Sly Cooper

And

The Shadow Thief

Chapter Four: The race, and Sly's slow realization

Discalimer: No. I don't own it. But Merah, and all villans in the story belong to me and my friend Wes.

Last Time:

Merah didn't know why she was suddenly so angry at Sly for going out and taunting Carmelita. But with all the compliments he gave, telling her she was beautiful, and talented, and then for him to go off and see Carmelita, she felt a little… betrayed. Not to mention the fact she was angry for losing the book. Her mood stayed that way until they reached their new destination:

Cairo, Egypt, where they would try to steal the Thievius Raccoonus from Nyoka.

On their way to Cairo, Bentley looked up some information on the next Shadow Organization Member, Nyoka. She was the creepy snake lady who had gotten the book from Merah.

Born into a family of assassins, Nyoka's father had killed off her brothers and sisters, as well as her mother. She was spared because she had been away from the house at the time. After finding out what her father had done, Nyoka tried to avenge her family, and killed him. After living alone and poorly for a few years, she found that she had a talent for mechanics and business. What better way than to combine the two than start her own amateur, illegal street-racing club?

Also, she appears to be having a celebration party for her success in the racing business. It's a big thing, and only important people will be there. As well as the winning team of her next tournament.

Bentley decided after finding this out that Murray should sign up and race with the van. He and Penelope would install a turbo boost to give Murray a good head-start, and another jolt of power just before he crossed the finish line. Nyoka should be holding the Thievius Raccoonus somewhere where she's holding her party. Bentley suggested to Sly, since they made such a 'perfect couple', that he and Merah should distract the crowd with dancing while Penelope and himself stole the book, and Murray stood guard while they did it. Sly thought this was a good idea, but Merah, who was still angry with him, put her foot down.

Oh, well. It was a long drive to Cairo anyway, and for the time it would take to install the turbo boost, and get team jackets (Bentley found out the entire team had to be wearing the same colors as the van; competition rules…), Sly thought Merah would have cooled down by then.

It was a week after the affair at Shadow's manor. Carmelita had arrested him, so now he was in jail with all the other criminals she had gotten instead of Sly. They were parked on the side of the deserted high-way right now, because Bentley and Penelope, who had designed the turbo boost together, wanted to install it now to give it a test-drive on the wide, open highway. And the fact that they had run out of gas was a big factor, too. Luckily, Murray kept a few spare containers of it under the driver's seat for long trips like this.

After the van was filled up, Murray checked the engine to make sure it was in perfect condition for the race. He would install some new features on that, too, for it would be put through a lot of work on the race-track. And Murray didn't want his baby to die in the middle of a race. Guru helped him.

Merah was sitting on top of the van, her arms crossed, looking moodily out at the vast highway. She was still mad at Sly for his little 'tango' with Carmelita. He could have gotten himself killed! And she didn't understand what Sly saw in her, anyway. She was rude, bad-tempered, and, the real kicker, a cop! She and Sly were on opposite sides of the law. How did he ever expect for them to be together when all perfect Carmelita Montoya Fox wanted to do was throw him behind bars? And, to make her even angrier, she just found out from Bentley that Carmelita would be around at the Party after Nyoka's tournament.

Okay… so, maybe she was a little jealous of Carmelita. Alright, alright, a lot jealous. She had found herself becoming more and more attracted to Sly with each passing day, even if she did want to kill him at the moment. She didn't understand it. How was it his charming smile and beautiful, gentle brown eyes made her melt? She groaned and smacked herself in the forehead.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid…" She muttered to herself, her hand making contact with her forehead with every word. Oh, well. At least she was good at hiding her feelings. As far as she knew, Sly didn't suspect a thing. But she felt so stupid! She was like a little girl with a crush. And she knew she definitely didn't want it to be that way.

"Hey, there, beautiful," Sly said, suddenly on top of the roof with her. He sat next to her, and flashed a grin to her. "What are you doing up here all alone?"

"Keeping out of the way," She replied, not looking at him. Sly nodded.

"It's best to just let them do their thing," He said. Then he sighed, and leaned back on his arms. "Man, I can't wait until we get to Cairo."

"And why would that be?" Merah said, pulling her hair back into a pony-tail.

"I like Egypt," Sly said. "It's a little too hot for my liking, but the scenery is what I go for."

"Really?" She answered, sounding interested. "Because I thought you were only looking forward to going because oh-so perfect Carmelita was there."

