A/N: Important: I just can't find the concentration to re-read and proof read this story. I've tried for two days but I can't sit down to it for some reason and I apologize. I've decided to post it anyway so that you guys could finally read what I've done. I had it done on Sunday night and now it's Tuesday night. So, again, I'm sorry! I usually go back through and add all the "detail" and re-word things that I was quickly typing, just to get through a thought. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it; this is raw and as I originally typed it while hurrying through. Love ya, guys!
Original A/N:
I originally intended for there to be more Sly Vs Slick Cooper action in this story than I am about to write. However, I had a clever idea, involving this temporal situation and how one Carmelita can affect the future Carmelita that is now passed out on the sofa. It's time for the bad guys to show they mean business, things to happen differently and our heroes to do their best to change time. The ideas I'm getting in my head as I write this Author's Note are creepy and powerful. The sacrifice that one character will make may surprise you. It will be a joy to write this chapter. Muwahaha.
Chapter 23: Cooper and… Cooper?
Carmelita lay still in the safe house apartment. Her body ached and she was tired but the first thing she noticed was that her ear no longer hurt. As the sleeping agent finally began to wear off, she found herself waking up, there on the sofa. Her paw shifted, moving groggily to touch her own ear. Suddenly, the vixen's eyes snapped open and she pushed herself to sit up.
Groping at her ear, she was amazed to find that the bullet hole she'd sustained in the Bank a few days ago was no longer in her ear. Her eyes widened in amazement although her pupils were still dilated and her head was still swimming from the effects of sleep. She glanced around for a mirror only to see something nearby that caused her jaw to drop wide open.
There, on the loveseat was Karla Chintzy. The Felox was unconscious, unceremoniously draped over the furniture. Carmelita's curiosity was temporarily forgotten and her calm yet confused demeanor was replaced with immediate hatred and a burning desire for vengeance. Inspector Fox reminded herself that she was in the past, where Karla still existed. Remembering that Karla's death triggered a coma which put both women on an astral plane for personal combat, Carmelita decided that the best course of action would be to defeat Karla in a permanent yet non-lethal way.
Carmelita stood up from the sofa and shook her body hard as if drying off from the rain. Once fully awake, she began pacing to think of a way to destroy Karla Chintzy without actually killing the woman. The vixen, while still fairly tired, was feeling a great deal better now that she'd rested and it didn't take long for an idea to form. She would drag the half-breed whore back to the laboratory and somehow put the Felox into permanent stasis.
Carmelita snatched a bag under the counter, which belonged to Murray and Bentley. She rooted through it for anything she might need. There was a bottle of brand name Cola in it which would serve to help with her dry mouth and quench the parched sensation at the back of her throat. She took a swig of the Cola then capped the plastic bottle and put it into her pocket. Turning back to the slumbering Chintzy, Carmelita's thoughts turned back to her plan, although her Shock Pistol was nowhere in sight.
A grin tugged at the corner of the vulpine officer's muzzle and she knelt down besides Chintzy, prying the other woman's left eyelid open. The half Feline, half Fox female had fully dilated pupils and was completely unresponsive to Carmelita's touch. The Inspector's grin widened when she realized that this endeavor would be easier than originally anticipated. Carmelita took Karla's paws and pulled the half-breed from the loveseat.
The vixen knelt down to one knee, placing her right shoulder against Karla's gut then hoisted the other woman up over her shoulders. Slowly, Inspector Fox stood up until Karla was completely draped over her shoulders. Satisfied, Carmelita went for the door, carrying Karla's unconscious body out into the Prague night air. Carmelita had no delusions of mercy; she wanted to end Karla's existence without ending the woman's life so as to avoid fighting for her soul in the battle drenched fields of purgatory a second time.
What worried Carmelita the most was if Karla died, would it affect her or her present-day doppelganger, out in the field with Sly Cooper? Carmelita didn't want to risk her own safety let alone the form of her other self who was probably busy protecting Cooper who was recovering from a hostage situation. For a moment, Carmelita pondered what would happen if both her and her doppelganger arrived in the astral plane but she quickly decided it was impossible.
If what Karla told her was true, during the first combat in Purgatory, Carmelita's soul was the entity in combat. If that were true then it would be impossible for two Carmelita's to appear together. She let her weary mind wonder over every curiosity during the entire walk to the Laboratory just outside of the city. Karla wasn't heavy and Carmelita was an athletic woman. It only took about an hour to make it out to the large castle on the edge of town, walking briskly with a woman over her shoulder.
Half way there, an evening cop on patrol stopped Carmelita to ascertain the situation but the Inspector had no problems showing her identification card and using hand gestures to explain that her 'friend' was 'drunk' and they didn't want to 'drive' the girl home. Carmelita felt grateful that the cop was understanding and left them alone.
Once they arrived at the castle grounds, Carmelita nudged the main entrance open with her left paw and carried Karla over to the secretary at the desk. Because Karla and the rest of her group were working together, the secretary immediately recognized the busty half-breed, who was unconscious, with her head resting against the Inspector's back and legs dangling to Carmelita's waist.
The ingenious vixen offered a polite smile, nodding to the lady at the desk. "I've brought her back; she fainted from a blow to the head. She doesn't appear to have a concussion," Carmelita lied. The cop then motioned to the elevator and stairs at the other end of the main lobby. "I'm going to drop her off where she'll be safe. Don't worry, I'm…" Carmelita suddenly found herself cut off by the secretary.
"Inspector Carmelita Fox, right?" The girl asked with a soft smile. "I remember; you came to have a look around about 7 hours ago when I first got onto my shift. I'll be leaving in an hour if you have any questions. Miss Chintzy's personal quarters are on the upstairs floor. I suggest taking the elevator, Inspector. Thank you for bringing her back!" The secretary's voice was cheerful and polite. Carmelita had to wonder if the girl knew what her employers were up to then assumed the girl was probably just a temp-office worker of the week or something.
Once in the elevator, Carmelita actually opted for the bottom floor. The small round button lit up beneath her fingernail, which kept the button from obtaining her fingerprint. Those double doors slid open and the laboratory was spread out before her. Carmelita shifted the deadweight on her shoulder then proceeded forward into the Lab.
A stasis chamber was Carmelita Fox's destination. She knew if she could put Karla into suspended animation that the woman would be completely harmless. The lab, however, was quite a maze and simply finding the cryo-stasis tubes wasn't going to be easy. As the Inspector ventured further into the maze of metal walls, constructed of computers and generators, the area grew foggy. A swirl of mist was left in the wake of each footstep and the cloud grew thicker as Carmelita went further onward.
A soft, feminine groan came from Karla who was beginning to wake up. She was still under the influence of the sleeping agent and was completely disoriented. As Carmelita rounded the next corner, the source of the ankle-deep gas became revealed: a waist-high vat of bubbling liquid sat at the end of their path; Carmelita had taken the wrong course in the mechanical maze.
The misty, cool gas poured over the side of the chamber, spilling onto the floor and filling the general area. Carmelita stopped directly in front of the large tub and peered down into it. Her eyes narrowed for a moment but curiosity was getting the better part of her, now. She knelt down and eased Karla's body to the floor then reached into a pocket and pulled out a 10-Euro note.
She dipped only a fraction of the paper note into the liquid then pulled it back out to examine the bill. Carmelita immediately recognized the liquid due to the fact that the legal tender note was frozen. The softly spoken words, "LN2; is this the cooling method for some sort of power supply, maybe? Hmm, N² (l)…" escaped her lips in a near whisper. It may have been a clue so she pushed the bill back into her pocket which flaked into shreds at the frozen end.
What she didn't see was Karla struggling to her feet behind the Inspector. Chintzy rubbed at her eyes but wasn't able to think clearly because the sleeping agent was still in her blood. She fought the effects but wasn't able to sober up. Dragging her right foot across the floor in a staggering step, Carmelita whirled around, face to face with Chintzy.
"You're clever," Karla muttered, "But I can't let you throw me into that Liquid Nitrogen."
