Knock Knock Knock
The small wooden door resonated heavily as Judy pounded her fist against it. The whole building seemed to shake a little, unsurprising considering how rickety it appeared for the outside. Nick had lead them to a tiny shack sitting at the base of a pillar supporting the railway bridge coming into Sahara Square. It was a remote location, right on the outskirts of the district, accessible only by an unpaved road, more a pathway really, that wound its way through the dunes. The aptly named 'bridge' location was nothing more than a wooden structure propped up off the sand a few feet by posts that looked like they could snap in half at any moment. The porch the two officer were standing on was missing more than a few planks towards the ends and had no railing whatsoever.
Knock Knock Kno-
Judy pulled away her last hit as the door creaked open.
"You two don't give up easily do you?" Bentley said, giving the officers a look of both frustration and disappointment.
"Nope." Judy replied as she pushed her way forward.
"Oh please, just come right in." The turtle remarked sarcastically while rolling his wheelchair backwards to avoid the freight train of a rabbit moving into the shack. Inside, although the décor was different, the room looked incredibly similar to the first time the two groups encountered each other. The biggest difference was the presence of a couch on the left side. Other than that, one large table sat towards the far end of the room, complete with computers and gadgets galore. The rest of the equipment had been stored either on the floor or the few other tables around the room. There was a small kitchen area in the left corner and a hallway leading off on the right.
"Where's Sly? I'd like to get my report back if you don't mind."
"Asleep. Now if you want to take a seat I'd be more than happy to talk to you about that paperwork."
"Yeah, we don't need you cracking any skulls carrots," Nick commented as he entered just after his partner, who was in the middle of the main room already, "at least not until I have some popcorn."
"Fine," Judy took a breath to calm down before grabbing one of the chairs at the main table and sitting down. Nick closed the door behind him and joined her, "but this better be good."
"Now I understand you two are upset and possibly confused. If it's any consolation, I voted to leave the city at least five time since we got here, but obviously my concerns were dismissed seeing how you got dragged into this anyway, and now I have to deal with it… Anyway, here's situation-"
"What's with all the noise?" Sly interrupted the turtle, appearing in the hallway with a yawn, rubbing his eyes as he spoke. He was dressed in light blue pajamas and his fur was clumped and messy, looking like he just rolled out of bed. He stopped as he entered the room, noticing Nick and Judy seated at the table. After letting out a quick sigh, he slumped his way over to the couch and lay down.
"What's with him?" Nick commented.
"He's got to rest up for tonight," Bentley replied, "the fact that raccoons are nocturnal doesn't help either."
"What are you doing tonight? Stealing more ZPD documents?" Judy asked irritably.
"Unfortunately I can't tell-"
"We're doing recon." Bentley was once again interrupted by Sly who, although he was still laying down starring at the ceiling, could tell everyone in the room was giving him inquisitive looks.
"Yes, wonderful, let's just tell the cops everything we are doing."
"Ah calm down Bentley, I'm the one who got us into this, let me deal with it."
The turtle scowled at Sly for a moment before grabbing a laptop off the table. "If you need me I'll be writing up another escape plan, for when this inevitably fails." With that he rolled his way down the hall and out of sight.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, really inspiring." Sly called after his friend. A brief silence followed as Nick and Judy sat awkwardly, waiting for him to do something. After a few seconds, the raccoon let out another sigh, mentally preparing himself to wake up and talk with the two officers.
"Don't mind him," He finally broke the quietness, slowly sitting up on the couch, his telltale suave tone starting to emerge from the tired mammal, "he's just a little stressed out. Not that I've been helping very much."
Judy opened her mouth to speak but Sly waved her off.
"I know, I know, your report. I understand you're not happy with me but I've got a good reason for this one."
"You'd better." The rabbit spoke up, taking control of the conversation, "I was having a good day, leading an investigation, not concerned about a gang of international criminals, it was nice. Then you showed up, robbed a friend, lied to us, and put me in the hospital. My whole week took a turn. Now the chief wants your head, as soon as he knows who you are, and I'm sure Interpol would be happy to hear of your presence as well, don't even get me started on them. I was just doing my job, writing some paperwork, and there you go taking it. Now I'm here on my day off dealing with this nonsense, so yeah you better have a real good reason for that."
"Like I said, we're doing some recon tonight. It's the first stage of anything we do." Sly continued, seemingly unfazed by Judy's quick rant. "Initially the plan was to pull the job and get out of here within a day or two, but Bentley stumbled upon something that kept us here. If we weren't staying here longer I wouldn't have cared for that report of yours, I'm used to being chased by now. In fact the look on Carmelita's face if she found out I was here would be priceless, but we're still here so our presence has to remain hidden, at least for a while."
