A/N: I've not forgotten you! But as many of you know, the new StarFox came out for the Nintendo DS and so I've been on a huge StarFox kick lately. I love that game!
:D
Anyhow, thank you all for being patient! This is the final act of Lament of Carmelita. I know it'll be at LEAST 4 or 5 chapters, give or take. I hope you've all enjoyed it so far. I know it's been a strange and demented story because I've had absolutely no idea where I was going with it from the first minute I started it. I actually wrote Chapter 1 for Octavarius Kaiser Scott when he and I were in the middle of insulting one another. He said something like "I bet you can't even write, put your money where your mouth is" Then I wrote that first chapter for him in about twenty minutes or less. We became fast friends after that and I decided to post the chapter. It did well so I kept going and now, 24 chapters later, here we all are! Now I'm friends with all of you and I'm glad; what can I say? Thank you, readers. I appreciate it! We still have LOTS to do in this story…
FINALLY,
I guess I was so excited about the new StarFox game that I've been working my tail off on Reflections Of A New Generation. I mean, I've put some of my best stuff halfway through that story so far… chapter 13 and 14 were pretty emotional times for me… So, I do apologize that it took so long for me to return to this story. At any rate, I'm back; I've not forgotten this story and … I really need to bring it back down to earth because I try to be a realist at times and … Lament Of Carmelita, from Chapter 13 until now… is far from real, LOL.
At any rate, for those of you who have commented on the short-story original I posted in my profile… THANK you for taking time to discuss your feelings about it with me. I appreciate that you took the time to read it. I wrote it so very long ago that it feels …archaic but nevertheless, thank you
:D
Act: -5- Finale and Curtain Call
Chapter 24 "Clash And Assault"
Bentley, Murray and Penelope stood in the laboratory, facing Karla Chintzy. It felt like a final showdown and yet so many things led to this moment in time. The three members of the Cooper Gang had come from Paris, driving for the last day. Murray was exhausted but he was also ready to end this ordeal once and for all. Penelope stood between the two gentlemen with a remote control in her paw and, finally, Bentley stood in his mechanical walker legs, his back straight and his eyes narrow with a streak of blood running from the corner of his mouth, down his chin and to the base of his neck.
The salty, metallic taste of his blood was a harsh reminder that he was still alive. On the floor behind the Felox was a fallen version of his future self. The doppelganger had seen so much; traveling through time and the death of his friends and now that Bentley was laid to rest to join his comrades. The present-day version couldn't help his trembling lip; he was shaking with anger and frustration.
Karla Chintzy had died in liquid nitrogen then her soul was transferred to the future doppelganger of Carmelita Fox. The past embodiment of Inspector Fox shot herself to keep Karla out of her body and the plan worked. In fact, it worked so well that by putting herself into a hospital, she never subjected herself to becoming killed by Karla. But because of the paradox, Karla's body was still in the Liquid Nitrogen and yet here she was, standing before the Cooper Triumvirate.
As it turned out, there were other cloned versions of her body that sat in tubes here in the laboratory. Her soul fled to the flesh of the last one and she woke, inside of the tube. Now, covered in moisture, her newly awakened body was slimy and her fur was matted down. She wore only a simple cloth that clung to her shoulders and stopped at her knees, somewhat like a sundress. The creamy vanilla fur with carnation swirls that ran down over her chest was clinging to her form as if she'd just emerged from a swimming pool. The lovely looking woman folded her arms across her chest, gazing at them intensely. Slowly, her body began to levitate from the floor.
"This fighting as gone on far too long," She hissed softly, leering at the group. Murray's face and arms were covered in cuts and bruises; a large purple mark was starting to show just beneath his right eye and the cut over his shoulder was starting to soak part of the blue driving scarf around his neck into a tint of scarlet. Sweat lined his brow, depicting the incredible struggle he'd been put through in the last twenty minutes.
Finally, Penelope stood between her mate and her friend, holding the remote control belonging to her RC Chopper. The remains of that small helicopter lay on the floor, smoldering in ruin. Karla had managed to display her powers of telekinesis only moments prior by throwing it against the ceiling before winging it at Murray. The rotary blades caused most of the cuts over his arms and now the unit was useless. Her RC Car was salvaged for later but she knew it would be useless against a woman with the power to teleport objects and control their mass with simple telekinesis.
"It ends here," Bentley said, panting softly. The taste of his blood was nauseating. It spilled down over his beaklike mouth, running over his chin and down to where his neckline disappeared into his shell.
Chintzy seemed unimpressed. "Bold words for a group of kleptomaniacs who put up absolutely no fight whatsoever," Karla muttered, adding, "Do you know what this place is?" She chortled softly. "It's not only the setting of your funeral but it's the operation center of Sire and Steven's greatest creations! This is the center of our dreams and it's come alive! It doesn't matter if I really am a clone, anymore! I will soon have Sly Cooper telling me where I can obtain the pendant of his future fiancée and use that so that Slick Cooper, our creation of perfection, will be able to give me a child as my mate! A supernatural with the power to bare offspring means that an immortal Master Thief will be born. I'll be hailed as a goddess and my powers will be passed on in a way you cannot conceive. And all of you…? Hmm," She smiled darkly, narrowing her eyes.
