So here we are at chapter 14. For those of you who were wondering, yes I did get Yami's name from Yu-Gi-Oh! (not GX, the one before) although I officially chose her name in chapter 12, not in chapter 10 when she first appeared. Yami was the only name I found that seemed to fit her and I'm keeping it that way. Also, it has been pointed out that there is a slight case of Sly/Faye as a brother/sister relationship. Yes, that is true. It shall go no farther than that. (thunks head on desk) During part of this chapter, I was working on several documents dealing with scraps, notes, etc. I was trying to concentrate on a lot of things at once and the computer was set on small font and as a result I couldn't see the words "Do you want to save the changes you made to Sly as a Cooper 14?" very well. I clicked 'no' by mistake, taking about 500 words away from the word count. Luckily most of it was fresh in my mind and I got about 400 words back shortly after. The chapter changed for the better though so no worries.

Faye: You spent over an hour on that part getting everything right.

SQ: Yeah… So?

Faye: …You're unusually calm about this.

SQ: Really? I couldn't tell. Yes, I had to replace some words and it took awhile for a paragraph to come back, but I got it.

Faye: …

SQ: …Take over. (walks off)

Faye: Thank you. (turns to audience) She needs some down time, but for now enjoy the chapter. Oh, and it's a little shorter than usual so please excuse the shortness.

Disclaimer: For the umpteenth time, SLY IS NOT MINE! …I wish he was but he's not.

Chapter 14: An Unfortunate Surprise

Sly and Faye got back to the safe house just as it started raining again. He opened the door and walked inside with Faye right behind him, trying to get a straight expression on her face before anyone saw. Her mind raced with worries, questions, and theories but they were all soon put aside by a familiar voice.

"You're back! So did you get a picture of Rajan?" Faye's gaze fell upon Natasha who was jumping up and down in front of her and Sly.

"Yep. It's right here," Sly held up his binocucom. Natasha grabbed Sly in a bear hug while quickly saying,

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She let go and sat at the table with her hands folded. She smiled widely as Sly and Faye came in. Just as she was shutting the door, Bentley called to her,

"Faye," she turned her attention to the brains of the group, "give me your binocucom. I need to download the photos you took into my laptop." Sly handed over his binocucom to Bentley as Faye smiled,

"Sure." She approached Bentley, took out her binocucom, and gave it to him. He took out a couple of cables from his backpack and connected them from his laptop to the front of Faye's binocucom as well as Sly's. Faye grabbed a seat and leaned back as she waited for Bentley to get the photos in order. Josie was asleep on the floor, Murray was watching Josie, Natasha was watching Bentley work, and Sly was waiting for Bentley to finish up his presentation. As she smiled at the group, everything around her faded into gloom and no sound reached her ears except for her own breathing. Thunder abruptly boomed and lightning lit up the area. Rain poured from the sky as Faye realized what was going on. She was holding her left shoulder and her sleeve was torn. She slowly took her hand off as her heart thumped faster. Her blood ran cold and her heart skipped a beat. On her shoulder was an icon of a world globe in the clutches of a bird's talons; it was the symbol of the Klaww Gang. Just as quickly as it came, the image faded and the sounds of the safe house returned. Everyone was facing towards one side of the room as a bright light appeared on it.

"The Clockwerk heart," began Bentley as a photo came up of two rhino guards patrolling below the Clockwerk heart, "is under some steep security. That Rajan is carrying half of it at all times. To get at the goods, I'll need to gather some more information. Sly will plant a bug in Rajan's office, while I lift the spice operation blueprints off the "Spice Lord" while he makes he rounds. I have also received word that Neyla is in the area and is willing to lend us a hand. It seems she has a secret about Rajan that may help us. Unfortunately, while we're collecting intelligence on him, he'll be collecting data on us with an elephant driven satellite array! Take it out, or he'll be able to intercept all of our communications!" Faye opened her mouth to speak as the slide show ended, but Natasha jumped up and cut her off with enthusiasm,

"That satellite has to be the first thing to go!" Natasha held her fist up and grinned widely like someone in over their head about to go into a battle against a thousand enemies. Faye smiled and shook her head as she got up.

