Chapter 26
Sly and Carmelita moved back, keeping their adversaries from reaching the South Gate by blocking them from it. Each of our intrepid Master Thieves was hard-pressed, having to fend off three sword-wielding enemies, all the while keeping an eye out for the elusive and wily Keiko, who would dart forward with lightning-like speed to try to press an apparent advantage.
"Spirited little minx, isn't she?" Sly teased to Carmelita, somehow managing to fit that in while he spun, leapt, and wove his body like the consummate acrobat he was.
"You could say that," Carmelita admitted through clenched teeth as she fended off a quick strike with one of her canes, then bettered their odds a moment later when her other c-headed cane thudded hard into one "samurai's" temple, and the man crumpled to the ground senseless. "Uno!" Carmelita cried triumphantly, then dropped into a quick squat as a growling Keiko slashed quickly with her sword horizontally at head height.
"Remember me, sweetheart?" Sly intoned in irritation, whirling his cane about in an almost S-shaped, maybe even lop-sided figure-eight movement, a move that brought his cane's curious tip around to quickly swat a most surprised Keiko sharply across her attractive backsides.
"Yeow!" Keiko shrieked as she stumbled and crashed to the grassy ground, her rounded derriere stinging painfully from that blasted raccoon's blow. How could one such as him be so wickedly fast? she asked herself, getting back to her feet, and reclenching her katana in both hands. "Banzai!" she howled and leapt back into the fray.
Carmelita whirled her shorter canes about, then struck like a viper! Her left cane swept in a downward arcing swing, one that hooked her cane's tip around the ankles of the dirtbag before her, snapping the Siamese cat woman's ankles together and toppling her to the ground. Carmelita, her teeth bared, her brown eyes narrowed, brought her right cane up and over her head, twirled it until it's haft was perpendicular to the ground, then snapped it straight down---into the startled Siamese cat woman's forehead. The attractive dark masked Asian beauty's exquisite bright blue eyes glazed over, and she slumped. "Dos!" Carmelita called out, her war cry of sorts.
"If this is the best you chumps can do," Sly pondered aloud, as his body pivoted sideways, his two adversaries' blades missing him on both sides by a whisker, "then, I guess it's time you found a new teacher." Sly ducked then, hearing the deadly whistle of zipping steel above his head go by. He then popped back up, smiling a delighted smile at the two clearly surprised samurai. "Here…allow me," he offered, then hooking his cane's curious tip around the back of the neck of his leftmost opponent, then jerked hard…while all the while aiming the haft of his cane directly at forehead of the other goon. TONK! The samurai who had just been tagged in the forehead blinked a moment, then slumped. Sly then thrust his cane forward---slipping it free from the goon's neck---then swept the haft around in a blazing horizontal arc to snap the hard cane against the other unfortunate man's temple with a resounding smack. "Tres! And, quatro, mi querera!" Sly called out cleverly, ending up in a crouch, his cane tucked under his right arm, his left arm straight out.
Carmelita grinned fiercely, twirling her canes as Keiko and her two remaining samurai backpedaled, breaking away from the two tenacious Master Thieves. "So, Missy…still wanna play?" she jeered, feeling so fast and so strong, her adrenaline surging in her veins.
Keiko's arms drooped, her sword's point nearly touching the ground, as she panted. Her elegant coiffure was in disarray, her long straight blue-black hair going a bit wispy. Her kimono was stained, the hem torn. She was disheveled, perhaps…but, by the cold determined look in her lovely slanted brown eyes, she was far from done. "You are worthy opponents," Keiko managed around her panting, and bowed with respect. "But, alas, still outnumbered."
"For the moment," Sly thought to mention helpfully, grinning a big chow-eating grin her way.
Keiko grimaced, her lungs burning. It had been far too long since she had engaged in duels of this duration…and it showed. But, she still simply had to escape this trap! Somehow, some way…she would! She flicked her pretty dark eyes toward her two remaining samurai, one man---Tokokuze-san---and one woman---a tall svelte clouded leopard----who looked still up to the fight. She nodded to them both, and they nodded back. "Banzai!" Keiko then screeched and leapt forward toward Sly Cooper…in her opinion, her most formidable opponent.