Sly looked at her in surprise, and he saw she gave him the dirtiest look he'd ever gotten before she hopped off the van roof to the ground, and started to walk up the highway. He groaned, and hopped down after her.

"You're still angry about that?" Sly asked.

Penelope, who was working on installing one of the turbo-boots to the van, looked out from behind it to see Sly and Merah bickering. She shook her head in a pitying way. "She's got quite a temper, doesn't she?"

"Just leave it, Penelope," Bentley said absently, working on the other.

"You don't see why I'm upset?" Merah asked. Sly had asked her why she was so angry, and now she just gave a hollow laugh, and turned away from him, going back down the highway again. "Typical guy!"

"I'd know if you'd just tell me," Sly pressed, jogging after her. She turned to face him, her eyes full of fire.

"You are such a player," She spat. "Saying all this nice stuff to me, like repeatedly telling me I'm beautiful, being the Prince Charming, and then when your… your… your girlfriend, or whatever the heck she is, comes by, you forget all about me! So excuse me if I feel just a little bit like your pastime until the bigger hobby comes around!"

"Oh, I see," Sly said, smiling as she walked away from him. He followed her. "You're jealous."

"I'm not jealous," She answered darkly.

"Admit it," He pressed, trying to annoy her. He wanted to bug her enough so she'd blow up and spill the beans about what was really bothering her. "You are madly in love with me."

She stopped dead in her tracks, and then she got up right in his face, and hissed, "I would never love a sleazy oaf like you."

Of course, Sly wasn't expecting that. He meant his words as a joke. He didn't expect her to have any feelings for him. But her words told him exactly the opposite. Women don't usually say what they mean. So, when she said she didn't love him, it really meant she did. After giving him one final glare, she was about to walk away again when Sly grabbed her arm, and pulled her to him, giving her a passionate kiss before she had a chance to react. Merah was frozen from shock for a minute, but then she shoved him away, and yelled, "What is your problem! You don't just go around… kissing people!"

"I just wanted to see something," He said simply, looking her over.

"What, you wanted to see if I could be another on your list of girls to mess with?" She asked. Then she scoffed, and snapped, "Just… don't talk to me right now, okay?"

She headed back to the van hurriedly, and Sly watched her go, thoughtful. He had kissed her because he wanted to see just how strong her feelings for him were. Of course, she shoved him away instead of kissing back, so still, Sly didn't know. But he knew there was potential there. And he also knew that, even if he found Merah attractive, he still had feelings for Carmelita. He did, right? Yeah. He was sure of it.

'Merah is going to be so… angry with me for another long time,' he thought suddenly, feeling a little sad. 'She'll get over it, though. I hope…'

They were now in Cairo. Murray was so psyched about the new turbo boosters that were installed on the van, and the engine was equipped with a boost as well to help is last longer and work better with the force and the speed. They were all sporting team jackets, too; blue, with flames up the arms and along the bottom of the jacket up to the middle, and on the back was the Cooper symbol; the raccoon that was painted on the side of the van.

They all dressed in casual clothes to make them looked more relaxed. Penelope just wore her usual attire, as did Bentley, and Sly just wore a pair of baggy pants and a white t-shirt, as did Merah. She had her hair tied back in a pony-tail again.

Though she still wasn't particularly psyched at the fact that she had to spend most of the up-coming party alone with Sly, she wasn't as angry with him anymore. On the contrary, she was a bit shyer with him now than anything. Probably because of the kiss. But she hid her shyness from all of them, and faced the up-coming race with enthusiasm.

The race course would just be a couple of laps around a circular track. It was on sand, and the whole point of this race was speed. Most of the other racers had upgraded their vehicles with double-engines to help them go faster, and all their cars were good on sand. But Murray felt confident that they would win; the van hadn't let him down yet.

Murray went to the starting line after lots of good luck from his team, and when the race started, he used the boots to get off into first right off the bat. Penelope jumped up and down delightedly, clapping her hands while Bentley did a couple of wheelies with his chair. They were so excited their turbo had worked so well in the race. Merah laughed at them, and then for some reason, looked up into the spectator stands. She saw Nyoka sitting there with the regal-looking fox she had taken a picture of in Shadow's manor. She saw they were talking, and she wondered if they were talking about the Thievius Raccoonus. Forgetting that she was being shy with Sly, she nudged him, and nodded up to the spectator stands. He saw Nyoka and that fox-guy, and he nodded. Bentley and Penelope were too involved with the race to realize that they had gone somewhere, so together, he and Merah went to the stands. They climbed up the stairs to the top, where there was like a little platform for people to stand up on and watch the race, though there was no one there right now. Merah was glad to see that Nyoka and her friend were in the row right in front of the platform.

