It was nearly the night when the arrived at the small little coastal curve, lighted up above water and below with dim green and blues and purples. The smell of salt water flew up from the cliff that Sly and the others were glaring down, and calmed them, well all of them except for Bentley, who was allergic to salt, and to the boys who were both worried about their sisters, and Sly, who was starting to sweat, and whose eyes were widening, which meant that the only one who was relaxed was Murray.
Sly's chest rose and fell heavily as he stared down at the heavily fortified water castle. Just three hours ago he and the boys had heard about Nyoko's kidnapping of the officers, and disappearing into nothing. It had taken a lot of shake downs to get the location to the headquarters of the dangerous shark, but they had gotten it, and now here they were.
"What the hell do they want with them?" Sly roared.
"Sly keep your voice down," Bentley snapped in a whispered tone. "We'll be spotted."
"Good, bring them all on," Murray said, punching his fist into the palm of his hand and cracking his knuckles. Sly swirled to face him and scowled, his eyes narrowing. The pink hippo looked at him, with an injured expression and took a few steps away.
"Sly, perhaps we should alert Interpol," Bentley said under his breath.
"What did you say?" the raccoon growled, staring at his friend. The Master thief began rubbing his arm, and licked his lips.
"I also think we should get you to a doctor," the turtle continued, scared but determined to get through to him. "You are obviously not well, you haven't been sleeping, and you can't stop scratching that . . . arm." Bentley frowned and moved closer to take a look at the appendage.
"Back off," Sly hissed, waving his cane at the turtle. His eyes grew dangerously large and they could see his chest rise and fall of the beating of his heart. He took a couple of gasps of air and took a step back, his golden brown eyes narrowing with horror. "Bentley?" he asked, as if he were no longer sure who was in front of him.
"Now I know we need to get you to a doctor," the turtle said. "Somehow I think you were poisoned."
The air seemed to grow chilly as they all stood there in absolute silence, tears coming to Sly's eyes. "Bentley, I – I'm sorry," he said. He looked to his cane and nearly dropped it to the ground. "I – I don't kn- know what came over me." His heart slowed down to a low ninety and he swallowed.
"I told you Sly, somehow I think you were poisoned," the turtle said.
"Maybe it was something he ate," Christian suggested.
"No, I think it was something he drank," offered the other twin.
"You can't get all twitchy like that with drinking something bad for you," Christian snapped.
"You sure did after drinking all that coffee," the larger of the twins said.
"So what? Coffee's not poison," the other boy shot back, leaping off of a rock he had been sitting on.
"It can be if you drink enough of it," Gabriel said, throwing a punch into empty air.
"You want some of this?" the smaller of the boys said, clenching his fingers into fists and raising them up in a boxer's motion.
"Boys, stop it," Sly said, his voice soft and yet paternal.
"He started it," the both cried in unison.
"I don't care who started it," the raccoon snapped. "I just want it ended." His tone was getting edgier and his fingers started twirling his cane yet again.
The boys looked at him and narrowed their own eyes. "Why should we do what a thief tells us to anyway?" Gabriel asked.
"Gus, I'm not in the mood," Sly said, "Now please stop this bickering."
Bentley and Murray watched the scene both trying to figure out the best way to defuse the situation. "Hey guys, why don't we go into the van while Bentley takes a little more reconnaissance photos," the hippo suggested, putting a hand on Christian's shoulder. "We can watch a video or something."
The boys looked up at him and started to smile, of the three of the thieves, they had taken an interest in Murray the most. The situation seemed finished, but the Murray's words seemed to only agitate Sly.
"I'm sick of keeping Carmelita waiting in danger while we take damn reconnaissance pictures," Sly screamed. His voice echoed through the air, and the group held their breaths as guards looked upward, and then shrugged and returned to their naps.
"Sly, without being able to examine you, I don't know what kind of poison is in your system," Bentley said.
"Shut your mouth you dweeby half shell," the raccoon said. His eyes stared at Bentley with demonic hate, and then turned their fury on the boys.
"And you two, I've had enough of your scrabbling. I've had enough of you puking and shitting on my things, and making my life a living hell. I've only known the two of you for just a little under twenty hours and I'm hoping to never see you two ever again," each words was more ferocious and hateful then the next, and his eyes were nearly out of their sockets with rage.
"Sly stop --," Bentley shouted. Luckily he had shot the guards with an extra dose of sleep venom, to keep them in their relaxed state, but if any other guards were out on patrol . . . he didn't want to think about it. He hadn't seen a friend this angry since they turned on the mind control devices in the Contessa's prison to free Murray.
