to plan, he had to head towards the church to ask for protection.

The only thing that worried him was the fact that his Command Seals had not disappeared yet, despite the sounds of destruction that echoed from the Tohsaka residence.

"Could Assassin be more skilled than anticipated?" Kirei thought to himself, slightly impressed by his Servant's ability to stay alive against the King of Heroes for this long. "No matter, even if that is the case it will only be a matter for time before…" Kirei's eyes then widened before he thought, "Assassin?"

Indeed, on the side of the street was Assassin. His right arm held a stockpile of weapons that seemed to be hand crafted by the gods themselves while his left hand was out with his thumb stuck out in the hitchhiking position.

Dumbly, Kirei stopped the car next to Assassin, who grinned before walking to the passenger side and sat down while dumping the weapons in the backseat. The Servant turned his smiling face towards his shocked Master, laughter in his voice as he spoke to him.

"Kirei my man, you won't believe the night I just had!"

[Kiiam]

Hooray! You're posting it!

[TheInfamousMan]

Second Heist

xxXXxx

"This is a disaster, Kirei…" Tokiomi's voice filtered through the receiving end of magical device that Kirei stood in front of, listening to his teacher as the man expressed his concerns. "How could this have happened? Assassin should have been no match against Archer."

"I cannot say." Kirei replied evenly to his teacher, however in his mind he was nodding in agreement. Never in a million years would he have expected Assassin to be able to beat Archer.

Well, 'beat' is not the word he would use. More like 'sneaked off while the Servant was throwing a temper tantrum'. From what Assassin had informed him, he had used one of his Noble Phantasms to escape Archer's initial assault, which should have for all intents and purposes killed him on the spot. And since Archer was so enraged and focused his attention on one area, Assassin slipped out from behind his back.

It was actually pretty comical if you looked at it though. The King of Heroes outsmarted and having his treasures stolen right out from under his nose? As stoic as he normally was, Kirei could actually admit that he was a little amused by the whole thing.

"It had taken time to calm Archer," Tokiomi voice grumbled, and Kirei could swear he heard Tokiomi's teeth grinding. "I almost died trying to do so. The Servant has no respect for me at all. To him, I am nothing but a worm that he can step on anytime he sees fit. And the worst part is that since he was summoned as an Archer with the Independent Action rank high enough that he could afford to do so. I can't even imagine using a Command Seal to attempt to gain his obedience for fear of incurring his wrath. This situation is… infuriating."

Kirei could imagine it being so. After all, he had been there when the King of Heroes had been summoned. The man literally emanated arrogance in waves, and had looked at him, Tokiomi, and his father as if they were nothing more than bugs. Given the Servant's strength, that arrogance might've been justified, but it was still galling nonetheless and that moment when the King of Heroes gazed at them with that much contempt irked Kirei to no end. It made him glad that he had not stayed in the same room as the Servant longer than he had to.

"Archer made me swear that we would hunt for Assassin whenever he saw fit." Tokiomi explained, making Kirei's eyes narrow. "This was entirely unprecedented, having your Servant steal from the King of Heroes, Gilgamesh of Uruk…! His anger won't fully abdicate until he kills Assassin with his own hands. You should also be aware that he speaks of you, Assassin's Master, with an equal amount of vehemence. He believes the theft was orchestrated together by the two of you and feels that since you share the crime, you must share the punishment. "

"So, what will you have me do?" Kirei asked, having a slight idea towards where this conversation was going. After all, Tokiomi wouldn't have empathized how much of this situation was Assassin's fault without having a reason to.

"…I'm afraid that you must remain hidden." Tokiomi spoke, making Kirei sigh ever so slightly. Just as he had predicted. "Archer will kill both you and Assassin if he were to discover you, however even with this… divergence from the initial plan, there is still some use in Assassin. Have him scout out the other Masters and Servants, but be sure to have him remain unseen. The other Masters will most likely be aware that he is still alive from Archer's ranting. As soon as there is nothing more that we can learn from the other Masters, we will find a way to… take care of Assassin in a manner that he will not expect."

"I understand." Kirei replied before Tokiomi's voice faded away, his teacher probably deciding to cut the connection for now. The man was very frustrated from this turn of events, but inwardly Kirei was a bit pleased. With Assassin still in the war, there was still a chance that he might meet Emiya Kiritsugu before he was forced to end his contract with Assassin.

With luck, that opportunity might come soon.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a gun cocking and a barrel of metal press against his head. Kirei's eyes widened ever so slightly at the action. What was going on?

"So, you guys have fun with your little conversation?" Assassin's voice asked, making Kirei tense a bit. "You know, I've seen where the guy lives and how loaded he is so would it kill him to spring for a phone? Sure, I guess it lets him skip out on the phone bill but if it's anything confidential, anyone walking by could stop to listen in…"

"What is the meaning of this, Assassin?" Kirei asked calmly, not moving an inch.

"Now come on, Kirei my man. You know what this is about." Assassin responded in his same, amused tone as he walked in front of Kirei. His gun (A Walther P38, Kirei idly reminded himself) was aimed squarely on Kirei's head and the Servant did not lift his finger off the trigger. Assassin was still smirking with his left hand placed in his jacket pocket while his right arm continued to aim the gun. "I mean, you were just talkin' to that stick in the mud about what's buggin' me."

Kirei took in a breath through his nostrils as he eyed his Command Seals on his right hand. While he was certain that he could dodge the bullets in time to prevent a headshot, he still needed something to hold back the Servant if things escalated. "I'm not sure I understand what you're referring to." Kirei told Assassin evenly, looking into the Servant's eyes with his own.

"Ya know, with your face I would normally believe you." Assassin told Kirei, his smirk gaining a slightly more dangerous edge. "But then again, you did knowingly send me to that house, where Goldie was waiting. Seriously, me? In a straight up fight against him? It's not that hard to figure out that you wanted me to die there."

Kirei said nothing, but inwardly his mind was racing. Assassin was more perceptive than he thought. He had his suspicions that his Servant would eventually connect the dots about the events of last night, but he never expected it to happen this soon!

"And you said there was 'nothing to fear', but then Goldie came along and tried to turn me into a shishkabab, it was like he was waiting for me, you know? Good thing I'm used to getting out of traps and binds others try to set me up with, or else I would've been killed." Assassin smirked, his eyes slightly narrowing as he gazed at Kirei. "Was that the plan? I would die, and he would be one step closer to achieving the Grail?"

Kirei weighed his options at this moment. Sure, he could deny it, and possibly use the opportunity to use a Command Seal. That would force Assassin's continued cooperation and would put him in much less danger. On the other hand, it would be a waste of a Command Seal to do so, and might aggravate the Servant enough to ruin the plan even more through subtle means. Assassin was a thief in life. He most likely saw the loopholes though every contract, even the Command Seal system.

…Perhaps telling the truth might lead to better results?

Taking the gamble, Kirei replied with a short answer. "Yes."

Assassin hummed to himself while raising an eyebrow, but did not lower the gun. "Huh. Didn't expect you to confess your sins that easily. Gotta say, you're one honest guy."

"It would be unbecoming of the man of the cloth to lie."

"Yet, you tried sending little 'ole me off to his death. Real priestly there, Master." Assassin's smirk lost its dangerous edge, but his eyes sparkled with curiosity. "And excusing the horrible attempt at backstabbing me for the moment, I gotta ask you one thing: What kind of guy just throws away the chance to have anything he ever wanted? I mean, with the Holy Grail, you could be livin' it up! You can have money, sex, power, whatever! You can't get at the prize without me, so why were you so willing to have Goldie bump me off?"

"I do not have a wish, and thus I have no interest in the Grail." Kirei told Assassin truthfully, making the Servant raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"No wish? Really? There's no way you're that dull of a guy." Assassin's smirk then got even bigger before he said, "You definitely want somethin', everyone does. What's the matter? Don't want to share it? I promise not to laugh if it's somethin' embarrassing!

"I do not desire anything. Desire is a sin." Kirei shot back, making Assassin blink in confusion. "I am only here to assist Tohsaka Tokiomi in acquiring the Holy Grail. Nothing more.

"That ain't true. Desire is as much of a sin as breathin' is." Assassin replied, his tone amused once again. "Everyone wants somethin', even if they don't wanna admit it. Even people who donate to charity just want to get satisfaction from doing something they believe is 'good'. They desire satisfaction. Get that sense of fulfillment, you know? It's the same with everyone. Someone always desires something or someone. Besides, the Grail chose you because of your desire, so even if you don't wanna admit it, that desire you call a sin is still there. You got a desire, even if you don't exactly know what it is."

Kirei said nothing, his mind absorbing the information. Was it true? Did he really desire the Grail for something? But no, the thing he wanted was…

…No, no! What he wanted could not be achieved by the Grail! It could only be gained through Emiya Kiritsugu!

…Right?

"…Anyway, just to make it clear, I ain't that Tokiomi guy's monkey boy." Assassin announced before lowering his gun, much to Kirei's shock. "I've got my own reasons for bagging the Holy Grail. And it'll be a cold day in Hell before I let myself be some pawn in another guy's game." Assassin gave Kirei a hard look before he gave Kirei a lopsided smile and reached up to pat his shoulder. "Well, this has been a nice chat man! Hope that we have some more in the future!" With that, Assassin walked past Kirei, making the man blink before turning around.

"…You had no intention of shooting me?" Kirei asked, making Assassin grin before he brought up his arm, making Kirei's eyes widen when the man pulled the trigger…!

…Only for water to hit Kirei in the face. The man stood in silence for a few moments, wiping away the water from his eyes so he could glare at his Servant, who only smiled back.

"It's a squirt gun!" Assassin announced cheekily, tossing the gun and making Kirei catch it with his right hand. "Pretty cool huh? Man, Fuji-cakes fell for the same trick too…" Assassin then turned around, waving as he left towards the door. "I'm goin' out for a bit! See ya later!"

Kirei looked at the realistic-looking squirt gun in thought, not even registering the sound of the door closing as the Servant left. He was still going over what Assassin had told him.

Was it impossible to be rid of desire? He desired many things, to fill the emptiness that was within him. But to do so would be sinful, and went against everything that he was taught to avoid. So then, if it was impossible to be rid of desire, what was he to do?

And even if he could not pinpoint it, just what in the world was his wish?

Elsewhere (Shopping District):

"Let's see… where is it…" Assassin muttered to himself as he drove the Fiat down the mostly empty streets. It was very, very early in the morning. Four in the morning to be exact. So no one was out doing anything. Hell, the sun hadn't even come out yet! His face then brightened up as he saw the thing he was searching for. "Ah-ha! Must be my lucky day!"

Assassin drove the car to the side and parked it before he stepped out of it, smirking as he looked at the store in question. It was a small Office Depot store, not that the size mattered. What mattered was the business Assassin had to perform inside of the store.

"Now then, let's see what we got here…" Assassin muttered as he looked upwards, seeing a small black camera with a small blinking red light. "Cameras… geez, you would think that places in this day an' age would upgrade…" He then reached into his pocket, showing a small pack of gum, and stuck it in his mouth. After a minute of chewing, Assassin spat it out towards the camera, instantly sticking to the lens. "Well now, that was easy…" Assassin mused as he walked to the front door. "Now to unlock this baby." A flash of light caught Assassin's eye, making him look up from the door and through the glass to see a woman. She looked like she was in her early twenties, had black hair that was cropped at her shoulders, a cute face with some freckles on her cheeks, and was wearing an employee uniform. She had a bored and tired look on her face as she flipped through a magazine on her desk.

Assassin mentally smirked at this. Women were his specialty! With a grin, he knocked on the glass, making the woman point in the general direction of the 'closed' sign. Assassin merely knocked on the door again, making the woman look up from her magazine to point at the sign once more with an annoyed expression on her face. Assassin just waved at her while knocking on the door a third time. Apparently, that was enough to make the woman get up from her seat and stomp over to the door. She had a nice figure, Assassin noted to himself, and had small but firm breasts. While not the type of girl he usually aimed for, she still was fairly attractive.

"Can't you read the sign?" The woman asked while glaring at Assassin. "We're closed. Come back at eight."

"Hehe…" Assassin chuckled out while scratching the back of his head. "Can't you give me an exception…?" He looked at her nametag in a second before finishing his question with, "…Yukiko-chan?"

"No." The employee told him bluntly with narrowed eyes. "I don't even know you. Now go away. I'm tired, and I got stuck with the early-bird shift…"

"My, my! Looks like someone got heaped a lot of responsibility!" Assassin interrupted, making the woman blink in surprise. "Guess that means you're one reliable gal."

"What? I-It's not because of that…" She muttered while looking away, only for Assassin to grin.

"I mean, why else would a fine dame like you be here?" Assassin asked, noticing Yukiko's face slightly heating up. His voice and looks were very useful tools for him when it came to seducing women. All he had to do was stroke her ego a bit more…

"L-Look, what do you want?" The woman asked, making Assassin rummage through his right pocket and produce a small slip of paper about the size of a business card.

"I need about…" Assassin began before counting his fingers while muttering to himself several mathematical equations. Yukiko looked at him curiously before he showed her the five fingers of his left hand. "…Five thousand copies of these!"

"WHAT!?!" Yukiko yelled, making Assassin slightly jump. "Are you crazy? No way in hell I would do that! Besides, you probably don't even have the dough to…"

"Will this be enough to cover for it?" Assassin asked, holding a huge stack of Yen notes for the woman to see. "I'll even give you a little extra for you to buy somethin' nice!" He then held out another stack of Yen notes, making Yukiko's eyes widen in shock. Just how loaded was this guy? "Please Yukiko-chan?" Assassin asked, putting on the best puppy-dog eyes he could muster.

The woman seemed to hesitate for a minute. But only for a minute, because in the next one she unlocked the door and motioned him to come in. "Look, I'll do what you asked…" The woman muttered before walking up to a printer and grabbed the card from his hand. She then placed it in the appropriate slot and in a second, it was spat back out. "…But I better get the money for all these copies!" The printer then started to spit out pieces of paper, each containing about ten copies of the original paper each. The female employee then repeated the process with four other copy machines before turning to Assassin.

"Thanks Yukiko-chan! You're a lifesaver!" A perverted grin then crossed Assassin's face before he asked, "Now how about you an' I spend our time a bit more… productively while we wait for the copies?"

The female employee's face then became beet red before she stuttered out, "W-What the hell? Y-You think that now I did what you asked, you can get into my pants? Don't get ahead of yourself you pervert! No way, in a million years, would I ever-!"

As it turned out, all it took was a few more well placed compliments to make Assassin confirm that he still had it.

Later (Airport):

Assassin grinned as he hopped into the pilot's seat of the personal airplane, his 'cargo' safely loaded in the back compartment. It had been an easy matter to acquire the plane. After successfully completing his business at the store, he had decided to cash in on the treasures he had gotten from Archer. Needless to say, the person who owned the jewelry store nearly had a heart attack and literally shoved the money into his hands.

"Nice guy…" Assassin mused to himself as he began to mess with the necessary controls to move the plane onto the runway.
With said money, he was able to rent the plane for a good few hours. But he only needed it for less than one. A shame, but money had never been a concern for him.

After all, he stole most of it.

"Alright, time to move out!" Assassin announced, before accelerating the plane. Gripping the controls, he slowly raised the plane off the ground and into the sky, ignoring the sinking feeling he got courtesy of gravity. Not that it worried him; after all, it just added more excitement towards what he was about to do next.

Assassin steered the plane towards Fuyuki City, passing over the forest and mountains as he zeroed in on it. He passed over the skyscrapers, and grinned as he circled around the city. All the citizens were unaware of what they were in the middle of, and among them were the enemy Masters and Servants. Either holed up in their hideouts or exploring their future battlefield.

Well, maybe what he was about to do would put a wrench in their plans.

"Now then, should I or shouldn't I…" Assassin muttered to himself as his finger hovered over a specific button on the control panel. He then grinned before saying, "Well, I think it's about time I kill my boredom…" Assassin then pressed the button…

…And the cargo was let loose.

Elsewhere (Alleyway in Fuyuki):

Matou Kariya grunted in pain as he walked down the dirty and dank alley to avoid being seen by the common people of Fuyuki City. He couldn't be seen, not when he looked like half a corpse.

But such was the price he had to pay for acquiring the one chance he would get in freeing Sakura. The girl that was not his daughter by any means, but still felt like one to him. The girl whose true parents were the woman he loved and the man he absolutely hated, the young girl who was given away because of the Tohsaka's damn Magi rules, and was taken in by Zouken Matou's disgusting hands. He trained her in the Matou family's magic. A disgusting magecraft that had her violated by worms day in and day out. Kariya did not know and didn't want to know if Aoi and Tokiomi knew this or not, and in the end he did not care. He would get the Holy Grail, even if he had to die to do so.

He just wanted to see the poor girl smile like she used to, rather than having the dead look in her eyes.

"And with Berserker, I will!" Kariya thought to himself with narrowed eyes, not caring if the worms were reacting to his anger. "Berserker will kill the other Servants, and I'll get Sakura! She just needs to hold on for…" Kariya then stopped his train of thought as he heard and airplane pass by overhead, and while that usually wouldn't bother him, what happen next did.

Small pieces of paper fell from the sky, landing on the ground and even on his sweatshirt. Kariya plucked one off his shoulder before bringing it in front of him. As he read it, only one phrase summed up what he thought:

"What the hell?"

Elsewhere (Fuyuki Sewers):

Uryuu Ryuunosuke hummed happily to himself as his scalpel broke the skin of the child he had gotten with his new buddy Caster last night, the blood streaming down the still alive boy's face.

"GGHHHHAAAA!!!" The boy sobbed out at Ryuunosuke sliced open his cheek. "MOMMY!!"

"Man, you mind keeping it down kid?" Ryuunosuke asked before he forcibly opened the boy's mouth and sliced off his tongue, making the kid gargle out unintelligible words as blood came out of his mouth. "Thanks!"

"Ryuunosuke!" Caster wailed out as he trudged over to him, his hand clutching a small piece of paper in his clawed hands. "I bring glorious news!"

"Huh? What kind?" Ryuunosuke asked, making a deranged smile form on Caster's face.

"One of my enemies has revealed themselves!" Caster declared before handing his Master the paper. "Now, my dream is even closer to becoming a reality! The fool doesn't even know how much our accursed God has turned his back on him!"

Ryuunosuke looked up from the paper, a delighted smile forming on his face before asking, "Does this mean we're doing something cool soon?"

"Indeed Ryuunosuke! Tonight shall be a most prosperous night!"

"COOOOOLLLL!!!"

Elsewhere (Mackenzie's Residence):

Rider groaned as he stretched, ignoring the complaints Waver spouted out because of his behavior. The boy had done nothing but complain since his summoning, and while it was amusing at first it had begun to get irritating. Still despite that, the boy made good company for the beginning days of the war.

"And another thing, Rider! You shouldn't just leave your trash in the hallways if you finish with your snacks before you reach the room! Do you have any idea how much I had to apologize to the Mackenzies for your…!" Waver began, only to suddenly stop and blink in confusion. "What the…?"

"Hm?" Rider hummed, wondering what had caused his Master to stop his whining. Rider then looked out the window to see several white pieces of paper float down from the sky. Opening the window, Rider stuck out his hand and caught one before bringing it back in. His eyes scanned the paper and a laugh erupted from his throat. "BWAHAHAHA!!!"

"What? What is it Rider?" Waver asked, making Rider grin before holding out the note for Waver to see.

"This war has gotten to be a bit more exciting boy!"

Elsewhere (Hyatt Hotel):

Lancer sighed softly in relative boredom as he waited on the roof of the hotel building that his Master and his fiancée were currently staying at. While he wasn't one to question the actions of his Master, simply doing nothing while waiting for Servants to either come to them or wait for the word of his Master to strike left Lancer with a lot of down time. And he didn't like down time.

With that in mind, Lancer decided to amuse himself by watching the citizens of Fuyuki City perform their daily routines. After all, he had nothing else better to do while waiting for the orders of his lord. Or maybe he can try out that TV that was in the hotel room? After all, his Master never watched it, and Sola-Ui never seemed to care what was on….

Lancer's eyes then widened as a small airplane passed dangerously close to the hotel, the wind making Lancer's hair sway fast. Lancer then blinked as pieces of paper fell on the roof as the airplane went off to its next destination.

Strange, he could have sworn that the pilot saw him, grinned, and waved.

Curiously, Lancer picked up one piece of paper and scanned through what was written on it. Once he was done, the Servant sighed.

Looks like this war had become more complicated than it should have been…

Elsewhere (Tohsaka Manor):

Archer's eyes narrowed as the pieces of scrap fell from the air, falling on him of all beings!

Archer's mood had been soured after the events of the previous night, and it was only thanks to Tokiomi's word that he had not simply destroyed the city outright to destroy the thief. To think, a hero from this detestable age had the gall to steal from him. No matter, as soon as he found the thief's hole, he would make sure that the mongrel would rue the day he ever stole from the King of Uruk.

A piece of paper then landed onto his face, thanks to a gust of wind, making Archer snarl before ripping the thing off. He glanced at the paper, wishing to see the thing he was about to tear to oblivion before he did so, and Archer growled in rage as he read the message.

"MONGREL!!!" Archer roared to the heavens, making several birds fly from their previous homes.

Elsewhere (Streets of Fuyuki City):

"Oh my…" Irisviel muttered as she watched the slips of paper fall from the sky, dotting the ground and sidewalks while people were looking around in confusion. Some freaked out and ran home, others shrugged and went about their business, and some even stopped to read the notes. "What is happening, Saber?"

"I cannot say, Irisviel." Saber muttered as her eyes narrowed. The day had started off so well too. She had been able to give Irisviel the opportunity to experience the outside world that she had never gotten while inside the Einzbern's Castle. And while she could tell that Irisviel wished that Kiritsugu was with her, she had hoped that she could keep the homunculus company.

But now, with the simple passing of an airplane and the dropping of paper, everything changed.

With that, Saber reached down and picked up one of the papers. Her eyes narrowed as she read out its simple message:

"Citizens and Heroes of Fuyuki City, the Holy Grail will be mine! –Lupin the Third."

[mAc Chaos]

The justification for the switch is common, but the rest of it is good. Lupin is awesome. Although Kotomine seemed a bit more unruly than usual.

[TheInfamousMan]

Third Heist

xxXXxx

"I warned you not to take him lightly Tokiomi-kun." Risei lightly chided as he stood in front of the magical device that was in the church's basement. Luckily, no one went down here besides him, so it was safely tucked away from anyone who visited the place. "This course of action fits the criteria of his previous crimes."

"So the fool thinks he has the right to endanger the Holy Grail War? To reveal the existence of Magi to the world?" Tokiomi's voice growled out in frustration, making Risei sigh. As Overseer of the Holy Grail War, if anyone had a right to be mad at Assassin for blatantly dropping the message he had, it should've been him.

It had only been an hour since Assassin had dropped the announcement of his plans to make the Holy Grail 'his'. And right in the middle of the day too, when the regular citizens of Fuyuki were going about their business as usual! And they would not have been the only ones to find and read the messages. No, surely the other Servants themselves would have found and read them as well! They and their Masters would quickly connect the dots and figure out that Lupin is a Servant without much trouble. While they might not be able to pinpoint which one, it would give them a chance to prepare.

"While Assassin's actions have been nothing but trouble for us, we can be relieved that his announcement won't be able to be traced back to the Mage's Association." Risei calmly informed the Magus. "Lupin the Third was only known through life as a regular thief. A highly successful thief who employed strange ways of completing his goals, yes, but he was known to be as human as anyone else."

"Regardless of what the citizens think of the message, we shouldn't have had to worry about Assassin announcing himself in the first place!" Tokiomi argued, the frustration in his voice less apparent now, most likely meaning that the man was trying to regain his composure. "How can you be so calm about this, Risei? Everything we are attempting to accomplish is being put at risk because of this Servant!"

Had Tokiomi been in the same room as Risei, he would have seen the man shaking his head. "Not as much as you'd think, actually…"
Risei could practically see the Tohsaka head frowning at that statement. "Please, explain."

Risei shook his head in exasperation. Damn Magi and their phobia of technology. If only the man actually had a TV or at least listened to a radio once in a while. Then he wouldn't have to explain this. "It is not uncommon for criminals in this day and age to try and imitate those who have become infamous, and it isn't the first time someone has unsuccessfully tried to copy Lupin the Third's crimes. Assassin's handwriting will be most likely chalked up to that. Not to mention that the citizens of Fuyuki City have no knowledge of the Holy Grail, thus his claim will simply be chalked up to utter nonsense. Only the other Masters will understand the true significance of Assassin's message."

"And if they do, then they'll be ready for Assassin. This entire situation is far from ideal." Tokiomi stated, his voice now restrained to a calm tone. "You said that Assassin died ten years ago, correct? Even if the citizens believe this to be some fake trying to imitate him, it's likely that there will be some people who will be suspicious…"

"Lupin being dead for so long only makes the entire story even less believable." Risei answered back to the Magus. "It will make most of the population doubt that this is the real man, thus allowing the entire war to remain a secret. I have shared this explanation with the Association before you contacted me, and they have faith in my judgment."

"…We are truly taking a risk." Tokiomi muttered after a moment of silence. "In fact, it's too much of a risk. We should simply have Kirei kill Assassin and be done with it."

"True." Risei replied with a slight shrug. "However, there is still use for Assassin. His skills allow us a greater opportunity to spy on the other Masters and Servants, so long as Kirei-kun keeps him on a short leash."

"…See that he does. We do not need another incident such as this one." Tokiomi warned him before the connection died. Risei sighed at the display of utter frustration from the Tohsaka head. It seemed like Assassin's actions were grating on his patience…

…Not that he didn't share the man's frustration, but Risei was much more adept at hiding his displeasure towards things. Being a priest in Japan gave one a high degree of tolerance towards people.

With that, Risei walked up the stairs to the first floor of the church and walked to the small kitchen that was in the back. Next to the sink was a fairly ordinary phone with several numbers written next to it. Unlike Magi, the Church had actually embraced the modern age in certain ways. Technology allowed them to exchange information much faster than Magus did, giving them a slight edge in the cold war between them and the Association.

After picking up the phone and quickly punching in several numbers, Risei waited several minutes as he heard the rings before he heard Kirei's voice ask, "Yes?"

"Kirei-kun, it's me." Risei spoke in a dead serious tone. "Where is Assassin?"

"Watching television." Kirei reported, making Risei hum a bit. The Servant was most likely appreciating the results his own work that was broadcasting through the news. "He returned only thirty minutes ago, after the notes were dropped."

"As expected, he wouldn't stay in the plane lest the police get involved…" Risei muttered to himself in understanding. "I have just finished speaking with Tokiomi-kun."

"What are my orders?" Kirei asked, making Risei sigh only slightly. Despite his son being a natural-born prodigy, his devotion to work was a bit tiresome.

