And here's chapter fourteen, which is one of the longest chapter thus far (Thirteen is just a bit longer I think). I was going to wait a little longer to upload this, but I figure that since it's done, what's the point in not uploading it? The only reason the first chapters were so spaced out was because it took me that long to write them.

This chapter being the longest is mostly because it contains the entirety of episode six. Yeah, I have no idea how I managed that, but oh well.

I wanna take a moment to thank everyone who's read this story, as well as left a review! It really means a lot that you guys like it. Even if I never replied to your review (or couldn't), I appreciate them a lot!


Chapter Fourteen: A Good Old-Fashioned Train Robbery

"So she made you play a game of Voodoo Simon Says? That's ridiculous!" I laughed, almost choking on a chocolate chip cookie.

"It was kinda fun, though," Sly replied. "She thought she was being all big and bad, but honestly it wasn't that challenging,"

"And why did that one ghost cat want gumbo? How do dead cats eat?" I questioned further. Sly had been telling me stories about his adventures in Haiti for a while now, and I was very much absorbed into them.

Sly shrugged. "We never figured that one out before we had to leave,"

I laughed, gesturing at Sly with my cookie. "You have been on some really weird adventures,"

"Yeah, we definitely have. Are you counting this one as weird yet, though?" Sly asked, raising an eyebrow.

I hummed, biting into my cookie again as I thought about it. "I dunno. We'd been mostly sticking to logic and reality for the longest time, even if you were constantly doing dumb and dangerous things, but then the ghosts happened..."

Sly laughed. "The ghosts really did it for you, huh?"

"They assaulted me, Sly," I insisted.

Sly grinned. "Sure they did,"

I stuck my tongue out at him at the same moment the van stopped and Bentley announced that we'd arrived. Our destination? Nunavut Bay, Canada. We'd followed Rajan's spice shipments to this cold and snowy place, and Bentley had learned that it was currently inhabited by a lumberjack named Jean Bison. We'd seen him at Rajan's ball, if I remembered correctly.

And of course, like every Klaww Gang member before him, Jean Bison had some Clockwerk parts on him; Both lungs and the stomach. Why a robot actually needed organs was beyond me, but the fact remained that we had to get them.

Murray had parked the van behind some abandoned bait and tackle shop, and I assumed that this was to be our new safehouse. So, we all climbed out of the van, and began setting things up inside. It took a while to sort all of Bentley's equipment and get it all plugged in and whatnot, but soon enough our base of operations was ready.

"So Bentley," I drawled, sitting down with one of the packages of cookies we still had. "What do we know about this Jean Bison guy?"

"Well," Bentley began, pulling up files on his computer. "In his youth, he trecked across Canda to try striking it rich during the gold rush of 1852,"

"1852?" I questioned. "Doesn't that make him like, a hundred years old?"

"I was getting to that," said Bentley, giving me a look for interupting him. "Being young and brave, Jean Bison took a few chances with some dynamite and a mountain, and he ended up buried alive in an avalanche. Lucky for him, the quick freeze actually kept him alive. A hundred and twenty years later - Thanks to global warming - He thawed out, and then joined the Klaww Gang,"

"Now he ships illegal spices for them, is trying to chop down all the forests, and is... Doing something with Clockwerk's organs..." I mused. "Does anyone else find that last part kinda weird?"

"Yeah, it is sort of strange," Sly agreed. "What's a low-tech guy like him doing with robot parts?"

"Does he even know how to use them?" I questioned.

"Those are all things that we need to find out," said Bentley. "So, Sly, if you're ready to do some recon, I think breaking into Jean Bison's cabin might provide some of those answers,"

Sly nodded and headed for the door. "On it,"

"Watch out for trains!" I called to the raccoon as he left. I'd seen at least two, and a lot more train tracks while were unpacking our stuff. I assumed that Jean Bison used them for his spice shipping.

Sly waved to indicate that he'd heard me, and then he was gone. I leaned back in my chair and passed the package of cookies to Murray as he sat down across from me. "So how many more Clockwerk parts do you think there are?" I found myself asking Bentley.

"Well, if I did my math right, and I always do my math right, all that's left are the talons and the brain," Bentley answered.

"What about the rest of him? Like the outer shell and stuff that holds all these organs and pieces together?" I questioned. Didn't we need to destroy those, too?

"I'm not sure," Bentley hummed. "They were all in the museum and they were all stolen by the Klaww Gang. What they did with those other pieces is beyond me,"

I sighed. "But we'll have to find them eventually, right?"

"Right," Bentley confirmed. "Hopefully we'll figure out what happened to those soon,"

"Agreed,"

"Are you eager for this to be over?" Bentley then asked, catching me a bit off-guard.

"No," I replied. "...But also yes. I don't mind running around the world with you guys, in fact I love it. But I wanna hurry up and put this evil scheme to rest. I think Sly does, too,"

Bentley nodded. "You're right. It doesn't show often, but he's terrified of Clockwerk,"

"I can tell," I replied. "Clockwerk must have been a real menace. I've only seen pieces, but I can imagine how terrifying he must have been,"

"He was super scary!" Murray agreed, speaking through a mouthful of cookies.

"I can't imagine the stress that owl has put Sly through," I mumbled, saying this a bit more to myself than to Bentley or Murray.

