Lupin III (synopsis - Page 4)
In the cold light of morning, Goemon and Jigen keep watch on the Castle, while the Count's assassins sneak into the dungeon via a secret underwater passage. Ready to kill Lupin and Zenigata, they are surprised when they find their clothes empty, and they are attacked with the heavy weapons left by their previous owners. Lupin tracks one of them back to the tunnel's entrance, where Jodo and a footman are awaiting their return. A hand pops up from the water, holding aloft the treasured ring, but when Jodo leans over to grab it, he is yanked into the water! Zenigata throws the footman in, and the heavy grate is lowered on top of the two as Zenigata and Lupin make their escape. They emerge from the entrance to the secret passage hidden within fake coffins in the basement, and are amazed to come across the secret worldwide counterfeiting operation that has sustained the Cagliostro empire throughout history. Zenigata agrees to a truce with Lupin until they can escape.
Realising that Lupin's antics have made her own presence unsustainable, Fujiko reveals herself to Clarisse as a spy and thief, and sometime consort of Lupin. She warns Clarisse off the womaniser, but Clarisse is relieved to hear that it was Fujiko that abandoned him, not the other way around. Smoke starts seeping from the trapdoor, and Clarisse runs to the window where she notices the fire coming from underground. This smoke signal alerts Jigen and Goemon, as Lupin sets fire to the presses and Zenigata collects evidence. In the confusion of the fire, Lupin and Zenigata exit the basement via a secret passage under the altar in the chapel, and head for the roof to steal the autogyro. Barely managing to stay one step ahead of Jodo and the Royal Guard, Lupin swings the autogyro around to pick up Clarisse and Fujiko.
With Clarisse's bars withstanding even a grenade from Fujiko, they head for the trapdoor in the ceiling. Fujiko holds off the Count and his troops, but before they can make their escape from the rooftop, Jodo wounds Lupin with a gun from an adjacent parapet and also sends the autogyro careering out of control. While the Count leaves Fujiko in order to concentrate on Clarisse's ring, he is thwarted by Clarisse's determination to protect Lupin from further injury by shielding him with her body. Even Fujiko tries to help by telling Clarisse where Lupin usually hides items on his person, and Clarisse starts to the ring back to the Count, who is ready to shoot Lupin as soon as the ring is in his safekeeping. However, Zenigata manages to point the burning autogyro towards Lupin, and Fujiko leaps aboard with her injured comrade-in-arms. Clarisse manages to obstruct Jodo before he can shoot the autogyro down, but the Count manages to recover the ring as the autogyro wobbles to the other side of the lake, and Fujiko takes her leave via her special glider. Goemon cuts Lupin out of his burning clothes with one swift blow (a rather menial task for a noble samurai), as Zenigata leaps into the forest from the wreck of the autogyro.
Back at Interpol HQ, Zenigata's attempts to gain an arrest warrant for the Count is stymied by political pressures and he leaves frustrated. Lupin's friends have fared rather better, with the old groundsman agreeing to shelter them after his usually suspicious dog takes a liking to Lupin. As Lupin recovers from his three-day old slumber (and his overeating attempts to force his recuperation), he reveals more of his past travels to Cagliostro. While the dog Karl had been given to the groundsman by Clarisse when she was sent to the convent, Lupin remembers her from an even earlier time. Heavily wounded by his attempt to find the Goat bill counterfeits, he was heavily injured and lay hidden in Clarisse's garden. Found by Karl, he was tended by the young Lady, but eventually forgot about the incident until his thief's eyes once again fell upon the ring.
Unseen, Fujiko slips a clipping from the newspaper in, noting an Archbishop will travel from the Vatican to conduct the wedding - a not-so-subtle hint to the master of disguise. Another hint is dropped to Zenigata, and she scoots off on her motorcycle to make her own plans. As the car carrying the Archbishop is stalled in traffic behind a landslide, they are approached by a man who offers to show them a back road into the country. Meanwhile, Zenigata and his troops have a hard slog to get around the traffic without the benefit of local knowledge. The live broadcast TV crew rolls into the castle, driven by a familiar-looking lady, followed by the Archbishop's car.
In the heavily-guarded tower, ancient rituals are prepared for the dark count and a rather uninspired white bride. The wedding party approaches the Archbishop, and the rings are brought forth. When asked if she assents to the wedding, the Lady is strangely, staringly, silent. With not dissent, the Archbishop is about to pronounce the marriage, when Lupin's voice is heard in protest. With a single slash of a sword, the altar is cut down. A heavily-bandaged figure arises and approaches to claim the bride. Zenigata's men start to move in, while Clarisse does not respond to Lupin's calls, indicating she has been heavily sedated so she could not dissent to the marriage. The Shadow Assassins strike swiftly, impaling Lupin upon their swords. The shock brings Clarisse around, but once again Lupin has tricked his assailants - his appearance was only a dummy, which explodes in a confetti of counterfeit bank bills. A hand reaches from under the Archbishop's robes and swipes the rings from their cushion - it was Lupin all the time! Distracting the guards with a volley of fireworks, Lupin escapes up his skyhook with Clarisse through a high window.