"You are to continue to keep Assassin occupied for now." Risei replied to Kirei with a slight sigh. "Make sure he does not do anything that might endanger the Holy Grail War further. But be careful Kirei-kun. Arsène Lupin the Third is not a man to be taken lightly. Be sure to be on guard, or at least prepared to use a Command Seal should he decide to cause trouble again."

With Kirei:

"I understand." Kirei confirmed to his father, exchanging a short goodbye before he hung up the phone. With that done, he turned around to see Assassin reclining on a wooden chair and watching the news.

"…Well, the whole thing certainly was a surprise!" The female reporter declared, holding up Assassin's note to the camera. "I mean, this note really captures the spirit of Lupin the Third's calling cards for crimes!"

"True, but personally, I hardly think some joker deciding to copy the long-dead thief will excite people that much." The male reporter countered, slightly narrowing his eyes at the note. "The real problem here is that this prank caused numerous traffic accidents within the city."

"Oh lighten up! Besides, don't you want to at least consider the possibility that this is the real deal? I mean, if my memory is right, this isn't the first time Lupin has reemerged after a supposed death…" The woman countered with a slight scowl, only for her fellow reporter to shake his head in denial.

"Maya, thinking of the very idea that the guy faked his own death again is just idiotic. Forensic labs confirmed several years ago that the body was indeed Lupin's, and is currently rotting in a cemetery somewhere in France. If this is really Lupin, then I'm Izanag…"

"Bwahahaha!" Assassin laughed out in a joyous manner. "Man, those two are goin' at each other's throats over this!" Assassin then turned his body to face Kirei and grinned. "Can you just imagine what everybody else is like? Either they are freaking out that I'm still alive, or they are trying to put their heads into the ground like an ostrich! Now that's a funny scene!"

"…" Kirei remained silent as he continued to watch the two news people argue over the whole thing. He had to admit, the way the two were acting was fairly humorous. "…I imagine that the possibility that you are still alive is too difficult to comprehend."

Assassin seemed to pout at that before muttering, "Yeah, no kiddin'. Did you know that some jokers actually tried to use my name during robberies to scare people? I mean sure, they got caught within like an' hour or two, but it's the principle of the thing! They didn't even announce their robberies before they did it! What a joke…"

Kirei just continued to watch the news program from the small TV that, for whatever reason, came with the apartment when Kirei purchased it as his temporary headquarters. He never watched the thing since TV never really interested him, but Assassin seemed to enjoy the attention he was gathering from his stunt.

Kirei was as surprised as his father was when Assassin dropped the announcement of his goal to the rest of Fuyuki City, but he did not worry. The regular human was a fickle being. They believed whatever they wanted to believe. And to the people of Japan, there is no such thing as the Holy Grail, or anything that might meet the criteria of one. The fact that Assassin, signing the proclamation with his real name, made it even more unbelievable to most people. Sure, some might believe that it's actually Assassin, but they would never suspect anything magical being involved.

The Masters however, were a different story. Most probably knew that Assassin was a Heroic Spirit, since he declared his intentions to 'steal' the Holy Grail. They would most likely research Assassin now for more information to better prepare themselves. And the Servants would be sure to be extra vigilant for Assassin. This would make his and Assassin's role in the war even more complicated.

Making Kirei ask the single question that had been nagging him in the back of his head since an hour ago.

"Why?" Kirei asked, making Assassin look at him in confusion. "Why do such a showy display? Why would you announce your presence like this?"

"Kirei my man, you have a lot to learn about me…" Assassin muttered as he scratched the back of his head while getting up, walking from his chair until he was in front of Kirei with both his hands stuck in his jacket pockets and his usual grin plastered on his face. "I announce my crimes all the time. I want people to know that I'm goin' to steal from them. I want everyone to know that I'm goin' to do it, and that I mean what I say."

"…That only gives your enemies time to prepare before you strike." Kirei countered, giving the Servant his usual blank look. "Why would you tie a noose around your neck like that? Knowing that either your enemies will kill you, or the police might capture you?"

Assassin seemed to shrug, his smirk becoming a bit more pronounced. "Simply stealing things from the shadows an' all isn't enough."

"Not enough?" Kirei repeated, his eyes slightly narrowing at the declaration. What did the Servant mean? Surely, any thief would simply be content with achieving his goal. So how could stealing, the very thing that made Assassin a thief, not be 'enough'? And what exactly did Assassin mean by 'enough'?

Assassin hummed to himself, striking a slight thinking pose with his right fist under his chin as he said, "Ya see, I began my life as a thief 'cause I was bored." Kirei's eyes widened at the statement. Assassin turned to a life of crime… out of boredom? "And sure, in practically all my crimes I was successful and they were all a good bit of fun, but they never killed off my boredom. I mean, you would think that stealing the Mona Lisa and most of the Royal Family's riches would be enough. But me? Nah, it wasn't enough…" Assassin's smirk then grew as he continued. "But raising the stakes? Knowin' that each robbery would likely end up with me gettin' whacked or thrown in the slammer? That killed my boredom…" Assassin then snapped his fingers, grinning as he did so. "…Just like that! Made things more excitin' too! But do you know the one thing that made all the trouble totally worth it?"

"…What?" Kirei asked, wishing to know himself. Assassin only smirked and held up his right index finger.

"The faces." Assassin answered, only for Kirei to blink in confusion. "I mean, the faces they made whenever I swiped their stuff, despite everything they did to keep little old me from getting what I wanted! Hell, even the faces they made when Pops hauled them off to jail were hilarious!"

"Pops?" Kirei repeated, only for Assassin to scratch the back of his head with closed eyes.

"Ehehehe… Just somebody that I knew…" Assassin muttered as he placed his hands back into his pockets. "And who knows? If the old man is still alive and kickin', you might see him soon! Pops never could leave me alone…" With that, Assassin began walking away, leaving Kirei to his own thoughts.

Assassin's life, from what Kirei could tell, was a dangerous one. He stole from governments, warlords, influential figures, madmen, and many other people who would make his life a living hell should they have caught him. He moved all across the globe, moving from place to place and risking his life time and time again…

…Much like he and Emiya Kiritsugu had during their journeys.

Assassin claimed that he only did so for thrills, but was that really the reason? No man would simply turn to a life of crime and risk his life time and time again for excitement. No, the reason had to be deeper than that. Even though his and Assassin's life were different, Kirei could see parallels between them. Not as many as he saw with Emiya Kiritsugu, but close enough.

Yet, Assassin's eyes did not hold the apathy that he had. Assassin was excited by everything, seeing wonder in even the most mundane things such as wine and money. "Could it be…" Kirei asked himself as his eyes slightly narrowed. "That Assassin found an answer?"

…No, he could not think like that. Emiya Kiritsugu was the only one who held the answers he sought. It was only that man, and that man alone. But still, it would not hurt to research more on his Servant.

"…Just what kind of man are you, Arsène Lupin the Third?" Kirei muttered to himself before walking himself to the kitchen. He was a bit parched from all the events that had occurred…

Unknown to him, the bathroom door quietly closed. Within it, Assassin leaned against the door with a smirk forming on his face as he looked to the ceiling. "Kotomine Kirei, a priest who doesn't seem all that priestly. A member of the church that practices magic, and is even the student of a well-known Magi. A man who thinks that desire is a sin, and yet is still in the Holy Grail War. It's like the guy is lookin' for something that even though he doesn't know what it is…" Assassin then let out a small chuckle as his grin began to grow even more. "Gotta say, you're one interestin' guy Kirei my man…"

Elsewhere (Tokyo, Japan):

Sweat dripped down onto the floor from a brow as a man continued to do pushups in a small, empty dojo. The man himself looked as if he was forty year old pushing onto his fifties, and had dark hair greying on his long sideburns. He had a stern face with some crows feat at the ends of his eyes, but otherwise no wrinkles on his face. His body, while fairly thin, also had some muscles on them, which relaxed as the man pushed himself up, slightly wheezing from exhaustion due to his workout.

"Tou-san! I'm here!" A new female voice declared several rooms away, making a small grin form on his face.

"Alright! Hold yer' horses Toshiko-chan! I'll be there in a minute!" The man declared as he began to stumble to the bathroom door, passing by several framed photographs. One contained a much younger version of the man smirking as he patted a black-haired bishonen teenager on the back while handing him a police badge, who blushed at the contact. Another contained a wanted poster, containing the words 'Arsène Lupin the Third: Wanted for accounts of robbery, forgery,…', and finally, a picture showing the same man who now had a sad look on his face and was beginning to have hairs of grey form at his sides while he held a slice of cake with a banner overhead with the words 'HAPPY RETIREMENT INSPECTOR ZENIGATA!' written on it.

This man was Koichi Zenigata. Age sixty-five, former policeman, and retired Interpol agent.

Within minutes, the man showered and dressed himself in brown dress pants with a tucked in white shirt and a blue tie. He was sitting at one end of the small kitchen table in the fairly normal apartment building facing the TV. A thirty-ish year old woman was sitting opposite to him, who shared his black hair that ran to her shoulders. She looked fairly attractive and had dark blue eyes that glared at Zenigata as he slurped up the noodles in the small cup of ramen in front of him.

"I wish you would stop eating that stuff, Tou-san." Koichi Toshiko, thirty-nine year old daughter of Koichi Zenigata, declared. "You know that the stuff is bad for your blood-pressure, right?"

"Ah, stop worrying about your old man." Zenigata chuckled out as he continued to eat. "I'll let you know that I survived for thirty years on this stuff!"

"Yes, and on those thirty years you didn't at least try to eat something different." Toshiko announced with an exasperated sigh. "Why can't you eat regular, healthy food? I mean, I buy you groceries every two weeks!"

Zenigata looked just a tiny bit hurt at the statement as he stuttered out, "C-come on now! I eat that stuff too! You’re just never around when I do! And besides, you never give me enough meat!"

"It's for your own good." Toshiko replied with a blank expression on her face. "If you eat too much meat, you'll have to take those pills again. And I know how much you hate those things."

"I ain't taking thirty of those damn things a day!" Zenigata declared, seeming to be a bit miffed at the assessment of his health. "I'm perfectly fine without them! I mean, I been off those things for ten months and I'm still fit as a fiddle!"

"And you'll stay that way if you stop eating so much ramen and start eating more vegetables." Toshiko chided while waving her finger at him, as if he were a child. "The doctor said that as long as you do that and keep staying in shape, you'll live a long life."

"Hmph." Zenigata grumbled as he crossed his arms. "Doctors, what do they know…" His face then brightened before he asked, "So, how's my grandson doing these days?"

"Ichi-kun is applying to Todai University." Toshiko replied with a bright smile on her face. "You should see him sometime soon. I'm sure that he'll enjoy your company! Remember how excited he got whenever you told him about your time chasing…" Toshiko then stopped, noticing the sad look on her father's face and stuttered out, "T-Tou-san, I'm sorry…"

"No, it's fine…" Zenigata muttered as he pushed the cup of ramen to the side and reached for the remote. "What's done is done. You can't change the past. Just wished I caught that little weasel and locked him up for life before he bought it…" With that, Zenigata grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

"Lupin the Third, alive? That's the question everybody's asking today, as only a few short hours ago, Fuyuki City received a very ominous warning. The message read as such: Citizens and Heroes of Fuyuki City, the Holy Grail will be mine! –Lupin the Third."

"Oh my…" Toshiko muttered out in shock before she looked to her father, who had a blank expression on his face. "Tou-san?"

"I find it hard to believe. Why go through all this trouble to stay hidden all these years, for a treasure that doesn't even exist in the city?'
"But you cannot ignore that the message exactly matches with Lupin the Third's handwriting, and fits his style. Perhaps he's simply referring to a different treasure?"

"Bah, you know the youth these days, they are always trying to screw around with everyone's business. This whole 'Lupin' thing is just another prank of theirs."

"Regardless, we should also be willing to see that this may actually be the return of the original Lupin. For those of our viewers too young to remember, Arsène Lupin the Third is the grandson of Arsène Lupin. He has stolen throughout his thirty year career several world treasures and even helped to topple leaders of countries. He was listed on the top of the 'World's Most Wanted' list for a record-breaking thirty years before his death, and had been able to outmaneuver Interpol for just as long. Many still question whether Arsène Lupin the Third deserves the title 'Greatest Criminal of the 20th Century', but I say that…"

"Tou-san…" Toshiko began as she slowly turned around. "I know what you are thinking, but please, be reasonable. This can't possibly be…" She then blinked as she looked to see an empty chair. Weird, she never even heard the thing move. Quickly, she got up and ran to the door.

Her father's boots were missing, and so was his usual brown trench coat and hat. With that in mind, Toshiko quickly ran to the window and peaked out to see her father running in the street, going at the speed of a twenty-year old, while struggling to put on his coat as he shouted out one word for all the heavens to hear.

"LUPIN!!!!"

[Arch-Magos Winter]

>Shitjustgotreal.jpg

[TheInfamousMan]

Fourth Heist

xxXXxx

"Hm?" Assassin hummed to himself as he stood on top of a stack of crates, his left hand in his pocket while his right held onto a pair of black binoculars, as he peered towards the new arrivals. "Man, guess someone did take the challenge."

Despite what his laidback demeanor would've implied, Assassin was not just standing out in the open. He was observing the battlefield from atop one of the highest crates in the west bank docks. Even if a fight were to break out, he could safely watch from a distance without being seen.

As surprising a fact as it was, people hardly ever looked up.

And even if someone were to peer up in his general direction, his Luck had provided one such stack of crates was a bit away from the main pathway, thus keeping him out of sight. That, combined with his Presence Concealment, pretty much made him invisible to any Servant who might be looking for him.

He peered through his binoculars and saw a feminine looking blonde in a black suit accompanying a woman with pale skin, white hair, and red ruby eyes in white clothes made for winter walking down the main path of the docks. To anyone else, they would simply be a strange but not out of the ordinary pair. But Assassin knew who they were and why they were here. They were at the docks to take on another Servant's pretty blatant challenge.

"Kinda dumb if you ask me." Assassin talked to himself as a smirk formed on his lips. He had been sent by Kirei to observe the battle in order to gather information on the other Servants. Something he could agree with, since having knowledge about who and what you'd be stealing from was key to being a thief. With that in mind, Assassin looked at the woman in white one last time. She fit the description of a homunculus, an artificial being made by Magi (He had to thank Kirei for that little tidbit of information). "Shame a fine woman like her would be a Master…"

It was pretty easy to figure out that the woman was a Master, or at least acting as one. After all, the blonde was continuing to walk in front of her, as if guarding her from something. Proving that she was someone of importance. The only reason that Assassin doubted that she was a Master was due to the fact that he could not see the Command Seals on either of her hands. "Maybe… they're somewhere else on her body?" Assassin asked himself as his smirk gained a perverted edge to it.

He then noticed the blonde stop before turning his (her? There was no way a guy could be that feminine looking. Then again, the old man's former partner could have probably been mistaken for a girl with a wig and a dress) to the direction where Assassin was camping out at. Assassin quickly took a step back so that he out of the Servant's angle of vision, waited for a second, then stepped forward again once the coast was clear, noticing the blonde was now looking at a man standing across from her. He appeared to be another Servant dressed a green body suit and holding two spears, one short and one long, wrapped in purple cloth. He had been the one to give the challenge. "And who do we have here? Lancer, if I had to guess…"

He couldn't hear the conversation the two were having, not from this distance. And he wasn't going to risk being spotted by the Servants. At least not yet. He then noticed the blonde's body emit Prana before her suit was replaced by a blue dress, silver armor adorning her arms chest and feet. "So you were a dame after all. Not the type I'd go for, but still cute…" The female Servant gripped onto air and held it, making Assassin raise his eyebrow in wonder. "Guess her Noble Phantasm must be very distinguishable if she hasta' hide it like that."
That narrowed down his guesses on what Servant class she was significantly. He had already met Archer and the man in front of the female Servant was almost definitely Lancer. And if her weapon was so well known that it required her to hide it from view in order to battle… "Hm, a fight between knights. Pretty interestin'…" Assassin mumbled to himself as he watched Saber and Lancer settle into their respective battle stances before they shot towards one another, their weapons clashing against one another.

Lancer seemed to be enjoying himself as he continued to battle against Saber, while Saber was trying her best to block Lancer's rather unorthodox style of fighting. Using two spears at once was definitely something Assassin had never seen before, but he could see the logic in it. The shorter spear could be used for short-distanced attacks while the longer one would be used for mid-range. Plus, Saber would be unable to tell which one he would use next. "Hate to see what would happen if he used both hands on one of those."

A slight tingling in the back of Assassin's head made the Servant stop observing the battle and look up. A seemingly unnoticeable glimmer in the air and the feeling of Prana spreading out tingled his skin. "A Bounded Field hm?" Assassin mused to himself before looking at the snow-haired woman again, who was watching the fight between Lancer and Saber nervously. "Well, if she's not responsible for it, that must mean Lancer's Master is around somewhere…" With that, Assassin began to sweep his eyes over the docks, looking for anything of human shape. "Now, if I were a Magus, where would I be…?"

It would have to be somewhere that was a safe distance from the battlefield.

Somewhere that was out of sight from ground level, or at least in the shadows.

Somewhere that he could make really boring speeches about his or her superiority without being seen…

Assassin smirked and sung out, "I spy with my little eye, somethin' that starts with 'm'…" He wheeled his binoculars to the warehouse that was a bit away from the docks and looked to the roof. Frowning a bit from the blurry vision, Assassin adjusted the lenses of the binoculars a bit before seeing the telltale silhouette of a man, who only had the moonlight making him even remotely visible. "Better prepare…" Assassin then jumped down from his stack of crates into an alley to the side, grabbing a rather large brown duffel bag that was sitting behind him, before heading to a single crate that was sitting there, its front aiming directly to the main pathway. Humming to himself, Assassin opened the duffel bag to reveal several rockets and straps. Normally, he wouldn't be able to carry all of these supplies. But luckily, being a Servant had its perks.

He strapped two rockets to the crate's top, four on each of its sides, and two on the front and back in a matter of moments. Thankfully, the crate was empty. Meaning that it would be perfect for what he had in mind. Looking over his work, Assassin muttered, "Now then, time to see what they are up to…"

"That's enough playing around, Lancer." A cold, aristocratic, disembodied voice called out, Assassin's brow quirking as Lancer's not-so hidden Master made his presence known at last. "Do not allow this fight to drag on any further. Saber is a formidable opponent, defeat her with all haste. You may use your Noble Phantasm."

"Oh?" With that, Assassin went to the alley's corner and saw Lancer discard the shorter spear and in a burst of Prana made the purple cloth on the longer weapon disappear, revealing a long, blood red spear that he boasted could reveal Saber's weapon. That was proven true a second later, as when the weapons clashed the wind around Saber's weapon disappeared to reveal a sword with a golden and blue handle. "Now that's one heck of a sword!" Assassin whistled appreciatedly, and sorely wished he could have seen it for a second longer to tell its identity.

While he had an extremely high Eye for Art, he needed to look at a Noble Phantasm for more than a few seconds to identify it. And it needed to stand relatively still for him to identify it even sooner than that. Unfortunately, both of Saber and Lancer's weapons were in motion, so he couldn't really…

"Wait…"

Lancer dropped his other weapon a second ago, and the weapon was pretty much forgotten by the two Servants who were a bit busy fighting, and the woman was too engrossed in the fight itself to even notice it. With a snicker, Assassin reached into his pocket and took out a small claw tied to a string from his pocket and tossed it up and down in his right hand as he said, "Well, if he threw it away I guess it would be okay to 'borrow' the thing…" With that, Assassin threw the claw at the general direction of the fallen spear. The string followed the claw, more and more coming out of Assassin's pocket to help increase the distance. As luck would have it, all of them were too distracted to even notice. Taking out a small rectangular box with a red button on top, Assassin put the end of the string into a small string in the front and pressed it. Instantly, the claw clamped down on the spear buried in the dirt and quickly flew back toward him along with the weapon it had successfully pulled from the earth. Assassin caught the spear as the claw's bottom reached the box. He pocketed the device and began to examine the spear with a raised eyebrow. It was a yellow spear with several intricate engravings on it. "Definitely Celtic… Design matches and everythin’…" Assassin muttered to himself as he looked at it. A name then appeared in his mind to match the weapon.

"Gae Buidhe: The Golden Rose of Mortality."

"Which means that he's…" Assassin then snickered before laughing out, "Man Diarmuid, you just can't get any luck can ya?"

Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, first warrior of the Knights of Fianna, otherwise known as Diarmuid of the Love Spot thanks to the magical spot granted to him by a young girl that caused any woman who saw it to instantly fell in love with him. A 'gift' which would eventually lead him to his death. One of the most famous warriors in Celtic Mythology, he was said to have wielded twin spears.

Which meant that the other spear was Gae Dearg, which canceled out any spell or mystically imbued thing it touched. "Have'ta say, this is one heck of a find…"

Assassin then held the spear with his left hand and looked back at the fight and mused out, "So, what's goin' to happen now?"

Fuyuki Bridge:

"Hm…" Rider hummed out as he stroke his beard, his eyes narrowing as he looked to the harbor. "It seems like someone is hiding in the shadows and interfering with the duel…"

"What?" Waver asked, tears coming out of his eyes as he held onto the bridge's steel frame as if his life depended on it.
Which it kind of did.

"Someone has just taken Lancer's discarded weapon." Rider responded as he crossed his arms. "Such a thing is necessary for Lancer's strategy, or else he might fail."

"W-What's so bad about that?" Waver stammered out as he looked at his Servant. "I-I mean, it will be one less Servant to deal with!"

"Fool!" Rider roared, making Waver gasp in fright. "I wished to wait until the other Masters and Servants arrived, but with this development Lancer will surely die! Such a thing cannot happen! It would be much simpler to gather them together and finish them all at once, but this might prevent it from happening!"

"A-Are you insane?!" Waver stuttered out in freight, only for the King of Conquerors to ignore him and lift his blade into the air.

"Victory without ruin! Domination without disgrace! That is true conquest!" Rider proclaimed as electricity crackled along the blade as he sliced through the very air, cleaving apart the empty space, a massive shining chariot drawn by two equally impressive oxen emerging in a crack of thunder, Waver crying out in terror as he held onto the frame for dear life "The time for observation is over! We shall participate in this battle, boy!"

"Y-You're crazy!" Waver shouted back, clutching to the steel beam even harder than before.

"I can leave you here, if that is what you wish." Rider spoke, making Waver's eyes widen in freight.

"Y-You idiot! Get me down! Get me down from here right now!!!"

Back With Assassin:

"Hm, they're still going at it…" Assassin mumbled to himself as the fight continued, making Assassin tap his foot a bit as he began to feel a little impatient. "Can't they at least hurry up with the fight?"

Now, that's not to say that the fight was boring. It was not. In fact, it was epic in its own right. But Assassin was not the type to sit around and observe all day. He was a man of action! While stealing Gae Buidhe from under Lancer's nose had been exciting for him in its own right it just wasn't exciting enough.

If he had stolen it with Lancer knowing that he was going to do it, then he wouldn't be so bored. But the Servant had no idea that the theft even occurred! "If somethin' doesn't happen soon, then I'm going to go nuts!"

As if to answer his request, a small wave of Prana being released hit Assassin's senses, making him bring his focus back onto the fight. He now saw Saber without her armor and the wind gone from her sword, revealing itself for all to see.

Once he got a good look at it, Assassin's eyes widened in shock. "That's..!"

Just as soon as his mind finished registering the sword that Saber held, the Servant propelled herself towards Lancer. The Knight of the Spear smirked as he kicked up the dirt at his feet, only to kick up dirt and nothing else. Lancer's eyes widened and he shouted, "W-What!?!" as Saber drew closer and closer with her sword raised to strike him down…!

…only for a bellowing war cry and flashes of lighting to stop the two of them from going any further, and inadvertently saving Lancer's life as Saber paused to gaze upward at who was bellowing down on them from above.

"What the…?" Assassin muttered as he shielded his eyes from the dust and rubble being kicked up from the force.

After a second the commotion died down, revealing a man with red hair on his head and face whose muscles looked like they were chiseled onto his body. He rode a giant chariot, which was driven by two oxen that had electricity dancing between their hooves.

Assassin stared at the scene with pursed lips before muttering to himself, "So... I'm guessin’ that's Rider then?"

"Both of you, sheath your weapons!" Rider declared, spreading his arms wide beneath his fur-lined coat. "For you are standing in the presence of a king!"

"Now that's somethin' you don't see every day…" Assassin commented as he placed his right hand under his chin in thought. The man definitely looked familiar. He just needed another second to correctly identify his chariot, and then…

"My name is Iskander, the King of Conquerors!" Rider declared, making Assassin blink. Well, deducing this Servant's identity had been unexpectedly easy. "I am participating under the Rider class of this Holy Grail War!"

"So Alex the Great's in the war?" Assassin mused to himself while leaning against one of the crates to his side. It was not hard to guess if Rider was a powerful Servant or not. The man was well known in every culture across the globe. His conquests of most of the ancient world made history, and he made several cities named after himself. "All he needs is his army, and he's all set to win the war…"

"Fate has brought us all together to fight for the Grail." Rider continued, not even paying attention to Waver's protests for him to stop. "But first, I would like to ask you both something." The man spread his arms wide, as if to embrace the two Servants. "How about relinquishing the Grail to me and joining my army? If you forfeit your claims to the Grail, I would regard you as friends, and share with you the joys of conquering the world!"

Assassin had to bite his tongue to keep himself from bursting into laughter. This guy was something else! To actually ask a Servant to give up their dreams and join him…! Well, he had to give Rider some credit for trying. After all, there were no rules against partnerships between Servants and Masters.

Of course, Saber and Lancer wouldn't have any of it, for both of them shot down Rider's offer.

"Besides, I myself am a king," Saber declared, looking at Rider with defiance in her eyes. "A king responsible for the well-being of the kingdom of Britain. No matter how great a king you are, I cannot lower myself to the rank of a subject."

"The King of Britain you say?" Rider asked as his eyes widened in both surprise and recognition. "What a surprise! I didn't expect the King of Knights to be a little girl!"

"Neither did I." Assassin muttered to himself, smirking in amusement at the whole thing. King Arthur, a girl! Imagine that! Who knew that hundreds of stories praising 'him' could get something as simple as gender wrong!

"Looks like negotiations have failed…" Rider sighed out before looking at a particular alley and asking, "Unless you have something to say, Servant?"

"What?" Saber muttered in surprise before turning her body to where Rider was looking at.

"Now that you mention it, I do feel another presence here…" Lancer began while gripping Gae Derge tightly.

"Show yourself, Servant! Join us here and now!" Rider shouted, his grin not faltering for a second.

Assassin blinked in surprise at the other Servants discovering his location. "How did they…?" "Oh…" His Presence Concealment. Of course. The only fallback to his skill was that if he actually wanted to be found, even at a subconscious level, they could find him. And since he was so bored and then excited by the recent developments, it was no wonder that he wanted to join in on the action. "No use in hiding now…" Assassin mused to himself as he stepped out of the alley, coming into view of the three Servants and their Masters. "King Arthur being a fine woman like yourself… well I'll be a monkey's uncle…" Assassin drawled out as he looked towards the shocked Saber.

