Hi, guys!

Those of you who have picked up on my pattern are probably really confused as to why you're getting this chapter almost a week early. This is for two reasons: First, I left you guys off on a bit of a cliffhanger (those of you who've played the game anyhow). Second, I haven't had the best day and getting reviews makes me smile.

You want to make me smile, don't you?

I thought so.

Anyhow, we have a fun chapter ahead of us! And by fun, I mean drama. Yay, drama!

On with the chapter!

I was reading the only book I had in my bag and thoroughly enjoying myself when I heard the by now unmistakable sound of an explosion. I jumped, shoving my book back into my backpack and swinging it up onto my shoulders before dashing outside.

Bentley had left me a prototype binocucom that wasn't connected to his, Sly's or Murray's so that I would be able to see what was going on. I took it out now and brought it to my eyes.

Sly had managed to blow up something that completely flooded the temple and had evidently flung Rajan headfirst into an impressive rage, considering he was now using his staff to… throw lightning at them? Okay… that probably had something to do with the Clockwerk heart? Yeah, let's go with that.

I turned my gaze to find Sly. He and Murray were talking to… "Is that Neyla?" I zoomed in on the purple tiger head and, sure enough she was talking to Sly and Murray. After a moment, Sly nodded and followed her up to the spikes Rajan was hitting with lightning. What was he thinking?

By using the Ninja Spire Jump in excess, he managed to get across, barely. He shouted something at Neyla, then looked like he was going to go for Rajan. Neyla shook her head and jumped away. Confusion crossed Sly's face and he turned to watch her, shouting something else.

While his back was turned, Rajan hit him with lightning.

For a split second my heart stopped beating. I went cold from the top of my head downs to the pads of my feet.

Sly plummeted, limp and smoking slightly, into what used to be a pond, but was now a concrete basin, his cane flying out of his hands. I pivoted on the spot and flung myself down onto the trampoline, it bounced me back up and sent me sprawling, but I was on my feet again immediately, ignoring a new hole in my old pair of jeans, pelting towards one of the bridges that would lead me up to the temple.

I ran across the bridge and saw Neyla come to stand at the edge of the basin. I put on another burst of speed, thinking only to barrel into her and… and… claw out her eyes or something!

I had to halt and dive sideways, however, when a long spider leg emerged from the bushes. I'd lunged into the entry way to the temple, which appeared to have been made out of bones. I could hear every word Neyla was saying, but couldn't see what was going on.

"There they are Contessa, just as I promised. The Cooper gang and Rajan all incapacitated."

Just as she promised? She'd been planning this the whole time? That was… well, exactly what I'd been trying, but at least I was up front about what I was thinking! What she did was just dirty!

The thought of the hypothetical scenario where I'd been the one to beat the Cooper gang at this game of wits now made me feel a bit sick.

"Excellent police work Constable Neyla! Carmelita's never been able to catch the Cooper Gang, yet you capture them in just a few short weeks!" That voice sent shivers down my spine. There was just something creepy about it.

"Well- I never…" Inspector Fox was here too?

"Really Carmelita, accept your defeat gracefully."

"Actually, there's a good reason Carmelita never captured the Cooper Gang. She's been in league with them the whole time!" Now Neyla was trying to get her competition out of the way too? She was… there were no words.

Well, there were, but I'd have to censor them if I wrote them out.

"Liar! Prove it!"

"This is a picture of Carmelita dancing with Sly Cooper on the night the Clockwerk Wings were stolen."

"But- I didn't know I was dancing with Cooper!"

"You too certainly seem very… familiar in this photo. Guards, place Inspector Fox under arrest!"

"I'll get you for this, Neyla! Don't think I won't!" I heard as Carmelita was lead away. I shared her sentiment wholeheartedly.

I was able to sneak up to the temple in the aftermath of Neyla's 'revelation,' before the majority of the cops appeared on the scene to catalog evidence. I needed to find Bentley. They had Sly and Murray and for some reason were under the impression that that was all of the Cooper Gang.

I made it to the temple entrance and saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked again and saw a golden glint under the water that now buried the walkway.

I dove in without thinking.

The current was swift, but swimming was one of my few strong suits. I managed to grab Sly's cane and kicked immediately for the surface. He'd kill me if I left it behind.

