Chapter 3: A good a name as any

'What the hell is this?" Sly thought to himself as the world fell around him. Everything was blurred and almost nothing made a sound. It was impossible to make out anything as his concentration was appalling 'Am I in a dream?' Sly thought. 'It has to be.' Sounds began to emerge. Fuzzy sounds. Eventually they formed into a voice which was to faint to recognize (not that Sly could think straight in this state of mind anyway). He knew that the voice was calling out words, but they were unintelligible.

*Shhhhhhhhhhhh. Aiiiiii* Sly tried to make out the words that the faint voice was saying. *Aaaaaai… Lie* Lie. Was that the word that the voice was calling out?

'What are they saying?' Sly thought to himself.

*Sly.*

'Sly?'

*Sly!*

'Is that voice… calling out my name?'

"Wake up ringtail!" Carmelita shouted. Sly immediately woke and sat up straight. He was in a cell. "So you react to that, but not your name? I'll have to remember to call you ringtail more often." Sly cocked his head.

'Why am I in a cell? Did I get captured?' Sly looked around the holding cell. It was made almost entirely of metal. That included the bars that Carmelita was standing behind (from Sly's perspective). "Hey, it's very nice to see you again Carmelita, my sweet."

"Ugh, don't you dare call me that!" The fox growled.

"Oh, come on. You know you like it."

"Unless you hadn't forgotten…" Carmelita waved her hand around. "… We are no longer dating! You're single, I'm single…"

"Then it's the best opportunity to pick things up where they left off."

"There is no chance in 'infernio' that we are getting back together."

"So you're telling me that you don't miss coming home to me. After a long day's work, you come home, get a nice foot rub, a romantic meal and a dance under the stars…"

"You never did any of those things for me."

"Oh, right. I forgot."

"How do I know that you're not lying about it this time?"

"Ouch. Are you really gonna bring that up every time we talk?"

"Not every time. Just when you try to get into my 'pantalones'!"

"Hey, it's just harmless flirting." Sly stuck his hands up and smiled. Carmelita calmed down.

"Well it doesn't matter anymore. You're finally behind bars." She breathed out a sigh of relief as she spoke. She also seemed rather giddy. "It's taken a long time, but I finally did it. I caught Sly Cooper." She made a gun shape with her hands and pretended to shoot Sly with it, blowing her fingers afterwards. Sly raised an eyebrow.

"From what I remember, I collapsed outside the station. Not much of a capture really." Sly looked down at his bandages."

"Whatever." Carmelita hissed. 'I've got to think of something that will make him jealous of my position. Aha, I know what'll do the trick.' She smiled. "You know cooper…" Her voice was much more relaxed. "Now that I've captured you, I'm getting offers from the C.I.A. They think I have the material to work for them, maybe even become a higher up."

"Well good for you!" Sly smiled, despite his position.

"You know what that means don't you?" Carmelita asked.

"What it means?"

"It means the top brass think that you're a big fish. You're probably going away for a long time."

"What? Seriously?"

"Oh don't worry. I'm sure you'll get out in… maybe fifteen-twenty years."

"What did I do to deserve that?" Sly panicked.

'Is this guy an idiot?' Carmelita thought to herself. "You've stolen from endless amounts of people. You didn't think stealing priceless artefacts for a living was going to get you small time, did you?" The Latino fox crossed her arms. "After taking down Clock-la, your gang has become well known across the world. Because you are so well known, an example has to be made of you. Sure twenty years is a little long for thievery, but that's how the cookie rolls."

"I think you mean… that's how the cookie crumbles."

"Do you ever shut up, ringtail?"

"If you want me to be quiet, I'll be quiet." Sly tugged his hat over his eyes and lay down on the metal frame which was his bed.

"Hey. How can you act so calm? You've finally been caught and now you're going away for a very long time!" Carmelita shouted. "What are you lying around for?" Sly poked his hat up with one of his index fingers.

"Well, there's nothing I can do. So I'll just wait until my buddies bust me out."

"Your 'buddies' aren't going to bust anyone out. I've beefed up security to keep you locked up. No-one without full security access can even get into this ward!" Carmelita frowned. "It's not going to hap…"

"I thought you knew my gang better than this. They'll get me out, just you see." Sly lay back down on his bed. Carmelita smiled.

