AN: Hey guys! I hope you're still enjoying this story! So the Gang cools down before setting off to India to take down Rajan's palace! Please leave a review and let me know how I'm doing!
The van drove through the desert at top speeds. Josephina sat quietly with Bentley and the twins in the back, grinning at the beak the turtle was packing into a box.
"Place for everything, and everything in its place." He smirked, pushing up his glasses as he set the box off to the side. "Words to live by." Josephina rolled her eyes but couldn't help her smile. She turned to look out the front window of the van to see the hot sands rushing by.
"So what's next?" She asked.
"Next we make our way out of Egypt. Which I for one will be glad for." Bentley tipped his keyboard and sand shook free into a small pile. He glowered at the sand before turning back to his computers. "I hope you're happy Sly. I'm going to have to clean out my shell for weeks before I get all the sand out of it."
"Sorry pal." Sly cast over his shoulder. "We'll make a stop in Cairo before we head back to Paris."
"What's in Cairo?" Josephina frowned.
"Besides a major airport? Plenty of tourist attractions."
"So? What's so special about tourist attractions?"
"Look thieving is fun and all but after that mess, I could use a break. We generally take a few days off to recuperate after a heist." Sly shrugged, "Normally we just do something fun to take the edge off." Josephina nodded. Her team had never had time like that. They'd always gone job to job until they had what they wanted, then they took weeks off at a time until they were ready to do it again. "I was thinking a small stay in the city, a couple days tops where we just... take in the sights."
"Sounds good to me." Natalie said. "I could use a shower..."
"Yeah a couple days of taking in Cairo sound nice." Nate shrugged glancing at Bentley's computers.
"It'll give Bentley some time to figure out our next target."
A thought passed Josephina and she turned to look at Bentley. "Gafar mentioned that Carlotta was smuggling artifacts to India..."
"I'll look into it, and talk to our contacts, find out whos who in the Klaww gang." The turtle nodded, "For now let's just relax and enjoy our break as much as possible. From the looks of it, this is going to be a long drawn out effort."
"With the six of us I'm sure we'll wrap this up in no time." The twins nodded and Sly smirked in the front seat.
A small break was just what the gang needed. Time to relax, enjoy the sun, taking in Cairo's various places around the city and simply get to know one another. Josephina had taken the time to learn as much as she could about all of her new 'friends'. The guys were close like brothers. Sly, while fun loving and always ready with a snappy comeback, was serious when it came to the twin's education. During the three days they'd so far spent in Cairo he'd tested them in every area he could think of. Speed, agility, even in their technical skills. Nate had taken a shine to the technical aspects while Nat easily kept up with Sly in many of the trials. Josephina smiled as she watched them from the roof of the temporary safe house they'd acquired. Sly and Nat were sparring, Sly with his cane, Nat with a baton she'd purchased on ThiefNet. It was a twirling baton that was full of different items that Bentley had added into it. Currently it was on fire at both ends, but it also had a grappling hook hidden inside and the ability to divide in half to reveal two small blades.
"Well at least she'll be protected." Josie muttered as she watched the two move around the courtyard.
"Hey, Josie, Murray went and got us lunch. Are you hungry?" Bentley called, stepping out of the building.
"Starving!" She leapt off the roof and landed with a grin at the turtle, following him inside to the table where Murray and Nate were setting out the food. Grabbed her portion and settled down cross-legged on the couch. The TV flicked on as Murray joined her. It was already set to some cartoon or another, due to the hippo's love of cartoons in general. Not that Josie really minded, she enjoyed them on occasion too. She grinned at him, quelling her growling stomach and filling the next hour with mindless cartoon watching.
"You're a tough girl Nat." Sly said as the pair walked inside. "I think you'll do just fine in the field."
"Really?"
"You have potential, keep working on those techniques and you'll be just fine. Nate, you up for some sparing later?"
"Sure Sly." The teen nodded from his place in the arm chair. "That is if Bentley doesn't have any coding work for me..."
Bentley shook his head with a small shrug. "Fresh out. You should work on your physical strength anyway."
"When are we headed out?" Josephina asked, flipping upside down over the back of the couch to look at Sly and Bentley.
"Tomorrow morning actually... Would be best. Based off the information off Gafar gave us when you... eh... talked with him, I asked around and it appears that we're in luck. The artifacts Carlotta dug up were sent to another member of the Klaww gang. His name's Rajan. Grew up poor in Calcutta, and started a life of crime pretty early on in his life selling illegal spice in the black market. Over the years he's grown in power and influence, and recently purchased a supposedly ancestral palace." Bentley frowned. "He's in possession of the Clockwerk wings, which he's going to display at a ball he's throwing in celebration of the acquisition."
