Running Like Clockwerk
By Airo Smicktor
I do not own Sly Cooper or the other Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus characters. I do own Douglas Smicktor, Jason and Veronica Palace; they are my fan-characters, so hands off!
Chapter 9 – Enemy Number One
Room 302
"Oh! I'm just bloody overjoyed!" Douglas snapped back at the creepy smile on Jason's face. "What the hell do mean 'the ranks'!"
"You're one of us!" Jason replied. "You've been working for us for all this time, and…"
Douglas grabbed Jason by the collar of his suit, pulling the rat to look into his angry eyes.
"I am NOT one of anyone, understand? I work for money! Always have, always will! Just because I work for you, it doesn't, no, it will NEVER mean that I am one of you! UNDERSTAND?"
"Wha… WHAT?" Jason replied, clearly very shocked. "Wait… Hold on there Smicktor! I… I mean…" It was obvious that Jason was trying to think of an excuse quickly to keep Douglas from leaving.
"Who in the BLUE HELL is going to want to employ me now when it comes out that I've been working for…!"
"C… Calm down D-Douglas!" Jason bravely interrupted. "The...The Fiendish Five will… Will provide ALL the employment you'll ever need now!"
It was plain to see that Douglas wasn't buying any of this.
"Be… Besides…" Jason continued, still worried. "No body knows that you've been rounding up the Clockwerk parts, do they?"
Conference Room
A relative of order and calm was now back in place. During the previous moments of chaos, no one had noticed that a cloaked figure had entered through the main doors, and was standing with her back against the wall opposite the stage.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please!" Veronica stated calmly. "I understand your concerns, but I can assure you that we are already working hard to…"
"What about this KLAWW Gang?" A reporter interrupted as he stood up. "Who are they? What do they want with their own Clockwerk parts?"
"Do you have any information about the status of the real Clockwerk?" Another reporter asked.
"Unfortunately, we have been unable to collect much intelligence…" Veronica began. "…About the KLAWW Gang. They are seemingly quite elusive. But from what has been gathered, the KLAWW Gang is an organised crime syndicate, with contacts and headquarters around the globe. As for the Clockwerk parts, as I have mentioned, we already have a number still in police hands."
"You mean at the 'Desertion' Rehabilitation Centre, outside of San Francisco?" Carmelita asked.
"That's right." Veronica replied. "It's also where Raleigh, formally of The Fiendish Five, is serving time for his crimes."
"But what about the other parts?" The second reporter asked again.
Veronica smiled confidently. This was the question she had been waiting for, and the fabricated answer she had been longing to use.
"At first, we of course assumed that somehow The Fiendish Five were after the parts. But because their leaders are all locked behind bars - or in the case of Clockwerk, in pieces – and the fact that there has been no activity from any remnants of any of the leader's gangs; we've ruled The Fiendish Five out of the equation. We are now sure that only one other person has the means, and the motive, to go after the parts.
Sly Cooper."
"Cooper?" Carmelita exclaimed, as shocked as the others in the room, as indicated by the unanimous gasp that was heard.
"Cooper would be after the parts to prevent the reconstruction of Clockwerk, of course." Veronica added. "It makes sense."
Room 302
"…All right…" Douglas let go of Jason, allowing him to breathe easily (and without fear). "You've gotten off 'Death Row' for now… Hey, where's my stuff?" Douglas looked around the hotel room, noticing a distinct lack of the luggage he had been given to use during his stay.
"Already packed away…" Jason answered, while trying to straighten out his creases. "…Waiting in the van."
"Waiting? Van?"
"We're gonna take you to our little base of operations here in Russia. After all, you are part, I mean, you're still working for us."
Underneath the Conference Room's stage
"Sly! They've got it all wrong!" Bentley said. "We don't know anything about what's going on!"
"I know Bentley." The raccoon replied. "Something's not right here. I think I'm being set up."
"We can work on that later! Return to base Sitting Duck!"
The Conference Room's stage
"Are you sure?" Inspector Fox asked. "If what you say is right, the Cooper was the one responsible for breaking into the house in France a few days ago, right?"
"Yes…" Palace replied, slightly interested (but secretly slightly concerned).