"A lot," Bentley replied anyways. "You should have seen him when we embarked on our quest to stop the Fiendish Five and reclaim the Thievious Raccoonus. He was a lot more tense and angry,"

I nodded. It didn't happen often, but every now and then one could see a spark of anger in Sly, and now it's presence was making a lot more sense. "Clockwerk put him through hell..."

"But he came back out stronger than ever," Bentley said. "This gang came out stronger than ever, actually,"

I was quiet for a moment as I connected some dots that I hadn't realized I'd left out. "I never realized it before, but Sly's desperate to get rid of Clockwerk because he's scared for his family, isn't he?"

Bentley nodded. "While he also doesn't want the Klaww Gang using the parts like this, it's mostly a personal vendetta,"

"Is that why he was a bit confused as to why I wanted to join you guys?" I asked. "Did he think that I hadn't put the pieces together and didn't know what I was signing up for?"

"Did you?" Bentley asked in turn.

"Not at the time. I mean, Sly told me about what happened to his father, I remember that rather well," I replied. "But I hadn't completely realized just how personal this was to him. I had kinda just focused on the Klaww Gang somehow,"

Bentley raised an eyebrow at me. "And now that you know?"

"...I'm more determined than ever to lend a hand. I'm not just aligned with your 'it takes a thief to catch a thief' ideals," I answered. "I'm dedicated to you guys. You're my friends,"

"I figured just as much," said Bentley, nodding. "I learned a lot about you when you rushed out of the safehouse in India,"

I laughed a bit. India felt like a long ways away now... "Do you think Sly knows? That I'm not just here to bust criminals like some kind of hero?"

"You'll have to ask him," said Bentley. "I know him well, but I'm not a mind reader,"

I snorted. "I beg to differ,"

"I'm just a very observant turtle," Bentley insisted.

I rolled my eyes. "Mhm,"

The room lapsed into silence again as Bentley updated the waypoints that Sly was following around. Eventually I got up and meandered over to the window, staring out at the freshly fallen snow.

It had been a long time since I'd last seen snow, and I was sort of excited about being around it again. "Hey Bentley?"

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I maybe. Go play in the snow before things get underway?" I asked, giving Bentley a pleading grin.

Bentley sighed. "Sure,"

"Can I go, too?" Murray asked excitedly.

"Of course," said Bentley, shaking his head at our childish nature.


"Sly! It's- It's awful! I can't believe it!"

The raccoon had been on his way back to the safehouse after picking a few pockets, when Bentley was suddenly yelling in his ear. "Slow down, Bentley... What happened?"

"Murray and Nyx, they went out to play in the snow! And they got captured... By Inspector Fox!" Bentley exclaimed, sounding like he was on the verge of both an asthma and panic attack.

"Carmelita? She's here?" Sly questioned. "...Don't worry, Bentley, I know how to handle her,"

"But..." the turtle protested. "I don't know where she's locked them up! I'm used to having all the facts!"

"Calm down, Carmelita's not cruel like the Contessa. I'll follow her without being seen, she's bound to check up on them sooner or later," Sly replied smoothly. Hopefully his calmness would help ease Bentley's nerves.

"Okay," the turtle sighed. "That's... That's a good plan. Just don't get caught, too... I don't want to be alone,"

Sly nodded, then cut the feed and got to work following Carmelita. She was much more apt that the usual guard, but Sly was a master of tailing people by now. Dodging in and out of cover and weaving around Carmelita's flashlight, he followed her closely as she made a lap of the area.

She was probably looking for him, Sly figured. If she already had Nyx and Murray, all she had to do was find him and Bentley. She would likely turn them all in to prove that she wasn't a turncoat. Sly wasn't against helping Carmelita clear her name, but he was indeed against him and his team going to jail.

Eventually, Carmelita lead Sly up a small hill, and to an old power box. Inside said power box was Murray, who looked rather miserable. Outside the box was Nyx, who was handcuffed to the bars of it. She looked rather bored with the whole situation.

"Hey criminals. Doing okay?" Carmelita asked as she approached them.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Murray sighed.

Nyx shrugged languidly, clearly not taking this whole 'being captured' thing very seriously. "Aside from being detained against my will, I'm pretty good,"

Sly remembered a time when something like this would probably have scared Nyx to death. He had to smirk thinking about it. She'd certainly come a long way, hadn't she?

"Don't worry, it won't be long now. Once I bust the other members of your gang, we'll get out of here," Carmelita said, as if that would be a good thing.

"Aren't you kinda on the outs with Interpol right now?" Murray asked sheepishly.

"I'm an honest cop!" Carmelita snapped. "Busting the Cooper Gang will prove my innocence and show everyone that Constable Neyla set me up!"

"Captain Neyla, you mean," Nyx corrected her. "She got promoted after the whole Contessa bust that she totally had no part in,"

"Whatever!" Carmelita growled. "Just sit tight... I'm going to look for your pals,"

Nyx watched warily as Carmelita left, and then produced something from her pocket after she was sure the vixen was gone.

"Are you sure you can get that off?" Murray asked as Nyx began fiddling with the handcuff around her wrist.

"I don't know, but it's worth another try," Nyx replied. In her hands were two bobby pins, both bent to resemble lock picks.

