Ziggy's Corner: For those of you who have been patient and waiting for the answer to how Sly got poisoned, unless of course you either figured it out, or risked challenging all my traps, the wait is over! This chapter will tell you how, and when he was made sick. In this chapter you also get to see what Carmelita's father is doing, and you also get to have another answer, who was facing Bentley at the van, and what was he about to say. So strap on your seat belts, and get ready, cuss here we go!
"You're . . .," it was impossible for him to say anything but that single word over and over and over. Bentley felt his face flush as he looked at the other person, and he blinked. "You're . . .," he said again.
"Another turtle?" the female asked him, her voice as soft as a cloud. Her skin was bright green, and her eyes were as violet as a field of . . . well violets. She was exactly his own size, and wore the same kind of specs that he did, although her hat was large, white, and flowery. She smiled at him and ran her hand over the side of her head. "Would you care terribly if I came in?" Her voice was a mixture of both proper English and propriety Southern. "I was vacationing in Australia, and seemed to have gotten lost from my group. I stumbled across you van, and I hope you don't mind, decided to bother you."
"Oh, of course," the flustered male turtle stammered. He stood there, smiling at this creature of beauty and just took her all in. It wasn't until she frowned at him that he came partially to his senses and with an embarrassed laugh, moved aside, so she could walk in. She smiled and nodded her head as she walked by him, and gasped at the high tech of the van.
"My goodness, so much machinery," she seemed to squeal. "You must be some kind of technological genius to use all of this."
He chuckled and blushed again, continuing to take in the angelic form in front of him, even the air around her smelled sweet and lovely. Like him, and all turtles, she had no hair on her head, but she did have eyebrows; lovely, rich black eyebrows that shimmered with Heavens light. He rubbed his hands together and stood there, just blinking and smirking at her as she watched him.
"Oh my," she said, her smile slipping. "I've forgotten my manners. My name is Rose Marie Shell. I'm an archeologist, though as I've said, I was only here on vacation. And you are?"
"You're … you're …," he said, his eyes wide as was his smile. Mentally he thumped himself on the head, groaning in exasperation. Say something stupid. Rose Marie put her hand to her mouth and giggled.
"Apparently in shock," she laughed. "I truly apologize for that." She walked over to him, and took him by the arms, setting him down on in a chair. "Calm down," she continued to laugh, as he grew stiff. "I won't bite you."
She stood up and looked around and spied the coffee maker. Rose Marie walked over to it, and began pouring a cup for the startled turtle, when Bentley shot to his feet and squeaked in protest.
"I, I'm sorry," he forced from his lips. "I've had bad experience with that stuff this morning." She frowned at him, and then started to laugh as she stared at the dozen or so coffee mugs lined up neatly by the sink.
Rose Marie walked over to him and smiled brightly yet again. "At any rate I'm pleased to see you are speaking, so may I inquire the name of my host?"
Bentley swallowed and forced himself to speak. "Bentley," he coughed out.
"It's nice to meet you, Bentley," she said, extending a hand. Reluctantly he took her hand and shook it, and then pulled away. "Don't be so nervous," she said with a smile. "Many men act like this around me, and it's not really necessary. I'm just as human as they come." She looked over the other turtle's shoulder and frowned. "Do you have children?"
Bentley followed her gaze, and looked at the board games he had forgotten to put up. That brought him back to the present and he blinked. "They're not mine but siblings of a 'friend'."
"I see," she said, stroking her chin. "Where are they?"
"I wish I knew," he said. When she frowned, Bentley began the whole story, despite wanting to stop himself. He watched her lovely features turn from interest, to horror, to something very close to disgust.
"A thief? You?" she shot to her feet and glared at him, watching him blush and turn his gaze to his feet.
"I know it sounds bad," he moaned. "If you want to leave, I won't stop you. If there is somewhere you'd like to go, I could take you there, before coming back."
She looked at him for a moment and crossed her arms. A long time passed before she spoke again. "From what you've told me, you're not a very evil person. In fact it seems like all you really want to do is protect the innocent, even if you've gone about it the wrong way." She blinked and began to pace. "So where did you say this fortress of that horrid shark is?"