'He's never going to change, is he?' She sighed. "You there." She pointed at one of the security officers.

"Yes, sir… I mean ma'am, sir… ma'am."

"Open this door and lock it behind me."

"I don't have the keys sir, ma'am. Only high ranging authorities…"

"Here." Carmelita handed him the keys. "Remember. I don't want you to open it back up until I'm done."

"Yes sir… ma'am." The guard unlocked the door and allowed the inspector to enter the cell. He then locked the cell door behind Carmelita. The inspector then walked over to sly and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him up.

"I need to ask you a few questions." She explained spitefully. As Sly was pulled up, he could feel the bullet wound in his gut cause him pain.

"Ow, I call police brutality." He said playfully.

"Shut up ringtail. Just answer my questions." Carmelita sat on the opposite bed.

"That's fine by me. Just don't get too carried away. I know how touchy you can get when we're so close." Sly joked.

"I do not get touchy!" Carmelita blushed a little and avoided eye-contact.

"Really? Because it seems like you're getting defensive."

"Are you going to answer my questions or not?!" The fox snapped.

"I will, I will." Sly laughed. "So what did you want to ask me? Do you want to know how I get to looking so handsome?"

"In your dreams, Cooper." Carmelita glared at him. "I want to know what happened to you before we found you." Sly leaned back against the wall.

"Before I collapsed outside the station, you mean?"

"Yes. How and where did you get that bullet wound? And who shot you?" Carmelita crossed her legs and rested her elbows on them, leaning forward and resting her chin on the back of her hands. Sly sighed and thought back. It was all a blur.

"I'm afraid that I can't answer that question, Carmelita."

"Can't answer it?" Carmelita pushed herself up. "Why not?"

"I don't remember what happened. My memory goes as far back as stumbling around in this back alley, bleeding everywhere to when I fell unconscious."

"That's bull 'mierda' and you know it."

"Hey, enough with the Latin, lady. I'm just giving you the facts."

"Why should I trust you? It's not like you've been very truthful in the past!"

"Here we go again!" Sly said to himself.

"What did you say?!" Carmelita asked, enraged.

"Nothing, nothing. I swear!" Sly assured her. Eventually, Carmelita calmed down and took a deep breath.

"Isn't there anything that you can tell me?"

"I'm afraid not, unless you want to know how much this wound hurt. I was hoping you guys would know something about this."

"Well we don't."

"What about the bullet. Didn't the doctor pull it out? Maybe you could examine it and see where it came from."

"Unfortunately it was a clean shot, right through your body. Luckily, it didn't hit any vital organs."

"So you do care about me!" Sly grinned.

"Wha… No!" Carmelita blushed again. "I was just concerned that I wouldn't get to see you suffer in jail!"

"Sure, sure. That's defiantly why you're blushing." The raccoon said in a childish manner. Carmelita Fox immediately stood up and asked for the guard to let her out. "I'm not blushing." She said as she left the cell. The guard proceeded to lock the door and hand the inspector her keys.

"Then why is your face all red." Sly pointed at her.

"I'm not red!" Carmelita shouted.

"Oh, then you must be a grey fox." The master thief laughed.

"Shut up! I'm not blushing, okay!" Inspector Fox stormed off. As she made her way out of the ward, her voice became fainter and fainter (again, from Sly's perspective). "Maldito cabrόn! Yo dibería tener rasgado su dios maldito garganta fuera cuando yo tenía la oportunidad!"

"Wow, she's really angry." Sly leaned to see down the hallway. He then returned to his bed. "Guess I'll just have to wait until Bentley and Murray come up with a plan."

Bentley swiveled his chair around and opened up some files on his laptop. His fingers moved quickly due to his practice with computer technology earlier on in his life. Scanning each individual piece of software that he could find, Bentley made his way closer to finalizing his own piece of software that he was working on.

"Uh, Bentley. Have you found Sly yet? I'm getting worried."

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have."

"Oh good!"

"Not oh good, I'm afraid. It would seem that Sly's gotten himself captured by none other than inspector Fox!"