Karla shrugged, flipping a creamy tuft of her headfur over her shoulder. "…You'll all be just a memory," She promised with cocky tones. In a gruesome display of her powers, she lifted a paw into the air, palm up. Bentley's future-traveling doppelganger rose from the floor, possessed by telekinesis; it lifted into the air, his legs dangling from the shell.
Once the body was floating high enough to ensure that she had everyone's attention, she slung her paw forward causing the defeated body to be slung across the area. Murray caught the body, tears welling up in his eyes. He gazed down at the dead version of his friend, trying not to quiver with rage. Nearby, a nearly-decimated wheelchair lay upon its side, mangled from abuse.
"So what!" Murray roared, still angry that a version of Bentley was dead. "Just because you can throw my friend at me doesn't make you more powerful! You've killed my friend and believe me, I still have something you don't and can't possibly use against me!" He was shaking with the anger now, letting the adrenaline build up so that he could use it against her. He set the other body of his reptilian friend on the floor.
"And what, pray tell, would that be, Moron?" She asked, shifting her shapely hips. Her fox-like tail swished through the air behind herself. Her cat-like ears flickered in annoyance.
"A heart!" Murray shouted, immediately charging her. She glanced down at her right paw, curling her fingers into her palm to examine her nails. Bentley's eyes widened just a bit as his friend dashed through the void between them and Karla. Just as Murray was about to tackle her, he vanished completely.
"Oh," Karla muttered as if bored. "I'd forgotten to mention… Telekinesis and Teleportation apply to both myself and others around me, dear. Behold," She added, without so much as blinking. Murray suddenly appeared near the ceiling and began to plummet back to the floor. He immediately began to wave his arms wildly, flailing about in the air and within seconds, his form slammed into the floor. Murray sat halfway up, putting his weight on his arms. She smiled again, turning her head just slightly to face the hippo. "Don't think my abilities are limited to one target at a time," She continued, trying to keep her smile from simply melting into a grin to better maintain that 'too pleasant' expression she already wore.
Suddenly, Bentley and Penelope disappeared only to switch places. They blinked quickly, turning to face one another. They were both slightly disoriented and it took a moment for them to realize that they'd completely switched positions at the exact same time. "As you can see," Karla cooed softly, "I was caught off guard by Carmelita but believe me, I won't be caught off guard again, especially by you imbeciles."
"Stop!" Bentley cried, lifting one of the attachments on his bionic leg suit. A missile fired towards her and she simply waved her paw at it. The missile changed course, heading straight up into the air. She then waved her other paw and it disappeared.
"Would you like to know where it is?" She asked. They were astonished, shocked into silence. "Aw," Karla chuckled. "Why I put it outside in a harmless place. In fact… Oh, I stand corrected! Seems there was a silly van outside, right in the way! I do believe I destroyed the van, clumsy me!" She broke into a fit of giggles, folding her paws across her chest, just beneath the expansive swell of her bosom.
"NO!" Murray shouted, sitting up with wide eyes. "No! No, you didn't! How could you destroy that van?" He shouted, growing angrier by the second. "You are lying!" He cried, balling his large pink hands into fists. "You blew up my van!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. It caused Bentley and Penelope to cringe, holding their ears. "You evil, horrible woman! That was my van!" He continued, blasting the words at the top of his lungs. Now even Karla was squinting, reaching her paws over her ears. Murray grabbed one of the computer terminals, eighty inches tall, weighing several hundred pounds, then hurled it at Chintzy.
She stood her ground, teleporting the terminal. It disappeared in mid air only to reappear behind Murray. But, to her surprise, the hippo was quicker than she'd have thought. He snatched it back out of the air and hurled it at her again. This time, she teleported herself and reappeared approximately five feet to the right of her original position.
"Temper, temper Murray!" She laughed, shaking her head with a smile. "It's a useless automobile. Those things can be replaced. I'm shocked that you're not as upset about the death of your friend; his future ends here, on a cold metal floor. Look at him," She said, pointing to the reptile's dead form. His glasses lay on the floor inverted, just inches from his beak-like nose. His blue bike helmet was still attached to his head and his eyes were only partially open; his pupils were rolled back up into his head.
"He cannot be replaced," Chintzy explained. "Your van is gone, your best friend has no future and you're acting like an angry child. That is why you are an idiot fool. You're all idiots for different reasons. All of you are going to die just like Sly Cooper, who happens to be in custody again. I promise you, he won't live long. He's only alive because I wanted to gloat to him before he dies. I wanted to kill Carmelita's doppelganger at the hospital then tell him. I wanted to see the expression on his face before I reach into his chest and tear out his heart. But before I do all of that, I plan to make him tell me where I can find the pendant his family uses as an engagement heirloom. It's crucial. Now, I'm done talking. It's time to kill you all," She said.
