Ziggy's Corner: Okay history seems to have been made thanks to me and my niece. I only read three reviews, but I'm positive there are more on the net I haven't received yet. This is chapter two, so I hope it's as good as the first one.
Murray entered into the new headquarters, a plush apartment building that belonged to Interpol's finest officer couple, Sly and Carmelita Cooper, which also functioned as a secret base for the underground resistance from time to time. Carmelita hadn't been too keen on the idea, but as the planetary government cracked down on more than just dangerous thieves liberties, and then followed by the average everyday citizen, she agreed to her husband's request.
The apartment was much larger than her old, bachelor girl pad, much larger than their old headquarters. It was the size of a suite, with blue and topaz colors all over the place, there was a good number of plants resting on tables, as well as a huge living room complete with a ten foot long entertainment center, and a kitchen that made most five star restaurants' kitchens' look like something out of a fast food place.
But what did anyone expect? The team of Carmelita and Sly Cooper was unbeatable. With their partnership, dozens of criminals and crime bosses were caught and brought down. True, they had an odd reputation of not going by the books, and interestingly no minor criminal were caught, even when they had the chance to get them. Most critiques claimed it was because they were friends of Sly's from his criminal past, which he readily claimed he had no idea about.
"You got the readouts we need buddy?" Sly asked, laying on his large brown leather couch, watching football on his sixty inch television set.
"Er, ah, yeah," the hippo said, looking at the front door, and then inching his way to a chair to sit down. He stared at his hands for a while, before he realized his brother was hovering over him.
"You want to give me the readouts?" Sly asked with a half hearted chuckle.
"Readouts?" Murray asked.
"Right, the readouts, that you went to get us," Sly said, cocking his head. "You okay buddy?"
The hippo looked at his friend and brother and fidgeted through his pockets, before he found the pieces of paper, and handed them over. "Sorry, kind of tired."
"That's okay, you did fine," Sly said with a nod. "Why not take a break? It'll take Bentley and Penelope some time to come up with a game plan once they look through this."
Murray looked forward, Ling King's petite, beautiful face staring back at him, where the center of the Berlin Thunder's center had been just seconds ago. He smiled and sighed, staring at the panda, and blinked. It took him a few minutes before he returned back into reality and saw the confused look on his buddy's face.
"Is there something going on you want to tell me about, Murray?" Sly asked with a frown.
"I have to agree with him," Carmelita said, walking from the kitchen, removing her cooking mittens. "The guy really has a cute hinnie."
"Ex…cuse me?" Sly asked, half smiling.
"You heard me," his wife said with a laugh. "Of course yours isn't half bad either," she moved in and wrapped her arms around his waist. She kissed him on his cheek, and looked back at the hippo, who seemed to blush, and turn away with a frown. "You do look tired, though Murray, why don't you go into the guest room and rest up for a little bit?"
"You don't mind?" Murray asked, looking starry eyed.
"Not at all," Carmelita said. "Don't worry about the noise either, its time for Elroy's lunch, so he'll be up any minute."
Murray smiled. Elroy, his best friend's and brother's, first born child. Not the name he would have picked, but it had been his grandfather's middle name, so they went with it. The boy was barely a month old, and though a raccoon, was brown like his mother, and had her nose and snout. Five days after his birth, his "cousin" Faythe Mercy, was born to a proud Bentley and Penelope. She was a more hybrid, than her cousin, being a turtle like her father, without the shell, and with her mother's nose and ears. Bentley was determined to home school her, rather than risk her being teased by cruel school children.
Wearily, with Ling King's face still fresh in his mind, he pulled himself to his feet and nodded. "Thanks." Sly followed him down, and bid him good night, though it was still early in the morning. Then the master thief and high ranking Interpol officer turned down the hall and picked up his stirring son.
The boy wiggled in his blankets, and squinted his eyes at his father. "Morning champ, hungry?" he asked, chuckling as the baby squealed and smiled at his father. "I'll take that as a yes." He took Elroy down to the living room and handed him over to Carmelita, who quickly pulled her shirt up and helped her son find the prize he was looking for. "So what do you think is up with Murray?" Sly asked. "Even tired, he's never been like that before."
Carmelita rolled her eyes with a sigh and grumbled under her breathe. "Men, I swear." She looked down at her son. "You better never get that ignorant, mister, or I'll have to cut off your supply," she said in a soft, soothing, teasing voice. She looked up at her husband and groaned. "He's in love, Sly."
The four words hit Sly like a ten ton truck. "Love?"
His wife smiled gently. "You know, the L word, kissing, always being there for the other, wanting the best for the other person, love?"
Sly chuckled, "You forgot cuddling, candle light dinners, and staying up and watching the late night show!"
"And thus how we got this cute little buddle of joy," she snickered, looking down at the baby.
"But who exactly is he in love with?" Sly asked.
"He's your friend, why don't you ask him?" Carmelita asked. "Besides, I'm a woman, not Miss Cleo."
"You know, I always thought Ms. Cleo was a woman," he said with a widening grin.
"Haha, Mr. Comedian, just for that you get no peach cobbler for dinner tonight."
"Oh come on," he groaned, as his wife stood up and took their child to his porta crib. Sly licked his lips and frowned, stroking his hands. Murray in love. This was an interesting development.
