A/N and Disclaimer: Hi hello again A thousand apologies for my lateness!!! Next chapter is finally here, yay! Okay, so this should be the one where the heist takes place. Now, let's see what happens, shall we? Oh, and in case you don't quite get what a petrol station is, it's a gas station, okay? Anyway, I don't own Sly Cooper, Carmelita, Bentley, Murray or any petrol stations. Otherwise I'd be rich Now, on with the story…
Murray drove slow and casually past the suspicious petrol station, and two figures stealthy jumped out and hid behind some shrubs as Murray kept driving at his casual pace, before slowly speeding up and leaving. No one noticed a thing.
'Alright Carmen,' Sly said, turning to Carmelita. 'You ready to-'
'Sly! You there?' a crackling voice yelled from his binocucom, and he winced before pulling it out of his leg pouch.
'Yes Bentley?' he droned, winking at Carmelita, who just rolled her eyes at his games, even though she was smiling.
'Come on Sly, stop mucking around and let's go.' she advised. Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.
'Desperate to get out of here, eh?' he teased. Her face hardened, almost hurt.
'I am not!' she said loudly. Sly shushed her, looking around quickly.
'Okay, sorry Carmen,' he whispered. 'I didn't realise you'd get offended. But keep your voice down, we don't want to get caught.' he explained. He turned back to the binocucom, and Bentley.
'Okay Bentley, what's first?' he asked, as Carmelita pulled a face, then checked out her surroundings from behind the greenery. Not to check if anyone had actually heard her and noticed, just to see the surroundings, you know.
The petrol station was just a long, flat building, with a handful of pumps in rows out the front. She couldn't see if there was anyone working there, so she pulled out her binocucom and zoomed in to the register. There was a young skunk behind it, but he had fallen asleep, visibly snoring with his feet up on the counter. She turned her attention to anywhere near the building that might serve as a hidden point of entry.
Sly finished his conversation with Bentley and quickly put away his binocucom, turning to Carmelita. 'Bentley says there's an easy access point-'
'-to the left of the main pumps.' she finished, focusing on them with her binocucom. He gave her a grin she couldn't see, and finished his explanation.
'And I bet you didn't know, smarty pants, that inside the entrance, there's three levels of security to pass before getting into the main rooms.' he said smugly, as he watched her pause, flicking some gadgets before lowering her binocucom a moment later, turning to him. He paused for effect as she frowned at him. 'Lucky we're not going in through the main door.' he said, winking. She rolled her eyes and hid her grin.
'Alright,' she said to amuse him. 'How do we get in?'
He tapped the side of his head. 'You've got to use your head, Carmen!' he teased, and she whacked him on the arm. 'Alright, alright! There's an air vent in the small entrance that we can get to.' he admitted, playfully rubbing his assaulted arm. 'There's always air vents, isn't there?' he observed, smiling. Carmelita grinned.
'Yeah, you'd think they'd get ducted heating and cooling or something.' she said playfully.
'Will you guys concentrate on the heist?!' A peeved voice crackled from Sly's leg pouch. Sly rolled his eyes.
'Yes, mum (or mom for you Americans),' he said in a monotone voice, before rubbing his hands briefly. 'Alright, let's get down to business!'
The pair snuck over to the access point Bentley mentioned without any drama, and slipped into the small entrance hall he had told them about. 'It really is small,' Carmelita said, as she squished in next to Sly, having to look around the room busily to avoid him seeing the heat in her cheeks. He nodded, almost hitting her in the head.
'Well, it's only designed for one person,' he reasoned. 'And even then, probably only to put a couple of codes in the system before going to the next room.' Carmelita agreed, nodding very carefully.
'But let's get to the next level.' Sly said, looking up at the air vent. It was a little higher than expected, but it didn't deter either of them. Carmelita suddenly had a light bulb idea (those ideas where a light bulb goes 'ding' above your head). She looked over at Sly, who was still looking up at the vent, scratching his head.
'I've got an idea,' she said casually. He looked at her, smiling.
'Great! What is it?' he asked. She smiled, pausing for effect.
'Well, the vent's only a foot or two out of reach, right?' she said. He nodded his head, and she continued. 'So, if I knelt on the ground, you could climb on my back to get up there, and then pull me up.'
She watched carefully for his reaction, and part two of her idea. If he knew who she was, he wouldn't do it because gentlemen just don't step on ladies' back to climb up walls. If he didn't, he'd do it. She looked at him.
Sly blinked. 'Sure,' he said quickly. Then he bent to kneel on the ground. Carmelita caught him by his shoulder, hiding her grin, and pulled him up.'No Sly,' she said innocently. 'You step on me, since it'll be quicker for you to undo the vent.'
'But you're- so small,' he protested, slipping in the middle of his sentence. 'I'd hurt you.'