"What exactly is keeping you here?" Nick asked in an attempt to moderate the contempt he could tell his partner was feeling from the response.
"It's a bit of a long story."
"Well, I don't know about you carrots, but I've got some free time and I'd love to hear it."
"Alright," Judy reluctantly agreed, "if he's here talking at least he isn't robbing anyone."
Nick and Sly both chuckled at her lighthearted pouting, noticing each other as they did so, realizing they may have had a bit more in common than either thought. Sly quickly jumped into story telling mode, explaining the events that brought the gang to Zootopia to begin with. He spoke of how a couple years ago his gang was fighting for the Cooper vault, an entire island housing his family fortune. After defeating a crazed member of his father's former gang, Sly faked amnesia so he and Carmelita could be together. Just the first few lines brought up an array of questions from the audience of two.
Realizing it was a bit complicated, the raccoon decided to start where all stories should, the beginning. Full of charisma and with a smooth delivery, Sly weaved a tale tracing back to his childhood. He described the book full of his ancestors thieving ways, the Thievius Raccoonus, and how on the day he was to inherit it, his parents were killed by the Fiendish Five. This group of criminals, were led by Clockwerk, who was so fueled by hatred for the Cooper family he slowly replaced himself with robotic parts in order to live long enough to see them wiped out. He continued on talking about how he met Bentley and Murray at an orphanage and how they've been inseparable ever since. Sly explained all about how, with their help, he became the thief he is today and how together, he and his gang proved themselves against their greatest foe and more.
All the trials and tribulations the three outlaws had faced were laid out for the officers to hear. They had been all over the world, exclusively stealing from other criminals. A few of their targets sounded familiar to Nick and Judy, Panda King, Rajan, the Klaww gang, probably read something about them while at the academy. It was an overload of information that seemed too farfetched to be true, but the way he spoke, the little details that made him laugh, the subtle emotion in his voice, as a thief he must be a good liar but this had to be genuine.
Nick could have sworn he saw Judy crack a smile when Sly started talking about Carmelita. It was funny to think about, the crazed inspector having a soft spot for a smooth talking criminal. From his stories, Carmelita didn't sound as bad as when they talked to her, of course all of this had to be quite some time ago, so they both wondered what could have happened to her. It was especially strange once Sly caught up with where he originally started. During their fight for the Cooper vault, the raccoon had risked his own life to save hers, and she bought the amnesia story, using it as an excuse to tell Sly he was an Interpol agent, her partner in fact. At this point Sly paused, a slight grin on his face, not of conceit but of happiness.
"Those were the days…" He trailed off, clearly lost in the memories the narrative had brought up.
Sly wasn't the only one deep in thought, Nick and Judy were both digesting the life story he just delivered to them. The outlandish adventures and strange concepts presented went mostly overlooked by the officers, but the two took the meaning behind them to heart. They each had a better understanding of the mammal they were talking with, the hardships he endured and the true nature of who he was. Nick especially felt for the raccoon, the things the two had to deal with early on in life, and how they dealt with them were remarkably similar. Even Judy could appreciate just how much Sly had gone through, the bonds he formed with Bentley and Murray, how much they all cared for each other, and how even though they were thieves, his gang was truly good hearted.
"So what happened next?" The rabbit asked quietly, respectful of the heavy emotion floating amongst those beside her.
"We all went our separate ways, it was a bittersweet moment for everyone. Carm and I were together, but the gang had broken up… To this day I still don't know if it was the right move." The raccoon's grin had disappeared, inside he thought back to that transition, torn between two distinct chapters of his life.
"It looks to me the gang's back together now, that's good right?"
"Yeah…" A smile made its way onto Sly's face, hovering somewhere between honest and forced it was clear a lot was going on behind it. In a jump that surprised Judy, but Nick knew all too well, Sly snapped back to his suave self, continuing the story. "So, anyway, Carm and I were together, Bentley was working with Penelope, the mouse I told you about, the one who helped us out on our last adventure, and Murray was living the dream with his van. We all had it pretty good, but after a few years you start to miss how things were. I had kept clean with Carmelita up until then, although the thought of the gang was always there, the urge to pull another heist, it's not something you can simply turn off."
Nick silently chuckled at this. He had been out of the con game for a little while and though it always felt good to mess with everyone around the station, he found himself missing his old friends more than anything. Their recent encounter with Honey really stuck out on this topic. While he would never go back to hustling pawpsicles, Nick wondered if he should try to reconnect with the friends he made over the years.