"Why, throwing you into Liquid Nitrogen was the last thing on my mind, Karla Chintzy," said Carmelita with a smirk. "But now that you mention it, putting your tail in a deep freeze doesn't sound so bad. It sure would make my job easier."
"Do you know what will happen if you kill me?" Karla growled, narrowing her gaze sharply. "I'll make your life hell, Inspector."
"What's wrong, Chintzy? Suddenly can't protect yourself?" Carmelita snapped, placing her paws on her hips. "I thought you had all these fantastic powers of telekinesis and teleportation?"
"I… can't even think straight," Chintzy admitted offhandedly, still looking groggy and confused. "Did you drug me, you flat chested bitch?"
"Listen you little floozy," Carmelita rebutted, closing her paws into fists. "I had no intent to throw you into Liquid Nitrogen but if you're going to give me trouble, I might do just that. And I'm too much muscle to be larger than a 'C' cup, so believe me, I'm not offended."
Karla immediately disappeared, demonstrating that she was still able to use her powers. She reappeared behind Carmelita, wrapping her arms around the vixen's throat. Carmelita doubled over, throwing the half-breed to the ground. Carmelita placed her heel against the other woman's throat, glaring down at her opponent.
"I'm a trained International Officer of the law," Carmelita said in a cool, casual tone. Gazing down at Karla on the floor, Carmelita's thick indigo strands of headfur seemed to frame her face making her appear that much more beautiful and yet intensifying the threatening expression painted on her feminine visage. "If I so-much as shift my weight, I'll break your neck."
"If you kill me, I'll have won," Karla replied with a grin.
"If you're referring to a paw-to-paw combat in Limbo," Carmelita said, leaning down so that their noses nearly touched. Tendrils of sapphire brushed against Karla's jaw and the Inspector's eyes were blazing with passion. In moderation, Karla gazed back up at the vixen, wide-eyed. Carmelita continued, adding, "I've beat you once and I can do it again. Surprise, you big-breasted jezebel, I'm from the future. I've already killed you once and I'm prepared to do it again if I have to. However, you do have the option of going into suspended animation."
"Sly Cooper will be mine, just so you know," Karla replied, tightening both of her paws into fists and reaching for Carmelita's ankle. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remove the vixen's foot from her throat. "And by the way," Karla added with a smirk. "You won't break my neck." She then blinked from existence once more. Carmelita was off balance for a brief moment, her foot returning to the floor tiles, half buried under the misty gas of the liquid nitrogen.
However, Carmelita was quick to anticipate Karla Chintzy's next move. The Inspector tightened up her arm and thrusted her elbow backwards which caught Karla in the chin. The hard move surprised the Felox, knocking her back. She was nowhere near prepared to have been caught off guard by a clever Carmelita who anticipated Karla's teleportation. Chintzy stumbled for a moment, collapsing back against one of the computer servers adjacent to the vat of Liquid Nitrogen.
In rage, Karla threw her paws upwards and Carmelita found herself teleported directly above the open vat of Liquid Nitrogen. The frozen liquid boiled beneath the Inspector who immediately appeared out of thin air only to fall downwards, towards the container. Carmelita was quick, planting her paws against the rim of the container. Cool gas poured out over her wrists and paws and the nails of her thumbs even went so far as to touching the liquid and freezing.
Carmelita athletically shifted her weight, bounding off of the vat's rim and gracefully she landed on her feet, staring at Karla as if her very scowl could burn a hole through Karla's body. "Nice try but you'll have to do better than that. I actually had a good 7 hours of rest," Carmelita boasted, drawing back her right fist.
Karla telegraphed her next move, ready to dodge the punch, shifting her weight to her other foot. Carmelita anticipated it and suddenly executed a roundhouse instead. The kick caught Karla by surprise, knocking the woman to the ground with ease. Inspector Fox was graceful in her maneuver, dropping back to her feet with her fists raised. "You fight like an idiot," Carmelita said with an egotistical grin.
"I'm tired, dammit," Karla groused. She threw her right fist forward while drawing her left paw back, forcing Carmelita to be telekinetically drawn forward receiving Karla's right hook across the vixen's jaw. The Inspector winced, gracefully moving with the attack so that the punch glanced off of her muzzle instead of taking the force head on.
Karla then pushed both of her paws forward causing Carmelita's body to lift up rapidly. The vixen could see her shirt billowing up with air as she sailed into a row of computers, nearby. The abrupt stop dazed Carmelita and she found herself slinking down the silvery bulkhead, crumpling to her knees. Her feet tucked up beneath the base of her tail which was wrapped half-way around her waist, unkempt and disheveled.
The Inspector leaned forward, onto her forepaws, shaking off the disorientation. After a quick shake of her head and a tight blink of her eyes, Carmelita Fox clamored to her feet and began to approach Karla again. "Still sleepy or is that just the best you can do?" She asked, putting on a front of fortitude.
"I don't believe you're from the future," Karla grumbled, approaching Carmelita as well. Once the two women were just beyond arm's length away from one another, they began to circle, strafing their adversary. "I think you're just a smart, perceptive annoyance whose natural abilities got her into more trouble than she can handle."
"I don't really think you're immortal," Carmelita retorted. "I think you're just a soulless cloned body programmed with memories and possessed by a trouble making psychotic poltergeist. I wouldn't believe in that sort of crap but I've already fought you in the spirit world once, so I know you're a real-deal freak."
"Of course I'm immortal! I'm as ancient as Steven or Sire!" Karla snapped, throwing her paws outwards again. Carmelita soared back into the wall of CRAY XT3 cabinets, each 80 inches high. Running perpendicular to the vat of Liquid Nitrogen, these machines were black with red sections at the center of each machine. At the corner, they were cattycorner to the sleeker gray machines which were now dented from Carmelita's last flight at the mercy of Karla Chintzy.
The Felox placed a paw against the dent in one of the silver machines and said, "They call this one Riken's MDGrape-3. It's the fastest supercomputer that Nine Million dollars can purchase and ranks as one of the fastest in the world; three times faster than the previous record holder. It's from these machines that Slick Cooper has been created."
"Yeah?" Carmelita said, tilting her head. "And you know what this one does?" She asked, pointing at one of the black and red CRAY computers on the facing 'wall'.
"Oh, since you know so much about this laboratory, please… do tell," Karla replied, blinking away exhaustion from her eyes in an attempt to seem better than her adversary. Her tone radiated self confidence and ego.
Carmelita somersaulted over the half-breed's head, spun about and grabbed the woman by her neck. She then shifted her weight hard and forced her legs to carry both of them in a sprint, slamming Karla's face into the black and red panel of the CRAY. Carmelita pushed her palm into the back of Karla's neck, mashing her face against the stainless steel exterior casing.
The Inspector leaned forward, so that her lips brushed against Chintzy's ear and whispered, "They hurt when you hit them, that's what." Carmelita paused then brought her knee upwards, slamming Karla right in the kidney. The Felox slumped down, laying flat on the floor, half buried beneath the gaseous Nitrogen. The mist rolled over her and what was visible didn't seem to move very much.
Carmelita placed her paws up against one of the walls of computers, placing her head between her elbows. She needed to take a moment to regain composure after such a fight. Once Carmelita felt her equilibrium completely return, she turned back to Karla's body and reached for it. "C'mon, you. It's time to have a nice, long sleep in one of those stasis tubes. As soon as I find one, around the corner, you can sleep off that grogginess."
No sooner did Carmelita wrap her paws around Karla's shirt collar, the busty adversary teleported. Carmelita paused, standing up straight and glancing about herself. There was no sign of Karla. The Inspector peered around the next corner, back down a cloudy hallway then turned her attention back towards the Liquid Nitrogen. "Why in the hell would they have an open vat of this stuff sitting, unexposed, anyhow? It doesn't make any damn sense; it'll just evaporate in this room."
"Why not take a closer look!" Karla suddenly screeched from behind. The Felox placed both of her paws on the back of Carmelita's head, trying to force the vixen's face into the Liquid Nitrogen container. "I want you to find out for yourself, why it's here, Carmelita Fox!" Karla cried, pushing hard against Carmelita's resisting head.
