AN: Sorry, I made a mistake with the reply I gave to Heidusaka, Carmelita is actually the fifth born to her father and mother, she has another older sister who is kind of the black sheep in the family, and thus I forgot to add her. Plus I hadn't slept a long time when I was writing chapter three, so I was a big goofy. Anyway, on to chapter four!
Carmelita fidgeted nervously in her seat as the plane raced toward Australia. The twenty three year old bit her lips, and tapped her shoulders as she stared off into the distance, her mind racing back to what she could have done differently. It was now three o'clock in the afternoon, and only two more days until momma and father would be back from Vienna. If they knew what had happened, they might end up disowning her like they did with Olivia. Well, actually Olivia had disowned them if the truth was to be known, but still papa had a massive temper, and he was a saint next to momma!
Sitting next to her, Elisa was leaning back, her eyes closed as she listened to her music. How could she be so calm about this? Of course her eyes had betrayed her when Carmelita first told her what hand happened – turning from soft brown to a hard stone colored gray.
Elisa was seven years older than Carmelita, and was in many ways her surrogate mother, when momma went to attend a teacher's conference. True there was Carmen there too, who was older than either of them, the oldest of the whole bunch, but she always had a Rosary in her hands, and her nose in a religious book. It never surprised anyone when she became a nun, and then went on to have her own television series on EWTN. So when momma was away, it always fell on Elisa to be there to establish order.
Her hair was shorter than Carmelita's, ending almost at the back of her skull. Her bangs were long and wispy, but that kind of made her look like a guy sometimes when she sweated. The early afternoon light flickered in her jet black raven hair, and highlighted the sky blue sweater, and tan mini skirt that she was wearing. She was thinner than Carmelita, but at the same time much more muscular, and when she flexed her muscles, mountains turned to mere ant hills in comparison. Her nose was a little longer, and more angular than her sister's, and there were touches of pink that had never turned black when she had grown up.
Carmelita batted her head back and forth and sighed, "How can you be so calm?"
"Anxiety will get you no where," Elisa said, her eyes still closed, which made her sister jump out of her seat a little. Elisa chuckled and opened her eyes, pulling her chair to the sitting position.
"You know I hate it when you do that," her little sister hissed. "Between you and the boys I'm going to have a heart attack."
"Carmelita Montoya, calm down," her sister barked; her accent thick with strong, commanding Spanish. Elisa looked at her sister and snapped her head to look at the roof. "If you hadn't tried to catch Cooper last night, this would not have happened. If you had stopped to look for the boys first, then –," she stopped and sighed.
"The twins had climbed into Cooper's bag while I was still getting ready for bed," Carmelita protested. "He had them after he leapt out of the window. Had I caught him . . .," her voice trailed off.
"Look the ringtail is a jerk, I can understand that, but I don't think he is all that bad of a person," Elisa began.
Carmelita looked at her sister in shock, her mouth wide open. "How can you say that?" she yelped, causing the other patrons of the airplane to turn in their direction. Carmelita swallowed her pride and lowered her voice . . . a little. "He's a thief," she snapped back at her sister.
"And who has he stolen from?" Elisa shot back. Before Carmelita could reply she held up a hand, "Yes I know that stealing is wrong, and that Cooper for the most part only does it for fun, which I don't agree with. But how many times has he stolen from some of the most dangerous thieves, saving hundreds if not thousands of lives because he did so?" Her eyes began to twinkle mischievously. "How many times has he saved, you from danger?"
"That's none of your business," Carmelita barked, snapping her head away from Elisa.
"Oh really?" her sister asked calmly. "It's none of my business that you are my sister and this really 'bad' person has saved you from being killed, more than once? Really Carmelita, I had no idea." The last sentence was thick with irony, and a touch of bitterness.
"I should have done this on my own," Carmelita snarled under her breath, resting her hand on her chin.
Now it was Elisa's turn to snarl. "And you would have gotten your ass kicked from this week all the way to next millennia," she howled. "You have no idea who Charlie the Great is."
"He can't be any worse than Clockwerk, or Neyla," her little sister groaned, playing with a thread of her dark blackish blue hair. The sun hit it at the right angle and many people could see traces of very dark purple in it as well.
"Clockwerk, no," her sister agreed. "But Officer Neyla was a spoiled brat compared to Charlie."
"Oh please," Carmelita shot back, "he's a glorified card shark, nothing more."
"A very strong, shark," her sister snarled, "with very dangerous weapons and a very ambitious attitude." It was happening. Elisa's eyes were changing to very dull stone gray. "You aren't on his case, I am. You haven't seen what he can do, I have." Elisa rose to her feet and looked at her sister.
"Excuse me, lady, but could you please sit down," barked a Doberman Pincher wearing a fine business suit. "You are blocking the movie." He was at least twice her size, and was nearly burst out of his suit because of his stacked muscles.
Elisa stood motionless, and then very slowly turned to face the other passenger. The businessman frowned for a moment, and then yelped a little bit, inching back further and further into his own chair. Elisa slowly edged closer to him until they were nose to nose. She stared at him for a few more minutes, before speaking.