"That would be sensible as we can't accomplish any jobs as long as it's up and running," Bentley said as he gathered his sleep darts and started putting small, flat devices on them.

"Alright then. Let's go make a little satellite sabotage, shall we?" Faye said, twirling her cane around once and pointing it outside towards the satellite array.

"Right," Sly said as he got up and looked at Faye, "Let's go." She nodded as she and Sly walked out the door.

'Please, oh please let that vision be wrong. Oh please!' They jumped off towards the bouncing mushroom and made it safely on top of the old stone ruins. They were soaked in just a few moments and Faye sighed quietly. She stayed silent as Sly pulled out his binocucom.

"Is something wrong Faye?" Yami echoed in the back of her head.

"It's just a vision I really hope doesn't come true," Faye answered mentally.

"It could just be something from the False Reality."

"But there was thunder and lightning…and it was raining," Faye tilted her head to the sky as tears welled up in her eyes and slid down her cheeks, blending with the rain. Sly put away his binocucom as he spoke,

"Come on." He did not notice her crying as he began walking, leading the way to their destination. Faye wiped the tears away and followed Sly to some stone ruins that must have once served as a house or storage area. They bounced on a conveniently situated mushroom and made it on top where a monkey guard was patrolling. Sly knocked him out with his silent obliterator move and brought out his binocucom, aiming it at the satellite. Faye did too as Bentley came on in the left view screen and Sly in the right,

"Rajan is able to monitor all of our communications out here with that elephant driven satellite array."

"That's pretty grim," said Sly, "You got a plan for shutting it down?"

"Don't I always?" Bentley said with a hint of slyness in his voice. Faye took a look around and noticed a marker on something in a tree high up. She zoomed in to see what she and Sly had to collect. "Now, the local spice plants are illegal for good reason, eat too many and you'll go into a fit of uncontrollable rage."

"Keep that stuff away from Murray…" Sly muttered, "Oh wait, wait, I get it. We put some spice plants in the elephant's feed bag, he chows down, gets all crazy and then, Presto! The satellite's in pieces."

"A crude interpretation of the plan, but accurate. The trick here is harvesting the spice plants. You two will have to do some serious climbing as they only grow high up in the jungle canopy." Bentley ended the communication and Sly and Faye put their binocucoms away.

"Let's split up. I'll start over there," Sly pointed northeast towards some long vines.

"And I'll start over there," Faye pointed towards the tall stone column where many vines intersected.

"Meet you back here then." Sly set out for his destination and Faye hers. She sneaked past the monkey guard on the ground and went on, avoiding a few rhino guards and monkeys along the way.

"You're lucky Faye," Yami said solemnly as her younger self hid from a rhino's flashlight, "I can't remember anything, yet you do. You remember mom and dad, I remember Neyla and Arpeggio," Faye listened as the towering column grew near. "You know compassion; I knew only lies, deceit, and hatred. You have everything I lost." Faye stayed in the shadows behind a structure as she mentally replied,

"I don't think you lost it, Yami. It was just obscured." Faye tiptoed past a monkey and behind a tree. Yami spoke with renewed realization in her voice,

"…You may be right. Maybe that's how the Dimension Disrupter works, by obscuring key components in someone's mind." Faye was now behind the structure that the pillar was built on. A nearby vine went up in a spiral that seemed to reach the top. "I think you just cracked the Disrupter's code." She put her cane in her mouth and started climbing up the winding route to the top.

"Without Bentley? Ha! If it was that easy, I would have already gotten home by now." Half way up the tower, the vine ended on a ledge, but another one was hanging down nearby. Faye grabbed it and climbed to the very top in seconds. She got up and looked around at the four vines stretching to different places.

