Disclaimer: Sly Cooper and the Cooper gang are property of Sucker Punch and I am just using them to entertain the masses with a good story. I only own the characters that I have personally created and the other elements of the story I have created my self.
Chapter 9
Destiny
The night before Eclipse had entered the team's application to take the empty spot in the races bracket. This morning, Eclipse came strolling into the team dorms where he, Sly, and Carmelita were staying. Once he found them talking about Carmelita's responsibilities he smiled and said, "Well its official. Team Cooper is in this thing for the gold, but remember, we are just shooting for the silver."
Sly nodded his head and said, "That's great. Carmelita and I just finished the paperwork to designate her as the team Cooper manager, giving her access to the some of the more restricted part of the track and getting her a room in the racer doorms."
Eclipsed smiled as he said, "Great, I am heading back there to get the Sky Serpent an appointment with the race comities mechanics. They still need to verify that it is within the parameters specified by the race rules. I can take it and get it filed."
Sly nodded his head and passed the paper for Carmelita to sign really quickly before he passed it off to Eclipse and he left for the tracks administrative offices. The offices were a ways away from the track. It stood about 15 stories tall and sat right beside the fence line that separated the track from the city. It was a very well organized building, every department getting its own level. The first 5 stories were open to the general public. Levels 6 -9 was only for staff, racers, and their teams. Levels 10-13 were only for the buildings staff and the team managers. Finally, levels 14 and 15 were only for the track staff, and even some of them could only go their on a rare occasion. Eclipse went into the medium sized entrance hall and walked up to the front desk. A poodle was working the phones when she finally noticed Eclipse standing there and said, "I am sorry. Is their something I can help you with?"
Eclipse nodded his head and said, "I need to file this form so that our team manager can get her manager access badge. I also need to get some of the tracks mechanics down to my team's garage to give our racing vehicle the certification it needs to race."
The poodle nodded her head and said, "I could do that for you, but I am really busy right now. I know our mechanics have an opening in about two hours. Would that be alright?"
Eclipse nodded his head and said, "That would be fine."
"And for which team is this for?"
Eclipse replied, "Team Cooper".
The poodle nodded her head and said, "There, the mechanics will be at your garage in about two hours. Next, can I ask you to do me a favor? Would you mind taking your access badge form up to the 8 floor? Follow the signs to the security command center. They can get you all squared away."
Eclipse thanked the poodle and went to the elevator. He was soon up on the eighth floor, and stepped out of the elevator. To say the least Eclipse felt a little uncomfortable around all these people in business suits when he had gotten dressed in his usual white robes. He walked down the plain white halls until he got to the security command center. He went into the office and saw it looked a lot like a small police station. He walked over to one of the desks and got the attention of a lion that was typing something on his computer. Eclipse held up the form and said, "Can you tell me who I give this to so my team's manager can get her track access badge."
The lion looked up from what he was doing and said, "You got him. Let me just take a look at that thing." The lion looked over the form for a few seconds, and then opened a drawer in his desk. He pulled out one of the plastic badges, took the picture of Carmelita the team had taken for the badge. Soon, Eclipse was walking out of the security command center with Carmelita's access badge tucked in one of his pockets. He walked through the now empty halls. He guessed that he had just come up here when it was the staffs break time. Now everybody was in their offices doing their work.
Well, not everybody. As Eclipse turned the corner to start down the hallway that led to the elevators he saw someone struggling to carry a stack of papers that had to be 5 feet high. He then noticed the pile start to tip, and begin to fall over. Eclipse quickly ran up and caught the papers. He could hear a beautiful female voice saying from the other side of the stack, "Thank You. That would have been very bad if I had dropped these papers."
Eclipse chuckled as he took the papers out of the woman's hands and said, "If this pile was to tip over it would be the equivalent of an avalanche. How about I carry these to your office for you?"
The female's voice sound happy as she said, "Thank you. That would be a great help. My office is just down the hall." Eclipse followed the sound of the girl's voice down the hall. She opened the door to her office and Eclipse set the paperwork down on a table beside the door. He then turned and got his first look at the woman he had helped. She was a snow leopard. Her fur was as white as newly fallen snow with light grey spots that helped distinguish her species. She stood about as tall as Eclipse, if only a few inches shorter. She was dressed in a black business suit with a knee long skirt and high heels. Her hair was black and it reached down to her hips. She wore it straight down. Finally Eclipse noticed her eyes were a dark black color.
For some reason Eclipse suddenly found him self at a loss for words. He had never seen such a stunning creature. He finally snapped back to reality and said, "Well, I am glad I was able to help you Miss…"
The snow leopard giggled a little and said, "My name is Destiny Smith."
Eclipse smiled and bowed slightly as he said, "Destiny, my name is Eclipse, and it has been a pleasure to meet you." Eclipse then took up Destiny's hand and gently kissed it before he turned and left the snow leopard's office. Once he was in the elevator he let out a slow, calming breath as he thought, "Now what the heck happened in there. That is the first time I have ever been at a complete loss for words, but what beauty. I can't believe any one thing can be so beautiful."