It was then that Sly slipped up to them. "Hey, you guys okay? Bentley sent me to break you out,"

"Fat chance," said Murray. "This thing is triple padlocked, and Inspector Fox is carrying all the keys,"

"And I'm trying to pick these handcuffs with bobby pins," Nyx sighed, holding up her tools. "She took my actual lock picks,"

"Ten points for the attempted MacGyver," Sly chuckled. "And come on, Murray, you know I'm an expert at pickpocketing,"

"She's tough, Sly," Murray warned. "If you manage to get a key you'd better run for it. Carmelita's sure to notice and chase after you,"

Sly grinned. "Leave her to me,"

And then the raccoon was sneaking back down the small hill, following Carmelita's footprints. Nyx sighed and discarded her bent bobby pins into the snow. "And now we wait,"

It was aproximately forty-five minutes later when Sly came running up the hill again, carrying three keys and a small bag with him. He took a moment to catch his breath, and then tossed the bag to Nyx.

Catching it, she saw that it was her bag of supplies that Carmelita had confiscated. "Thanks. Took you long enough,"

Sly smiled as he used the three keys to unlock the padlocks holding Murray inside the power box. "You're welcome,"

"Now where's the handcuff keys?" Nyx asked as she moved with the door to let Murray out.

Sly grinned a devilish grin as he motioned to the supply bag in Nyx's hands. "I don't have them,"

Nyx stared at Sly for just a moment before she realized what he wanted her to do. She narrowed her eyes at him as she reached into her pouch and pulled out a lock pick. "You're cruel,"

"You need the practice," Sly purred, crossing his arms.

Nyx rolled her eyes but couldn't help from laughing a bit, and got to work picking the lock on the handcuffs. It was harder than it should have been, since one hand was confined by said handcuffs. But soon enough the lock clicked open, and Nyx freed her hand.

She stepped away from the power box, and grinned at Sly. "There, I did it,"

"See? No problem, I knew you had it in you," said Sly. "Now do you wanna tell me how you guys got caught?"

"She got between us and that electric barrier thing," Murray answered. "She moves really quietly!"

Sly nodded, motioning for his friends to follow him back to the safehouse. "Yeah, Carmelita's quick on her feet like that,"

"I considered running or tackling her but I figured that neither option was smart," Nyx said. "For one, I don't think you'd ever forgive me if I tackled her,"

Sly laughed. "I don't think you could hurt Carmelita if you tried,"

"Is she that tough?" Nyx asked.

Sly nodded. "Oh yeah,"

Nyx raised both eyebrows in mild shock. "Well then remind me to stay out of her way next time,"

"Will do," replied Sly.

Within a few more minutes, the trio reached the safehouse again. Murray headed inside, but Nyx grabbed Sly's arm to stop him. "Hey, Sly? Can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Yeah sure," the raccoon replied, turning to face her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Nyx assured him. "I just. Wanted to make sure that you know something,"

Sly raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"

"Well. I was talking to Bentley and we got to talking about Clockwerk and how he put you through literal hell..." Nyx said, trying her best to meet Sly's eyes as she spoke. "And it occurred to me that collecting all the parts of him isn't just about stopping the Klaww Gang from using them for evil, it's about putting an end to someone who's been tormenting you and your family for years,"

"And I realized that maybe you don't know that I'm in this thing because I want to help you do that. I'm not just here because I like trying to be a renegade hero of some kind or because I like the idea of breaking the law," Nyx stopped to officially lock eyes with Sly before she continued. "I'm here because I care about you guys. You're my friends and I care about you. And if Clockwerk is your enemy, then he's my enemy, too,"

Sly stared at Nyx for a moment with an expression she couldn't name. She stared back as she waited for him to react. How was he going to react?

It was a few moments later, but Sly soon started to laugh. "Yeah, Nyx. I knew that," he said, clapping the cat on the shoulder. "It's good to hear it straight from you, though,"

Nyx smiled wide at the raccoon that was smiling back at her. "Glad we're on the same page,"

Then she opened the safehouse door and stepped inside. "Hey Bentley, hope you didn't have an asthma attack or something,"

"I nearly did," the turtle groaned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm one hundred percent fine," Nyx assured him. "In fact, I think I'm better than that,"

Bentley sighed. "Good. Good. Now, we've lost a lot of time, so we need to get things moving,"

"What's the plan?" Sly asked, joining his teammates at the table.

"I'm glad you asked," Bentley purred, gesturing to the projector that was set up in the corner. He got up from his chair, and fired up the old machine. Nyx idly wondered how it had survived being dragged from Europe to Canada and likely a million other places.

"Thanks to Sly's efforts, we now know the location of all three of the local Clockwerk parts," said Bentley, cycling through recon photos. "Two lungs, and a stomach,"

Nyx made a face at the mention of said Clockwerk parts. "That's still really weird,"

Bentley rolled his eyes at the interupting feline. "Jean Bison has grafted each piece to the engine in one of his 'Iron Horse' trains. This improvement allows the trains to run all night, and all day. We won't have the luxury of sneaking in while they're stopped,"

"While they're in motion, the only way aboard is through a hatch on the caboose roof," continued the turtle, circling said hatch in a recon photo. "Which unfortunately have been locked down. These need to go. First, collect the spice gas from the balloons above town, and then land on the back of the caboose to blow off the locks,"

"Once the way is cleared, I'll suit up and jump into Iron Horse number one while it passes near town," Bentley continued to explain. "With some luck, we'll have the first Clockwerk lung in a few hours,"

"I still don't get why a robot needs organs," Nyx said, now that the slideshow was done.