Inspector Fox's nose was so close to the bubbling liquid that she couldn't see to the end of her muzzle from the steam-like cloud that was pouring off of the Nitrogen. An exhaled breath through her nose caused the vapor to part for only a brief second, giving Carmelita a good look at the freezing cold, boiling liquid.
Karla gnashed her teeth angrily, attempting to force Carmelita's face into the liquid that would ensure an instant, frozen death. "See you in hell, Inspector Fox! I'll have Sly Cooper send my regards when I kill him too, after I'm pregnant with his offspring!"
"He's…" Carmelita suddenly belted out, reaching her paws back to grab Karla's waistband. The Inspector ducked her face away from the vat, taking a quick step backwards, then she brought her arms back, up over her head, lifting the surprised Karla Chintzy into the hair, above the vixen's head. "MINE!" Carmelita shouted, forcing Karla up and back down, slamming the busty feline half-breed into the entire vat of Liquid Nitrogen.
Karla's scream was abruptly cut off in mid-bellow. Carmelita quickly turned away from the container, cursing under her breath in a rather un-ladylike manner. She then muttered, "You weren't suppose to die; I really hope you remain frozen in a suspended animation or whatever. Dammit. I'm not pulling your tail out of there and sticking it into a chamber; you'll shatter and… Carmelita balled her paws into fists once more. "Dammit!" She groused.
Two sets of footfalls could be heard running through the hallway of machinery. Carmelita's eyes narrowed and her ears perked up. She could tell that they were heading that way but she wasn't armed with a shock pistol. The vixen patted her pockets to check for anything that might be useful in fighting but all she had was the bottle of Cola in her pocket.
Carmelita blinked twice, remembering a few years ago when there was an explosion in the precinct laboratory involving Cola and Liquid Nitrogen. She quickly turned back to the vat which held the frozen Karla and filled the bottle one third of the way with Liquid Nitrogen and replaced the cap. She placed the bottle on the floor which was already beginning to swell and turned her attention to the corner, hiding behind it.
The footsteps drew closer. Peering around the corner, she saw two men round the corner, armed with high caliber handguns. As soon as they were close enough, she snatched the swelling bottle off of the floor and turned about, stepping into their path. She dashed forward, bowling both men over by ducking low and plowing through, just beneath their center of gravity.
Once both men were on their backs, she took the coke bottle and set it on the floor between both men, so that it was hidden in the rolling cloud that covered the ground. Quickly sprinting down the corridor of metal, 80 inches tall on all sides, Carmelita bolted to get as much distance between them and her as possible. Once she felt she was far enough away, she glanced over her shoulder, seeing the men only starting to sit up. Carmelita then dove to the floor tiles, wanting to stay as low as possible. Landing on her bosom, she swallowed the yelp of pain, quickly covering her head with her paws.
The swelling bottle exploded, impaling what was left of both guards with sharp shards of plastic. Positive that they were dead, Carmelita reluctantly turned back towards the remains. It took a moment but she talked herself into going back so that she could retrieve their weapons. So far, nothing involving Karla Chintzy was happening to her. Once she procured the weapons, she checked the ammunition then placed each weapon into her front pants pockets.
Turning away from the grisly, macabre scene, Carmelita went back the way she'd come, to find another direction through the lab. A wrong turn led her to something other than an exit, however. She now found herself directly in front of Slick Cooper and two adjacent cryo-stasis tubes. "Dammit," She snapped, narrowing her eyes. "Why couldn't I have found this earlier?"
After a shake of her head, she pulled out both of the guns and leveled the sights on Slick Cooper, the clone that was miraculously created in only one night. She cocked both hammers and barred her teeth aggressively. "It's time to die before it's even time to wake up," she said, using her thumb to check both weapons for their safety. Neither safety was in use. Her fingers reached for the triggers, caressing the slender, curved steel objects.
"It's going to be a pleasure to…" Carmelita's words suddenly ceased and she tried to gasp for breath. Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated. The last thing she heard was the cold clattering noise of two handguns falling to the ground on either side of her head as she collapsed to the floor. Silence…
"You were right about me," came a sweet feminine voice. Carmelita opened her eyes, gazing at the rusty dirt that surrounded her. The smell of ashes and death filled the air and her eyes stung from the dusty clay earth. Purgatory. "You were right about the time travel," Said the woman. "I can sense that your soul has been here once already. Every time your soul passes through Limbo, it leaves such a stain on your wraithly core that I can now see that this is your second visit."
Carmelita eased up on her elbows slowly, using the backside of her right paw to rub at her eyes. "I guess time doesn't specify who visits but, specifically, who kills you," The Inspector surmised aloud.
"Very astute," Karla said, placing her foot on Carmelita's shoulder, pushing the vixen back into the dusty red clay. "So I take it you already know the rules and the reason you're here."
"You want my body and just like last time, you're not going to have it," Carmelita said. "You're tired and I've already seen the outcome of this fight."
"No my dear," Karla replied in an airy tone. She knelt down, still perched upon Carmelita's shoulder. "You see, I'm dead. That body was drugged with a sleeping agent and I am no longer in a mortal body. But you, Carmelita Fox? You were not only mentally and physically worn… you were spiritually and emotionally drained as well. You cannot defeat me; you're heart and mind were as tired as your body."
"I've not lost my will to fight," Carmelita said, coming to her feet. She lifted her paws and grimaced at the pain that lanced through her spiritual form. However, she knew that she had to fight for her very existence. Karla smiled; her eyes were afire with a passionate hatred and an incredible evil. Carmelita may have shuttered by such a sight in the past but now she was resolved with the knowledge that she'd beat this wretch before and the confidence that she would indeed triumph once more.
Karla drew her free foot back and used it to kick Carmelita across the muzzle, hard. Carmelita was still pinned by the shoulder and struggled to wiggle free of the demon's powerful force. Finally, Carmelita, still dazed by the blow, instinctively wrapped her jaws around the demonic being's ankle. She locked her jaw as tightly as she could, rending through flesh and clamping at the bone.
Her animal instincts stayed with her soul, even beyond the physical realm. She clinched her paws and curled her toes, squinting her eyes tightly. Her entire body tensed and she only knew one thing… to hold her jaws as tightly as possible around Karla's ankle. The powerful bite worked and Karla released a gut-wrenching cry of agonizing pain. She curled her clawed, gnarled paws into fists and began to strike at Carmelita's forehead but nothing could sway the vixen from responding like a caged beast.
The demon drew in a deep breath before belting out a violent wail of voice. "Tell me: Do you know what spirit pain is, Carmelita?" Karla screamed at the top of her lungs. Her booming voice was no longer that of the sweet, busty vision of fur but that of a scaly looking monster. "I'll show you!" She roared, lifting her left fist then plunging it down into Carmelita's rib, where she'd been shot once in Bombay, years ago.
The bullet wound opened up as a reminder of something given to her during her first encounter with MUGGSHOT. It was only a few years ago but she remembered it like it had only just happened, especially when Karla opened that wound with but a mere touch. Who interfered with her take down? Sly Cooper of course. But now that she was reliving that painful moment in time, she saw things differently. She saw the complete picture from a different angle. Sly didn't come to interfere… no, he came to distract Muggshot so she could live another day… The felon may have escaped but Sly Cooper only stepped in to ensure that she would live. For the first time, she now saw with an un-blind eye.
Finally able to place her sensation of shock in front of the pain to dull it out, Chintzy swallowed for air again, in a moment of repose. Karla's next words and pitch suggested a sarcastic statement. "This is quite the little minutiae trench you've dug for yourself, Fox," she chided with dark tones. "How're you going to escape, mortal?" Carmelita's wound began to bleed, further draining her spiritually and emotionally. With every ounce of blood that seeped from her broken body, she felt closer to death. Her willpower wavered and she felt weak, releasing Karla's ankle from her jaw. Her body felt as weary as it did before she last slept.