Carmelita rolled quickly to her left---away from Sly---then rolled back, and sprang to her feet. Before her, she saw a short, yet very powerful tiger with pale fur and hair and the most chilling of eyes. "So…it's just you and me, eh amigo?" she challenged, softly swaying and shuffling erractically to the left and right, reminiscent of a boxer.
Tokokuse blinked, amazed at the speed of this vixen…she instantly reminded him of a cobra…strong, lithe, and deadly. "Hai," he remarked, his mastery of English a bit sketchy…let alone Spanish, which he knew none of. His eyes watched Carmelita closely…knowingly watching her belt buckle instead of her eyes. After all, one could feint with one's head---like the cobra!---but one could not fake a movement from one's center of gravity. "Come fight, Cobra-woman!" he hissed, his long-bladed katana flicking as he prepared his strategy.
Carmelita grinned…liking him calling her that. She quickly surveyed her current battleground, then her opponent, then how the two worked together. She spotted something she could use to her advantage, and grinned even broader. "Well, amigo…what's it gonna be?" she challenged, already minutely beginning to shift herself to the left of where she stood…all the while keeping up her distracting shuffle.
Tokokuze disliked the way this vixen smiled all the time. It worried him, quite frankly…like she knew something that eluded himself. Not a pleasant feeling, that. He then decided the best defense was a quick offense…and with a loud yell swept his quick blade up and to his left, the moonlight glittering on its blade. "Eee-ah!" he boomed and swang.
Carmelita leaned back, her brown eyes going very wide as the tip of the goon's sword hissed just inches before her nose. But, then…quick as a snake, she swang her lucky left cane about, hooking its c-shaped head against the back of his deadly blade, and heaved…hard! "Gah!" she grunted.
Tokokuze gasped aloud as he felt something grate against his sword, and found himself stumbling to his right as Carmelita's stroke pushed him off-balance. Tokokuze quickly tried to stamp his right foot down to regain his equilibrium, but instead, his foot found the side of one of his fallen comrades! "Aiee!" Tokokuze screeched as he tumbled head over heels to the ground, ending up face first on the ground. He sighed…knowing what was to come.
"Cinco!" Carmelita called out softly, then---TONK!
Tokokuze nearly smiled as unconsciousness claimed him. He had been bested now, true…but he had lost to a woman with the soul of a true samurai! He slumped, his vision turning black.
"Seis!" Sly then crowed, expertly tapping the clouded leopard woman in her right temple with the head of his cane. Sly then turned eager brown eyes on the blinking Keiko Zuikawa, who surveyed all her fallen warriors. "And then there was one…" Sly commented, twirling his cane smugly.
"…but, not for long, eh Ringtail?" Carmelita added, moving over beside her dashing raccoon.
"H-How can this be?" Keiko growled…though, mostly to herself. Her samurai were all expert swordwielders---like she herself was. How could a pair of skinny thieves have laid waste to the pride of her warriors? Keiko's wondering didn't last very long…once she was done with something, she cast all thoughts of it aside. Her primary goal still was escape from this cleverly arranged trap she now found herself in.
Carmelita watched Keiko a moment, smiling to see the confident woman rocked back on her heels for once. She then noticed, for the first time, that their conflict with Keiko and her goons had gravitated them all into the carefully manicured garden before the hide she and Sly had set themselves up in.
"So…ready for the inevitable yet, sweetheart?" Sly questioned, turning oddly serious eyes toward the trapped Keiko Zuikawa. "You're outthought, you're outnumbered, and you're outmatched. Give it up…you're done."
"Ah, but you are wrong, Sly Cooper," Keiko declared.
"Oh, am I?" Sly replied, shaking his head. "I think not…"
Carmelita didn't like the clever look in that smarmy leopardess' eyes. She was up to something…but what? "Yo, Ringtail…watch her. That girl's up to no good," she counseled.
Keiko then laughed softly at the pair, while inwardly triumphing. "Already, I have beaten you, Sly Cooper! For, unbeknownst to you, my clever adversary, I have an escape route."
"Escape route?" Sly questioned, frowning.
Then…it finally made sense to Carmelita! "Sly! She knows about our hide!" she hissed to her fiance.
"Damn!" Sly replied, then made to dash over to cut the crafty Keiko off.
Carmelita was already moving, anticipating what he'd most likely say next. She sprinted to cut off Keiko, who was already moving herself. "Oh no you don't!" Carmelita called.