Elsewhere:

"So he is here…" Emiya Kiritsugu muttered to himself as he peered out the scope of his gun towards Assassin.

He was shocked as well to hear of Lupin's sudden reappearance and involvment with the Holy Grail War. While most of the regular
populace dismissed it, Kiritsugu knew better. There were only two possible explanations for why Lupin the Third would be back. One: He was never dead to begin with. Or two: he had been summoned as a Servant.

Lupin had faked his death before. Who could say for certain that he didn't do it again? The man had gotten away with some of the greatest crimes in history, so was it too big a stretch to imagine that he had decided to disappear and covered his tracks thoroughly enough to make the world believe he was really dead? Plus, Kiritsugu knew that Lupin had done business with Magi before. It wouldn't be that much of a surprise if Lupin had figured out why they had him stealing artifacts of well-known figures throughout history and legend.

Plus, the Holy Grail could equate to the ultimate payday.

The second possibility, while less likely, was still one to consider. Lupin was well known throughout the world, and always made headlines while he was alive. His fame could have earned him a place in the Throne of Heroes, no matter how much Magi would've liked to deny it.

Now he was here, standing in front of three Servants and his wife Irisviel, looking the not least bit troubled by their presence. Not only that, but the man's appearance made him look like he was in the prime of his life. Kiritsugu knew then that the second possibility for Lupin's return was probably the one that was true.

And since Rider was taken, only one Servant class could fit with Lupin's legend.

"Definitely an Assassin to be wary of." Kiritsugu thought to himself before reaching for his radio. "Maiya, have you found Lancer's Master yet?"

"I am moving into a better position." Hisau Maiya, his assistant and sometimes 'lover', responded through their two-way radio.

"Good. I will keep my eye on Assassin." Kiritsugu responded as he continued to observe. "Knowing him, Assassin probably has a plan that will make this operation more complicated than it should be."

"And knowing him, he probably hasn't changed since I last saw him…"

Back With Assassin And The Others:

"Gae Buidhe!" Lancer shouted in shock as he saw his spear in Assassin's hands before glaring angrily at the Servant. "How dare you…"

"Hey now, you're the one who left it on the ground. Anyone walkin’ by could've just happened upon it and picked it up." Assassin smiled, shrugging lightly as he said so. "Finders keepers an' all that, you know?"

"Enough games!" Saber growled out as she pointed her sword at Assassin. "Identify yourself!"

Assassin then blinked as he looked past Saber to gaze at Irisviel, making the woman blush at the sudden attention. While she was married to the love of her life, the rather serious stare Assassin was giving her was making her nervous. Assassin slowly walked forward; making Saber shift into a battle stance, ready to cut the newcomer down should he attempt to harm Irisviel. "You just happen to be…" Assassin then stopped, looking at Irisviel for a second before a goofy grin stretched across his face. "…A mighty fine woman!"

"H-Huh!?!" Both Saber and Irisviel stuttered out while Lancer seemed to trip himself over the sudden change in mood.

"Bwahaha!" Rider laughed out at the action and flashed Assassin a grin. "That was very amusing, stranger! But just like Saber, I am curious towards your identity."

"Well, since ya asked so nicely…" Assassin began before giving a mock bow to everyone. "Arsène Lupin the Third, the Assassin of this war! But the ladies just call me Lupin!"

"So you're the one who spread those messages across the city!" Rider breathed out with a hint of appreciation. "You are the supposedly legendary thief of this era then?"

"What on earth possessed you to do that, you fool!?!" Lancer cried out as he pointed his spear at Assassin. "You endangered the entire war!"

"Eh, a little danger won't hurt anybody." Assassin replied in a non-caring tone, making Saber gape at the man's carelessness. Didn't he know that the entire city would have been killed if word got out about the slightest hint of Magic actually existing? Knowledge of the Holy Grail War was meant to be kept confidential among the competitors because of that!

"Now then Assassin…" Rider began, flashing the Servant a huge grin. "How would you like to join my army?"

"Pass." Assassin instantly responded. "Now don't get me wrong, you seem like an okay guy. But when I say I'm gonna steal somethin', I mean it. Sorry, but I can't be under anybody when I take the Grail from its container."

Unknown to him, Irisviel slightly shifted at the word 'container'.

"Ah, such a shame… negotiations truly have failed…" Rider sighed out as he scratched the back of his head. "Perhaps if I make conce-"
"MONGREL!!!!"

"Huh?" Assassin muttered to himself as he looked up, only to see a sword heading towards him at breakneck speeds. "GAAAH!!!" Assassin quickly jumped back, making the sword stab the ground between his legs but thankfully only meet concrete and nothing else. "Phew! That was a close one!"

"Did you think that you could escape me, dog?" Archer asked as he materialized on top of a lamppost. "Did you truly think that your crime of stealing from me, a king, and hiding in your hovel of garbage would save your worthless hide!?!"

"Archer?" Lancer muttered to himself, ignoring Assassin (Who was still holding Gae Buidhe in his hands!) for a moment to look at the Servant. The man radiated with power and such utter fury that the Servant could barely move his legs.

"Irisviel, stay back!" Saber ordered as she stood in front of her Master's wife who observed the conflict with calculating eyes.

If what Assassin said was true, then the man was a thief. A brazen one, but still a highly successful thief that had the power to steal other Noble Phantasms. And if Archer's rants were of any indication, then Assassin stole from him as well.

"Hm, I suppose I can't propose negotiations to him…" Rider mused to himself as he stroked his beard while Waver shook with fright as the King of Heroes glared down at Assassin. "Doesn't seem like the type who would listen to my generous offer."

"I-It's been a while, Goldie…" Assassin muttered, his grin not faltering. However, that lone comment made Archer's sneer grow even more.
"You dare call me by such a title!?!" Archer shouted, several golden portals appearing begind him as weapons of various types began peeking out. "Such is your death warrant, mongrel!"

"WAAAHHH!!!" Assassin yelled as he began to run while the weapons shot towards him. As each deadly object neared the Servant, Assassin mearly ducked and jumped at high speeds to avoid them. Making the weapons imbed themselves into the ground or one of the crates.
"H-His speed is incredible!"Saber gaped in awe at Assassin's legwork, but the Servant's continued survival only seemed to make Archer's rage grow even more.

"You mongrel!" Archer shouted in utter fury as the Gates of Babylon continued to try and rain death on Assassin. "Hold still so that you may suffer!"

"You really need to see someone on that temper of yours!" Assassin shouted back as he passed by an alley before seeing a short sword begin heading closer and closer to his head. Much too close to dodge…!

…Only for a metallic hand shrouded in darkness to grab the weapon and prevent it from hitting Assassin.

"Huh?" Assassin muttered as he gazed onto a black knight concealed in a dark fog, its reg visor gazing hatefully at Archer.

"GGRRAAAAHHH!!!!"The knight yelled, making Assassin blink before smirking and running back to the other three Servants.

"Take care of that for me, will ya buddy?" Assassin called out cockily as he ran beside Saber and Irisviel, not that they noticed.
They were too busy staring at the new arrival.

"Berserker?" Saber gasped while Irisviel, Waver, and Lancer looked at the new Servant with equal amounts of shock while Rider observed coldly.

"You would protect the mongrel, you rabid dog?" Archer asked, looking at Berserker with hateful eyes. "Then you shall receive his punishment as well!"

With that, Archer launched an onslaught of golden weapons at Berserker, only for the Servant to swat them away with the one he held. Only now it was black and covered in angry red markings that looked like veins. Berserker discarded the weapon and grabbed an axe from mid-air as he continued to swat the weapons away.

"Hm, so the madness does not affect his skills. Interesting…" Rider mused to himself as he stroked his beard in thought.

"Lancer, let us retreat. This is not a favorable battle for us…" The voice of Lancer's Master rang out, making Waver's eyes widen.

"K-Kayneth…?" Waver stammered out, but did not get an answer to his question as Lancer immediately nodded and began to jump towards the warehouse that his Master was at.

"Hm, so I was right…" Assassin mused to himself before looking at Saber. "By the way, why were you so bent out of shape over me stealin' his weapon?"

Saber blinked at the question before glaring at Assassin. "I wish to duel with Lancer on equal grounds, with both of us at our full strength. He cannot do it without the weapon you hold in your hands, and it would go against my honor as a knight to defeat him when he is not at his full abilities."

"'Honor as a knight', huh? I see…" Assassin muttered as he gazed into Saber's eyes. They were dead serious, and he could see a lion being held in Saber's young body.

He could appreciate her spirit.

"Alright then! I've decided!" Assassin declared as he took out a small remote from his jacket's pocket, which contained a small button and three switches. "It'll be a contest!"

"Contest?" Saber repeated in confusion, only for Assassin to smirk as he flipped the first switch.

The two rockets on the top of the crate in the alley activated, making the crate go onto the main path before Assassin made them stop by pressing the button again and flipping the second switch. The rockets on the front and back of the crate then activated, turning the crate towards the direction of the warehouse as Assassin flipped the third switch, making the front and back rockets fly before the ones on the sides activated and headed straight towards the warehouse.

"Whoever gets to Lancer and his Master first wins!" Assassin laughed out as he ran towards the crate and jumped on top, making Saber blink in surprise. "Try not to disappoint me, Arthur Pendragon!"

"Bwa-huh!?!" Saber gasped out before regaining her senses. The crate was now flying towards the direction that Lancer had retreated to! Assassin was planning on killing Lancer's Master while the Servant tried to get him to safety!

She could not allow this, but she could not allow Irisviel to be left alone either.

With that in mind, Saber wrapped her right arm around Irisviel's waist and shouted, "Hang on Irisviel!" Not registering the woman's gasp of shock, Saber took off after Assassin.

"BWAHAHA!!!" Rider laughed out with a hearty grin as he observed the events. "Interesting! Very interesting! You truly are one impressive man, Assassin!"

"Everyone around me is insane…" Waver muttered to himself as he tried to make himself as unnoticeable as possible, and hopefully be ignored by the chaos that was going on around him.

Archer blinked at the flying crate that passed between him and Berserker before sneering and shouting, "MONGREL! You will not escape-!" He did not have time to finish, for he had to jump off his chosen standing spot to avoid Berserker's axe throw.

Assassin's grin grew to even greater lengths as the wind rushed past his face. "YAY!!" He cheered as the roof of the warehouse along with its occupants came into view.

Lancer was grabbing a blond-haired man in blue teacher robes, most obviously his Master. With that in mind, Assassin whipped out his Walther P-38 from his left pocket with his right hand, aimed, and fired two shots.

If things had gone as planned, the bullets would have torn through the enemy Master's head and chest, thus ending Lancer's participation in the war.

But unfortunately, Lancer was quicker than he expected.

With a flick of his wrist, the red spear deflected the two bullets before the crate crashed into the rooftop. Assassin jumped onto the roof quickly and aimed his gun at the area Lancer and his Master were supposed to be, only to find them gone. "Hm, guess they knew when to pack their bags…"

"Assassin!" Saber shouted as she landed on the rooftop as well, making Assassin turn and shoot at her before running. "Do not think such tricks will work on me!" Saber declared as she blocked one bullet while the other grazed her cheek, only causing a small cut. She ran after Assassin and saw him disappearing behind the large square generator.

"She's one entertainin' broad." Assassin muttered to himself while gripping onto Gae Buidhe in his left hand and clutching his Walther in his right. "Better than I expected!" He then heard Saber's footsteps coming from the side of the generator, and quickly shifted his body to the side where the sound originated. He aimed his Walther for Saber's head as soon as he saw her emerald green eyes…

…only for Saber to stab him in the chest, making red fluid gush out like a fountain as Assassin's eyes widened in shock.

"I got him!" Saber's mind announced to itself before she saw Assassin grin of all things before dropping the golden spear and reach into his jacket. "W-what!" He then brought his hand down, making more red fluid gush from his 'wound' and soak Saber with it. "Grrhk?!"

"Like it? It's extra-spicy chili sauce! Sure looks like blood huh?" Assassin asked as he revealed a small black pump that his hand kept pumping on, soaking Saber in the red fluid and making her take back her sword while her left hand attempted to get the fluid out of her eyes. “Have some more, on the house!”

"Gah! My eyes!" Saber cried out, her eyes stinging as the sauce continued to pour down on her. Irisviel could do nothing but gape at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation before Assassin dropped the pump (And the silver canister that was hidden in his jacket) to the ground. He fired his Walther, knocking the sword from Saber's weakened grasp as he tackled her to the ground, straddling her small body. "J-Just what do you think you're doing!?!" Saber shouted in horror, while Assassin just gained a perverted grin on his face.

"What do ya think I'm doin'?" Assassin shot back with his same amused tone, lightly gripping onto Saber's right shoulder.

"N-No way…!" Saber thought to herself in shock. "He cannot be…!"

"MONGREL!!!" Archer voice yelled before golden protals began to envelope the sky, making both Servants look up to see hundreds of weapons poking out and ready to fall on the landscape. Archer glared hatefully at his surroundings as he continued with, "I have had enough of these games! I have had enough of you scurrying away like a rat to avoid your execution! If you will not face me and accept your punishment, then I will simply have to destroy this distasteful landscape and you with it! I will find what is left of your corpse, and drag it throughout this era's lands! They shall see the result of those who-!"

"By the power of this Command Seal, I, Tohsaka Tokiomi, command you to quell your anger and return to me."

Archer's eyes narrowed in anger as he looked to the sky and shouted, "You would dare to deny me of my revenge, Tokiomi!?!"

"I would not dare, my king. However, if you perform this action, you will not have an audience." Tokiomi quickly explained to the enraged Servant. "Assassin must be made an example of. So that the other Servants know what it means to go against you. Through Assassin's death, they will fear you and know that the title of King of Heroes is one well deserved."

"…" Archer said nothing for a minute before the portals disappeared from the sky. He looked to the warehouse and spoke, "Be grateful, mongrel. You have earned yourself some more time amongst the living. Remember your king's generosity to a worthless thief such as yourself." With that, Archer disappeared in a shower of golden sparkles.

"Grrr…."Berserker growled after seeing his prey go away before disappearing as well. Rider looked at the scene for a minute in silence before exploding in laughter.

"BWAHAHAHA!!!" Rider laughed out before a grin stretched across his face. "You truly are an interesting man, Assassin! It has been many years since I have seen such a sight in the middle of a battle! I applaud you! What a show!" With that, he snapped the reigns of his chariot, making the oxen roar before the chariot flew into the air. "It is unfortunate that you will not join my army, but I look forward to seeing you again in this war!" After that, he disappeared into the night sky.

Assassin grinned at the action before getting up and beginning to walk away, making Saber blink in surprise. He wasn't going to…? "Whelp, it's been a good bit of fun but I gotta go."

"W-What?" Saber stammered out as she got onto her feet, grabbing Excalibur and aiming it at the Servant. "Y-You enter this battle and expect to just leave whenever you please?"

"Kinda, yeah." Was Assassin's quick reply as he picked up Gae Buidhe off the ground and looked over his shoulder to Saber and Irisviel with a grin. "It's been a fun time with both of you dames, but I really gotta go. But don't worry. You'll be seeing more of me soon, Arthur-chan!" With that, Assassin disappeared from Saber's view, leaving the fuming Servant behind.

"Assassin…" Saber growled to herself as her fists clenched in anger. In a short few minutes, the Servant made a complete fool out of her and had her at his mercy. Should he have chosen to do so, he could have killed her or… taken advantage of her.
That could not happen again.

"Saber…" Irisviel began, speaking for the first time since they arrived onto the roof. Saber turned to her, and the woman simply pointed at her before asking, "…What's that on your shoulder?"

Saber blinked in confusion before looking at her right shoulder and saw that in between her skin and the clothing was a small white note. She quickly plucked it out and opened it, her eyes scanning over its contents.

"The Sword of Promised Victory, Excalibur, will be mine! -- Lupin the Third"

"When did he…?"Saber thought to herself before remembering when he knocked her to the ground in their battle. She glared at the small cartoon of Assassin's face next to his signature before muttering, "Lupin the Third…"

Unknown to her, watching from only a building away from the docks, was Assassin looking wistfully in her general direction. "Servant Saber… Arthur Pendragon of Camelot… A fine woman who's going to help kill off my boredom…" He then raised his right arm, his thumb up and his index finger out like a gun, and aimed it in Saber's general direction. "The next time we meet, you'll be…"

Assassin then raised his arm, as if mimicking the kickback of an actual gun.

[mAc Chaos]

>Shitjustgotreal.jpg

I laughed at the end.

[TheInfamousMan]

Fifth Heist

xxXXxx

Zenigata hated the higher-ups in Interpol.

"This is a complete waste of all our time!" The representative from the United States declared while glaring at the secretary-general and president. "Why should we reinstate Officer Zenigata's license just so he can chase some stupid knock-off of Lupin?"

"I agree." The representative of France said as he stood up from his seat, looking calmly at Zenigata who was standing behind the president and secretary-general with his eyes closed. "Our forensic teams have confirmed numerous times that the criminal known as Arsène Lupin the Third is dead. There were no foreign chemicals residing in the body, nor any type of material replacing the skin or vital organs. All of them were real."

He really did. They were so pretentious. Acting like they knew how to be on the field and doing their duty. Maybe they did once. But now they were just a bunch of glorified pencil-pushing politicians who couldn't be bothered to sign a few papers if it conflicted with their own agendas.

"Perhaps, but remember that Officer Zenigata has the most experience when it comes to dealing with Lupin." Japan's representative spoke up, making everyone turn to him. "Even if it is a copycat, having him consult with our men would help us solve this case much faster."

"Or it could simply be a copycat that has no intention of duplicating the full level of his crimes." The representative of Greece mentioned, tapping his pen onto the desk. "I believe that everyone is aware of the cause for the Lupin Fiasco."

Ah yes. Zenigata remembered the 'Lupin Fiasco' quite well. It was one of his last jobs after all.

Ever since Lupin 'died', copycats began crawling out of the woodwork, wearing either his green jacket or red. It was almost as if it there was a contest to see which version was the better one. They went all-out in copying Lupin, down to using a Fiat 500 as their chosen getaway car and attempting to pull off his driving techniques.

A lot of stupid punks ended up in the morgue when they got them wrong.

However, some were successful in almost (Just almost) becoming as skilled as Lupin. Around fifty of those Lupin imposters gathered together in Shinjuku, originally arriving to free a fellow Lupin imposter who got himself caught shoplifting, and then decided that whoever could steal the prototype for a new nuclear weapon nicknamed 'The Ice Cube' would be granted the title of 'Lupin the Third'. Zenigata himself lead the police there in order to apprehend all the imposters, and due to his knowledge of the real Lupin's tactics they were able to capture nearly all of them…

…except for one green-jacketed 'Lupin', whose real name was Yasuo Ohtsuka.

He had managed to slip through the cracks of the police and Lupin imposters unnoticed and stole the Ice Cube before getting away, cashing in on his 'well earned' title as the new Lupin. Zenigata retired after that. He accepted that Lupin had died and would not be coming back. After all, the real Lupin wouldn't have let some copycat just steal his identity. Even if he was faking his death, he would have come out of hiding just to challenge the imposter.

Yasuo was the last Lupin imposter, and also the longest-running one. His career lasted two straight years before the police caught him in August 1990, attempting to steal the United States Constitution. It was only thanks to a guard and a well-placed shot in the right knee that ended the copycat's career. Even now, he currently resides in the Tokyo Detention House after being transferred back to his home country.

"True, but I still believe that Officer Zenigata's knowledge will be useful in apprehending this imposter." The representative of Japan spoke up once again. "If anything, we can make his reinstatement temporary. At least until this case is solved. And honestly, what harm could it do?"

There was a murmur of agreements amongst all the representatives, and Zenigata tuned them out as he continued to think about the reason why he was even here.

After calming down from his 'outburst', he used a computer (Damn machines these days…) and saw one of the notes that were dropped in Fuyuki City. He had chased Lupin for numerous years, and had studied his handwriting with every 'warning' he gave to his targets. It's one of the reasons how he could tell an imposter Lupin from the real thing. None of the imposters after Lupin's death could copy Lupin's handwriting or the way he drew his monkey cartoon accurately. Not even Yasuo.

But the note's handwriting matched exactly with Lupin.

Either his age was starting to get to him, or…

"Perhaps… it is that damned thief…" Zenigata thought to himself as he clenched his fists. "I must confirm this myself, otherwise I'll never get another decent night of sleep again and I can kiss my peaceful retirement goodbye…"

"…and if that is all, I hereby grant Officer Zenigata temporary reinstatement in the ranks of Interpol as a consultant in this case." The president spoke up, snapping Zenigata out of his thoughts, as there was a round of polite claps from each of the representatives.

"Thank you…" Zenigata spoke up as he gave a polite bow. "I promise not to fail you."

"Tell us, what do you have in mind with bringing out this 'Lupin'?" The president asked curiously, only making Zenigata smirk a bit.
He had just the thing in mind.

"If you wish to catch a rat, you simply need to lay out some bait…"

Elsewhere (Fuyuki Hyatt Hotel):

"This is a disaster…" Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi, Master of Lancer, muttered to himself bitterly as he sat on the couch while Lancer kneeled before him. "How could you let your Noble Phantasm out of sight Lancer?"

"I… can give no excuse my lord." Lancer said truthfully as he bowed his head. "I never expected there to be a Servant that had the capabilities of taking Gae Buidhe…"

"This is unacceptable!" Kayneth roared as he pounded his right fist onto the armrest while Lancer continued to stare shamefully down at the floor. "Due to your foolishness, your Noble Phantasm is gone and in the hands of Assassin! If you had simply used both of them in your fight against Saber from the beginning instead of needlessly letting the battle drag on then we would have had one less Servant standing between me and the Holy Grail!"

"I…" Lancer muttered as his fists clenched and his teeth grit together only slightly. If he had used both Noble Phantasms from the start, then Saber would have figured out a strategy against his spears. The King of Knights would have quickly overpowered him or out-maneuvered him if that were to have happened. No, he had been counting on the element of surprise when he discarded Gae Buidhe, so that she could get used to Gae Dearg before using Gae Buidhe at just the right moment.

But he lost focus during the battle, and Assassin used that to his advantage. If Rider had not interrupted the battle when he did, then Lancer would have died right then and there.

To allow such a thing to happen because of the dishonorable actions of a thief…

"I promise that I shall not let it happen again my lord." Lancer continued, only for Kayneth's anger to grow even more.

"Promises will not give you back your Noble Phantasm you foo-!"

"Isn't this your fault as well Kayneth?" Sola-Ui asked, speaking up for the first time from the corner of the room. Kayneth looked at his fiancée and his lips tightened to a thin frown as she continued to speak. "As a Master, isn't it as much your responsibility to prepare for the unexpected as it is Lancer's? You cannot place all the blame on him. You should have kept an eye on Lancer's Noble Phantasm and worked with him to make sure his surprise attack had been successful. Instead, you hid in the shadows while Lancer risked his life to achieve a victory under your name. And to think that your supposed 'failure' of a student was braver than you…"

"I will deal with Waver Velvet in due time Sola-Ui." Kayneth said calmly as he reclined in his seat. "However, this entire incident has given us at least some gauge of the Servants' abilities, especially Assassin's."

"I must admit, it is amazing how a man from the modern age could ascend to the Throne of Heroes." Sola-Ui stated with a nod. It was indeed. Most Magi, including herself for some time, believed that only heroes from earlier times could be part of the Throne. But apparently, Assassin had a sufficient enough legend to warrant becoming a Heroic Spirit.

And since he was from the modern age, researching his abilities and potential Noble Phantasms would be simple.

"Yes, it is." Kayneth admitted as he drummed his fingers on the armrest. "For now, we will wait until my familiars can pinpoint Assassin's location. Then, we will strike and retrieve Lancer's Noble Phantasm. After that, it will be child's play to finish off Saber."

For some reason, Lancer could not see the reclaiming of his Gae Buidhe being that easy.

Elsewhere (Sewers of Fuyuki City):

Ryuunosuke liked to think himself as a pretty carefree guy.

After all, he liked to laugh, have fun, and enjoy doing cool things to women and kids.

"THAT FIEND!!!"

Which is why his good friend's little tantrum was kind of freaking him out.

"How could that… that jackal touch the Virgin Goddess so!?!" Caster screeched out while knocking over several scalpels and Ryuunosuke's workbench. "A fiend, born from her very homeland whose blood is soiled by this country's inhabitants… A thief of the night who attempted to violate her purity… How can you continue to punish her so!?!" Caster spotted the child's dissected body, who was miraculously still alive despite his skin peeled back and tears of pain coming out of his eyes, before ripping out his still-beating heart and waving it to the sky. "I commit these unholy atrocities, and yet you still do not punish me! You continue to punish Jeanne!" Caster's grip increased on the heart until it was crushed with a sickening wet *pop*, and the child finally liberated from the hell he had been suffering in. "Do you do this to toy with us both? To continue tormenting us in your game? Why?" Caster then punched the body in rage, shaking the stand and making blood gush out. "Why!?!" He punched it once more, the body's tiny ribs snapping from the blow. "WHY!?!" Caster then continued to pulverize the body as Ryuunosuke watched on, his eyes going wide with amazement.

Whoever pissed off his buddy Caster was in for some serious hurt.

"Ryuunosuke!" Caster shouted, making Ryuunosuke jump slightly at the Servant's call. Caster turned around, not even noticing the blood dripping from his hands and staining his clothes and face and walked to his Master before placing his hands on his shoulders. "We must prepare! We must gather! My wish may have been fulfilled, but God continues to torture her so through that half-breed swine!"

"Um, does that mean we can't have any fun anymore?" Ryuunosuke asked, making Caster sadly nod his head.

"It will be difficult for artists such as us Ryuunosuke, but we must! If I wish to free Jeannie from that accursed God's torment, we must gather more and more materials! Lupin the Third shall rue the day he attracted the wrath of Giles de Rais!"

"A mission of love with slaughter… I guess that's pretty cool…!" Ryuunosuke thought to himself as a small smile stretched across his face. He had been in love too during his high school years. A sweet girl named Yumiko…

…To this day, he still considered the way he turned her body into a work of art that showed her beautiful insides in a near symmetrical pattern his greatest masterpiece.

Elsewhere (Alleys of Fuyuki):

Kariya could only groan in pain as he shifted his body to get more comfortable in the pile of trash he was currently sitting on.

His new style of life would have disgusted his old self, and it did repulse him from time to time, but this was the only way he could live in the coming days.

Tokiomi might ask Aoi where his apartment was without telling her that he was a Master, and trusting him (God knows why) she would give it. He gave her his address and phone number years ago so that they could keep in touch, and Sakura and Rin used to visit him with their mother on his birthdays.

But now, returning would be a death wish.

