Interpol team building
Summary: When a normal chase is interrupted things take a strange turn.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the sly cooper characters they belong to sucker punch or a paintball gun.
Inspector Carmelita Fox was in hot pursuit of the infamous thief, Sly Cooper. She had spotted him running across the Paris rooftops during her daily patrol. This was becoming somewhat of a routine for them lately.
The Cooper Gang hadn't been targeting anyone in a while and Sly was getting a bit restless not having anything to do. Now he would deliberately go out during Carmelita's patrol to get her to chase him. She did as he expected her to and chased him each time. The Cooper Gang's lack of operations lately meant she didn't have much to do at work so she was glad with her chases with Sly to keep her on her toes and away from the paperwork.
It had been a fun little game for the two of them at first, but it had been beginning to get a bit boring and predictable. However today was different. Carmelita was quickly gaining on him with her shock pistol ablazing.
She was so close to catching Cooper now she could practically taste the chocolate cake for the celebration party she had been planning since she was first assigned to his case. Her left hand started to move to her handcuffs in her back pocket. He was only 10ft in front of her. It was only a matter of time.
Suddenly 5 of her fellow officers jumped in front of them preventing escape. Sly thought Carmelita had planned this and that he was finally caught. Carmelita on the other hand knew better.
She stopped and quickly glanced at her watch making sure they weren't trying to start early. 6.30pm
'Dang they're on time' she thought.
Sly was surprised Carmelita hadn't put the cuffs on him by now and why the officers were just standing there smirking. Just then he noticed their weapons and was surprised as they looked to be holding paintball guns. He turned to Carmelita for a sign to what was going on. Instead he saw her walking pass him with a slight glint of fear in her eyes.
"Can you please just give me five more minutes" Carmelita pleaded.
"No, you know the agreement Fox." said the smug little vixen leading the group. Carmelita just sighed defeated knowing there was no point in arguing with them.
Each member of squad smirks grew as did Sly's confusion. The group was made up of Carmelita's worst enemies (work wise anyway), Sergeant Mark Tame, Officer Jack Stevens, Constables Alisha and Laura Park and her arch rival Inspector Carla Tanon.
"Can someone please explain what's going on." said Sly.
"Just a little team building exercise" said Carla.
"Now move it Cooper!" added Mark.
"Not until I get an explanation" said Sly.
"We don't have to explain anything to a criminal" Alisha snarled.
"True, but if you don't I won't leave."
"Very well, we're having a small game of paintball" Laura said.
"What are the rules of this game?"
"Rule 1 don't get hit" Jack started.
"Understandable"
"Rule 2 no hiding indoors"
"Why not?"
"Being indoors means it's easier to hide and there is no need for civilian causalities" said Carla.
"Finally, no asking for outside help that why neither team has an advantage."
'This coming from the team that outnumbers me 5 to 1 and are armed!' Carmelita thought angrily as she slowly backed away to the edge of the roof.
"Can I join Inspector Fox's team?" Sly asked
Carmelita froze. Everyone was in shock. Upon recovering from that little surprise
Carla asked "What are you wagering?"
"Whoever manages to shoot me gets to arrest me without any resistance" Sly said
'Oh great, the only time I have a chance to arrest him easily and we're on the same team!' Carmelita thought to herself.
"And if you don't get shot?" said Carla
"Then none of you are ever allowed to arrest me"
"WHAT!" the squad yelled in unison.
"Only Carmelita would be able to arrest me." Sly said smirking.
Carmelita nearly stumbled off the roof. Fortunately no one seemed to notice that she was trying to get away so she remained standing, waiting for the right moment to go. After a few seconds of awkward silence and glances between the group, they finally came to a decision.
"Agreed" said Carla
"Ok, so what am I supposed to do?" Sly asked
"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" shouted Carmelita who was already 2 rooftops ahead.
Sly turned at the sound of the squad loading their guns and sprinted after Carmelita as they opened fire.
