SQ: Yes! Chapter 22 is here! A tad rushed and a tiny bit of a pain, but it's here! On to Prague everybody! Before that though, I'd like to say this: I do not own Sly Cooper's copyrights. Sucker Punch Productions does.

Rexus: Well what do you know! Smashy did the disclaimer!

SQ: Yep. ...And don't call me Smashy. You're not allowed.

Rexus: You called me Rexy last time.

SQ: Because I have the authority.

Rexus: Other people call you Smashy. Why can't I?

SQ: That's confidential - anyways! Now we go on with the story as our Bentley saves the Gang in...

SQ, Rexus: Jailbreak!

SQ: The messed up fanfiction edition! Get ready for things to get creepier.

Chapter 22: From the Depths of Thiefnet

Only a straight-up confrontation with the remaining members of the Klaww Gang could have been worse than what Faye's situation was. Outside was nothing but a miserable mess of a storm as the skies refused to let up on the pouring rain. Though as bad as it was, it was nothing compared to suddenly seeing or hearing a guard five feet outside the safe house. Large vultures would stomp through, sometimes shining their flashlights through the window of the hideout. It had gotten to the point where everyone had abandoned their chairs in favor of lying on the floor.

Probably the most unnerving to their hidden status were the bats. They would just clod on by as they bumped into the building, every time causing at least two of it's occupants to instantly jump with a start. There wasn't much of a danger when it came to the nearly-blind thugs but one blow on their horn and the safe house would be swamped within a minute by reinforcements. All the trio had to do was keep quiet and they would go unnoticed.

But by far the worst were the werewolves. Four times already she had seen them marching by whilst gnawing on something that disturbingly resembled a leg or arm bone with chunks of meat still left on it. It wouldn't be as bad if they hadn't carried around heavy clubs with jagged and rusty nails or if they hadn't had those leering crimson eyes without any sign of a pupil. It was just unnatural to know that they could be standing in front of someone but there would be no telling the direction that they were really gazing in. And to top it all off the teen would eventually have to go out there with the rain, the vultures, the bats, and the werewolves to save three or four people from something slightly worse than everything outside put together.

At least it wasn't any colder. Oh no, that would be reserved for when they went off to find Jean Bison. He was probably off in some frozen wonderland relishing the feel of chopping down as many trees as possible in an attempt to break some insane personal record. That fact and theory did nothing to cause anyone, namely Faye, to stop chattering their teeth under two layers of blankets. No one dared to speak unless absolutely necessary, so for the most part everyone kept to themselves. Josie had curled up next to the shaking Natasha, both her and Faye staying wide awake through the storm and unable to sleep. Bentley lie sleeping next to his laptop, sometimes shivering in his slumber but otherwise consciously unaware of the dangers lurking outside the shoddy windows.

Natasha took out a notepad and pen from within her bundle of covers and quickly scribbled something on it. She passed both items to Faye and curled into a ball to keep warm again. Holding the note, the adolescent squinted to try and read what had been written. The only source of light for the building was when lightning would streak through the sky. Other than that, the two had been getting by on shapes outlined in the darkness. It was several minutes later when the room was given a brief luminescence that Faye was able to make out what the message was:

'I'm very sorry.'

Faye peered back up the at the small silhouette and after debating it for a little bit, took the chance to get up and move with her blankets to lie beside the huddled form.

"I told you," she said, her voice as buoyant as though it were the air itself, "It's all right. I forgive you."

"I... I just..." Natasha took a shuddering breath, her voice becoming tiny and cracked, "I didn't want my mom to be forgotten." Faye's eyebrows rose with her upper eyelids. So that was what the little one had been so quiet about. Ever since the outburst, the kid had been moping around and mostly keeping to herself. Taking into account what she had already been through, it wasn't much of a surprise of what the cause of her sorrows turned out to be. "I didn't mean what I said," Natasha sniffed, not a single tear being shed. It looked like the well had gone dry.

An appropriate response seemed to be weaved automatically as natural as it was to breathe air. Faye patted the panther on the back.

"She won't be forgotten as long as you remember her," she whispered. If there was any effect from her words, Faye couldn't see it.