From what he had seen through Berserker, Archer could wipe the building off the map in a heartbeat effortlessly. Not only that, but Kariya was pretty sure that the other Masters might be tech-savvy enough to research where anyone named 'Matou' lived in Fuyuki. While that was slightly unbelievable, the past few days had led to Kariya adopting a healthy sense of paranoia. Having other revived Heroic spirits chasing after you, a Magus who didn't like him as much as Kariya despised him, a Servant who's Prana consumption always made the worms in his body agitated, and being in constant pain tended to do that to a guy.

But at least last night had revealed to Kariya a potential ally in this War.

He had witnessed Assassin's failed assault on Tokiomi's house and the Servant Archer's hatred towards him. Whatever happened between Assassin's Master and Tokiomi was still a mystery to him, but they couldn't be anything but enemies.

Archer was definitely not faking it when he tried to lop off Assassin's head.

So, Kariya had Berserker save him. He remembered how successful Assassin was when he was always alive, always making heists and always foiling the cops' attempts in capturing him. How he became a Heroic Spirit was still a mystery to Kariya, but that didn't matter.

Right now, Kariya was all alone in the Holy Grail War. And while Berserker had shown that he could hold his own against Archer, he didn't want his body to die out from providing his mad Servant with prana before getting the Grail. He couldn't let that happen. So if he were to make an alliance with Assassin's Master…

"We can take out that son of a bitch easily, and I'll be one step closer in getting Sakura back…!" Kariya thought to himself before grimacing in pain as the worms wriggled around under his skin.

He was getting too excited. There was still the chance that Assassin's Master might refuse the offer.

Right now, Kariya had to be patient…

Elsewhere (Fuyuki Library):

Lupin the Third Steals King Tut's Mask!

Waver could not help but gape at the front-page article of the newspaper (The New York Times) he was reading, dated November 14^th, 1977. In it, the writer was giving his speculations on how Lupin the Third had managed to run off with both the mask and the pharaoh's treasures overnight despite state of the art security and numerous policemen guarding the entire exhibit.

"He is either a genius or insane!" Waver thought to himself. "Maybe both!"

After the fight on the docks (And after an attempted good-night's sleep) Waver had decided to research Assassin's true identity as much as possible. It was a stroke of luck that they were able to find out the identities of both Assassin and Saber. There was no real reason to research Saber's identity, since every boy of English descent knew the story of King Arthur (Though how King Arthur was actually a pretty girl rather than a man still had Waver at a loss.) so there wasn't any real need to research her. But he did not know Assassin's legend, leading him to the library where Rider stole the books from. It really helped too since the library had an online database of newspapers. (Thank god for the 'younger' Magi families being a teensy bit more adept in figuring out technology…) But…

"But why did he have to come…?"

Waver mentally groaned as he looked over his shoulder and saw Rider sitting on one of the chairs in the library, reading a thick leather-bound book and ignoring all the stares he was getting from his attire. At first, Rider was content with remaining in spirit form during the walk to the library, but then he actually wanted to read the books and appeared still garbed in his Greek armor. Waver (After being unable to convince Rider to leave) was able to convince everyone that Rider was just a cosplayer.

"He's probably doing this just to spite me…" Waver whined quietly to himself before returning to the screen of the computer in front of him, clicking on the mouse to scroll down.

From what he found out so far, Assassin had always been more than successful than not in getting what he wanted. Sometimes he even helped police to capture the criminals who either shared an interest in the treasure the thief was pursuing or owned the piece itself. He even stole a woman (Waver had to blush at this) whose entire body was tattooed, including her tongue, by a famous artist back in the sixties, thus turning her into a 'living painting'.

"Yo! Boy!" Rider shouted, making Waver give a small yelp of surprise before turning around to see Rider leaning down to look at the computer. "How goes the information gathering?"

"Y-You idiot!" Waver whispered out, glaring at the Servant. "Don't sneak up on me like that! And keep your voice down! We're in a library!"

"I don't understand these rules of this day and age…" Rider muttered as he scratched his head. "The volume of one's voice should not affect how one gathers knowledge…"

"Well it does now, so keep it down." Waver grumbled before standing up and checking if anyone was listening in. Then, he sat down and whispered, "I was able to learn a few things. First of all, I think that Assassin can disguise himself as anyone at will. He has often disguised himself numerous times during his heists, either to get away or to aid himself in stealing a treasure."

"A trait very useful for one in the Assassin class." Rider muttered as he stroked his beard. "That coupled with his Presence Concealment, it would make him difficult to find in a crowd of civilians. But if he were to disguise himself as a Master, the lack of a connection would give him away."

"Maybe, but I'm not so sure…" Waver agreed while drumming his hand on the desk. "He was able to fool policemen by disguising himself as one of their own, completely fooling the officers who worked with the guy he was imitating for years. That might let him be able to disguise himself as a Master or a Servant… at least for a little while."

It may be a theory, but Waver had to keep all possibilities open.

"Truly, Assassin will be a difficult opponent to defeat…" Rider began, a huge grin forming on his face. "But a difficult opponent is always the best one to defeat in conquest! I cannot wait for me and Assassin to meet on the battlefield! The battle of our wits shall be glorious!" Rider then erupted in a boisterous laugh, frightening Waver to unimaginable levels.

"You idiot! Keep it down! Shut up before they throw us out!"

Fed up with their behavior, the library manager did just that.

Elsewhere (Einzbern Manor):

"…" Kiritsugu observed Saber, who regarded him with an attentiveness only reserved for a knight, and Irisviel who looked at him seriously (A look that she hardly ever used, considering the fact that she never really had a reason to use it.) Maiya stood behind him, a file in her hands as she waited for her instructions.

Kiritsugu had to admit that this was a near-perfect gathering.

"Let's go over the facts once more." Kiritsugu spoke, nodding to Maiya as she laid down a folder labled 'Assassin/Lupin the Third' on it. "For whatever reason, Arsène Lupin the Third has been summoned in the Assassin class rather than Hassan-I-Sabbah, or at least a member of the order. It can be assumed that this is due to the rather vague requirements needed for the class, and Assassin's already existing fame kept alive by the numerous copycats that popped up after his death."

Saber opened the folder and saw numerous photos of Assassin. One of them was a snapshot of him driving a car and wearing a green jacket and an English crown on his head. In the backseat were numerous treasures of all different shapes and sizes while two police cars chased after him. Another had him in the red jacket posing while sitting down in a chair and twirling his gun in his right hand. Three other pictures included an admittedly beautiful and well-endowed brunet, a man with a twirled goatee and a hat that hid almost his entire face save his nose and mouth, and a man that looked like a traditional samurai.

"Due to his former partners Fujiko Mine, Daisuke Jigen, and Goemon Ishikawa XIII being alive, we can assume that they are not part of his Noble Phantasm." Kiritsugu continued as he spread out the photos for all to see. "However he still has his skills, cunning, and his numerous disguises, all of which have most likely been augmented by his status as a Servant, are also things to consider."

"I must admit, all that happened during the battle seemed… too well planned." Saber muttered as she crossed her arms. It was true, Assassin set up that rigged crate before the fight as if he were expecting to be caught. The whole thing played out in his hands… "He jumped on me and acted like that so I would not notice the note he was slipping onto me…"

Saber was a bit bitter after her 'fight' with Assassin. All his tricks should have been spotted easily, but she was so caught in the moment and distracted by the utter absurdity of his actions that they were able to slip through her sights. For one, the 'blood' was a much lighter shade than true blood. That fact alone should have made her pull back and stab him again for safe measure. Then, she was shocked by him touching her in such an intimate manner. It was the first time she was ever put in that situation, making her freeze up when she should have knocked him away with ease. Her strength was greater than his after all.

None of those mistakes would happen again.

"Well, Kiritsugu said that Lupin was a master planner." Irisviel spoke up, making the King of Knights look to her. "And all his successful heists prove that he can escape any situation."

"His high luck will also prove to be a problem, as will be his familiarity of modern-day weaponry and technology." Maiya muttered from beside Kiritsugu, placing down a picture of Assassin fiddling with an early version of the computer with ease.

"Now that we know Lancer's identity, we know that Assassin is in possession of Gae Buidhe." Kiritsugu spoke as he picked up a picture of Lupin and seemed to study it.

"Any Servant that can take away a Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm is a dangerous one." Irisviel agreed with a nod of her head.

Saber could agree on that. Considering the legend behind the spear, any wound it made could not be healed. And if Assassin can use the Noble Phantasm to its full abilities…

"I need more time to plan out an assault on Assassin and his Master." Kiritsugu spoke up as he gathered the photos and placed them into the folder once more. "Assassin most likely knows that most of the Servants are after him, and is planning accordingly. And with the information he gathered previously on Saber and Lancer, he will be more than prepared for both of them."

"Master…" Saber spoke up, rising from her chair and glaring at Kiritsugu. "If you are planning on how to strike at Assassin and his Master, I should be present as we-"

"Iri, I will see you later tonight." Kiritsugu promised his wife before he briskly left the room with Maiya following behind him, not even bothering to allow Saber to finish.

Whether he got along with the King of Knights or not was irrelevant. She was a tool. Just a means for him obtaining the Holy Grail and keeping the Servants busy as he hunted down their Masters, nothing more.

But Assassin's demise would take delicate planning, much reviewing of notes on him and Kotomine Kirei, many sleepless nights, and a lot of coffee.

Kotomine Kirei already terrified him, but for the man to summon someone as unpredictable and unorthodox as Lupin the Third the Assassin of the Fourth War was just…

Kiritsugu sighed as he continued to walk down the hall. He could not afford to think like that. A confrontation between him and Kirei was bound to happen sooner or later, whether it ended with him aiming the Thompson Contender right in front of him and pulling the trigger or sniping him from a distance. Either way, he had to kill the man. There was no way that the other Masters would be able to.

Lupin the Third grinned at the teenage Emiya Kiritsugu, lying on the shore of some beach along the San Francisco Bay, from the driver's seat of the dark blue Mercedes-Benz SSK, his red jacket like a mocking beacon to the boy. Kiritsugu coughed seawater from his lungs and took in deep, greedy gulps of air as Lupin said, "You put up one hell of a fight kiddo. Gotta give you that. But ya lost this one. Maybe we'll meet again someday. Until then…" The car then sped away, Lupin waving at Kiritsugu as he glanced over his shoulder to the boy. "Give Natalia-chan my best!"

"I suppose we have met again in a sense, Lupin the Third…" Kiritsugu thought to himself as his eyes narrowed.
"But this time, I will be the one who wins."

Elsewhere (Kirei's Apartment):

"A hundred channels but nothing goods on…" Assassin muttered to himself as he continued surfing the channels with a lit cigarette clenched lightly in his teeth.

Kirei had left earlier in order to get some groceries, or was it for some priestly duties? Assassin forgot a while ago, but he had decided to kill some time by channel surfing since it was daytime, and most of the time the Servants came out at night.

"They'll probably be gunnin' for me, considerin' the mighty fine show I gave them…" Assassin thought to himself with a grin. The battle where most of the Servants (Except for Caster) appeared was most definitely exciting. He was able to obtain Gae Buidhe (Now safely hidden away under the back seats of his Fiat.), learned the identities of Saber and Rider, and was able to find an entertaining rival for the war.

While 'Goldie' was very pissed at him, Saber was bound to try and defeat him as part of her knightly code. And his not so subtle challenge to her with his note will only enforce that determination. "Stealin' is always more fun with a rival…" Assassin muttered to himself before changing the channel.

"God only knows what I would be without you~!"

"Not in the mood for music…" *Click*

"Now, you just add the freshly chopped garlic into the pot.."

"A whole show dedicated to just cookin'? Who would want to watch that?" *Click*

"This amazing new product will enhance your gaming experience-!"

"Not interested." *Click*

"Do you feel lucky? Well do ya punk?"

"Always lucky." *Click*

"…This is truly great news for Fuyuki City! To think, an Egyptian exhibit coming to here of all places!"

"Oh?" Assassin muttered, a small smirk developing on his lips as he turned up the volume.

"Indeed it is! The Laughing Peacock exhibit will most likely be full on the first day! I can only hope that the Fuyuki Museum can contain all the people wishing to see this extraordinary example of Egyptian craftsmanship!"

"The Laughing Peacock?" Assassin muttered, the cigarette nearly falling out of his mouth before he caught it while snickering. "Now that's a name I haven't heard in a while!"

"For those of our viewers who need some background information for this amazing treasure, Alexandrite is a gemstone that changes colors in different wavelengths of light. It becomes blue in daylight and red in firelight. The Laughing Peacock is a carved statue of a peacock made of pure Alexandrite, and is much bigger than the one displayed in the Smithsonian, which is about 60 karats."

Indeed it was huge. It was a lifesize carving of an actual peacock, having all the details of the real thing. He had once tried to steal the Laughing Peacock in an effort to impress the lovely Fujiko Mine, and even lead to him meeting his future partner Daisuke Jigen. But one thing led to another, and he had to leave the treasure if he wanted to escape the pyramid that held it alive.

He never did like how he just left the treasure there, but the thrill in getting it had been good, so it didn't weigh too much on his mind. But now…

"But wouldn't this new copycat of Lupin the Third see this as an opportunity to seal his claim on the name?"

"I highly doubt that, unless he is the real thing. The Laughing Peacock will be monitored twenty-four hours a day by Fuyuki's finest, along with state of the art alarm systems that will instantly warn authorities of his presence. I do believe that this Peacock won't be flying out of the museum until it's time for the exhibit to move…"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that…" Assassin muttered, his grin almost stretching to his ears as he grabbed a piece of paper, a pen, and began writing a very simple message.

The Laughing Peacock will be mine! –Lupin the Third

[Doc Havoc]

The premise still makes me a bit iffy (like I'm one to talk :P ), but I'd be lying if I say I don't enjoy the story so far.

[TheInfamousMan]

Sixth Heist

xxXXxx

Kotomine Kirei had done many things in his long life.

He had killed heratics, Magi, Dead Apostles, and numerous other individuals during his time as an Executioner.

He had been a doting husband to his wife.

He had been a father, however short-lived that experience may have been, to his daughter.

He had been the dutiful son to his father.

He had been the loyal student to Tohsaka Tokiomi.

But this…

"…What?" Kirei asked as he looked at his Servant standing in front of him, grinning as usual.

"Ya know, you really need to pay more attention Kirei." Assassin said wistfully as he put his hands into his pockets. "Aren't you kind of guy who listens to instructions to the letter? You sure listened to that stick in the mud when he told you to try and get me killed."

Where Kirei expected hostility in Assassin's tone, there was none. Now Assassin was talking about his planned execution as if he were discussing the weather. It was… strange to say the least.

"I simply do not understand what you are asking of me." Kirei replied evenly.

"I just need a pal to help me out with my little errand." Assassin explained, shrugging his shoulders a bit. "It should be…"

"The Laughing Peacock." Kirei interrupted, his eyes narrowing at his Servant who simply raised an eyebrow in return.

He had heard about the treasure coming to the city on his way back from the grocery store when he passed by an electronics shop. While he wasn't one to be amazed by such things, the treasure was impressive. The fact that it was made up of an apparently rare stone made it even more impressive. But it also brought to mind his Servant's past as a thief. Would the treasure be enough to warrant his attention?

Apparently so.

"Ah, so you know. Saves me the trouble of explain' it to you." Assassin announced as he began walking around Kirei in a circle, almost exactly like what his father and Tokiomi did to him when they convinced him to join the Holy Grail War. "Yeah, I'm after the Laughing Peacock. I sent the museum a little notice while you were out shoppin'."

Kirei felt his eyes widen at this. "He's already acting as if he's going to steal it!" Kirei did not understand. Didn't the Servant know he was putting the entire Holy Grail War in even more danger than before?

"Don't try and talk me out of this Kirei. When I say I'm goin' to steal something, I mean it." Assassin spoke with an amused tone, noticing the priest's expression of shock and a hint of worry. "Plus, I need to do this in order to… get back in the groove. I'm not one to sit around and just wait for battles and spy on them you know."

Kirei did know. He knew quite well that Assassin was never content to just sit and observe. His actions in the last battle proved that. He purposefully goaded Saber and Lancer into attacking him, and was not fazed when Berserker helped to prevent his death.

Assassin lived for action. That much was certain.

"By doing this, you are going against my father and master's wishes." Kirei spoke up, making Assassin stop in front of him and hum in a knowing manner.

"Yeah, I guess I am…" Assassin replied smoothly before turning to face Kirei fully. "But you gotta admit that you don't think their plan is all that great either. You don't wanna stay on the sidelines either. You feel the same as me. You wanna take action."

Kirei's face hardened at that declaration, but said nothing. It was true. He was… dissatisfied… with the role he was given. If he were not forced to remain in the shadows, only limited to spying and waiting for Tokiomi's command to strike, he could have confronted Emiya Kiritsugu by now. He wanted to do something. Anything. He wasn't content with waiting and observing.

He wanted to act.

"But this heist will be pretty fun to do! Plus with you helpin' me out, it'll go a lot more smoothly." Assassin then raised an eyebrow at Kirei and gave a knowing smirk. "Besides! You might just have some fun while we're doin' it!" He then reached out his right hand. "So… partners?"

Kirei stared at the hand, thinking about what Assassin was asking from him. If he were to join Assassin's act of thievery, he would be committing a great sin. He would anger his father and Tokiomi, and potentially endanger the entire Grail War by assisting the Servant in reliving his past as a thief.

But still… Assassin had to be like him in a sense. Perhaps he could find something by doing this? Assassin claimed he might find the activity… fun if he were to join the Servant. Perhaps there would be some fulfillment in the act despite the deed's sinful nature?

Kirei's curiosity got the better of him.

"…Very well." Kirei muttered, shaking Assassin's hand and making the man's smirk stretch to his ears.

The Laughing Peacock was arriving in Fuyuki tomorrow, which meant that he only had a night to prepare for the heist.

Plenty of time.

The Next Day (Train Station):

"Guh…" Zenigata moaned as he stepped out of the station's entrance, clutching his stomach with his left hand while his right carried a small brown suitcase that held some spare clothes and medicine inside.

After getting his temporary reinstatement into the ICPO, Zenigata immediately called his daughter to tell her that he was heading straight to Fuyuki. Needless to say, she was pissed that he was leaving for the case. He had to hold the phone away so that she wouldn't split an eardrum! "Probably gets that from her mother…" Zenigata thought to himself glumly before his stomach growled once again.

The meal he ate before boarding the train wasn't exactly the best. It was just a soba bun he bought from a gas station he passed by on the way to his train. But then, the ride afterwards made his stomach lurch left and right. And due to him being an old(er) man, it wasn't having that much of a good effect on him. "This is why I should just stick to ramen as a meal on the go…"

"Inspector Zenigata?" A curious voice asked, making Zenigata turn to his right to see a man in his mid-thirties with rustled-up brown hair, brown eyes, and a slightly unshaven chin who was giving him a rather sheepish smile. He was wearing a black jacket over a white shirt that hung outside his black pants. His black shoes seemed worn, as if he never really bothered to exchange them for new one, and Zenigata spotted a worn silver belt buckle just behind his shirt.

Someone who must be very laid back, if Zenigata had to guess.

The man's right hand dug into his jacket pocket and fished out a badge saying Fuyuki City Police. "I am Detective Akimi. I was told to pick you up." With that, 'Akimi' flipped the badge to show a picture of himself that said underneath the name 'Akimi Daisuke'.

"Ah, that's right. They told me you'd come…" Zenigata breathed out as he adjusted his grip on his bag. "Okay, it's best we get going…"

In a few minutes, he was in Daisuke's car (A black Toyota Corolla) driving the highway to the city. Usually, people would be talking about mundane things like what was on TV last night or how they are doing with their personal lives.

But not them. They were police officers, and right now there were more important things to talk other than how they were both doing.

"How is the transport of the Laughing Peacock going?" Zenigata asked, glancing at the man as they sped past several cars.

"The transport is on schedule." Daisuke explained without even blinking. "From what reports I have gotten, it should be arriving at the museum within the hour. Also…" Without looking, Daisuke grabbed a folder from the right side of his seat and handed it to Zenigata. "…We got this last night."

Zenigata opened the folder and saw a picture of a note with the message 'The Laughing Peacock will be mine! –Lupin the Third' written on it.

"Same exact handwriting… No mistakes either…" Zenigata thought to himself with narrowed eyes. "Were you able to keep this from being leaked to the press?"

"Oh yeah. Chief didn't want to make a whole media circus out of this." Daisuke replied, making Zenigata nod. Whenever the press got involved with a case, too many complications would happen. Not only that, but it would give 'Lupin' more of an opportunity to slip by. "The treasure should be on display by nine tonight."

"Hm, good." Zenigata muttered as he saw the car draw closer and closer to the city.

Even though things were going smoothly so far, Zenigata could not shake off a feeling of foreboding within him.

Elsewhere (Café):

Kirei was already starting to regret his decision.

"Geez, why are you so worked up?" Assassin asked, placing down a newspaper and taking a sip from his glass of alcohol with a smirk. "Kirei, my man, you need to learn to relax."

"I find that hard to do." Kirei replied bluntly to the Servant, observing the man's apparently pathetic attempt to disguise himself. Assassin was not wearing his signature red jacket, but kept his dark blue shirt and yellow tie. On top of his head was a red-haired wig in the shape of a ridiculous afro, and hiding his eyes were a pair of large dark sunglasses. If Kirei were not Assassin's Master and was just a passerby on the street, he probably would have directed the police to Assassin so they could arrest such an obviously suspicious person.

It was a miracle that it didn't happen already.

"Well worryin' yourself is bad for your health you know." Assassin pointed out as he placed his glass on the table. "Besides, the cops are too busy makin' sure the delivery goes smoothly. They won't even notice us." Assassin then jabbed his thumb to the side, making Kirei turn his head to see the Fuyuki Museum that was just across the street from the café he and Assassin were drinking at, numerous police cars parked in front of it with around ten or so officers observing two black vans approach it.

The Fuyuki Museum was nothing terribly impressive. It was more of a two story building of western design made of bricks, had two large windows on each side of the entrance, three windows on the second floor, and having an incredibly tacky black sign of the front doors that said in big silver letters 'Fuyuki National Museum' Over the windows on the side were banners that stated 'Observe the Mysteries of Egypt' and a large picture of the Laughing Peacock.

"They are truly going all out in advertising the exhibit." Kirei thought idly to himself as he stated, "That may be, but there is still a possibility that someone may recognize you from your face and sideburns alone."

Assassin frowned at the observation before shaking his head wistfully. "Trust me man, I sometimes just went out as myself and no one called the cops on me. It's one of the mysteries of hidin' in plain sight…"

Kirei said nothing, and instead picked up the glass of water he ordered off the table and took a tentative sip of it. Despite Assassin's self-assuredness, Kirei was not one to dismiss such potential consequences. Even he didn't wish to potentially go to jail, or worse yet, truly endanger the Grail War. "So then why did I come here, or let alone allow Assassin to do this?" Kirei asked himself as he watched Assassin look at the black vans and fiddle with several miniature nobs on the sunglass frames.

It would have been easy to use a Command Seal to prevent Assassin from trying to steal the treasure, but instead he allowed it to continue. He could have called his father and informed him of the situation before proceeding but had decided not to, even against his better judgment.

Why?

"Whelp, it's there alright." Assassin announced, breaking Kirei from his train of thought. Assassin pressed a button on his sunglasses before looking at Kirei. "I was able to look up some information on this museum last night. Apparently, both the security cameras and lasers are managed from just one computer. Go figure."

"I would have expected that much, considering the Peacock's worth." Kirei stated, making Assassin hum and nod.

"A stone containing that many karats of Alexandrite? It would definitely catch a hefty price on the black market. Or, if sold to some rich folk with too much money on their hands." Assassin began, swirling his drink a bit. "There is no other item made of this much pure Alexandrite on this world."

"You act as if you knew about this treasure for quite some time." Kirei pointed out, making Assassin quirk an eyebrow. "But it was only discovered three years ago."

"Blame the old tales of grave robbers and the request of a mighty fine woman that made me encounter that very same treasure much, much earlier than anyone else did." Assassin replied smoothly as he took another sip. "But that's the past. I for one prefer to live in the 'now' so to speak." With that, he set the drink down again and leaned forward. "Now listen up Kirei, all you have to do is keep yourself in the car."

Kirei had to blink at that instruction. Honestly, when Assassin recruited him in the heist, he was expecting something more… well suited for his skills. But instead, he was going to simply sit in the Fiat.

A bit ironic, if Kirei had to think so himself.

"While you're in the car, I get the stuff and then you drive us out of here." Assassin continued, continuing to grin at his Master. "You'll have to pull some crazy moves to help me get rid of the cops."

While Kirei never really drove a car for any long length of time, he was pretty sure he could guess what went under Assassin's definition of 'crazy'. Kirei then looked at the Fiat parked down the street, its windows and windshield now replaced with tinted glass. "At least my identity will be hidden…"

"After that, we can hit a bar or somethin'." Assassin snickered out. "Can't finish a successful heist without a party."

"But doesn't this seem too… convenient?" Kirei questioned, making Assassin stop laughing. "It's obvious that this is a ploy to draw you out."

Assassin shrugged his shoulders as usual, without a care in the world if the treasure was just a tool for a potential set up. "I already told you. When I say I'm gonna steal somethin' I mean it. Besides, it goes against my code to not take up a challenge. Plus…" The sunglasses fell down Assassin's nose a bit, making the priest see the thief's eyes staring knowingly at him. "…this'll make things a lot more exciting, right?"

Even now, Kirei did not know how to answer that question.

Later That Night (Museum):

Zenigata chewed on one of the complimentary snacks, a piece of French bread with a tomato and mozzarella on top, as he watched the crowd of upper-class citizens congregate while he and Daisuke stood off to the side observing.

Due to the suddenness of the exhibition, only people with real money could attend the unveiling. While the civilians might be trouble later on if Lupin did show up, it would also give the thief a sense of calm in the sense that the place was not full of cops.

His mistake if he actually thinks that.

"So half of these people are really policemen?" Zenigata asked Daisuke as he scanned the crowd, who simply nodded and took out a little notebook before flipping through a few pages.

"Just about, maybe a little less." Daisuke replied with a small shrug. "Either way, if the guy really does show his face he's going to be swarmed." A small grin then formed on his face as he continued with, "And remember, there are such things as policewomen nowadays."

"S-Shut up! Of course I know that!" Zenigata stuttered out, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. He didn't want to seem dated in front of these guys, damn it! "Anyway, about the other security measures…"

"Surveillance cameras in every room." Daisuke confirmed, thumbing towards the camera above them. "Also, there are security lasers all around the Laughing Peacock, and it is on top of a weight-sensitive alarm. If he tries to move it, we'll know instantly."

With that in mind, Zenigata looked to the center of the room towards the main attraction. On top of a small podium and encased in a large cube of glass was the Laughing Peacock.

It had been difficult to convince the Egyptian government to allow him to 'borrow' the priceless treasure, but in the end they allowed him to do so. Especially when Interpol vouched for him. After all, they needed something expensive to grab Lupin's attention, whether he is the real thing or not.