Bentley blinked and cocked his head. "Um, Rose Marie, I don't really want to get you involved," he said, hating to think what would happen to this beautiful woman if things got ugly.
"But you already have, you see. By telling me what you have, I've been made part of this whole thing. So where is this lair?"
"But, but how could you help?"
Rose Marie giggled and shrugged. "I told you I'm an archeologist. I've investigated and researched many ruins and relics all over the world. My family has for the last eight generations. So it could be that I am familiar with the area." He told her quickly, and she began tapping her foot.
"I'm not as familiar with that building, but with the area, my great-great grandfather surveyed that area numerous times. Provided that it's not all covered up with metal from his fortress, there could be certain caves and tunnels we could use to sneak in there, how does that sound?"
Bentley took a few steps back and blinked, and then smiled . . . impressed at her intellect and cleverness. "I'd have to wait for Sly and Murray to come back, but it sounds like a good plan."
Rose Marie smiled and winked at him. "Well then, I'll just open my bag, and get out my books. When I find the one with that area, we'll go over it until we have a sound plan of attack."
Issac waited until the officer had gone out of the room, and then inched along the edge of the building until he was through the window and into the room, locking the door. How ironic, he thought, that an officer of Interpol would pull of the same kinds of stunts that a criminal hunted by that law organization was famous for.
It couldn't be helped. No one would answer his questions on the telephone, and no one would see him here in Vienna. The superior officer even threatened with a notice that if he had tried to keep up the harassment, he'd have him arrested and thrown out of Interpol, along with his father and his children. But with Miguel getting no results, and with none of the other children knowing anything, Carmen wasn't even picking up her phone and the mother superior at her convention was too busy with something to come to the phone, Issac knew something was indeed wrong.
The clever fox inspector turned to the documents in the office and began filing through them one by one, of course distracting the video cameras with something to look at other than himself. He read the documents, scanning each word into his memory and neatly placing them back to the place where he found them. He knew that his daughter Elisa was on a case to arrest that old card cheat, Charlie the Great, and he knew how dangerous the fiend was, but he had no idea just how dangerous until he began reading through the files, and nearly had to throw up by what he read.
And there was more. Someone looked like they were bankrolling his latest scheme, whatever that was. Issac tapped his fingers and flipped through more papers. Whoever seemed to be behind this had operated in the city for a while, but was long gone by now. But that didn't mean they didn't leave flunkies somewhere to keep an eye on other programs they might be funding. But the question was, who was this person, and why was his name, or her name, or their names blocked out in official Interpol documents?
Issac went through the rest of the papers, and placed them back where they were, slipping through the window, and down to the ground. Like a bolt of lightning he was gone from there, passed the guards and the stations, until he was back in his hotel room and writing notes down furiously. His hand picked up the phone and he rested it on his shoulder, calling certain friends who he knew he could trust with important information and each promised him they would find out.
"You look like there's something bothering you," his wife said, as she walked up to him, rubbing his shoulders. "Is it about Carmelita?"
"It's about a lot of things. I think that Interpol has been compromised somehow," he said, his eyes growing darker as he stared at a large black bookshelf. The longer he stared at it, the more frustrated he began, and he tossed his glass of wine at it, causing Maria to scream.
"What is wrong?" she knelt down next to him and forced him to look her in the eyes. "Issac, it's impossible to infiltrate Interpol, you must know that."
"It would be hard, yes," he sighed. "But with the right determination, and the correct amount of resources and money, nothing is impossible."
"Could Charlie the Great pull is off?" she asked, her heart racing. Perhaps the shark had vendetta against the Fox clan because of Elisa?
"He's a dangerous criminal, and a cunning adversary but I doubt his ambitions run that deep," her husband said. "There are a thousand different criminals who have more money and more ambition than he does, but what I can't figure out is why some of their names have been taken out of our files."
"Wouldn't searching for them be a good place to start then?" Her mind was racing, she'd never seen him this distressed, and to top it off, she was still frightened for her children, especially her youngest sons.
"I've just asked my friends to do just that," he stated. "But there could be even more to this. I need to do more research, but I'm very frightened for our children. I've never been this frightened."
"At least one of us has finally openly admitted it," she said.