Keiko then leapt forward, then rolled, coming up swinging---hard!---directly at Carmelita's exposed waist. "Banzai!" Keiko shrieked in her triumph, putting all the power she could into the wicked swing.
Carmelita tried to twist away, but…she knew she'd never make it. That was when she saw a dark blur pass her by, then she heard a muffled clang, then a sharp hiss of someone in obvious pain.
Keiko blinked rapidly, disbelieving her eyes! How had her cut missed? She had expected to bisect that meddlesome vixen with her expertly wielded blow…but, no! "H-How?" she gasped, even as she yelped, her hands tingling painfully as her sword transmuted a powerful blow up its length to her hands…just before it snapped in two! The stunned leopardess scrambled to her feet, and staggered toward the entrance to the gardener's storeroom.
"Caremlita! S-S-Stop her!" Sly hissed aloud, his right hand clapped across his left bicep tightly.
"No!" Carmelita replied, moving beside him. "Sly…you're hurt!" She felt her bile rise in her throat, and her heart lurched in her anxiety.
Sly pushed her away, exasperated. "I'm fine!" he assured her. "Now, stop that girl…or everything will be for---oh, crap!" He clenched the cut on his arm---which stang more than it hurt---with his hand, and goggled at what he saw in the entrance to the storeroom.
"Sayonara, Cooper-san!" a triumphant Keiko Zuikawa laughed…even as she straddled the dark-green electric four-wheeler she had somehow wrangled from the gardener's storeroom. The electric vehicle hummed with power, and its tires scrambled briefly on the lush lawn before Keiko---on her new conveyance---shot off into the compound at a goodly clip.
"Damn her eyes!" Sly hissed again, getting to his feet. "C'mon, querera…we can't let her get away!"
"Sly, are you sure---?" Carmelita asked, clearly worried. A stain had appeared on Sly's shirt sleeve over his wound. He was losing blood.
"Yes, corazon!" Sly answered. "I'll be fine! Now, move it, cutie!" He reached over and swatted Carmelita rather smartly upon her rump.
Carmelita grinned, moving away. "Hey! Not so rough," she countered. "I'm running already! Vamos, amigo!"
"Yo, Bentley!" Sly called out, activating his binocucom. "We got ourselves a problem!"
Bentley's nearly panicked voice replied almost immediately. "Yeah, I know," he told them. "But, you two got more of a problem than just that! Ms. Zuikawa just put in a call to the Embassy…she's told them that you two are trying to kidnap her! The Embassy---as you might imagine!---has called out the JSDF Marines to rescue her!"
"Swell. That's just great," Carmelita grumbled, casting occasional looks at her beau, to make sure he wasn't lagging behind. "Now, we've got them to deal with too?"
"What?" Sly teased, partly to assure his worried lady love he was A-okay. "You wouldn't want this to get easy now, would you, querera?"
"Less talking," Carmelita growled back…but with a grin. "And more running, Ringtail."
"At once, milady," Sly laughed, loping off in Carmelita's wake…keeping tabs on Keiko's electric flight.
It was only a moment later when the two Master Thieves encountered the first contingent of JSDF Marines. Carmelita ducked as she heard the telltale 'b-dap' sound of M-16 assault rifles firing her way. "Madre y Dios!" she hissed, as she and Sly began zig-zagging their way across the compound…which---damn it all!---only slowed the two down more…giving Keiko an even bigger lead on them.
"We got to get some of those jokers off our back, my sweet!" Sly called out to Carmelita, even as they dashed erratically about, still trying to gain on Keiko's four-wheeler.
"But, how?" Carmelita answered, ducking again as another three-round burst whisked by over her head. "In case you hadn't noticed, fella, those are live rounds they're winging our way…"
"Yeah, I noticed that," Sly agreed. "Keep after her, querera…I'll catch up in a minute. Bye!"
"Ringtail!" Carmelita gasped, then blinked as Sly seemed to disappear behind her. Damn him! she growled in her mind…he's hurt, and yet he's off doing something sweet and gallant. "I'll get you later, pal. Now, I've got a leopardess to catch." Carmelita gathered her growing anger inside and used it as fuel for her run. The vixen's boots began to pound as she dashed after her vehicularly-enhanced adversary.