"Can you feel it?" Karla roared triumphantly. "You're going to experience death! Not just limbo but Heaven or Hell! Do you even believe in it, Carmelita Fox?" The demon screeched. "You will not survive this night! You will experience what an eternity of damnation is like! For those foolish enough to reverse time, the punishment is infinite! Your trivial existence is about to end! Everything you thought, said, remembered and achieved is about to end! It will be without meaning to any! Your death at my paws will mean that your flagrant end is at hand! Know… that I …am…!" Karla's words were cut off by means of a blatant interruption.
"Shut up!" Carmelita hollered in anger. She leapt to her feet, reaching her paws back and thrusting them forward. Karla stumbled backwards, but didn't lose her footing. The astral form of Carmelita Fox launched forth, her palms gained purchase on Karla's throat, quickly using all of her inner ire to crush the demon's windpipe. The angrier she became, the more she inadvertently drained her spiritual health. Carmelita allowed herself to be filled completely and totally with pure rage but she couldn't seem to make it last.
Before long, Karla's trick had worked and Carmelita had exhausted herself completely and totally. Trembling like a leaf, the vixen struggled to even stand much longer. Her grip around Karla's throat had loosened; Carmelita's body suddenly lacked the will to keep up with her own fiery temper and heart.
Collapsing to the dust, Carmelita couldn't even find the strength to move and it angered her. "I cannot be beaten," The fading vixen moaned softly. "Why can't I move? You've somehow managed to cheat," She said in a weak yet accusing voice.
"You've defeated yourself," Karla gloated, adding, "By killing me when you were exhausted… drained of your emotional health… your sense of spirit has crashed from mental exhaustion. You've not been a health woman in some time, Carmelita Fox. Your wellness has deteriorated!"
"I love Sly Cooper," Carmelita cried. Her exhaustion caused her words to come out sounding more like a pitiful moan. She always thought that the power of love was so potent that it could destroy all evil but today, she was wrong. Nothing happened. Her confession was soiled and sullied by the power of Karla, who simply lifted her knee, bringing Inspector Fox back to the dust.
"It won't work," Karla replied. "You don't possess the inner strength to wield that sort of power over me. You've played your cards in the wrong order, sweetheart. It's time to experience death."
"You're a pathetic excuse for a woman," Carmelita muttered.
"You have fire. I can respect a woman who will attempt to mock me with her final words. Farewell, Carmelita Fox!" Karla reached down, wrapping her gnarled hands about the vixen's head, cupping gently, just beneath the Inspector's mandible. With a quick snap of her wrists, Carmelita Fox's soul was extinguished, with a sharp cracking noise. The sickly sound reverberated off of the void existence that surrounded them. Carmelita Fox was dead.
Carmelita sat up, holding two guns and facing the cryo-chamber of Slick Cooper. She struggled for a moment to remember everything that happened up to this point then blinked. Her last physical memory was pointing her weapons at the stasis chamber holding Cooper's Clone.
Slowly, the Inspector rose to her feet and lifted the weapons once more. She trained them carefully upon her target and fired. The double braced hinges of the stasis chamber were eradicated and water began to gush from the glass tube. Replacing the weapons inside of her front pockets, Carmelita approached the holding container and pulled the door free from his body.
The nude raccoon clone sank from his holding cell and into her arms. Carmelita took a moment to pry the breathing tube from his muzzle then used her thumbs to tenderly clear the liquid from his eyes, kissing his forehead softly. "Ah, my love… Our offspring will usher in a new era; one that shall defile peace and make lewd that which is pure. You're safe now, my young Angel. Karla Chintzy has you… mm, no, better yet my love… you can call me… Carmelita Fox!" Soft, silvery peels of laughter rolled off of her velvety tongue. Inspector Fox was no longer herself. Now, the monstrous demon possessed her body, making it her own.
Sly Cooper closed his paws around a metallic cord and clinched his teeth tighter over the fulcrum of his cane. At two stories high, he was looking down on the massive parts of a brand new Clockwerk body. Beneath him, Steven the skunk and The Sire, a beautiful, boyish-faced lion, stood side by side in conversation. It was strange; Sly's eyes kept going from Clockwerk to the lion.
One thing was for sure, he'd never seen a male lion that looked so much like a lioness and yet was so beautiful to behold by any gender. It made the raccoon feel that much dirtier, especially after his short bout with the flirty Karla Chintzy, earlier. There was only one thing that bothered him, right now: After waiting in this statue-like position for nearly 5 hours, Sly was beyond boredom.
Bentley warned that the lion had the power to make almost anyone do his bidding without the Pendant of Willpower, located on Sire's neck. The problem, as it stood, was the fact that Sly couldn't do much with those two staying together. He was growing frustrated and every time Sire left the room, he had to wait for the man to come back. All he wanted was for this Steven Skunk guy to leave for a bathroom break but that wasn't happening for some strange reason.
"You're really not worried that Sly Cooper is out there and Karla is missing?" The voice came from one of them but Sly wasn't sure which, just yet. The Skunk went on to add, "As far as I'm concerned, your lack of preparation vexes me, dammit."
Sire folded his arms. The lion simply shrugged then replied, "Is that your official thought as a Clone? You know that your natural-born half doesn't agree with rebuilding Clockwerk, yes? And yet, you feel it's the best solution to our problem… I'm here because I'm supporting you. Your natural-born half is in his stupid Laboratory, back in that stupid Castle. It amazes me: Someone's going to realize that the Castle is drawing enough power to run a small city; surely someone with his intelligence would know that and find a way to carry out his work somewhere else."
The skunk tittered over his workbench with an eager attitude. "He explains that he's personally frustrated by multiple failures concerning Clockwerk but a modern reiteration would be a glorious success! Know you that such shall be perfect, yes?"
"Yes, Steven," said the Sire. "Your creation will be perfect. Keep an eye out for the Raccoon. Also, if you see Karla, let me know. When we're finished with Clockwerk, she'll become the star of the show."
"As you wish," replied the skunk. "I'm quite curious where the woman is, myself. She's … fun to look at." As if on cue, the double doors at the end of the room were thrown open and Carmelita Fox sauntered into the room. Both Sire and Steven whirled about to look at her but she lifted her paws and smiled darkly.
"I'm back boys. It's me; like the change?" She asked, giving a shake of her hips and a flick of her thick brush. "There's been a change of plans. I woke Slick Cooper ahead of schedule. After all, he's already finished complete formation and his brain and muscular status are fully functional and at one hundred percent completion."
"Inspector Fox!" Sire snapped, narrowing his eyes.
"No, you fool," Carmelita groaned. "Carmelita Fox is dead. She killed me in the Castle Laboratory so I crushed her soul and took her body. I could have Sly Cooper now, if I wanted, but we still need your precious stone of fertility, Sire."
"Indeed," the lion replied, looking her over for a moment. "And what of your powers? Did they transfer as well?" He asked, looking to verify that the woman was speaking the truth. Ready and willing to prove herself, Carmelita lifted her paws, causing several tools on the workbench to levitate. Obviously now satisfied, The Sire approached her and raked his eyes over her form. "Does this new body agree with you?"
The woman shrugged then told them, "It's weary but her reflex time surpasses my last body. Perhaps because I relied on Telekinesis to dodge or fight, I don't know… but she's quick. I rather enjoy it, although she's not as endowed as I was but it feels a bit better on my back. I've not had a "C" cup since I was a teenager."
Steven and Sire turned to one another for a brief moment then Steven smirked. The skunk shrugged and said, "You've never been a teenager, Karla. Surly you must have known that much."
"What're you babbling about, Steven? I was a teenager, a short few hundred years ago." Carmelita's eyes narrowed, her body possessed by the Felox, Karla Chintzy. "You're saying that I'm a clone like you?"
"Your mind was programmed with memories like mine. I was a test; you were the second attempt and came out flawlessly. We gave you larger breasts so that you could be more appealing and we changed your frame just a bit, until you were perfect. We wanted you to be able to do your job of seducing Sly Cooper without a problem… and now you've been killed? Who was the bigger idiot? Was it you or us for trusting that you could do your job?"