"We have to get over there without being suspicious," Merah whispered to Sly.

"Why?" He asked. She pulled a mini voice recorder from her pocket.

"We're going to eavesdrop and see if they have any information of where the Thievius Raccoonus might be," She said with a sly little smirk.

"Excellent," Sly said, impressed. "What are we going to do to not seem suspicious?"

"I… I don't know," Merah confessed. "Simply watching the race would seem a little bit too… obvious. We need something different."

"I think I have an idea," Sly said slowly, but there was a smirk crossing his features. Merah could read him instantly. It involved kissing again.

"Oh, no," She said. "No. You are such a player! Why do you keep doing that?"

"Look, it's either get what we want, or try and find the book on our own, and for all we know, there could be dozens of rooms in Nyoka's place. And besides, Bentley said we have to look like a couple while we're out here." Sly said. Merah crossed her arms, and thought about it for a minute. Why did he suddenly insist on kissing her all the time? But he was right; if they wanted to know where the book was, she had to do what she had to do.

"Fine," She sighed. "Just let me set the tape."

"Okay." Sly answered. He didn't show it, but for some reason, the chance to be able to kiss Merah as much as he wanted… intrigued him. Then he suddenly felt worried. And a little scared. He knew there was something there for Merah. Actually, he had felt it when he first met her. He supposed it had been her strong attitude that attracted him. But now it was starting to go a little bit beyond attraction.

"Okay," Merah said, breaking Sly out of his thoughts. "Let's get this over with…"

"Be sure to pretend you enjoy it," Sly said with a grin, masking the little bit of worry and the slight bit of fear he felt. He took her hand, and started to lead her near Nyoka and the fox guy. Merah flashed him a beautiful smile, and answered sweetly with a flirty tilt of her head, "Of course, honey."

Sly laughed, and then gently leaned in to kiss her. When he did, it took Merah a minute to return it, but she did, and Sly found she was actually a good kisser. He heard the soft click of the record button being pressed on her recorder in her coat pocket, and then she wrapped her arms around his neck. It was all to complete the illusion that they were a happy, madly-in-love couple. Sly knew that, but he didn't mind. He used that as an excuse to pull her closer to him.

"There are ssssome good racsssers here today," Nyoka said to her friend.

"Indeed," He replied. He had a slight British accent. "Thought racers aren't exactly what I've been looking forward to seeing, I'm afraid, Nyoka."

"If you mean the book--" Nyoka started, but the guy cut her off.

"Of course I mean the book," He said. "I want to have it in my possession before the ball. There are important guests who need to be impressed and to have such a historical and rare artifact would be excellent."

"You may pick it up during the party," Nyoka said. "I have no need of it anymore. It'ssss in the room near the dancssse floor. On the balcony."

The guy glanced up at Sly and Merah, who were still kissing, and he muttered to Nyoka, "Do you think it wise to have said that aloud when there is a couple right behind us, possibly listening?"

Nyoka looked behind at them as well, and she laughed, and said, "You're jusssst jealoussss becausssse you only wissssh you could do that with ssssomeone, don't you, Chrisssstopher?"

Christopher just scoffed, and looked back at the race, their conversation ended. After a few more seconds to make sure they wouldn't start talking again, Merah gave Sly a gentle push so he'd stop kissing her, and she took his hand, leading him back down the stairs so they could head back to the race.

"Well, we'll know where to look, now." She said. Sly nodded.

"That was a good idea," He said. Merah smiled at him.

"Thanks," She said, and quickly rewound the tape, and played it back. Nyoka's and Christopher's voices played from the small recorder. "We got it. And we got more than we really bargained for. Not only did Nyoka practically tell us where the book was, but Christopher also gave us backup in case we lost it again this time. We know who he is, and we know what he's going to do to show off the book. We also know he's a lonely man with no romantic entanglements. We'll figure something out."

"We expect to lose the book again?" Sly asked.

"Everything with Christopher is just in case we do," Merah said. "I don't expect to. I don't want to. I want to get that book back quickly so I can find Max."

"And we will find Max," Sly said, slipping an arm around her waist, and leading her back over to Bentley and Penelope and the Guru who were cheering Murray on. "But for now, we'll enjoy the race."

"Why do you have your arm around me?" Merah asked suspiciously.

"We have to look like a couple," Sly said. Then he kissed the top of her head. "Right, Pumpkin?"