"And he will most likely show himself soon." Zenigata thought to himself, his fists clenching in anticipation. "I can feel it in my bones…" He then blinked as he spotted someone get in the way of his view of the Peacock, and he could not help but gape at who it was.

It was an obviously foreign woman with long flowing white hair, pale skin, and ruby red eyes. She was wearing an all-white winter coat, boots, and had a hat clenched in her hands. Next to her was a blond woman (Man? He knew that Oscar could pass for a woman whenever he had to go undercover after all…) in a black suit, obviously a bodyguard.

"Hm, I see you've spotted Einzbern-san." Daisuke spoke up, snapping Zenigata out of his daze.

"So she is a foreigner." Zenigata mumbled to himself while Daisuke nodded, flipping through his small notebook a couple more times.

"Yeah, her family owns a lot of land in the woods. Have a huge mansion too." Daisuke mentioned, his eyes narrowing a bit. "Haven't set foot in it in sixty years. Before then, it was just their servants sprucing up the place. But nobody really questioned it, since the family does pay their bills and never bothers anybody."

"When did she arrive?" Zenigata asked, making Daisuke blink before flipping through his notebook again.

"About two days ago, I think… in the morning." Daisuke replied before looking at the veteran and asking, "Inspector… where are you going with this?"

"A hunch." Zenigata replied as he walked forward, Daisuke following suit while putting away his notebook. As a detective, he knew that he had to follow every possible lead, but going to interrogate an important member of the city in a public event was not in his plans.

"It sure is pretty, right Saber?" Irisviel muttered as she stared at the statue, as the lights under it made the thing's color alternate between red and blue. "I can't believe something like this actually existed in the world."

"It is a very unique treasure, Irisviel." Saber replied as she scanned the crowd for anyone suspicious.

Due to the event being obvious bait for Assassin, Kiritsugu had sent her and Irisviel to attend it so that they may better observe Assassin's skills. Since his plans were better suited for stealing, Saber could see the logic behind her Master's orders. Irisviel herself was still confident in Kiritsugu's plans, and had instantly agreed. No one would suspect them of anything other than looking at the treasure either, since the Einzberns were known to be a rich yet eccentric foreign family.

But if she got the chance, and if there were no witnesses, she would eliminate Assassin from the war.

"Excuse me…" A voice asked, making both Irisviel and Saber turn to see an aging man and a younger but more messily dressed man holding up two police badges in their right hands. "I am Inspector Zenigata from Interpol. This is Detective Akimi. We would like to ask you some questions."

Saber's body stiffened at this. Why were the police questioning them out of the blue? Surprisingly, Irisviel just smiled kindly at the two and said, "I'd be more than happy to Zenigata-san, Akimi-san."

Nodding in acceptance, Zenigata asked, "If you don't mind, I'd would like to know what time you arrived at Fuyuki City."

"Around… twelve in the afternoon, about two days ago. Maybe one, I can't really remember." Irisviel laughed out with closed eyes. The detective then leaned towards Zenigata and whispered something into his ear. If Saber were a normal person, it would be too low for her to hear. But as a Servant, she could hear the message clearly.

"That would place her an hour or two before the notes were dropped."

"They are trying to draw a connection between Irisviel and Assassin…" Saber thought with narrowed eyes as the men continued to ask Irisviel several other questions that seemingly had nothing to do with one another, like where she was, who she was with, and if she met anyone that could be consider shady. Considering Assassin's past, Saber could not be surprised that the authorities would involve themselves so quickly. But to be suspicious of Irisviel was just ridiculous!

"…And your personal feelings about this new 'Lupin' Einzbern-san?" Daisuke asked, making Irisviel blink in surprise.

"W-Well the whole thing with the notes dropping was very shocking Akimi-san, but wouldn't this be just a copycat?" Irisviel asked back, making the man smirk. Saber had to admit; Irisviel was good at being seemingly clueless.

"It would be, considering the original is six feet under." Daisuke answered smoothly, making Zenigata's face twitch just a bit. "But still, we need to catch this guy before he does something that will embarrass both himself and a whole lot of pe-"

"Do not underestimate anyone bearing the Lupin name!" Zenigata shouted, making the three jump in surprise. "If you do that, then the weasel will slip past us. Consider him the real one until we have proof stating otherwise!"

"Yet, this man is dead." Saber interjected, making the elder man look towards her now. "That fact alone should give you the indication that this one is simply a fake."

The man narrowed his eyes at Saber and simply uttered one word. "Mamo."

"Mamo?" Saber repeated, confusion setting before she looked at Irisviel, who looked just as confused.

Daisuke sighed and explained. "Mamo was a bio-terrorist during the seventies who was heavily involved in the fields of cloning. He made clones of many infamous leaders like Napoleon and Hitler. A clone of Lupin was executed, making people believe that he really did die that day. Turned out Lupin was alive, and Mamo was killed soon after…"

"Champaign sirs? Madams?" A brown-haired and green-eyed waiter (Who's nametag stated that his name was Suzaku) asked, holding a tray of the drinks to the four people. Irisviel, Daisuke, and Zenigata took one while Saber refused before the waiter walked away.
Taking a sip from his drink, Zenigata broke the ice by asking, "So what is your business here? Come to see the exhibit?"

"Oh, it is wonderful. But I was also hoping to run into Tohsaka-san. Too bad he isn't here…" Irisviel replied, making Zenigata blink before turning to Daisuke for help.

"Tohsaka Tokiomi is a very well-off man who lives here, made a lot of contributions to the city." Daisuke briefly explained, his eyes narrowing just a bit. "Strange. Of all people, he should be the most inclined to come here…"

Saber could not help but be amazed at Irisviel's ploy. With one answer, she had drawn the policemen's suspicion from her and placed it on the Tohsaka head. It would buy them more privacy, and restrict Tokiomi's movements due to him being suspected by the police. "Perhaps living with Master has taught her some things…"

However, none of them noticed the brown haired waiter smirk as he set down the tray, took a gulp from one of the champaign bottles, and then left.

With The 'Waiter':

The 'waiter' sung to himself, "Ya-taa-ta-ta-taaa…" as he skipped down the hallway with his hands in his pockets, eying the cameras at the ceiling corners as he headed to the door labeled 'security'. Grinning to himself when he reached it, the man opened the door, startling the guard within who was busy reading a pornographic magazine instead of the monitors and the computer in front of him.

"W-Who the hell are you?" The guard questioned, quickly putting the magazine on the desk and glaring at the man. "This is a restricted area!"

"Oh really?" The 'waiter' asked as he closed the door behind him. "I was actually just lookin' for the bathroom, and I…" A piece of cloth then fell out of his sleeve into his right hand, and before the guard could react the man put it against his nose. Within a few seconds, the guard's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell on the floor unconscious. The man grinned before dropping the cloth and placing his right hand on his hair and his left over his face. "Sorry about that pal…" He then pulled off his hair and 'face' as if it were nothing more than a mask, revealing the smirking face of Assassin. "But business is business." Taking off the rest of the 'waiter' disguise' Assassin then sat in the chair in front of the computer in his usual attire and cracked his fingers. "Now, let's see if I still got it…"

In an instant, Assassin's fingers glided across the keyboard at breakneck speeds, pressing buttons and making multiple windows appear across the window. Assassin had been very technologically savvy when he was alive, and the information he got from the Grail allowed him to understand the computers that were now in the nineties more or less. However, Assassin had to admit that the security systems have gotten just a bit better in just ten years.

Still took him only five minutes to gain access to everything.

Laser Security System: Deactivated

Weight Security System: Deactivated

Alarm System: Deactivated

Security Cameras: Offline

Assassin could not help but lean back and smirk. In just a few moments, he had completely shut down half of the police's precautions against him. "Pops must be slipping at his old age…" Assassin chuckled to himself as a smile rose onto his face all on its own as he thought of his rival before the Servant shook his head, remembering to keep his eyes on prize. He could save the nostalgia trip for later.

Still, it had been surprising to see his long-time rival at the event, but not by much. After all, so long as the man breathed he could not just leave Assassin alone. But he looked very good for being sixty-something, so Assassin expected the old man to put up at least some kind of chase before tiring out. Assassin was also surprised at Saber's appearance as well as her (supposed) Master, but he did not need to worry about them at the moment. After all, Saber could not do anything to him so long as she is in public.

"Whelp, I think it's time to start…" Assassin muttered to himself as he stood up and walked out of the room, taking a small remote out of his pocket as he grabbed a black garbage bag from beside a garbage can. "Hope you all enjoy the mighty fine show!" He then pressed the button, grinning all the while.

In The Room:

Saber's keen ears heard something metallic go *Clunk* before smoke began to come out the air vents in massive volumes. "What on Earth…!?" Saber shouted before the gray smoke completely enveloped the room, Saber began coughing and heard everyone, including Irisviel and the two policemen, do the same. Although she heard numerous shouts of 'stay calm!' from several of the occupants.

This was Assassin's doing. There was no doubt in her mind about that.

A small and nearly unnoticeable burst of Prana confirmed this as she felt something rush past her and head for the treasure. "Wa, *Cough*, Wait!" Saber shouted, only to hear the sound of something heavy being put on the floor.

Next, a metallic click rang through the air, and Saber looked up to see Zenigata with his right hand holding one end of a pair of handcuffs while the other was used to bring his tie to his mouth as a makeshift filter. "Don't *Cough* move! You're under arrest!" The man shouted, complete and utter conviction in his voice that even startled Saber.

But she could almost see Assassin smirk through the smoke as he said, "Sorry Pops, but you're gonna have to do better than that!" Within the span of another two seconds, Saber heard something go *Pop* before Assassin lightly grunted and fled the area. Within the next second, the smoke was being sucked back into the air vents, and Saber breathed in fresh air while momentarily coughing. She turned to see Irisviel clenching her throat and staggering just a bit.

"Irisviel!" Saber shouted, instantly going to the woman's side and using herself as support. "Hang on!"

"I-I'll be alright, Saber…" Irisviel muttered, giving the Servant a weak smile before they turned to the inspector, who gaped as he looked at his handcuffs. On the other side, still attached to them, was a fake hand. Irisviel gasped as she pointed and shouted, "The Peacock!"

Saber quickly looked and saw that the glass casing was discarded, and in the place of the treasure was an almost identical replica with only two important details separating it from the original: It continued to retain its blue coloring instead of changing colors from the lights underneath it, and in the place of the peacock's head was the head of Assassin, whose face was shifted into a chuckling position. Underneath the statue was a small banner stating 'Lupin the Third Was Here!'

"What are you all standing around for!?" Zenigata shouted, pointing to the exit doorway. "He's trying to escape! Half of you, come with me to the roof! The other half head to the front!"

"YES SIR!" The union of confirmations shouted before half of the crowd that Saber formerly thought of as just rich civilians began drawing guns and following the inspector's orders.

She had to admire their dedication to their duty.

"Quick Saber, let's go to the car." Irisviel spoke, making Saber look to see the woman's smiling yet determined face. "We can't let him escape from us either, can we?"

Saber herself felt a smile grow on her face before she nodded in confirmation.

With Assassin:

"Whew! You sure are one heavy bird!" Assassin shouted as he headed up the stairs, hearing the shouts of numerous policemen from the flight below him. He felt his heart pounding with excitement as he headed to the roof, wondering if the police would actually get him. He wondered if he could bring the entire Grail War at risk if he got caught and Pops discovered exactly how he rose from the grave.

This was what he lived for!

Within a few seconds, he reached the top door and swung it open before continuing to run. It was a clear path to the edge. All the generators and vents were to the sides. The buildings next to the museum were a story to two higher.

But then again, Assassin never did like jobs that were too easy.

"Freeze!" Zenigata's voice rang out, making Assassin smirk. Seems like age did not wear off the man's determination in the slightest. "Drop the statue and turn around with your hands up! You are surrounded!"

"Come on Pops! You know I've been in worse situations than this…" Assassin spoke smoothly as he turned around and saw the small crowd of police officers in disguise aiming their guns at him, and the expression of shock growing more and more on Zenigata's face. "…And I've always got out!"

"Lupin…?" Zenigata breathed out, only for Assassin to wave at him and run to the ledge.

"Bye-bye!" Assassin laughed out as the police began firing their guns at him. Quickly, Assassin jumped off the ledge and saw the crowd of policemen, newspeople, and civilians gathered in front of the museum. The wind rushed past Assassin's face as he sailed down before his right foot contacted with a policeman's head, making the officer cry out in pain. "Sorry!" His left foot then hit a policewoman's face as he continued to run on top of people's heads, offering half-hearted apologies. "Comin' through! 'scuse me! Sorry about that!"

Zenigata felt his body shake in shock at what he just saw. He had his suspicions with the notes' handwriting, but now, seeing it for his own eyes… "Lupin… He was there… I saw him…! That son of a bitch is alive…!"

The fact that he looked thirty again didn't matter to the man. His nemesis was back, and he was getting away!!

"You idiots! Head downstairs! He's going to drive off!" All the officers headed to the stairway at once, blocking each other from exiting in their rush. Growling, Zenigata grabbed Daisuke by his arm and shouted, "Come on! We're not going to let Lupin escape this time!"

"I-Inspector!?" Daisuke cried out in shock before seeing that they were heading towards the fire escape, making the man nod before following Zenigata's lead. Despite his age, Daisuke knew that Zenigata was more than capable of making snap decisions. Quickly, they climbed down the ladder before dropping to the ground and seeing 'Lupin' jump into the top of a yellow Fiat 500 before driving away. His car was parked just behind that very same car, which was only just a bit away from the crowd. Quickly brushing past anyone who was in their way, Daisuke and Zenigata rushed to the car before unlocking it and sitting in their respective seats. Starting the vehicle, Daisuke pushed down hard on the gas, making the car lurch and speed behind the fleeing yellow Fiat. Opening the window and placing a blue police light on top, Daisuke took out a small radio and barked out, "All units! This is Detective Akimi with Inspector Zenigata! The suspect is fleeing the scene in a yellow Fiat 500 with tinted windows! We are in pursuit, but request immediate backup!"

"Copy that detective." The sharp reply came back, and Zenigata could already hear numerous sirens go off and saw numerous lights shine from behind the car.

Reminded him of old times.

Kirei's hands gripped the wheel as his foot pressed hard on the gas pedal, speeding past any cars to their sides and barely avoiding the ones in front of him. Assassin meanwhile was just grinning as he held the Laughing Peacock on his lap, looking at the treasure with eyes that were twinkling in both excitement and amusement.

When police began swarming outside the museum, Kirei hadn't been too worried. After all, Assassin was a Servant and could leave the area if the situation became too troublesome for him. What did shock him however was Assassin choosing to jump off the building's rooftop and stomp on several policemen's faces as a makeshift walkway to the car rather than simply taking his Spirit Form and just leaving.
But then again, he probably should have expected the unexpected from Assassin.

Now here he was, driving the 'getaway car' from numerous police cars as if he were a part of some crime drama. Kirei did thank the Lord that the windows were tinted, preventing the police from seeing that a local priest was aiding and abetting in a robbery. But now the police could easily shoot out the tires, make sure that the car crashes, drag him out and…

"Strange… I am… nervous…" Kirei thought to himself, his eyes blinking in wonder. "No, not nervousness. This pounding in my chest… I am… excited…?"

Never in his life had he felt like this. His missions throughout his career had never made him feel anything. They were just motions he went through, nothing more. But now, by helping in a robbery and fleeing the police…

"Ah, this definitely brings back the memories…" Assassin said to himself wistfully as he rolled down the window and taking his Walther from his jacket and aiming it out the window, continuing to look forward rather than poke his head out to aim better. The next second, Assassin fired the gun, and Kirei saw through the rearview mirror that the bullet hit one of the cars' tires, making it crash into the ones next to it, leaving only five cars plus the black Corolla chasing after them. "Damn, I must be gettin' rusty. It should have been just Pops and two other cars." Assassin muttered as he brought his arm back in, blinking and then muttering, "Uh-Oh…"

Kirei could see why he was saying that. In front of them, about a block away, was a police barricade of card parked to their sides to form a wall blocking the entire road and sidewalk, officers behind them aiming their guns and prepared to fire. Worse yet, Kirei just passed the only turn to get away from this street

"Oh man, looks like they got here quicker than they should have…" Assassin muttered to himself, continuing to grin despite the situation. "Gotta think of somethin' Kirei my man…"

Kirei's mind was racing when Assassin spoke the first two words. If he tried to make a U-turn to go back to the turn, he would crash into the cars behind him. He needed another way to get out of this particular street…

"Wait…" Kirei thought to himself as he spotted an alley to his left, only a few seconds away considering the speed he was going. It was small, and no normal-sized car could go through it. But the Fiat was compact, so maybe… "No other options available." Kirei thought to himself before turning the steering wheel, making the Fiat swerve to the left suddenly and go through the alley entrance. Instantly, Kirei saw the side mirrors snap off due to the walls and heard the screeching tires of the cars that were pursuing them. They were now most likely heading to the street they were going to through the alley. Kirei heard the car smash through trashcans and jump a little as they hit a few potholes in the alley's ground.

And for some reason, Kirei felt the edges of his lips tug upwards just a bit.

"One exit, comin' up!" Assassin laughed as the exit to the street grew nearer and nearer. Without even looking, Kirei turned the car to the right and sped off. The bridge connecting the urban and suburban areas of Fuyuki was only a few blocks away. But Kirei could already hear the sirens of the police cars behind him, and he knew that the cars from the blockade must already be on their way to cut them off.

"We'll be trapped unless something is done…" Kirei thought to himself, his hands gripping the steering wheel even harder. Then, Assassin took a remote out of his pocket and with a grin, pushed a big red button on it. From the corner of his eye, Kirei saw a manhole in the street burst open with something red coming out of it. It then quickly grew to reveal a giant balloon, one that looked very much like the ones displayed in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, that appeared to be a giant-sized Assassin (Or at least that's what Kirei could tell, since the balloon's back was facing his field of vision.)

"That should keep Pops and the rest busy." Assassin spoke, putting away the remote and taking out a cigarette and popping it into his mouth. "Put a couple more of those on most of the streets that lead to the bridge. Plenty of time to get outta here, right?"

Kirei could not help but be impressed. From what he could tell, most of Fuyuki's police force was back near the museum, most likely to capture Assassin. And since they were now mostly trapped behind the balloons, the suburban area would be mostly police free. "You were able to arrange this all in one night?"

Assassin smirked as he shifted his body a bit to grab a lighter. After lighting up the cancer stick and taking in a small breath, Assassin said, "Trust me Kirei my man, I'm a man of many, many talents."

"LUPIN!!!" A voice rang out through the night sky, making Assassin roar with laughter while Kirei drove over the bridge.

Not even noticing a black car of foreign origin slowly roll past the corner of a street supposedly blocked.

A Few Minutes Later:

As they drove on a road to the side of a cliff, Kirei could not help but ponder the implications on what had just occurred.

The tugging on his lips… he had been smiling. Something that he hardly ever did, and was ashamed most of the time whenever he performed the action.

Usually, the things that made him smile were human suffering.

But when he smiled… there was no suffering occurring. He was simply fleeing from the police, the danger of being caught by them hanging over his mind and the potential despair of the original owner of the Laughing Peacock when they discovered it was gone. The wounded pride of the officers who so obviously goaded Assassin into stealing it, believing that the Servant was nothing but a two-bit copycat that should have been easily caught, but instead got away like a phantom in the fog. The humiliation of those people and the danger he was in… made Kirei enjoy the entire action of theft.

It was like a blend of mischief, ecstasy, terror, anxiety, and joy thrown at him all at once during the escape.

"Why? Why do I feel like this?" Kirei thought, his grip on the wheel growing even harder. "Theft is a sin, yet I feel such joy from it! I-It's almost like I can only obtain joy through sinful means!"

But was theft truly sinful in this case? The only ones who were able to enjoy the treasure's unveiling were the aristocrats and policemen who simply wanted to capture Assassin. There were hardly any people of 'normal' income able to enjoy the unveiling of the Laughing Peacock. So who was really losing in this case? Just the rich who were embarrassed publically and the policemen who failed to capture their intended target….

"Hm?" Assassin hummed out, snapping Kirei out of his thoughts and making him notice that there were two bright headlights shining just behind them.

"When did they…?" Kirei thought to himself before the car sped right in front of them and turned to the side before stopping, blocking the road. Kirei instantly slammed on the breaks, stopping the Fiat just twenty feet from the car. Instantly, the car's engine turned off and the doors opened to reveal… "The Einzbern Homunculus and Saber?"

"Oh! Arthur-chan! So good to see you!" Assassin shouted as he instantly got out of the Fiat, setting down the treasure on the passenger seat and waving at the other Servant as if they were old friends. "And I see you brought the Einzbern dame too!"

"Enough talking Assassin." Saber declared, making Assassin blink in slight surprise but otherwise retain his smirking visage. "Your actions in the exhibit have endangered the Holy Grail War even more than before!"

Kirei had a feeling that the other Servants and Masters would react negatively towards Assassin's actions. After all, what Saber said was a constant worry to him as well. Yet, at the same time, none of Assassin's skills involved Magecraft in the slightest sense. So, to the 'normal' point of view, Assassin would just be a skilled criminal.

"Oh come now Arthur-chan! I told you that ladies can just call me Lupin!" Assassin chuckled out, making the enemy Servant's eyes narrow even more. Kirei could not help but feel a slight burst of humor from the Servant's annoyance at Assassin's chosen nickname for her. "Besides, we got away clean! Kirei helped drive away the cops! No muss, no fuss an' all that!"

"Kirei?" Irisviel asked, making Kirei blink in surprise. So the Einzbern, and to an extension Emiya Kiritsugu, have heard of him. "Kotomine Kirei is here?"

"Oh yeah, he's right in the car." Assassin replied instantly, making Kirei blink. Assassin's honesty was a bit shocking, but then again this was a man who had stolen the world's greatest treasures while warning the owners beforehand. "Come on, Kirei! You shouldn't keep a fine woman waitin' when she asks for you!"

Seeing no other option, Kirei slowly opened the door and stepped out of the Fiat, the moon's light shining down on him. Irisviel gasped while Saber narrowed her eyes and shifted her feet a bit, as if expecting to fight. Kirei stared at the woman, the homunculus that was currently the container of the grail and someone close to Emiya Kiritsugu, with anxiousness.

Should he demand for her to take him to her husband? To force Assassin to fight Saber while he interrogated the woman, demanding answers and forcing his cruelty onto her? Or should he just avoid violence altogether and just ask her here and now? So many possibilities, and Kirei did not know what to choose.

"My Virgin Goddess, I have found you!"

However, it seemed like the Lord was going to stall his search for answers for a little longer.

Kirei and Assassin turned behind them and saw the leering visage of Caster, right hand clenching a spellbook bounded by human flesh to his chest and his left hand petting the hair of a brown-haired and utterly frightened child still in his pajamas.

"Hm, now you definitely need some work done pal." Assassin lightly laughed out, but Kirei could tell by the dimming of his smirk and the dangerous edge his eyes gained that the thief was now becoming serious about the Servant that was in front of them.

Ignoring him, Caster focused on the angered Saber and shocked Irisviel before he spoke with utter joy turned horrid by the demented edge given by the man.

"Jeanne, your loyal knight has returned for you! I shall now free you from your torment, and slay this swine from the face of the Earth for daring to try and defile you!"

[TheInfamousMan]

Seventh Heist

xxXXxx

It was easy to tell that the Servant in front of him, Caster, was insane.

His eyes were bulged out of their sockets, and both of them seemed to be staring in two different directions, despite the fact that he appeared to be directly looking at both Assassin and Saber. Normally, Assassin would have just written off Caster as just another nut. He had dealt enough with them when he was alive to get used them. However, there was one thing that gave him pause from treating him like anyone else that he had dealt with before.

His voice.

The way he spoke to Saber, or 'Jeanne' as he called her for whatever reason, was downright disturbing. The three sentences he had spoken were filled with both reverence and madness, something that Assassin knew from experience was a bad sign. He had dealt with many madmen before in his life, but few of them gave him such an off feeling like Caster did.

"Never did hear about a hero that went insane that fits this guy's description though…" Assassin thought to himself as he slowly brought his hand to his jacket and began to pull out his Walther P-38. "And what is with the kid? Why is he here?"

Bringing anyone who wasn't Magus into the Holy Grail War was a very strict rule, since the consequences of doing so were tremendous. Assassin himself knew because he spent most of his time since being summoned bending them to a near breaking point.

However, bringing a child just didn't make any sense.

Assassin didn't really like the look of pure terror on the kid's face either, leading him to cock back the gun and aim it at Caster. "I kinda think it's that kid's bedtime right now, so would you mind lettin' him go now?" Assassin asked in his usual cocky tone, not letting his voice betray his inner emotions one bit as he slightly glared at the Servant.

"Who are you, Servant?" Saber demanded, her suit disappearing and being replaced by her usual battle dress. Holding her hidden sword, she moved herself in front of Irisviel, not taking her eyes off Caster for a second, but also keepin Assassin in her field of vision. "Why is that child with you!?"

When she originally drove the car to this location she only expected to confront Assassin and hopefully end the Servant before his actions threatened the secrecy of the war any further. But now, she cursed herself for believing that it would be so simple. Of course there would be other Servants expecting Assassin to steal the treasure, if only to ambush the Servant once he evaded the police. However this Servant, Caster by default, taking a child hostage was something her honor as a knight could not allow.

Utter joy danced in Caster's demented eyes as he reached out his left hand and began shouting, "Jeanne, your brilliance has not diminished since my eyes last witnessed your beauty! That same determination, the desire to help those innocent… And yet…" Caster's eyes then turned to Assassin and glared with such uter hatred than even made Assassin blink in surprise. "You stand before this swine… this example that God continues to spit upon you for your service… Do you see child?" Caster then clutched the boy's head even harder, making Saber tense up and Assassin's smirk to fade even more. "God truly is cruel! He plays with us humans… toys with us! So that he may…"

"Release the boy Servant!" Saber shouted, finally losing her patience with the madman.

"I'd suggest you do what Arthur-chan says, Caster." Assassin said coolly before glancing back at both Kirei and Irisviel, who had not moved an inch since Caster had revealed himself.

For Irisviel, the reason was simple: She had to keep the illusion that she was Saber's Master and allow 'her' Servant to do the fighting while she stayed behind. While she did fear for the child's safety, she was more than confident that Saber could free him. "But still…" Irisviel glanced at Kirei with suspicion as he continued to observe the scene. "This is an opportunity for Kotomine Kirei to eliminate a 'Master' from the Holy Grail War. So why is he not acting?" With that thought, her hand unconsciously inched to her coat's pocket while she glanced at Assassin. "Does he have something planned for us?"

Being married to the 'Magus Killer' had taught her many things. Such things included wonder for the outside world, the ability to drive cars with 'amazing' skill and speed, and the ability to analyze a situation and try to put it into her advantage. She had done it before with the police at the exhibit. Tokiomi, as an important member of the city, should have attended yet didn't. Irisviel used that once simple fact and turned it to her advantage by diverging the police's attention away from her and potentially Kiritsugu.