'Come on,' she said, trying to sound tough. 'I'm not weak. And you're not overweight. The quicker we do this the faster we'll get in and out. Ask Bentley,' she pushed. Sly still faltered, and she looked at him quizzically. Maybe-
'Okay,' Sly said, looking her in the eye. 'let's go.'
Now it was her turn to falter. What else but the truth could have made him pause like that? But she abandoned her thoughts for the time being, and knelt on the ground. Sly paused once more, looking at her. 'Sorry,' he whispered, and swiftly stepped on her back and undid the cover, before pulling himself in quickly. Carmelita got up, surprised at how quickly he moved. A moment passed before Sly's head emerged from the vent.
'Harder to turn around than it looks,' he said, offering a hand. Carmelita smiled, grabbing his hand securely. He grinned.
'Need a lift, my-' he began, before clamping his mouth shut, his grip on Carmelita's hand wavering slightly. Carmelita grinned slyly, understanding his second slip of the tongue.
'Mate?' she finished off for him, the picture of innocence. Sly grinned sheepishly.
'Friend?' he said, seeing if she would buy it. Carmelita just laughed, and finally Sly hoisted her up with him.
'Well, I think you have wasted about a quarter of the allocated time,' Bentley said in a sarcastic-calm voice from Sly's binocucom. Sly picked it out of his pocket and brought it to his eyes.
'Yeah, we had a problem, but we fixed it and are ready to go.' Sly explained quickly. Bentley instructed them to go forward, until they came across a fork (a split-fork, not a fork-fork) in the vent system. That's when they split, Sly going to the left, and Carmelita going to the right. She crawled for a few metres, then stopped, waiting for Bentley to come in on her binocucom. A few moments later, a crackling noise signalled for Carmelita to pull out her binocucom.
'Carmen?' he crackled.
'Yes Bentley,' she replied. 'What do I do?'
And for the next half an hour, Bentley gave directions to both Sly and Carmelita, switching between the two. Soon hundreds of photos and snapshots were taken of the inner workings of Mia Felon's corrupt counterfeiting scheme. The machinery, entrance points, and the bird herself were snapped, before Bentley called them back.
'Alright,' he said after enough photos were downloaded to his computer. 'Head back, I'm sending Murray out now to the same place you got dropped off. And please make sure you're not caught. Yes, Sly, I'm talking to you!' Carmelita stifled a giggle and put away her binocucom, turning around (Sly was right, it was harder than it looked) and crawling back along the shafts until she saw Sly on her right.
'Hello again,' she greeted in a friendly voice. He grinned.
'Hey,' he said coolly, stopping to let her pass. She smiled, and kept crawling until she got to the entrance hall, and wriggled out, landing heavily on her hands before turning to get back on her feet. Sly wriggled out a moment later, flipping to land on his feet, a feat accomplished after years of experience. She smiled at him, and they both exited out the entrance.
They had no trouble getting out either, and made their way back to the bushes, where they sat waiting for Murray to drive by. Not a moment later, Carmelita spotted the van on the horizon.
'There's our lift,' she said to Sly, pointing with her chin. He turned to look, and spied it.
'You've got good eyes, Carmen,' he said, looking her in the eye and grinning. She shrugged, smiling.
'I have to in my pr- life.' she said, finishing weakly. Changing the subject quickly, she asked. 'When's the heist again?'
It was a stupid question, and Sly raised his eyebrows before answering simply, 'Tonight.'
Carmelita smiled shakily. 'Right, yeah, that's right.'
And before she could mess up any further, the van came within jumping distance. Murray made eye contact with them through the windshield, a signal for them to hop in.
Which they did. Soon Murray was driving a relieved Carmelita and a suspicious Sly back to the hideout. They sat quietly, Sly looking at Carmelita, Carmelita looking at her shoes, and Murray looking at the road. After sitting like this for a while, Carmelita became nervous, and felt Sly absorbing her every move as she kept flicking her gaze up to see him still looking at her. Finally she became too tense.
'Would you quit it, Sly!' she said angrily, glaring at him. He just smiled.
'I was wondering when you'd get fed up with just sitting there.' he joked, still smiling at her. He paused for a moment, then asked. 'So, how do you think the recon work went?'
She blinked, then shrugged. 'Good, I guess. I mean, I haven't got anything to compare it to, so what I think doesn't count for much. You'd be better off asking Bentley.' she reasoned, before noticing that the small talk had calmed her down. She looked as Sly sat across from her, eyes twinkling above his smile, and gave him a small, grateful smile in return. Then she sat back against the van walls and waited to return to the hideout.
Sure enough, not so long after Murray had picked them up, the van pulled in to the garage beside a relieved Bentley.
'Come on guys,' he said in his nasally voice, waving his hands about slightly. 'We haven't got much time to plan the heist! Let's get inside!'