"If it wasn't raining and I didn't have a job to do, I might've enjoyed this more," she muttered. The darkness hid the spice plants from her view, forcing her to take out her binocucom and find the markers Bentley was projecting. One was just down the vine to the east, sitting in plain view. Faye put her gadget away and took a deep breath. She let it out and leaped onto the vine. She immediately started sliding and leaned back to keep her balance. She wobbled a bit and sighed in relief. She was almost there when she wobbled again…and fell.

Faye instinctively wrapped her arms and cane around the vine and clung to it. She slid down to the tree and her head hit it, stopping her ride.

"Ouch," she winced. She looked straight ahead into the sky as a few raindrops aimed for her eyes. Faye sighed exasperatedly as she tried to think of a way out of her predicament. There she was, hanging on a slippery vine with her head near the top of the tree instead of her feet. "Okay. Think, think, think, think, think, think, think." She looked around at what she had. She could use her cane to hang on the vine, but then what? She really could not use much except for her earcom. "There is no way I'm calling for help," she murmured. She hung there for a few moments longer before she came up with one idea that could work, but was risky. She positioned her cane on the vine and let go. She closed her eyes in doubt the cane would stay, but it did. She opened her eyes and faced the tree as she slammed into it. She grunted in slight pain and tried staying on her cane as it became harder to grasp. She got a good grip and quickly used her right hand to pull herself up. She extended the claws on her left hand and both feet and sunk them into the bark. She let go of her cane with her other hand and dung it into the tree, leaving her cane to hang there by itself. Faye clambered onto the flat surface of the treetop and breathed hard in relief. She grabbed her cane then the spice plant and pocketed the latter.

"Why didn't you call for help?" Yami asked her.

"Because," Faye answered aloud, "I don't want to seem like the damsel in distress who needs help doing everything. If I can find myself out of a bad situation without any help, then I can become stronger." She got up and gazed at her surroundings.

"But you're part of a team. You're supposed to rely on each other for help," Yami reasoned.

"I guess…" Faye lowered her head, "I'm not exactly used to working with other people." Lightning cracked and struck somewhere miles away.

"…It has to do with mom and dad, huh?"

"Yeah. They weren't always around…and I barely had any friends," she rested her cane's bottom near her feet, "There were only two who would even bother to be around me, but one moved away and I never saw him again. The other stayed by my side, but is still in the other world. I just hope the flow of time is different than at home." Faye put her cane in her mouth and began climbing a branch that extended to the stone pillar.

"Don't want to be here for a year and find out that the same amount of time has passed back at home," she thought. She landed on the column again and took out her binocucom to search for another marker that Bentley was projecting. The orange target was south on another tree hovering just over the rage-inducing plant. Faye put up her binocucom, steadied her nerves, and hopped onto the vine. It was not as slippery as the one before and she was able to keep her balance as she slid down. Faye landed on the old treetop at the end and snagged the spice plant, stuffing it in her pack. With two of the illegal plants in her temporary possession, she turned around and leaped back onto the vine. There was a brief stall before she began sliding back and she leaped farther up the jungle foliage. She continued bounding upwards until she was once again at the top of the column. Her eyes grew adjusted to the darkness and she spotted something glistening in the light of thunder on a third treetop. Bentley's voice suddenly came from her earcom,

"If you happen to come across any green bottles with a question mark on them, make sure to collect the paper that's inside." Faye pushed a button on her earcom to reply,

"You mean clue bottles?"

"Yes. I need them to crack the code on Rajan's safe. I've already sent out Natasha to collect what she can."

"Natasha?"

"Yes. She wanted to do something besides just sitting around so I sent her out." Faye wasn't sure whether to be happy that Natasha was doing something and staying away from the main jobs, or worried that she might get caught or injured.