"I'm going to kill you after we get the book back," Merah said flatly.

"And I love you, too, my little buttercup," Sly said, trying to sound all mushy, lifting her chin, and pressing his nose against hers. Merah laughed, and shoved him off.

"Knock it off, Romeo," She said, and joined Bentley who just gave a triumphant yell. "What's the placing?"

"Murray's in second!" Penelope cried happily. "Just one more lap to go, and if he makes it to first, we're in the party!"

Merah looked out to the race, and saw Murray coming around the bend of a turn. She threw her arms up in the air, and cheered. "Let's go Murray!"

"Final Lap!" The announcer yelled, and people in the crowd cheered.

"By the way," Bentley said, looking at Sly. "What were you two doing, anyway?"

"Just eavesdropping on Nyoka so we might find out where the book might be," Merah said casually.

"But I already know where it is," Bentley said, and Merah blushed.

"Are you serious?" She yelled as Sly cracked up with laughter. She thought she agreed to make out with him so she could get some information when we really, she had just made out with him for nothing.

"What's so funny?" Bentley asked Sly, who was still laughing. Merah glared at Sly.

"Nothing at all, Bentley," She said. "Nothing at all."

"Come on Murray!" Penelope yelled. "Use the boost!"

Murray did, just before the finish line, and he managed to come in first. Penelope went crazy, as did Bentley, who suddenly forgot about Sly and Merah, and trying to figure out their reasoning to go off together. Even Merah suddenly forgot about it. She cheered as Murray did a victory lap, and then came over to them. He jumped out of the van, just as excited and happy as they all were.

"I won, I won!" Murray shouted with joy, and he grabbed each one of the team members in a bone-crushing hug. Even Bentley, who had to have Penelope, Sly, and Merah help him back into his wheel chair.

"Congratulationssss," Nyoka's voice said as she slithered over to them. "You are an excssseption driver. I am holding my party now. You've all won the honor of attending."

"The whole team?" Murray asked.

"Yessss," Nyoka replied. "The whole team. If you will all follow me, pleasssse."

They followed her to a small pyramid that was a short distance away from the race-track. Nyoka whispered a password to the guard at the door, and he let them all inside. Sly had to stick close to Merah, because he was supposed to dance with her, and, again, they had to appear as a couple.

Nyoka lead them down a hall way, and then after whispering another password to another guard, they were allowed into the party.

"Whoa," Merah said as she looked around. There were different colored lights everywhere, and the music was loud. There were dozens of people out on the dance floor, and Sly recognized a few of them as racers from big tournaments and companies, like NASCAR, and whatnot.

"Enjoy yoursssselvessss," Nyoka said with a smile, and she gave them a small bow before slithering off to talk with some people who were just hanging around by the punch table.

"Okay," Bentley said as soon as Nyoka was out of earshot. "Murray, Penelope, Guru, you all come with me. Sly, Merah… look like a happy couple. Go dance."

After they had gone, Merah turned around to look at Sly, and she said, "You knew that Bentley had found the way to the book, didn't you?"

"Honestly, I didn't," Sly answered seriously, looking her right in the eye. "I thought your idea to eavesdrop was really good. I'm just sorry it was for no reason at all."

Merah sighed. "It's… alright. Just… no more kissing, okay?"

"I promise," Sly said, and he grabbed Merah around the waist, leading her out to the dance floor.

"I should let you know now, I'm not a very good dancer," Merah said. Sly looked at her with surprise.

"What?" He said. "You can't be a thief and not know how to dance."

"I never really got an opportunity to learn how to dance," Merah answered.

"Well, we can wing it," Sly said. But as soon as they stepped onto the dance floor, a slow song came up. Sly grinned at Merah. "What do you know? A ballad."

"Who did you bribe to play a slow song just as we come out onto the dance floor, Cooper?" Merah asked, but she was definitely amused. Sly showed her the inside of his jacket where he had a horseshoe. He usually brought it with him whenever the team needed good-luck. He wore it today so Murray would win that race. Merah looked at it, then at him questioningly.

"Well, I guess I'm just lucky," Sly said softly, and pulled her out to the middle of the floor. He put her arms around his neck before he wrapped his own arms around her waist, and they stayed like that for a while, just rotating on the spot slowly. Then, Merah cleared her throat a bit, and looked away, watching other couples out on the floor. Sly just stared at her while she did. She truly was beautiful. Her eyes were so captivating…

"Are you alright?" Merah asked, now looking back at Sly. He blushed a bit, and cleared his throat, answering while looking away, "Yeah, I'm alright."