The white-furred Felox, marked with stripes of pink over her fur, threw both of her arms outwards. All three of them went flying backwards into the nearest Super Computer wall, knocking down a line of terminals. Murray was the only one able to stand up after such an attack. He struggled to his feet, eyeing Karla with a narrowed gaze. "You're far more evil than the Contessa," He muttered softly.
"Contessa!" Karla shouted. "How could you even compare us, you twit!" She roared, throwing her paws straight up into the air. A computer terminal, weighing in excess of 400 pounds, went flying up into the air only for it to disappear before it could hit the ceiling. Karla pivoted on her right heel, spinning around hard. When she did a full rotation, she threw her paws out again. The large machine reappeared, clobbering Murray head on, sandwiching him between the two machines, one row back. It hit like a Mack truck, easily breaking two of his ribs.
Karla's voice dripped with her sardonically worded expression of amusement. "You're quite resilient; that would have killed most men," She mused.
"I've succeeded in one thing," Murray gasped, trying to suck in air. His wheezing was painful to Bentley's ears. Murray shoved one of the large units off of his chest and looked up at Karla with a slight grin which confused her. He then said, "We've destroyed your laboratory so when you're defeated again, you won't be coming back."
"Oh aren't you God's gift to intelligence!" She roared. "I'm not going to die this time! We have Sly Cooper in custody! Carmelita is dying in a hospital from a gunshot wound and one out of two Bentley J. Turtle's are already dead! You three are all that remains and I'm going to take care of that little detail right now!" She raised her paws upwards, causing her bust to jut outwards. She arched her back as if she was holding something heavy above her head, looking straight up into the air.
Without any warning, a shadowy tendril lanced out from beneath Murray and struck Karla across her gut. It threw her clear across the room causing her to slam into the floor, rolling over several times. She came to a stop, face down, wincing in agony from the pain inflicted against her breast. Chintzy eased up on her elbows, narrowing her eyes. "What in the hell was that?" She balled her paws up, gritting her teeth.
Stepping out of the shadows, Donovan Loupe placed himself between where she lay and where Penelope, Bentley and Murray were lying. "You're on a power trip, Miss Chintzy," Said Donovan. "You didn't know? Carmelita is safe, where even you can't reach her. They're flying her in a medical chopper to another hospital; she's in stable condition and you can't teleport yourself to a fast moving aerial vehicle. As far as Sly? You have no plans to kill him until you can gloat in his face that Carmelita is dead and now you can't kill her. That Helicopter has a full tank of fuel and with this snowstorm entering the area, the pilot is simply sitting above the storm, waiting it out. He could stay up there for a few hours, too bad you're powerless to reach her."
"I'll teleport you up there," She sneered, climbing to her feet. "You'll appear right in the rotors, which kills you and causes the stupid chopper to come crashing down, killing the goddamn cop. I am far from powerless, Loupe!" She threw her paws outwards and he simply disappeared. "See! Do you see what I am capable of?" She cackled gleefully.
Suddenly, her shadow began to reach up from beneath her feet, wrapping around her ankles. It consumed the lower half of her body, climbing up over her hips and stomach, entombing her. In this tenebrous form, he now lacked the mass to be teleported and she was powerless to stop him from consuming her. The darkness continued up over her form, until she was a three dimensional silhouette of shade. Even her screams were muffled into complete silence.
Bentley turned to his cohorts and exclaimed, "Let's level this place and get out of here! Maybe we can still trash Clockwerk before he's rebuilt!"
"We've got to find Sly!" Murray protested, picking up a large terminal and checking it into a line of computers, knocking them all down. "Why don't we go after him first?"
"We have no idea where he is!" Bentley reasoned. "We have to start with what we can finish now; there's no time to procrastinate, it's time to find Clockwerk and destroy him! I have a fix on the position where Carmelita and my… doppelganger… had called me from. It's a bank in the downtown area. It shouldn't be but a few miles from here. We'll have to do it by foot, but let's hurry!"
"Wait," Murray said, holding up his hand with a gleam in his eye. "There's one thing that The Murray must do…!" He then lifted his other hand, motioning for them to move. "Stand back, citizens; this could get messy." He trudged forward a few paces then stretched, arching his back then craning his neck. Bentley and Penelope quickly moved away, heading back in the way they came. Murray tucked himself into a ball, the way he'd learned to do from the Australian Guru a few years back (A/N: Sly Three: Honor Amongst Thieves).
He immediately sprung forth, bounding about the room to crush and destroy as many computers as he could possibly hope to annihilate. This set off the security protocol drones but those too were almost immediately crushed by Murray's hulking round form. Once he felt satisfied that his civic duty had been accomplished, he rolled out of the bouncing ball form and came to his feet. He took a moment to shake off the disorientation then stopped in front of the still-bound Karla Chintzy who was covered in a matter-less coating of tar.