Sly ducked down behind a convenient boulder in the compound, and waited. He could hear the clomp of booted feet coming his way, and he gripped his cane, awaiting his moment. Just as a squad of JSDF Marines dashed by his hide, Sly grinned, and jumped directly into their midst. "Konbanwa, fellas!" he crowed, and began to lay about himself with his cane, which twirled and snapped like some magical serpent. It was the matter of moments before the six-man detachment of Marines was laid out unconscious. It was only then that Sly's heart froze as he heard a shot crack nearby…in the direction Carmelita had been running in! "I'm coming, my love!" Sly whispered, dashing off.
Carmelita puffed and panted as she diligently loped after Keiko. However, the Spanish vixen grew furious as she realized there was simply no way she was going to be able to catch Keiko. If only that clever little scamp didn't have that motorbike!
Crack!
Carmelita started at the sound of a gun…most likely some sort of rifle, by the sound of it. But, that didn't really matter just then. No, Carmelita told herself, grinning…grinning because she saw Keiko somersault off her motorbike as one of its front tires tore off and bounced away. Keiko hit the ground hard, but it was only a moment before she regained her feet. Carmelita noticed the leopardess was limping now. "Sweet," she opined, and---still puffing slightly, and sweating---loped off after her quarry yet again.
"So, what did I miss?" came a voice from beside Carmelita a moment later. She wasn't even surprised any more…that was just how her Sly did things. Part of his mystique, she supposed.
"Oh, nothing much, handsome," Carmelita said lightly. "Keiko was a bad girl and broke her shiny new toy. So…she's on foot again…and limping."
"Kids nowadays," Sly returned, his brown eyes gleaming mischievously as the two ran on. "So…was that a shot I heard a moment back, querera?"
"Yeah, about that," Carmelita answered between puffs. "I heard it…and darn, if it's only a second later, and Keiko's pitched off her shiny new toy. Coincidence? Hmm, I'm thinking no, my love."
"Hmm," Sly mused even as he ran. "Who knows? Perhaps we've got ourselves a guardian angel out there, my pretty girl."
Carmelita scoffed at that. "A guardian angel with a sniper rifle? C'mon, Ringtail…" she countered.
"Hey, you never know, Carmelita," Sly told her with a grin. "After all, don't they say that God works in mysterious ways?"
"Que lastima," Carmelita groaned, shaking her head and chuckling. "Why me?"
Sly only laughed. "C'mon, querera…there she is!" he pointed out, pointing to the limping Keiko, who looked back over her shoulder and re-doubled her speed, obviously beginning to panic.
"Give it up, Zuikawa!" Carmelita barked, using her 'Interpol' voice. "You're going nowhere, sister!"
"Halt!" an authoritative voice called out a second later. Damn, Sly observed, more of those pesky JSDF Marines. Now, don't get me wrong, Sly thought, I appreciate dedication as much as the next guy…but, really!
"Down on your knees! Hands on your head!" a young Marine sergeant demanded.
"You handle our Keiko, querera!" Sly ordered, turning to face the Marines. "I'll take care of these party-crashers!"
Carmelita didn't answer…she just lifted her twin canes over her head and with a rising growl coming from her throat, brought both her canes down with crushing force at Keiko. Sulfurous Spanish oaths began to escape her lips as she began to twirl and roll and leap and duck all about Keiko Zuikawa. "Surrender, criminal!" Carmelita finally managed in English, her teeth grit in her anger.
Keiko was unprepared for this vixen's ferocity. She was like some dervish, those damnable flashing canes of hers everywhere! Keiko was an accomplished swordswoman, but she was very hard pressed to ward this woman off. Keiko ducked, feinted, and dodged, feeling the fur on her neck rise each time one of those swift canes hummed precariously close to her head. "Never!" Keiko spat back, cursing her weakened ankle.
"Ms. Zuikawa!" shouted a new voice, and the two women stopped in surprise to look up and see yet another six-man squad of Marines hustling their way toward them. "Hold on!"
Keiko flashed Carmelita a triumphant grin. "Well, Carmelita? Who will surrender now, neh?" she jeered.
Carmelita bristled a moment, then did as Sly had told her to do with Bentley. She laughed. "Bring it on, girlie!"
