A/N: Sorry it has been a so long time! School, and that oblivious writer's block has still left some marks. ENJOY CHAPTER 10 YOU RASCALS!)
Chapter 10: Preparations
Carmelita awoke to the loud sound of a voice saying ''Next stop: Stockholm, Sweden.'' She stretched and then yawned.
-''Here we are, ladies and gentlemen. Stockholm, Sweden!'' A passing tigress said. She unbuckled her safety belt and then saw how the plane smoothly touched the ground. She awkwardly turned around and saw Bentley, who was sleeping. She managed to reach back and lightly knock on his shoulders to wake him up. He did so drowsily and muttered something.
-''Bentley, we're in Sweden now. Wake up!'' she hissed tiredly. Bentley's eyes opened and then blinked rapidly.
-''Oh, right. By the way, Inspector Fox, I made some research on Al Guerro. He lives in a mansion just outside Stockholm. If we can break into his home without being seen, we should be able to overwhelm him. But first we have to set up a base of operations.'' He said with a somewhat eager voice. Dr. Morgan then got up from his seat and also stretched. Carmelita stood up as well and looked behind her. She saw Murray get up as well. But who was that beautiful tigress right next to him, hugging him like that?
A few minutes later, the gang, consisting of these six people, was on the ground of the airport Arlanda. They curiously looked around it, not really used to the culture of Sweden.
-''Alright, apparently the mansion we are looking for is a few miles north of here. I've located an abandoned factory not far from here.'' The turtle said, while holding some kind of map.
Carmelita couldn't take her gaze off of that young tigress. Who was she? Carmelita couldn't recall seeing her ever before.
-''What are you looking at?'' she suddenly snarled, startling Carmelita.
-''I-I'm sorry.'' Carmelita said, raising her arms in defence. She did not want a fight right now,
-''Calm down, Alice.'' Murray said with a soft voice that of course reminded Carmelita of Sly's voice. She sighed and the young tigress, Alice, did indeed calm down.
-''Sorry. I'm Alice Monroe, Murray's boyfriend. And you are Inspector Fox, I presume?'' she asked. Carmelita shook her head in disagreement.
-''Not any longer. Since my profession kept me from having a relationship with Sly Cooper, I decided that I should just get rid of it.''
The young tigress nodded in understanding.
-''So when he ''died'', you were devastated on the inside.'' She said. Carmelita just took a deep breath. This was not an easy time for her. Not only because Sly had died, and even though she was on a quest to revive him, every second in his absence had a greater impact on her than the previous one. Aside from that, the pregnancy Sly had granted her caused her hormones to go ballistic. It was indeed a very hard time for her right now.
-''Hey, Bentley… Where's this Al Guerro guy again.'' She asked tiredly.
-''He lives in a mansion a few miles north of here. I don't know how we should make our approach though.'' He exclaimed with a trail of uncertainty in his voice.
-''Well, maybe we should start by setting up our base of operations.'' Penelope added into the conversation. The rest of the gang simply nodded in agreement when they thought about the abandoned factory Bentley had mentioned just a few minutes ago. Without further ado, the group began moving towards the factory.
A few hours later, the gang had reached the outskirts of the factory. It was very silent. And because dusk had settled in, it was pretty. Carmelita and Dr. Morgan talked a little while Murray and Alice simply looked around. Bentley was typing some more on his laptop while Penelope decided to join Carmelita and Dr. Morgan. After a few minutes of pretty much nothing, the gang regrouped at the factory's entrance. The factory towered over them like a dark shadowy giant. It was slightly intimidating, but the gang felt the courage return to them ever so slowly.
-''Alright, let's proceed inside.'' Carmelita said. Without any questioning, the gang did so.
The hallways were really dark, but they were illuminated when the gang found different light sources. Some worked, others didn't, but it was just enough to allow sight to the gang.
-''Whoa, this place is really huge!'' Murray exclaimed. The others didn't beg to differ. The factory was indeed very big. There were several floors which each held many different rooms and offices. They checked most of the premises, but there were not many supplies in any of them. Everything they had found after ravaging through two floors of premises was a handgun, a few boxes of handgun ammunition, some dollar bills as well as a rotten, mouldy chicken.
-''It seems that this factory has been abandoned for decades, but it surprises me that it hasn't been grated yet.''
-''Well, I think that a good place to set up our base is in the conference room. It is linked with a room which we can sleep in.'' Dr. Morgan said while examining a map of the factory's different floors. The map was very old, but still pretty easy to read. Dr. Morgan kept studying the map while the others gathered around a medium sized, round table.
