It's less than a week until Christmas! When did that happen?

Two more chapters and the Epilogue! This story is just flying away.

Seriously, when did that happen?

Okay, as I was typing this up, the Document Manager started getting a little wonky with the pagebreaks. I think they're all working, but if there's one missing, let me know and I'll try to fix it.

On with the chapter!

For my benefit, the briefing was held on the deck of the boat. After a few hours of driving that led us back to, of all places, Paris, we'd driven the van onto what appeared to be a ferry, but which held a massive below-deck area that housed several small sleeping quarters and a galley.

After only a few minutes on the open seas, I'd emptied my lunch over the side of the boat.

"I'd murder someone for some Dramamine right now." I moaned to no one in particular, clutching the railing in a death grip and letting my head rest limply on the cool metal, squeezing my eyes tightly shut. The motion sickness tablets Bentley had acquired back in Paris had run out that morning, but we'd thought that I surely wouldn't get seasick as well as carsick. Sly had pulled the Jinx crack immediately after I'd gotten sick, of course.

Bentley was perched on a crate nearby, typing away at his laptop, though how he got an internet connection in the middle of the Atlantic was beyond me. Murray was happily tinkering with something under the hood of the van; it never failed to confuse me how someone with the mental capacity of a six-year old could go from coloring in a coloring book to modifying a complex engine in less than fifteen minutes.

Sly was the brave one. He was standing beside me, telling me of past heists and occasionally rubbing my back after I managed to throw up something I didn't remember eating. He'd definitely tease me more about being sick later, but he was being a perfect gentleman at the moment.

Frankly, I was a little suspicious.

If I didn't need him to distract me so badly, I think I'd have killed him.

"Alright," Bentley said finally, "Our next target is Jean Bison. This is an interesting one, guys."

"What's so special about this guy, Bentley?" Sly asked, "He's just another Klaww Gang member, isn't he?"

"Not at all, Sly. Jean Bison is from the 1850's."

"Please tell me that it's not another evil killer robot." I called, not moving.

"He was a prospector, working to tame the 'Wild North'. Through a demolitions accident on a mountain, he was buried alive in an avalanche. The quick freeze kept him alive and he thawed out a couple of years ago." There was the sound of quickly typing keys. "He uses the Klaww Gang's spice shipments to bankroll his current logging business."

"Bentley, you said he was from the 1850's?" Sly spoke up again, "What's a low-tech guy like that doing with robot parts?"

"I don't wanna know…" I muttered.

"Well, it can't be anything good, I'll tell you that." Bentley answered, "But he walked away with the Clockwerk Stomach and both Lungs. Not to mention the Clockwerk Talons."

"Four Clockwerk Parts? How'd he manage that?"

"I don't know, but we're going to find out."

The trip took a week. I lost five pounds during that week because I simply refused to eat. I drank a lot, but eating was completely out of the question when I'd practically cuffed myself to the railing of the boat.

Canada was cold. Not like, 'wow hey look my breath', but more like, 'wow hey look are my toes supposed to be that color?'

Upon docking the boat, I collapsed into a nearby snowdrift, blessing the unmoving, solid land, and Bentley and Murray headed in to town for supplies. Sly hung around and got to talking to some of the local fishermen. By the time the others returned, Sly had made quite a few buddies and we were treated to a dinner made of fresh caught fish. This is worth noting, because that was the best meal I'd ever had, and I hated seafood, feline genes aside. It may have had something to do with the fact that I hadn't eaten in a week…

We bought Dramamine (glorious, glorious drugs) and took the boat to Jean Bison's logging camp, making a Safehouse out of an abandoned fishing hut that was built on stilts over the ocean.

Sly was ecstatic to have a chance to stretch his muscles after being cooped up in a boat for a week, as were Bentley and Murray. I was sprawled on the wooden floor, reveling in the stillness.