Carmelita frowned a moment later when---oh, about every four seconds or so---something zipped overhead quickly…like the hum of an angry wasp. For every one of those hums, one JSDF Marine would cry out, clutch at their neck, face, or shoulder a moment, then topple over. "What the hell?" Carmelita observed, then grinned quickly at the now disquieted Keiko. Apparently, our 'guardian angel' was at work again, she mused. Very nice.
Sly sighed a moment later, crouched, his cane held dramatically under one of his arms, a six man contingent of Marines fanned out unconscious around the raccoon. "Have a nice days, gents," Sly quipped, then dashed over toward where he saw Carmelita and Keiko locked in combat. He blinked as he saw another squad of Marines appear. "Damn…haven't they run out of those guys yet?" he remarked. Then, before he could take a single step forward, the Marines began to…well, act oddly. Very oddly indeed. It was if, he thought to himself, as if they were being besieged by insects…one's that stung, it appeared. Well, at least if all the swatting and swearing was any indication. Sly grinned.
Meanwhile, up in the trees outside the Embassy proper…
A dark, small figure, clad in head-to-toe dark charcoal gray clothing, sat perched precariously twenty-five meters up in a majestic maple. Only this person's eyes showed from beneath their clothing, and they were a cool, calculating brown. The small figure held an futuristic-looking sniper rifle in their hands. A knowledgable gunsmith would of told you almost immediately that the weapon was an Austrian make, a Steyr AUG rifle, actually…though a highly modified one. The weapon sported a long barrel, a pistol grip, a stock, which contained an partially exposed thirty-round magazine midway within it at the bottom. Atop the weapon's receiver was a huge sight, almost eight centimeters in diameter, and nearly half a meter long. This sniper---Sly and Carmelita's guardian angel---reached out to the bag they wore across their hip and extracted yet another cartridge. Again, had there been a gunsmith present, he or she would of goggled at that cartridge. The round was odd in appearance---though, it started out as a stock 5.56mm cartridge.
Instead of the normal shape of a bullet, it tapered differently…and was white, and was in four tightly closed sections, forming the 'bullet'. The gunsmith---had he/she been there, of course---would have been impressed! Instead of a bullet, this cartridge contained something different…and far less lethal. When fired, the odd 'bullet' would travel down the barrel---propelled by the rapidly expanding gun gases, spinning in the lands and grooves of the rifle's barrel. However, once it emerged from the rifle's muzzle, something peculiar happened. The bullet would split apart along those lines, the clamsheel sections flying apart, the tiny composite sabot falling away from behind as well…leaving only a small two millimeter aerodynamically shaped pellet to streak on its way. As this pellet---which was comprised of fine compressed powder, a powder that contained a highly potent soporific agent that was rapidly absorbed through the skin---struck its target, the sleep-inducing agent would render the victim senseless in under five seconds flat.
The guardian angel quickly slipped the round into their weapon, closed the action, and peered through their sight…which was night-vision equipped, turning the off-again/on-again moonlight to daylight intensities…though all in shades of green. The Angel---shall we call them? Yes, that will work nicely, thanks!---eased their crosshairs over the next available Marine, sighting in on his cheek, then inhaled, released half of their breath, then fired. The odd pellet struck the man in the neck and powdered---and stung! The powder quickly seeped through the man's skin and fur and entered his bloodstream. In four and one half seconds, he collapsed…only to begin snoring moments later. The Angel nodded in satisfaction.
Back in the Embassy compound…
Keiko watched---when she was able to, of course!---as her Marine rescuers individually seemed to succumb to, well, something attacking them…and they fell to the ground. As the last Marine slapped futilely at his neck and passed out, Keiko gasped.
Carmelita had been carefully parrying Keiko's swings and thrusts with her canes…waiting, just waiting. Then, she began to redirect Keiko's lunges and swings, imparting a roughly circular movement to their contest. As soon as Carmelita could, she waited for Keiko to try to lift her sword to counter a thrust with her cane, and---remarkably enough!---Keiko did just that. Carmelita grunted and clanged her cane's c-shaped head against Keiko's blade, binding it. She then lifted her cane in a circle, waiting until she was at the apex of her circle to cruelly twist her enemy's blade…just so. "Gotcha!" Carmelita crowed, as Keiko's sword tore out of her hands…only to spiral off to clang uselessly against a small boulder ten meters away. "Looks like it's 'Game Over', girl," Carmelita pointed out, with a grin. "You're going to jail, woman…just where you belong."