"I procured the body of the very woman he loves," Carmelita snapped, narrowing her eyes. "He would do anything for Carmelita as he loves her completely and totally. His adoration is stronger than any could have realized and he would even give his own life for her… but now we have Slick Cooper, from his DNA, and I will bare the child when we retrieve the Diamond from Cooper's Vault. We'll keep Sly Cooper alive until I can obtain the diamond for an engagement. He'll give it to me, making us betrothed. I'll simply kill him and we'll make Slick Cooper the donor of the Cooper bloodline. He cannot resist the woman who owned this body and now he will not be able to resist me." Karla's new body was proof that Carmelita Fox, as Sly knew her, was dead.
Sly, who was still up in the rafters, released one paw from the cable to pull the cane free from his teeth. "Bentley," Sly whispered quietly, "Are you hearing this conversation over the channel? What'll we do? It looks like your plan backfired and now Carmelita dies in the future…!" He hissed softly into the radio receiver.
Bentley was quick to reply, directly into Sly's earpiece. "You've got to get that Willpower Pendant. If we're smart about this, we can stop Karla from doing this to Carmelita's body. We have to finish the mission else this will become Carmelita's future. Do whatever you must but you have to get that pendant and time is running out; they'll finish Clockwerk if you don't hurry."
"Understood," Sly said. He immediately released the cable up near the ceiling and stretched his body during the descent. At the last possible second, he swung the cane in mid air, catching The Sire across the back of his head. The clever attack simultaneously pulled the pendant from the Sire's neck as Cooper gracefully landed on his feet. The stunned skunk to his right went for a weapon on the table but Cooper was quick.
A sudden roundhouse caught the clone of Steven across his face, knocking him back against the wall. On the end of the cane, the Pendant of Willpower dangled from the hook and just to make sure the lion was completely unconscious, Sly kicked him across the face. He then turned his attention to Carmelita and frowned… it was the woman he loved and he couldn't bring himself to attack her.
Cooper was heartbroken and torn. "You'll never get my family's Diamond, Karla. I almost trusted you for a split second, back at the Safe House but I was wrong," Sly said, narrowing his eyes. "There's nothing you can do to learn of its location, either. You've taken the one pure thing from my life and I'll make sure that the rest of your days are nothing more than living hell so you can get ready to experience it first hand."
"Bold words, Raccoon," Carmelita announced, pronouncing her words in the same dialect and tone that Karla would have used. "But between Slick and Myself, we'll beat it out of you."
"He's inexperienced and you're a fool," Sly said, stashing the pendant in his own free fist, where he knew her powers couldn't retrieve it. "You'll never get it."
"If you don't, we'll take the other Carmelita Fox as well. Then you'll have no choice," The possessed vixen announced. "But you won't defeat Slick Cooper. He's been genetically engineered to be far superior and he'll invent his own moves instantly so his inexperience won't hinder him. Simply hand it over. You're in way over your head, boy."
"Your body was just a clone," Sly reasoned. "They deceived you once and they'll do it again. Why are you helping them to achieve some sort of insane new future? Don't you realize that you're only hurting yourself? Do you really want to sacrifice your own offspring to become their master-thief pawn? Do you want them to rob your child of its childhood? Do you want them to throw you away when you're no longer of any use?"
"Shut up!" Carmelita barked, raising her paws. Having been warned by Bentley on her abilities, he knew what it meant when her paws were lifted in such a way. At any moment, she would make use of her powers and he would be in even more trouble. Before she could react further, Sly dove forward. He recalled the art of slowing down time itself, a Master Thief maneuver passed down from the Thievius Raccoonus, itself.
Slowly, her furry fingers began to part, spreading her paw outward. Sly kept his eye on her as he continued the forward dive. Carmelita's eyes narrowed slightly and her jaw tightened. At all the same time, a talon of the new Clockwerk began to launch forth, airborne. Cooper saw it coming and was able to anticipate its trajectory. Halfway through the slow motion dive, he pushed his cane downwards and thrust it into the floor tiles.
His body ascended, bouncing off the cane and kicking his legs over his head. The somersault narrowly avoided the scythe-like talon, which passed beneath his body harmlessly. As the raccoon came out of the somersault, heels over his head, he arched his back and put his cane out before him. Once he landed the maneuver, he began a forward sprint, releasing the time-crawling sensation that was really a mental trick involving intense concentration.
The cane struck Carmelita in a way that was harmless but threw her off balance. His sprint carried him through the doors and out into the hallway. Not prepared for further confrontation, Sly was suddenly surprised to slam head first into Slick Cooper. The black-furred being with gray stripes was quick to slam Sly onto the ground, causing the cane to clatter across the floor.
He began to return to his feet only to find his body suddenly lifted by a strong pair of paws. His body ascended quickly into the air only to find himself airborne yet again. Attempting to change his own trajectory, Sly kicked his legs out again in attempt to put them against the incoming wall but he wasn't quick enough. The stunned raccoon hit the wall with his back, sliding down to the floor, upon his head.
Slick, looking rather inverted, approached Sly with a smirk. The real Cooper wasn't yet defeated, however. He shoved the pendant of Willpower into his pants then pushed his paws into the floor and flipped upwards, over his adversary. As Slick whirled around, Sly threw his right leg out, kicking the clone across the face. Sly didn't land his kick, as it was an off-balance maneuver, but the kick was hard enough to daze his opponent.
Carmelita came through the doorway, watching the two men fight in brutal physical combat. Slick regained his senses quickly and ran towards the nearest wall. He placed his foot out, bounding off of the bulkhead, pushing himself backwards. His momentum carried his body back towards Sly, who was bowled to the ground.
Sly kicked his leg out, catching the Cane lying on the floor. He then kicked his foot upwards, sending the cane into the air and executed a graceful kippup, landing on his feet. He raised his right paw and snatched the cane from the air then shifted his weight and swung for Slick's face.
While young, the clone was an instinctual master, dodging his head back and kicking the cane out of Sly's paw, only to retrieve it into his own. He spun about then used the built up energy to swing the cane back at Sly. The experienced Cooper, having lived with that Cane for years, was quick to jump over the weapon, placing his paws into the floor and going into a roll. He stopped directly in front of Slick, kicking the other Raccoon in the gut and swiping his cane back with a fluid, unnatural ease.
Slick was beginning to grow frustrated. The clone snatched Sly by his collar and slammed him into the nearest wall with all the force and weight he could muster. It was evident that this clone was genetically engineered to be faster and stronger than Sly. It was also obvious that his instincts were well tuned to make him an incredible adversary without even reading the Thievius Raccoonus.
Sly knew that his family's lifetime of lessons would be all that made the two of them different. All of his Master Thieving secrets would be needed to outperform and outmaneuver this… Super Cooper beast. There were footsteps at the end of the hall and two guards rushed towards them, guns drawn. Slick, wanting for this to be a private fight, leapt upwards, bounding off the wall again and landed his feet on one of the guard's shoulders. With a shift of his weight, he used his ankles to snap the neck of the first guard.
Before the man could even spill to the floor, Slick somersaulted off of that man's shoulders and wrapped his paws, in mid air, around the other guard's head, bringing that guard to the same fate. The sickening snap caused even Carmelita to shutter, remembering that she had performed the motions to her adversary in Purgatory. Slick, however, killed twice without even flinching. His display of mercy was completely non existent. Landing on his feet, he once again faced Sly Cooper, smirking.
"You'll never be me," Sly said, twirling his cane.
"He's not supposed to be," Carmelita said. "He's better, faster and stronger. But he's still going to give me the DNA of a Master Thief which is all I need to complete my mission and bring myself closer to perfection… just imagine it, Sly! A supernatural with the ability to breed. I'll be a goddess!"
"You're a fool," Sly told her, shaking his head. "A fool who is going to be used by those idiots you work for. You're a fool who is going to be sacrificing her children and a fool because you'll not be any closer to motherhood than you already are."