Urging them all inside, Bentley let them mull around the house for now. Carmelita retired to the attic once more, as she didn't really have her own room. She got up there by herself, after bringing a chair over to help herself up.
Sitting in the same spot she had sat in before, Carmelita leant against the supporting beam behind her, and the sadness and weight of her situation crashed heavily on her shoulders. She had to leave. Tonight. And she had to warn the others, without getting caught herself.
She grinned sarcastically. When she thought about it like that, it all seemed pretty simple. Except for her damn feelings. They were the ones that wanted to hold onto Cooper for dear life, and never let him go. They wouldn't let her leave, but for everyone's sake, she had to.
She sighed, the tears in her eyes racking her breathing. It hurt her to know she had to leave, but she knew she had to do it. Allowing herself a few minutes to compose herself, she then slipped back down to grab a piece of paper and pen, and crawled back up to her nook.
Leaning on a wide plank laying across half a dozen beams, she bent and began writing:
Cooper Gang,
Interpol knows about this hideout, and will arrive to arrest you in three days. If you don't leave, you'll be caught. Carm Inspector Fox will be back on duty tomorrow. Make sure you're gone by then, and leave no clues or tell anyone where you're going.
She paused for a moment, debating whether to add the next bit in. But they wouldn't see them again, so she shrugged and added:
Don't tell Carmen where you're going. Not a clue.
Looking at it, Carmelita decided that it would be enough. She tore the paper in half, and shoved the unused piece and the pen in her pocket, then folded the note up and put it in her other pocket. Just in case.
She sighed. It was final, and she knew it was the end of something she wouldn't see again, at least for a long time. She got down again as she heard a loud voice, sealing her hideaway from prying eyes.
Bentley called the gang into the lounge room. Carmelita, Sly and Murray walked in, seeing the familiar projector sitting on the table and hooked up to Bentley's laptop. They arranged themselves around the room, and watched as Bentley spent the next fifteen minutes going through his plan with them, where Sly would get in and take out the main factors and machinery in Mia Felon's dodgy dealings. Murray and Bentley also had a part, of course. Bentley would hack the main frame of the computer intranet in the corrupt business, and Murray would bash the place to bits.
Carmelita missed most of Bentley's plan from anxiety, but picked up her boy name as Bentley mentioned her staying in a nearby alleyway, waiting for Sly. She nodded tersely when Bentley flicked his gaze towards her for approval. When he finished, she didn't hear the silly questions and mucking about that usually followed one of Bentley's slideshows.
When the room grew quiet, Carmelita quietly stood up and left.
Retiring once more to the attic, she sat down, waiting quietly for the heist. Tears spilled down her face, but she did not make a sound. She let her emotions run free around her heart and mind, the only time she had allowed them to do so without restraint.
She did not say a word.
Eventually the strength of her emotions ebbed, and she was able to wipe her eyes and come back down, just in time for Bentley to race past, quickly telling her that she should get in the van in the next five minutes, and hurry. She nodded, ducking quickly into the bathroom to wash her face, then heading out to the garage, remembering to grab her fake cane from against the garage wall. Jumping into the van, she consciously kept a straight, emotionless face, and sat across from Sly. Murray made sure the gang was in, and then drove off, the sun nearing the horizon.
They drove for an hour in relative silence, and soon Murray dropped Sly and Carmelita off, before finding a decent hiding spot for Bentley and himself. Bentley would be working from his laptop, inside the van as Sly went inside. Carmelita would be outside. Bentley had actually planned the heist carefully so they could head closer to town before the police caught on, so Carmelita had a chance to hide amongst the crowded buildings, and then head back to the hideout. Carmelita's bottom lip quivered slightly, but she stopped before anyone saw. She hoped.
So, Sly and Carmelita hopped out of the van, and headed silently towards the building. They approached the entrance room once again, when suddenly, Sly turned and grabbed Carmelita's shoulders, pushing her against the wall. He pinned her there, looking closely and seriously into her eyes.
'Stop it.' he said, frowning at her. She looked back at him, expressionless and limp. He shook her.
'Stop it!' he shouted. Her head flopped back and forth, and he stopped shaking her and let go of her shoulders, still looking her fiercely in the eye.
'You're going to stop being sad.' he informed her. 'You're making me angry, Bentley anxious, and Murray upset. So just stop it, okay?!'
She looked at him, then hung her head. 'Sorry Sly,' she whispered. 'Sorry for everything.'
And she wasn't just taking as Carmen, but as herself too. Tears trickled down her face, and she sniffed, hating to be seen as weak. She roughly wiped her face with her sleeves, and looked up at him, trying to compose herself. He smiled gently at her, and she smiled back.
Sly noticed her (slightly) improved mood, and turned to the entrance. 'Be back soon!' he said warmly, and slipped in. Carmelita looked absently as the door slowly closed, then slumped against the wall, sinking to the ground.