Carmelita managed to lose the squad with minutes of the first few shots, leaving Sly to fend for himself. He ran across the rooftops dodging the hails of gunfire that followed. The squads' shots kept getting closer until they were mere inches from their target. Sly was slowly regretting making the bet.
He couldn't believe Carmelita had gotten away before him even if she had a two roof head start, it was the fastest he'd ever seen her run. 'Wander what she bet?' he thought as he dodged yet another paint bullet.
He finally run out of rooftops and the squad prepared to open fire. This was it; he'd finally be caught and put on trial. He didn't ever see himself getting arrested by Interpol officers wielding paintball guns. It seemed this was the end.
Meanwhile with Carmelita...
Out running her fellow officers was just too easy for her and the look on Sly's face as she left them in dust was priceless. She still was confused to why the squad agreed to Sly's offer. There were far more useful things they could have asked for, that's when it hit her. Whoever caught Sly was going to get an instant promotion plus bonuses. It was also a way to get to her, after all she'd been trying to catch him most of her career and would have got him if they hadn't turned up and interrupted the chase.
After a few minutes running across the rooftops, she remembered Sly was on her team so she'd have to go back a help. She knew Sly was good but that didn't mean he could escape the squad forever. Carla's determination matched her own and given this was a way to hurt her, Carla wouldn't hold back.
She wasn't about to let Sly get caught by Carla and her pack of morons after all the work she had put into trying to catch him and although she hated to admit it he'd saved her life on a number of occasions and had grown a bit of a soft spot for him. Now they were on the same side so she would have to help him. Well that's what she'd use as an excuse anyway.
She stopped to check her watch. 7.05pm. 4 hours and 55 minutes remained. She heard the sound of guns firing 200 meters west of her current position.
"Hope that he hasn't got himself shot already" she thought out loud as she headed in the direction of the gunfire.
As she leapt across the rooftops she saw different coloured paint spots all across ventilation shafts and billboards. 'Looks like Sly's having fun' she thought smirking. She then saw 6 moving blurs out of the corner of her eye and heard the sound of paintball hitting concrete coming from the same direction.
The set of rooftops she was crossing gave her a good vantage point and she would be able to get to Sly without getting detected too early. They didn't seem to be even looking for her and completely focusing on getting Sly. This would make it a lot easier for her as they wouldn't expect her to return to help him and meant she had the element of surprise on her side.
The squad was quickly gaining on Sly, their shots were getting more precise and he was running out of places to go. If she didn't act soon Sly was a goner and Carla would have won.
Sly stopped and turned to face the officers chasing him. Carla and her squad smiled whilst aiming their guns. They could taste their victory as Sly turned to them defeated, practically submitting to them. Carla could clearly imagine the look on Carmelita's face when she walked into the station with Sly Cooper already in handcuffs, being escorted to a cell. Sly closed his eyes accepting his defeat.
Carmelita saw what was happening and picked up the pace. There was no way that she was about to let Carla win. As the guns fired she leapt from the rooftop and tackled Sly to the ground before he got hit.
"MOVE!" she ordered as got up, grabbing Sly's arm to help him and took off in a sprint while the officers reloaded.
"Why are you helping me?" Sly asked confused.
"Less talking more running!" Carmelita replied hurriedly.
Sly and Carmelita eventually escaped the squad and found a safe spot on an old deserted office building to take a break. The building's roof had been completely destroyed and its windows shattered so as far as they were concerned they were outside.
"Ok I think we lost them." Carmelita said breathlessly.
"So, why did you come back for me?" asked Sly.
"We're on the same team so I kind of have to."
"Then why did you leave me in the first place."
"I thought you'd catch up" she said dryly, "You weren't always so slow were you?"
"Since when did you are you so fast" Sly argued.
"Well when your worst enemy and her friends are trying to shoot you with paintball guns and you lack the equipment to shoot back, you do tend to run quite a bit faster."