"But the damage to property, casualties, and the fact the safe itself was taken suggests that anyone BUT Cooper that crime!" Carmelita spoke the truth, if she 100 knew it herself or not. "Plus, I was perusing Cooper in at Paris at around the time the crime took place."
"Be serious Inspector Fox!" The cat waved off the vixen's comments. "Who else could have possibly done it?"
"Oh I think I can answer that!" A voice said at the back of the room.
All attentions then turned to the source of the voice, the cloaked figure.
"Who are you?" Veronica demanded.
The figure pulled off her hood, revealing her face, while producing a police badge.
"Constable Neyla, Interpol." She stated. "I'm looking for a purple fox going under the alias of 'Markus Taylor'."
"Huh?" Carmelita stood up, more than shocked by the tigress' statement. "Alias?"
"His real name is Douglas Smicktor, and, not to get too bogged down with details, he's a prolific criminal."
"Doing what?" Carmelita questioned, a hint of anger appearing in her voice.
"Quiet a bit actually." Neyla coolly replied. "But most recently, I tracked him down to a break-in. On your turf I believe Inspector - Paris, France."
"WHAT?"
'Oh God no…' Veronica thought, turning with her back to the rest of the room, allowing her to write a text message on her mobile without anyone noticing what she was doing. 'Smicktor would have to have a meddling stalker cop like Cooper as well… This is NOT good!'
Under the stage
"Sly? SLY? Did… Did you…"
"I heard Bentley… I heard…" Sly said, his fists clenching. "Tell Murray to get the van ready to go at the rendezvous. We've got to stop Smicktor from leaving the city. I'm on my way out now.
Room 302
"What do you mean I'm still working for…?" Douglas started to say.
"We don't have all the parts yet, and we need your help to get the last ones." Jason replied.
"My help?"
"Oh, you'll have plenty of support for this job from…" The rat was interrupted by his mobile 'phone buzzing.
Jason took out his 'phone, and looked at the message he'd just received.
"…Let's go Douglas." The rat stated, a very serious look now on his face. "Looks like some tigress has rumbled you…"
"DAMN THAT NEYLA!" Douglas swore. "Damn her to some hell that involves razor blades for breakfast cereal, with strong acid instead of milk!"
"Come on, we'll take the service elevator…"
"Mister Taylor? He's in Room 302…" The attendant at the desk began to say, before Neyla and Carmelita ran to the elevator, pressing the button to activate it. When it arrived, they both entered and the tigress pressed the button for the third floor.
"Smicktor?" Carmelita asked while configuring the settings on her shock-pistol, although the tone of her voice indicated that it wasn't much of a question, but a demand.
"Yes, I'm sure." Neyla replied, her whip ready in her hand. "All the evidence points to a Smicktor job."
"Evidence?" This time the vixen was asking a question. "There was hardly any evidence at the scene."
"Exactly. No one apart from Smicktor can be that good at covering their tracks."
Carmelita arched an eyebrow at the statement.
'That good?' She thought, but dismissed it. She was way too angry to want to even come within a hundred miles of complementing Smicktor. But the vixen was mostly angry with herself. For the past few days, she had been fraternizing with a… A… A criminal! It was inconceivable! It was unbelievable! It… It was…
'Smicktor is going down BIG TIME when I get my hands on him!' Carmelita thought. 'Aye Carumba… Why are the cute ones always on the wrong side of the law?'
'…'
'…No! That's not what I meant!'
'What did you mean then?' A rarely heard voice in her mind, the voice of her 'wild' side, taunted. 'Or are you just going to apply your love/hate relationship for Sly to Douglas as well?'
'SHUT UP! I do not like Cooper! The only way I would like him is behind bars!'
'You're weird Carmelita.'
'Huh?'
'You always want to handcuff men. Do you have some kind of dominatrix bondage fantasy or something?'
'WHAT? HOW DARE…!'
'You've thought about having that raccoon at your mercy, haven't you?'
'Of all the disgusting, perverted things that I have ever…!'
'You're not denying it I notice.'
'…SHUT UP!'
Carmelita's argument with herself was cut short by the lift arriving at the third floor. When the door opened, the two Interpol cops ran down the hall and burst into Room 302.