"Slick," Carmelita shouted, "Show him what happens when he doesn't properly respect your new mate!" Almost immediately, the inverse-colored raccoon charged Sly Cooper. Sly quickly leapt over the charging animal and his feet easily cleared the clone. However, Sly didn't account for such a clever opponent and was caught by surprise as well as caught by his tail. Slick snatched Sly's tail in midair and pulled the natural-born adversary down, slamming Sly into the floor.
More footsteps were heard down the hallway. Slick glanced up, anticipating another guard only to look surprised when another Carmelita Fox rounded the corner. She had her shock pistol drawn and fired off two shots. Still stunned by the fact that he was now looking at two Carmelita Fox's, Slick found himself stunned by the powerful shock pistol blast. His body lurched away from Sly, slamming against the wall.
Carmelita, who had heard everything on the radio about someone taking over her future body, charged her doppelganger, and attacked. Sly began to pick himself up from the floor, lifting his head just in time to see both vixens locked in combat. One Inspector raised her paws and pushed them outwards causing the other to fly across the hallway.
The other recovered quickly and fired off her shock pistol but the weary looking Carmelita used telekinesis to cause those glowing energy rounds to harmlessly hit the ceiling and floor. The present-day Carmelita charged her other half who teleported behind her adversary. The Inspector whirled around, delivering a roundhouse to the possessed body inhabited by Karla. Their intense combat continued, making it difficult to tell them apart at times.
The first Carmelita waved her paw causing the weapon to fly out of the other vixen's paw. It skittered across the floor, landing in front of Sly Cooper. He quickly snatched it up and turned the power knob to 'full'. Standing up, he aimed the weapon at Slick Cooper and fired twice. He then turned the pistol onto the combative vixens. It was simply too difficult to tell anymore while they were in motion.
If he could get them to come to a stop, he could see which one of them needed their clothes laundered and had bags under her eyes but while they were fighting, it was nearly impossible to tell. "Will you two stand still?" He shouted, keeping the gun trained on them both. Suddenly one vixen pounced the other and the two went tumbling to the ground, scrapping in an old fashion fist fight.
The brawl didn't slow in its pace. They scrambled about on the ground, clawing at each other to try and gain purchase on the other's hair, fur or clothing. Suddenly one of them managed to kick the other in the chest, which separated the women momentarily.
The Inspector Fox that was still on the floor scrambled over to snatch one of the guns that lay on the floor next to a dead guard. She quickly jumped up and pointed at her other self. The vulpine cop on the receiving end of the barrel quickly scoffed, "Go ahead. Shoot me, bitch. I'll transfer my soul to your body and you'll have lost. Go on, shoot me…. You're only shooting yourself and sealing your fate." It now became obvious which one was Karla. Sly could only praise Carmelita for being able to defeat a powerful immortal, a possessed version of herself.
"Don't you shoot her, Cooper," Carmelita snapped.
"No, shoot us both to be sure," Said the other one, attempting to confuse him again.
"She's mine," The first one growled. "I mean it. If you shoot her, I'll lock you away for so long that you'll be older than McSweeny when you get out. Don't you touch her; she's mine." If Sly had any question about who was who before, he certainly didn't anymore. He lowered the Shock Pistol but kept it trained on the unconscious Slick Cooper.
"Shoot me," Karla taunted, flaunting the possessed Carmelita's body, boldly. "Do it… pull the trigger and then I'll have won. I'll end your life and guarantee my success by moving from this body to yours and there won't be another Carmelita or a skewed time line to consider. Do it, you little trick."
"Trick?" Carmelita snapped. "Who the hell are you calling a trick, you dirty two-bit, body snatching Jezebel? I'll put a bullet through your paws and let you scream in agony just so you know what it feels like."
"You're only shooting yourself," Karla insisted, speaking through the other Carmelita's muzzle in the Inspector's very own voice. "I'm your future. I will take over your body and crush your soul in just a matter of days, apparently. I hope you enjoy your chronological crusade, it will end with my triumphant victory!"
"Not if you don't get your paws on me," Carmelita shouted in reply.
"It's impossible for you to stop me!" Karla replied. Each Carmelita was at a stand off with the other, almost face to face, just a few feet apart. Sly clinched his paw around the shock pistol, keeping it trained on the motionless Slick Cooper. His attention was on both vixens, the intense moment causing his heart to pound.
"Did you know that Sly Cooper will be my mate?" One Carmelita asked the other. "It will finally happen; Sly Cooper will get his grubby meat hooks all over this body and there's nothing you can do to stop it."
"You'd better know your damn place," the other Carmelita snapped in reply, cocking the pistol. "You keep your filthy paws off of that man, he belongs to me and whether it's in a jail, a bedroom, or the back of a squad car, he'll be leaving this bank with me one way or another."
"You wish," the possessed vixen spat, cackling in an uncharacteristic way. "He knows you won't give him the time of day and he'd much rather settle for me, knowing I can give him his greatest fantasy… Inspector Carmelita Fox as his life-long mate. Our bodies writhing in unison… ravaging one another every night. Can you just imagine it, Inspector? That man-whore screwing your garden?"
"Man whore?" Sly balked, blinking in surprise. "Hey, wait just a minute now. I'm no meat stick, lady. In fact…!" Sly suddenly found himself stifled into silence by the Carmelita Fox who held a gun, aiming it at her doppelganger.
"Shut up, Cooper! I don't need comments from the peanut gallery!" She said in a commanding voice.
The other Carmelita, who was staring at the barrel of a weapon in the paws of an angry, emotional vixen, simply turned to Sly and said, "Cooper, honey, I'm the only chance you have of marriage and children with Carmelita Fox. If she kills me, I'll assume her body but I won't give you the time of day unless you give me a reason to… turn the shock pistol on her and stun her, then you and I can be together."
Before Sly could say a word, the Inspector Fox who held a weapon in her paws quickly said, "Shut the hell up. You're lying to him. We all heard what you said to your cohorts! You planned to finish him off and mate with his clone, you sick, twisted tramp."
"It was a test to see who was truly superior," Karla explained, sauntering back against the wall. Sly couldn't tear his eyes away, watching Carmelita's possessed form press herself back against the wall, jutting her chest outwards and arching her back in a sexy, feminine pose. "Don't you want me, Sly? Don't you love me? I'm Carmelita Fox, and with the use of that shock pistol, I'll be your happily married mate."
Carmelita pulled the trigger on the weapon. The bullet exploded forth, slamming into the possessed doppelganger's right thigh. Karla's body collapsed to the floor, writhing in agony. She looked up to Sly, her eyes wide and full of pain. "Help me, my love! Be true to me; don't let her fill your future wife with holes! I need you in my life! …Please!"
Sly didn't know what to do. He was watching the woman he loved shoot none other than the woman he loved. It was a harsh shock of reality to see Carmelita cry out and the shimmering ruby on her thigh, blood soaking her pants. Sly glanced from one vixen to the other, hoping that he was backing the correct Carmelita. "Please, don't kill her. If Bentley is right, she'll take your body next. Let me stun her with the Shock Pistol!"
"Don't touch that bitch. Mind your own business, Cooper," Carmelita replied, approaching the other version of herself and placing her gun against Karla's head.
"Carmelita, you're overreacting!" Sly shouted, approaching her quickly.
"Yes, Carmelita," The injured Carmelita said in a weak yet chiding voice. "You're certainly overreacting. But if you're going to do it, then pull the trigger and kill me. I want your body and I will have it. Pull the trigger!" She shouted the last statement, pushing her head against the barrel. "DO IT!"
"You'll never have me," Carmelita said, backing away a few paces. She then reversed the pistol and placed the barrel against her own chest, right where she'd been shot by Muggshot in Bombay a few years back. She grinned when the other Carmelita's eyes widened. "This is the only way I can ensure that you'll never kill and possess my body. See you in hell, you rotten harlot." Before Sly could even interfere, Carmelita pulled the trigger.
