Persistence Is Key

    Click…click, click…
    This over-glorified dial lock wasn't anything special; not really. As Lupin fiddled with the bank vault's security measures, for a moment, he considered a brief retreat. His desire for the more advanced tools he'd left at the hideout was triumphed by the inconvenience of going back through the bank's “upgraded, high-level, state-of-the-art, noise-activated security system.” Or so it was advertised in the local newspaper. Plus, it was already approaching 2:00 in the morning, and Lupin didn't need any more setbacks.
    Click, click… click, click…
    This little French bank had some gall. The advertisement for its upgraded security was published after the great Lupin III had already notified the world his next target was in the same city the week prior. It was obviously a challenge. Sure, the vault only contained a fourth of what Lupin was getting away with from the casino tomorrow night, but it was the principle. A challenge was posed, and he would make this bank regret ever posing it.
     Click, click… click…
     Lupin wiped his forehead. This lock really wasn't that special. Besides, all the effort would be worth it tomorrow night. Lupin would fly out of the city with all the casino's worth, and this little bank would boast that even Lupin III wouldn't dare attempt cracking their security… only for their precious vault to be revealed barren! Lupin had given no warning, sent no calling card, and not even Jigen nor Fujiko had any idea he was out the night before the main heist.
     The question would be on everyone's mind: how did the elusive phantom-theif rob two places at once? Lupin would have cackled at the idea if it weren't for the noise-activated security. He settled for wiggling his toes instead.
     Click, click, click, click…
     But damn this lock to hell why won't it–
     Lupin perked up, his fingers pausing in place.
     “Isn't it past your bed time?” whispered Lupin.
     “How'd you know it was me?” Jigen asked, matching the volume.
     “I know your exact pace, your gait, and how much weight you put on each individual foot, even if done so with such care that only mammals with echolocation could perceive–”
    “No, really.”
    Lupin pointed at his own nose with the hand that wasn't occupied with the lock, saying, “Marlboro Reds.”
    “Real clever.”
    “And how did you know I'd be here? Tracker? Some uncanny abilities of perception so fine-tuned–”
    “Woke up an hour ago, had to piss, and I couldn't hear your snoring in the other room. Then I found your newspaper on the bed open to an article on this bank.”
    “Ah, so you're not just a pretty face after all.”
    A faint rustling noise pierced the quiet. It came from above their heads. A vent's outer panel had been removed from its screws, and with the panel in hand, in dropped Fujiko Mine with effortless grace. Both Lupin and Jigen called out her name, but with contrasting degrees of excitement.
    “Well, this is just great,” Fujiko murmured.
    She shook out her hair and zipped up her catsuit to a height that was still scandalously low.
    “Agreed!” said Lupin, his tired eyes brightening as he stared past her zipper.
    The corners of Jigen's scowl nearly disappeared behind his beard as he asked, “What are you doing here?”
    “I knew Lupin couldn't pass up a challenge, but I thought he'd crack this bank on our way out of the city, not in. This was supposed to be my bonus!”
    “Let me get this straight,” Jigen began, his whisper blending into a growl. “You can't steal what you knew Lupin was targeting first, so now you're whining because you can't make a fool out of him?”
    “Exactly!”
    “Don't worry, baby,” Lupin cooed, turning his attention back to the dial lock. “I'll make it up to you. Take as big a share as you want from the casino tomorrow night.”
    Jigen gawked.
    Fujiko beamed and wrapped her arms around Lupin's neck, saying, “You spoil me, lover! Maybe when we get back… I can try spoiling you… would you like that? You want me to— hey, what's taking you so long?”
    The sudden souring in tone broke Lupin from her spell.
    “Huh? What?”
    “The lock, man, what's taking you so long?” Jigen questioned, now also leaning over Lupin.
    Lupin gestured for both to shoo, which only prompted Jigen and Fujiko to lean in closer.
    “It's easy, really, I just- it's just the…” Lupin paused, waving his hands in erratic, meaningless gestures. “You have to- you're supposed to treat an advanced lock like a beautiful woman; go nice and slow. Wine and dine her. Don't scare her off by being too forward. Take it nice and easy and she'll open up.”
    Jigen snorted.
    “When have you ever-“
    “Please,” Fujiko scoffed, straightening and tracing a finger down the front of the vault. “Oh, if only we knew someone who could cut through steel.”
    Jigen muttered, “If only we knew someone who could cut through steel who doesn't disappear for months at a time.”
    “Goemon will be here for the heist!” hissed Lupin, picking through his kit as if he hadn't already tried each tool.
    “Yeah, you keep saying he'll be here tomorrow, but now tomorrow is today, man.”