"You think I know how Clockwerk operated?" Bentley asked with a laugh. "I want to know that just as much as you do,"

"Maybe by the end of all this, we'll have found out," Nyx said hopefully.

"Perhaps, but I doubt it," Bentley replied.


"That looked incredibly terrifying,"

"It was actually pretty fun, you should have come with," Sly purred, dropping the empty vaccum backpack onto the floor. He had just returned from blowing the locks off the Iron Horse trains.

And by 'blowing the locks off' I mean defying gravity and death by skydiving into balloons of spice gas that would then shoot him back up into the air. And then he would paraglide down and land on the caboose to blow up the lock. And how - You might ask - Does spice gas blow up locks? Well, apparently it's really unstable at low altitudes. So if Sly had happened to miss the caboose, he would have been blown up.

He'd come out of the mission without a single scratch, of course, but it didn't stop me from being concerned about his apparent adrenaline addiction.

"Yeah, haha, no," I said. "I prefer to be on the ground, skydiving isn't my thing,"

"Aw, c'mon," Sly teased. "Learn to live a little,"

"Sly, I continue to live because I don't do stupid things like land bombs on the backs of trains," I said flatly.

"And what about breaking into said trains?" Bentley asked. "Would that be considered stupid?"

"Yeah kind of," I replied. Perhaps if the train were stopped, it wouldn't be so bad. But these trains were going to be constantly in motion.

"Good. Because you're coming with me," the turtle said, strapping on his crossbow.

I blinked twice while Sly stifled laughter. "What now? I swear you just said I'm coming onto the train with you?"

"You are," Bentley confirmed. "I'll likely handle everything, but you need the experience,"

I groaned to both myself and the heavens above. "You've gotta be kidding me,"

"Nope. Get your gear, we've gotta do this soon," Bentley said.

I sighed long and hard and glared at the raccoon who was laughing at me. "Alright, okay," I grabbed my gear as requested, and then followed Bentley out of the safehouse.

The turtle lead me through the snowy town, and to a ledge that overlooked one of the train tracks. I suddenly realized that we were going to jump onto the train, and I immediately became more scared of this mission than I had been before.

"According to this time table, Iron Horse number one should be passing by anytime now," said Sly via the binocucom.

"I-I see it! It's moving awfully fast!" stammered Bentley. Apparently he was just as anxious about this as I was.

"I think that's an understatement, Bentley," I replied. "It's going ridiculously fast..."

"And that's why you're here..." replied Bentley.

I blinked a few times and then stared at Bentley. "Me? What am I supposed to do...?"

"You're good at jumping," Bentley explained. "So you're going to be the one to get us onto that train,"

I sighed, knowing that there was no use in arguing. We were here, and the train was due any minute. "Alright, I guess that does make sense," after all, I did know I could jump rather far. It'd likely be safer if it were my legs propelling us both towards that train.

"Just jump on the caboose and go in through the hatch," Sly said. "Piece of cake,"

"Says you," I said flatly, eyeing the train as it approached us.

"Just don't worry about it too much," Sly advised, and then the line clicked off.

I snorted, pushed my glasses back up onto my nose, and then bent down to scoop Bentley into my arms. "Hang on tight, I dunno how well this is gonna go,"

"I'm trusting that you won't fling us to our deaths," said Bentley, taking my advice and clinging tightly to my neck.

The train was approaching quickly, and I crouched down and prepared to jump. I really didn't want to make that jump at all, but Bentley was counting on me. And friends needing me is unfortunately one of my biggest weaknesses.

The roar of the train was almost louder than the thumping of my heart in my ears as it approached, and I took one last deep breath... A second later, and there was the caboose.

Ignoring all the warnings in my head, I leaped from our perch, and off we went towards the caboose. Maybe my aim wasn't perfect, but at least we landed on the caboose without being injured or falling off.

I let out the breath I'd been holding, and set Bentley down. "I can't believe I did that,"

"See? I told you it'd be fine," and there was a snarky comment from Sly. I almost missed him being concerned about me. But by now, he was relaxing into the idea of me going on jobs, and unfortuntely so was I.

I blew a raspberry with my tongue, and then followed Bentley down the hatch on the caboose. The caboose was thankfully empty, but the car ahead of it had various laser security beams panning from side to side.

Bentley and I stopped to analyze these beams, and it occured to me that they probably should have scared me more than they actually did. Lasers didn't really seem as scary as giant axes, in my mind.

"So how do you feel about dodging these lasers?" Bentley asked, gesturing to the red beams.

"Surprisingly, pretty good," I replied. I watched as the various beams moved side to side in a strict pattern, and soon I had that pattern figured out. I waited for the right time, and then vaulted myself over a train seat to slip between them.

"You're getting the hang of this, I see," said Bentley, smirking at me as he evaded the lasers as well.