"Alright. I'll get whatever I can," Faye said, ending the discussion. She slid down the vine to the bottle and jumped off in front of it. She grinned, thinking about how Sly did cool stuff like grabbing stuff in midair and pulling off unneeded stunts all the time. Faye chuckled,

"Man he's arrogant."

"That I remember," remarked Yami. Faye stifled a laugh as she continued, "He wasn't too overbearing, but he always thought he could get away with anything."

"That's our Sly," Faye said with a smile. She returned her attention to the clue bottle and with a swing of her cane, she broke the glass. She picked up the piece of paper from among the shards of shattered glass and unrolled it. Faye slouched a bit as if the word 'duh' had been stamped on her head. On the scrap of paper were letters and numbers that looked like complete gibberish. She dismissed it as part of the code Bentley needed and put it in her sidepack. She turned around and made her way back up the vine, leaping up during the delays. When she reached the top of the stone pillar, she looked towards the only area she had not been to: some ruins near the cliffs. She rode the last vine down to a tree where a clue bottle was, broke it, packed the scrap of paper, and hopped on a nearby vine, sliding the rest of the way to the ruins by the cliffs. She disembarked at the end of her ride and carefully watched where she stepped. The surface below her feet was uneven as if an earthquake had shaken the tiles out of alignment. She walked to the end and hopped next to a mushroom with a clue bottle on it. She pulled the paper out, put it away, and smashed the glass.

"Wasn't that pointless?" Yami asked as Faye put her right hand on the ruins.

"Yeah, but I didn't want to seem cliché," Faye answered before she murmured, "It's real..." She took her hand off after a while and jumped on the mushroom, bouncing up to the top of the ruins she had just observed. As she peered over the top, she saw a monkey walking towards the other side. Suddenly and swiftly, a dark figure dropped from above, causing the monkey to stop and turn around in suspicion. His eyes widened and he reeled back with a spear in hand, aiming for the figure and probably go after Faye next. The figure, however, quickly grabbed the spear and tossed it and its owner into the river below with a splash.

"Hello, Faye," Neyla greeted. "How are things?" Faye glared and held her cane tightly. The darkness made it hard to see, but Faye knew the voice anywhere.

"If you were gone, just fine," she replied a bit sharply. Neyla ignored the acid in her voice and continued,

"You seem to be enjoying your time with Sly."

"What are you up to?" Faye demanded, "I'm still on to you and I'm not about to listen to your lies."

"Speaking of liars," Neyla said casually, putting her left hand on her hip, "have you been telling those friends of yours everything?" Faye raised an eyebrow. Neyla was being more suspicious than usual, and what the tigress was doing made Faye wonder what exactly she was getting at.

"Just what are you up to?" she asked cautiously, raising her cane in front of her.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. At least to you anyway." Faye clinched her fists and waved her cane in front of her towards the traitor.

"Be quiet! A witch like you has no place in this world!" Lightning flashed, allowing Faye to see that Neyla's left eye was closed and had a scar going down it vertically.

"And neither do you," Neyla said as she smirked.

"Wrong!" Faye said firmly and loudly. "I have a place in the hearts of Sly and the gang. While you," she pointed the hook end of her cane at Neyla, "have nothing. You betray everyone you come into contact with and are a disgrace to Interpol! You're nothing but a witch who charms others and gets them to do your dirty work for you!" Faye smiled, feeling good to have said what she did even if she was not sure of part of it.

"So you are saying that they would accept you no matter what?" Neyla asked nonchalantly. Now Faye was sure she was up to something. Faye spoke, trying to hide her nervousness,

"Y-yes. They don't care that I'm a human. They look deeper than that." Again, Faye was not too sure of what she said. Neyla smirked deviously. Faye's eyes had adjusted to the darkness and she could see it on the tigress' face.

"Be careful, Faye," Yami's voice resonated within her mind, "She could try anything." Faye kept her eyes on Neyla, completely focusing on her.