"Do you have a problem with me, talking to my sister?" she said, her voice so low a dog could barely hear it.
"N-no ma'am," he finally managed to squeak out.
"Then I suggest you stay in your seat and shut up, and wait for me to sit back down," she said, her voice calm, polite, but overfilling with ice. The Doberman swallowed hard and nodded his head, looking down once at his pants, which were now stained with a large pool of liquid. Elisa snarled at the sight, which made the Doberman double the fluid output, and rush to the bathroom as soon as her attention was back on her sister.
Before she could speak any further, a flight attendant had the unfortunate duty – or a lost round of rock, paper, scissors with her fellow attendants – to walk up to the woman. She never got a chance to speak, and looked a thousand times more frightened than the businessman. One look from Elisa sent her racing back between the red curtains, her bunny tail quivering. Carmelita wasn't sure, but she could have sworn that the attendant had said something to the effect of she wasn't getting paid enough for this type of situation.
Elisa turned back to her sister, and jabbed the air with her finger. "You have not seen the body bags filled with his victims who stood in the way of his ambitions, I have."
"Okay, I get it," Carmelita snapped. She shuddered at the thought of her brothers being in the hands of such a maniac. Ever since she had heard of a building just a few blocks from the Interpol offices burning down, and investigated it, finding a stash of treasures and a few of Sly and his friends' belongings, she panicked. When a few brave witnesses reported who had done the attacking, she felt a stone in her gut, but now after hearing her sister, it had turned into a damn boulder.
"No you don't," Elisa said, sitting down in her own chair. "I could go on and on about him, but I really think my energy should be used elsewhere."
Carmelita groaned, and decided to look at the files of Charlie and his gang to relax. After five minutes of reading it, she decided she needed something else to relax. Nothing in this report was good, everything she read about this vicious gang was nothing short of a horror story gone terribly, terribly wrong. She felt her sister put a hand on her shoulder and squeeze it.
"Rest, mi hermana pequeño," she said softly. "we'll be there soon."
The plane which was owned by Morgan's friend was definitely the fastest thing Sly had ever been on. He nearly felt the urge to open a window and whoop in delight, but realizing how fast they were going – and how high up – he decided against.
"This is amazing," Bentley squealed with the utmost amount of excitement. "I've never seen this kind of technology on anything that wasn't military." His eyes scanned the inside of the jet; it was triple the size of a 747, perhaps even larger than a Flying Fortress! The colors were bright silver and green, with hard red stripes across the walls. The pilot, a weasel (no really) named Walter Lafleur leaned back and smiled.
It was already an hour after the small group of men left Morgan's apartment, and boarded the plane, and already they were nearly to Australia. Sly had checked the schedule before they boarded and after Bentley confirmed his figures, knew that they should land in Australia just a few minutes before Carmelita did. The raccoon smiled and leaned back against his chair. Did I mention that the chairs were all black, Italian leather?
"So what do you think?" Walter asked, craning his neck to view the group. His voice was a strong Italian, but the weasel had hailed from France. His grin grew wider as he spied Bentley continuing to gawk at all the shiny buttons and gizmos scattered around the plane, and at the twins, who were playing a video game in the back of the aircraft.
"All it needs is a massage chair, and a Jacuzzi and it would be perfect," Sly chuckled.
"Sly," Bentley snapped in aghast, "show some respect!"
"Actually the chair you are sitting in is a massage chair, and as to the Jacuzzi, well – unfortunately I could not make it fit the plane's weight limit," Walter cracked.
"This used to belong the United States Air Force, didn't it?" Bentley asked, looking at the defensive capabilities of the jet.
"You're close," Walter said, his eyes twinkling, "actually it's a combination of Russian/Canadian design, back when there was a treat of nuclear war back in the eighties. It was supposed to be the ultimate battle ship, able to slip through radar by cloaking itself using the wind around it.
"How on earth did it do that?" Sly asked, frowning. Of course he could appreciate sneakiness when he saw it; he too had a technique that allowed him to blend in with his environment."
"Never did ask the guy who designed it, when I stole it for Morgan," the weasel chuckled. "I just know that it uses the path of the wind to block its path from radar searches."
"Interesting," Bentley said notching his glasses up his nose. The turtle turned and looked at the two boys, pulling out a large container from the back of the plane. "What are you two up to?" he asked.
The boys stared at him and continued to pull the container out into the center of the plane. With the flip of a lock, the container opened, and inside were dozens, upon dozens of board games.
"Just in case we have little rug rats on board for a long flight," Walter chuckled. The boys pulled out the boards and looked at the interesting games. Christian looked at a box and frowned.
"This one looks like you play it with candy pieces," he said, ripping the box open. Sure enough there was a large board with hundreds of black and white pieces that looked like they belonged in a Reese's Pieces candy bag. Before someone could stop him, he plopped one in his mouth, and chocked on it.