"O…kay." Merah said slowly. She noticed that Sly seemed a little bit uncomfortable suddenly, and she felt him take a deep breath. And then the song changed to a faster, more upbeat tune. Merah beckoned Sly to follow her off the dance floor, and he did.

"Fast dances are annoying," Merah said. Sly laughed.

"You don't like to tango?" He asked. She shrugged.

"I've never been a psyched for dancing," She said. "Besides, I don't think I'd be able to find a partner, anyway."

"Why not?" Sly asked.

"I dunno," Merah replied. "Men just… don't seem to take an interest in me."

"Well, of course not," Sly said as if that were obvious. "You've been posing as a man for a long time. If you were to wear a dress, I'm sure maybe they'd notice you."

"I hate dresses," Merah said. "I refuse to wear them."

"Aw, really?" He continued. "Because I think if you wore… y'know, one of those red-satin seductress dresses…"

He thought about what she would look like if she were wearing one, but he felt something come into contact with his cheek, snapping him out of his 'vision'. Merah had slapped him for envisioning her in that particular dress. She gave a sweet, yet twisted smile, and said, "No, Sly. I hate dresses."

He put a hand to his cheek where she slapped him, and rubbed it a bit. "Ow… that hurt."

"Come on, crybaby, let's go see how the others are doing," Merah said, and she dragged him off to go find the rest of the group. What they saw when they found them, though, wasn't good. Carmelita had shown up, and she had the whole group in cuffs. She turned when she heard Sly and Merah come up, and she flashed a small smile in Sly's direction.

"Good to see you, Cooper," She said. "Finally deciding to turn yourself in?"

Merah suddenly got an idea, and she walked towards Carmelita. Before the Inspector knew what was happening, Merah twisted her arm, making her drop her shock-pistol, and now they were throwing punch after kick at each other. It was one intense fight. Sly didn't waste any time, though. He quickly picked the locks on each member's hand-cuffs.

"Another Organization member came and took the book before we got here," Bentley said. "The fox-guy, Christopher."

"We'll get him," Sly said. "Everyone get back to the van, and get it warmed up. Not like it really needs warming in Cairo, though. Merah and I will be out soon."

"Be careful, Sly," Penelope said. As they all hurried away, though, Carmelita had managed to get her shock pistol back, and she aimed it at the team, ready to fire. Just when she was about to pull the trigger, though, Merah jumped on her, knocking the gun out of her hands again.

"Nice try, Carmelita!" Merah said.

Penelope had turned when she heard Carmelita give a yell, and she was surprised to see Merah had stopped the Inspector from shooting at them.

"Penelope, let's go!" Bentley called.

"I'm… I'm coming!" Penelope said, and she followed after Bentley, Murray, and the Guru again. Only this time, she was holding Merah in high regard.

Merah and Carmelita were still fighting, and then Merah saw Sly near a metal fence that went around the balcony where the book was being held. She grinned, and shoved Carmelita near the metal fence, and Sly slapped a cuff on her, cuffing the other side to the fence. Then he and Merah made a break for it out of there. They jumped over the sleeping guards that Bentley took out with his sleep darts in the entrance hallway that Nyoka had lead them through and then shoved open the door. They saw the van right there, and together, they jumped into the van through the back doors Bentley and Penelope were ready to close. They sped off across the sand, past the race track, and away from any cops or Organization members that might've been around.

Later that night, after they had parked, and got ready to go to sleep, Penelope went up to Merah, and tapped her on the shoulder. Merah looked up at her curiously.

"I just want to say… thank you," Penelope said. "For what you did today back at Nyoka's party. You stopped Carmelita from shooting at us. And Bentley… he would have been really hurt if he had gotten hit… so… thanks."

"Anytime, Penelope," Merah said, smiling at her. "I didn't want any of you to get hurt. We're all part of the same team. That's why I did it."

With a grin, Penelope held her hand out to Merah, and said happily, "Welcome to the team, girl!"

"It's good to be on the team," Merah said, shaking her hand. And then they laughed together before bidding each other good-night. Though they had lost the book again, Merah, for some reason, couldn't feel happier. She had gotten on Penelope's good-side. Maybe the future with this team was looking up after all.

A/N: I hope it's not too soon that Sly and Merah are starting to fall for one another. P It's just kind of important that they do.

Also, I know it seems like the Guru isn't doing much, but he will in a certain part of the next chapter. So… stay tuned! P Lol R&R!