"But..." came the response, "I wanted other people to remember her, too. She did just as much work as anyone. She probably did more work than Carmelita. Why didn't they put her in?" The teen's stomach was seized and twisted by nausea. How could she have so easily put her memories away, even if most were missing? The mental impression of her own mother had been wiped clean, but surely if the Dimension Disrupter could lock away recollections it could unlock them too.

It was that thought alone that barely quelled a deep loathing and fury for the time being, though the ache remained all the same.

"I don't know," Faye replied. A quick urge to defend her world came over her as an empty feeling began to settle in the air. She reached out into the vocabularic sphere around her and added, "Maybe they only got bits and pieces."

"Maybe..." Natasha shifted under the covers and pulled her knees to her chin. "It doesn't make it right."

"Maybe," the human agreed, "but it's not their fault. ...When there's only bits and pieces, it's hard to see the full story." A gale made the wooden boards over the right window groan but that was it. The two remained silent. There was next to nil to be done about the the developers from the misplaced adolescent's home, and the dreary weather was making it difficult to not be pessimistic. Stifling a yawn, Faye shifted her shoulders to get what little comfort she could from the floor. As her eyes drooped, Natasha's voice interjected the oncoming catnap.

"My mom was supposed to be in a video game," she nearly mussitated, making it a challenge to make out what she was saying. As she continued, so did the volume of her voice till it was just under her normal tone, "...It was going to be a simulator for recruits, but...Vermon," she snarled, "was part of it. He didn't want the game to be made. He said it would be better for recruits to get in some fieldwork instead of simulating something. She said someone promised to to complete it, but he didn't." The panther broke down into tears, trying to muffle her mouth with the comforter to keep their secrecy withheld.

Splash-squish!

They froze. A vulture waltz by the set of stairs outside, the guard's light swinging towards the semi-boarded up window as it passed. When it seemed that the bird of prey had left, Faye gently shook the other's shoulder.

"It's okay," she muttered, reiterating it a few times until their respiration had evened out a tad. There was no reason to not be on alert in their current location so close to The Contessa. It could be said that the prison was a complete nightmare, but apparently the black widow's abode was worse. With a flash of hindsight, it was very well possible considering that Neyla had been scared out of her mind by the local ghosts. Hadn't the place been a veritable deathtrap? Tanks rolling by, Carmelita with glowing eyes up in the tower, the guillotine - oh heck on a deflated blimp, were they going to kill her that way?!

She shuddered at the very idea. Bile was swirling up her esophagus but she managed to stuff it back down. She wasn't going anywhere near that guillotine if she could help it. In fact, she would creep around the old place, the 'Gothic nightmare' of a home, as slowly as she could. No use in running straight into - no. She paused the train of thought before it could go any further. It was unpleasant and could wait. Instead, she turned back to what had been said a little earlier. A small lump already forming in the back of her throat when she opened her mouth, she lowly inquired,

"Who promised?" Even if she didn't know the name of everyone in Interpol, it would lift a tiny bit of wondering from her brain. The young one moved under the covers, answering as a sliver of recognition cut through her tired tone,

"Winthorp. Detective Winthorp. ...But Vermon made sure he was always busy." Faye's visage scrunched into a sneer. The low-down, no good man had been behind the act. As if he wasn't deep enough in the waters of 'Hell hath no fury.' He was at least earning himself another thwack over his cranium and a trip down a cliff into a bed of burning, wooden spikes for every crime he committed. By the time Faye caught up to him, the man would have better luck undergoing a lobotomy coupled by whatever violent things a teenage mind could come up with for a certain double-crossing, cockney liar ten-fold. If the Cooper Gang ever tracked him down, a girl with a flamethrower would be the least of his troubles.

"We'll get him back. I promise," Faye told the orphan, a thick line of hatred in her statement.

"O-okay. Thank you." Not too long afterwards, the usual light breathing from the child in a deep sleep reached Faye's ears. She was the lone person awake - splitting the technicalities of 'people' between human and animal seemed useless - so she resigned herself to her thoughts.

No doubt about it, Vermon Venery was going down. He deserved it after everything he did and if Faye couldn't do anything physically, then she would find some way of getting payback. Although why she was venting at him, she hadn't a clue. Vermon didn't concern her and neither did his actions.

