A Thief's Tale
Chapter 10: The Newest Member
Sly easily led Carmelita back to the safe house.
"Okay, now you do know that when I let you in, the guys might freak out right?" Sly asked, "Just remember, it has nothing to do with you personally."
"I know it's because I was a cop." Carmelita said, "You know, you could've just called them ahead of time and explained all of what just happened."
"I could have," Sly said coyly, "But I kinda want to see their reactions." Sly then opened the door. The gang, upon spying Carmelita, panicked.
"Cooper ratted us out!" Dimitri yelled running off. After a few seconds of confusion, Sly finally spoke up.
"Alright guys, calm down." Sly said, "Carmelita isn't going to arrest any of us. In fact, she couldn't even if she wanted too."
"What do you mean?" Murray asked sticking his head out from the table he dove under.
"I quit Interpol." Carmelita answered.
"Huh?" Dimitri asked about to jump out of a window with his scuba gear in a bag on his back.
"She quit Interpol." Sly said, "So there is no harm having her in the safe house."
"Well I can check to see if she truly quit easily," Bentley, who was knocked over and tumbled out of his wheelchair during the confusion, said, "If someone could help me back into my chair."
"I'll help you with that little buddy." Murray said easily getting the turtle back into his wheelchair.
"Okay, now I'll just hack into Interpol's mainframe." Bentley said.
"But Sly said you thought hacking into the personnel files was too risky." Carmelita said confused.
"Very true," Bentley said not looking up from his laptop, "But employment records are different. Interpol prides themselves on being efficient, so any changes in employment should be posted immediately. In just a little while longer we'll know whether or not you're telling the truth Ms. Fox."
"Bentley, why are you doing this?" Sly asked, "I trust Carmelita, isn't that good enough for you?"
"Any other time Sly, absolutely." Bentley said, "But you brought her into our home! I thought we all agreed a long time ago that we'd never breath a word of any safe house locations to anyone who is not in the gang."
"Technically I didn't." Sly commented, "Carmelita wants to join the gang."
"W-W-WHAT?" Bentley asked, so shocked his head may as well blew up. Murray, who had gotten bored of the whole Carmelita thing and began eating some off the pizza on the table, began to choke but coughed the piece up quickly. Dimitri collapsed backwards, unconscious. The others were simply left speechless.
"Did I say something strange?" Sly asked, "And before you answer, Bentley, focus on searching the employment records."
"I just found Carmelita's record." Bentley said, "Okay, let's see, name, arrest rates, here we go, status. Carmelita's current status is: resigned. She really did quit."
"See, I told you guys." Sly said.
"I am so sorry Carmelita." Bentley said obviously sorrowful, "It's just you've done so much to try to arrest us, I figured lying about quitting Interpol wasn't impossible. Can you forgive me?"
"Don't take it personally," Murray said, "Bentley just over thinks sometimes."
"I'll forgive you this time." Carmelita said, "But think I am trying to do anything like that again, and I may not be so forgiving."
"O-O-O-Okay." Bentley stammered out.
"Relax, I was just kidding." Carmelita said, "I wouldn't hurt any of Sly's friends."
"You know, I don't appreciate you talking to Bentley like that," Penelope said, "He was just doing what he thought was best for the gang."
"Uh, I just had the most bogus dream." Dimitri said regaining consciousness, "I dreamt that Carmelita wanted to join the gang."
"She does." Sly said. Dimitri froze up, fell backwards, and once again lost consciousness when he hit the floor.
"We've got to find a way to tell him so that stops happening." Sly said.
"Or we could just wait for him to stop by himself." Murray said, "It's pretty funny."
"If he hurts himself, we could be out a frogman." Bentley said.
"Technically, we never asked him to join the gang." Sly pointed out.
"Be that as it may," Bentley said, "He proved valuable in the Cooper Vault job. Without him, you couldn't have taken the underwater passage."
"Either way," Sly said, "Can we focus on letting Carmelita into the gang?"
"First of all Sly," Bentley said, "We recruited the others because we needed their skills. What could we possibly use Carmelita for? And secondly, it isn't really up to us. You're the one who gets to make the decision. Just please, think about it carefully."
"Welcome to the team Carmelita." Sly said almost as soon as Bentley finished talking.
"Thank you." Carmelita said.
The ruins of Le Theatre Formidable…
The rubble of the destroyed club was blasted away by a massive explosion of blue energy. Emerging from the now smoldering center, a severely damaged battle suit.
"I'm not down yet Cooper." Torigun said, his voice interrupted with clips of static, "And so help me, I will kill you eventually. For there is nowhere you can hide. So enjoy your last breaths, because I will have the pleasure of personally taking you from this world. Bwahahaha." While laughing, Torigun disappered into the shadows.