Unfortunately right now, she could not see anything that could work to her advantage. She had an unpredictable enemy that even her husband feared next to her and his Servant and an unknown one in the front. It was not a good situation for her.

As Irisviel was contemplating her next move, so was Kirei. This 'heist' had gone from bad to worse in a matter of seconds. Not only had Saber confronted them, which would not be a problem since he was confident that Assassin could get them to escape easily. But now Caster had chosen to reveal himself with a child hostage. While Kirei felt a small burst of glee at the despair on the boy's face and body, he quickly squashed it and analyzed the situation.

"This does not make any tactical sense. There is no point in bringing a child in the war unless…" Kirei's eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion. Throughout his long career, he had seen many Magi do unspeakable things to other humans in the name of research. Could the boy perhaps be a Trojan Horse for an attack? After all, the Caster class exceded in Magecraft."I cannot act yet until it shows the signs."

"Hold your tongue half-breed!" Caster barked out before staring at Saber. "So… you would ally yourself with him to save this innocent child? Oh Jeanne, you would even forgive those who slighted against you… How sad! How truly terrible!" Caster then leaned down to the boy's ear and told him, "Go to her boy. Jeanne always did wish to help those in need." With that, Caster released his grip on the child. Instantly, the boy ran, hugging Saber's dress and crying.

Saber attempted to calm the boy as best she could by stroking his hair and muttering, "Be calm, you're safe now…" Yet despite this, Assassin did not move an inch.

Now that the boy was no longer covering the book from view, Assassin could see it perfectly. It was brown, and looked as if it were covered with human flesh and what seemed to be a head screaming in agony coming from within the cover. "Cheerful little book…" Assassin thought to himself before his mind made a connection.

Prelati's Spellbook

"That means that…" Assassin's smirk was now practically miniscule as he said Caster's true name aloud, "Gilles de Rais…"

This brought several reactions from those gathered.

Kirei stiffened in shock.

Irisviel gasped in horror.

Saber's head snapped to Assassin as she asked him a simple question. "What?"

"A French Nobleman who once fought alongside Jeanne d'Arc. After she died, he went on a little killin' spree while practicin' the dark arts. Even made a little tale about this guy's deeds, Bluebeard. How do I know this? Let's just say I have a certain eye for art and other relics and I remember seeing that book in a museum once." Assassin announced, making Saber's eyes widen in shock. Assassin, a famous thief, was one thing. But how could such a… a… monster be allowed on the Throne of Heroes? "Arthur-chan, you probably remind him a lot of Jeanne if he keeps callin' you that."

"SHE IS JEANNE, YOU SWINE!" Caster screeched out in fury, making Saber raise her sword while holding the child closer to her. "Both you AND that accursed God confuse her! Making her believe she's that foolish English King rather than MY Holy Maiden! But no longer! I shall kill you, and take her with me so that she may remember!" With that, Caster snapped his left hand's fingers.

Instantly, the child began to tense before shaking. His movement made both Saber and Assassin stop and look as he began to lift his head. Saber could not help but stare in horror as the boy's tears began to turn into tears of blood, and his mouth began to utter one final plea.

"H-Help me N-Nee-chan… I-It hur-"

The boy did not even get to finish as the body burst from the inside, showering Saber with blood and a drop landing on Assassin's cheek. Assassin's smirk completely disappeared as from the body came a giant squid-like creature latched onto Saber. Its limbs latching on and restraining her before she had time to react.

"You have made an enemy of me, Lupin the Third! And now, I shall allow my creations, my Horrors, to feast as I celebrate the fulfillment of my wish with your death!" With that, twenty or so similar tentacled monsters began to climb down the cliff from the top and up the edge to their side.

Assassin's glare simply grew deeper as he said, "Ya know, you just put yourself on my fairly small list of people I ever truly wanted to kill." A loud, gurgling screech sounded off from Assassin's left side, making the man whip around and aim at the Horror barreling towards him. Its circular mouth full of razor-sharp teeth clasping in air as Assassin took aim and fired. The bullet entered and exited the Horror, blood shooting out of its back like a fountain as it fell to the ground in front of Assassin thrashing in pain. Within a split second, green muscles bonded together and skin reformed, making the creature to appear as if it had never been shot.

"Regeneration? That's definitely not good…" Assassin thought to himself before three Horrors jumped from behind him. Assassin whipped his body around, aiming his gun and firing three exact times in order for the creatures to fall. As they regenerated, Assassin fired some more at the ones coming from the top of the cliff.

"HAAA!" Saber shouted as a burst of prana came from her body, destroying the creature restraining her in a shower of blood. In an instant, she held the hidden Excalibur in her hands and chopped two Horrors in half, each one wriggling in pain and screeching as they fell to the ground in bloody splats. In a speed only possible from a skilled swordswoman, Saber instantly saw three horrors jump to Assassin, who was shooting at several in front of him. Within seconds, she sliced them into twos and moved to Assassin's back, holding her sword with both her hands.

"Hm?" Assassin muttered while glancing behind him to Saber. "Ya know, I thought you would have tried to kill me. Why watch my back?"

He was honestly curious. Before, Saber seemed like she wanted to do nothing other than put him down for embarrassing her during their first battle. Yet now she was aiding him in putting down Caster's abominations.

"What Caster has done is unforgivable." Saber said seriously as she watched the halves begin to bubble on their cut sides before growing a new pair of tentacle legs, becoming their own Horrors. "Until he is defeated, I am willing to work beside you."

"Hm, figures…" Assassin muttered as he observed the situation. Most of the Horrors were converging on him and Saber while five were slithering their way to Kirei and Irisviel. His normal bullets had nearly no effect on the monsters while Saber's strikes only created more of them. "Time to try somethin' a bit more heavy-duty." With that, Assassin emptied the clip that was currently in his gun and took a new one from his jacket before loading it in. Instantly, he fired on a Horror and watched with satisfaction as its body burst into little bloody pieces. "I might not be Jigen, but my explodin' bullets work just fine."

Meanwhile, Kirei took three Black Keys per hand from his pockets and activated them, cutting down a Horror with precision into five clean cuts, ignoring the blood spewing from the monster as it fell to the ground and slowly began to merge. A small frown was visible on his face, but no other indication of any emotion other than disproval.

Truly, Caster’s obsession with Saber was great if he went to such lengths to kill Assassin for simply touching her. It was very possible that he would not stop until Assassin, him, and the Einzbern Homunculus were dead and Saber was within his grasp.

“Truly, I am a cursed being…” Kirei thought to himself as he watched another Horror begin scurrying towards him. By all accounts, he should be upset about the child’s horrible death. As a man of the cloth, such a thing should horrify him and fill Kirei with righteous fury. But yet, he felt nothing. Even though he tried to feel upset about it all, there was still the nagging feeling of satisfaction towards the child’s death. Kirei was ashamed to admit it, but a part of him could not help but feel glee over the look of despair on the child’s face just before he died. “I can only hope that either Assassin or Emiya Kiritsugu can provide me an answer… Until then…”

The Horror jumped towards him from the side, making Kirei spin on his heel and slice the monster with speed only gifted to those who had trained in combat as much as he had. It was so fast that the pieces of the monster flew to the side and off the edge in different directions, most likely to never reform again. “I shall wait…”

"Shape Ist Liben!" Irisviel shouted as razor-sharp wires flew out of her fingers and formed a hawk. It screeched like the bird it was modeled after, flying towards the three Horrors in front of her before dispersing into a net, capturing the monsters and tying itself into a ball while the Horrors wriggled and thrashed around in an attempt to escape. Clutching her right hand hard, the ball squeezed inwards and instantly sliced the monsters into numerous bloody chunks.

Normally, Irisviel would not have liked to use this much force. If anything, she would have preferred to restrain rather than kill. But this was different. The death of the child, someone who was no older that Illyasviel, had brought out Irisviel's inner wrath. She was not fighting against people, she was fighting against the creations of a monster.

"To think, I would be fighting with Kotomine Kirei…" Irisviel contemplated to herself as the wires reformed into a hawk before flying to her arm and perching on it.

An enemy Master was right beside her, and was even aiding her against the Horrors despite the fact that she herself was a 'Master' (If he truly fell for the ploy). It was confusing, but right now Irisviel had no time to question it.

"There are more coming…" Irisviel thought to herself as eight more monsters burst from the very ground itself and converged on her and her temporary ally. Kirei tensed up while Irisviel's 'hawk' screeched as they prepared for another battle.

All the Horrors began to jump at the two Servants, screeching in apparent fury towards the death of one of their brethren. Instantly, Assassin fired upon them and made the monsters explode into a bloody mess while Saber sliced through her own targets with ease. One Horror threw itself right in front of Saber, only for her to cut it down in a vertical slash. As the two halves passed by her and Assassin, Assassin aimed his gun to their side and fired upon a Horror that Saber didn't even notice while she stabbed one that was jumping at them from overhead before flinging it off the edge.

"To think that you would fight alongside him as well, Jeanne!" Caster cried out before having his hand go over his face as if he were crying. "You even take pity on a scoundrel, born from the loins of thieves in our very homeland, such as him and attempt to delay his rightful execution! Truly, God has twisted your very mind…"

Saber was beginning to get tired of Caster's continued ranting. She wanted nothing more than to unleash Excalibur and obliterate the Servant's vile existence. But unfortunately, it might destabilize the cliff. While it might not pose a problem if she were alone, Irisviel would be put into danger. "If only we were on more stable ground…" Saber mentally growled in frustration as she cut through another Horror.

The monsters proved no problem for her. She could slay hundreds without becoming tired. However they were tenacious, and they multiplied while also regenerating from any wound that was laid upon them, blocking her from striking down Caster.

Assassin himself was growing frustrated with the battle. Whenever he destroyed one Horror, two took its place! "It's like I'm fightin' a Hydra…" Assassin glanced behind him and saw that Caster had not taken his eyes off the battle for even a second, not even blinking and seeming to take in every detail. "Maybe they're bein' directed by him?" Assassin shrugged and fished out three sunglasses from his coat pocket. "Only one way to find out."

"Put these on!" Assassin called out as he threw two sunglasses to Kirei and Irisviel and putting a pair on Saber's head.

"What are you…?" Saber questioned before seeing Assassin put on his own pair and take out a cylinder shaped device with a red button on top. He pressed it and threw it into the air, bathing the entire area with bright light. "A flash bomb? No… an opportunity!" Instantly, Saber launched herself forward, cutting down all the Horrors within her path before leaping towards Caster with her sword held to her side.

Unfortunately, she would never make it within fifteen feet of Caster. A tentacle popped from the ground, catching Saber by the leg and breaking her momentum. At the same time, the light died down and the Horrors began to leap towards Assassin at the same time. Assassin clicked his tongue as he clicked his heels, making white smoke erupt from under them and launching the Servant to the air. "Well looks like that didn't work…" Assassin thought to himself as he fired a bullet at the tentacle restraining Saber, freeing her as seven Horrors converged on her location. "At this angle, I can…"

A loud, disgusting screech entered the air, making Assassin turn his head to see a Horror heading towards him with its maw open not even two feet away. "Oh shi-!" The Horror then covered Assassin's head before a loud *Crunch* filled the air and red liquid spewed from Assassin's neck. The Horror leapt off, letting out a screech of victory as Assassin's body plummeted to the ground. It landed in a pile of bushes near the cliff, where five or so Horrors converged and began eating the remains.

"Tch!" Saber clicked her own tongue in frustration as she cut through another batch of Horrors while the rest began to focus their attention on her. Without Assassin, all of the Horrors could now focus on her defeat.

"The thief finally falls! Oh glorious, such a glorious day!" Caster shouted in utter joy, letting out a demented smile as he turned his gaze to Saber. "Now Jeanne, allow me to see your beautiful face cloud with despair before I br-"

"ALALALALALAIIIEEE!"

A battle cry, the sound of lightning, and the braying of bison disrupted Caster's rant. Within a second, Rider's chariot rolled in front of Saber, the oxen crushing Horrors beneath their hooves and lightning frying several others into blackened husks. "Greatings Saber!" Rider cried out, craking a grin to the Servant.

"Rider! Why are you here!?" Saber demanded, glaring lightly at the Servant. Not that she didn't mind his assistance, but they were still enemies for the Holy Grail.

"You idiot!" Waver cried out, standing from his hiding spot within the chariot at pointing an accusing finger at Rider. "Why did have to get involved?! Caster is one of the worst Servants we can go against! His magi-ACK!" The boy's rant was disrupted by a slap to the back, silencing him and making him groan in pain.

"We cannot simply allow any more of my enemies to fall to a madman! A death like that would be the greatest of humiliations!" Rider declared before looking at Saber. "I have come to assist you with bringing down Caster. Originally, I simply wished to watch Assassin's conquest over the police forces for the treasure, afterwards I would have challenged him and we would have met in battle! Unfortunately…" Rider then turned his head to the now furious Caster and glared at the Servant with no traces of humor on his face. "…The situation has changed."

Caster's fury grew by the second as he shook with hatred towards the Servant who interrupted his glorious reunion with his Holy Maiden. How dare he? How dare the former conqueror try to stop him from gaining what should be rightfully his!? "Damn you… Damn you…! Damn you! DAMN YOU!"

"I thank you for your assistance, Rider." Saber said with a nod before glaring at Caster. "Prepare to die, monster."

Before Caster could respond, a cold metal barrel was placed on the back of his head, making him turn to see the body of Assassin minus the head holding the Walther P-38 with his right hand. "How can his body…?"

"Surprise!" Assassin shouted as his head popped out of the collar of the jacket and shirt, making Caster seethe. The thief tricked him! "Nice try, but it'll take a lot more than that to do me in." with that, his left arm flicked to the side and allowed a small remote with a single button to fall into his hand. After pressing it, the 'body' that several Horrors were feasting on exploded, completely incinerating the monsters.

"I see… it was a ploy to make Caster think he was dead…" Saber contemplated to herself, honestly impressed by the ruse. Even she thought Assassin was dead for a second, but then again he was able to escape a mortal blow from her in the last second.

Without another word, Assassin began to pull back the trigger, making Caster scream in rage. As the bullet began to move out of the barrel of the gun, Caster's body exploded in a red burst of mist, making Assassin and Saber cover their eyes while Rider's cape billowed in the wind. Each Horror then burst, covering the ground in a shower of blood while also being blown away by the blast. The bullet hit the asphalt behind the two Servants, passing by where Caster once previously stood. "Damn, he got away…" Assassin thought in frustration as he put his Walther and the remote away in his coat.

"KYAAAH!"

"Iriviel!" Saber shouted, making Assassin look to see the Einzbern Homunculus fall off the ledge from the force of the mist. Without a moment's thought, both he and Saber ran towards where Irisviel fell and jumped after her. Saber watched as Assassin, at first, moved at his own pace down the cliff. Then, he leapt off the 'ground' and began making swimming motions, making the Servant go several feet in front of Saber before making one long stride with his right leg and jumping off with his right hand outstretched. He instantly grabbed Irisviel's left arm while his left hand went to his belt. A small hook then popped out before Assassin threw it at the railing where they started. When it wrapped around the railing, the two stopped with a lurch while Saber skidded to a stop under both Assassin and Irisviel.

Irisviel gaped in shock at Assassin and stuttered out, "Y-You saved me…"

Assassin simply allowed a smirk to grow on his face and replied, "Well, it goes against my code to let a mighty fine woman like you to die like that." He then looked at Saber and shouted, "Hey! Catch!" With that, he dropped Irisviel into Saber's arms and used a small reel on his belt to begin lifting him back up.

"So, he does have some honor…" Saber thought to herself before holding Irisviel close and leaping upwards back onto the street and setting the woman down, keeping a wary eye on Kotomine Kirei, who had not moved throughout the whole thing.

The reason why was simple: he was unsure what to do. On one hand, he had no orders to kill the Homunculus. On the other hand, he had not been ordered to keep her from harm either. But Assassin decided to save her anyway, despite the situation providing an opportunity to eliminate Saber as she attempted to save the woman. "Then again, when have his actions ever been understood?" Kirei thought to himself as he watched Assassin lift himself back onto the street.

Rider gave a hearty laugh and said, "Well done Assassin! A simple ploy in order to corner your enemy… A truly cunning move! Although, how did you escape death?"

"Paper mache, an extra pair of clothes, a few bombs, and extra-spicy chili sauce." Assassin replied instantly with a shrug. "Only wish I could'a killed the guy before he could escape."

"Hm, yes. It was truly a cowardly move for Caster to flee like that. But then again, we should not have expected anything less." Rider muttered while stroking his beard. "I only worry what will happen if Caster were to continue his actions…"

"Yes, I too worry about that." Saber spoke up, making the two Servants turn to her. "We cannot allow a monster like that continue to operate during the Holy Grail War."

Waver truly felt like he was just a third wheel at this point.

However Rider only grinned with joy. "Then perhaps we should…!"

Police sirens then began to fill the air, disrupting the conversation between the Servants. "Huh, looks like Pops was able to catch up…" Assassin muttered while scratching the back of his head. "Figures he shows up when the real bad guy has already left…"

"Let us discuss this another time then, perhaps with wine and less dire circumstances." Rider offered before snapping the reigns of his chariot, making it fly in the air and Waver scream in freight. "Until next time Saber! Assassin!"

"Heh, kinda like that guy…" Assassin muttered to himself as he walked past Irisviel and Saber to his Fiat. "Sorry about this Arthur-chan, but we'll have to do this some other time." He then turned his head to Kirei and said, "Let's get goin'." With that, he entered the car and hopped into the passenger's seat, placing the Laughing Peacock on his lap. "Hm?" Assassin raised an eyebrow as he noticed a black dot on the Peacock's 'stomach' and plucked it off with his right hand. Placing it closer to his eye, he noticed complicated circuitry and thought, "A trackin' device… Pops must be using this to find me…" With a smirk, Assassin crushed the small device and flung it out the window as Kirei started the car. As they went on their way past Saber and Irisviel, Assassin waved goodbye to Saber and shouted, "See ya!"

Saber stared at Assassin's retreating form before motioning Irisviel back to their own vehicle. While she did wish to eliminate Assassin from the war for his actions, Caster's crimes put him as more of a priority in Saber's book. Thus, she would attempt to have Kiritsugu put Caster's elimination as a top priority as well. "Assassin feels the same way as well…"

Saber remembered Assassin's eyes from when they battled Caster's monsters. While normally they were filled with arrogance and amusement, Assassin's eyes during that moment were filled with utter rage and hatred despite him not letting any emotion go into his face or posture.

Assassin would make killing Caster his top priority. That, Saber could be sure on.

As the two entered the car and drove off, a black owl with red eyes leapt off a tree branch and took flight into the night sky.

Elsewhere (Fuyuki Church):

"This has gone too far Risei."

The finality in Tokiomi's voice only made Risei sigh slightly. It seemed like the Magus' patience had finally reached its end.

"Assassin dropping the warnings was one thing. But now for him to steal an artifact in public? Does he have no sense? He has endangered the Holy Grail War in a way far greater than any threat before!"

Especially since the usually calm Tohsaka head was, apparently, shouting in anger.

"Calm yourself Tokiomi-kun and look at the situation for a moment." Risei said calmly into the magical device in front of him. "The Laughing Peacock was an obvious bait from the police for Assassin. The man always accepted a challenge when he was alive. This act should be expected…"

"I expected Kirei to restrain the Servant from doing something like this! But instead the treasure was stolen with numerous witnesses seeing Assassin, and we cannot contact Kirei!"

Risei frowned at that accusation. Before this, he was calmly having some tea while watching the late night news. It was his usual routine before he went to sleep around twelve. Unfortunately, he witnessed the news report about the robbery of the Laughing Peacock by none other than Assassin himself, who was able to escape capture in a (admittedly thrilling) car chase. While it was surprising that Kirei did not immediately report about it, Risei gave the benefit of a doubt to his son. It was possible that Kirei went to sleep early, or just did not watch the news. After all, Risei knew his son never truly paid attention to such things.

Thus, he reported it to Tokiomi, leading to this situation.

"He will report in due time Tokiomi-kun. Be patient." Risei spoke, only to hear the tapping of fingers from the other end.

"Assassin is butchering our plan far beyond repair. As soon as you can, have Kirei eliminate the Servant." Tokiomi said, gaining some calm back into his tone. Risei could not help but let his eyes widen. The Magus wasn't serious was he?

…But then again, could this be…?

"…This was a ploy."

"Hm?" Tokiomi muttered curiously, making Risei sigh. Did he have to spell it outfor the man?

"Assassin did this simply to bring all this attention from both the police and the general populace to himself. He's making himself too important for us to simply kill off now."

Risei could almost hear the Tohsaka head frown. "Explain."

"Now that everyone knows there is a good Lupin 'copycat', the police will be searching throughout the city for him, and media attention on Fuyuki City will grow as everyone tries to find out more about him. If he were to be killed off, or if his robberies were to be stopped, everyone will grow suspicious. And that suspicion might lead them to uncovering the truth about his first threat." Risei explained, hoping that the Tohsaka head would understand that the situation was not as black and white as it seemed.

"Surely they will not be able to discover the Holy Grail War. And even if some did, we could simply cover it up easily by manipulating their memories." Tokiomi dismissed with a near audible wave of his hand.

"It may not be that simple. I have received news that Inspector Zenigata has come to Fuyuki City as a consultant for the police. His obsession with Assassin could lead him to discovering us, even if we were to tamper with his memories." Risei muttered, remembering the detective that came to the Vatican after Assassin's theft.

He was annoying as hell, but his dedication to his duty impressed both Risei and the Executors who were there at the time.

"Do you truly think one officer's obsession could lead to the War's downfall?" Tokiomi asked in a near-exasperated tone, making Risei nod.

"It is possible, should we eliminate Assassin this early. This is most likely what Assassin counted on us doing."

Risei had to give the thief credit for his cunning with the apparent impulsive theft. If he hadn't analyzed the event, he might have just agreed with Tokiomi.

Tokiomi gave a sigh and muttered, "…I should be thankful that Archer is asleep at this moment. If he heard about this…"

Risei could not help but shiver in agreement. The last thing this situation needed was a former king with a grudge going out and attempting to kill Assassin on live TV.

Later (Einzbern Mansion):

Kiritsugu stood in front of the phone, his hand on the handle but not lifting it as he contemplated what he had been told from his wife and Saber.

The two had followed his orders in staying at the museum in order to observe Assassin. From what they had told him about the theft, Assassin's M.O hadn't changed one bit. Saber had then driven off during Assassin's escape, which was not in his orders, and was able to confront Assassin once he had fled the police. This eventually led to a confrontation with Caster, whose true identity was revealed by Assassin to be Gilles de Rais.

"He and his Master are most likely responsible for the latest string of kidnappings…" Kiritsugu thought to himself with a frown. From what his wife and Servant reported, Caster was able to summon creatures that could regenerate and multiply with ease.

Currently, he was having Maiya send out her familiars to discover Caster's location. If he could discover it, then Kiritsugu could plan out his next move. "Or perhaps I should allow Rider and Assassin to hunt him down…"

That brought a frown to Kiritsugu's face. His wife was right next to the man that Kiritsugu feared the most, yet he hadn't raised a hand against Irisviel. Not even in an attempt to get to Kiritsugu himself. That… confused him. And Kiritsugu never liked to be confused. Still, he was grateful that the reports on Assassin's 'gentleman' tendencies to rescue women weren't false. "The only reports that were false were those that claimed he was a rapist…"

Then again, they were filed by women who Assassin had manipulated to sleep with him in order to achieve his goals. They were all bitter women who were either angered that they were fooled or trying to cover up their own infidelity from their husbands. It was understandable that they would choose to say they were raped rather than say that they chose to sleep with Assassin.

"And there is still Zenigata…"

The inspector would most likely be a problem, even in his old age. The man had an obsession with capturing Assassin, and from what Irisviel told him that obsession hadn't changed one bit. His obsession could lead the inspector to suspect the Einzbern family, but Irisviel said that she was able to direct his attention to Tohsaka Tokiomi. Kiritsugu could not help the small smile that grew on his face. He was proud that Irisviel was doing what she could to help him achieve his wish.

But he could not focus on that right now. While Assassin directed his attention on Caster and Zenigata was investigating Tokiomi, Kiritsugu needed to prepare. With that in mind, Kiritsugu picked up the phone and dialed a number only a few people knew within the world.

After several rings, a smooth male voice began speaking a phrase.

"The owl of Minerva takes its flight only…"

"…When the shades of night are gathering." Kiritsugu finished with a calm voice, not letting any fear or anticipation leak into it.

The line went quiet for a couple of minutes, making Kiritsugu tense and a bead of sweat roll down his neck.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the voice returned.

"How many grams of Fräulein Eule do you require, and where shall it be delivered?"

[TheInfamousMan]

Eighth Heist

xxXXxx

"THAT INSOLENT SWINE!" Caster shouted as he punched a pillar within the sewers, shaking the entire thing and making cracks for where he was striking. "He refused to die and accept his fate for his crimes against Jeanne! Both he and that idiotic conqueror would not allow me to take what is rightfully mine!"

Personally, Ryuunosuke had no idea what was going on. Caster only returned a minute ago, looking pretty pissed about something. When he asked what was wrong, Caster just went into this state.

"Man, he must really like this girl if he acts like this…" Ryuunosuke sighed as he brushed his hair back. "Whoever this guy is, he's a total dick…"

Nobody but Ryuunosuke understood Caster's pain. After all, he knew that 'society' could never accept people like him and Caster, or their art.

"Speaking of which, what happened to that kid he took…?" Ryuunosuke mumbled curiously to himself.

Caster had mentioned that he was going to use him for 'materials' in order to ensure his victory (Or something like that) but now it was gone. "Um, Bluebeard…"

"What is it that you ask of me, Ryuunosuke?" Caster moaned as he stopped focusing his anger on the pillar, lowering his hands to his sides and looking at his Master.

"I gotta ask, what happened to the kid?" The serial killer asked, blinking when Caster's face morphed into an expression of fury.

"The child was a tool to ensure my victory over Lupin the Third. It would have kept Jeanne from acting rashly and keep her in place while I slayed him. Yet, I was careless. The thief's cunning allowed him to stay death's hand and Jeanne's need to protect others made her defend him! Not only that, but the accursed King of Conquerors appeared to lend his aid! Truly, God seeks to further torment us if He continues to allow these fools to keep Jeanne's mind clouded and away from the truth!"

Truth be told, Caster kind of lost Ryuunosuke in the middle of his monologue.

"Oh, um…" Ryuunosuke stammered out, raising an eyebrow at the Servant. "If that's true, then why not just get her when she's alone?"

"Ryuunosuke… what is it that you are suggesting?" Caster asked curiously, observing his Master with unblinking eyes.