"You deserve that," Murray told her, still a little dizzy from the ball-form romp. "I hope it sucks a whole lot, lady." He then knelt down and picked up Bentley's set of glasses that lay besides the motionless future-form body. "I'll make sure we win this time, so that this doesn't happen to you," Murray whispered to his deceased friend. "I'll make sure you win in the past; you're my friend and I can't lose you. You're all I have, Bentley. … I love you like a brother." He then placed the glasses back on the tortoise's beak-shaped nose and began to walk away, heading for where his two surviving friends were standing, across the Laboratory.
Approaching the elevator, Murray looked from Penelope to Bentley and said, "We can't let you die in the future, Bentley; it just can't happen. We may not have Sly to help us right now but we can do this if we smash everything more carefully. Let's go, The Murray has more than just the world to save; he has to save his friends' future."
Bentley reached his right hand up, using the backside of his wrist to wipe the blood away from his mouth. "Thanks pal. I don't want to end up on the floor of this laboratory when I die. Let's stick together and we can get through this. C'mon, we have a long walk ahead of us."
Indeed, the Cooper coterie had a long walk in the freshly falling snow. It gave them time to reflect on what they'd just learned and what they had to look forward to. Normally, Bentley was more optimistic but after seeing himself dead, he knew that his brain wouldn't get him through this ordeal alone. He also realized that if he let his friends die then his chances of success alone were absolute zero. He already had physical evidence placed before his eyes, just moments prior; there was no need to crunch numbers this time. The three trudged onwards, heading into Prague with heavy hearts, contemplating their own futures and the possible outcome of this future. They could only hope that things didn't end up happening the exact same way.
Inspector Fox lay in the stretcher aboard a helicopter which hovered above a hospital at the edge of town. It was supposed to be one of the finer facilities in the region and yet the storm kept them from having a safe descent. An oxygen mask rested upon her snout and a liquid IV had been put into the backside of her left paw. Some of the fur had been shaved off of her paw to allow for the IV needle to be inserted.
Her eyes fluttered open; her dilated eyes shrank to vertical slits, gazing up at the dark colored chopper roof. Early waxing sunlight bathed the helicopter in pink and yellow rays and the dawn skyline to the east was a beautiful hue of carnation and orange. Beneath the chopper was a blanket of clouds, which worked to layer the land in a beautiful virgin snow. Her eyes began to enlarge again, just slightly, adjusting to the lighting of daybreak.
"You're lucky to have survived," One of the medics said to her, upon noticing that her eyes were now open. "A bit ironic isn't it? You're on file as a police officer from France; you were rescued by a world-renowned Robin Hood named Sly Cooper. He's the one who brought you to us and Lord knows, he was just in time, too."
"Where… is he?" She half-whimpered under the oxygen mask. Her muffled words had to be repeated once more before the medic could comprehend the question.
The medic was wearing an identification badge that placed him as a member of the hospital she had just come from. "The hospital was attacked and some guy who looked a lot like him kicked in the doors. I think they may have been related; same nose and eyes, same cheekbone. I take it they didn't like one another or they were scrapping over you. Either way, the one shot the other was some sort of taser on steroids and took the other one out of the hospital over his shoulder."
"He's going to be killed because he was too busy saving me," Carmelita whispered to herself. She then lifted her voice to an audible level and said, "Do I need surgery?"
"A minor one, if at all," The medic told her, adding, "Honestly, you just need blood and rest. We've stitched you up pretty well; there is no internal bleeding and nothing major was hit. You're lucky, that bullet track was a one in a million. And you should be more careful, lightning never strikes the same place twice. You may not be as lucky in the future!"
Carmelita smiled knowingly. Muggshot's attack was the one-in-a-million shot. This was just a reenactment of the same shot. He'd used a powerful gun to strike her down while she'd used something less devastating on herself. Had she wielded a .50 caliber magnum, she'd have put a hole in her chest large enough to pass a paw through. She couldn't remember what kind of weapon she had used on herself and, furthermore, she couldn't remember where she'd left the weapon. It was a gaping hole in her memory as deep as the bullet wound that passed completely through her torso.
She felt tired, with such desperate need of blood. If she didn't have a transfer soon, her body would struggle to continue pumping blood to her heart. She was cold, draped in blankets there in the stretcher. Her fingertips felt numb as if she had her paws dipped in ice. The Inspector felt oddly violated, knowing that a small patch of fur was shaven off of her back and part of her tummy, so near to her breast. The bullet that passed through wasn't even in her body anymore but in order to have the wound stitched, the medical staff would have had to remove her blouse and bra. The hospital gown was comfortable but she preferred the sensation of having clothing on her body.
Nervous eyes shifted about, looking to the front of the helicopter. There were two men in the cockpit and two people with medical uniforms in the back with her. She glanced back up to the guy sitting next to her and asked, "It's not a life threatening gunshot, so why would I be transferred to a better hospital? What's wrong with the one I was at?"