"Very slowly," I replied. "That wasn't too different from dodging the axes. It felt kinda familiar,"

"And eventually, everything will be some kind of familiar," Bentley said. "That's why I insist you come with on these sorts of things, even if it makes everyone nervous,"

I nodded as we ducked through the second set of lasers in that car. "I understand, even if sometimes I'm a bit mad at you for making me do it,"

Bentley smiled. "Good to know,"

After clearing a third set of lasers, we moved to the next car. This one had lasers lining the floor, and it reminded me of the spiked floors and logs. There was a grid of lasers that were stationary, and these left various safe spots for us to land on. There was however, another set of lasers that were moving horizontally across the floor. Those would likely be the biggest threat here.

Feeling a bit more confident, Bentley and I tackled this challenge together, both jumping and weaving through the lasers. We reached the other side unharmed, and I had to laugh at myself. "This is. Actually a little fun,"

"Oh no," said Bentley, though there was something teasing in his tone. "Sly has been a terrible influence on you,"

"I'm not saying that doing dangerous stuff is fun," I countered. "I'm just saying that the acrobatics is kinda fun. Makes me feel like a movie hero,"

"Still, I blame Sly," Bentley insisted, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

I laughed a bit and followed the turtle onto the roof of the next car. We then had to subsequently hit the deck as we found a bald eagle swooping at us from above. As we saw it turn around to come back, we booked it across the car and jumped down to the open one below us.

"Well, I didn't expect that..." I mumbled breathlessly, looking above us at the circling eagles.

Bentley nodded in agreement, and then took aim with his crossbow, drawing my attention to a guard that was a few feet away from us. It was a miracle that the oblivious duck hadn't seen us yet.

Bentley fired a dart, and that duck slumped over, down and out for the time being. Bentley looked over to me. "You wanna get the other guy?" he gestured to the other duck that was further ahead.

"Sure," I agreed, and then quietly began making my way through the roofless car. By now, I had the sneaking around thing down pretty well. Being a cat really helped with that, I'd found.

Climbing up to another level of the car, I slowly drew my baton. I was right behind the duck now, and it was surprising that he hadn't sensed me yet. Before he had a chance to, I swung my arm to the right, extending my baton and smacking him with it all in the same move.

He was conscious for a few moments after he hit the ground, but passed out rather quick. I waved Bentley over as soon as I was sure the guard was out. We moved through the rest of this car, taking out another few guards on our way. Fighting was another thing I'd become more comfortable with by now, so long as my opponents weren't five times bigger than me. Or there weren't a million of them.

We found ourselves on the roof of the next car, but thankfully there were no eagles around to bother us, just guards. Bentley took care of those guys with his sleep darts, and we then pressed onwards. We had to be getting close by now, right?

The next open car was guarded by a large moose with a flashlight. Remember what I said about opponents five times my size? Yeah, I didn't want to engage that guy. Thankfully, we didn't have to. Bentley motioned for me to follow him up a stack of boxes to our left, and via these we were able to completely avoid the bored moose and the two goats that were with him. How they never saw us I will never know, but I decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Moving to the next car, we found that it's floors were lined with lasers not unlike the first setup we'd seen, though this time both arrays were moving. It was more difficult, but Bentley and I still managed to cross the car without incident. Something in the back of my head was reminding me of exactly what I was doing, but the part of me that was used to this was on auto-pilot by now.

"I think we're in the home stretch," whispered Bentley as we reached a car that was completely and utterly filled with boxes. "It should be just past here,"

"And how do we cross... Here?" I asked, staring at the tall stacks of boxes that towered over us.

Bentley motioned to the side rails of the train. It took me a moment to figure it out, but I soon realized that his plan was for us to edge our way across by standing on the rails and bracing ourselves against the boxes. Alright, that was something new that I wasn't too familiar with. The tightness in my chest came back with a vengeance, but I was slowly learning how to fight it.

I nodded to Bentley. "Sly gave me a crash course on this stuff, it shouldn't be... Too hard," though maybe that was a slight understatement.

Bentley nodded to me once, and then climbed onto the left-hand railing. I took a deep breath, and then climbed onto the right side. I pressed my back up against the boxes, and slowly eased myself along the edge. However, I was stopped dead in my tracks by a bright flashlight coming way too close to me.

"Bentley, there's a guard here, I can't get past him," I whispered into my earpiece.

"I've run into the same roadblock," Bentley replied. "Try climbing on top of the boxes, there seem to be a few missing on top,"

I glanced behind myself and saw that Bentley was right, there were a few boxes missing on the tops of the stacks. I moved back along the rail a little, and then climbed up, using the missing spaces like large footholds.

Bentley met me up top, and we pressed forwards. The crates allowed us to leap over the two guard's heads, and that put us right in front of the first Clockwerk lung. I sighed as we approached it. Mission complete.

Bentley detatched the lung from the furnace of the train, and turned it over in his hands as he looked it over.

"Outstanding!" Sly exclaimed. "Chalk up one strange robot organ for us, and one less Iron Horse train for Jean Bison!"

Bentley and I exchanged pleased glances with each other. But then another thought crossed my mind...

"Bentley, how are we getting off this train?"


Bentley managed to hijack the train controls and get it to stop so that we could get off. Otherwise our plan B option was to jump off the train and into the snow, which didn't sound very appealing. But thankfully, Bentley's tech skills reigned true, and the train made an unscheduled stop to let us off.