"I intend on doing more than just admitting it," Issac snapped. "I intend on acting and resolving this fear." He looked at his wife and stroked her lovely hair. "Whoever is behind this doesn't know the Fox family very well." He smiled, "Even the twins are capable of kicking their butt, and might already be doing it."
"If they know what's good for them, they won't," Maria snarled, her eyes glimmering with vengeful light. "Not unless they want to have a doctor use the Jaws of Life on their hinnies for a very long time."
Issac chuckled and kissed her cheek. "I'm sure that they're being very careful with whatever they're doing." Mijos for your sakes, you'd better be safe anyway. I don't think I could keep your mother away from your butts for too long.
Sly could feel his body tighten, as if his ribs had begun to shrink and collapse around his lungs, and he gasped for air. The evil doctor seemed amused as he watched the raccoon struggle to maintain balance, resting his chin on his hands as he watched Sly crawl to the bars, his own brown eyes filled with pain and anger.
"What is it you want from us?" he wheezed.
"To see you suffer, of course Herr Cooper," the doctor said with a wicked grin. Already the scorpion had done her work with the sisters, and was busy interrogating the boy, and Sly knew that within the next few minutes he would be next. "Tell me, I must know, how does it feel, laying there so helpless, knowing that you are at the mercy of someone else?"
"It's better than looking at your ugly mug," Sly moaned with a forced smile. The distain on Dr. Goren's face was more than enough reward for Sly, and well worth the price of pain wracking his face as he grinned.
Sweat poured down his body, his fur was thick, and clenched to his skin, suffocating him all the more. The raccoon's joints felt like they were being stretched on a board and ground into powder at the same time, and it was taking everything he had to just move. From the corner of his eye he could see the ninja work her mind tricks on the child, and across the hall he could finally see Carmelita and her sister, growling in frustration at the helplessness of the situation. The whole room seemed to spin as he tried to pull himself to his feet and Sly's eyes rolled back in his head as he dropped onto his back, his ears ignorant of the cries of the detectives.
"Save you're strength, Cooper-San," Nyoko said with a little grin, "you'll need it for when I speak to you next." She turned back to the boy and knelt down, her blue eyes glowing and shimmering like a pool of ice cold water as she watched him.
"Now child, I will ask you again," she said, her voice sounding like that of a kindergarten teacher speaking to a young boy with infinite patience, "what do you know of the computer chip that we are seeking?"
Try as he might, Gabriel could not take his eyes off of her. The scorpion was a villainess, a crook, but she also looked very nice at the moment, and her voice didn't really seem all that mean. He blinked a few times, and the dungeon evaporated around him. Gabriel felt his soul leave his body, and soar into the past; scenes of the last couple of hours racing like Greece lightning with red and yellow lines soaring passed his body. It was as if he were looking for something, once in a while the blurs slowed down and he focused on something, but as soon as it proved to be unimportant, the motion started all over again. Visions of his family and friends struck his mind, words that could be used for Charlie the Great's rise to power were plucked from the scenes and stored in what looked like a computer file, and then it was off to another scene, and yet another, until he dropped to the dungeon floor, his head pounding and the ninja shrugging.
"He doesn't know anything," she stated flatly.
"Or else the brat is lying," Goren growled. He looked at the boy and grinned brutally. "Let me have a few minutes with him."
"Like the hour you spent with his sisters?" she retorted. His head snapped at her and he growled. "I doubt Charlie will allow you to use your little tickle bots on him, like you did with them, it was a waste of his money."
Sly frowned and looked at Carmelita and Elisa. A smile made its way to his lips and he chuckled to himself. Carmelita is ticklish? I'll have to remember that, might be a good way to cheer her up when she works herself to hard. The fox seemed to read his mind and she exposed her canines.
"Try it Ringtail, and I'll use my shock blaster on you until you can't move, and then I'll peal the skin from your fingers slowly, before breaking each one." He smiled at her, and then frowned as a shadow hovered over him.
"But before she gets the chance, Cooper-San, let's have a little talk shall we?" Nyoko said with her own wicked grin. She knelt before him and grabbed his chin with her hands. "You don't look too well, do you?"