"Our hospital has a great staff but our blood supply is low," The man explained. "It's not that you have an exceedingly rare blood type or anything, but we didn't want to pump you full of plasma and we didn't want to fly in the good stuff during a snow storm when we felt it was safer to fly you to the place where we would do the transfusion."
Carmelita still felt confused. She wasn't sure if it had anything to do with the lack of blood or if she was simply too untrusting. However, something didn't sit right with her. She normally never felt oddly violated after something as small as a stitch job and she normally had no problems being herself in front of a doctor. Something didn't sit right about this group of people but she couldn't figure out what it was.
Carmelita drew in a long, slow breath then asked, "The good stuff? You're telling me that a large downtown hospital is low on Blood?"
The medic looked to be growing defensive. He glanced around then leaned down and spoke softly into her ear. "Ma'am, I understand your concern about this situation, but we're running low on blood for your species; we're not licensed to attempt a xenotransplantation with blood from a feline or canine and I wouldn't want to try that sort of thing with my blood; it could become downright fatal," He explained.
Carmelita gazed up at him for a moment, studying his face. His eyes never deterred from her own and so she decided to believe him for now. "So you're low on vulpine whole blood; I suppose I can buy that excuse. How much longer before we land?" She asked.
The medic stepped back from her, putting his paws on his hips. He looked her over for a moment then shook his head slowly. Finally, he said, "We're waiting for a break in the storm; our pilot doesn't feel comfortable setting down in a vortex of wind and snow. Rotary blades turn those conditions into what we call 'White-out landings' and they're nothing more than a gamble with the lives of those involved. You'll be fine, Miss Fox. Please, just try to relax; we're not your enemies."
"Fine," Carmelita muttered, closing her eyes for a moment. It was a struggle to stay awake and she vaguely remembered her mother telling her to take a nap during long road trips as a kid. She remembered that she would wake up and the family would have arrived at their destination and it would feel a great deal faster than sitting there and staring out the window the whole time. Her body was hurting and her mind was racing from the lack of trust she had for everyone. But at the same time, she was so tired from the lack of blood that calm soon took her consciousness and gave her temporary peace.
The thevious raccoon sat up on a concrete floor. His joints still ached and his muscles were tight and tense from getting hit at full power by a shock pistol blast. His head, however, was quick to clear, allowing him cognizance of his surroundings. "…Ow," Sly muttered, reaching to touch his chest where he'd been nailed. Had the weapon been in any range of closer proximity, it might have stopped his heart.
Other than the aches and pains in his shoulders, neck and limbs, he felt fairly well. Beyond the bars of his new cell, a hallway beckoned him; laden with silence and foreboding, the dimly illuminated hall was simultaneously a home to him and at all the same time, a tease. It was the perfect place for a Master Thief and yet it was beyond his reach. He stood up and hobbled over to the bars, trying to rush circulation back to his legs. "I'M AWAKE!" He shouted, trying to draw attention to himself. "Hello? Sly Cooper here, come and see, the Master Thief is behind bars and you're missing it!"
He paused, frowning thoughtfully. "This is usually the part where the bad guy comes out and gloats so I can figure out what in the hell is going on, here then ascertain Carmelita's health. Hmm, I guess every capture can't be as cliché as the last." He began pacing almost immediately, watching the dim shadow dancing on the wall as he marched back and forth. A few minutes into his pacing, he glanced back at the shadow and said, "I bet you could step between those bars. …Must be nice."
To his surprise, the shadow extended from the wall and out into the hallway as if a spotlight had just rotated about his body. Sly's eyes followed the runaway patch of shade with intense curiosity, dashing over to the bars. His paws wrapped around the metallic polls, glaring at the shadow in complete disbelief. "Are you kidding? I must be dreaming."
"It is possible that you're awake," Came a voice. He thought he saw the muzzle of the shadow moving but he knew that was completely impossible. Cooper's brow furrowed a bit and he tilted his head with a frown. He then noticed that the shadow on the floor appeared to have a cap between the triangular silhouette of ears, where his had been lost, allowing for short tousled locks of gray to be free. He just leered at that shadow; and why not? He'd seen stranger things in his life, from hopping vampires (A/N: Sly3) to ghosts and straight up magic (A/N: every darn Sly game).
It was obvious this was another worldly trick from some weirdo like the guy who attacked him with the shadows up on the rooftops of Paris yesterday. Sly smirked and announced, "I've seen the shadow trick before. I'm not impressed, pal."
"We were on different teams yesterday," The shadow announced, taking its cap off then flipping it up into the air. It arched it back and craned its neck and the hat seemed to land squarely upon its head, emulating Sly's balancing boredom hat trick. "You're just upset because you're in there and I'm out here."
