Wolf and Cub

By DJ Clawson

Author's note: If you find this interesting, let me know and I will continue it.

Chapter 1

"Lupin!"

But Lupin wasn't there. The thief had already made a hasty retreat and the safe was still wide open and empty. The bank manager had an ashen look on his face, one Zenigata was more than a little familiar with. Lupin's warning note was still on the desk.

He didn't waste any time taking charge, shouting into his radio,
"We have to barricade the streets. And put a man on the roof to make sure that son of a bitch doesn't fly away or something!" It wasn't beyond the thief to pull a stunt involving a hot air balloon or a hang glider or something. Zenigata himself concentrated on the open window, and where it led. It was a mere one-story drop into some bushes.

"Inspector!"

But it was too late. Zenigata went straight out the window, into the already-crushed bushes, which were the softest he had ever landed on - and he had landed on several. He was still picking himself up when a squad car pulled up to him and a uniform got out. "Sir!"

"Have you blocked off the streets?"

"In every direction, sir! He's not getting away by car or by foot."

Or any other contraption he might have cooked up, he mused. But it was best not to underestimate Lupin the Third. "What about his partners? Has anyone seen them?"

"Nothing, sir."

He handcuffed the uniformed officer. "And you're not Lupin?"

"Sir?" The man raised his hat so his eyes were visible. They were green, and Lupin's weren't. He seemed uncomfortable at the accusation, but not in the way Lupin would be.

"Heheh," Zenigata chuckled in a reassuring manner as he uncuffed him. "Just checking. Keep up the good work!"

The officer saluted and ran off. That was all well and good, but that didn't leave Zenigata anywhere. Lupin had just disappeared, without a showy display or even a getaway car. It didn't make sense. There had to be -

Zenigata picked his feet up. He was standing over a manhole. "Lupin!" The shout was largely instinctive at this point. He lifted it up and lowered himself down the ladder. The sewers beneath the city were massive and there was plenty of a walkway,
but the light from the manhole wasn't enough. He shuffled through his trench coat until he found his spare flashlight. Tiny as it was, it still put a small stream of light into the darkness.

There was running sewage water and the walkway. His light finally found a body on the walkway, slumped against the wall. Red was not a very hard color to focus in on. "Lupin!" He handcuffed him instantly, holding up the cuffed arm in triumph with his own."You're not going anywhere!"

No response. Wait, he'd fallen for this before. It was a stuffed scarecrow or a log or something. "Hey!" He kneeled in closer and shook the figure. It let out a groan, and slipped out of the cuffs. All right, so it was Lupin. "Stay right where you are!"

Lupin's response was to try to stand, albeit slowly. He ultimately failed in this endeavor, and slid back down to the ground.
Zenigata held his light source closer. It was that unmistakable face, sideburns and all, contorted in pain. He went lower, and noticed Lupin's other hand was bloodied and busy holding his chest.

Zenigata took another sweep with the light. The liquid he was stepping in - that he had assumed was water - was actually blood. There was a trail of it leading back to the stairs. "Lupin?" Where were his partners? Lupin was too focused on being as tense as possible to give him a proper response. "Let me see." He had to pry Lupin's hand away, then slowly pull away the jacket. There was a tear in his blue shirt, an inch or so above the heart, and it was clear that was where all the blood was coming from.

"Okay." But it wasn't, and that was the problem. He put the hand back up against the wound. "Just keep pressing, okay?" He picked up his radio. "I need an ambulance and I need it now!"

Breath in, breath out - just like the Zen priest had told him, back when the commissioner had made him go through a relaxation workshop. It was all he could do to keep himself from strangling the medics for not arriving faster. Lupin had made no further attempts to escape between the time they arrive and when they were called for, and Zenigata had made no attempts to restrain him. The thief wasn't going anywhere; that much was obvious.

The medics waded through the much with a stretcher. By the time they reached Lupin, his body had gone limp in Zenigata's arms, consciousness leaving him completely. They practically had to pry him away from the inspector.

There was an army of officers waiting for him when he reached the surface again, following the medics taking Lupin away. The bank manager got between them. "What happened down there?"

"I - I don't know," he stammered.

"What about the diamonds?"

"They were down there, and they're not on his person." But the robbery seemed like ages ago now. He hadn't even thought of searching Lupin for the diamonds. "I have to go with the prisoner."

"You have to send some men to search the sewers," the manager demanded. "This was not some petty theft."

"And this is not some petty thief! Now we caught him, what else do you want!" Zenigata shouted before he could control himself. "Now get out of my way!"

There was no further protest from the smaller man. Zenigata pushed his way into the ambulance, which was getting ready to go. The medics were putting all kinds of tubes in Lupin. Zenigata squeezed his way in so he was sitting at his head. "How is he?"

"We won't know until we get him to the hospital." The medic seemed annoyed that he was being disturbed. They unbuttoned Lupin's shirt, revealing a wound above his heart. "Looks like he's been stabbed." They were attaching all kinds of patches around his heart as Zenigata sat there numbly. When they started bandaging him, Lupin started squirming under his restraints, pain etched into his face.

"Tell him not to move," the medic barked.

"Lupin," Zenigata said, now noticing Lupin's eyes were half-open. "Try not to move, okay?"

Lupin's voice was almost inaudible beneath the oxygen mask. "Tottsan ..."

"Uh - you're gonna be all right." He was unsure, exactly, what the protocol was in this situation.

Lupin seemed like he was about to say something else, but his eyes rolled back into his head and he was gone again. Zenigata scrunched up closer to him.

"He's not going anywhere, inspector," the medic said.

"I know." He put his hands on Lupin's shoulders. A handcuff still dangled from his wrist. "I'm just - making sure."

To be continued...