Once back at the safehouse, Bentley dove into another slideshow. Apparently getting at Iron Horses two and three was going to take a bit more work. Bentley had to destroy the defenses on Iron Horse two to clear the way for Sly, and Murray had to kidnap some bear cubs to unlock a hand cart that would be needed to catch Iron Horse three.

Once that was said and done, Sly boarded the second train, and within the hour we had the second Clockwerk lung. Now all that was left was to board Iron Horse three, and steal the stomach.

This was to be the big heist, and thus Bentley had another slideshow for us. We all gathered around the projector, and Bentley began the presentation. "Okay, guys, this is it. Time to break into Iron Horse number three, and carry away the Clockwerk stomach," the title card for this heist read 'Operation: Choo-Choo' and I had to force myself to not laugh at that.

"Now the train's moving too fast to jump onto here in town, so we'll have to catch up with it on Murray's new hand car," said Bentley, circling a picture of said car. "Once we're in position, Sly will hop aboard and make his way to the engine. While he travels through the interior, I'll provide air support with my RC chopper,"

"Nyx, you might be wondering what your job is," continued the turtle, answering an unspoken question. "Well, considering that we've already robbed Jean Bison twice, he's likely to have upped the security on Iron Horse three. Your job is to get to Sly on the off chance that anything goes wrong, and get him out of there,"

I nodded to Bentley, fully ready to take on that responsibility should I need to. Regardless of how scared I might be, protecting a friends was one of those things I'd always be willing to do.

"I've planned this as a textbook train robbery, if we all do our jobs right, what could possibly go wrong?" Bentley concluded as the slideshow flickered out.

With the slideshow over, everyone began moving around the safehouse, packing up our supplies and loading them back into the van. Once that was done, everyone geared up, and we headed for the hand car.

It took Murray a moment to get the hand car going, but once he had, we were rocketing down the train tracks at a rather alarming speed. I really hoped that the old hand car would stand up to the stress...

Iron Horse three was fast, but Murray managed to get the hand car moving fast enough to catch up to it. We fell in line right behind the caboose, and Murray held our speed there.

"Got it," said Sly. "Strong work, Murray!"

"Yeah, sure," Murray panted. "'The Murray's' strength knows no limit," though the tired sound in his voice implied that it did.

"You're on, Sly," Bentley instructed. "Break into that train and steal the Clockwerk stomach,"

Instead of getting onto the train right then, Sly starting musing about Jean Bison. "That Jean Bison's one strange guy. The Klaww Gang divides up the Clockwerk parts and he walks away with stomach and lungs? ...It still creeps me out,"

"Get creeped out later when aren't riding an antique hand car at breakneck speeds," Bentley replied, sounding both nervous and a bit impatient.

"Good point," Sly agreed. "It's time for a train robbery,"

And then the raccoon finally jumped onto the train, and began making his way through it.

We waited with baited breath as Sly moved through the train. We couldn't see where he was or what he was doing without Bentley's laptop, so all we had to rely on was whatever Sly told us.

Which wasn't much, considering that he was sneaking through the train and avoiding guards and security systems. But eventually, he did radio in. "Looks like Jean Bison's here in the train,"

"Probably trying to stop the stomach from being stolen," Bentley replied. "Stay out of his way, Sly, he's too tough for you,"

"Got it," Sly replied, but left the connection open so we could hear what Bison was saying.

"Nobody's gettin' past me," the bison was growling. "That there Clockwerk stomach is as safe as a snowman in winter,"

Unbeknownst to him, however, Sly was likely sneaking right past him as he spoke. I could hear the raccoon's feet shuffling and I figured that he was likely moving along the outside edge of the car like Bentley and I had.

Jean Bison continued growling to himself, completely unaware that he was indeed about to be robbed again, "I'd like to meet that varmint that's been lootin' my Iron Horse trains! By Jimenny, I get hot under the collar just thinking 'bout how I'd cut that boy down,"

"Geez, anger issues much?" I teased. "I don't think even Rajan was quite that violent,"

Sly laughed. "Yeah, this guy's one hot spitfire, isn't he?"

I was going to respond to that, but then the sound of gunfire filled the air, and Sly let out a pained yelp.

"Sly!" it was both me and Bentley that called out for the raccoon. He thankfully still had his earpiece on, so we could hear what was going on.

"Oi! Cooper!" it was Neyla! How had she found us? "Thought I might find you here! Just can't stay away from these Clockwerk parts, can you?"

"Oh, I just do it to meet exciting ladies like yourself," Sly replied smoothly, though there was a hint of pain behind his voice. Had he actually been hit?

Bentley and I exchanged worried glances, and I prepared to jump onto the train if I had to.

"If you'd like some excitement, why not climb up on top of the train?" Neyla sneered. "I'm sure to get your heart pumping, maybe even show you my new ride,"

"No thanks, Neyla, I've seen enough already," Sly replied.

"What's the problem, Poodle?" Neyla teased. "Afraid you can't take me on? Have to call up your little friends for help?"

"Come in, 'little friends'," Sly said, mocking Neyla. "Neyla's got me pinned down, and she managed to hit me. Any chance of air support?"