"I'm never getting on a boat again… I'm never getting on a boat again…"

"I've got a lead on the Clockwerk Parts." Bentley said, hunched over the one laptop he'd actually unpacked. "Head through town and out into the wilderness."

"Will do." Sly headed for the door.

"You're not going to take a jacket or anything?" I asked, propping myself up on my elbows.

"Nah, it'll make too much noise."

"Okay," I flopped back down, "But I'm not treating you for frostbite when you get back."

He smirked, "Wouldn't dream of it."

After Sly got back from stealing some secret blueprints, it was time for another slideshow.

"Thanks to Sly's efforts, we now know the location of three of the local Clockwerk parts- two Lungs and the Stomach-"

"Eww! Why does a robot need a stomach?"

"-Jean Bison has grafted each piece to the engines inside one of his Iron Horse trains. This improvement allows the trains to run all night and all day-"

"How?"

"-Sly, if you would?"

"No problem, Bentley."

"Hey, what are you- Don't you dare! I'll bite you! I swear, I'll-"

"We won't have the luxury of sneaking in while they're stopped. While they're in motion, the only way in is through a hatch on the caboose roof, which, unfortunately, has been locked down. These need to go! First collect the spice gas from the balloons above town, then land on the cabooses to blow off the locks. Once the way is clear, I'll suit up and jump into Iron Horse number one. With any luck, we'll have the first Clockwerk Lung in a few hours-"

"OW!"

"Bentley, I'm booooorrrred…"

"Go play your DS."

"Murray broke it."

"Go build a better mousetrap."

"You've already patented one, haven't you?"

"Patent pending."

"Mhmmm…"

"…"

"…"

"Well, I was going to make Murray do the shopping, but since you're obviously in need of something to do-"

"GIMME MONEY!"

Bentley sighed as he handed me a small bag of coins. "Why do we even put up with you?"

I grinned at him, "Because I'm cute."

"Well," I said to myself, thunking my head against the back of the cage, "This could have gone better."

Seriously, how did Carmelita even get to Canada? She had no funds, no Interpol influence… she was really determined, I guess. Only explanation I could think of, at any rate.

"Hey, Kaia, you okay in there?" Oh, she was back.

I got to my feet, "I'm fine, little cold, but I'll live." I was actually pretty snug in the white hoodie Ritsuka had lent me, though given its size I had a sneaking suspicion it actually used to belong to Ahanu.

"Sorry about the cage," She really did look apologetic, "But I can't have you warning the Cooper gang."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." The second she'd run in to me she'd asked me where I could find the gang. Knowing that they were really the only ones who could take on the Klaww Gang, as they weren't limited by law, I refused to tell her. Then she muttered something about Stockholm Syndrome and locked me in the cage.

Seriously, when would everyone just let that go?

"Just sit tight for now, I'll be back as soon as I find the others."

I gave a slight wave as she disappeared and was about to settle back in when a flash of blue caught my attention.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

I sighed, resting my elbows on one of the bars on the door, "So, what are the odds of me getting out of here with no teasing?"

"Slim to none." Sly said, coming up to me, "So, how's it feel to be a criminal?"

"A bit like elementary school, but with jail time instead of detention."

He chuckled, then noticed now tightly I was shoving my hands into my pockets, "Don't worry; I'll have you out in no time."

I snorted, "Yeah, not that simple. The door's triple padlocked and Carmelita's got all the keys." I indicated the three sturdy locks in front of me.

"Your lack of faith wounds me, Jinx. It wounds me to my core."

"You should do some ab workouts, then. Tighten that up." I poked his stomach through the bars.

"Oh, that hurts. Maybe I should just leave you there."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm sure. When you get a key, make sure to run like the dickens, Carmelita's a lot more observant than your average guard and she's got a shock pistol."

"Leave her to me." Sly said with a creepy sideways grin.

I felt suddenly bad for Carmelita.