Sly rushed over to the boy and preformed the Heimlich maneuver, the boy spewing out the projectile from his mouth, and it landed right next to Murray's feet. The giant pink hippo screeched like a little girl, and began smashing it with his "Thunder Flop". The plane rattled and rolled, and Walter scowled, turning back to the group.
"What is going on back there?" he bawled.
"I'm trying to squash a cockroach," the hippo cried.
"Murray, Murray, that's not a cockroach," Bentley howled, rushing over to the game piece. He picked it up, and held it to the light. "It's a Go piece," he said, finally determined that it was in fact a piece of the classic, strategic Japanese game.
"Bentley, what do you say you take the boys into the next room with these games and teach them how to play," Sly sighed. His friend looked at him for a moment, and then nodded his head.
The master thief slumped to the ground, and sighed. "This is not going to be as easy as I thought," he groaned. Another moment later, Sly heard his friend scream, and rushed into the room, growling. "For God's sakes, Boys, boys no! Bentley is not a piñata!"
Walter listened for a moment and began howling with laughter. Morgan had said that Sly and his friends were always a quirk to be around, but he had no idea. Too bad the flight is almost over. Walter smiled and turned his attention back to the airspace.
If there was one thing that Charlie the Great could not stand, it was incompetence. The large fish paced back and forth in his pool as his guards brought in the good doctor and his ninja assassin. The shark raised his eyebrows and flashed a radiating smile that filled the aquarium with bright white light.
"I take it everything went well?" he asked, his booming Australian accent bounced off the walls, making everyone cringe, with the exception of Nyoko.
"We have the computer you asked for, Herr Great," Doctor Goren said with a self satisfied chuckle.
"Oh really now?" the shark said, sailing up to the glass. It really wasn't glass, as Charlie the Great could not stand anything so publian. His aquarium/ pool was made of fine crystal, one that shimmered with multi-colors to match his mood. It also amplified his size mass, and made him look a lot larger than what he really was – and he was already a giant to begin with. "So then where is the chip?"
Dr. Goren frowned and shifted his weight. "Chip, sir?"
Charlie's aquarium shimmered and shifted until the waters behind the crystal were darker than Loch Ness'. "The chip, and the files within it," Charlie said, his voice low and tight.
Nyoko looked at the doctor and narrowed her blue eyes. "He lost them to the Cooper gang," she said.
"Why you treacherous little scamp," the hyena howled. He pulled out a gun at the scorpion and pulled the trigger, hissing as her whip caught him on his wrist. "You bitch," he whimpered.
"ENOUGH," Charlie's voice boomed. The dullness of the waters lifted, and both Nyoko and Dr. Goren could see their boss once again. "Do you not think I didn't anticipate this?" he said, his dead black eyes glowing. His left lip rose into a grim smile and he began pacing back and forth, as if he smelled blood in his water. "However, I would have never believed that my ace lieutenants could ever be beaten by a raccoon, a turtle, an overweight hippo, and two little fox cubs!"
"You knew, Charlie-San?" Nyoko asked, blinking her eyes.
"You don't think I'd send you there if I couldn't see what was going on?" His huge thick dorsal fin slammed into a button, and a television dropped down. Another flick of his tail and it switched on, with the hyena and the scorpion being the main cast members of the show.
"You didn't trust us?" the scorpion asked, her eyes widening.
"You my dear, of course, to an extent, but the good doctor, well," the shark chuckled. "He's never been a true field man."
"So you do blame me," the doctor roared. "This is preposterous, after all the good things that I have done for you."
"I've done just as much, if not more for you, Doctor Goren," the shark snapped, pressing himself against his crystal aquarium. His eyes looked deader than anything the hyena had ever seen, and the cowardly doctor backed up.
"You seem in a pretty good mood for someone who has lost something so valuable, Charlie-san."
"That's because I have another nifty little secret," the shark said, looking back at the screen. The picture switched and then they could see two planes, one a commercial type, and another some kind of military spy plane, both heading for Australia. "Cooper and his gang, and Carmelita and her sister are both heading right to us." His grin widened. "Let's make it a very warm welcome for them."
Sorry for the massive lack of comedy in this chapter guys, but I'm kind of tired now, and will be on line a lot sooner than I thought I would. Anyway I will try to bring back the humor in the next chap.
Kaiseronni: I was house sitting, so I worked all night and morning before I submitted the last chapter, so that's why it was so quick.
Heiduska: Thanks, I didn't mean to kill you though. Hopefully you were able to breathe with this chap. And you are right, the boys are nuts when they get sugar. Just don't give them soda, Lol. You have an interesting way of writing, I would just like to know, are you Asian or have Asian ancestry by any chance? You don't have to tell me of course, I was just kind of curious, you sound Asian. Oh, and if you like my comedy, perhaps you might want to click on my name, and read some of my other comedies. I have two Final Fantasy stories, and two Xenosaga stories, and a Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi comedy. Just in case you were curious.
Lt. Cooper: Thanks, and I look forward to receiving your invitation.
Captein Amelia: Kool another of the Sly Cooper top writers likes my work! I'll try not to disappoint.
Ultimatelife: And yet another rave review! Kool!