He slept soundly for six hours. Visions of Ling King ran through his mind. He was there in the van talking to her again, they were laughing, and talking about family and loved ones. Just being around her was intoxicating, relaxing. The sun rose and it fell, and then they continued to talk. Soon they were surrounded by cherry blossom trees, and the sounds of birds chirping around them made it only calmer. Holding hands they walked down the path, talking ever more.
Then darkness seemed to surrounded them, and the shadow of a large panda overtook them. "I told you not to come back here," a harsh voice growled, a little sorrowfully, but bitter. "You were not to see her again. I only want her to be safe."
"I am keeping her safe," Murray protested.
"Murray," Ling King said.
"Murray, Murray, Murray," the voice kept calling out. Finally the hippo recognized it as Bentley's. Slowly his lids fluttered open and he looked up at his friend. "You okay?" he asked. "For a moment you really seemed frazzled."
"I'm okay," Murray said, lifting himself to his feet. "Just a nice little dream for a while, then the dozen or so hamburgers I ate kind of kicked in big time." He walked into the living room with his friend, and saw that Penelope, and Dimitri were both there already and discussions were being made to make the necessary preparations for the operation.
"Glad to see you up buddy," Sly said, with a smile, bouncing Elroy on his knee.
"Glad to be up," Murray said. "So, what happened to my favorite little niece?"
"We left her with her Aunt Agatha and Uncle Adam," Penelope said. Unlike Carmelita, she had gained a little weight during the pregnancy, that had never really left her, though she still seemed thin next to most women who underwent a C-section to have their children.
Even freakier was the bizarre appearance of Adam Dowling, the first homo sapiens to walk their world in fifty thousand years, just nine months after the Cooper vault blew up, and Bentley had tried the time machine for the very first time. The man had seemed very frightened, confused, and disoriented, many people who had come into contact with him, wanted to dissect the rare specimen, but with help from a reunited Cooper gang, plus the engaged Carmelita Fox, the man was safely hidden away. There was an attempt to send him back to his timeline, or his home, but it began to draw attention to the increasing corrupt U.N.
Romance soon brew between the human and Penelope's older sister, Agatha, and a year ago the two were wed at St. Linus Cathedral, in Amsterdam. Their union for the time was secret from the eyes of the authorities, but that wasn't too hard with the head of Interpol being Issac Peter Fox, Carmelita's father.
They made the plans, pushed ideas back and forth, and eventually came up with the blue prints of the beginning stages of the whole deal. After dinner, Sly got the chance to speak with Murray alone. "So you wanna tell me what's going on?" he asked with a smile.
Murray frowned and cocked his head. "What are you talking about?"
"I took you aside, because I didn't want to embarrass you, but Carmelita said that you were in love with someone. Actually I heard Penelope whisper something similar to Bentley."
Murray looked down and blushed. "Ah, yeah that," he stumbled.
Sly shot up, and blinked. "So its true! Congratulations man! Who is it?"
"Well, I mean I don't see a relationship there," how I wish I did! "Things are a little complicated."
"Complicated for the strongest member of any Cooper Gang, ever!" Sly teased.
"For one of the best race car drivers the world has ever seen?" Bentley asked, slinking up the them.
"Or one of the kindest, sweetest men ever in my life?" Penelope asked, joining the discussion.
"Or mine?" Carmelita asked with a chuckle. Sly slapped his face and sighed. "Sorry, but we were all kind of curious."
"Seriously, man, this is major bling!" Dimitri said, his body shaking with excitement that his friend finally found himself a girl.
"So, don't leave us in suspense, Murray," Penelope said. "Who is it?"
A long time passed before the hippo opened his mouth. "Ling King, but I don't think her father approves."
At the name of the young female panda, their jaws dropped, and none of them spoke for a good while. Finally Sly shook his head. "Come on Murray? Why would Panda King object? You're one of the most decent, and honorable guys there is!"
"You're practically the Flamming Mac Daddy's best friend!" Dimitri exclaimed.
"True, but I'm still a thief, as well as part of the underground, and a race car driver. I think he's worried about what might happen to his daughter with a man like me."
Sly smiled mischievously. "Well, then all that matters is we have two missions to prepare for," he chuckled. "Operation Guilded Cage, and now Operation Love Birds."
"Ever the romantic," Carmelita chuckled. Everyone in the room laughed, and Murray thought that maybe … just maybe there actually might be a chance for his dream to become a reality, minus the nightmare.
Okay this is chapter two! I hope its good! A few notes, first Issac Peter Fox, while still Carmelita's father in both series, is not the same as he is in Everything's Relative. He's a little younger, and without the temper. Also Carmelita has fewer brothers and sisters in this series. Let's call the events in this story Sly Universe PS for Playstation, while the universe Everything Relative takes place in could be called, Sly Universe VZ for Vanguard Ziggy obviously. Second, Adam Dowling is based on myself, but you won't be seeing him or Agatha in this story. I plan to write a prequel to this, explaining how he got to Sly's world, plus a sequel to this story, talking about the heros' teenage and preteen children. Okay that being said, how did I do with this chapter? I hope everyone is having fun! On to chapter three, which I might update in May, or you might have to wait for June-August for it, sorry, can't be helped.