The raccoon ignored him and kept ranting at the boys. "Why don't you just get out of here, and let me live my life," he screeched, tossing his cane at them. The boys shrieked, and Gabriel rushed off into the darkness, as Christian ducked.
"Sly what have you done?" Murray gasped. He tried to chase the little boy, but it was far too dark, and the nine year old was far faster than the hippo.
Sly reached for his cane, and lifted high over his head, a demented smile across his face as he glared down at the remaining twin, but stopped as a sharp poke jabbed him in his arm, and darkness enveloped him.
When he woke up, minutes after passing out, he blinked and held his hands to his head. "What happened?" Bentley explained that he had rushed to the van and got his first aid kit, using a needle and the strongest anti-venom that wouldn't kill the raccoon that he had, and plunged it into his arm.
"As I said, without knowing what kind of poison is in your system, or even how it got there, it won't last for long."
"Thanks buddy," Sly said, rising to his feet wearily.
"Wait, Sly where are you going?"
The Master thief turned to the turtle and frowned. "I'm going after Gabriel, it's my fault that he ran off. I- I can't rescue Carmelita and her sister, and tell them that I let their baby brother run off into the Australian desert at night."
"But you could agitate the poison," the turtle said, his voice hushed. Murray had driven them a few miles south of the headquarter, where the boy had ran, but they couldn't find him, now the hippo, and the remaining twin were fast asleep.
"Then give me some of the anti-venom, and I'll use it if I need to," he said, his voice strong and determined. "Bentley I can't leave that child in the wilderness, I will not." He looked down at his feet and back at his friend. "Just tell me how to use it, and give me enough, and I'll be off."
"We'll find him together," the turtle insisted. "In the morning."
Sly shook his head. "It could be too late by then, I have to go now."
"But you can't even see at night," he protested.
"With our interred goggles I can," the thief said, packing them in a backpack. He looked at the turtle and shook his head. "Bentley, Carmelita means more to mean than the world, more than my thieving ways, and so do those, they're my responsibility."
Bentley bit his lip and gave a stubborn shake of the head. "No, we're all partners, you, Murray, and me. So that means the boys are our responsibility."
Sly chuckled and cocked his head. "That's right, but one of them is till here in the van, asleep. You and Murray have to stay with him and make sure nothing bad happens to him."
Bentley bit his lip again, and handed over the anti-venom, explaining how to use it. "You're sure you want to do this?"
"I may not know what poisoned me, or what it will end up doing to me, but as to getting Gabriel back," he nodded. "I have to." And like that, the heroic Sly Cooper was back in action, and leapt off into the darkness.
Okay, another short chappie, but this will be the last of them for a while, as this is my last day here at my sister's house. I don't know how many chapters I'll update next time I'm on line, but look for them around late October, more likely closer to sometime in November.
Okay, on to reviewer responses. By now you know that Sly has been poisoned, but by how, I'm not telling. If you're an avid reader and examine the story to this point however, you should figure it out, though I mean no disrespect to any of my fans. Fell free to post your answer in a review. I won't tell you if your right or not until the grand unveiling, but it should be fun to see how many of you have paid close attention.
As to the tickling, well Bentley tickle torture the Contessa's general in Sly Cooper 2, so there's nothing weird there. I thought it would be fun to tickle Carmelita so I had her tickled, that's all there was to that.
DivineGuardian: By the way are you a girl or a guy? No I did not intend for Goren to be like Dr. Menegle (history buff I see, Lol). But they could be cousins of some what, I just didn't think of that. Thanks for the idea.
Kaiseronni: Thanks for the praise for my use of words. Did you mean that the tickle torture was the funniest thing you had ever read?
Shark: Nice to see a new face, and thanks for the comments. Yeah, they could tell that they were telling the truth, they just didn't give a damn. At Least Goren didn't, that's why Nyoko stepped in, what does everyone think of her by the way?
Heidsuka: To the number one fan of this story, thank you for all your lovely comments. Blushes I'm so happy that I'm making everyone else so happy!
Okay, I think that's it. If I've forgotten anyone, please forgive me. I have way too many reviews on my computer to scan through LOL. Anyway, you're going to be meeting Carmelita's parents some time in the next three chaps, as well as the return of Morgan Skye! (Seriously guys, let me know what you think of her too, along with Nyoko). Well its been fun, by for now, and see ya all in either October or November!