I struggled through the jungle in what I hoped was the right direction, clutching Sly's cane closely. The foliage looked the same in all directions, so I could only hope I was heading for the van and wasn't going to get lost and die a horrible death.

I paused for a moment to catch my breath (and to suppress that last thought) and heard some heavy breathing off to my left. I froze, listened harder, and recognized the sound. "Bentley!"

I tore through the bushes and found the turtle, machete raised high, aimed at the undergrowth I'd just emerged from, "Bentley, are you okay?"

His hands were shaking so much, it was hard to take his glare seriously, "What are you doing here?"

I frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Why aren't you with the police?" he spat, looking as though he wanted to murder me, "You called them and led them here somehow, didn't you?"

My heart skipped a beat for the second time and I felt my body grow cold again. Bentley thought I was the cause of this. He thought I'd followed through on what I'd been threatening to do since I was tackled into the back of the van back in Cairo and that I'd come after him because I hadn't managed to catch him in the trap. Really, who could blame him?

But this wasn't the time for regrets… okay, it was, but first I had to convince him that it wasn't my fault.

"Bentley?" I took a small step forward, "Bentley, that wasn't me. That was Neyla, Neyla betrayed Sly so she could take the credit for capturing both him and Rajan and get herself promoted. She didn't know about you, so she thinks she has the whole Cooper Gang, and apparently Inspector Fox hasn't told her otherwise. If it were me, sorry, but you'd be caught too. And I wouldn't have set up Inspector Fox to take the fall."

The machete fell from Bentley's numb fingers, "Carmelita was arrested?"

Every instinct screamed for me to lunge across the few feet separating us and pitch the machete into the woods, but Bentley would probably take that as a sign of hostility and not listen to another word I said, "Yeah, as a conspirator to larceny or some such nonsense. Listen Bentley, it wasn't me, I swear to you. Look," I took Sly's cane from where I'd hooked it to the back of my shirt when I'd started running and showed it to Bentley, "I want to give this back to Sly. I want to help him escape. I'd always thought that a criminal with a heart of gold was a realistic impossibility, but he's proved me wrong more times in the past few weeks than I care to admit. You all have."

Bentley looked me over critically for a moment, then sighed, picking up and sheathing the machete, suddenly looking worn and several years older, "And you keep telling us you don't have Stockholm Syndrome."

I started to bristle at that, then took a deep breath and thought it over, besides he wasn't trying to needle me, he was just stating a fact, "Maybe a little."

He shouldered the machete and turned his back on me, "Let's get going."

It took us the better part of the day to find the van and when we did, we faced another problem altogether.

"It's a stick shift?" I asked, sitting in the front for the first time ever.

Bentley was staring at the gearshift with concentrated anxiety, "Well it shouldn't be that hard to learn…"

I automatically reached for a seatbelt but, finding none, turned back to Bentley, "Where's the seatbelt?"

"Oh, there's no seatbelt on that side," Bentley said, getting in and buckling himself in, "The paramedics had to cut through it."

"What!" I seized the edge of my seat and the handle above the window, "Paramedics?"

"We got this van from the junkyard after it was totaled; Murray fixed it up and got it running again." Bentley's eyes got a bit misty, but he just shook his head and turned the key in the ignition, "He's a genius mechanic."

Wanting to get off the subject, I looked over at Bentley and said the first thing I could think of, "Uh, no offense, but can you reach the pedals?" Foot, meet mouth.

He flushed dark red, "Yes, I can!"

The next hour was one solid adrenaline rush. With so many trees around and the fact that I was being thrown around the front of the van like a living ping-pong ball, it's a miracle Bentley didn't crash and that I didn't break anything.

When Bentley was finally driving like a sane person and we got out onto the road, I finally had the courage to ask, "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to set up a temporary Safehouse in the first town we see and I'm going to start trying to find out where they're keeping Sly and Murray. If we get really, really lucky, they'll be in the same place. If the information is too well-guarded, we'll have to find a way to get you in contact with someone in law enforcement. If you can play your part right, they'll tell you where they're being held." Bentley continued to face forward, but he was looking at me out of the corner of his eye, waiting for my reaction to carefully judge it.

I could see why. If it came to that, he'd be putting a lot of trust in me that I'd done nothing to earn, but I owed them at least that. Any other thieves probably would have… well, they probably would have killed me when I first was tackled into the back of their van, "Let's hope we don't get that desperate. I don't feel like lying to the law."

