Fly Cooper

Chapter 14 Reconciliation Ushered By Enemies

I sat in the co-pilot's seat of the helicopter with my arms folded and a scowl on my face. I turned briefly to glare at Bane who only smiled at me sheepishly before I growled and turned away in my huff.

"So how did you end up in the big house anyway?" He asked looking over his shoulder at our unwelcome passenger.

Bentley rolled forwards and I watched him in the reflection in the windshield but making it look as if I were merely looking out it. It had been a shock to see the turtle behind that steel door, an unpleasant surprise only though.

He sighed and shook his head sadly. "You should know that plans never go the way you want them." Was his only reply.

"I know what you mean." Bane replied smiling and looking over his shoulder again causing the helicopter to dip a little and bringing his attention back to the front. "How are the others? Penelope and Murray I mean?" He continued glancing back once more.

You better keep your eyes forward Bane. I'm this close to smacking you across the head. I thought angrily.

"Murray retired from racing a year or two ago, said he wanted a change of pace again." Bentley replied but his tone was anything other than happy. He sounded regretful, sad, kind of like he felt like one of the lowest beings in the world. He should I thought sadistically. "Penelope has been worried about me, worried I would never see my daughter grow up. Festering away in prison."

"Daughter?!" Both Bane and I asked at the same time. I still didn't look at him and my gaze dropped from the windscreen to the floor.

"Yes..." Bentley replied slightly embarrassed. "We have a three year old daughter, Briyan..." He trailed off slightly.

I smirked and hid my face in my shoulder length black hair. I wasn't going to mention that I picked up on the fact that rearranged the letters spelt out 'brainy' or 'binary'. Obviously he and Penelope had big, smart plans for the little girl. But it made me contemplate how old they all really are, Bentley must be mid forties at least, maybe even fifty. Murray and my- Sly must be around the same age, they're losing their touch.

"Sly came to the birth..." He continued looking up towards me; I raised my eyes from the floor to the glass screen again and my eyes me the turtle's reflection. "The way he looked at her... he was so sad. He really misses you." Bentley rolled forward and put his hand gently on my shoulder.

Bane looked over at me with a pleading look in his eyes. He wanted me to forgive him, whether it Bentley or Sly I wasn't so sure.

"I am sorry for what I did Fly. We all are, your father more than you realise."

"No, I understand." I told him gently removing his hand. "You've know him all your life, he's been with you guys longer than I was, he abandoned you at the first chance to get with my mum he got, and when it came to deciding what to do you chose him over me."

"He only did it because he thought it was best." Bentley protested earnestly.

"Yeah, I can see how holding your daughter against her will and trying to erase her memory of the only thing she's ever really cared about could be considered love."

"It's more complicated than that." Bentley told me. "I didn't understand at first but now... with Briyan..." He trailed off again. "He spent his life running Fly; he never had a stable home. It was too dangerous, too unstable; he wanted something else for you something better."

"This is my something else though!" I shouted quietly staring at the flight controllers again. "This is my something better." I continued in a softer tone.

Fly..." Bane tried to comfort me leaving the controls, the helicopter leaned dangerously to one side and we were both thrown around the cockpit.

"Just fly the helicopter Bane!" I shouted as he reached desperately for the controls. I took a mobile from one of the compartments. "Bentley, call Penelope, or Murray of someone and get them to come pick you up. Tori get the SUV and meet us at the rendezvous." I continued still in my irritable mood.

"An SUV?" Bentley asked raising his eyebrow with interest.

"It's no van but it gets the job done." I snapped.

"Don't bother." Bane told Bentley taking the phone off him. "We'll drop you off, it's not like we could really keep the helicopter anyway. Good thing we taught Tori to drive though."

I didn't comment on any of the conversation for the rest of the flight. After it became blatantly obvious that Bane's attention lay with my betrayer I took the controls off him. Firstly so we avoided any more near collisions while he was distracted by the apparently fascinating turtle. And secondly so I could ignore them both by saying 'I'm trying to fly a helicopter here' whenever I thought they were trying to talk to me.

Bane mainly asked about Sly back when he was a thief, about all of the adventures they had had. I listened when the conversation stayed away from the events of this decade. But as soon as I felt they became awkward I tuned right out. I heard some things mentioned about my early training but things always stopped around the mention of Faberge Eggs.

I heard Bane say he had been at that party, intending to steal the eggs himself before we had killed the lights. That was the day he had become 'interested' in me as a partner. Using Tori and her limited expertise in computers at the time had gotten all the information he could on me.

He said it was only a matter of time before I get caught by one of my parents, he said he was prepared to break me out of jail when that happened. As it had turned out the betrayal was just as good, if not better than, me getting in thrown in jail. I remember the night clearly; we had run for hours, finally coming to his 'safe house'. It hadn't been too impressive back then, but he had been new to the thieving career.

That was when Bentley asked about Bane's life before the world of crime. He went quiet after that, looking out the front window and I felt the tension rise again. It was time for this to end.

I took the helicopter down to the rendezvous point to find Tori already there in the car. I got out of the vehicle and climbed straight into the new one, taking the driver's seat once more. Tori followed her brother with a confused look on her face as they helped Bentley into the car. I put my foot down and the car screeched off down the road.

When the SUV finally skidded to a halt out the front of a new location to me I heard the occupants scramble out desperately. Under usual circumstances I was a good driver but I just wanted to be rid of this reminder of my past I would prefer forgotten. I waited patiently though as Bane said goodbye and hello as Penelope walked outside. There was a hesitant knock on the door and I opened it gently. Bentley held something out to me and I was hesitant to take it.

"Please?" He asked as Penelope and a young girl appeared at his side. "It is rightfully yours, take it."

It was the Thievius Raccoonus. I hadn't been able to take everything with me the night the cane was the only thing that had come with me to my new life that night, the book had somehow been left behind. I had replaced the clothes with something similar but newer and the pouch was easily substituted.

"Fly it's nice to see you again, you have grown up very well." Penelope commented holding onto Briyan's hand as she shrunk behind her mother's body.

"Thanks." I responded shyly. Penelope had taken no real part that night, but she had know. I know she wouldn't have agreed with it but she had known.

I was finding it harder and harder to stay angry with my old friends, it hadn't really been their fault. It had been Sly's, he had asked this horrible thing of them.

"Bentley, I'm sorry. For the way I acted, it was wrong." I admitted humbly.

"I don't blame you, it was a horrible thing we did-"

I held up my hand to stop him. "Please, I'd rather just put that whole thing behind me."

"Then will you forgive Sly?" Bentley asked hopefully.

I didn't say anything. That was the million dollar question wasn't it? Forgive and forget or make him pay? I took the book from Bentley and placed it in the vehicle and walked off. Bane came after me but I think Bentley grabbed his arm because I vaguely heard him say 'I think she needs to be alone'.

Darkness slowly consumed me as I disappeared from my friends, new and olds' sights.

*

I watched him on the balcony of the same house we had lived in my whole life. He looked miserable, absolutely wretched. I felt for the old raccoon, I really did, he was my father anymore. But all I could see of him was the look in his eyes, the shock and fear as Murray let me go that night. Again sides fought in my head over what was right and what I should do.

I don't know how much time passed as I contemplated what my course of action would be. Finally, resolved, I turned and walked away, allowing myself to be engulfed by the security of the night.

Note Briyan is pronounced "Bree-anne". And yes you can shout quietly. And don't ask me how both Bane and Fly learnt how to fly a helicopter, it's a secret. Damn, she was so close and yet...R&R please.