"I've been better," he coughed out with a laugh. "Of course with you hear that might change."
Her grin never left her face, as she took the words to be both compliment and insult at the same time. "You poor baby," she cooed, "I can make it all better you know." Her eyes twinkled and her tail swished back and forth. She caught him watching it, his eyes mimicking the motion of it perfectly, and as they did, something seemed to dawn on him. Nyoko grinned. "It took you long enough Cooper-San. Honestly I would have thought your little turtle friend would have made the connection before now."
"What are you talking about, witch?" Carmelita snarled. Her eyes were also on the tail, watching it bob and weave, like a snake playing with its prey. The fox leapt back as the tail stiffened and launched out at her, nearly striking her.
Nyoko cackled. "What do you think, Inspector Fox? Had my tail struck you, twenty four hours from now, you'd be in the same shape as Cooper-San here."
Goren looked at the scorpion, at her tail and back at her. "You were the one who poisoned him."
Nyoko sighed as she rose to her feet and narrowed her eyes. "Yes, Doctor Goren, I poisoned him."
"But . . . but I never saw you strike him with your tail during the fight at his hide out," the hyena stroked his head and blinked blindly.
"I never expected someone so narrow minded as you to ever do so," she taunted. Ignoring his growl of anger, the ninja turned back to the raccoon. "Now Cooper-San, I have a little proposition for you. Tell me what I want to know, and I will give you the antidote."
"What I know or what you want to hear?" Sly moaned, holding his ribs as if he were afraid they were going to fall off his body. He was warmer now, and his eyes were filled with anger. His legs shook and wobbled as if they were made of jelly, yet still he insisted on standing. "I wouldn't tell you the time of day."
She stood there, just looking at him. She blinked and sighed. "Pity, I'd use my tricks on you, but I really do not think you know where the chip is either. And in your state it might kill you." She continued to stare at him and narrowed her head. "Are you sure that is your final answer?"
"So now you're Regis Philbin? Sorry lady, but I don't like game shows," he groaned with a weak smile.
"Then perhaps you enjoy Reality Television, because the reality is, without my antidote, you will die, Cooper-San."
He shook his head, still making himself smile. "Nope, not into reality either."
She blinked. "Pity," she said. With the motion that could only belong to a vampire or a ninja, she was at the bars, gripping his head in her hands. Before anyone could do anything about it, she pressed her lips against his, and kissed him for what seemed like a very long time. When at last she let him go, both were short on breath, both of them were heaving, and Sly's eyes were wider than the Grand Canyon.
Nyoko's smile grew and her hands ran down her body. "Truly a pity; such a waste of a majestic specimen of masculinity. It will be a shame for women all over the world to lose one such as you, Cooper-San." She continued to pant for a few extra minutes, and turned to Goren. "We're leaving."
"But … but, the chip," he burped out.
"They don't have it, or know where it's at," she snapped. "If we find the other child, then we will find the chip. Now move!" She stared at a flustered Sly for a second more, both exhilarated, and at the same time remorseful, and then she walked out of the dungeon.
Okay ladies and gentlemen, there is was! So how did you like it? LOL, so now most of you who haven't made your minds up yet about Nyoko will have probably done it. I'm telling you, she is such a blast, one of the more "alive" original characters I've ever done! And I feel that now she's gone from sexy, to down right HOT!
Anyway, the next couple of chapters will be updated sometime in late November, but probably closer to December. Lt. Cooper, I hope these last batch of chaps make up for the waiting you've been doing. Chapter fifteen sees Carmen and Olivia travel to Turkey to search for clues, and Gabriel busts out of prison to search for the antidote, but will he find it in time? Until then faithful reviews, Happy Halloween, and more than likely, also Happy Thanksgiving!
Okay now is a new part of my stories, starting with the next chapter, I will answer what I feel is the best three questions about myself that you all might want to know. The top three questions, only one from each reviewer mind you, will be answered in the beginning of Ziggy's Corner. So if there is something you want to know about me, so long as it's not too personal, go ahead and ask. Of course you want to know my real name, astrological sign, or age or year of birth, you can click on my writer's name page and read that. So get your questions ready, and I'll get ready to answer them (again so long as their not too personal).