Cooper shrugged. "Upset? No," Sly chuckled. "A little envious? Yeah, that's me; envious." The shadow waited for a few seconds then shrugged exactly the same way in reply as if mocking him. "Aren't you funny," he muttered, watching the taunting tenebrous two-dimensional patch. "So are we allies now or something?"
"You could say I made a mistake yesterday," replied the shadow, adding, "I was under the impression that you were attempting to steal the chip from the feds so that you could use it to build Clockwerk. I was duped, you were captured; we all make mistakes, Mister Cooper."
Sly began to turn his head away but paused at the last second, watching the shade dance upon the ground out of the corner of his left eye… He glanced back at it then said, "So let me out of here."
"I don't have the key," The shadow replied with a wanton sigh. "You're trapped. I'm out here saving your friends from big-breasted Queens with an attitude and making sure Slick Cooper didn't kill you. I'm multi-tasking my missions; I don't see you trying very hard to escape, Sir."
"Don't patronize me," Sly groused. "I had a vixen to save while running from a genetically enhanced version of myself or whatever the hell he was… I'm still shocked after seeing Carmelita fighting herself and I'm still half-way reeling after seeing her turn the gun in on herself. That's some emotionally traumatizing stuff, man."
"You sound traumatized, Mister Cooper. Really, you do. Honest," The shadow chided. "Listen, you got Carmelita to safety. I made sure of it; she's fine and part of you trusts that. That's why you're not sitting there going crazy about her; so no, you're not traumatized. Second of all, you're aching a little from the jolt but you've not been beaten. You need to snap out of this silly trance and escape from this cell, idiot."
"Who're you calling idiot?" Sly said, folding his arms across his chest. "You may have gotten the drop on me but if the situations were reversed, you'd not be talking trash."
"And I'm not," The shadow scoffed. "You're disappointing me, Sly Cooper. You're capable of so much more than just sitting in there on your tail. Get up and get yourself out of there, dammit." To the stranger's words, Sly could only blink. He approached the bars and tugged on each one. None of them were loose. The raccoon then checked the walls for loose stones but there were none.
Sly glanced over his shoulder, noting that the shadow was still on the hallway floor. "Are you going to give me a hint or just expect me to magically transport onto the other side of these bars?"
The reply was simple. "You're an animal, use your instincts."
Sly blinked incredulously. "Do you want me to chew on them like a freakin' hamster or gerbil?" He then grinned again and said, "Oh, you're clever." He let the realization slap him in the face and laughed about it, reproaching the bars once more. There was a metallic rail that ran along the bars horizontally about six inches off the floor. Sly knelt down then frowned. "It's not much of a gap for my fat head, but I'll try it."
"You're a raccoon, for goodness sake," The shadow chortled softly. "You'll do just fine. If you'll pardon me, I have something else to take care of, or she'll be in here to patronize you again." The shadow dissipated, swirling into oblivion.
Sly pushed his head down to the ground but it wasn't enough of a gap to wiggle through. He was growing frustrated and moved left and right, trying to wiggle through but it just wasn't going to work. Now that the shadow was gone, he was more willing to try and work his magic, as he hated the feeling of being watched. Halfway down the row of bars, he stumbled on a loose tile in the floor.
It took a moment to pry the tile from the floor but he was quick to notice that the floor beneath the tile sunk downwards from an old flooded pipe that ran to the toilet at the back of the cell. It lowered into the floor only an inch or two but it was just enough for him to forcibly squeeze his head beneath the horizontal steel rail at the bottom of the bars. He grunted softly, wiggling forth but the bar was sure to bruise his shoulder blades and hips.
Flattening himself to the floor as best as he could, Sly continued forward, trying to use his paw to push the hilt of his tail down just enough to wiggle his hips through the small gap. He was pressing his crotch to the floor in a painful way and was nearly blushing in pain but eventually made it to the point where only his legs were left, which was the easy part. The door at the end of the hallway was kicked wide open and Sly glanced up, freezing instinctively for a split second.
Large, generic looking rhinos ran into the room but what really bothered Sly was the fact that they all looked identical to one another. They were wearing riot gear armor with face shields and Plexiglas shields on their arms. Sly used his paws to pull himself forward, drawing his legs out from the gap the rest of the way. He then rolled forward, coming up to his feet and putting his paws up in a defensive posture; it was time to rumble.
Of the four guards, one of them hung back to call for backup while the other three surrounded Cooper. Sly leapt upwards, planting his feet on the first guard's shoulders. He snatched the man's helmet and gripped the chin-guard strap then stood up straight, pulling the strap with all of his might.
The helmet now sat so low on the guard's head that he couldn't see out of it. Sly bent his knees then back-flipped off of the man's shoulders, performing one of his infamous spire jumps and landing directly upon the helmet of the second guard. He reached down and took the metallic headgear into his paws then flipped forward, not releasing the helmet.
