Katarina and Dieter were bailed out by Dieter's mascot life partner – an iguana named Chad. Sky was bailed out by Druid ("Sorry, Sketch," he apologized. "I've only got enough money for one of you and, well, Sky's Dad's got the liquor stash in his cabinet and your dad's in AA.") and the Ant was bailed out by a small bald man with white eyes.
Which left Sketchy, Max, and Bobby Kawasaki sitting in the drunk tank doing nothing until help came.
"Y'know," one bearded man who reeked of alcohol slurred to Max. "I used to have a sister... looked like you. She was a cheerleader, too." Max scooted a little closer to Bobby Kawasaki.
"Where's my girl?"
"CINDY!" Sketchy yelled, hearing the voice of their savior.
"Sit down," Max said tiredly. "You're acting like you've never been in jail before."
"Cindy! You have to get us out of here and not tell Renfro or Deck because Renfro said that if she hears that we got jailed again that she'll take away Hanukkah and she did that a few years ago and none of us got any presents and it was a very somber celebration of such a happy holiday and she made us sleep in the backyard until our birthdays and you have to get us out of here!" Sketchy wailed as Original Cindy approached them with a cop beside her looking a bit sour. Sketchy's "pleasant" mood fell. "You saw the file, didn't you?"
"They showed me the file," OC told them.
You see, Max Guevara and Calvin Simon Theodore (alias "Sketchy") had a very detailed history with the Seattle PD. And New York Police Department. And Los Angeles Police Department. In fact, it's easier to say that they had a very detailed history in most major cities.
"You ran casino scams?" Original Cindy asked with a confused look on her face. "How did you even GET into the casinos?"
"That is not the point," Max said, standing up. "The point is... they obviously have the wrong people," she said, looking at Sketchy. "I mean, seriously! Do we look like the sort of hardened criminals that would rip off casinos?" She pointed to Sketchy. "Does Sketch even look like he would have thebrains to count to ten, let alone count cards?"
"Miss, your fingerprints were a match to those of..." the police officer looked the two files in his hands. "Calvin Simon Renfro and Maxine Lydecker. Wanted for over a hundred counts of fraud, cat burglary, armed robbery, general theivery, and... "ripping off" casinos," he said, closing one of the files. "And that's just the kid's file," he nodded to Sketchy.
"Told you we should have sanded those things off," Sketchy muttered under his breath.
"What are you going to do with them?" Original Cindy asked the officer.
"Well, it's unusual for crimes committed by underage criminals, but, the FBI's coming to take them to - "
"THE FBI?" Sketchy howled, reaching out his spindly arms to grab the collar of the officer's jacket. "You can't let Moorehead have us! She'll rip us to pieces on the stand!"
"You eluded your hearing the last seven times," the officer yanked himself out of Sketchy's reach. "You escaped federal custody, assaulting not one - not two - not even ten, but twenty officers of the law that were guarding you. The only reason you weren't all over the nightly news was that the FBI thought that if the city knew that two teenagers were pulling off scams - and getting away with it, they knew the public would riot. You've just had a lucky streak until now." He turned to Original Cindy. "I'm sorry, miss, but there's nothing you can do."
"She can't even bail us out?" Max asked, not believing her ears. Lydecker or Renfro were always able to bail at least one of them out. Usually they took Max. "Not even one?" she pleaded.
"I have strict orders from my superiors," the officer said. "You're not to smell fresh air until the FBI comes for you. And that's that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go see a man about a warrant."
Max slumped against the bars defeatedly and Original Cindy stood there glaring at the siblings unapprovingly.
"Why?" was her simple question.
"I dunno," Max whined. "I was thirteen. I was bored. I was watching Ocean's Eleven - George Clooney looked really good and 'Do you wanna go rip off a casino, Sketch?' 'Sure!'" she mimicked the conversation which had really taken quite some time and planning. "When we got caught, Renfro panicked that this would ruin the rep of the family if it got out... she changed our names, our hair color, moved us to Seattle. The 'rents got new jobs. It all seemed so perfect after that, so we got used to it."
"We never thought we'd get caught again," Sketchy said sadly.
"But Brin and Syl say they've known you your whole lives," Original Cindy said, trying to make sense of this strange situation she'd gotten herself involved in.
"They did!" Max sighed. "Syl's dad was Deck's lawyer or something. Brin's mom was Renfro's personal trainer. When Renfro got her job as princicpal of our school, she offered spots to Syl and Brin to buy their families' silence."
"Well, then," Original Cindy sighed. She looked at the camera up in the corner furtively. "You stay here and... you think about what you've done for the time it takes the FBI to get their asses over here and arrest ya'll."
"You mean you're not going to get us out!" Sketchy shouted. Max slapped a hand over his mouth quickly.
"No, I'm not!" Original Cindy widened her eyes purposefully, hoping he'd get the message. "So, don't even try anything."
"We won't Cindy, we learned our lesson last time," Max lied. Original Cindy marched out of the police station feeling good about what Max and Sketchy had told her. She wouldn't exactly be blowing their "covers" as Max Guevara and Calvin Theodore if she talked to Syl and Brin.
She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Alec?" she asked. "Call Biggs. We've got a problem." She paused, listening to him. "What do you mean, 'is it about Max', of course it's about Max, idiot!"
After all, this wasn't the first time she'd dealt with the assholes in the criminal justice system.
Author's Note: Yeah, this chapter totally turned out different than I had imagined when my computer crashed a few weeks ago, but I hope it's enjoyable. Please review - because reviews make a happy Vkitty and a happy Vkitty is a prolific (and plagiaristic Vkitty).