Eclipse left his train of thought their as he left the elevator and the track administration. Back on the 8th floor, in the office of Destiny Smith, a certain snow leopard was still standing where she had been when Eclipse had kissed her hand and left. Finally she went into her office and over to the wall sized window she had. She saw Eclipse walking across the grassy lawn that separated the administration building from the track. As he disappeared behind the line of team garages she said, "Now, why can't I meet a guy like that more often. All these racing meat heads have the IQ of a tree stump. Except him, he was so kind and courteous. I have never met a better gentleman, and I didn't even get his phone number. Destiny, you can be such an idiot some times, but yikes. How did that guy send such shivers up my spine, just from kissing my hand?"
She was ripped away from her thoughts as she turned to see the stack of papers Eclipse had carried in was about to topple over again, and she had to run over to prevent the avalanche of paperwork.
Eclipse went over to the Team Cooper garage where his precious Sky Serpent was being stored. The train took up most of the space in the garage, but there was enough space to keep a few tool boxes, spare parts, and still have room to get around. Eclipse went back to the small bathroom the garage had, and changed out of his white robes and into a pair of old blue jeans and a white shirt. He never worked on mechanical stuff in his white robes, those things were almost impossible to get clean once you got them all greased up.
Eclipse did his own run over of the train before he heard a knock on the garage door. He went over and opened the door and there were three people standing outside the door. One was a pig in a pair of overalls and old shoes. The second was a wolverine in a white button down shirt, black pants, and black shoes. The third, to Eclipse's shock, was Destiny Smith.
Eclipse quickly brought him self back to reality and said, "I assume you are here to examine the Sky Serpent to make sure it is race legal."
The wolverine nodded his head and said, "Can you please bring it outside the garage so our mechanic can take a look at it mechanically. I also need to see a copy of the train's plans to make sure it is designed properly for the high demands of being a race vehicle."
Eclipse nodded and pressed a button beside the normal door that opened the garage's large bay doors. He walked back to the Sky Serpent, and got it started and out of the garage in about a minute. He set it down a few feet away from the line of garages, and turned the engine off. He got out of the vehicle and the pig quickly opened up one of the train's side doors and began to examine the vehicles inner workings. Eclipse handed the plans to the wolverine, and he began to give them the once over.
While the other two were wrapped up in what they were doing Eclipse slowly walked over to Destiny and said, "What are you here to do?"
Destiny turned and said in a professional tone, "I am here to make sure you are not going over the set budget the track has given you. I am one of the few field accountants the track has on the pay role."
Eclipse chuckled as he said, "So, was that avalanche prone pile of papers budget reports for several of the teams here, or something else."
Destiny's eyes widened a bit as she said, "It's you; you are that guy who helped me with that pile of papers. It's Eclipse, isn't it?"
Eclipse nodded his head and said, "Yes, and you are Mrs. Destiny Smith if I am not mistaken."
Destiny blushed a little as she said, "Actually it is just Miss Destiny Smith. I'm not married."
Eclipse said, "How can such a pretty thing not a have a fine husband?"
Destiny just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Just never met the right guy, that's all."
Eclipse chuckled as he said, "Let me guess, you aren't into guys who get their kick from hearing a car rev its engines."
Destiny nodded her head and said, "That's right, I can't stand all these racers who think they are all that and a bag of chips just because they have a fast car and a couple of trophies."
Eclipse nodded his head, and the pair continued to chat while the wolverine and pig continued to go over every bit of the Sky Serpent. About 15 minutes later the wolverine walked over and said, "Well, everything seems to be in place. I can tell you; this is a very well designed hover train."
Eclipse smiled and said, "Well thank you. My associates and I have put a lot work into it."
The wolverine nodded his head and said, "Yes, I can see that. Come race day I am seriously going to put a few bucks on you to win. I hope you don't make it an unwise investment."
Eclipse chuckled as he said, "Will just have to wait and see."
The wolverine nodded his head and then motioned to Destiny and the pig. Just before she was about to leave Eclipse paused a second and then said, "Hey, Destiny."
Destiny turned and said, "What is it?"
Eclipse paused a few seconds and then said, "You feel like grabbing a bit to eat later, or something like that?"
Destiny smiled slightly as she said, "I think I owe you that much for your help earlier. Meet me in front of the administration building at 6:00"
Eclipse smiled as he said, "Very well, I shall see you then Miss Destiny Smith."
Destiny blushed slightly as Eclipse bowed a bit and then went into the Sky Serpent to back it back into the Team Cooper garage. Once the bay doors were closed Eclipse jumped at least 6 feet into the air. He had to admit, his heart was thumping when he asked Destiny for a date, but what do expect when it's a guys first date. Being the guardian of a temple deep in the Indian jungle makes it pretty hard to find anyone, let alone some one as attractive as Destiny, to even talk to. Eclipse quickly began to do everything else he had to do that day so that when 6:00 rolled around, he would have no reason to be late.