He easily removed the chinstrap and used the helmet as a melee weapon on the third guard, smacking the rhino in the face with it. The horn that came out from beneath his plastic visor fell victim to the strike, denting the metal dome-shaped cover. Sly the lifted his left foot, tangling it in the third guard's belt and shifted his body so that he was standing horizontally on the third guard's stomach for a split second. The maneuver lasted long enough for Cooper to use the bent helmet again, smashing the second guard in the face with it, leaving a cut in his dry gray skin.
The Master Thief twisted his body in a way that caused his foot to unfasten the third guard's belt. Sly released the helmet and extended his paws, bounding off of them to get away from the group. As he wiggled out from between the three of them, the second guard was just lifting his hands to his face and the third guard's pants dropped straight to his ankles. Sly performed a handstand, pivoting about on his palm then kicked his lean legs out once more.
His right foot caught against the snaps of the second guard's gun holster, his left foot came up beneath the holster, kicking the gun upwards and out of the nylon sheath. The gun flew up into the air and Sly was quick to arch his back, performing a handstand-posture kippup. He landed on his feet and the weapon landed upside-down in his left paw.
He gave it a quick twirl then passed it to his right paw, so that it was facing right-side up. A flip of his thumb disengaged the safety and a tug of his index finger fired the weapon. The bullet ripped from the muzzle and shattered the first guard's shield from the center point where the handle was bolted into the powerful plastic, all the way to the top. Sly then fired off two more rounds, decimating the remaining two shields for Guard number two and three.
"Here, hold this," He said, throwing it at the second guard, who still wasn't wearing his helmet. It hit him in the forehead, causing him to stagger backwards. The gun bounced off of his head and Sly kicked his leg up in the air, striking the weapon with the bottom of his shoe. He successfully kicked it back up so that it struck the second guard in the face again, causing him to spiral backwards.
Sly then dropped to the floor in a gracefully executed split. His feet went between the first and third guard's ankles on either side of him. He would have punched upwards with both fists but he knew that a well armed riot soldier wore a cup to protect them. It was plainly obvious because the third guard's pants were around his shins and so the jockstrap was obviously visible on the outside of his underpants. Sly put his paw out and the gun fell back into it, holding it by the barrel like a hammer.
He reached the weapon out and hooked the butt of the gun into the strap of the protective cup then jerked back his arm to pull the cup away by its elastic straps. At about nine inches in distance, Sly pulled the gun downwards so that the handle came out from beneath the protective plastic piece which snapped back into place. The rhino shrieked in pain, doubling over into a fetal position. His horn was brought downwards, the point just inches from Sly's cheek. He then pushed his paws, gun included, down to the floor to lift his lower body and legs from the ground.
Doubled over, the third guard tripped over the pants at his ankles which was now wrapped up in Sly's shoe. He toppled over, lying besides the second guard, each cupping their hands over their wounds, face and crotch respectively. The first guard snatched Sly by his throat and lifted him up into the air with his powerful arm. Cooper put his feet on the soldier's shoulder and his left paw on the man's wrist.
The flexible raccoon arched his back hard, keeping one paw on the man's wrist and his feet on the man's shoulder. With very little trouble, he managed to pop the man's arm out of his shoulder socket then he placed one foot on the man's forehead and the other on the man's bicep. He did a loose backflip just as the first rhino's grip loosened from the painful separation of the ball from its joint.
The pressure of Sly's foot on the man's bicep only furthered the separation pain of dislocating his shoulder. Sly continued the pressure of his other foot against the man's forehead until he had enough leverage to flip his legs upwards into the air, come about and land on his feet, facing the guard with the gun in his right paw directly in the guard's face. "Stick'em up, cowboy," Cooper crowed with a grin.
The fourth guard got his call in for backup but he was already outnumbered by the gregarious and playful raccoon. Sly was pleased to be out of his cage and back into action although he immediately longed for his cane and didn't see it anywhere around himself. The fourth guard drew his handgun quickly and Sly was ready for it. He bent his legs then leapt upwards, arching back so that his head nearly touched his feet in midair. He kept his ankles together, exercising correct form and posture and craned his neck in the correct fashion.
Just as his eyes flitted into view of the fourth and final adversary, he saw the flash of the gun's muzzle. Sly dropped back to his feet behind the first guard with the injured shoulder. The bullet clipped the man, hitting him in the ribs where his Kevlar jacket was available to do its job. Cooper stood up quickly and wrapped his arm around the first guard's neck, walking him forward as a body shield.
"Get… off of me!" The man shouted but with his arm hanging limp and his helmet strapped so tightly to his head that he couldn't see, he had no way to defend himself. Once the bullet clipped his jacket, he struggled that much harder to get away but he was still in shock and completely blinded from the helmet.
"Get off me!" Sly chirped back, shoving the rhino forward towards the fourth guard. "Ya know, I have a gun at your back, pal. Just keep walking, your buddy won't shoot you full of holes… at least you'd better hope not!"
"Why are you doing this? You're nothing but an egregious kleptomaniac!" The first guard shouted, being guided forth towards the fourth guard in the corner.