A single glance at the form sleeping near her was all it took to reverse that idea. He had thrown lives away at the premise of cold, hard cash. The end result of his decisions had led an innocent elementary student to being a runaway and announced as deceased. While the panther was supposed to be going to school in the morning she was actually hiding out near a high-security prison, waiting to see a thief she admired come back so a band of them could be reunited and put a stop to a great injustice to Interpol and bandits everywhere. By the stars above where had things derailed so badly where the daughter of an officer was hanging around with some of the greatest thieves the world - this world - had ever known.

This world. Just how was she...

Faye opened her mouth, something creaking as she yawned. She needed rest. Wandering notions at whatever time it was couldn't have been good for her health. Still, it seemed as if something was always wrong. Even when things seemed to be going well, something was always amiss. Neyla got her eye clawed at, three scratches identical to Yami's were given to Faye in return. Neyla got socked in the face, Rexus got captured by The Contessa. Natasha was alive...

Another yawn escaped and Faye strained to keep her eyes open. She blinked and found that the storm had halted though it was still lightless outside. Natasha and Josie were still asleep, but Bentley was gearing up, triple checking his crossbow and and making sure that the straps of his vest were well-adjusted. A quick, dreamless sleep must have overcome her. So much for a good night's rest. Her eyelids still felt like heaving themselves down and allowing a few more hours to pass.

"Where are you going?" she dully queried. The turtle gave a minor yelp, almost hopping into the air. Recognizing the voice though seemed to either quell or repress whatever anxiety she had stirred. Promptly regaining his composure, Bentley replied,

"I'll be making my way over to The Contessa's house. I might be able to pick up a few leads on the location of Sly and Murray."

'Wait. This had been...'

"Okay. Be careful," Faye warned. The protection on the grounds against a breakout had probably increased now that the rainfall had been broken. Not that there could ever possibly be a breakout. The Contessa's jail was obviously superior enough to keep the master thief in. Surely it would take more than one incredibly intelligent cracksman to free some fellow members of a split band.

Surely.

"Aren't I always?" the genius retorted, earning a small grin from the other. "Stay here and I'll contact you if something comes up." The teen nodded.

"All right." Without another word, the temporary leader left. His footsteps departed and the thieving headquarters was silent once more save for Natasha's light breathing and Josie's constant purring.

Faye threw off her light blue beddings onto the pink ones covering the snoozing youngster, stumbling to her feet and making her way towards the table. She pulled back a chair from it to expose a scratched-up laptop on the seat, still chilly from the earlier, unforgiving torrent. Faye flipped it open and pushed the power button. She sat down on the floor and after a few minutes of startup, the familiar desktop flicked into view. The image shown was a photo of the Cooper Gang along with Natasha, Josie, and herself beside the team van. Holding the kitten was Natasha, leaning towards Sly on the far right next to the passenger-side door. Said ringtail was grinning like the sneak he was as Murray waved to the camera, a bag of chips in one hand. Bentley was beaming in the middle and on top of the van was Faye in her somewhat undamaged costume. Leaning over Sly's shoulder, she gave a peace sign while her left hand made a pair of rabbit ears over the raccoon's head.

The scene was interrupted by a window abruptly popping up. It held a simple message:

-Hello.- Accompanying it was the username 'guest.' As the message sunk in, Faye began to glare at the word and put a finger on the mouse pad near her. This was the last thing she needed.

-Do not close the chat.- The cursor moved to the little red square with a white 'x' in the chat window.

-Do not alert anyone about us or we will not help you.- At that Faye rose an eyebrow. If her suspicions were correct, she was typing into a trap. If it was another gang they would want something from her eventually as a return favor. Whoever was communicating already knew how to contact her, that much was evident. Although would it be better to ignore the potential threat or talk to the bunch? It sounded like she only had one of two choices, but could there be another way altogether?

The small internal debate ended in a couple minutes and she typed up a response:

'Right. And why should I trust you?' As if the other party had anticipated what she would send, a reply was given right back in about a quarter of a minute.