"I mean… I used to just make sure women and children were alone before killing them, before I met you that is." Ryuunosuke confessed, scratching the back of his head a bit with a small grin. "Had to if I didn't want to get busted by the cops. It may be a bit boring at first, but that just makes their screams even better!" He then made the thumb and index fingers of his hands move together in order to form a pseudo-camera as he closed his left eye and brought the 'camera' closer to his right one. "Plus, having their blood and guts everywhere in front of you with no one else to bother you makes it seem like a private screening for a movie! It's the coolest feeling ever!"

Caster's expression morphed into an overjoyed one as he grasped Ryuunosuke's hands and said, "Truly, you are wise beyond your years Ryuunosuke! It is a shame no one can understand the genius behind your words…"

"Hey, come on now man, you're embarrassing me…" Ryuunosuke laughed with a small blush on his face, causing Caster to nod.
"Very well then!" Caster declared, letting go of his Master's hands and looking to the side. "I shall continue to gather materials for us to use. Then, I shall collect my Virgin Goddess, showing her the truth before I take revenge on Lupin the Third! God will not be able to protect him the next time we meet!"

The five children, huddled together in the small and dirty cage, began to hug one another and cry as Caster began to move closer and closer.

They knew full well what would happen once he reached them.

Next Morning (Fuyuki Museum):

Archer scoffed as he watched the mongrels gather around the establishment that housed his rightful possessions, gawking at them like animals as the newspeople continued to prattle on about the events of last night. Truly, this day and age was a shadow of the glorious time when he ruled.

Last night, Archer had decided to retire early. There was no real reason for it, but the current age was unbelievably dull and he could not find the mongrel that had stolen from him. He was wisely hiding in his hole, fearful of his king's wrath. Thus, after entertaining himself with Tokiomi's wine stock, he rested while dreaming of his rule and the adventures he had with Enkidu.

However, as if sensing his chosen time of rest, the mongrel struck.

He made a spectacle of himself while stealing the Laughing Peacock, a treasure that rightfully belonged to him. He avoided the sad excuse this hovel had for law enforcement and escaped with the treasure.

"If Tokiomi had informed me…" Archer thought bitterly to himself while clenching his fist in anger, his crimson eyes narrowing dangerously at the museum. His subject, Tokiomi, had decided to try and withhold information that he knew his king desired. He had specifically ordered Tokiomi to inform him about anything concerning the thief, yet Tokiomi did not inform him last night. If he had, Archer would have forgiven him for awaking him. "Perhaps I should test Tokiomi for his loyalty later today. Magi have always been such secretive fools…"

Archer held no illusions that the only reason Tokiomi summoned him was to obtain the Grail. When he retrieved his treasure, he would decide whether or not to graciously reward the Magus depending on his loyalty. But so far, Tokiomi had proven to be incredibly dull and Archer knew he secretly hid information. Archer knew far too well how many of his subjects only acted loyal just to receive his praise or a reward.

Archer loathed those like that. He only rewarded true loyalty.

Still, Tokiomi was the only one with a place fit for his presence. Plus, loathe he to admit it, Archer still needed Tokiomi to help track the thief.

Afterwards…he would decide whether to keep the Magus as a source of entertainment or simply move on to a new one.

Elsewhere (Kirei's Apartment):

Kirei watched as the two eggs sizzled on the frying pan, the yolks cooking from the intense heat, before placing them on top of a plate and shutting off the stove. He lightly seasoned them with some salt and hot sauce before taking an experimental bite out of them. Finding them acceptable, Kirei continued to eat in silence.

It had been fairly easy to escape the police. Without their tracking device on the treasure, Assassin was able to lose them simply with a few turns while keeping them from being spotted. Within fifteen minutes, they were back at the apartment. While Assassin did his thing, Kirei reported to his father about Assassin's theft.

It… didn't go well.

Apparently, Tokiomi was extremely frustrated and angered about the entire thing. So much so that he almost had given the order for Kirei to kill Assassin so that he would no longer cause any trouble. Luckily, Risei was able to talk Tokiomi out of giving the order to him.

"Even though, by all accounts, I should be doing it myself anyways." Kirei thought to himself as he looked at the kitchen counter and stared at the Laughing Peacock. The treasure was now nothing more than an attractive piece of decoration, since Assassin seemed to be in no hurry to sell it. Perhaps he only wished to keep it as a prize of his return? "But if I did it, I would be denying that I myself had participated in the theft. A theft that I felt… joy… while doing it."

Feeling joy in theft was something that worried Kirei. Before, he only felt it through the suffering of others. Now he had performed a totally different sinful act, and had felt pleasure doing so. "Or is theft another way to make people suffer? Am I cursed to only find pleasure in sinful acts…?"

Honestly, Kirei was more troubled than when he was living the married life with his wife and daughter.

"Ya know, I'm gonna have to go and get the Fiat repaired today." Assassin's voice called out, making Kirei turn to see him sitting on the wooden chair clad in only his boxers, fiddling around with his gadgets on a small wooden table. "It's not classy to drive around in a beat-up car, you know?"

"Will it also be a way to avoid the police?" Kirei asked honestly, taking another bite of his breakfast. "They will be looking for a heavily damaged car."

"Eh, right now only Pops is probably lookin' for me. The rest are tryin' to handle the aftermath of the heist." Assassin said as he began to wind up the small grappling hook attached to his belt-buckle. "Man, who knew Pops still had the energy to chase me around? I mean, did you see him? Looks like age hasn't stopped him from bein’ a pain in the rear..."

The way he talked about this 'Pops' confused Kirei. Assassin at one moment complained about him and then talked about him like an old friend the next. Even when he complained, his voice held a small fondness towards the apparently old police officer. "How can mortal enemies be friends at the same time? It does not make any sense."

But then again, half of the things Assassin did both as a Servant and probably in life too did not make much sense either.

"After takin' the car to the shop, I'm gonna go and look for Caster." Assassin said, his smirk losing some of its edge as he fished out a cigarette from a beat-up box, put it in his mouth, and lit it. After inhaling a breathfull of smoke, he picked it out of his mouth and blew it out while saying, "Can't let a guy like that keep on killin'."

"But I have not received any instructions towards how we should move against Caster." Kirei countered, making Assassin raise an eyebrow. "Doing so would anger…"

"Like we need that stick in the mud's permission to take him out." Assassin countered as he put the cigarette back in his mouth. "Plus I recall you helpin' me out with the heist even though you didn't get permission."

Kirei could say nothing to counter that. Even when he reported back to his father, he kept his involvement with the entire affair secret. Kirei hadn't denied involvement in Assassin's theft, but neither Risei nor Tokiomi had asked if he had been involved and thus, Kirei hadn't included it when he reported in. All Risei and Tokiomi knew was that Assassin performed the heist and aided Saber and Rider into forcing Caster to retreat.

"…Telling them is unnecessary. It would only anger Tokiomi and disappoint father." Kirei sighed as he reflected on the issue. But there was no reason not to tell them either, so why had he…?

"Plus, the guy killed a kid in front of me." Assassin mentioned as he began cleaning out his Walther P-38. "Now that's somethin' I can't let go." He then glanced at Kirei and asked, "Say, why weren't you bothered by it?"

Kirei had to blink at that question. "Excuse me?"

"I saw ya when the kid burst like a balloon. All ya did was frown, nothing else. You were like a machine or somethin'." Assassin mentioned with a slightly amused tone, making Kirei blink even more. Despite him being in the heat of battle, Assassin noticed? "You didn't seem too bothered by it."

"I was." Kirei assured the Servant, trying to both convince Assassin and himself. "As a man of the cloth, any harm done to any child is ho-"

"No you weren't." Assassin interrupted as he continued to clean out the barrel of the gun. "Trust me, I know how to read people. Even guys who try to be all stoic show somethin' in their eyes. I didn't see anythin' from yours. No sadness, no anger, no hatred… nothin'. So… what did you really feel?"

Kirei honestly felt shocked at how quickly Assassin dismissed his assurances. Usually, his father would hear him out and accept whatever answer he gave him. Risei didn't even push for answers on him not shedding tears during Claudia's funeral, most likely believing that his son was handling his pain in his own way. "Lies will not work on Assassin… yet I cannot tell him the truth either… so perhaps a half-truth?"

"…I do not know what I felt." Kirei confessed after a moment of silence, only receiving a hum of… curiosity(?) from Assassin.

"Please, don't try to sell me that. Everybody feels somethin' from whatever it is they see." Assassin then set down the gun and picked up a remote before fiddling with the controls. "You have a kid? You seem to be about that age…"

"Yes, I do. A daughter." Kirei hesitantly answered, not sure where Assassin was going with this.

"So how would you feel if she were in the place of that kid?" Assassin asked, making Kirei blink. He… honestly never thought about it like that. But for some reason, imagining Caren dying in the place of that child… made him uneasy.

"I do not know." Kirei answered instead, making Assassin smirk just a bit.

"To see her in Caster's hands…"

"I do not know." Kirei repeated, albeit a bit more forcefully. Truly, this interrogation was making him uncomfortable.

"To see your kid die without a single…"

"Stop this. Now." Kirei spoke with finality, his hands unconsciously clenched in anger and glaring at the Servant. "Imagining that scenario has no purpose."

"Hah! I told you! You do feel somethin'!" Assassin laughed out, taking all the anger out of Kirei and staring at the Servant in confusion as Assassin turned his head and looking at Kirei with a smirk that nearly reached his ears. "You feel upset when you imagine your daughter in that situation. You do have feelings like everyone else, so quit tryin' to hide them. You gotta express yourself, otherwise you're gonna have a pretty borin' life."

At this, Kirei turned around and began to walk away to his room, his breakfast forgotten as he pondered Assassin's words. Was it true? Did he feel upset imagining Caren in that situation, when by all rights he should feel joy imagining her pained expression? "What should I do? Do I need to continue to deny all my emotions, or express them? Would it help to bring about an answer?"

As Kirei continued to question himself, Assassin let out a light chuckle as he continued to tinker with his inventions and take in another breath of the cancer stick in his mouth. "Kirei, my man, you really are an interestin' guy…"

Meanwhile (Taji, Japan):

A man held a fishing rod while sitting on the docks, watching the fish move around the hook and bait in the water but never biting. The man clicked his tongue while bringing his black hat further down to keep the sun out of his eyes. He looked about fifty with gray hairs appearing in both his black hair and his twirled chin curtain beard. While his black broad-brimmed fedora his eyes from view, the rest of his face was visible. He wore a black suit with an opened jacket that showed a light blue dress shirt, black shoes, and a black tie held down by a silver clip. The man had a serious and grim expression on a face that looked like it better belonged on a forty year old rather than an old man.

"Tch, damn things aren't biting anymore…" The man mumbled, unconsciously having his right hand touch a .357 Magnum held at his waist.
This man was Jigen Daisuke, former bodyguard and former partner of the famous Lupin the Third.

"This is NHK returning from the break. If you're just tuning in, we are currently reporting the successful robbery of the Laughing Peacock within Fuyuki City by a copycat of the notorious thief, Lupin the Third."

"Thought that things were supposed to be peaceful nowadays…" Jigen muttered as he began to put away his gear, hearing the radio station begin to prattle on about how the supposed 'copycat' was able to slip into the museum undetected, knock out a guard within the security room while his partner was on a bathroom break, before fleeing the scene and avoiding police detection.

Ten years had passed since the Lupin he knew died. After he died, Jigen tried to keep himself busy as a thief, but it felt a bit pointless without Lupin there. Oh, he tried to partner up with that copycat of his, Yasuo, but that partnership only lasted little more than a year. It just didn't feel the same without the original Lupin by his side, and Yasuo understood so they parted ways on good terms. Since then, the Cold War ended and the world had become quiet, as if it was trying to repair itself after the intense staring match between nations. Jigen wasn't a political guy, but even he could appreciate that he wouldn't have to worry about a nuclear holocaust anymore. So with that in mind, and knowing that Lupin would never come back, he retired.

But now, in the past few days, things were changing. Apparently a new Lupin copycat was making waves in Fuyuki City, a pretty unimportant town that had no real treasures, threatening to steal the 'Holy Grail'. Jigen had to admit, the guy must have done his homework if he delivered the warnings before robbing the place along with actually stealing the treasure successfully.

"I always hated that damn peacock…" Jigen thought to himself as he put the last of his materials away, silently reminiscing about the heist that brought him and Lupin together. Back then, Jigen thought that Lupin was an idiot for only trying to steal the thing for a troublesome woman like Fujiko. But after that and numerous heists together, he slowly began to understand the guy.

He was just a man looking for excitement. He didn't care much for the prize, but for the excitement he had when he chased after it. To share that excitement with him… that's the reason Jigen had accompanied Lupin on his various heists and adventures.

That made Jigen ask himself one question: Should he go to Fuyuki and see this new Lupin? While he firmly believed the man was dead, a small piece of his mind had its doubts. Lupin had always been crafty. Was there a possibility that this Lupin was the real one?

It was a possibility, since Zenigata got out of retirement just to go back on the case.

"Why not? Catches have been horrible lately anyways." His decision made, Jigen began to head home in order to put away his gear.

He had to make arrangements to catch a train.

Elsewhere (Kamakura, Japan):

"HAH! HAH! HAH!"

The gathered twelve students shouted as they swung their bokkens down, sweat on their brows as they tried not to exert too much strength while also making their strikes quick and strong. The students were outside of a fairly traditional-styled two-story dojo in a clearing just in the back. They wore grey hakamas with the Kanji for student written on the top right part near the shoulder. Their sensei walked in front of them, his eyes looking ahead as if paying attention to his path, but his students knew full well that he was watching them. He wore a samurai hakama as well, but with a white top and the bottom being colored a light purple. His black hair was combed back and reached the base of his neck, had barely noticeable crow's feet on the corner of his left eye, and wore an incredibly stern expression on his face. A katana with a light brown sheath and handle was sheathed on his left hip, and while his arms were crossed under his sleeves the students knew that he could draw Zantetsu at any time in the blink of an eye.

"Stop!" Their Sensei, Ishikawa Goemon XIII, ordered as he turned around and revealed the black eyepatch hiding his right eye from view. He observed the gathered students and said, "Understand this: when you duel you are to act as if your enemy is going to kill you. There is no room for flowery stances or techniques. You must be constantly moving, not staying in a fixed location and waiting for the enemy to strike. A duel depends on your relationship with your opponent on the terrain and situation. If your opponent is like the mountain, act as the sea. If they are like the sea, act as the mountain. Remember this lesson."

"Yes, Sensei!" The students, ranging from as young as twelve to nineteen, shouted in response. Goemon walked to the two students in the middle of the first row and looked at them sternly.

"Kouta, your stance is too stiff. If you continue to swing like that, your will easily lose your balance." Goemon instructed the black-haired teenager, who muttered a weak 'yes, Sensei', before turning to his brown-haired cousin. "You put in too little strength within your strikes Yuka. If you were to enter a true battle, you wouldn't be able to harm your opponent."

"I understand, Sensei!" Yuka yelled out before Goemon took a step back, giving the silent signal for their practice to continue.

"Sensei! Goemon-sensei!" A young voice called out, making the samurai to turn and see a black-haired twelve-year-old girl dressed in the same hakamas as the other students ran towards him with a roll of paper in her right hand and a small dog running right behind her.

"What is it, Mayu?" Goemon asked as the panting girl stopped in front of him before handing him the roll of paper.

"T-Today's newspaper just arrived…" Mayu explained while the small dog barked in agreement.

Goemon gave an accepting nod and said, "Thank you, Mayu. Now, get a bokken and practice with the others."

Mayu nodded with a smile and ran off to the bokken rack while Goemon opened the paper and read the headline.

Lupin Copycat Steals Laughing Peacock!

"So the copycat actually has some skill…" Goemon thought to himself as his eye narrowed at the paper. The story drabbled on how the Laughing Peacock was stolen, and how despite the assistance of the recently reinstated Zenigata the copycat was still able to get away, along with some history on who Lupin was to fill in their younger readers. "Truly, this generation is perfectly willing to stain a man's honor without regret…"

After Lupin had died, Goemon had decided to retire. Unlike Jigen and Fujiko, who continued their thieving lives for a time, he had no real reason to continue as a thief. He originally joined Lupin's gang in an attempt to learn more in order to fulfill his vow to kill the man. But eventually, he came to view the thief as a friend and valued comrade. Otherwise, he would have just continued with his usual training/assassination jobs. Plus, partnering up with a copycat as Jigen did for a short time would stain his honor as a samurai. There was only one Lupin. He would not follow an imitator or a mere copycat.

So, he retired and decided to open up a small dojo in a fairly quiet town within his homeland. But unfortunately, he had no more than twelve students to pass his skills down to. He was never able to start a family, so the Ishikawa line would end with him. Worse yet, there was no motivation within Japan's youth to walk the noble path of a samurai. Most of his students were here either because their parents wanted them to do something other than lounge around in the house or just to kill time. The only truly 'devoted' student he had was Mayu, but that was because she had nowhere else to go and he gave her a warm bed and food.

Really, it was like she was his unofficial daughter.

"No, I must focus." Goemon chided himself as he lightly shook his head. "Another copycat is dishonoring Lupin's memory. I cannot simply let this slide like the others. I must do something, but the dojo…"

But then again, Kouta and Yuka were fairly close to graduating from the class. Would it really hurt to ask them to help teach the other students while he was away? Plus, they were fairly close, so they could check on Mayu once in a while…

"Stop." Goemon ordered, making the gathered students freeze and stand up straight. "Listen, there is business I must attend to out of town. I will be gone for little more than a day." He then turned to Yuka and Kouta and asked, "Will you head the class while I am gone, and make sure that everything is well within my household?"

"We will, Sensei." They declared, making Goemon nod in acceptance.

"W-Will you really be coming back Goemon-sensei?" Mayu asked, making Goemon give a small smile as he nodded in confirmation. Hesitantly, she accepted the promise with a small smile of her own. Goemon soon began giving instructions for cleanup among other things.

He needed to get ready for his journey to the city of Fuyuki.

Elsewhere (Shinjuku, Japan):

"I'm home!" A beautiful brunette with brown eyes whose wavy hair reached halfway to her back shouted as she took off her dress shoes and placed them on the shoe rack. She wore a black business suit, usually irregular for a woman but did nothing to take away her beauty, with the jacket open revealing her white shirt that had two buttons open to reveal her impressive bust along with a loosened black tie. If one were to be asked what the woman's age was, they would instantly guess she is around early to mid-thirties. Those trying to flatter or impress her might even claim that she looked like she could be in her late-twenties. In reality however, the woman was in her early fifities.

This was a woman named Mine Fujiko, former lady thief and ally of Lupin the Third.

"Welcome back mom!" A young voice called out from within the apartment's living room, the TV making noise as she did so. Fujiko sighed as she walked over to the living room, spotting a nine-year-old girl with some of her blonde hair tied into two pigtails while the rest flowed to her back. She was dressed in a fairly normal school uniform that was blue and had a white bow by her neck. She sitting in front of the television set, looking at the thing with extreme intensity.

"How many times have I told you not to sit so close to the…"

"…And thus, the Lupin Copycat was able to take the Laughing Peacock from the podium without alerting any of the alarms."

"What?" Fujiko thought to herself as she looked at the TV as well. The channel was currently on a news station with an old Japanese man in a grey suit looking at his notes while a blurry picture appeared next to him. Fujiko could barely make it out as a man, but one thing was clear: He was wearing a very bright red jacket.

"This was a photo taken at the scene of the crime during the man's escape. The Lupin copycat fled the area with a yellow Fiat 500…"

"Another one?" Fujiko asked herself as she continued to listen to the anchorman prattle on about the story. It was surprising to hear about the Laughing Peacock again. It was one of the first treasures Fujiko had to let go. But then again, Lupin was right all those years ago: It was either escape alive or be trapped forever in the pyramid with the Peacock.

In retrospect, that heist was the very reason why Lupin and Jigen had built such a close friendship and trust to one another…

"But still… another one? I thought that fad died out years ago." Despite copying Lupin being a 'fad', Fujiko did see the allure in it. Lupin had to be one of the freest human beings on the planet. All thieves followed their own rules and lived their own lives, and since Lupin was (As she so affectionately called him once) the Emperor of Thieves it was understandable that others would try to copy him.

Hell, Fujiko even tried to manipulate his last copycat when she tried to stay in the thief game. But being around Yasuo did not give theft the same… spark that it did when Lupin was around. He had this aura of confidence and also his heists were never boring. He made life fun, plus she owed him for helping to end the manipulation of her life…

"No, stop thinking about it. That part of your life is over." Her mind argued, making Fujiko bow her head just a bit.

When Lupin died, theft was no longer fun anymore. It just felt empty. After he died, the group fell apart. Jigen went off on his own, teaming up with Yasuo for a time before retiring. Jigen never contacted her, and she knew full well why. She was the source of most of his trouble throughout his life. It was a bit cold, but Fujiko understood. Same with Goemon, except he just quit being a thief altogether after Lupin's death. Plus, she was pretty sure he didn't understand the concept of a cellphone or a regular phone either.

"Too bad. I missed talking to 'Mr. Boyfriend' over the years…" Fujiko laughed out in her mind, remembering the nickname she gave Goemon, which he took seriously for a time before fully understanding just who she was. Afterwards, he was just like Jigen when it came to her.

After fully accepting that theft was empty to her now and her 'old friends' would never contact her again, Fujiko had decided to live a 'normal' life (Or as normal you could get, considering that she faked her birth certificate and other documents to make her a completely different Fujiko Mine) as a secretary of the mayor. While the job was boring, it was fun to seduce the old geezer into giving her a pay-raise practically every other month, allowing her and her child to live a life of luxury.

"That's him!" The young girl shouted as she stood up, pointing at the screen. "That's totally him, mom! He's come back!"

Snapped out of her thoughts, Fujiko sighed as she shook her head. "It is only a copycat, honey. He's dead and gone…"

She should know. She watched Lupin die.

"No way! I tellin' you, he's come back. I can feel in in my gut mom!" Her daughter shouted, turning around and facing her with brown eyes sparkling in excitement and longing. They were begging Fujiko to do what her daughter wanted. "Can we go? To Fuyuki City? I wanna meet him, mom! Come on! You always say work is borin' and I can miss a day or two of school!"

"Now she's becoming whiny…" Fujiko moaned in her mind, silently contemplating just taking her over to Fuyuki just to keep her quiet.

But then again, what harm would bringing her over do? It was very likely that they wouldn't even be able to see the copycat, and if they did she could disprove the notion that the man really was Lupin. It might not hurt to take a day or two of vacation to try and get a glimpse of the copycat and admire his work. After all, to steal the Laughing Peacock like he had required skill and he clearly had talent to pull it off with Zenigata around.

Plus, there was the fact that the mayor's wife was becoming suspicious about Fujiko being around her husband all the time…

"Alright, but only for a day. Afterwards, we're heading straight back here." Fujiko said, earning a loud cheer from the girl.

"YESSS! YES! YES YESSSS!" Fujiko's daughter shouted as she pumped her right fist into the air and began jumping up and down. "Ah man, I gotta figure out what I'm gonna wear. I also need to tell my friends…" Suddenly, she stopped talking and moving before quietly asking, "Mom, do you think dad will be happy to see me?"

Fujiko allowed a sad, but warm smile to grow on her face before she assured her daughter.

"He would have, Riko."

[Zalgo Jenkins]

First off, thanks for bringing this to Beast's Lair. Just a short note or two as you continue to fill in the story.

Kudos on the nods to Mamo and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. The psychedelic, darker incarnations of Lupin work a lot better with Heaven's Feel. And it amuses me that a 60 year old Zenigata remains almost as great a threat to Lupin as Gilles de Rais on full crazy-mode.

[TheInfamousMan]

Interlude 1

xxXXxx

Kiritsugu stood straight, unmoving but with his right hand under his chin and his eyes narrowed dangerously. In front of him was a board filled with pictures of Assassin, Kotomine Kirei, the Tohsaka Manor, the Fuyuki Museum, and newspaper clippings of stories based around the recent robbery of the Laughing Peacock. Each one was connected in one way or another by a colored string, much similar to how many conspiracy theorists attempted to justify a connection between the government and some disaster or tragedy.

But not for Kiritsugu. He actually knew how things were connected, and didn't delude himself in order to bend the situation to his way of thinking.

He saw things objectively, and nothing else.

"The entire attack on the Tohsaka Manor was too convenient." Kiritsugu thought to himself, staring at the picture of said residency. "It's likely that Tohsaka might have wanted to kill Assassin then and there, thinking he was useless. If that's true, then Tohsaka is going on without a true plan."

Kiritsugu planned his own actions long enough to know that the slightest deviance could completely scrap the entire scenario. But unlike Tokiomi, he had much more experience in coming up with counter-plans to compensate. Tohsaka Tokiomi never fought in an actual battle, never had been in war zones over and over again. It would take time in order to adjust to the new situation for the Tohsaka head. Meanwhile, Assassin had always been in situations that required him to risk his life, making him create entire strategies in a matter of seconds on how to get out.

And that's what terrified him about the Servant.

He was completely unpredictable, going from nearly cartoonish behavior to a skilled killer in a matter of seconds if the information he had gathered was correct. Sure, Assassin may have never killed unless it was required, but that did not mean he would shy away from shedding blood at a moment's notice.

And with him being paired with Kotomine Kirei, a person he could not even hope to understand, made the entire situation even worse.

"I have come with the documents that you requested." Maiya's voice broke Kiritsugu out of his thoughts. He turned around and saw his assistant place several blueprints on the table behind them, spreading them out so that he could see them better. "I have discovered an escape route within the castle, located in the cellar area." Maiya then pointed to the sketch of a shaft near where the Einzbern family kept their alcohol within the estate. "It supposedly leads to an entrance within the forest, about two miles away. It would make an ideal escape route…"

"Close it off. Make it unusable and rig the entrance in the woods." Kiritsugu said automatically. "Assassin most likely got the city's documents of the estate, including a copy of these." He waved his hand, motioning to all the blueprints "We must take extra precautions when planning out escape routes."

"I understand." Maiya replied automatically, not that Kiritsugu expected her to disagree. She nearly agreed with whatever decision he made, for better or for worse. "But… should we really expect an attack to come so soon? From what Saber has informed us, Assassin will be diverting his attention mostly to Caster."

"And if he finishes Caster, there is no way to predict his next target." Kiritsugu informed her, glancing back at the board. "While Archer would be the most logical of targets, Assassin could not hope to lay a finger on him. From what we have seen from Archer's personality, it is very likely he is actively hunting for Assassin. Berserker is also another logical choice, but so is every other Servant, and their Masters to an extension. Plus…" A light sigh escaped Kiritsugu's lips. "Assassin already left his calling card for Saber's Excalibur."

Another thing the reports confirmed was that whenever Assassin stated that he was going to steal something, he went through with it one way or another. Whether the possession of the stolen item was temporary or not did no matter because in the end, he went through with his threats despite the odds.

It did not inspire confidence into Kiritsugu with the fact that Assassin had identified and proclaimed his Servant's Noble Phantasm as a prize for the taking.