I leapt to my feet again as Sly approached the barred door, "Hey, you finally made it! … What are you doing?"

He twirled three keys around his finger, but made no move to unlock the door.

"Sly! As soon as Carmelita realizes that those keys are missing, she'll come running! What are you waiting for?"

"Why did she lock you up?"

I blinked at him, then shook my head, sure I'd hear wrong. "Is this the time to be asking that?"

"Yes. You've done nothing wrong and she likes you. Why'd she lock you up?"

I ground my teeth, "She put me in here when I refused to tell her where the Safehouse was. She was worried I'd warn you guys that she was about."

And then he was right there, inches from my face, "Are you still claiming not to have Stockholm Syndrome, Kaia?" His voice was serious. The answer meant something to him.

I pressed myself against the cold metal at the back of the cell, but it still wasn't far enough away, "Wha- I- Of course I don't have it…" I averted my gaze, though I wasn't sure why. "You guys are the only ones who can really go toe to toe with the Klaww Gang, is all."

"Mhmm." I wasn't sure if that was an affirmative or a 'yeah, right' sort of hum, but he unlocked the door and let me out. "I'll see you back at the Safehouse."

I pulled my hood up, to hide my dark hair against the snowy landscape… and to avoid having to look at him, "Yeah, see you there."

"Kaia… Earth to Kaia!"

"Hmm?" I blinked and moved my stare from the ceiling, to see an agitated Bentley in front of me, tapping his foot and staring me down from beside the projector, "Err… yes?"

He sighed, "Honestly, an hour ago we couldn't get you to shut up. Now you're not even paying attention when it concerns you."

"Huh? I get to be a part of the next round of jobs?"

"Sort of." He pulled up a picture of one of the Iron Horse trains, "You'll be accompanying me as I board Iron Horse number two and do some pre-emptive RC bombing to get some of the defenses out of the way. I need someone to watch my back as I concentrate on the RC chopper and Sly and Murray are both going to be busy here."

"Awesome!" I said, leaping to my feet. "Let's do it."

"Yeah… let's just jump on a moving train…" I muttered, shivering on the back deck of the caboose as Bentley bombed the hell out of the cars in front of us, "Train moving forty miles per hour… in Canada…"

"So," Bentley ignored my grumbling, "What happened between you and Sly?"

I nearly fell off the caboose, "Turtle say what?"

"Come on, Kaia, I'm not stupid. You were normal when you left to get food, if a bit more insufferable than usual. When Sly set you free and you came back you just sat there thinking. You had to have been thinking about something."

"Whatever happened to concentrating on the RC chopper?" I averted my gaze to the white landscape around us.

"I can bomb a train and listen to my friends' problems at the same time."

Friends.

I plopped down on the cold metal. "I'm actually not sure what happened." I told him the whole thing, "I'm just not sure what he was on about. He was acting like it was a big deal, but up until now, it's just been a joke."

Bentley sighed, not looking up from his remote control, "Kaia, do you know how old Sly is?"

"… Twenty-four?"

"Sly's barely twenty, Kaia. He's only a couple of years older than you and up until now he, Murray, and I could only ever rely on each other and sometimes Carmelita. He's trying really hard to figure out how much he can trust you, especially after what happened with Neyla." He looked me in the eye then, "You're kind of the ultimate wildcard and he's having issues trying to figure out what's going on in your head."

"I don't even know what's going on in my head!" I exclaimed, burying my hands in my hair, "This is all so weird."

"Well then, let me ask you this." Bentley's chopper landed in his outstretched hands, "How far can we trust you?"

That was a good question. It took me a few minutes to answer. "I'd never do anything to hurt you guys. Or take away your freedom."

Bentley just smiled as we leapt from the train. "That's good to know. You just have to wait for Sly to either ask or realize it on his own."

"Yeah… Hey, wait, Bentley. How old are you?"

He smirked, "I'll be twenty-three in a few weeks."