-That is your choice to make. You have no reason to trust us just as we have no reason to truly trust you if no trust exists in the first place.- 'Truly trust? Truly trust. Truly trust, truly trust, truly trust. Why does that ring a bell?' Faye stared at the instachat window as she turned the words about. It was a few minutes later that she went ahead and sent her message. There was no need in blindly rushing into the situation like an idiot.

'Truly? So you trust me to an extent. Meaning I'm worth something. Or at least some of my knowledge is.' Again it seemed that her reaction was foreseen as a return was swiftly sent.

-You are a human, an extinct species. Of course you are valuable. The fact that you are in need of some assistance is all the more reason to keep track of you.- 'Oh no. Oh bloody heck no. Oh no no no no no! They know I'm human? Nobody knows I'm human. Nobody! If this gets out I'm screwed!' Frantically running her digits over the keyboards, Faye had to backspace quite a few times before she made a competent defense.

'I'm not a human. I'm a cat. And I don't feel better knowing that the Klaww Gang (you) is tracking me. Good bye.' Immediately the next line of text came, something that could have only been possible through lightning quick reflexes or a copy and paste.

-We are not the Klaww Gang. We are U.N.D.A.- Faye started typing, but the other party sent a response first.

-We know Neyla was the last to speak with you via instant messaging, but she wasn't on Thiefnet, was she?-

-Fact is, we want information on the Klaww Gang that our operatives cannot obtain.-

-If you satisfy some of our questions, you have even our leader's word that we shall assist you with the captured party.- One after another the lines came, obviously copied and pasted from an active document. Faye covered her face with her right hand. The chat seemed unreal. Here someone was offering to somehow aid in rescuing the people who had been arrested, all in exchange for some information on the Klaww Gang. Information that the unknown group seemed to believe she could procure. Who did they think she was? James Bond? Besides, Bentley could manage pulling off the jailbreak to get his friends out.

No use in letting suspicions go. There was no telling just how crafty these people were. Poking the waters seemed like a nice option. At least she could find out how even the ripples were before moving on. A legitimate deal could be looked into later.

'And Bentley? Won't he get suspicious?' she sent. Of course he would at some point. How was she going to explain to the brains of the band that some anonymous bandits had assisted him in breaking out the Gang? Even if she could stay off the radar of being a suspect, it would lead to a very uncomfortable situation and doubting Bentley was never a good idea.

'Even if he didn't know it was me, it still wouldn't be right. Bentley's smart enough to bust them out himself.' A small ping jolted her from her thoughts as another message appeared.

-There is a reason that we are unknown outside the thieving community and fairly concealed within it.- Faye's eyebrows shot up. Whoever had contacted her was deep in secrecy. They knew she was human, they knew about Neyla, and they had somehow kept their identity quiet in one of the most underground communities in the world. Whatever they didn't possess must have been long out of their reach.

-We choose the ones to contact. If you haven't noticed, your chat window sees us as a guest.- Faye glanced up at the top of the window. It displayed the initials 'T.N.' along with the confirmed username. 'Who am I dealing with?'

-We have no identity outside of U.N.D.A.'s name and our purpose is simple.- An extended pause was held as there were no further messages. An invisible prod from the last statement settled, willing the teenager to press for more information. Slowly, she made her own line of text appear as she gave in.

'And what would that be?' She could practically feel the person on the other side smiling as they typed.

-To guide the world of thieving gently so that honor will still remain for generations to come.-

-And we'll do anything to uphold that.-

-For instance...- Great. She had driven the sender on a writing spree.

-Rajan had sweeping searchlights in his base. Really, even without quick reflexes they were easy to get through. Did that not puzzle you?- 'Ego much? Wait...'

-Barrels with handles on the inside. Really? Was that practical?- 'How in the world did they do that?'

-Carefully placed clues, quietly-made suggestions, right people at certain places at the right time. All so things can be done the honorable way by those outside the limitations of the law.- It was too much. Some ego-maniac had his hands in all the cookie jars in some underground bunker, and no one had caught him yet. The sensation of insects crawling on her skin placed Faye at a disturbing junction. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who had arrived.