-''Alright, listen up.'' Bentley started. ''I've managed to get my hands on a pretty decent map of his house. I've also found out, through my knowledge in physics, that Al Guerro uses a pretty advanced security system that uses pressure plates. He has installed it in a way that you have to place the correct object which has the power in Newton corresponding to the pressure in Pascal which in turn corresponds to which weight that the pressure plate is assigned to. Now, if I manage to find out the area of the pressure plate and also the objects that we need to use, I should be able to calculate the power in Newton needed to open the door. But if we place the wrong object, and the pressure goes too high or too low, the alarm will go off!'' Bentley exclaimed with an exasperated voice.
-''So we need to place stuff on other stuff so that stuff doesn't happen or what?'' Murray said, sounding both curious and confused at the same time. Bentley brought up a three-dimensional projection of what the gang believed to be the mansion which Al Guerro lived in. It was very large with probably at least ten or fifteen rooms.
-''I've managed to locate the pressure place. It's hidden under a fake rock, just outside the mansion. The objects we can choose from are some anvils hidden in a chest hidden underneath a fake pile of leaves. If I can get my hands on some of those anvils, I could weigh them, and thus calculate the power in Newton. With that, I can use a basic formula in physics to calculate the different values. On top of that, if I can get some info on that pressure plate, I can find out how much pressure in Pascal is needed to open the door and deactivate the security system.'' He finished his explanation. The others were listening, although he was pretty sure that they didn't understand what he was talking about.
That is what Bentley liked. He liked that he could talk about different scientific things and then have his listeners go ''Say what?'' and having faces like question marks. He would explain and perhaps they would still not understand. He would greatly enjoy it; enjoy the fact that he was smarter than the others. It was such a great feeling.
-''Bentley, are you there?'' Bentley awoke to the soft voice of the Dutch female mouse. He shook his head to clear out the thoughts to return to his friends as well as what he was presenting.
-''So, I've showed you the security system. For the job to retrieve some anvils and some info on the pressure plate, I think I'll send Murray and one more. Any volunteers?'' he asked. Almost immediately, Alice's hand shot up into the air.
-''I can do it! I am pretty strong, even if I'm a girl.'' She stated as she placed her paws on her hips.
-''Alright, Alice goes with Murray. So that's cleared out.'' Bentley cleared his throat and continued. ''The next thing to do is to eliminate the interior security. Al Guerro is a pretty paranoid guy, so he carries with him the switch that does so all of the time. So someone will have to pickpocket it off of him. I think that I should do it.'' When no one intervened, Bentley highlighted a lower part of the building.
-''The piece of Aurorium is in the basement of the mansion. That's where the third job, which is to prepare an escape route from the basement, comes in. I think that that it's a perfect job for Carmelita and Penelope. Does anyone have anything to say?'' Bentley asked. Nothing but silence and shaking of heads and short ''Nopes''. Bentley then enlarged the projection even more, showing a more detailed view of a pretty big room with a safe.
-''The Aurorium is located in that safe. And that safe is the main target of our heist. First, Murray and Penelope will disable some antennas on the roof of the mansion so that Al Guerro can't call in his reinforcements from inside the city. When those are out of the way, me and Carmelita will sneak in through the roof, when Murray and Penelope are done up there. Meanwhile, Alice will distract Al Guerro by dressing up and acting as a chilli pepper expert. While they have their chat, we will take care of the guards. Good thing I found out that Al Guerro is crazy about those hot little things. If everything goes the way, we should be able to sneak out with the Aurorium unnoticed. Any questions?'' Bentley finally asked. There was silence for a few seconds, but was eventually broken.
-''What should I do?'' Dr. Morgan said, returning from his examination of the old factory map. Bentley looked over at him, both surprised and startled at the same time, while the three-dimensional projection died down.
-''Hmm… Well, I'm a little ashamed to say this, Mr. Coran, but I'm afraid that I forgot to include you in my heist plan. I'm really sorry, but I think we can put you in, perhaps even…'' Bentley trailed off, his scientific mind getting the best of him. But he quickly got back to reality.
-''Perhaps even we could put you on a job of your own.'' Bentley stated, and then saw how a glimpse appeared for a split second in the cheetah's eye, and then how it disappeared.
-''Bentley…'' Dr. Morgan started with a grin. ''You won't like this, but I want to challenge Al Guerro to a hand-to-hand fight.'' He finished, the grin still intact on his face. When Bentley heard this, his face went wide. It took a few moments until he found his voice again.
-''No, I can't that! That means that all of my planning has been unnecessary. And furthermore, what if you lose? What will you do then? No, it must be stealth approach, Al Guerro is too strong.'' Bentley raised his voice at the end of his sentence, which caused Dr. Morgan to throw his arms out.
-''Ok, I can understand that you don't want me to challenge him, but I found out on the plane that Al Guerro is the one responsible for the murder of my wife. And I want revenge on him.'' Dr. Morgan explained his wish; the venom in his voice grew stronger by each second. This caused Bentley to utter a quick ''Aha'' as he put his hand on his cheek.
-''That's not a bad idea… Although I still think that we should pull through with the heist plan.