Apparently satisfied with that answer, he nodded and turned his eyes back to the road.

Three days later, we were no closer to finding out Sly and Murray's location. Bentley said that was probably because they were being moved around, but I wasn't sure I could trust that as he looked as though he hadn't slept since we settled in.

The next day I was flipping through the channels of random Indian soap operas and came upon a press conference. Apparently they had just released the news that the Cooper gang had been caught and Neyla, who had apparently been from India originally, was being hailed as a hero.

I grimaced and almost changed the channel, before realizing I could probably get information from it.

You know how in interviews with foreigners, newscasters get a translator to dub it over in English? Well, it was the reverse process that I was hearing. If I listened hard enough, I could make out what the original reporter was saying.

"… despite the heroism of Constable Neyla, however, the girl abducted from the National History Museum in Cairo, Kaia Jenks," here a picture of me appeared, "is still missing."

The picture was from my Junior Prom, Uncle John had taken it. I hadn't really liked Prom, but even I had to admit that it was fun to dress up like that, a green dress and heels, not to mention a touch of makeup I usually never wore.

I could practically hear Sly's wolf whistle and his voice saying, "Don't you clean up nice?"

God, I had to find that raccoon.

I shook my head and forced myself to pay attention as the reporter continued, "The jungle in which the Cooper gang was apprehended had been searched extensively with no sign of the girl, who is seventeen. The accused have repeatedly claimed ignorance of her location. Her family could not be reached for comment."

Poor Dad, this had to be driving him up the wall.

The report continued in the same manner, praising Neyla, expressing surprise and remorse at the 'turncoat nature' of Inspector Fox and coaxing anyone with knowledge of my whereabouts to contact their local authorities. I turned it off after too long and went to find Bentley.

"You have got to sleep." I scolded him, seeing as how he was still in front of his computer, typing madly. His eye also seemed to have developed a regular twitch.

"Can't sleep… I'm almost there, almost there…"

Considering he'd said the same thing ten hours ago, I couldn't really take him seriously.

Three more days passed in much the same way. Really, I was just lucky to get some food down Bentley's throat with the way he was currently obsessing and seriously trying to subsist only on tea and energy drinks.

Then, at about eleven at night a week after Sly and Murray had been arrested, I was awoken by a shout of triumph from his direction. I immediately scrambled to my feet and found him, in all his scruffy glory, bringing up a map of Europe on his computer.

"Prague!" he shouted gleefully, "They're in Prague!"

I promptly leaned over his shoulder to get a look at the map, "Where's Prague?"

"It's the capitol of the Czech Republic." Bentley said slipping into his familiar 'briefing' voice, typing away furiously again and making me feel like a total idiot. I'd thought Prague was a country, not a city, "They're locked away in the Contessa's criminal rehabilitation center."

I gave a snort of laughter and Bentley glared at me, "Sorry, I'm just trying to picture someone trying to psychoanalyze Sly."

At that, he had to smile too. It looked a bit out of place on his tired face, but at that point I'd take what I could get.

The next morning, before heading out, I used a pay phone to call collect to my house in the States. I got the answering machine, but it was the middle of the night there and I'd planned it that way, I wasn't sure what I'd say to my dad, now that I was helping instead of hindering the gang and had no feelings of guilt for doing so. I left a simple, six word message for him, 'I'm okay and I love you.' before I hopped in the van beside Bentley and we were off for a three day trip to Prague.

I never quite figured out how Bentley got us a Safehouse just beyond the center's walls, as I was curled up in the back sleeping at the time, and I also didn't ask. He woke me when we got to our destination and I helped him to set up all of his equipment.

He wanted to begin reconnaissance right away and I didn't argue. They were his best friends, as good as (or probably better than) brothers, I had no right to stand between them, so he showed me how to man the binocucom station and then headed out.

I situated the much too small headset to fit my different ears and pulled the mic down to my chin, "Can you hear me, Bentley?"

His voice crackled over the headset a moment later and I was able to see what he saw through the binocucom, "Loud and clear. I'm going to make my way to the prison to see if I can get a reading on Sly and Murray."