"Is that so?" The tone of Neyla's voice sent shivers down Faye's spine. Lightning flashed and before Faye knew it, Neyla was flying at her with something in her right hand. She used her cane to try and block Neyla as she came up to her left side, but to no success. Neyla held Faye's left wrist and pulled it, straightening out her arm. It happened so fast, Faye barely knew what had happened before a burning sensation came from her left forearm. She yelped in pain, but promptly bit her lower lip to keep from screaming out loud so the guards hopefully would not hear her and come running. Tears came from her eyes and ran down her cheeks, though there were only a few before Neyla hissed into her ear,

"There is more than one kind of prison." Faye shoved her cane into Neyla's stomach and spun, pushing her over the edge of the ruins and into the river below. Just before the traitor went over the edge, Faye could have sworn that she smirked. She held her left forearm with her right hand where it felt like she had been scalded. She breathed tensely as all sound was rejected from her ears except for her own breathing and the trickling of rain. Suddenly, thunder boomed and lightning lit up the area around her. Rain dispensed from the sky as realization hit Faye like a brick wall. She slowly took her hand off her torn sleeve as her heart thumped faster. One thought kept racing through her mind like a broken record: "Please be wrong." Faye closed her eyes as she lifted her hand. She opened an eye then both as they grew wide. Her blood ran cold and her heart skipped a beat. On her shoulder was an icon of a world globe in the clutches of a bird's talons; it was the symbol of the Klaww Gang.

"No…" she muttered as another tear came down. "No. It…It's not true…" She nearly sank to her knees, but a voice caught her attention,

"It came from over here, Ned!" Faye gasped as she turned behind her. The guards were coming. She held onto her cane and mentally yelled at herself to run. Her legs would not move no matter how much she tried.

'Move! Darn it, move! You can't be caught!'

"They're coming!" Yami shouted. Lightning cracked in the air, jolting Faye's commands to her legs as she sped off for the vine in front of her. She jumped and spun onto it, fear motivating her every action. She slid across to a treetop where another spice plant rested. Faye was about to take off down another vine when she remembered her mission. She swiped it and stuffed it in her pack as she jumped off the side of the tree and clung on as she did before. She started to scale down just as another voice called,

"There's nobody here! Are you sure you're not being paranoid, Jim?"

"No, I swear I heard something like Pete when he eats really hot salsa!" said the first guard. Faye did not tilt her head to see who it was. She just kept climbing down, panting with fear and letting tears fall down her cheeks the entire way. When she finally got near the bottom, she fell to the slippery ground and sobbed. Faye was muddy and soggy as she lay there, but she did not care. All she wanted to do was just curl up into a little ball and cry.

And maybe disappear from the Cooper Gang's radar...for good.

'Why did this have to happen to me? Why did I have to get sucked into this stupid game? Why couldn't I have just stayed in bed? I want to wake up! I want Neyla dead!' Faye silently cried, letting soft whimpers escape her lips once in a while.

"Faye... Please don't cry. I've seen too many tears shed already. ...You're going to make me cry..." Yami said softly.

"You can't cry. You're a ghost," Faye sniffed, "...S-sly and the others won't want me around anymore..." Faye managed between sobs.

"Have faith-"

"Faith? What does that have to do with anything?" Faye said angrily, pounding the ground with her left fist. Mud flew up on her arms and into her face. Loud snorting came from behind her; a rhino guard had heard her. Faye got to her feet and started sprinting towards the rendezvous point near the elephant driven satellite array as anger and sadness encircled her mind along with one question:

Would Sly believe she wasn't a member of the Klaww Gang?

SQ: Well, that does it. I figured you readers had been waiting long enough so I just uploaded it. It was supposed to be longer without the huge cliff hanger. -.-; Please be patient! My computer is in storage and I can only write the story at a cousin's house. No floppy at all. Why did I have to move now?!

Faye: I can give you a hint, but I think you already know the answer.

SQ: Yeah, yeah... (Mutters under breath)

Faye: She'll try to work on the next chapter. Till next time.