I gaped. "You're five years older than me?"

"Murray's even older than I am."

I think my brain broke a little.

"You guys are going to give me grey hairs."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Sly smirked, somehow managing to flick my nose with his tail. I sneezed and glared at him. Seriously, how did he do that? My tail was prehensile too, but he had way more control than I did.

"It's an expression. Seriously!" I pointed at the picture being projected, "You're going to use an old handcar- that hasn't been used since before steam engines, mind you, and is kept around only as an antique- to catch up to a spice train going upwards of sixty miles per hour? That thing's gonna fall apart under you!"

"Well, if I did my math right- and I always do my math right," Bentley said, looking over a page of figures that made my head hurt, "The handcar should hold together for approximately twenty-seven minutes. That's just long enough to catch up to the train and for Murray to slow down to a safe speed to jump off."

I felt my eye twitch slightly, "That's cutting it a little close, don't you think?"

"Don't worry so much." I hadn't seen Sly come up behind me, so I jumped and squeaked when he tousled my hair, "Bentley did the math, it's all good."

"Yeah, if we all play our parts, what could possibly go wrong? …Don't answer that." Bentley cut me off when I opened my mouth.

In an effort to put less strain on the handcar, I was left behind at the Safehouse. Not that I was complaining, it was cold outside.

Attempting to relieve boredom, I'd dug through my backpack, which I hadn't touched, except to get clothes out, in quite a while. Finding a half-full bottle of blue polish, I kicked my feet up on the table and started painting my nails.

I'd painted both hands and started on my toes when Bentley's computer suddenly started beeping loudly. I jumped in surprise and looked over at it. Seeing that a binocucom frequency was trying to connect, I reached over and answered.

"Uh, hello?"

Bentley's face appeared on the screen, "Kaia, we need your help!"

"… that's a sentence I never thought I'd hear."

"You have your license, right?"

"… yes…"

There was a muffled argument on the other side of the connection that ended with Bentley coming back into the frame. "We have to crack the engine block to get the Clockwerk stomach free, but Neyla just destroyed my RC chopper."

"She's here? I'm really starting to detest her."

"Indeed. I have a spare chopper in the van, but no way to access it from here. I need you to drive the van over to that small mountain a few miles away, remember we saw it coming up here? Iron Horse number three is going to pass it in fifteen minutes."

"Okay, let me get this straight, you want me, who's never driven stick before, to drive the van several miles away from the Safehouse to help you finish off a heist?"

"That's correct. You watched me figure it out, I'm sure you can do the same. And you know everything but that laptop is already packed up in the van. Take the laptop with you and I'll give you further instructions once you get to the mountain."

"… If you say so, Bentley."

I threw my backpack up on one shoulder and snapped the laptop closed, tucking it under my arm. I sprinted the short distance outside to the van, managing to completely avoid the guards. It was kind of nerve wracking to drive the van on a wooden bridge suspended over a slow, icy-death, especially with trying to remember how to work the clutch and the gears, but I managed to do it without dying which, I felt, was an achievement.

I'd missed driving. I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until the trees were blurring by and I didn't have time to enjoy it because I had to beat Iron Horse three to the mountain.

I got there in a few minutes and parked the van, finding the RC chopper and taking it, the controller, and the prototype binocucom I occasionally used to position myself on an overhang above the only visible train tracks.

The binocucoms were usually handheld, but the reason this was a prototype was because Bentley had been trying to get it to function in a smaller case and to accommodate a strap so it could be worn like a pair of goggles in a pinch. So far it was working, but the battery life was really short.

I turned it on and tuned into Bentley's frequency. "Okay… what am I supposed to do?"

"Alright," I have no idea what Bentley was doing on the other end or how he was doing it without a laptop, but the screen in front of my eyes abruptly went green. I very carefully sat down in the snow, hearing the RC chopper turn on and rise into the air by itself. In the distance, I also heard the unmistakable sound of a train engine. "I can get the RC chopper to a stable altitude, but I can't work the steering or firing controls from here. You'll have to do that."