"Why don't you run that fast when you're chasing me?" Sly ask confused.
"Because last time I checked when I chase you I have a shock pistol, authorization to use it on you and you weren't trying to kill me" she said sarcastically.
"Still doesn't explain why you usually don't run that fast" he sang childishly.
"Hey, it's hard to aim, shot and run at that speed with your constant taunting" Carmelita angrily replied.
"There I thought you enjoyed playful banter, you know I compliment you and you threaten to kill me."
"Ugh, you're impossible."
"You know you love it really."
"Hmph, wait I been wandering what made you choose what you wagered?"
"I knew that thought of catching would be too good to resist."
"That's not the part I was talking about."
"Well you've put the most work into my case and the only one that has even come close to catching me" Sly said.
"Ok, I was expecting you'd say something along the lines of if they can't catch me now they never will but I suppose what you said is true" she said smugly.
"Oh and for the record I would caught you today if the others hadn't turned up" she quickly added.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well given that I was almost at perfect distance to grab you I'd say in another 5 or 10 minutes I would have had you cuffed and headed to the station." She said confidently.
"Someone sounds a bit over confident."
"Not over confident just self-assured" She chuckled.
"So, how much longer does this game last for?"
"Well its 8.15 now so another 3 hours 45 minutes."
"How will you know when it ends?"
"All our watches are synced so the second its 12.00 an alarm will go off to signal its over."
"Interpol seriously does this as a team building exercise"
"We all agreed that paintball was a good way to vent our frustrations."
"Then why don't you have a paintball gun?"
"Yeah that's really how the betting got involved."
"What do you mean?"
"Well…."
Flashback
The 6 officers walked out of Chief Barkley's office discussing their latest team building exercise.
"Paintball, their actually giving us weapons this time to sort this out." Carla said to Carmelita.
"Well it's bound to be more helpful them the sumo suit therapy." Carmelita replied.
"Yeah, remember how Jack kept falling over himself." Laura chuckled.
"Or when you all tried to dog pile me, I rolled away and Carla got flattened." Carmelita laughed. Carla shot Carmelita a death glare.
"Just remember who knocked you over in the first place Fox." Carla grumbled.
Carmelita immediately stopped laughing and turned to face Carla.
"Listen, the only reason you managed to get me down was because I was hitting Mark."
This was not the first time the six officers had these team building exercises. Interpol had tried everything from counselling and arts and crafts to sumo suits and indoor rock climbing.
The rock climbing was Carmelita's personal favourite. She and Carla had been paired up and Carla was 'mildly' afraid of heights. Carmelita went first and finished it with no problems. Carla on the other hand wasn't so lucky. She made it to the top ok, but when the instructor told her to come down, she looked at the drop and went into hysterics. That alone made Carmelita (who was holding Carla's rope) burst out laughing.
"Trust the rope" the instructor yelled.
"YOU GET UP HERE THEN YOU TRUST THE FLIPPING ROPE!" Carla screamed. Carmelita almost fell over she was laughing so hard.
"Just trust the rope"
Carla took a deep breath and let go of the wall. Unfortunately for Carla, Carmelita had let go of the rope to clutch her side. Carla dropped 20ft and smashed onto the mat below. At this point Carmelita noticed and put all her weight onto the rope making Carla shot straight back up to the top and then began slowly lowering her down. Carla kept banging into the wall on the way down causing her further injury. When she reached the ground, she rolled across the floor in agony. Although she felt bad about happened, Carmelita couldn't keep from doubling over in a fit of laughter.
"So what, we all know that you're outnumbered most of the time when out in the field, just admit that you can't beat us" Carla said smugly.
"Can to, I'll even give 20 Euros to any of you that actually managed hit me." Carmelita challenged.
"Ok on 2 conditions, 1 you're not allowed a gun just concentrate on dodging."
"Fine what's the other condition?"