She looked around for anyone, and, seeing herself alone, pulled out the piece of paper and pen from her pocket. The smile disappeared from her face as she wrote a quick apology to the Cooper Gang. It said:
Cooper Gang,
I'm sorry. I have to go. Thank you for everything, I won't forget this.
Carmen.
Carmelita sighed, slowly putting it in her pocket, and was just preparing herself for a long wait, when Murray drove past on the highway, extraordinarily quiet. Bentley buzzed her binocucom, and she didn't think twice before getting up and creeping over to the van.
She hopped in, greeted Bentley and Murray, and sat, waiting for Sly. Carmelita listened and watched with interest as Bentley gave Sly directions, advice and warnings through the heist. From his continuous talk, Carmelita was able to find out exactly where Sly was in the mission, and guess how long it would be til he came out. She pondered briefly that having this information would be invaluable to Interpol, but shook her head fiercely. That was worse than thievery. Soon enough, Bentley stopped his flow of information, and Carmelita knew Sly would come out. By the sounds of it, he hadn't tripped any alarms yet, so all was quiet when he snuck into the van.
But Carmelita, as well as the Cooper gang, knew Interpol wasn't that slow. As Murray was driving, they could here sirens. He was about to turn and start gunning it in the opposite direction, but Carmelita had an idea.
'Wait Murray,' she said, leaning on the front seats from the back. 'just keep driving.'
'Are you crazy?!' Murray said, his voice getting higher with worry. ''The Murray' and his friends will get captured!'
'No,' Carmelita said slowly. 'it's okay. Just keep driving, real casual, and don't make eye-contact with any drivers.'
Bentley was about to say something, but the police cars came into view, and Carmelita motioned for dead silence.
They held their breath as one car passed, and kept driving, all four looking carefully at the road ahead. Then another car. A third car was passing when Carmelita's eyes flickered accidentally towards the passenger side.
Officer Lax. The wolf looked her right in the eye as she drove past. Carmelita thought she didn't notice, when the car screeched a dodgy U-turn, and began following them. The other cars had caught on, and two turned and followed, one continuing to the scene of the crime.
The group looked at each other. Carmelita hung her head. Bentley sighed.
'You're as bad as Sly when it comes to girls,' he grumbled.
'Lucky we're used to this, and we've got a fair lead.' the turtle added, sounding slightly positive in the face of danger. Carmelita apologised. She had ruined her own plan, after all.
'Don't worry,' Sly said, grinning at her. 'You can apologise later.'
Her stomach flip-flopped.
'But right now, we've got some cops to lose.'
Her stomach twisted sickeningly, threatening to make her loose her food as well as her friends.
Murray hurriedly parked the van in an alley and switched off the lights. The back doors opened, and Sly ushered Carmelita out, acting like an English taxi driver.
'Well old chap, this is your stop, I do believe,' he said, his accent appalling but laughable. At least, it was to Carmelita.
'Indeed,' she said, grinning. 'Well, best be off, what-what!' She shook his hand, inclined her head, and with a smile, was off. And Sly was left to wonder about the paper she'd slipped him when they shook hands.
As Carmelita rounded the corner, she spotted Officer Lax, who hadn't noticed her yet, on the other side of the road. She was getting out of her car, and Carmelita took the chance to do an ultra-high jump onto the nearest rooftop, and sneak down the street. After all, the whole purpose was to get her away from the Cooper gang.
Her friends.
She blinked heavily, trying to concentrate on her job. Her feelings could come back later. As Officer Lax looked around, Carmelita got her attention by kicking some of the crumbling roof tile onto the road. In the quiet of the young night, it echoed around he cramped buildings, and it didn't take long for the wolf to spot Carmelita on the rooftop.
'Hey there,' the Interpol Officer (the one on the ground) said sweetly. 'You wouldn't know where I could find the Cooper gang, would you Carmen?'
Carmelita was surprised. Usually, well, last time anyway, the wolf didn't spot her as the fake Sly right away. So she jumped down to three metres (about ten feet) away, poked her tongue out to the Officer and ran the other way.
To her eternal relief, Officer Lax thought Carmelita's gesture meant she was going to actually show her where the Cooper gang were hiding, and followed.
Carmelita didn't run fast, but she weaved in and out of a lot of little streets, and soon her endurance wore out the exhausted Officer. Leaving her in the streets with a wave, Carmelita soon found access to a rooftop, and got her bearings.
Then she headed home.
A/N: I won't write 'The End' because there is one more chapter to this story. But this is it for Carmen. He won't be back (unless I write a sequel, which is NOT GONNA HAPPEN). Sorry Anyway, last chapter coming up (hopefully sooner then this one, a thousand apologies!!!!). Until next time!