The bullet entered her old wound and ruptured from her back, slamming into the wall. The vixen lying against the wall with a hole in her thigh also began to bleed from her chest. The sanguine vitae soaked her shirt and vest, creating a scarlet puddle on the floor. The present-day Carmelita stumbled back, falling to the ground. She turned her head to Sly and with a weak voice, said, "Don't… even think… about taking me to the hospital. If I live, she'll win. Goodbye, Ringtail. I know now why you left me last year… I forgive you."
Sly dropped the shock pistol and raced to Carmelita's side, sliding onto his knees and wrapping his arms around her. "Carmelita, what have you done? Why!" He cried, pulling her head into his chest. "Please, I have to take you to the hospital. I can't let you kill yourself just to stop her! What if her soul returns to her body? She'll have won!"
"That's right… Carmelita," The other dying vixen gasped. Now with a bullet in her leg and in her chest, she was loosing a great deal more blood than the other. "I'll return to my body and you'll be dead. Why would you be so foolish?"
"See you in hell," replied the Carmelita lying in Sly's arms. She lifted the weapon once more and pulled the trigger. The bullet cut through the other vixen's head, piercing between her eyes and ending her life. Carmelita Montoya Fox made the ultimate sacrifice to save Sly from Karla Chintzy… the vulpine officer of the law sacrificed herself and Sly was left, weeping over her dying body. She weakly glanced up at him and, in a soft whisper, said, "Let her invade this body. She'll die."
"She can't now," Came another voice. It was Bentley, wheeling down the hallway, having heard everything over the radio channel that Sly left open the whole time. "You've shot yourself and changed the course of history. Now you'll never fight her in the future so she'll never have your body."
Sly glanced up at his friend, tears streaming down the sides of his face, matting his fur down with moisture. "So we can still take her to the hospital, right? Now that she's altered time, she doesn't need to die, right?"
"As far as I can tell, putting her in the hospital will cause her to avoid the combat with Karla, later," Bentley said, wheeling to the other side of Carmelita's shivering body. She looked up at Sly and frowned.
"It's like Bentley said," she told them, "I'm going to die in Sly Cooper's arms. I can't even feel the blood running down my back anymore."
"No," Sly told her. "We're not going to let you die. I'll get you to a hospital faster than any ambulance. Bentley," Sly said, turning to his friend, "IF this alters time, then that means Karla and Carmelita never fought, so that means that Karla probably didn't die. Go back to the safe house and check on her. I'll meet you there after I drop Carmelita off at the hospital. I don't want Karla finding out and meeting Inspector Fox at the hospital and finishing her. Hurry, Bentley!"
The turtle nodded quickly and began to wheel his way back down the hallway. Suddenly the mission involving the clone, Clockwerk and this bank were forgotten. The two only knew one thing… they had to save Carmelita Fox before it was too late.
Sly stood up, cradling the Inspector into his arms. He turned for the staircase halfway down the hall and began to ascend them towards the rooftop. "Why are you doing this?" She wheezed softly.
"Because you weren't trying to kill yourself," Sly replied. "You could have put the gun to your head but you didn't. You shot yourself in the same place that Muggshot got you, a few years ago."
"You remember that, huh?" Carmelita said, nearly whispering as Sly raced her up the stairs. "Yeah, he didn't hit anything vital so I figured if I shot myself in the exact same place, I wouldn't hit anything vital either."
"But if I don't get you to a hospital, you'll bleed to death," Sly replied, taking the steps two at a time. They were nearly to the top as Sly was in a hurry to get her the help she would need to survive. "I'm really impressed you would sacrifice yourself to stop her from taking your body. Now that fight will never happen and she'll never possess you in the first place. That was smart," he said, trying to boost her confidence.
It apparently worked to some level as Carmelita produced a faint smile. "Thanks. I'm impressed too; you didn't accept her invitation. All you had to do was shoot me with the shock pistol, Sly."
"I love you for who you are," Sly explained, telling her, "I love you for you. Not for your body but for your self confidence, your mind and the woman within. I love you for our history. I love you and I'll love you when we're old and wrinkled."
"You're such a caddy flirt," Carmelita whispered into the side of his cheek. She, too, had tears streaming down her face as death grew near. "Muggshot didn't plug me at pointblank range, you know. I might not survive."
"You'll live to chase me through the streets of Paris again, I promise," Sly said sternly. He kicked open the door to the rooftop and immediately leapt off the edge. He angled his feet, landing on a high tension wire. The cable was strong enough to support their combined weight with ease and he slid down the wire like riding a rail, all the way to an electric pole. He then began a gracefully executed sprint, placing one foot in front of the other, walking the lines faster than he usually traversed them.
"I'd like that," Carmelita admitted weakly. "I'll hold you to it; if I live, I'll chase you through the streets of Paris again."
"It's a date," Sly promised, keeping her body supported in his arms. His left paw was beneath her legs and his right paw was beneath her shoulders. He could see the large Red Cross on the rooftop of a building only a few blocks away. "We're going to make it," he told her. "It's not far now."
Suddenly, a blue pulsation of energy lanced passed them. Sly glanced over his shoulder and frowned. Slick Cooper had recovered and was following them with the Shock Pistol. It was on its highest setting and Sly knew that if they were hit at this height, both he and Carmelita would fall to their death.
"Don't worry, I've got you," Sly promised. "Hold on tight, we're going to make a leap of faith," he added, hurdling into the air. A glob of energy lanced above them, narrowly missing the back of Sly's head. Sly targeted a tightly tied awning and bent his knees just slightly. Absorbing the impact in his legs, the awning also swallowed them for a moment before repelling them back into the air.
Sly and Carmelita were launched back into the sky, where his feet connected with a rooftop, overlooking the hospital. Another two shock pistol rounds passed by Sly on the left and right side of him, narrowly missing Carmelita's head and feet which were perpendicular to Sly's torso.
"Where did you learn to evade like this," Carmelita gasped softly, trying her best to stay awake from the loss of blood.
"Running from you," Sly told her, leaping from the next rooftop. His eyes zeroed in on the top of an ambulance and he aimed for it. The fiberglass box of the vehicle slowed their descent but gave-way to their fall, just the same. Sly cradled her body close to his own as they fell through the top of the ambulance, landing on his tail on a wheeled stretcher cart that was in the back. The ambulance had been backed up to the loading dock outside of the emergency room and both doors burst wide open on the back of the vehicle.
Sly and Carmelita, sitting unceremoniously on the wheeled stretcher, found themselves racing into the hospital, out of control. The double glass doors leading into the back side of the emergency room were designed to open automatically for paramedic teams who were usually rushing a patient in. Luckily for Sly and Carmelita, the doors whooshed open just in time and the cart continued to roll down the hospital hallway charged with all of the transferred kinetic energy from Sly's rooftop fall.
Startled nurses and medical staff members gawked at the strange entrance of a raccoon and vixen, sitting on a stretcher, which rolled down the hallway at a high rate of speed. At the end of the hall, there was a check-in desk. The nurse at the counter stepped back with wide eyes at the rapidly approaching cart. The female husky backed away quickly, running for cover. Suddenly the cart slammed into the main desk and the Kinetic energy was transferred back into Sly's body, putting him into motion.
He was quick, however. From all of his practice and experience with this sort of thing on capers in the past, he was ready for it. He soared over the counter and landed, feet first, on top of a patient insurance registration table. He took one step forward, carried forth by the momentum, only to come to a final stop. Suddenly the legs gave out beneath the table and collapsed flat to the ground but the gracefully balanced Master Thief remained erect, holding Carmelita. Bewildered staff members just gawked at them.
"Don't just stand there,' Sly demanded, "She's been shot and she needs a doctor… NOW!" He added at the end. As if on cue several staff members dashed into action, quickly retrieving a mobile bed to take her directly to surgery.
No sooner did Sly relinquish his grasp of Carmelita's body, a blue orb of a high velocity shock round sailed down the hallway, passed over the front counter and struck Sly directly in his chest. The velocity of the round threw him clear into the nearest wall, unconscious. Hospital security, which happened to have gathered around the counter where Sly's cart had stopped, was quick to draw their low caliber handguns and return fire at Slick Cooper.