"…" Maiya said nothing, observing Kiritsugu with her usual stoic expression. "…I believe we should discuss this more tomorrow. You need time to rest."

Kiritsugu blinked at that. He did not expect Maiya of all people to ask him to do that, but then again the bags under his eyes were not doing much to dispel the fact that he had not slept enough in the past few days. He had spent sleepless nights planning out possible attacks and retreat scenarios, and even he could see that it was affecting his functioning. "And if I were to rest, just a few hours, then it would make Iri worry less…" Kiritsugu glanced at the clock. It was 11:35 p.m. "The meeting isn't until four… plenty of time for a few hours rest."

"I will stay up to awake you when the time comes." Maiya spoke, as if reading Kiritsugu's thoughts on the matter. "Until then, please get some rest with the Madam."


The last part was spoken with a hollowness that even made Kiritsugu a bit nervous about his assistant being near his wife. After all, Maiya was not completely void of emotion and was perfectly capable of being professional. But still… considering their actions…

"No, have faith in her." Kiritsugu thought to himself as he walked out of the room, not even glancing at Maiya before heading towards the room Irisviel was sleeping in. Saber was either in the room next to theirs, or was once again overlooking the area from the roof. "Maiya knows what's at stake here. She knows that…" Kiritsugu then shook his head as he stood in front of the door. "Everything that is required for my dream will be done. Even if…"

Even now, he was ashamed. He was ashamed that Irisviel, the love of his life, would have to die to bring the world peace. That in the end, after the Holy Grail War, he would never see Irisviel's face again except in his mind's eye.

But it had to be done.

With that, Kiritsugu opened the door and saw Irisviel sleeping on the king-sized bed that occupied the room, the moon's light reflecting off of her white hair. Her face was peaceful; as if there was nothing wrong in the world or in her own dreams.

These would be the last few days he would be able to see that face. Slowly, Kiritsugu shed his clothing until he was only in his white sleeveless undershirt and black boxers before quietly slipping beneath the blankets next to Irisviel.

"Kiritsugu…?" Irisviel sleeply questioned, her eyes fluttering opene for a second, only for Kiritsugu to place his left hand over her head.
"I'm here Iri." He muttered, making his wife smile and close her eyes once more. Smiling himself, and ignoring the pang of guilt and depression from within him, Kiritsugu closed his eyes…

…and dreamed of days long since passed.

The Killer Called Kiritsugu

San Francisco, United States of America

August 2^nd, 1976:

"A private contract?" Kiritsugu asked, looking at his mentor Natalia Kaminski, as she took a file out of her suitcase with her usual small smirk. "You mean this is not…"

"No, we're not doing the work for the Association or the Church this time." Natalia replied as she set down the file on the small table the motel room provided. "We've been hired by the Tohsaka Head to kill the Edelfelt Head. He paid a lot of money for this job to be done in a timeframe, so naturally…"

She did not finish, not that Kiritsugu expected her to. He had been around the woman long enough to know that most of the jobs that were taken were more out of money than actual moral obligation. But he liked to think that they were preventing more horrors like the one that happened on his home island from happening.

Natalia had brought him along to the United States after killing Magus that had fled to Canada. It had been a relatively simple job, an easy headshot from a sniper rifle two buildings from where the hotel the man had been staying. So when Natalia brought him to the states without telling the specifics of the job, he had been confused.

Now he realized she simply wanted to save time.

"Our target is Fredrick Edelfelt." Natalia informed him, taking a picture out of the folder to reveal a man with deep blue eyes and shoulder-length greying blonde hair wearing aristocratic blue clothing, the trademark color of the Edelfelt family. "Apparently, Tohsaka wants to set back the Edelfelt family by killing off their head. Make the Tohsaka family magic 'superior' by a few years, or something like that." Natalia took a drag out of her cigarette and continued on her explanation. "He's staying in San Francisco for two days on business before returning to England. Tohsaka only gave us a day to complete the job before cutting off the arrangement. Doesn't want to be connected to this at all."

It made sense to Kiritsugu, in a way. If they actively pursue Fredrick, then the Edelfelt family would be able to draw a connection between the assassination attempts and their rivals, and negative publicity was something the Tohsaka head didn't want on his family. Especially if they hired mercenaries who used 'mundane' weapons to do their dirty work.

"One of my associates were able to plant a bug in his hotel penthouse." Natalia began once again, taking out a small tape player from her bag and placing it on the table. "Seems like he hired some extra security." With that, she pressed the play button.

"I assure you that this is only the advance payment." A deep voice, one that Kiritsugu could assume was Fredrick, stated.

"Oh my! What a big pile of cash we got here!" And excited voice, one that belonged to a man but sounded like a kid in a candy store, shouted with a laugh. This made Kiritsugu blink and look to Natalia, who simply closed her eyes as she continued to smoke her cigarette.

"Can I assume correctly that you will be able to retrieve the artifact without it receiving any damage?" Fredrick's voice continued, still sounding firm but even Kiritsugu could hear the slight hint of disbelief in his tone. "My associates have all given you praise, but even I find it hard to believe that you can steal anything. No offense to your lineage, Lupin the Third."

"Lupin the Third?" Kiritsugu breathed out, his eyes narrowing. Lupin the Third was a world-famous thief of near celebrity status. And his fame was well earned, due to his ability to constantly avoid the police and make off with countless treasures.

"Guess you don't really pay attention to the news then." Lupin commented wistfully. "None of you guys ever seem to. Always doubtin' my skills, even if the headlines say otherwise."

"I simply wish to confirm your skills, nothing more." Even Kiritsugu could hear the falseness in the apologetic statement. "You must understand that Hernán Cortés' sword means a great deal of importance to my family."

"Hm, old man Blackmore said the same thing about Robin Hood's bow." Lupin commented casually, his tone still light-hearted despite the serious situation. "You guys really like your artifacts don't you? Wonder why…"

"That is none of your concern." Fredrick's voice said sharply. "Your job is to simply retrieve the artifact and give it to me. Nothing more is asked of you."

"My, my! Touchy aren't ya?" Lupin's voice laughed out. "But you can quit worryin'. Tomorrow, you'll have your sword…"

Natalia stopped the recorder, putting out her cigarette at the same time in the ash tray. "So that's it pretty much. Lupin's involvement might cause us problems if we don't time this right."

"But why would a Magus hire him in the first place?" Kiritsugu asked, motioning to the picture of Fredrick. "The Edelfelts are an old and mostly traditional Magus family. Why would they want to hire anyone like Lupin the Third to do a job?"

"Most likely, they want that artifact as a Catalyst for the Holy Grail War to summon a Servant." Natalia responded, opening the folder and showing pictures of Lupin. "Most Magi families who know about it dream of participating in the war, and if they are chosen they need to be prepared. Getting a Catalyst takes time, and sometimes Catalysts of powerful heroes are discovered and put on displays in museums of private collections. Rather than getting it for themselves and potentially declaring what hero they will use to their enemies, they hire Lupin to steal it instead. The Lupin family has been employed by Magi families for the last two Grail Wars, with Lupin the Third getting Catalysts for hopefuls of the Fourth. Lupin's own father is rumored to have stolen and sold most of the Catalysts used by the last war's contestants."

"And by paying them handsomely, they do not ask questions for the purpose of the theft." Kiritsugu reasoned, only for Natalia to shake her head.

"Oh, I'm sure they have their suspicions, but it's just that Lupin doesn't really care." She motioned once more to the device on the table. "He could have easily pressed for more questions, but instead dropped it. I doubt any Magus head could actually intimidate the man."

"I suppose he would not." Kiritsugu agreed. To any other man, Magi heads would just be old and arrogant men stuck in old ways with too much money on their hands. Lupin the Third probably reasoned he could have killed Fredrick if the man made a move against him. “But why can’t we just bomb Edelfelt’s room?”

"It’s much more convenient if Lupin were to take the fall instead. So, we need to prepare." Natalia said with a sigh, looking at the guns laid down on the floor between the two beds. There were two M40 rifles, the Calico, two Jericho 941 handguns, various ammo clips, and several hand grenades. "It will be a timed operation. Lupin will be meeting Edelfelt at four in the afternoon to get his payment at a warehouse near Holfman Street. If we miss our shot, that's it. It will not take long for Lupin to react and try to find us."

"I understand." Kiritsugu replied as he opened up the file, seeing several papers describing things such as the Edelfelt family's magic, the layout of the building that Fredrick will be meeting Lupin at, and some notes on Lupin's career and known allies.

August 3^rd, 1976:

Kiritsugu peered down the scope of the rifle, looking into the warehouse's multiple windows and holes. Natalia sat next to him, holding the other rifle in hand but keeping it to the side while smoking another cigarette.

They had been waiting on a storehouse building on the other side of the street, using the nearly hidden angle on the top of the building from anyone looking from the warehouse to their advantage. To pass the time, he and Natalia had been taking shifts and reviewing notes. And Kiritsugu had to admit that he wasn't that impressed with Lupin the Third.

While yes, the man seemed to be well equipped and skilled in what he did, his enemies were moronic. The man who usually chased him, Inspector Zenigata, failed constantly, always using tactics that Lupin always escaped from. Enemies that wanted to actually kill Lupin failed since they do not simply use things such as missiles, bombs, or mines. Instead they simply used convoluted schemes that always gave the thief ample opportunity to escape.

Not him. If he had the opportunity, and if Lupin were his target, Kiritsugu would be sure to eliminate him without any hesitation.
He was not a police officer or a madman with delusions of grandeur.

But still…

"Where are they…?" Natalia muttered, peering down her own scope with a frown adorning her face. Kiritsugu had to agree with her frustration. It was an hour after the supposed meeting between the thief and Magus. Usually, Magi were very punctual about their meetings. And from what the news station said in the morning, Lupin had already successfully stolen the sword from the San Francisco History Museum in the middle of the night, and was able to evade the police (Yet again).

"Could they have changed the meeting location?" Kiritsugu asked, making Natalia click her tongue.

"If they did, then they sure as hell didn't discuss it in Edelfelt's room." Natalia spit out her cigarette, stomping on the discarded cancer stick to put it out. "Looks like we'll just have to catch his flight and k-."

"Wait." Kiritsugu interrupted, peering through his scope once more. "There's movement."

"Perfect." Natalia said with a smirk while Kiritsugu focused his sights. He saw through a window the Edelfelt Head walk forward with a black suitcase in hand. Looking to the general direction he was walking towards, he spotted a woman the information described as Mine Fujiko wearing a tight red dress and red high-heels with a silver guitar case, one big enough to hold an old Spanish sword, in her left hand.
"I'm going to take the shot." Kiritsugu stated as he turned his sight back on Fredrick's head, holding his breath so that his hands would not shake…

"Wait…" Natalia interrupted, making Kiritsugu freeze. "Lupin's not there."

Kiritsugu moved his sight to confirm her statement. Indeed, the famous thief was nowhere in the building. It was just Fujiko and Fredrick, now seeming to confirm the transfer with relaxed stances. "Where could he…?"

*Click* *Click*

"You know, peepin' on other people is pretty rude." The cocky voice of Lupin filled Kiritsugu's ears, making the young man freeze. Slowly, he turned around to see Lupin and a man that the information identified as Jigen Daisuke aiming their Walther and Magnum respectively at them. Lupin had a cocky smirk stretching from ear to ear while Jigen's face was completely serious.

"Oh, I'm sure you hardly care about that, Lupin the Third." Natalia replied smoothly as she put down the rifle and slowly stood up, Kiritsugu mimicking her actions as soon as he saw the men made no move to shoot them yet. "Especially if those rumors about you and women are true."

"Aw, come on now! I have a bit more class when it comes to fine dames!" Lupin laughed out, only for Jigen to click his tongue.

"Sure, 'class'. You have to be one of the biggest perverts on the face of the planet." Jigen stated bluntly, making Lupin give him a sour look, not that Jigen seemed to notice or care. Instead, he seemed to keep focusing his aim on Natalia. "Never thought I'd see your face again."

"What can I say? The world is full of strange coincidences." Natalia remarked wryly, causing Kiritsugu to blink. Did these two have a history together? "I never thought I'd see you as a thief Jigen. Thought you'd remain the same cold bodyguard forever."


"And I see you haven't changed either. You're still the same troublesome woman that put a bullet in Firo's head without a hint of remorse." Jigen responded, his voice becoming ice cold while Natalia let out a little chuckle. Now Kiritsugu could tell they knew each other, and apparently not on good terms.

"Natalia Kaminski. The lady mercenary who has been appearin' in warzones throughout the world, taking on whatever job you get from the highest bidder." Lupin said smoothly, making Kiritsugu's eyes narrow. This man… was too well-informed if he knew about any activities Natalia made not involving the Mage's Association. "I heard that you recently took an apprentice. I guess this is him?" He motioned his Walther to Kiritsugu, making a small smile grace Natalia's lips.

"You're pretty well-informed for a thief." Natalia commented, earning a chuckle from Lupin.

"Thieves have always been in the know. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise that I keep my ear to the ground." Lupin responded, not taking his aim off of Kiritsugu. "You should invest in smaller listenin' devices. Saw the ones you bugged old man Edelfelt's house with yesterday. Gave me reason enough to think that someone was gonna crash this party."

"I was simply hired to kill that man, nothing more." Natalia replied, shooting Kiritsugu a look and twitching her right hand's pinky and index finger. Her signal that they would move soon. "You got your money, let me get mine."

"Ah, sorry Natalia-chan… But even though your one foxy lady I just can't do that…" Lupin sighed out, as if the decision was really hurting him. "Lettin' a guy die on my watch just isn't good for one's image, you know?"

"Why bring a kid into this life Natalia?" Jigen questioned, and even though Kiritsugu could not see them he could sense the man's eyes narrowing underneath his fedora.

"He chose it for himself. Just like we did." With that single sentence spoken, Natalia drew her gun in the blink of an eye and fired at Jigen, who responded in kind with his own bullet. The spark in mid-air signaled that the bullets hit one another, something even Kiritsugu did not think was possible.

The screech of tires coming from the street below disrupted Kiritsugu from his moment of awe, making him curse under his breath. Quickly, he began running to the fire escape…

…Only for Lupin to slide in his way, smirking as he raised his Walther. "Don't think I can just let you…"

He didn't get to finish, as Kiritsugu took out his own handgun and fired several shots at the thief.

"W-woah!" Lupin shouted as he jumped to the side in order to avoid having a body full of lead while Kiritsugu jumped down the fire escape. If he could hurry, it was very possible that he could catch the vehicle before it got…

A cloud of smoke then fogged his vision, making Kiritsugu cough while waving his hand around to dispel it. He heard another body land onto the fire escape, the sound of steps echoing to Kiritsugu's ears. "Now, that wasn't very nice kiddo…"

Not responding, Kiritsugu, flicked his wrist to take out a knife and slashed the area Lupin's voice came from. "Ow! You know, you could hurt someone with that!" Kiritsugu's vision cleared up enough to see Lupin relatively fine except for a piece of his shirt torn. "Hm, just how long have you been trainin' for stuff like this?" Kiritsugu said nothing, but his eyes narrowed. The sound of the car was nonexistent now. He missed the opportunity to eliminate the Edelfelt head before he left the area.

But if he could capture Lupin and extract information from where they might be hiding the man…

"Oh? You really wanna try your luck kid?" Lupin questioned, as if reading Kiritsugu's thoughts. The sound of the gunfight on the roof kept going off as a few seconds of silence passed between the men. "Can't blame ya for tryin', but you're gonna have to step up your game if you wanna get me…" Suddenly, Lupin's hand reached into his coat and extracted an old-school circular bomb with a lit fuse. Kiritsugu's eyes widened as Lupin tossed the bomb to him, and Kiritsugu caught the thing on reflex. "KA-BOOM!!!" Then, Kiritsugu's eyes closed on reflex, only to open them as a small *Pop* rang in his ears and see the 'bomb' now opened in half with a small puppet of Lupin on a spring sticking his tongue out at him. "See ya, see ya, see ya~!" Lupin's voice sang out, making Kiritsugu look to see the thief running down the alley below.

"Damn it!" Kiritsugu cursed himself for being so easily fooled as he fired on the thief's retreating form two times, only to miss. Quickly, he ran down the rest of the escape before landing on the ground and sprinting to where Lupin was running off to. He could not let the man escape. He needed to restrain him before providing Natalia backup. If what the information said about Jigen Daisuke's skills was true then…
*VROOM*

Lights turned on, blinding Kiritsugu for a second as he jumped to the side in order to avoid being run over by a blue Mercedes-Benz SSK. "See ya kiddo!"

"No…" Kiritsugu seethed as he ran after the car, seeing it drive on the rode past honking cars and confused pedestrians. Kiritsugu spotted a man riding a black Yamaha XS 650 and pointed his gun, shouting, "Give me your bike now!" Frightened, the man complied and got off the bike. Kiritsugu jumped on it and stepped on the gas, making the bike speed forward in breakneck speeds after the Mercedes. Taking his right hand off the handle, making sure not to lose his balance, Kiritsugu fired at the car, striking it in the trunk and rearview mirror.
"Hey now, I'll let you know that these things are expensive!" Lupin chided in a mocking tone, making Kiritsugu seethed. Usually when he was hunting his targets, they were either scared out of their minds or unaware of their coming death. For someone to just take the whole thing in stride was mind-boggling.

Numerous police sirens went off, making Kiritsugu glance back to see at least thirty police cars chasing behind them. "LUPIN!! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!!! PULL OVER NOW!!! THAT GOES FOR YOU TOO!"

"Geez, can't Pops just give me a break for a day?" Lupin whined out as he passed two cars on his side. "Oh well…" He fired on both of their tires, making them screech and crash into one-another behind him.

Kiritsugu's eyes widened as he quickly steered the bike out of the way, miraculously avoiding both a crash and becoming paste on the road for tipping the bike over. Several police cruisers crashed into the cars while others swerved out of the way. "Is he out of his mind?" Kiritsugu asked himself before seeing Lupin quickly turn the car and drive over the sidewalk and down several steps that lead to a park. Kiritsugu quickly did the same, using the bike's momentum to use the top-step as a ramp and flying past the expensive car before landing, and Kiritsugu was both relieved and grateful that he didn't die pulling off the stunt. Kiritsugu instantly brought out his gun and fired, only for the bullet to pass through Lupin's jacket and go off into the distance as the thief continued to drive. Putting the firearm back in its holster, he drove after the car with his knuckles whitening on the handles.

It was not supposed to be this difficult to capture Lupin. Hell, he had come close to killing him several times. Yet the man seemed to have the luck of the devil behind him, and that really pissed Kiritsugu off.

"No one is that lucky…" Kiritsugu thought to himself as he watched Lupin swerve the car and drift from the park and back onto the road, apparently for no reason other than to show off. "No one…"

It continued on that that for several more minutes, Lupin driving past cars while Kiritsugu tried to keep up with him. The man was most likely one of the best drivers in the world if he could still speed up and not crash yet. Even Kiritsugu was beginning to get nervous at how fast they were going.

"YOU AREN'T GETTING AWAY LUPIN!!!" The voice, which Kiritsugu now seriously suspected to belong to Inspector Zenigata, shouted once more as several police cars emerged from the traffic behind them. Kiritsugu could even hear the rotors of a police chopper come from overhead. Kiritsugu looked forward and clicked his tongue in frustration. They were heading to the Golden Gate Bridge, and there was no telling if there was a police blockade on the other end of the bridge. He could not stop, lest he be arrested by some seriously irate police officers. Let he could not just drive the motorcycle off the side of the bridge. If there was one thing Natalia tried to drill in his head, it was that his life should be of EXTREME importance in priorities.

So for several agonizing moments, he continued to drive behind Lupin's car as the police followed closely behind. Kiritsugu's face was now feeling like it was being cut by the wind itself. He should have really made the guy give him his helmet too…

"Oh! Goemon! You mind takin' care of this for me?" Lupin suddenly shouted, moving his car to the side to reveal…

"A samurai?" Kiritsugu found himself sputtering as Goemon drew his sword and, in a flash, sheathed it back slowly. Kiritsugu could not help but blink at the action. Just what was the purpose of…?

"Once again I have cut a worthless thing." The samurai's words somehow reached Kiritsugu's ears as the hilt met the sheath, making a *clack* sound…

…Before the Golden Gate bridge itself was cut in half, just before Goemon.

"Gah!" Kiritsugu cried out in shock as the bridge collapsed, both him and the bike speeding towards the water below in high speeds before hitting it. The force itself felt like a dozen punches, and Kiritsugu even blacked out for a second. But quickly, he let go of the bike. Looking to the shore at the other end of the bay, Kiritsugu began to swim as hard and as fast as he could. He was not willing to die from the police cars that kept crashing into the water.

Kiritsugu's lungs were on fire, and he could hear nothing but splashing water and the distant cry of "LUPIN!!!" in the air. It almost seemed like the shore would never get closer at first, and Kiritsugu even felt his limbs become more and more tired… he wanted to sleep…

"NO! I refuse to die like this!!!" Kiritsugu announced to himself in his mind before energy surged back into him. He swam at almost double his original speed, and before Kiritsugu knew it he was clawing at the beach, trying desperately to reach the street while his mouth took huge gasps of air. Kiritsugu didn't even register the sound of an engine, or the sound of a car stopping. When Kiritsugu looked up, he saw the world-famous thief.

Lupin the Third grinned at the teenage Emiya Kiritsugu, lying on the shore of some beach along the San Francisco Bay, from the driver's seat of the dark blue Mercedes-Benz SSK, his red jacket like a mocking beacon to the boy. Kiritsugu coughed seawater from his lungs and took in deep, greedy gulps of air as Lupin said, "You put up one hell of a fight kiddo. Gotta give you that. But ya lost this one. Maybe we'll meet again someday. Until then…" The car then sped away, Lupin waving at Kiritsugu as he glanced over his shoulder to the boy. "Give Natalia-chan my best!"

That's when Kiritsugu finally fell into blissful unconsciousness.

When Kiritsugu opened his eyes again, he stared at the roof of a car. Slowly, he turned his head to see Natalia in the driver's seat, trees going by on both sides of the car. Even Kiritsugu could tell that they were out in the country now. "N-Natalia…"

"Oh? You're awake kid?" Natalia asked, glancing back at him but still focusing on the road. "You were out for a couple of hours. You're lucky that you didn't just drown, you know."

Kiritsugu said nothing, but grimaced in pain and coughed a few times. His muscles hurt, most likely from all the swimming he did. "If I hadn't made it to the shore, I would have…"

"I got paid double not to kill Edelfelt." Natalia mentioned, making Kiritsugu glance to the passenger seat to see a black suitcase. "So either way, we at least earned something for our trouble."

Kiritsugu said nothing, and instead looked back at Natalia and noticed the entire bottom of her shirt soaked in blood, as well as blood stains all over her stomach. "You're…"

"Ah, you noticed." Natalia shrugged as she reached into the cupholder and fished out a cigarette. "Jigen nailed me a few times in the stomach. Seems like his skills didn't get rusty. He was definitely trying to kill me." A small chuckle escaped from her lips. "But he didn't expect for me to heal myself. Was able to give him the slip with a flashbang."

"So we failed…" Kiritsugu muttered as he struggled to sit back up, ignoring the ache coming from his muscles as he did so.

"Spectacularly." Natalia confirmed. Kiritsugu could not help but feel a bit guilty. He did not read the file of Lupin carefully enough. He just skimmed it, assuming that the man was a skilled but otherwise ordinary thief. He assumed that without the police's rules holding him back, he could have easily killed the man.

That could not happen again, should he ever meet the Eurasian thief another time.

"And one more thing." Natalia stated, making Kiritsugu look back at her. "If you ever meet or deal with people wearing owl masks, always be on guard and never underestimate them. Ever."

"What do you mean?" Kiritsugu asked, only to get silence for an answer. He noticed a bead of sweat roll down Natalia's neck and her jaw tighten.

Kiritsugu saw Natalia do something he had never seen her do before.

Whoever these people in the owl masks were, Natalia was scared of them.

Reality:

A knock on the door made Kiritsugu open his eyes, disrupting his dream. Slowly, he got out of the bed and walked to the door, opening it to see Maiya.

"It is time." Maiya stated, making Kiritsugu nod.

"Tell Saber to prepare." Kiritsugu ordered before closing the door and walking to the pile of clothes he had left on the floor. Slowly, he began to slip them on. He wasnted to give Irisviel at least a few more seconds of rest before…

"Kiritsugu, where are we going?" Irisviel asked, making Kiritsugu turn to see her sitting on the bed.

"We are going to pick up some more tools." Kiritsugu replied, putting on his coat and shoes. "With luck, they will help us beat Assassin and Kotomine Kirei."

"What kind of tools?" Irisviel asked, looking at her husband with curious eyes. "Is it some new kind of gun?"

"No, it's a drug…."

*Hoot*

Kiritsugu whipped his head to the window and saw a black owl staring back with unblinking red eyes. A second later, it jumped off the windowsill and flew away into the night. Kiritsugu could feel his jaw tighten and his hand clench into fists.

"Someone is watching this war like it is a damn play…"

To Be Continued…

xxXXxx

And thus ends all the chapters I completed on fanfiction.net. I will update this whenever I finish a chapter, so please be patient.

Also, for those of you not familiar with Lupin III, check out Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine on Hulu. It's only thirteen episodes long, but provides as very good 'origin story' of the Lupin Gang and gets you familiar with their characters. Its a dark interpretation, and its the one I'm mostly using when it comes to Lupin's character and themes.

So please, leave your feedback on how I'm doing so far.

[Kiiam]

Awesome, you got all the chapters uploaded! For Kiritsugu's interlude I like the nods to Fate/Extra with Blackmore and that you're bringing the court of Owls into this. Should make things pretty interesting from here on out.

[TheInfamousMan]

Awesome, you got all the chapters uploaded! For Kiritsugu's interlude I like the nods to Fate/Extra with Blackmore and that you're bringing the court of Owls into this. Should make things pretty interesting from here on out.

Well, they aren't really The Court of Owls. Though that might make a good name, it would kind of make people confuse them with the Batman villains. I'll just call them 'The Owls of Minerva'.

- - - Updated - - -

First off, thanks for bringing this to Beast's Lair. Just a short note or two as you continue to fill in the story.

Kudos on the nods to Mamo and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. The psychedelic, darker incarnations of Lupin work a lot better with Heaven's Feel. And it amuses me that a 60 year old Zenigata remains almost as great a threat to Lupin as Gilles de Rais on full crazy-mode.

Well, Pops wouldn't be Pops if he didn't try his hardest to catch Lupin/Assassin!

[Servant Shiki]

Zeginata would probably get a heart attack trying to catch Lupin at this time (though he would still try). I'm glad to see this fic here, I mostly read in fanfiction.com

[TheInfamousMan]

Zeginata would probably get a heart attack trying to catch Lupin at this time (though he would still try). I'm glad to see this fic here, I mostly read in fanfiction.com

This is Zenigata, the man who cheated death just to keep on chasing Lupin. Pretty sure that his body has now given up trying to stop the man from his obsession.