My heart jumped as Sly confirmed that he'd been hit, and I wasted no time in taking the first aid kit Bentley handed me, and then jumped onto the train.

"I've already launched the RC chopper - She won't know what hit her," Bentley announced, sounding pretty confident in his ability to take on Neyla.

"Come on, Cooper!" Neyla yelled. "Let's play!"

That was when I heard the sound of a bullet crashing into something metal. "What in blazes?!" Neyla growled. There was a moment of silence before she continued. "Alright, little RC friend, this should be a quick bit of destruction,"

And then the sound of an all-out firefight broke out. Once I was on top of one of the train cars, I could see that Neyla had come up with some kind of flying vehicle that I couldn't identify. But it had some seriously powerful guns on it...

"Sly! How bad are you hit?" I asked as I crossed the car. I needed to know how badly he was bleeding...

"Shoulder," Sly replied, sounding way too calm for someone that had just been shot. "Through and through, I think,"

"Alright... I'm on my way anyways, I can at least clean it and try to stop the bleeding," I replied, jumping back down to another car.

"...You sure you wanna be out there with Neyla shooting at everything?" Sly asked, now sounding sort of alarmed.

"Too late for that Sly, I'm already halfway through this train. No turning back now," I replied. I honestly hadn't even thought of the danger that Neyla might pose to me until now. I was too concerned with getting to Sly and making sure he was okay. I wasn't sure what that said about me? Did that make me reckless? Or selfless?

"Alright," Sly sighed. "Just be careful,"

I laughed a bit. "That's my name, Sly, don't wear it out,"

I went quiet as I slipped by the car that had Jean Bison in it. He was still mumbling to himself, and seemed to believe that the firefight outside was the train's defenses blowing away the 'thieving varmint' that had been robbing his trains.

After clearing the car with Bison, I found Sly pressed against the back of the next one, where Neyla couldn't hit him. His right shoulder was soaked with blood, but he still looked pretty calm.

"You've certainly come a long way," Sly teased as I joined him in the small safe area. "You never would have done something like this three months ago, would you?"

"Nope," I responded. "Shirt off," I then demanded, holding up the first aid kit.

Sly heaved a sigh, but took his shirt off anyways. "It went through and through, I'm alright, I've had worse,"

"I know," I replied. "But the least I can do is clean it and stop the bleeding, okay? Let me do my small part in this,"

Sly laughed. "Alright, fine,"

The raccoon went quiet as I began disinfecting the hole in his shoulder. The bullet had just barely caught him, any higher and it would have just grazed him. But it still counted as a bullet hole, and I was going to treat it as such.

Sly gets extra points for being a good patient and not squirming as I cleaned his wound. In fact, he remained rather calm about the whole thing, only flinching and hissing a few times. "This isn't the first time you've been shot, is it?"

"Nope," Sly answered, grinning. "I'll tell you about it when I get the chance,"

"I'm holding you to that," I replied as I wrapped a bandage around Sly's shoulder. It wouldn't completely stop the bleeding, but it would at least keep the wound somewhat clean.

Sly put his bloody shirt back on once I was finished, and we both looked up at the sound of an especially loud explosion.

"You rummy blighter!" Neyla screetched. "This is a - Wha? Oh no! Oh no!" the panicked words were then followed by the sound of a crash, and we assumed that meant Neyla was out of the picture.

"That was some fancy flying, 'little friend'," said Sly, grinning wide.

"Whatever you say, 'Poodle'," Bentley replied sarcastically.

I snickered at their exchange. I had no idea why Neyla had called Sly a poodle, but it was definitely hilarious.

Sly turned towards the next car, but then turned back to face me. "Get back to the hand car, I'll be fine,"

"Are you sure...?" I asked slowly. I wasn't sure how much that wound would affect Sly's right arm, and I knew that he mostly swung right handed.

"Yeah," Sly replied. "I've had worse, remember? I'll be fine, so long as you stay out of dodge,"

I sighed. Sly was right. This train had a whole lot of security, I'd likely just slow him down if I came along. I nodded to him. "Okay. Just. Be careful,"

"Now who's worrying too much?" Sly teased, tapping my nose playfully. And then he was climbing up to the top of the next car.

I brought a hand to my ear to hail Bentley over the binocucom. "Sly's continuing forwards now, he's okay. I'm coming back to the hand car,"

"Alright," Bentley replied. "But both of you, be careful,"

I laughed. "I think we've both heard that phrase a little too much,"

I went back the way I came, once again slipping past Jean Bison who was still none the wiser to us. How he'd not heard Neyla screaming, I'll never know.

I reached the hand car again and leaped back to it just as Sly apparently reached the stomach.

"Never thought I'd see the day when a stomach got turned into a tool of evil," said Murray, as if he thoroughly disapproved of this.

Sly was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "Looks like Jean Bison's wised up and bolted the stomach down. We'll have to crack the engine block to get it free,"

"Then that's just what we'll do," Bentley replied. "A well placed bomb down the train's smoke stack will knock it loose. Just make sure to take some cover,"

"Not so fast, chum!"

I hissed at the sound of Neyla's voice, completely astonished that her ship had survived that first crash. She was really, really persistent...

"The Clockwerk part is mine," Neyla growled. "They will all be mine!"

