Operation Lupin

In Atlantis, just mere moments ago seemed like an average day. Sure, there was a war going on, but it was the status quo now. As far as the citizens were concerned, England was fighting a losing battle. While they hoped for the oppressive regime to fall, they knew it was nothing more than a pipe dream. Smiles for the middle and lower class were scarce with only the upper class enjoying the luxury of happiness and stability.

That all changed when the clock went to the next hour. In both Versailles and Madrid, a booming explosion interrupted their routine. It wasn't just one big blast but rather tens of medium-sized ones. Screams and cries could be heard throughout the streets. Yet when everyone looked around, they couldn't find the explosion. No dead bodies, hell not even smoke. The only signs were trash that littered the streets.

It was as if the explosion didn't exist. An auditory hallucination.

In all the panic, a melodic sound began to play throughout the street. In all of Atlantis, all eyes turned to the nearest screen. Whether it be a TV, advertisement billboard, or social media, all eyes were focused on the nearest screen.

Displayed on it was a dark room with a dim light in the back. There was a small silhouette of a person a few feet in front of the camera. The figure was shrouded in darkness with no features being visible. His arms were spread apart in a relaxed and carefree manner.

And in just a few more seconds, the streets were filled with silence. All looked up with apprehension at the video. The only sound left was the voice of the figure. Everyone understood the voice as it was different in each country.

In France, I began to sing. "Ami, entends-tu le vol noir des corbeaux sur nos plaines?"

In Spain, "Los moros que trajo Franco en Madrid quieren entrar."

In Italy, "Una mattina mi son alzato, o bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao ciao ciao!"

In the rest of the countries, all recognized the song that was sung; songs of the resistance.

There were two different reactions to the video. The first were the middle, lower, and working class. Tears began to form in their eyes as they heard the song. They understood the meaning behind it.

And to the upper class, the military, the government, they all felt fear and anger. How dare a member of the resistance humiliate them? Question their authority on live TV? Although there has been resistance before, it was never to this degree. The very thing they worked hard to obtain was threatening to crumble before their eyes. They were being eviscerated in the eyes of the public.

To the former, their eyes remained glued to the screen.

To the latter, they began to take swift action to crush any forms of disobedience.

I continued to sing the entire song in all of the videos. It took minutes before it finally ended, but I had done the first and most important step in establishing a relationship. Just like Arsene Lupin, I stole their hearts.

-----

In the meeting room, the smell of food was strong. Pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausages, everything you wanted for breakfast was on the side. The cooks in the military base had made an extra batch just for the six of us.

Everyone else was sitting on the table with plates and utensils in hand. With the exception of Michael, they were all devouring down on the food. They never tasted anything as good.

"Can I have your attention?" I asked as I walked to the front of the room. I skipped breakfast to get more sleep in. I was running late this particular day so all I had time to do was dress. I still had bed hair.

"You're not getting any food?" Andres asked. "It's good."

"I had three colonoscopies worth of cheese the first time I came here. I'm not too keen on getting hemorrhoids."

"What's a colonoscopy?" He asked while stuffing another piece of waffle into his mouth. "And hemorrhoids?"

"Just image a big stick being shoved up y-"

"We're eating!" Michael yelled out quickly. "Don't finish that sentence."

"Just because you have hemorrhoids doesn't mean you should avoid the subject like the plague."

"I don't have hemorrhoids."

"He said while rubbing his ass against his chair in discomfort," I said with a snicker. I began to drag the whiteboard to the front of the room.

"What did we leave off on last time?" I asked as I began to recall. "Oh yeah, we get into the country."

"So, the next step is Operation Lupin," I said as I underlined the word on the whiteboard.

"Arsene Lupin is a fictional French gentleman thief," I explained as I turned to them. "Now you're probably asking yourself what a gentleman thief is. It is a thief who has impeccable manners and charm. He is courteous and avoids physical confrontation. And much like Robin Hood, he steals from the rich."

Hanson raised his hand. "So, we're robbing them?"

"Exactly! And just like Arsene Lupin, we'll steal from the rich without physical confrontation," I nodded my head with a proud smile. "But before we do that, we need to get everyone's attention and the best way to do that is fear."

From under the table, I pulled out a backpack. I unzipped it and carefully took out a small, square-like device. The only person who knew what the device was was Michael. His eyes widened.

"You brought one in here?" He asked as he backed up in fear.

"Relax, I removed all the gunpowder, I think."

"You think?" He asked as he backed up more. "You better be goddamn sure!"

I tossed it to my other hand just to elicit a reaction out of him. He practically screeched while it was airborne. I snickered before placing it on the table.

"This is an explosive," I told them. "I'm sure you all know what that is."

Their eyes widened as well as they quickly nodded. I knocked on the bomb to show that it was hollow to allow them to relax.

"Nothing causes more fear than explosions, so we'll be placing these around the cities," I began. "Now how can we be sure that no asshole is going to find it before we're ready?"

I looked at them to see if anyone had an idea.

"Bury it?" Andres asked.

"Someone's going to see you digging a hole with a shovel."

I tilted my head and leaned back on the whiteboard waiting to see if anyone had the idea. A minute later no one spoke or raised their hands.

"We're going to put the explosives in trash cans," I said while rubbing my head. "City trash cans allow you to put things in, but no one can see what's actually inside."

"They clear it about every two days, so you have two days to put twenty explosives each into trash cans around the city. These bombs have wireless receivers and act as extenders so when the time comes and one receives the signal, all of them will explode."

Leo raised his hand. "When they explode, won't it kill nearby people?"

"Great question," I said as I stood back up. "I replaced the accelerant with solidified carbon dioxide. When they explode, the carbon dioxide breaks and stops a fire from forming. Furthermore, the gunpowder will be enough to just break the metal cans and not cause any more damage."

"So, there'll just be a lot of noise?" Leo asked.

"Yes," I said. He was finally contributing ideas. "Any more questions?"

Everyone shook their heads from side to side slowly. I waited one more moment to make sure before moving on.

"Okay, that'll conclude step one," I said as I began to write down the bullet points under a circled one. I  made a two and circled it. "And now, for step two," I turned to face them once again.

  "The moment that the explosions go off, the military will quickly scramble to keep the piece. Madrid and Versailles will be in a state of emergency and the civil guard will be deployed."

"Now the people would be on the government's side in this. After the explosions, we'll look like terrorists so we'll have to regain their support immediately. When they're on our side, they'll begin to fight back and resist, giving us the chaos, time, and distraction that we need."

"In just two steps, we'll go from terrorists to a symbol of resistance. The first step is going to be truth," I began to write it on the whiteboard.

"Truth?" Andres asked.

"You can't have a relationship without having trust," I reached for a nearby envelope that contained a dossier.

"Governments always misappropriate funds," I said while glaring at Michael playfully.

"I don-"

"Yes you do," I interrupted quickly before sticking my tongue out. "Anyways, in a communist regime, funds go towards the rich while the poor suffer. So, we'll just show the poor exactly where their funds are going."

I threw the dossier onto the table and slid it towards them. The documents were translated into English so only Michael could understand. When he began to look through the documents, I saw his face drop.

"And for the second step," I said as I leaned closer to them.

"It's …"