"FREEZE CRIMINAL!" Carmelita shouted, her gun pointing into the room.
"FREEZE SMICKTOR!" Neyla shouted at the same time, her whip ready to strike at any moment.
It was in the moment of silence that followed, they realised the room was deserted.
"…And what the hell do you mean by 'all the employment I'll ever need'?" Smicktor exclaimed, following Jason out of the lift into the hotel's underground car park.
"What do YOU mean?" Jason shrugged. "I'm sure you'll see things our way when you see your full pay."
"Full pay?" The fox questioned again.
Jason smirked. "You'll see when we get to the base, now let's get out of here!" Jason then pointed to a black van that advertised chocolate on the side of it."
"…All right." Douglas shrugged, concluding that it wasn't safe to stick around here much longer anyway.
'I'm probably public enemy number one around here anyway.' He added mentally.
The rat and the fox then walked quickly to the van, and on approach, two walruses, both dressed in workers' overalls, opened the back doors from within.
"Just to let you know…" Jason said, climbing into the van. "That all of The Fiendish Five's old gangs have still been operating since Clockwerk's fall. Underground cells, pretending to be legitimate businesses, all that stuff. They've been waiting too long, and they're grateful for the work you've done already."
The walruses nodded in agreement, as Douglas climbed in.
"Let's get outta here!" Jason shouted.
"Sure thing!" Came a reply from the driver's seat. "Ah man! Some van's coming down, we'll have to wait for it to park…"
Douglas paid no attention to the conversation, picking up what appeared to be a modified double-barrelled shotgun. Instead of bullets, it fired energy blasts (much like the shock pistols used by Interpol).
'Nice!' Douglas thought, flipping the weapon to its '5' setting. 'I'm having this!'
His thoughts were then interrupted by the sound of metal clanging behind him. Looking over his shoulder, the fox saw someone emerging out of an air vent hatch into the parking lot.
A familiar raccoon.
Carmelita and Neyla ran back into the main hall, and into a Russian police officer.
"Inspector! Constable! We've secured the main doors and rear exits of the building!"
"Good." Carmelita said. "There's no way Smicktor will get away!"
Neyla let a short emotionless laugh pass her lips, showing she didn't share the same sentiments as the vixen.
"What's so funny?" Carmelita questioned, glaring at the tigress.
"Knowing Smicktor, he's probably already half-way out of the city by know." The Constable replied. "To say he's a slippery customer is an understatement. Trust me. I've been after him for years…"
"Years?"
"Certainly. Ever since the first time he gave me the slip, I've made it my mission to bring him in."
'That's how it started for me going after Cooper.' The vixen thought. 'Kind of ironic how this has brought us both here.'
"You mean that he always has a back-up plan?" Carmelita asked.
"Not exactly. He's quite unpredictable actually. Just when you think you know what his next move is, he does the complete opposite. It's worse if he's cornered or…"
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?" A voice shouted from within the Conference Room.
"I'm sorry Sir, but Miss Palace left!" Another voice replied. "She's with her guards to escort the Clockwerk Brain to safety. She said that 'Smicktor' guy might try and get it."
"So is everything secured?"
"Everything except the car park. For some reason the security system there went down five minutes ago."
Carmelita and Neyla looked at each other, and nodded in agreement, knowing what the other was thinking. They then headed back to the lift, headed for the car park.
Author notes: The chapter gives me a wierd feeling.I don't know if I'm happy with it or not. Still, it's up now anyway. It's a littlething to get people prepaired for the next 'part' of it, and more importantlythe next chapter. Cool stuff happens, believe me.
Phantom of Les Miserables- Yep, it's Raliegh. Veronica mentioned where he was being held, which is relavent in the future.
Noalyn- I went to town with my book of hip-hop phrases for Dimitri. I actually wrote too much stuff for him, that message went on too long (the other members couldn't get a word in) so it had to be cut.
Shady Fetish- Glad to have ya aboard! You'll be seeing more of the KLAWW Gang in the future, but not for a while now.
Right, now off to work on the next chapter. See in you in three years. Kidding! (I hope)