"I was scoping out a possible target for my comeback," The raccoon continued, "when, as if on cue, Bentley showed up. Said he needed my help. Turns out Penelope went missing a couple days earlier. So we pick up Murray and head out, all happy to be together again. Here's the problem, we needed some funds so I told the gang about the place I was casing and we pull the job. This is where it got bad. To her credit, Carmelita never really trusted my amnesia story and tried her best to keep an eye on me. She could tell I was itching to get back in the game. That night, she went to follow me and caught up with us just as we were making our getaway. She was fuming when she saw me back to my old ways, not that I blame her. But that's why I can't have her know I'm here in the city, she'd come straight for me without a care for anything that stood in her way."
"I see," Judy said thoughtfully, seeing the internal struggle Sly was facing, doing right by his friends or the one he loved, "but you still didn't answer my question."
"Oh, right!" Sly said after looking confused for a second, "This whole thing came about because Bentley's partner disappeared. Through some serious digging, he got a lead that suggested she was kidnapped, with the culprit residing somewhere in Zootopia. I've been trying to run some recon on our target for some time now but every time something manages to get in the way. First there was the whole Mr. Big ordeal, which I'll admit wasn't a bad thing, since we found a page of the Thievius Raccoonus that I didn't even know was missing, then you two force us to relocate at the last minute, and the last attempt an Interpol task force rolls up out of nowhere. I haven't had this much trouble since-"
"Mr. Big wasn't intentional?" – "What do you mean Interpol showed up?"
Nick and Judy interrupted the raccoon simultaneously, leaning forward in their seats in hopes of getting more information.
"Yeah, when doing some quick research into the city, Bentley stumbled on the shrew and his art collection, noticing a familiar page amongst his pieces. It's really cool to think about, there could be more pages, whole sections even, of my family legacy, thieving techniques, incredible information still out there. You bet we'll be looking into it after we find Penelope."
"What do you mean Interpol?" Judy asked again, this time prodding with a firm tone, clearly this was important to her.
"Okay, so yesterday, I was trailing a group to find out where they were headquartered when all of a sudden here comes Interpol flying down the road, sirens blaring. The truck I was tracking knew they were coming from miles away, veered off on some backroad and ditched. I didn't stick around much longer, can't risk the heat. But that was yet another failed attempt to recon our target."
"And who might your target be?" The rabbit inquired cautiously.
"Oh no, I've given you enough already. Besides, what's it matter to you?"
"Just humor me here, who are you after?"
"Wait, you don't think… Let me handle this one." Nick turned to his partner then back to Sly as he put it all together.
"What are you two thinking?" The raccoon asked smugly, knowing they were up to something.
"As strange as it sounds," Nick spoke casually, "we might need your help."
"Oh?" Sly responded inquisitively.
"A couple days ago, carrots and I were working on a case. A series of missing mammal reports. Then Interpol shows up saying our little investigation is bigger than anyone thought. And just yesterday Carmelita tells us one of her agents spotted a kidnapping in progress, matching the details of our case. We ride along with her to find the truck abandoned on some back road. I think you can see what I'm getting at."
"We're chasing the same group."
"Bingo."
Nick and Sly looked to each other, grins matching as the reality set it. For better or worse, a long chain of events had brought the pair of cops and gang of thieves together. They managed to meet at just the right time in their lives. The timing of Interpol and the case, Sly's current dilemma with Carmelita, the conditions were perfect. Under different circumstances none of them would be standing there that day. Things hadn't gone quite as expected for both sides, although nothing had been as expected since they first met. It was clear from the looks the three were giving each other there was only one way to go from here. None of them really liked the concept, but if it worked it worked.
"We help you with the case and you forget about that report?" Sly wondered.
"Close," Judy said, "we can't just ignore the report, we have to give Bogo something, but we should be able to take you out of it."
"I might be able to help you with that one."
"So we have a deal?" Nick asked unintentionally mimicking the raccoons tone.
"I suppose we do. Hey Bentley, I solved our problem!" Sly answered before calling down the hall. Bentley emerged from the end of the hallway a minute later, skeptically looking between a smiling Sly and the two officers still in the room. "Say hello to the newest members of the Cooper gang."
"Why do you do this to me…"
Welp, that's that. First off, sorry my posting schedule is off, that vacation really messed things up, should be back on track soon though. Now about this chapter, this one and the next one are very important for me. I have to make sure no plot holes pop up as things get going here. If anything starts sounding weird please let me know, I was running low on the amount of time I had to dedicate to this story so it might sound funky and I didn't pick up on it.
With that out of the way I have to once again thanks you guys. Chapter 10 passed not one but two incredible milestones for this story. As some of you know I was featured on ZNN a while back, resulting in a huge spike in views for that day. The day I uploaded Ch.10 resulted in more views than the day I was featured, which is insane to think about. Also, this story just passed the 10k view mark. 10,000. That's a huge number! I don't know what to say besides thank you. Each and every one of you have made my first attempt at fanfiction more than I ever hoped for. You have given me an incredible response, so I'm going to try my best to give you an incredible story. Thank you.