"Okay, but, um, Bentley? Why is everything green?"

"That's the RC chopper's radar. You won't be able to get a visual, so you'll have to use that to guide you. I'm having the chopper hover fifteen feet above the train and marking the smoke stack for the engine with a waypoint. You need to drop a bomb down the smokestack to free the Clockwerk Stomach from the bolts holding it to the engine."

"Won't that crash the train?"

"Not fast enough that we won't be able to get off."

"Okay…" I said to myself when a soft yellow market appeared in the sea of emerald, "I got this."

"Kaia, be careful!" A large red mark appeared before my eyes, "Neyla's back! I thought I shot out her guidance system… Use the right trigger to fire forwards and the left trigger to drop bombs!"

I paled as the large red mark started shooting smaller ones toward the blinking black light that was the RC chopper.

"HA!" I yelled, as the red mark careened away from the train, "I am the champion!"

"Alright, Champ. Mind dropping a bomb so we can get out of here? Before the chopper is out of your controller's range?"

"Buzzkill," I muttered to Bentley, dropping a bomb directly atop the yellow mark. The green turned orange for a split second, then I heard Bentley ask Sly if he was alright.

"I've got an upset stomach on my hands, but other than that, I feel great!"

"Oh, haha, Sly, you're so punny." Wait… what was that noise? It wasn't coming from the binocucom…

I pulled the goggles away from my eyes and, squinting against the sudden natural light, made out a stream of black smoke against the pale blue sky… heading right for me.

"Guys…"

Neyla's plane kept getting closer. It was unmistakably heading for me.

"Neyla's coming this way… she sees me…"

There was a beat of silence.

"Kaia."

That was Sly again.

Neyla was close enough for me to make out her bright fuchsia fur and her thunderous expression. "YOU MEDDLING BRAT!"

"Run."

She fired a missile.

I dove to the side, but she wasn't aiming for me. The missile hit directly beneath a large bank of snow higher on the mountain. There was an explosion, a loud 'Crack!', and silence… then the snow shifted.

I scrambled to my feet as the snow kept falling, gaining more and more momentum and becoming an avalanche

You know when you're watching a television program or movie and the main character is trying to outrun a train or giant stone boulder or something and you're screaming, "Just run to the SIDE, you IDIOT!"?

I'm proud to say I actually remembered that when Neyla's missile hit the peak of the mountain and the snow started to fall.

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of 'side' on a conical mountain, so my first plan was a bust.

Then I saw the protruding rock outcropping.

It was several yards higher up, but it was also my best bet for safety in the avalanche. I sprinted for it, miraculously not slipping in the snow. I reached it just in time and pressed myself as far underneath it as I could, covering my head with my arms.

The tidal wave of snow roared in my ears as it exploded around the rocks above me and everything went black.

Sly was running back for the handcar even before he heard the explosion and Kaia's binocucom cut into static. Once he got there, it took them twenty minutes to reach the place where she had been sitting. That was plenty long enough for the avalanche to settle.

"I'll try to get a lock on her binocucom's signal," Bentley wheezed. If he didn't use his inhaler soon he was probably going to have an attack, but he sat down and started typing furiously anyway. It took less than a minute for him to find the signal, but that felt far too long to Sly and Murray.

The signal was only a couple of yards away from where they were standing. Sly reached it first and started digging furiously. He unearthed the binocucom soon enough.

But it lay in the snow alone.

What is this? A cliffhanger? Bwaha!

Okay, yeah, it's kind of a cheap cliffhanger, but still. Oh, I am considering updating on Christmas if I get enough reviews telling me to do so. Yes, I'm just trying to find out who actually reads my notes by bribing you guys, lol.

I hope you enjoyed, though! Tell me what you think, have a very merry Christmas and God Bless!