    “He agreed to help, so he'll be here,” Lupin insisted. “He's flighty, sure, but he's also a man of his word.”
    “I am not ‘flighty.'”
     Goemon's presence behind them was met with a wave of curses, and Goemon motioned for them to be quiet. Fujiko recovered first.
    “Goemon!” Fujiko sang, wrapping her arms around Goemon identically to how she had embraced Lupin. “We need that sword of yours for a minute. Real quick.”
    “Hold on,” Jigen said. “How did you know we'd be here?”
    “I didn't. I saw this bank's advertisement and I need European currency.”
    Lupin asked, “For what?”
    “For food.”
    “Didn't I promise a fancy, post-heist dinner for all of us? At the place with the famous coq au vin?”
    “I need money for real food.”
    Lupin's indignant interjections were shushed by the other three. Jigen added:
    “Put all that passion into cracking the damn lock.”
    “C'mon, Goemon,” Fujiko urged. “Slice this thing in half, and I'll give you a cut of it.”
    “No, no, no, no, no, absolutely not,” Lupin argued, his focus back on the lock. “Let me crack this thing myself.”
    “You're taking too long,” Goemon said, approaching.
    “I've got it, I've got it!”
    Goemon unsheathed Zantetsuken.
    “Stand aside.”
    Three things happened at once, none of which Lupin anticipated. Instead of a sword slicing through the vault whether Lupin was in the line of violence or not, Zantetsuken faltered. The hall of vaults was simultaneously blasted with white light, an obnoxious alarm's blare, and a familiar shout.
    “LUPIN!”
    Lupin shot to his feet just in time for the soaring hand and ankle cuffs to find him.
    Clank! Clank!
    A rope attached to the cuffs cut between Lupin's comrades in crimes—who currently had their hands over their ears—and was gripped on the other end by Inspector Zenigata.
    “Got you!”
    “And how did you know I would be here?!” Lupin huffed, unable to discern if his new surge of frustration was from yet another interruption to his date with the vault or his inability to put both his cuffed hands on his hips during this confrontation.
    The question gave Zenigata genuine pause. He sniffed.
    “Hunch.”
    “A hunch? You- wait. Wait just a minute…”
    Lupin hopped past Jigen, Fujiko, and Goemon, whose attentions were slowly being drawn back to their mutual prize.
    “Hold on a second, Pops,” Lupin mused. “I haven't opened a single vault here. You can't arrest me for not stealing from this bank!”
    The vigor in Zenigata's puffed chest returned as he began, “True, which is why you're under arrest for trespassing, grande burglary and larceny, extortion, forgery, racketeering, illegal possession of firearms, identity theft–”
    “Alright, alright! Goemon, give a pal a hand?”
    Goemon, who was standing with his arms crossed watching Fujiko attempt the vault's lock, looked unimpressed.
    “So, now you want my help?”
    Zenigata tugged the rope closer to himself, but Lupin didn't let the stumble interrupt his pleading posture as he shouted, “We'll get real food tomorrow night! I promise!”
    “But Lupin!” Fujiko cried, hands still glued to the dial lock even as Jigen was pulling her away from it by the leg. “You promised me half the earnings and whatever dinner I wanted!”
    “And,” Jigen grunted with another tug on Fujiko, “you promised me you wouldn't let Fujiko in on our earnings for the rest of the month!”
    “Yeah, well, I promise a lot of things!”
    Goemon strode past Lupin, muttering, “How dishonorable.”
    Lupin's pleas didn't land on Goemon's ears as the samurai left the scene without intervention. Lupin was suddenly dragged backwards as Zenigata marched over to the two remaining undetained criminals.
    “You two aren't off the hook either!” Zenigata yelled over the alarm.
    “Since when is my name Arsene Lupin III?” Fujiko asked. “You're on his case, not mine, inspector. I haven't stolen anything here!”
    “Not here, maybe. Fujiko Mine, you are under arrest for trespassing, grande burglary and larceny, extortion, forgery, racketeering, sexual exploitation–”
    “Fine, you got me!”
    “Daisuke Jigen, I'd need a tall glass of water to list off why you're under arrest! How ‘bout I save us both the time?”
    Jigen tipped his hat.
    Click!
    Zenigata, Jigen, and Fujiko all looked at the dial lock. Not that.
    All three turned their heads towards Lupin's handcuffs. Not that.
    Their gazes dropped to the floor, where Lupin stood with uncuffed ankles and with one bare foot un-shoed and un-socked. Inspector Zenigata would spend a sleepless night solving how Lupin picked the anklecuffs with his toes. For now, he settled for:
    “LUPIN!”
    Lupin bolted with Zenigata hot on his tail as he yelled for Jigen to start the car.