"Okay, be careful." Apparently, Sly and Murray had somehow managed to hide their binocucoms so they wouldn't be taken away, but they couldn't risk activating them inside the prison. Either that or they'd just forgotten they had them. Sadly, the possibilities were equally likely.

Bentley managed to find a high location a stone's throw from the wall and radioed in, "The Contessa's making her rounds! Listen, the feathers on my darts vibrate near sounds, if I tag the Contessa with my sleep darts and maintain my position on top of this parabolic dish, I should be able to hear that frequency at a distance, I might even be able to get a location for Sly or Murray! I need you to record the audio I get."

I refrained from asking what 'parabolic' meant and instead questioned the flaw in his plan, even as I opened the recording software, "Bentley, won't your darts knock out the Contessa? Won't she feel them?"

"No, her exoskeleton is too thick for that. My darts will stick for a few moments, but then they'll probably fall off. I'll probably need to tag her a few times to get enough information."

I nodded even though he couldn't see me, "Just be careful. If you get caught, I can't bust out all three of you."

There was no reply, Bentley just took aim. His accuracy amazed me just as much as the fact that his plan actually worked. I was able to record what the Contessa said with amazing clarity.

"… The Klaww gang is falling apart. Spice shipments have all but stopped! … Argh! I'd never have joined if I'd known it would be this easy to disrupt the plans. At least the Cooper gang is under lock and key. Their lopsided sense of morality flies in the face of man's inherent selfishness. Ah-well, they'll see it my way soon enough."

"… Those fools at Interpol! They keep sending me criminals and I keep making money! How come no one's ever thought of this before? Hypnotize criminals and force them to tell where they've hid their fortunes… I'm a genius! If only I had more spice to help with the hypnosis!"

"… That blasted Cooper gang! The fat one, what's his name? Murray… yes, Murray, he'll be the first to break. I'll spend a few sessions probing that feeble mind. I can only imagine the wealth that gang has accumulated over the years!"

"… That Sly Cooper… such a complex and rebellious mind. A month or two in 'the hole' should break his spirit. Let him squat there, week after week. He's seen that the guards along the wall all have motion detectors. Slowly, the reality of his captivity will begin to set in and I'll get to work on his mind."

"Inconceivable!" Bentley exclaimed when it became clear he'd get no more out of the Contessa, "She's no health care professional! This is the most heinous crime I've ever seen, it dishonors both law enforcement and criminals at the same time!"

"I think it's rather brilliant." Bentley's silence told me I was probably getting a blank stare, "Oh evil and corrupt and everything, sure, but still… brilliant."

I could practically hear the eyeroll in Bentley's voice, "We need to get to work to figure out a way to break Sly out of 'the hole'."

Bentley appeared to be struck by inspiration on his way back to the Safehouse because instead of coming inside, he veered right toward a small terminal on the train tracks.

"Bentley?"

"I've got an idea. See if you can climb up to the wall and take Sly's cane with you."

I was baffled, but I didn't question him. I took Sly's cane, grabbed the prototype binocucom, which Bentley had modified for me, and ventured outside. My newest disguise, a dark toffee color, let me blend in well with my surroundings. I passed Bentley, hard at work at the train terminal, and he pointed me to a certain location in the wall.

Once again, I didn't question him. I'd read the Thievious Raccoonus cover to cover three times now and knew enough about climbing to get myself up there, though I had more than a few close calls. I crouched, waiting, and watching in confusion as the train below me picked up speed again and again until it flew off the tracks and went careening into the wall directly behind me.

I dove to the side just as it crashed through the concrete, hissing into my binocucom moments later, "Bentley, are you mad?"

"A bit." He admitted, "Look out, I'm bombing the guards on the wall."

I could hear the guards running around above me, trying to figure out where the train had come from and just panicking in general. Explosions followed the sound of chaos and, just as the last one died away, I heard Bentley's voice over the binocucom again.

"Toss Sly's cane over the wall."

I obeyed after hearing the rusty hinges on the door to 'the hole' squeak open. I pressed myself to the side of the wall as I heard the binocucom frequency crackle back to life. Bentley was contacting Sly, the raccoon must have turned on his binocucom.

"Sly! Can you read me!"

"How I've missed that sensuous voice of yours."

Nice to know Sly's sense of humor hadn't been affected by his confinement.