"Faye," Yami said, still sounding like she was far away, "How much do you think they can manipulate?" Faye jerked her shoulders up at the other's presence. Normal occurrence or not, it was not healthy for one to expect a disembodied voice to talk at any time. She mentally replied,

'I don't know. They said they'd do anything to uphold honor in the world.' She paused and made her next words slow and deliberate, ' ...What would the limit be?' Silence followed as her older self remained quiet. The laptop hummed, blankets ruffled, Josie ambled up to Faye's right side, and outside water dripped off the roof. It didn't take long for the spirit to speak up,

"The furthest I can comprehend is death and...marriage for offspring."

'They could do that?' Faye's eyes widened at the prospect. Marriage was supposed to be sacred. Sure, it could get rocky and arranged unions were not unheard of, but to lure people into matrimony was not something that went hand-in-hand with honor.

"Thieves deceive," Yami stated solemnly,"and after everything that has transpired thus far, I wouldn't put it past for someone to practice manipulation to make sure a thief's bloodline continued." A sudden chill traveled through the adolescent's veins tagged along by an epiphany. Her right hand scratching Josie behind an ear froze, fingers stiffly bending towards the center of her hand before the kitten moved out of the way. She let her semi-theory be known to the elder of the two,

'Wait, so maybe Carmelita was put in her position? To... - Oh come on! That's not fair!' More than a trace of ire lingered much like how rainwater would remain for a time after a shower from the skies.

"They truly love each other. Their relationship is circumstantial," Yami softly assured, admiration trickling into her voice. Faye blinked, finally noticing that her untrimmed fingernails were digging into her palms.

'Uh...what?' The older one sighed,

"They can't get close because of their professions, but they still care very much for each other."

'Oh.' Faye's ill temper flowed out of her system. Sly and Carmelita didn't need interference in the first place. The pair may not have had an ideal relationship, but it didn't seem to matter. As anyone could tell they would end up together at some point. The only questions were 'when' and 'how.'

Faye's mind snapped out of her musings as she peered up at the computer screen, not just through it in a daze. Another conversation required her attention at the moment. The person in the chat, or at least the leader of the person's organization, was manipulating some of the most dangerous criminals in the world.

And he or she was getting away with it scot free. Instead of making sure that security inconveniences would not be their downfall, felons like Dimitri and Rajan hadn't double checked minor details on their own time. The Contessa, Neyla, and Arpeggio probably would have, the latter more so, but were they susceptible as well to the mysterious association?

The lone spirit broke her concentration, muttering quietly,

"...Do you believe someone could possibly manipulate a couple to continue a bloodline? ...To continue a line of thieves with honor?"

Faye's mouth dropped open. It was a disturbing notion and the more she dwelled on it, the more plausible it seemed to be. Using underhanded tactics to make sure the thieving world had at least a shred of dignity. Too many people like the Fiendish Five ran around, or so it seemed. Even if there wasn't some muscle-bound idiot taking over a city or a mystic Voodoo Mama reanimating corpses, surely there would be some power-mad thug out to do whatever it took to satisfy their crazed goals. The only difference amongst the gangsters was the goal itself. There had to be someone to stand out from the disgraceful ones who turned their backs on loyalty. It just seemed that U.N.D.A. had taken that view to an extreme.

At last, Faye chose to answer Yami,

'I don't know. It could happen, I suppose.' Silence. The other muttered not a single syllable as she waited for the teen to collect herself. 'But to...' Out loud she uttered, "To uphold honor like that..." Throat caught, Faye couldn't end that statement. It left a feeling of being tainted, eating away at her tongue so she could not speak at all. Still, within the confines of her mind, the conclusion was found: '...isn't honor at all.'

Gathering up what was left of her rational thoughts, she shot back at the guest, typing quickly,

'And is love something you manipulate too? Really, if a thief stopped being a thief, what would you do?' There was probably a sense of venom in what she had written but if it vexed her, she didn't show it externally. Another minute passed before a response was handed over,

-C'est la vie. We cannot control the emotions of any individual. All we can do is be as we are and subtly make honor thrive. Even if a thief ceased to steal, that thief's actions would undoubtedly influence another to take up honor and so the cycle would continue.- A catch. There always had to be a catch. No one, not even U.N.D.A., was entirely prepared for every situation. Faye soon had her inquiry. Pressing the enter key, she watched as her text joined below the one from the guest in the chat.