Keiko blinked, her mind still trying to come up with some means of escape…even then! "Perhaps, Carmelita Fox," she purred. "May I commend you on your techniques? You were a remarkable foe." Keiko bowed to her.
Carmelita watched the wily leopardess…not trusting her as far as she could throw her. Even as she did so, however, a part of Carmelita frowned, wondering to herself, just who it was that had been helping them. After all, both Bentley and Murray were out within the woods, and far away from here. So, they were out. Who could it be? Carmelita fretted.
Keiko watched as Caremlita's attention wavered, and smiled inwardly, formulating a last-chance plan to gain her freedom. She smoothly and carefully slipped her hands inside of her wide kimono sleeves. "However," Keiko then informed Carmelita, "once again, you have underestimated me. Banzai!"
Sly watched the wily leopardess move, and called out to Carmelita, even as he dashed forward to intercept whatever chicanery she was planning. "Carmelita! Watch out!" he warned.
Keiko quickly pulled her hands from her kimono sleeves, a small five centimeter diameter ball in her fingers, and she dashed it hard to the ground before her two would-be captors. The dull metallic sphere shattered and a pall of acrid billowing white smoke erupted, hiding the two from Keiko's view. She didn't waste a single moment, and took to her heels…directly toward the South Gate.
"Damn!" Sly swore, even as the pair coughed, trying to make their way past the concealing smoke screen of Keiko's. "That girl's a Houdini, all right…just like Trish told us both," he added, coughing, and wiping at his eyes.
"I don't care if she's Harry Houdini himself," Carmelita growled in her anger, "she's not getting away from me!" Carmelita moved forward through the still issuing smoke container, and held her breath until she was clear. "There! There she is!" Carmelita called out, as Sly joined her.
"Domo arigato goziemashita, Cooper-san!" Keiko laughed, bowing to them both impishly, even waving good-by to them both. "Until we meet again, neh?" She laughed…she'd done it! She was free!
"Damn it all to Hell! That bitch is getting away!" Carmelita screamed, her fist clenching. "No! No way!" Carmelita dashed forward, drawing one of her handy canes back over her shoulder in preparation to hurling it---all in the vain
attempt to do something to prevent Keiko from escaping justice.
Meanwhile…back in the trees, twenty-five meters up…
The Angel watched everything go down…then frowned in thunderous disapproval as the Japanese woman created a temporary smokescreen, and dashed away toward freedom. "Nyet," the figure declared in a woman's voice. The Angel loaded yet another of her unusual 'bullets' into her Steyr's receiver and eased the action closed with a snick. She then peered into her huge scope, and carefully lined up the now laughing woman's head in her sight. She mentally allowed for windage, and drop, then inhaled a patient slow breath. She exhaled half, then slowly squeezed the trigger. The rifle made an odd 'brr-dap' retort…
Back in the Compound…
"Sayonara, Carmelita-san!" Keiko laughed aloug, throwing back her head, enjoying rubbing the aggravating vixen's nose in her victory. She then put her hands on her hips, and--- "Ow!" Keiko gasped as something stung the back of her neck---hard! "Ow, ow, ow!" Keiko danced about, rubbing her neck, frowning. Damn insect! However, that assessment changed a moment later, as Keiko began to feel terribly woozy, her eyelids drooping as sleep threatened to take her…even as she stood there swaying. "Not…fair," she murmured, then slumped to the ground. "It's not…fair…" she grumped, just before she fell peacefully asleep.
"Our guardian angel, do you think?" Sly offered as they both stood there, looking at Keiko's supine form.
"Had to be," Caremlita replied, looking at her Sly. "But…does it matter, really?"
Sly grinned, then leaned over and kissed Carmelita on the lips briefly. "Actually, it doesn't. Doesn't matter at all, sweetheart."
"Yo, Bentley!" Carmelita called in, smiling as Sly's kiss still tingled on her lips. "We got the bitch. Time to call in Trish and the Boys."
"I'm on the phone to Kitty right now, Carmelita!" Bentley assured her. "Got to go, okay? I'll check back with you two in minute. Oh, meanwhile, get Keiko out here ASAP. I don't want any chance of her getting away."
"Comprende, amigo," Carmelita answered. She then turned to Sly. "Well, let's go check out Sleeping Beauty, shall we?"
"After you, doll-face," Sly answered, then pulled Carmelita up short by impishly pinching her behind.