Bentley then engaged Neyla in another firefight with his RC chopper, and the sound soon overtook most everything else.

I wasn't sure how such a small RC chopper was standing up to the huge thing Neyla was piloting (What even was that? I'd never seen anything like it), but I was praying that Bentley's piloting skills were up to snuff.

Apparently they were, because soon we heard another explosion and a crunching sound, and Neyla was shouting again. "You won't stop me! Not the Cooper Gang, not Interpol, not anyone!"

In the distence, there was the sound of another crash, and this time I hoped that Neyla stayed down.

"Stand clear, Sly, this might be messy," said Bentley.

"Got it," Sly replied.

Bentley navigated his slightly beat up RC chopper over to the smoke stack, and then dropped a well-aimed bomb right down it. The explosion it caused could be heard even from the hand car.

"Sly? Sly? You okay?" Bentley called out, sounding very concerned.

"I've got an upset stomach on my hands, but other than that, I feel great!" Sly replied, laughing at his own joke.

"Y'know, other than the fact that you've been shot," I added in.

Sly laughed. "Other than that, yeah,"

How he did not consider that something important I will never know... I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Let's just get out of here before Jean Bison realizes what we've done,"


When we got back to the town, we found that Interpol had already showed up, looking for us as well as Bison. It looked like Neyla had survived that crash, and was furiously demanding that the Cooper Gang be caught.

Per Sly's orders, we all split up as we entered the town. There was no sense in travelling together, and thus getting caught together. The plan was that Murray and I would reach the van and drive it a small distence out of town, while Sly and Bentley kept Neyla and her forces on their toes.

Murray and I reached the van without incident, and for the first time in a while, I got to sit in the front seat. Driving very carefully, Murray navigated the van out of town, but stopped before it got too far away. "Okay, guys, we're out of town. Come meet up with us when you can,"

"I'm on my way," said Bentley, sounding tense and nervous. Poor turtle, evading the cops probably hadn't been easy for him. I knew that I certainly wouldn't want that job just yet.

"I'll be there soon, too," Sly said, sounding much more calm than Bentley.

We waited for about twenty minutes before Bentley reached the van and vaulted himself into the back. "Where's Sly?"

"Not here, yet," I replied. "...What's taking him so long?"

"You don't think he got caught, do you?" Murray asked slowly.

"...No," I replied, shaking my head. "He's too good for that. ...I hope,"

It was ten stressful minute later when we finally saw Sly running towards us, and yet again the question of what took him so long was silently answered.

Upon seeing that Interpol had caught onto us and were giving chase, Murray floored it as soon as the van doors were shut again and all passengers were inside.

I was so, so glad to be in the front seat for once, I thought to myself as we made a very rough turn.

Everyone was silent as Murray drove at Mach 5 to evade the cops, and even once we'd lost them there was a moment of silence.

Once that moment was over with, I leaned around the passenger's seat to smile at Carmelita. "Nice to see you again, Inspector Fox. I never got to ask before; Did you like the cookies we left you?"

Carmelita scowled at me, and Sly couldn't help but to start laughing.


Yet again, Bentley's genius allowed us to ditch Carmelita before she tried arresting us. We left her at another gas station, this time by locking her into the bathroom while Murray and I distracted the cashier.

I was sure that we'd pay for these little gags eventually, but somehow I wasn't too worried about it. Carmelita didn't scare me half as much as Neyla did. In fact, she was sort of fun to have around. I sort of wished that we could actually have a conversation that didn't involve handcuffs and arrest threats.

We were all pretty pleased to have made off with three Clockwerk parts all at once, though. It felt like such a huge win that we couldn't help but celebrate. Not to mention the fact that we'd shut down spice shipment all throughout North America! If that's not a win, I don't know what is.

Despite the fact that Interpol was all over the place, Jean Bison somehow managed to escape, however. When we learned this, we all knew that this meant we had to hunt him down again. And this time put him out of business for good. We weren't sure what he was planning, but he'd mentioned a 'Northern Lights battery' to the mysterious fifth Klaww Gang member, Arpeggio. It also seemed that Arpeggio had the Clockwerk brain.

In additon to all this, the Klaww Gang seemed to be planning a 'final hoedown' in Paris, if Jean Bison and Arpeggio's conversation was anything to go by. Arpeggio had said a bunch of tech stuff and mentioned something about Contessa, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it, even after repeatedly playing back the file that Bentley had recorded from Sly's binocucom. Bentley said he vaguely understood the technological babble, but that it didn't make much sense all on it's own. Whatever Arpeggio had mentioned, it was likely part of some bigger plan.

And to top all of it off, Jean Bison was in posession of a fourth Clockwerk part; The talons. According to Sly, those things were ridiculously sharp, and knowing Bison, he was using them to cut down trees.

So, we had to stop Jean Bison from de-foresting Canada, as well as figure out how to get at the Clockwerk brain that Arpeggio was in posession of. Somewhere along the way, we also had to help Inspector Fox clear her name, since we all agreed that her current situation was rather unfair.

We sure had a lot of work to do, didn't we? But by now, I was getting rather used to it, and was more than certain that we could pull it off. So, following the strangely behaving Northern Lights, we pursued Jean Bison farther into the wilderness of Canada.