'And if honor died? If no thief upheld honor?' There was a long pause considering it was an instachat window. Had she struck a chord, some fragile pillar upholding the association? She had to have done so. A minute passed. Soon after, the reaction came,

-Then U.N.D.A. would be no more.- Yami mumbled something nearly incomprehensible though Faye caught it if only just. Wordless was the request to actually place the muttering before the other party and in seconds it was granted.

'It sounds like you just make sure that honorable thieves can't be stopped. You manipulate people. Any degree is atrocious.' They waited eagerly for the following line. It wasn't just one person talking with some unseen assembly, but two beings collaborating with each other for the next step in the unspoken confab. Before either of them knew it, the representative had taken the offensive.

-Really? Is it so bad to make sure a thief with honor does not die? Is it awful to make sure that there's a convenient structure to climb on at the right place? Is is so indeed an evil deed to see to it that an ancient bird is destroyed once and for all?- All at once the younger half got it. The interdimensional traveler didn't need anymore prompting to keep going.

'So I take it that perhaps the founder of U.N.D.A. knew of Clockwerk's wrongs and wanted to make sure that a certain ringtail was able to avenge his family?'

'But why?' she added as an afterthought. No one else had bothered to help out Sly, save his friends, when it came to tracking down Clockwerk. Even then, only Coopers had the right to bring down the enormous avian that had plagued the raccoon family for generations..

-That is confidential.- 'Figures.'

'And here I thought only Coopers had it in for the old bird.' Another epiphany hit her straight on. It didn't occur to her until she had pressed enter. The Cooper Clan were the only ones with a rivalry with the ancient Clockwerk. Only they had any reason whatsoever to track down the infernal monster.

She madly raced over the keyboard to input her question when a bloop sounded. Lifting her gaze, Faye slouched. Her mouth opened again and her eyes were as discs as she looked on.

'Guest' had logged out.

She leaned over her crossed legs, burying her head in her hands. The question she had yearned for an answer to ran through her mind again and again.

'How did the founder or leader know about Clockwerk for so long if he was only found out after Sly pieced together what was in the Thievius Raccoonus?'

A rough sound effect usually associated with an error forced the girl to lift her head back up. The chat window was gone and in it's place was a block. It read: 'Your chat log with guest has been terminated. Have a nice day.'

"Oh no," she muttered as a small smiley face with legs did a little jig above a bar. As soon as Faye had her finger on the touch pad, the bar was filled and the block was gone.

The next several minutes were fulled with fiddling with the firewall, investigating the anti-virus protection, and logging onto thiefnet to look up chat logs that did not exist. She gripped her hair and groaned loudly almost falling into a whine. Creaking from the front door reached her ears, but she was dead set on not raising her cranium not even to check on the virus scan she had initiated.

"If there's a problem with your laptop, I hope it can wait until later." Not even bothering to glimpse at Bentley, she eyed the scan, sighing on how long it was going to take. She brought the top and bottom of the compact computer together then got to her feet, arching her back and moving her shoulder blades around to regain some flexibility. "Wake up Natasha," Bentley told her, "We have a serious issue with The Contessa." Faye nodded and went over to knell next to the panther, shaking her and quietly saying,

"Natasha. Wake up." She repeated the action until the child roused from her slumber with a yawn. The brains of the group settled at the table, activating his own laptop.

"Huh?" Natasha murmured, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Beaming, Faye met the eyes of the lucky feline who had the chance to sleep through the past half hour or so of stress.

"Wakey, wakey," she greeted, "Bentley's back. We have an issue with The Contessa." The duo converged at the table, Natasha dragging herself there with another little oscitance, opening her mouth not so wide this time.

Seeing that everyone was roughly awake and paying attention, Bentley pushed his glasses back into place and began,

"By listening in on The Contessa via vibrations from the feathers on my sleep darts, I was able to learn where she's locked up Sly and Murray...along with uncovering the most heinous crime I've ever heard of!" His tone was bordering anger, although he keep going, clearly irritated. "First of all, the Klaww Gang is falling apart most likely due to Rajan's incarceration. Spice shipments have slowed down considerably, but haven't stopped altogether." The females nodded, Faye passively and Natasha with some awe. "Second - and this is where she gets downright cruel - ...she's putting inmates into hypnosis so that they'll tell where they've stashed their loot. It dishonors both law enforcement and thieves at the same time!" The panther gasped while Faye eventually raised her eyebrows and widened her eyes.