"Hey!" Carmelita protested, rubbing her posterior. "I thought you and I had an agreement on that behavior, amigo."
"Sorry," Sly answered, then took Carmelita's arm and hooked it in his own. "I was weak…too much temptation, querera…" Sly grinned innocently at her.
Carmelita shook her head. "Okay, but just this once," she replied. "You hear me, Sly Cooper?"
"Understood, my love," Sly told her, then winked.
"You are impossible! Do you know that?" Carmelita rebuked him. She then sobered as she caught sight of his arm. "Are you okay, Sly? Really?"
"It stings a bit, but I'm otherwise fine, Carmelita," Sly hurriedly assured her. The two then approached the prone figure of Keiko Zuikawa.
Carmelita knelt down to inspect her…especially her neck. All she could find was one small welt on the back of her neck, like an insect sting or something. "I still don't get what happened to her, Ringtail. I mean, one small welt…how could that do it, amigo?"
"Search me," Sly replied, scratching his head. "But, look here, querera," Sly instructed. "See that, Carmelita?" Sly pointed to what appeared to be a glittery sort of powder around the welt on Keiko's neck. "Maybe that's what got her, huh?"
Carmelita frowned, then began to reach down a finger to get some of the powder…but, she never made it as Sly clamped his hand around her wrist, halting her. "What'd you do that for?" she asked, frowning.
"What if I'm right, sweetheart?" Sly countered, reasoning with his stubborn lady love. "I'm not in any shape to be lugging both you and Ms. Zuikawa on my shoulders, you know." He grinned.
"Hmm," Carmelita wondered aloud, but stopped fighting Sly. "Okay, whatever," she grumped, disliking mysteries. "Still…I wonder who did it?"
"Yep, as do I," he confessed…then grinned. "And, there they are!"
Carmelita followed Sly's gaze up into trees, and gasped herself as she spotted a small dark figure moving in the trees, with what was obviously some sort of rifle over their shoulder. "Hmm, wonder who that is, eh sport?" Carmelita asked, as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"A friend, querera," Sly answered, then waved to the figure, but in doing so, apparently, he drove it off, watching as the figure disappeared into the foliage of the woodline. "Well, one thing's for sure," Sly observed. "She's in one whale of a hurry…"
Carmelita's eyebrow perked up. "She?" she remarked curiously. "Oh, and how do you know our angel was a woman, Ringtail?"
"Hey," Sly replied, raising his chin proudly. "If there's one thing I know, it's how a woman moves…and that, my lovely Carmelita, was most definitely a woman."
"Whatever," Carmelita remarked, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of knowing something she did not. "Now, do you think you could help me get our friend her back to our van?"
"Of course," Sly answered, moving over to lift then drape Keiko's unconscious form over his shoulders with Carmelita's help. "Let's scoot, querera…Trish and her QRF buddies are probably on their way."
"Good for Trish," Carmelita observed, pleased for her friend.
"And for us," Sly added, grunting as the two began jogging out the South Gate and then toward their buddy's command post. "Mustn't forget that, Carmelita…"
Meanwhile, forty meters away, in the woods…
As the two---well, three to be exact---figures headed out of the compound, the Angel watched them until they disappeared. She stood on the ground, just on the fringe of the woods. When the three were gone for a ten count, the Angel nodded, and then removed the balaclava she had worn over her head and face. Svetlana Umanova, the beautiful little Ukrainian tigress, shook her wavy sable-haired head, then ran her slender hands up through her sweaty locks to free it from her head. She then crouched down and disassembled her Steyr rifle and place it in its carrying case. Once done, she slipped the case into a backpack she wore. "Excellent work, tovarisch," she whispered quietly in the direction of both Sly and Carmelita, then began to walk in the other direction…where her moped was cleverly hidden from view. She knew she'd have to hustle to get home. Once there, she'd have to shower and wash her hair. After all, both Naomi and Maria would both recognize the smell of gunpowder quickly enough.
As Svetlana finally made her way to her trusty moped, she shook her head and smiled. It was a very good thing---da?---she told herself, that she had overheard Madame talking with Bentley. It was also a very good thing, she continued to muse---as she started her moped and began to make her way, as speedily as she could, toward home---that I decided to tag along this evening, nyet? Svetlana laughed softly to herself…remembering the shocked look on that Japanese woman's face.
