Chapter Three.
Matt was so disappointed that he hadn't got his file. "What on earth could have happened to it?" he kept asking himself and Lawrence and Garry. The best they could come up with was that Carmelita had the file in her clutches, where it would be kept safe from criminals.
Meanwhile, just a short while back, Sly was reading Matt Tember's police file to Bentley and Murray. "His father and mother were both master thieves, and they were very proud to have a son follow in their footsteps. Not so happy about it though, was Matt Tember's sister… OMG!"
Murray, who had been speeding at 60m.p.h., crashed into the Van in front. "What? What is it, Sly?"
"It's Matt Tember's sister! She's…"
But Bentley interrupted. "Murray, what was the matter with you? You could have killed somebody!"
"Sorry, Bentley."
"Sorry won't do it, Murray. Come on guys, let's go see if anyone is hurt."
"What happened?" asked Matt from inside the Tember Van.
"I dunno" replied Garry. "But the Van won't start. Great. Carmelita'll be onto us for sure!"
"Err… maybe we can help you?" said a voice from behind. Matt, Garry, and Lawrence turned round to see Sly, Murray and Bentley standing opposite them.
Sly looked at the photo pinned to Matt Tember's police file. Then he looked at Matt. "You're… Matt Tember!" he gasped.
Matt was very surprised. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "Sly Cooper! I can't believe I'm meeting you at last!" He held out his hand for Sly to shake.
"I can't believe I'm meeting you, either!" exclaimed Sly, shaking Matt's hand. Bentley and Lawrence then shook hands with each other, as did Murray and Garry.
"Sorry about your Van, guys", said Murray. "I got too distracted."
"Oh, it's OK," said Matt. "Garry is quite a careless driver as well. If he wasn't eating while he was driving…"
The Tember Gang and the Cooper Gang began to talk. Murray and Garry were having competitions to see who could make the loudest burp. Lawrence and Bentley were discussing really hard math problems. Sly and Matt were recalling their visits to Carmelita's office.
"So Sly", began Matt, "I was just wondering, why you wanted my personal profile."
"Because, Matt, my dear friend, if Bentley's calculations are correct, you were the only one who knew the location of the Ruby Rabbit. I needed your profile to track you down."
"What's the Ruby Rabbit?"
"It's a very expensive piece of art, worth millions of coins. Imagine what Thiefnet would take for it!"
"And we'd get their whole stock!" exclaimed Matt. "Imagine what Carmelita would think if she saw us wearing the Teleport-Ring?"
"Yeah!" said Sly. "But the trouble is, Matt mate, the Threatening Three stole the Rabbit. Your personal file contains a little detail on the Threatening Three…"
"They killed my brother!" roared Matt. "I remember now! The Threatening Three killed my brother, Rory Tember, the master thief of all… except you, Sly…! Well, it's time they met…"
"The Murray!" interrupted Murray, stepping in between the two thieves.
"The Garry!" exclaimed Garry, saying his name at the very same time that Murray said his.
"That was why I wanted my profile, about my family!" remembered Matt. "The Threatening Three, they killed my brother, I needed their personal details!"
"Which was what I've been trying to tell you" sighed Lawrence. "Is your one ever like that, Bentley?"
Bentley hesitated. "Well, he's sarcastic 24-7, but never forgetful."
"You got that right Bentley," said Sly. OK, everyone, let's get in the Van and track down the first member of the Threatening Three."
The six of them leapt into the Cooper Van, leaving the Tember Van behind. Garry was upset about leaving his Van behind, but Bentley told him that he had to move on, having recalled the time when Murray temporarily lost the Cooper Van. They hit the road after about 3 minutes.
"Right" said Sly. "Let's see… Matthew Jonathan Tember… born 2nd October 1984 to…"
"SLY!" bellowed Bentley, "Matt's personal information is not important at this stage! We need details on the first member of the Threatening Three!"
"OK, OK, sorry Bentley… you wanna tell us, Matt?"
"Sure thing, buddy!" smiled Matt. "Now, everyone, the first member of the Threatening Three is Mike Jackson the grizzly bear. Having retired from his circus days, he started life as a tap-dancer in Hamburg, Germany. For a short while he had over 20,000 fans, but six years later, tap-dancing went out of fashion, and Jackson was out of business. He became outraged when he saw people asking for autographs of street-dancers. So Jackson built a Go-Go Machine, which, when used on passers-by, turns them into non-stop tap-dancing zombies. The zombies would then tag others, who would join Jackson's army."
"Right," said Sly. "You got all that, Bentley?"
"I sure have Sly, and apparently Penelope is in Germany too! If we could get hold of her, our plans to destroy the Go-Go Machine will be made easier!"
"How?"
"Because the bombs from her RC Chopper are indestructible. Hit it, Murr… er, Garry! Next stop, Hamburg!"