-''That's fine with me, just as long as I'll get to kick that monster's ass.'' Dr. Morgan growled, baring his sharp teeth.
-''Alright, I think that this sounds like a good smash plan, but in case you lose, do you want any help?'' Murray interfered, cracking his knuckles.
-''It's ok, Murray. I won't lose. I can't lose. I must win. For Jasmine.'' Dr. Morgan trailed off into his thoughts, but he also knew that he couldn't allow his grief to get the best of him, so he quickly returned to his real life, in the dark factory with his friend. Suddenly, he felt very tired and yawned.
-''I don't know about you, but I think that I'm going to hit the sac.'' He said rather sleepily. He stretched and then yawned.
-''When I looked at the map, I saw that there was a rather large room on the bottom floor which we can sleep in. I'm going there now.'' He said as he walked away into a well-lit hallway. Carmelita looked after him until he disappeared. Carmelita's gaze eventually shifted back to the others. Penelope then yawned as well, while stretching up in the air.
-''He's right, I got really tired now. You coming, Bent?'' she asked while starting to walk down the same hallway. Bentley uttered a quick ''Yeah'' and then yawned as well. He followed Penelope down the hallway and then the couple disappeared, leaving Alice, Murray and Carmelita alone.
-''So, uh, you guys tired?'' Murray asked, breaking the silence.
-''Not really, although I start to feel a little tired now that you mention it.'' Carmelita said, although not as sleepily as the others.
-''Not me either. I can say up a little longer.'' Alice said, joining Carmelita sitting on a nearby couch. Murray then yawned and stretched as well.
-''The Murray hasn't had much sleep lately. I think that I'm turning in as well.'' He said and then looked at the two ladies sitting on the couch.
-''Is it ok if I go?'' he asked politely. The response from the females was two simultaneous nods. Murray slowly waved with his hand.
-''G'night Alice. And G'night, Carmelita.'' He said before disappearing into the hallway, leaving the two feminine figures to themselves. For a couple of minutes, silence combined with exchanging of looks took place. Neither of them said anything; neither of them did anything.
-''Hey, Carmelita, was it?'' Alice said to break the silence.
-''Yes, what is it?'' Carmelita responded shortly. Then, a few seconds of silence reigned once again.
-''How does it feel to be pregnant?'' Alice suddenly asked. The question caught Carmelita off guard. But then she thought that she might as well tell her.
-''Well, why do you want to know?'' she asked curiously and a little tiredly. Alice shrugged with a smile.
-''No, I just want to know. Just in case something... intimate happens.'' Carmelita looked at her in a sort of funny way, although she could somehow understand why she wanted to know. Carmelita was a few years older than Alice, and because of that, she could tell her about life, and in this case, the feeling when being pregnant.
-''Well, there's not much I can tell you. You'll feel like you're not yourself for some time, and you'll get pretty damn hungry a lot of the time as well. Sometimes, you'll feel queasy, and sometimes you'll get angry quickly.'' Carmelita explained with a sort of weak sigh.
-''Thank you. It does sound like a bitch though.'' She stated with a weak smile. Carmelita smiled back at her, her white pointy fangs showing. A few moments of silence passed between the two females. The smiles did remain, though, and looks were still exchanged. This time, they were friendly.
-''Hey, Carm, If I may call you that.'' Alice started hesitantly, not sure if if what she was about to say was so smart. To her relief, Carmelita, too tired to put up a fight regarding her name, simply muttered a short ''Mmmm.'' Alice then went silent again for a few moments.
-''I think you'll be a great mother.'' She said, smiling and putting a hand on her shoulder. Carmelita looked back at her, a smile still on her lips. Again, like before, a few more seconds of nothing but silence passed until the next subject was brought up.
-''How did you meet Murray, anyway?'' Carmelita asked while thinking about her own relationship with the master thief. Alice remained silent for a few seconds more, thinking about it all. Then, she spoke up.
-''Well, it was a dark night when I was on my way home from a friend. I ran into him and thus hurt my head. After clearing up some things, we agreed that we should meet at the same spot tomorrow instead. We did, and then went to a restaurant, and there, I realized that I fell in love with him on first sight. Apparently, he did as well. Everything tied up, and we became a couple.'' Sha said, explaining for a curious Carmelita.
-''I see... Things can happen quickly, you know...'' she said with a chuckle. Alice smiled and then suddenly yawned.
-''Whew, I'm getting tired here. I think that I'm going to hit the sac as well.'' She said, tiredly now. For a short moment, Carmelita stared into nothing, thought about nothing.
-''Yeah, alright. I think I'm going to too.'' She said eventually, getting up from the couch. The two walked all the way down to the room that Dr. Morgan had pointed out, having a little chat about Alice meeting Bentley and Penelope. Eventually, they were both asleep.
(A/N:There'sChapter10.Reviewyoubastards).