"And let me guess the cops can't pin him?" Josephina flipped over with a roll of her eyes.
"Don't ask me why not..." Bentley frowned and shrugged. "He's got an ego that's for sure. We'll set out for the palace tomorrow morning, take a plane... The ball's going to last a week but starts in two days, so we don't have a lot of time here." Sly shouldered his cane and nodded.
"Sounds good, I've had enough of a time off." Sly shrugged, "Let's get in some practice Nate. Bentley, I want these two out in the field this time round. I need to see them in action."
"I'll be sure to fit them in."
"Thanks pal." Bentley nodded and the two walked back into the courtyard.
"Murray, could you help me with the equipment?"
"Of course! The Murray is always willing to lend a hand!"
Natalie sighed contentedly and slid down in her seat with her food. "Is it fair to be excited?"
"Sure. Have you ever been to India?"
"No... Nate and I made our way to Paris and then Italy and then Somalia and now Egypt. Took us a couple years but we're learning..."
"Where did you get the money for those trips? I mean I can understand Cooper's ability to get through places, he's got quite a bit of wealth... but you two, you're so young..."
"Nate and I saved for about three years before we left. Every penny we took, we earned and we found, none of it went anywhere but the boxes. That was enough to get us out of town to the larger city, where we kept adding to it, spending only on necessary stuff when we didn't have any other options... It was like that until last week."
"Impressive. You two have more business smarts than most adults... Minus the stealing you could be on your way to rich and famous just by continuing what you were doing..."
"Takes too long and there's no fun in it." The girl winked. "Nate and I wanted adventure. Wanted to see the world before we were too old to enjoy it."
"There's nothing worse than adventure. Trust me on that one. There was a time I would have given anything for a home I didn't have to leave."
"What happened?"
"I got one. And promptly got bored." Josephina smirked. "After all the years of adventure, of not knowing what was around the corner... Civilian life just didn't fit. So adventure sucks but... I can understand the want of it."
"No one else seems to get it."
"Yeah well I've lived a lot in twenty-five years... Been a lot of people, seen a lot of places, and kissed a couple kings... I've also now been a barrel rider... but that's beside the point. The point being, you have to know what's good for you... of course it's generally better if you choose when you're older and legally an adult."
"And when did you decide?"
"The day I was made an orphan by the Klaww Gang. I was eight at the time. Of course my parents had been teaching me to follow in their footsteps for the entirety of those eight years so I guess it's only a natural progression that I ended up here..."
"Your parents were thieves then?"
"Ah, no. They were spies... No point hiding it, it's in my case file. The Augustine's were pretty infamous in their younger days, but by the time I came round they'd been laying low for years. They got burned after a string of bad jobs that eventually turned out to be set ups... of course that information came out after they had been dead for almost twelve years."
"Did you clear their names?"
"Yeah, I did. Took me twelve years but I did."
"That's some time commitment..."
"There's always time for family kiddo." Josephina shrugged. "And family doesn't stop at the people you're related to. Remember that." Nat nodded and Josephina stood, gathering her plate to clean it. "It could save your life someday." Winking the ferret woman walked off to help pack up the van.
The next morning they were each given a disguise to wear before the gang set out for the airport. Sly walked confidently through security, handing over his fake passport with no problems. Josephina had done this routine enough times to be relaxed about her own, but she could tell the twins were a bit nervous. They'd used their real passports in the past, they'd looked like themselves, they hadn't needed to remember fake names. That's why Josephina was acting as their mother.
"You'll do fine." She whispered with a small smile as they neared the gate. "No need to be nervous." By the time they made it on the plane she'd said that upwards of twenty times. As it turned out Nate had a thing about flying. A big thing about flying. His sister had loaded him up on sleeping pills before they got on but until he actually fell asleep he was a nervous wreck. Sly gave him a worried look that only half passed for the annoyed passenger across the aisle.
"Nate, calm down." Josephina said, voice low and firm. "There is nothing to worry about, I'm right here, your sister is right here. We're all here."
"It's not going to do much good... Not until he falls asleep anyway." Nat said. "He's got a really bad phobia of flying. Always has. The only thing that helps is knocking him out for the duration of the flight." She shrugged and settled back in her seat, pulling a book out of her backpack. Josephina sighed and helped Nate get as comfortable as she could.
Alright guys! India awaits! I've got a new character coming that I'm curious about how you're going to respond to. Anyway see you next chapter!