"The game lasts till midnight with the same rules that Barkley explained"
"Fair enough, how will we all know its midnight?"
"No problem, we'll sync our watches and an alarm will go off the second its over" said Mark
"The game will start a 6.30pm sharp no exceptions." Carmelita stated.
"Agreed, you're going down Fox" Carla threatened.
"Whatever you say nose-dive" Carmelita taunted as she walked off.
End of Flashback
"So you're pride got the better of you" Sly said
"Yeah I've always had that little problem."
"And you have anger problems"
"Shut up."
"Hey you didn't deny it this time" He said surprised
"Look we should get moving before the hit squad turn up and declare this place indoors"
"Still think that they're trying to kill you"
"Can pretty much guarantee it" she chuckled as she looked out a shattered window.
"Ok, let's get moving."
The two then resumed venturing across the rooftops and avoiding the so called 'hit squad'.
With the squad in question
"How can those two disappear that quickly" Jack fumed
"I still can't believe Fox came back for that criminal" Alisha added.
"I agree with you, but she is always loyal to whoever side she's on" said Carla
"You remember the rock climbing incident don't you" Mark teased
"Please don't remind me, but the same thing would have happen had it our roles been reversed."
"Why are you defending her?"
"Hey we may not like each other but we do respect each other."
"Since when, you two have been at each others throat from the day and hour you started at Interpol"
"True, she's still a good officer"
"She still can't catch Cooper" argued Laura
"Yeah so she's not the good" added Alisha
"Encase you hadn't notice she was about to get Cooper before we turned up." Carla said
"No she wasn't she still would have lost him" said Mark
"If she wasn't close to catching him then why was it Cooper was struggling when we chased him?" Carla defended, "Or can any of you suggest a reason why she was able to outrun us all?"
The group looked at her in stunned silence.
"Though not"
"What's our next move" asked Mark
"We split up; it's easier to cover the city"
"Who goes where?"
"Mark north, Jack south, Alisha, Laura you head west and I'll cover the eastside, understand" she said pointing in each of the directions.
"Affirmative"
"Ok everyone lets move out!"
"Hey Carmelita can we get a bite to eat I'm starving?" Sly asked
"No, we can't go indoors and I'm not letting you swipe it off someone"
"Come on aren't you hungry?" he whined
"Yes, but I'm not going to break the rules and let Carla win"
"You must have some fight with Carla to outmatch your appetite"
Carmelita shot him a glare.
"Hey, I seen how you ate in prison, I was actually a bit surprised you weren't the Contessa's zombie with all the spiced food you ate." He said sarcastically.
"What can I say I like spicy food" she shrugged, "look this thing last another hour and half, think you can hold out till then."
"Yeah I suppose I can wait"
"Good"
"Just hope you don't get hungry enough to turn cannibal" Sly joked.
"Thanks for reminding me I can still use you as food" said Carmelita.
"You're joking right" Sly chuckled nervously. Carmelita just smiled and began walked away.
"Ha I've got you now!"
The two of them turned to see Jack ready to fire.
"Aw just when I thought you we're giving up" Carmelita commented sarcastically.
"Shouldn't we be escaping right about now?"
"Nah I want to annoy him a bit" Carmelita said
"You think I won't shoot the two of you" Jack threatened
"No, you just won't be able to hit us."
"Carmelita I really think we should go"
"Oh don't be such a wimp"
"I think you've finally lost it Fox"
'I think I agree with on this one' Sly thought to himself.
"Well would a crazy person do this" Carmelita said as she threw a smoke bomb. She then grabbed Sly and ran off laughing.
"Since when do you have smoke bombs?"
"Since I started tackling you to the ground and taking them without you noticing."
"You're never that sneaky."
"That's what you think" she sang
"Jack's right you have completely lost it"
"Yeah lack of food makes me crazy" she laughed
"While I enjoy your new found enthusiasm we really should get going"
"Someone's starting to worry"
"Well that's usually your thing and since your not doing it I'll have to"
"Am I really that bad?"