"Oh no! That's not good. But I'm impressed how quickly you found him. You didn't even open up the laptop until a few seconds ago."

"Uh… actually the newspaper told me where he was. Bentley picked up the paper and handed it to his hippo friend. Just as he said, the newspaper said it all. On the front page was a picture of Carmelita Fox. The title read 'Damn fine Latino captures crooked criminal!'

"This is bad, Bentley! What are we going to do?!" Murray whined. Bentley poked his glasses further up his face and opened up a few more files.

"We're going to save our friend!" He raised a finger in the air. "I have already devised a plan to do so." The box turtle said confidently. "Take a look at this." He beckoned his fellow Cooper gang member over to him. Murray did as told and watched as the 'brains' of the team explained the details of his plan. "It would seem that Sly is being held in the High security ward…" Bentley spoke in a nasally voice. His tone being that of a serious businessman, yet a slight touch of immaturity. He began to show Murray a slide show of pictures that had been taken of the ward. "… And even worse, Carmelita has increased security drastically. She doesn't want Sly to get away again." Bentley brought up a diagram of the stations layout. "It won't be long before Sly is transferred to an actual high security prison. If we let that happen, there will be no way of rescuing him. We have to strike now!" The turtle turned to face the hippo that loomed over him. "Murray, you're going to have to distract the guards that patrol this area. Lure them away and take them down."

"Don't worry Bentley. 'The Murray' will find this task un-challenging!" Murray turned to walk off before being dragged back by one of Bentley's robotic arms.

"Don't be too hasty Murray. I still need to explain the rest of the plan." Bentley calmed his friend down. "Once the guards are gone. I can plant some controlled explosives here, here and here. Then we'll have to go into the station, in disguise, and walk right up to the information desk and claim that we've seen some guards being attacked. Making sure that everyone can hear us, of course. The guards will rush out to check what's happened, giving us the chance to sneak into the main office building. From there, we need to sneak into Carmelita's office and steal the keys. She'll have them since she can gain access to the area that Sly is being held in. Then we get out of the station as fast as possible!" Bentley sat on the edge of his wheelchair.

"Uh, Bentley? If we're trying to rescue Sly, then why are we getting out of the building instead of breaking into the high security area and breaking him out."

"I'm glad you asked. The reason behind this is that if we were to place a single foot, or wheel… hehe… in that area, we would be arrested immediately!" Bentley tapped on his screen and the diagram of the police station zoomed on the max security ward. Murray stuck his hand up and was about to say something, but was interrupted by his turtle friend's further explanation of his plan. "The reason for getting the key is to get Carmelita to think that we're going to break Sly out from the inside. Once she realizes that her keys are gone, she'll mobilize as many guards as she can 'into' the maximum security ward. She knows how successful we've been in the past; she'll be so paranoid about Sly's escape that she couldn't possibly resist sticking that much security between us and our target. That will most likely leave the outside unguarded. I'll detonate the explosives that I planted earlier. The explosion will knock a hole into the back wall of Sly's holding cell. We'll rendezvous with him and get the hell out of there! It will take forever to get any guards to reach that point from the inside!" Bentley wiped his brow. "It'll take all of our combined effort, but we'll pull it off." He smiled.

"That sounds like a plan to me!" Murray swung his arm. "Let's do this."

"Indeed. Let's get operation… eh." Bentley scratched his head.

"What's the matter Bentley? Can't you come up with a cool name for the plan?" Murray lowered his arm.

"No. It doesn't matter though…"

"Now, now Bentley. We have to give this plan a kickass name, like Operation: SuperAwesomeRescueMissionTor nado!"

"Well. I guess that's as good a name as any."

"Then it's settled." Murray struck a pose. Bentley proceeded to do the same.

"Let's get Operation: SuperAwesomeRescueMissionTor nado underway!"

Are you looking forward to the next chapter? (yes you are!) Good. If you liked this chapter give it a review and wait 'til the next chapter full of excitement and joy. I'm not sure if I got the Spanish right, but I wrote each individual word one after another the way one would in English. If you want to know what Carmelita is saying, it's... probably best if you searched up the words for yourself. :P