The genetically engineered clone was able to dodge the rounds, using the Shock Pistol to render them unconscious. Once he made it to the end of the hallway, he bounded over the counter and landed almost directly on top of Sly's motionless body. Slick snatched up his natural-born nemesis and hurled the deadweight of Sly's form over his shoulder.
Without a word, the black-furred clone with gray stripes made his way towards the nearest fire escape exit, leaving with an unconscious Sly Cooper. Strangely enough, however, Slick Cooper's shadow was unusually dark, following the cloned raccoon out of the Hospital…
Bentley drew blank, gawking at the empty Safe House. Karla wasn't here which worried him that she may have escaped. "Dammit, where could she be!" He exclaimed only for Raul to step through the fabric of space and time once again. "Mister Poliandro!" Bentley gasped.
Raul Sergio Poliandro swept his arm in a graceful bow then replied with a simple, "Si, Señor. If you're looking for the pretty kitty, she's not here, amigo."
"Where did she go?" Bentley asked, turning his wheelchair around to face the doorway.
"She's at the Laboratory, amigo. You'll find her in a vat of Liquid Nitrogen; her soul returned to her body but she won't survive the deep freeze unless you put her into a stasis chamber. If you don't hurry, her soul will transfer back to the surviving Carmelita. You'd best hurry, tortoise. I don't think you'll make it, though… Turtles are too slow!"
"I have to rescue her?" Bentley cried incredulously. "Are you kidding? She's a killer and trying to stop us!"
"She's frozen," said Raul. "If you don't get her in stasis and stabilize her, her soul will be back on the loose, amigo. Good luck getting there, slow poke!" Raul patted him on his shelled shoulder then stepped back through the fabric of space-time, disappearing.
Bentley narrowed his eyes, which couldn't even be distinguished by the simple white reflections in his lenses. His thick brows furrowed and his heart began to race. He wasn't some simple slow turtle. No, to call him slow would have been an insult. He wheeled his way down to the street level and made his way out to Main Street. In the distance, the spires of the Castle owned by The Sire could be seen.
Bentley punched in a few key commands on his wheelchair controls then braced himself. A pair thin metallic arms came out from the back of his seat, piecing together two sections of a cylindrical booster. Almost immediately, a deep orange glow began to emanate from within that metal cylinder followed by a fiery charge. The afterburners on his chair still worked after not using them since around the time he'd invented the chair. He prayed that it would hold together and, to his delight, the chair responded admirably for its owner.
He sailed up the main avenue, surpassing 90 kilometers per hour. The chair continued to accelerate, passing parked cars on all sides of the street at such a pace that they resembled a series of blurs. Within two minutes, he arrived at the castle laboratory, sitting about four or five miles from the safe house. Upon arrival snow began to fall from the sky and the early morning sun was just coming over the eastern horizon. It was the beginning of day two and yet Bentley had so much to do.
Bentley mumbled to himself, unheard over the roar of the wind in his face. "I can't believe I have to rescue Karla Chintzy from a completely frozen stasis," He groused softly. His finger released the charge button on his control panel and suddenly the roar of the rocket faded from his ears, leaving nothing more than the ambient sound of the whistling wind. Being that it was day break meant that Murray, his Doppelganger and Penelope should be arriving fairly soon.
Once they arrived, he would be able to return to his walking suit and then he would be a greater asset to the team. For now, he had to utilize this wheelchair and, even worse, he had to make his way inside of this Castle up ahead… and rescue Karla Chintzy from a frozen fate and put her body into stasis. Assumably, with her soul returning to her original body, the immortal would be able to survive the liquid nitrogen fate if placed into a suspended animation chamber as quickly as possible.
Now it was all up to Bentley to safe Carmelita Fox. Usually this was Sly Cooper's job but he, too, was supposed to be handling the task of Carmelita's safety and wellbeing. "All this to save a cop," Bentley said with a shake of his head. The chair began to slow down as he coasted onto the pavement that led up to the Castle's front walk area. "It's a good thing for her that my best friend loves her," Bentley added. "Else I'd just assume leave Karla's body in ice and we could easily just move on."
He knew he couldn't do that. The only thing he was worried about now was the possibility of crossing paths with the real Steven Skunk or possibly The Sire, who was left back at the Bank. Bentley knew he had to hurry, recalling Carmelita's words on the plane the night they began their time travel. … It would be on the second sub-level, beneath the Castle grounds and only accessible by elevator.
Once the chair came to a near stop, he put his hands on the wheels again and headed for the main door. "I hope there was only one Slick Cooper," Bentley said softly. "I don't know how many more I could handle. There'd better not be an army of them in this place," he added, heading inside and wheeling into the main lobby….
A/N: Wshew, what a long chapter. LOL I didn't know where to go with the story for a while and that's why I took this passed month off. I'm sorry about the hiatus but I'm back. I've had a few personal life-changes in the last two weeks and want to assure you all that I'll be writing more on all my stories. It's personal stuff and don't want to get into any of it but no worries… Anyway, I had a strange and random inspiration for this chapter about two or three weeks ago and wrote down what I wanted to do. I waited until Sunday July 30th then I sat down and wrote 26 pages in a few hours. Man, I was a writing fool this weekend. I'm headed back to Richmond Virginia and getting my old job back which was pretty flexible with my writing and my desire for overtime pay. Hopefully this is a good thing, like it was in late 2004, early 2005. :D
Also, I wanted to make sure that I completely finished this chapter without turning it into multiple chapters. I didn't want you guys worrying about having multiple Carmelita's and multiple other doppelgangers running around because that sort of thing can get confusing (See my starfox story: Similar Paths Taken, but only if you're a hardcore StarFox fan, because I write a parallel universe crossing story that intersects the Snes/Comic storyline of StarFox with the more recent storyline used in the N64, Game Cube and Nintendo DS, which puts a Military Fox and Fara Phoenix into the same reality as a Mercenary Fox and his GF, Krystal. XD Now talk about confusing, lol).
That's why this chapter is so long… I wanted to start and finish the entire section concerning multiple Carmelita Fox's! Sorry if it got confusing; I wanted to try and do my best to help the reader understand which Carmelita was which but at the same time, when they were fighting each other, I wanted to be vague so you could understand how confused Sly must have felt.
I've also written over 30 percent of a CASTLEVANIA fan fiction but I've not posted anything yet. I did it for fun but some parts of that story are turning out to be really neat. Maybe I'll post it in the future, eh:D Any Castlevania / Dracula fans out there:)
Finally, Chapter 9 of Reflections of a New Generation should be up by tomorrow. I'm flabbergasted that Reflections of the Future, a starfox story with Krystal as the main character, is still getting OVER one hundred hits every week and it's been finished for 8 months! It now has reached over TEN THOUSAND hits and some of the later chapters have broke six and seven hundred hits each. Is that what it takes to get a lot of readers anymore? Just write a Mary Sue in Love:D Hey, I'm a hopeless romantic and let me tell ya, I can write some ridiculous romance scenes without even trying hard. :)
Thanks again for reading everyone! I hope this action-packed chapter kept you all on your toes! Also, more importantly, I hope that some of you readers enjoyed it! Let me know what you guys thought so I know that I don't just have 3 or 4 people reading it over 3 or 4 times each. I want to know that my hit counter is pretty accurate ;)
Any critical reviewers out there, let me know details behind your beef that way I can address or repair; don't just say "I hate it" or "this sux bye" lol.
Thanks again! I'll be working on this story more often, again. :D
-Kit Karamak the Crazy Kitsune
By The Numbers:
How Long it took to write this chapter: 5 total hours
Words in this chapter: 13,242
Chapters in this story: 23
Stories finished or in development: 11
Appreciated haters: 6
Number of Laptops I've gone through while writing this story so far: 3
Number of Hugs I want to give my readers: penta-googolplex plus one! (That's 5x more than ten duotrigintillion or ten thousand sexdecillion, aka a Googol, which is a 'one' with a half-million zero digits … slightly more than my calculator can display! XD. Yes, I'm Being Silly!)