It had been a very good thing---at least for Sly and Company---that Ivan Umanova, years ago, had trained his pride and joy, his one and only daughter to love firearms, and had trained her well. Svetlana remembered proudly the day her father had given her his marksman medal, his way of telling her she was as good as he, and…that he was immensely proud of her. Her skill with weapons was not something Svetlana mentioned to the casual acquaintance…in fact, no one except for her father knew of her prowess. Perhaps, Svetlana mused as she pulled on to Rue de la Mer and killed her engine, it is better that way, da? For, after all, should Naomi, Yuri or Maria ever discover she wasn't in her bed this evening, she woud have to face a great many questions she would prefer not to ever answer...
Meanwhile, at the Cooper Command Post…
"Unh," Murray grunted as he flumped the last of Keiko's unconscious henchpersons across the back of the fake Lamborghini. "That's the last of them, Sly…"
"Thanks, big guy," Sly replied, patting Murray thankfully on the shoulder twice. "You're a handy guy to have around, pal."
"And, what am I?" Bentley asked a moment later, glaring a bit at Sly just then. "Chopped liver?"
"Fishing for compliments again, Turtle Boy?" Carmelita teased, moving up behind Bentley to give him a---at least in her opinion---well-deserved hug. "Muchas gracias, mi amigo!"
"Yeah, what she said," Sly said with a laugh, then turned a bit serious, and reached out to shake Bentley's hand. "Like there ever was a heist without you on the team, pal…"
"Well," Bentley replied, grinning and blushing. "I try, Sly."
Sly and Carmelita then hefted the still unconscious Keiko to the Lamborghini's front bucket seat, and with a lot of toil, eventually got her limp form sitting in the seat. Carmelita then patted her cheek, grinning evilly. "Sayonara, Keiko-san," she jeered quietly. "Have a nice stay in the Tokyo jails, sweetheart." Carmelita then threaded her last set of flexi-cuffs around Keiko's wrists, then secured the other ends to the Lamborghini fake's steering wheel.
"Doesn't she look so peaceful?" Bentley teased, holding up a newly burned CD, one that contained all the data on Keiko's scam, as well as her own confession. "Well, that's a wrap, folks," he added, as he slipped the disk inside of Keiko's kimono's obi. "Good work, everyone…one and all."
Sly stretched then, softly grimacing as his cut bicep burned a bit. "I don't know about all of you…but, it's been one long night. I'm beat."
"I'm gonna sleep until next week, handsome," Carmelita said around a huge yawn of her own. "Mmm, I'm sore everywhere," she groaned.
"Want me to rub it and make it better?" Sly teased her, cleverly arching one eyebrow several times.
"I'm too tired," Carmelita said with a laugh. "And, you behave yourself, mister." That was when Carmelita saw Sly gingerly rub at his sliced sleeve. "Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie! I forgot. Yo, Medic…you've got injured personnel here!"
"Carmelita, please," Sly protested, covering his wound with his other hand. "It's nothing…really!"
"You let me be the judge of that, okay?" Bentley instructed. "I'll tend it on the way home," he told Sly, then turned to where Murray sat waiting. "Okay, Murray…crank 'er up! Take us home, pal."
"Wait!" Carmelita called out, and Murray shifted the van back into park.
"What's the matter, querera?" Sly wanted to know.
"Almost forgot! Hey, handsome, I need one of your calling cards," Carmelita asked, then held out an impatient hand to him, waiting.
Sly laughed, then dug into his pocket for one of his trademark blue cards. "Here you go, Carmelita… I can't believe I almost forgot! Gee, I must be tired."
Carmelita grinned, and extracted one of her own red cards. She then vaulted out of the van, and slipped the two cards under the Lamborghini's windshield wipers. "Finito!" she whispered, then grinned. She dashed back, and leapt into her seat. "Okay, boys…vaminos!"
"You heard the lady, pal," Sly laughed, even as he kissed her cheek, making her grin wearily at him. "Let's go home." He then sighed, even as Bentley moved back to attend to his cut. "Nice job…one and all." Sly then hissed in pain as Bentley laved his wound with hydrogen peroxide towelette, which hissed and bubbled on his wound while it disinfected. "Take it easy, Bent! Gee, Florence Nightengale you ain't, pal!"