"Actually your more angry when you worry"
"Oh well it can't be helped I guess"
" Let's get going"
11.53pm
Carla was beginning to think she would never find Sly and Carmelita. There had been a few shots just over an hour ago but no one had radioed in a hit.
"Where are you two?" she thought out loud.
She spotted a blue dot in the distance." Heh, you're mine Cooper"
A few minutes before
"Doesn't look like they're coming, let's just split up" Sly suggested.
"Heh, trying to make sure I don't come after you" Carmelita chuckled
"Good to see you're now sane enough to understand"
"Hey most of that finished a while ago" she retorted.
"Remember don't kill me we're on the same team"
"Fine but you're dead when we next see each other"
"Ah that's the lovely yet violent inspector I know"
"You are sooo lucky we're on the same side" she muttered as she walked off.
Carla raced across the darkness of the Paris rooftops. She knew the game would end in matter of minutes so this was her last chance.
"End of the line Cooper" she said as she lined up the shot.
"Not yet Carla" said Carmelita as she dived in front of Sly off a nearby roof.
BEEP BEEP BEEP
The paint hit Carmelita straight in the gut. The paint was a blood red colour so anyone not involve would have thought she actually had bullet wound.
Carla and Sly rushed to the dazed Carmelita's side as she slumped against the wall.
"Flip, are you alright?" Carla said concerned.
"Yeah, but I'm in no rush to do that again" Carmelita said as they helped her to her feet.
"Why'd you take the shot?" asked Sly
"Because" she began " If anyone is going to bring you in its gonna be me!"
"Yep you're definitely ok Ironsides" Carla joked
"And you're up 20 euros Nosedive"
"Other way round actually"
"What?"
"It hit you a second after the alarm."
"So does that mean we won?" Sly asked
"Yes, you won" Carla sighed defeated
"Hey Carla got Fox!" Mark shouted excitedly
"Nice one Carla" Alisha added
"Ha was after the alarm so it didn't count" Sly taunted
"Is this true?"
"Afraid so now pay up!" Carmelita said triumphantly
Each of them handed over the money as Carmelita and Sly smirked. Carmelita walked over to Carla and stuck out her hand.
"Come to gloat" Carla sneered
"No, I came to tell you to keep your money" Carmelita whispered
"Huh?"
Carla looked down at her hand and saw the 20 euros she'd given Carmelita.
"But why you won"
"I'm not going to take money off you for a second's difference."
Carla smiled
"Besides it hit on the alarm not after" Carmelita added
"No it was after"
"Hey I'm the one who got hit, I think I know when it was" she chuckled as the two shook hands.
"Well now that that's settled; who wants pizza I'm starving" Carmelita asked sheepishly.
They all stared at her surprised.
"What?" said Carla
"Well none of us have eaten since lunch you guys are bound to be hungry"
"Are you serious?" Carla laughed
"Sure, my treat"
"Deal" they said simultaneously
Sly began to walk back to the gang's safehouse.
"Hey, where you think you're going Cooper?" Carmelita yelled.
"Sorry inspector I don't plan on getting taken into custody tonight" said Sly
"I thought you were hungry?"
"Yes why's that important?"
"Well aren't you coming for pizza?"
"You're asking me to join you?"
"You were on my team, we won and we're both hungry why not?"
"Ok as long as you don't start chasing me?"
"Fine, but come tomorrow we're back to as you so nicely put it, me trying to kill you" she chuckled
"Sounds good to me"
The group then ended up searching for a pizza place that was open at that time and trying to convince the owners that Carmelita wasn't dying.
A/N: I know it was random and a bit rushed but I'm not use to writing this much for a story (or writing stories altogether). Thank wee V for looking over this for me. Constructive criticism is welcome. Please review and let me know what you think or if you spot any mistakes.