"Save the jocular comments for later," Bentley also sounded relieved, "You see that hook above the train? It's your only means of escape. Use it to swing onto the back of the train with your cane. I've already established a Safehouse and downloaded its GPS coordinates into your binocucom. We'll rendezvous there."

"Wow, you've really thought of everything."

"Don't I always?"

"Yeah, yeah you do." Sly sounded like he was getting emotional, "Thanks for busting me out."

I could almost hear the blush when Bentley replied, "Ah well, you know the saying. 'If you can't count on a friend to bust you out of jail, what kind of a friend are they'?"

"Truer words were never spoken… Wizard."

I really needed to hear the story behind that inside joke.

Before I could react, I heard the sound of metal against metal and Sly appeared atop the train. Thankfully, he didn't see me and continued toward the Safehouse. I followed nervously a few minutes later. I wasn't sure if I was ready to face him yet. What if he thought I was somehow behind his imprisonment, like Bentley had? I wasn't sure why, but I was… nervous.

I slowly made my way back, keeping an eye out for guards. The Safehouse Bentley had procured was right on the train tracks. It was a bit grungy, but could be made livable, given enough Lysol.

I waited as long as I could to enter, not only because I was reluctant to face Sly, but because he and Bentley deserved some time for a private reunion. When I could stall no longer without having Bentley ping me on the binocucom, I walked up the stairs and opened the door.

Sly was laughing the laugh of someone nearly hysterical at something Bentley said that probably wasn't even that funny. He was halfway through a turkey sandwich that, from the looks of him, was probably the first solid food he'd had since I saw him last.

His time in the rehabilitation center had obviously taken a toll, but he seemed determined not to let it show. He was thin and I could only guess at how much weight he'd lost. His fur was dull and his clothes tattered. His gestures were slow, as though he were stiff or hurt to move. He'd probably gotten into a brawl or two.

When the squeaky door closed behind me, he turned to see who'd entered and froze, the sandwich falling back to the table. I braced myself for an onslaught of questions and prepared to defend myself, but I was not in the slightest ready for him to march over and throw his arms around me. My brain screamed for me to do something, but my arms were frozen to my sides.

"Sly…?"

"I thought you were still in the jungle." He murmured, so close to my ear, "They kept asking us over and over where you were, and I'd thought you'd reveal yourself to the police for sure once we were caught." He pulled back and held me at arm's length, looking me over, "I was so sure you'd gotten lost in the jungle, or fallen into quicksand, or eaten by a snake…"

I gaped at him, "All this time, when you were under arrest, instead of worrying how to escape… you were pondering whether or not I'd got eaten by a snake?" In my confusion at his statement, my grammar went staight to hell.

"There wasn't much else to think about," he gave a grin and the hysterical note had vanished from his voice, "I knew getting from the inside out was nigh impossible, so I was just waiting for Bentley to get from the outside in. A four by six foot cell gives you plenty of opportunity to think about stupid city girls lost in the jungle."

Thatsnarky, insufferable- I jerked away and turned my back on him, crossing my arms and huffing… and also trying to hide a grin. I couldn't help it, this was classic Sly, "And to think I worried about you!"

He was doing the verbal smile thing again, "Aw, the Stockholm Syndrome finally kicking in?"

"No!"

"Actually, Sly, back in the jungle she-"

"Hush yourself, Bentley!"

"Oooh… Wha'd you say, wha'd you say?"

"Go take a shower Sly, you absolutely reek!"

And here is another chapter! Personally, I like this one quite a bit. But then, I'm biased.

Oh, ANNOUNCEMENT!

If you want to go check out my bio, there's some general info on this story, such as the summary, my thoughts on it, the where it will go in the future (not really spoilery, considering it gives no specifics, but if you're paranoid, you might want to avoid it), the theme song, as well as a link to some fanart done by the illustrious Kody-chan (Not me. I can draw, but not that well.). I'd love it if you all would drop by and take a look, to get a feel for what Kaia looks like instead of just what she sounds like and maybe tell me what you think of her design in the reviews.

And, hey, if any of you feel like drawing fanart, I'd be more than happy to link it in my bio! Just PM me with the link and I'll reply to you, probably pretty quickly and with lots of freaking out and flattery.

But, anyhow, I hope you guys enjoyed and I'd love to know what you thought about this chap! As for now, I'll just say God Bless and wish you all a good day!