"How could she do that?!" Natasha yelled, almost instantly covering her mouth and directing her gaze to the windows. After several minutes, along with a quick check from Bentley on whether or not someone had heard the outburst, the trio silently agreed to only whisper.

"As I was saying," the turtle said lowly, "She's hypnotizing inmates and Inspector Venery has been supplying them to The Contessa."

"Wha -" Natasha clapped her hands over her mouth in time and Faye sat up straighter in her seat.

"He's done what?" she asked dangerously. Her eyes narrowed into slits and although she was facing Bentley it was clear the glare wasn't for him. He adjusted his glasses and clasped his hands together tightly.

"It would seem that this is what he has been busy doing ever since..." he ceased speaking, seeing that Natasha was shaking with her head down. Having seen the symptoms prior to arriving in Prague, Faye reached out and patted Natasha on the back.

"He won't get away with this. We're going to get Sly back," she said as if conversing with a sibling or a kid being baby-sat, "Then you can give him a big hug, all right? He won't get away with anything he's done. Vermon I mean." The parentless child sniffled and brought her knees up to her chin, resting her feet on the edge of the chair. With the exception of a small 'uh huh,' she fell silent. Faye rubbed the girl's back for a while, not even halting when her eyes moved back to Bentley. He cleared his throat and spoke diligently,

"He certainly won't. I'll personally make sure to include him in on the jobs. ...Is that okay with you, Natasha?" Said kid peered up and met the turtle's eyes, her mouth open agape like Christmas had come early. Nothing was better than the gift of payback to someone who truly deserved it. Eyes shining, she murmured,

"R...really?" Bentley bobbed his head.

"Don't you worry, Vermon is going to get what's coming to him." Smirks and smiles all around, the brainiac was encouraged to continue, "Finally, concerning the locations of Sly and Murray, Sly is being moved to 'the hole' after some interrogation by Vermon," it was clear he hated the man in the two syllables that made up his name, though it did not impair him from proceeding, "while it seems that Murray is still in a regular jail cell. Murray is going to take some serious thinking, but even if I could get Sly out of his own confinements, he wouldn't be able to get past the motion sensors that the guards on the prison walls wear." The girls were leaning closer, Natasha more so than the teenager, awaiting any more news that Bentley had returned with. Instead, he shifted his view to Faye.

"You're not very surprised, are you?" he declared, barely asking a question at all. Faye's shoulders arched as she gritted her teeth. Bentley was catching on a little too fast of how much the human knew. Then again, it would be strange if the shelled reptile hadn't at least suspected something at that point after Faye had given him the Dimension Disrupter blueprints.

"Ehh..." she let loose, trying to sincerely give him a simper. He exhaled audibly and shook his head when Faye didn't say anything further.

"That's...very disturbing," he remarked, obviously not referring to the still fading, silly, self-conscious grin.

"Yes it is," was the automatic response as the girl's shoulders sagged. Natasha turned slightly to face the teen as well and merely blinked.

"Time travel," Bentley stated bluntly. That was all it took. Faye sighed and connected her forehead to the table.

Normalcy was apparently too much to ask for anymore.

SQ: Oi... Didn't think I'd survive getting through that... Short compared to some other chapters, but the info is needed. Heh heh. Watch your back Vermon! Now, post-chapter notes...

First I think people want to know why I questioned canon between Carmelita and Sly. Well I didn't, Faye did, and it just sort of came up while typing out the chapter. Don't be serious over it, okay guys? They won't be broken up.

Second, 'alright' has been changed to the grammatically correct 'all right.' I'm not going back to change them all. I'm done with re-checking past chapters at this point.

...And that's it. Heh. Although...I do wonder if anyone will guess what U.N.D.A. stands for... Oh well. Time to wrap this up! Until next time: May the light of the moon lead the way to the master thief!