"Oh! Nice word usage, buddy!" Sly said, adding, "Don't your superiors tell you anything? I was minding my own business in Paris when your masters had me kidnapped. I'm escaping because I have to go and perform my civic duty; I plan to rescue France's TopCop, Carmelita Fox! You know, the really hot Latin vixen with the really big guns? Did you know she taught me how to shoot when we were dating a while back? I normally don't care much for guns but you know what they're really good for?"
To Sly's amusement, the guard seemed pretty intelligent for a soldier grunt. "If you must know, I do not wish to acquiesce to your jaunty nattering, Raccoon."
"Oh," Sly said, sounding slightly disenchanted. Far from truly crestfallen, Sly secretly grinned then said, "I'll just show ya' then." He drew the gun back, flipped it about into his paw so that he was holding the barrel again, then clocked the guard in the back of his head with the butt of the handle. The Guard's eyes crossed beneath his helmet and a silly looking grin spread across his face. He cocked his head to the left then stiffened up, flopping forward.
Sly hurtled over the fallen guard and slung the pistol with all his might at the last remaining soldier. The pistol hit the man directly in his hand, knocking both guns to the floor. They clattered across the ground, landing just out of reach. Sly paused, putting his fists on his hips with his back straight and his shoulders broad, as if standing tall and proud. "It's just us; I only have a few seconds to render you unconscious before your backup arrives. If you're awake, you'll tell them which way I've gone, so I'm going to have to knock your butt out cold."
"I… uh," The fourth rhino pivoted to run but had apparently forgotten that he was backed into a corner. He slammed face first into a concrete wall, his horn leaving a chip in the painted cement. Dizzy, he stammered back where Sly was quick to take advantage of the situation. The raccoon, ever clever in the ways of grace and tact, simply reached up and placed his paw on the back of the man's neck.
The raccoon's supple fingertips pushed into the pressure spot on the rhino's shoulder, pinching a nerve. It was frighteningly painful and cut circulation of blood flow to his head. He gasped air into his lungs with which to scream but by the time he was ready to belt out a cry of pain, he was already unconscious. The perfect crooked released his paw from the crook of the guard's neck and guided him to the floor, gently. Cooper stood up and looked down at his paws then chuckled.
A pocket watch was dangling from his fingertips, having lifted it from the guard's body. He didn't even remember reaching for it; the act was simply second nature to have pulled off. The grinning raccoon couldn't help but let his expression melt into a devious looking smile in consideration of how easily the theft had happened. "Dang," He commented softly. "I'm so good I don't even realize it sometimes!" His tone served to voice his ego, something that only came out when it came to his thieving skills.
He looked around the room, starting with where the cell was then taking in how many doors were in the room. A storage closet was directly across from the cell; there were doors at either end of the hallway. The lights were dim but his nocturnal eyes put him in his element. Sly dropped to the floor, quickly rolling to a stop on his stomach. He put his ears to the floor and paused, first taking a deep breath to better muffle the sound of his own heart against the ground. Vibrations could be heard from the footfalls of approaching guards. The noise appeared to be coming from the door to his left; Sly hopped up and pivoted on his heel, heading for the door on his right.
It was time to make a ninja's exit and there wasn't much time left before Clockwerk would be finished. The protagonist thief made a mad dash for the door, trying to hurry before the guards swarmed the hallway from the other end. He swung the door open only for his heart to absolutely stop in his chest, mid-beat. Sly Cooper found himself face to face with a hauntingly beautiful-faced Lion.
The first words out of the man's mouth were simple, elegant and polite. "You may call me Sire," He said with a cheerful smile.
A/N: OH NOES! Teh Sire has PWNed our HERO! zOMG WTF BBQ NOOB! Will LEET SLY HACKZOR TEH OMGbadguys! I DUNNO! Find out in the next chapter, yaw'll! kTHXbye! XD
-Kit
PS: My free trial of Microsoft Word 2003 expired today. I'll pick up a copy tonight, just know that I couldn't edit the thing and I'm tired as crap, so… Uh… you get a raw draft copy, unedited and completely rushed without me re-reading it because I'm in a lazy mood all of a sudden:D Still love me?
Yeah, I brought back all the bad guys, killed off all the doppelganger twins and made things simple and straight forward. We're back to square one, good guys verses the bad guys with no confusion! Now all Sly needs is his Cane back, his relationship back and to put Clockwerk back into the trashcan. But now that Slick Cooper was released earlier than he should have been, will that factor in things differently for our heroes or will they go back down the same path and get themselves killed again? Let's hope that Bentley and Carmelita were smart enough to have altered the course of the past just enough that it plays out differently and that their futures are secured… who knows, I'm pretty devious:D At least they have Donovan Loupe on their side early on and uninjured! In some ways, things are looking up for our heroes! Let's just see how Carmelita does, after all, she was the one who kicked Karla and Donovan's butt the first time through… without her, can anybody stop Karla? We'll find out soon! I promise:D
THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE!