Back again! I really don't have too much to say this time around, so let's get on with it, shall we? Enjoy the chapter!

When I woke up the next morning, I was alone in the loft. The entire clock tower was surprisingly quiet, but I could hear the tell-tale tapping of keys downstairs that indicated Bentley's presence, so I took my time getting up.

After stretching and changing, I climbed downstairs.

"Look who decided to join the land of the living."

"Hey, no one ever said you couldn't wake me up," I replied to Bentley's snark. We weren't the only ones there, Tennessee was hovering over a small French press that I was ninety-percent certain Sly had introduced him to with worrying attention. Still, he waved when I plopped down at the table and pulled out another mug, because he was the nicest outlaw ever, "Where's everyone else?"

"Out getting keys to get us access to track switches."

I took a moment to process that, "Are we pulling another train robbery?"

"Another?" Tennessee asked, "Y'all done this before?"

"Yes we are, and yes we have."

"O, Canada..."

"Don't even start, Kaia."

"Still don't see why I couldn't be the one in the shootin' contest." Tennessee grumbled, sliding a mug over to me. I poured milk into it when he wasn't looking. No matter how much Sly insisted it was sacrilegious, I just couldn't train myself to drink coffee black.

I paused mid-sip once I realized what Tennessee had said, though, "Contest?"

"Yeah, they put the keys up as prizes."

Very slowly, I set my coffee to the side and leaned down to let my head thunk against the table.

"Yeah, don't seem too smart of 'em." Kid agreed, sitting down next to me.

"Wait," I looked up, "If you're not in the shooting contest, who is?"

"Kristian," Bentley replied, with a vindictive look on his face. It was well deserved, since I suspected Bentley had put him in the contest as some kind of punishment for being a jerk. For some reason, Bentley was the only person Kristian really seemed to listen to and for the Inspector to have to work alongside the Cooper gang... yeah, Bentley did good.

"So, do we have anything to work on?" I asked, finishing off my coffee.

"Yes." Bentley nodded toward the computers that had taken up residence on crates in the van's absence, "Start packing those up, they're coming with us. There's so much tech on the van that it's almost a sure thing that Toothpick altered it somehow to use it as a booster for his train. I may have to work on the van immediately."

Grimacing at that particular thought and hoping the whole 'booster van' thing would be explained in the slideshow, I headed over to pack up the monitors. A few minutes later, Sly, then Murray, then Kristian came into the Safehouse, all handing their keys off to Tennessee who, being the fastest of us, sped off to flip the track switches, hopefully in time to divert the train to where Bentley needed it to go.

Using one hand to hold a massive amount of cords inside a crate, I groped blindly for the lid, only to have it placed on the box for me. Looking up, I saw Kristian, who was taking great pains to line the lid up exactly and avoiding my eyes.

"Sorry," he muttered lowly. I probably wouldn't have even known he'd said anything if I hadn't seen his lips move.

After watching him for a second to judge whether he was actually apologizing or if he had been sent over by Bentley, I finally nodded and held down the lid myself, "Apology accepted."

Relaxing minutely, the cougar placed the box of nails and the hammer within my reach, then stalked back over to the table. He was soon replaced by Sly.

"Everything good?"

"Yup," I said, gesturing for him to hold the lid while I nailed it in place, "For now, anyway."

"That's encouraging."

Once everything was packed away, Murray hefted the crate under one arm and we all crowded around Bentley for the slideshow.

"Okay, eyes front, everyone. The clock is ticking on this one, so we don't have time to monkey around. Toothpick's gold train is already rolling and with the incorporation of our van, it's virtually impossible to stop. Thankfully, Tennessee was able to divert the train's route which gives us the chance we need to catch it. First: Murray, you're going to get the van back," Murray visibly perked up, "It's positioned near the rear of the train, acting not unlike a booster rocket. It's going to take your considerable fighting skills just to reach it. The catch is that it's being secured by a set of special, magnetic locks which can only be broken by someone of your immense strength. Once the van is free, you'll be able to catch the train and pick each of us up as we complete our tasks. Kristian, you and I will tackle the next set of cars. I need you to cover me while we make our way forward. It won't be easy. The train is crawling with guards and they'll be gunning for both of us. Our goal is to reach a computer terminal near the middle of the train, where I'm going to do a little hacking. As we already know, Toothpick cannot stand high pitched frequencies, particularly whistles. So I'll reroute the power and control of the steam whistles on the train engine. Something tells me this will come in handy when we finally reach him."

"Okay, wait, where'd you get the train's blueprints?"

Through gritted teeth, Bentley continued, "Sly, Kaia, Tennessee, you're up next. To insure we stop Toothpick, we'll need to cover all possible escape routes. So Sly, you'll take the roof of the train. Tennessee, you and Kaia will move through the cars, where we should be able to reclaim your gold along the way, but your gunslinging will definitely be put to the test. You all should reach the engine around the same time, where you can take Toothpick down. The rest of us will catch up to you in the van. One last thing," looking up, the turtle pinned us all with a serious look, glancing between the gang and Kristian, "Don't forget we're a team and that's the only way we're going to be able to pull this off. Everyone needs to execute their part of the plan perfectly if we're going to get the van, steal the gold, and stop Toothpick. Now, let's move out!"

"Just a warning," I swallowed hard and looked down the edge of the bridge as it shook with the force of the approaching train, "This isn't going to be big on dignity."

Grinning and crossing his arms, Sly shrugged, "Want one of us to push you?"

"Oh, please don't."

Laughing, Tennessee offered his arm, "Don't you worry, Missy. This'll be over quicker than a high-noon draw."

"You realize those end with at least one person dead, right?" I took his arm anyway. I was going to either need to be pushed off or dragged down and this was the one most likely to land us in the right spot.

I got tenser and tenser as the train grew closer, but I still wasn't prepared when it busted through the old, boarded up tunnel and Sly jumped for it, Tennessee and I a split second behind.

Tennessee landed on his feet. I did not.

Staring up at the sky from my back, I wheezed, "How do thieves even make it to your age?"

Kid grinned down at me, "Well, we learn how to land on our feet, for starters."

"Ugh, what a hassle," I waved a hand around until he helped me up.

Even from several cars down, we could hear the sound of Kristian systematically incapacitating all the guards he could find, as well as the following explosion that spoke of Bentley's involvement.

A few minutes after that, "And yet another system falls before my skills! Go get 'em, guys!"

"'Bout time!" Tennessee bounced on the balls of his feet, "My trigger finger's itchin'!"

I bit the inside of my cheek as I watched Tennessee spire jump to the next car, then inch around the corner to the open door. I followed, taking twice as long and making a note that I needed to practice if i wanted to keep up in future jobs.

When I got inside, I found Tennessee regarding a lot of spotlights and green lasers.

"We better just do this one at a time," he said, spinning his gun between his hands, "If I get shot while I'm aiming, I'm gonna need you to haul me out."

"Please try not to get shot. I'm a medic, not a surgeon."

He chuckled, "Trust me, it's not something I'm gunnin' for."

The green lights disappeared in under a minute, letting me catch up to Tennesee, though I drew up short when I finally found him, "Is that seriously a little red wagon filled with gold bars?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Tennessee flung himself down on top of the gold, "Ah, I missed you..."

Rolling my eyes, I went to haul the car door across from the wagon open. It was heavier then it looked, but moved pretty easily once I got it going.

One of these days I would get used to crazy things, like massive contraptions that, according to the law of conservation of mass, the van should never be able to contain emerging from said van. I'd also get used to things like Bentley somehow managing to use a plunger to haul the gold into the van.

Today was not that day.

"That doesn't seem physically possible."

"You think too much," Tennessee reached over to rap my skull with his knuckles.

"Keep moving forward, you two!"

"You got it, Bentley! Follow me, Miss Kaia!"

And following Tennessee was all well and good... until he jumped between train cars, swung on his cane, and somehow managed to stick a landing plastered against the side of the next car.

While I knew that I technically had the skills to follow him, this was definitely one of those situations where if you fall you die, so I opted for the safer, but slower, route of ninja spiring my way across.

"The ropes ain't gonna bite you!" Tennessee called. I ignored him.

We clambered into the next car. Amazingly, Tennessee's excitement had only seemed to grow as we progressed.

"This is gonna be my biggest heist yet!" He whooped, launching himself into the next gauntlet of green lasers, "I might have to retire after this!"

"You'd get bored and you know it." I scoffed, grinning.

He laughed, "That I do, Missy. That I do."

I stood there restlessly, listening to Tennessee's gunshots and Toothpick over the loudspeaker going on about the various ways the Cooper gang should be shot, blown up, and/or thrown off the train. He wasn't particularly imaginative. It was disappointing.

The second the laser went down, I headed into the mass of crates, catching up to Tennessee just as the wagon containing the gold was yanked out of the train by Bentley. I frowned, Murray seemed to be pushing the van pretty hard to keep up with the train.

"Time to pay ol' Toothpick a visit," Tennessee snapped me out of my thoughts with a wicked grin that I couldn't help returning.

Unfortunately, it didn't turn out the way either of us wanted. Tennessee shimmied his way along a pipe that ran under the train quickly, but I followed much more slowly. By the time I caught up to him, he was already confronting Toothpick.

"Why don't you bring your little runt self down here and take your whoopin' like a man, Sheriff?" I could hear Tennessee goad.

Toothpick shrieked something I couldn't hear. I emerged from under the train car just in time to catch a glimpse of the too-familiar rat troopers parachuting in- almost directly on top of Tennessee.

With the sick feeling that I already knew where this was going, I scurried the rest of the way up. Tennessee had lost his gun by the time I got there and the rat troopers had shot off, before I could do anything.

Sly landed next to us as I knelt next to Tennessee, checking the hit to his head and cursing myself for not being fast enough to help. Kid was already spitting mad, more than ready to go after Toothpick bare-handed and with a possible concussion, but Sly was already halfway to the next car.

"Don't worry, pal. I got this."

Remembering how things had gone with Rioichi, I sincerely hoped Sly did.

"That cowardly, no good-" Tennessee was still ranting as I dragged him over to make him sit against a crate, "And who's that Le Paradox fella?!"

I froze in getting my penlight out of my backpack, cringing at a shrill whistle from overhead before asking, "Le Paradox?"

"It sounded like Toothpick was workin' for him," Kid grumbled.

That made a weird sort of sense, actually. I made a mental note to get Bentley's opinion on it. Also to ask about if Le Paradox was experimenting with genetics, or perhaps gamma radiation, because the last time I checked, most armadillos couldn't grow to five times their normal size.

Of course, there was the whole Mask of Dark Earth thing that had made Carmelita the size of a skyscraper, so-

"Look out!"

Tennessee yanked me aside just as a severely burned and beaten half-to-death Toothpick fell seemingly out of nowhere.

It seemed like whenever I'd get used to Sly, he'd do something like beat the hell out of a bad guy and remind me that he could occasionally be frighteningly effective and a bit amoral as a fighter.

"Well, well," Tennessee sounded almost admiring of Sly's ruthlessness, "Lookee what the cat drug in." He picked Toothpick up by the remains of the back of his shirt, "Look's like this here's our stop." And then he literally kicked Toothpick off the train. Coopers, what are you even.

Of course, I quickly became concerned with other matters when he grabbed my arm and flung us both off the train as well.

I was almost instantly panicked, but Tennessee caught a pole on the side of the tracks that I hadn't noticed and kept us from a very rocky landing. Still, I meant to at least get on to him a little, but that was hard to do when I was too busy clinging for dear life.

"What was that for?!" I yelled, once the train had shot past us.

"The bridge is out," He answered, totally calm.

"What," I yelped, "Does the gang know?"

"Uh, I think so? That Bentley wouldn't have us go down this track without knowing where it led, right?"

My binocucom crackled in my ear- Bentley yelling at Sly to jump to the van. I was guessing Bentley did not, in fact, know.

I tracked the blur of grey that jumped from train to van with relief that quickly turned to horror when I realized the van wasn't slowing down.

"Bentley!" I shouted into the mic, "Where are you going?"

"-hit the brakes!"

"They're not working!"

My stomach dropped, "Guys!"

The van's sides and back opened up, but started shedding parts rather than doing anything to help.

"What in tarnation are they doin'?" Tennessee asked. I should have answered, but I was focusing too hard on the rapidly shrinking spot of blue as it completely failed to stop its headlong sprint toward the ravine.

"Bentley?!"

I heard Bentley's voice among the next crackle of static- right before both train and van went over the edge.

There were a few seconds between when the van careened over the edge of the ravine and when a mass of blue light illuminated the cliff sides. In those few seconds, I'm pretty sure I experienced some kind of cardiac arrest.

"They time-traveled," I had to say it out loud, it made the conviction stronger.

"Where to?" Tennessee asked, way more calmly than me. He probably thought that was part of the plan all along.

"I don't know." I replied. It took a few seconds for that to really catch up to me, "I don't know-"

The samurai sword, the sheriff's badge, and the little model of the Eiffel tower that Bentley had picked up at a tourist stand in Paris were all back at the Safehouse. They'd made an emergency jump to who knew when. And now they couldn't get back.

"I have to go after them."

"Calm down now, I'm sure they'll be back for you any minute-"

"No, Kid, they won't. They left everything they needed to get back at the Safehouse, they're stranded." I was already walking the trail the van had left, picking up all the shed parts I could carry, the ones that looked most important.

A grip on my arm pulled me to a stop, "Now hang on, don't go runnin' off right this red hot second. How are you even gonna get to 'em?"

Shrugging off my backpack, I pulled the belt Bentley had given me out of it, "This lets me follow the van, I can take them- can I borrow your hat?"

Tennessee stared at me blankly, "What?"

"If they landed somewhere dangerous, they need help now, I don't have time to go back to the Safehouse. And unless I want to try and use one of your gold bars as a temporal anchor, which is a terrible idea because they existed long before they were mined, I need an object."

Finally seeming to jump on the 'this is a serious thing that is happening' train of thought, Tennessee frowned, "If it's dangerous, do you think they're gonna want you to chase after 'em?"

Making a strangled noise in the back of my throat, I threw my arms open, "I don't care! If they need help, I'm going to help them!"

There were a few seconds where I thought Tennessee might actually try to stop me (and let's be real, he'd succeed, I had no delusions about who would win in that fight), before he growled low in the back of his throat and tugged his bandana free, quickly wrapping it around my wrist and tying it tight, "You bring this back to me, don't you dare lose it."

"I will. And we'll get your cane back too."

"Aw, shoot," Tennessee emptied out one of the bags from the train, putting the bills into one of the wagons and weighing them down with gold, "I can make another gun, you just make sure to bring everyone back in one piece, ya hear?"

I took the bag, nodding seriously, "I will. We'll be back just as soon as we can, I promise." I loaded up the sack with the most intact van parts as I talked.

"You better," Tennessee took a step back when I put on and activated the belt.

"You can take care of Toothpick?"

"Oh yeah, I've got just the plan for him," Kid chuckled.

I smiled, hoping I'd get the chance to see him again. Tennessee really was kind of amazing, "Take care."

"See ya on the other side."

The world disappeared into blue.

I knew immediately that something was wrong. The belt usually gave a jerk when it activated, but this time it actually knocked the breath out of me.

Not to mention the Time Vortex usually passed at a pretty steady speed and was blue. Now it felt like I was moving about thirty times faster than normal and there were flashes of green and red and I spent a horrible few minutes afraid that it would swallow me up or crush me or something.

It was almost a surprise when it all ended.

The heat from the desert sun and dust from the canyon was still clinging to my fur when I found myself spat out of the vortex and tumbling through freezing cold snow. It was not a pleasant experience.

Though I was dazed and disoriented and a little motion sick, I still leapt to my feet almost immediately. I was wearing sneakers, shorts, and a tank top and it was freezing, snowing, and dark. Not to mention I couldn't see the van or the gang anywhere.

What I did see was a large triceratops laying a few meters away. My landing must have woken it because it shifted, opened one dinner-plate-sized eye, looked at me, huffed, and settled back down.

"No," I said, even as the foliage and dinosaur-existence really started to seep in, "This is not happening."

It was happening. And no matter where I looked, I couldn't see the van. Nausea set in as the fear started building.

Whenever I had landed, it wasn't good. And if the belt had somehow malfunctioned and I overshot where I needed to go, I would be totally alone.

Maybe the worst thing was that there were torches. There was civilization, but I had no idea what kind, or if they be friendly to outsiders.

Shivering, I was reminded of the fact that I wouldn't have to worry about any of that if I froze to death, so I grabbed the bag of van parts with already-numb fingers and tucked my other hand underneath the opposite arm.

I needed to decide what to do. High ground was a good option, get the lay of the land, but it was already dark and freezing, so I needed to find some kind of shelter. Maybe I could steal a torch...

Footsteps jerked me out of my thoughts and I was furiously trying to figure out if I should hide or flee when around the corner came-

"Kaia?"

Dropping the bag of van parts, I launched myself across the short distance and crashed into Kristian, clinging tightly. I wasn't even embarrassed about it. For one thing, him being there was proof I'd landed in the right spot. For another, he was warm.

"Geez, you're freezing!" he yelped in surprise.

"Yes, thank you, I hadn't noticed," I stepped back, because as much as I wanted to bask in warmth, if I could find the rest of the gang, they probably had fire and blankets and tea-

Had I really been in the desert only ten minutes ago?

"Here," the cougar handed over his suit jacket, which I in no way felt bad about taking. He was wearing long sleeves and pants, he'd be fine. I, on the other hand, was in serious danger of hypothermia.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, reaching for the bag, only to have Kristian heft it onto his shoulder before I could lay hand on it.

"Safehouse," he replied, nudging me toward an incline that looked suspiciously like a path. They'd set up a Safehouse already? That was fast.

"Why are you out here?" Not that I didn't appreciate it. I should have thought to check my binocucom as soon as I landed, actually.

Kristian was silent for so long that I nearly repeated my question before he answered, "Cooling my head."

"Oh." Great. He and Sly were still at each other's throats then. Of course, ending up in the age of the dinosaurs probably didn't help gang harmony much.

It only took a few minutes to reach the Safehouse, which I appreciated. Kristian's jacket was warm, but not nearly warm enough. Plus, I was still wearing shorts.

I swept aside the cloth (fur?) covering the entrance of some kind of shelter that appeared to be built inside the ribcage of a dinosaur skeleton. I wasn't sure if that was awesome or gross, "I come bearing gifts!"

Glass shattered.

"That wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting," I raised an eyebrow at the shattered mug at Sly's feet. At least it wasn't spilling anything, the coffee inside had apparently frozen over.

Sly's mouth moved soundlessly. I decided to temporarily ignore him in favor of Bentley, who immediately rolled up to me.

"Your belt worked?" He asked, a slightly desperate look in his eyes.

"Uh, yeah," I glanced around the Safehouse. It looked... much more put together than I would have expected. The van was set up to one side, looking very not good, there was a roaring fire, the usual table, even the ping pong set, "But... I activated it right after you left. Five minutes max. You... you didn't do all this that quickly." I swallowed hard, putting the pieces together, "How long have you been here?"

"Just a few hours," Bentley assured me quickly. He then eyed the sack Kristian had placed next to him, opening it up, "What's-?" His mouth dropped open when he looked inside, "Kaia, you are my shining star."

"Is it the right stuff? I could only carry so much, so I grabbed what looked important-"

"It's perfect! With this I can get the replicator working! If I can do that, we only need to collect some of the parts that scattered from the crash and I can repair the time machine!" Bentley was already speeding over to his stack of papers and blueprints when Sly finally found his voice.

"You were supposed to stay with Tennessee!"

The Safehouse went dead silent. For a second, I didn't actually register what that implied. When I finally managed it, my heart dropped, but my anger rose.

"Excuse me?!"

"Uh, guys-"

"You had no idea when we ended up!" Sly just kinda steamrolled right over Murray there, "At least in the Old West it would have been safer! You knew we'd come back if we could!" I'd never seen Sly that mad before. When things got personal with the villain of the week, he just buckled down and systematically destroyed them. I didn't think I'd ever actually seen him upset with a member of the gang before and I would have been perfectly happy not to have had it directed at me.

That didn't mean I was going to take it. I was a pretty non-confrontational person, but this, this was one of the few things that could make me lose it.

"Yes, because I'd totally sit back and chill at the clock tower with Tennessee knowing you guys were stuck somewhere! Do you really think I'm the kind of person that would take the easy route out if my friends were in danger?!"

"Maybe you should be!" Hopefully, none of the natives were hostile, because anyone in the area could definitely hear us the way Sly was yelling, "What if you hadn't been able to connect to the van or we'd landed in a pool of lava or in the middle of the ocean, what would you have done? Are you trying to get yourself killed!?"

"Um, what did you just say to me Mr. Performs-Dental-Surgery-On-A-Cave-Full-Of-Hibernating-Bears-And-Slides-On-Lasers-For-Fun?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Bentley bury his face in his hands, "Oh man..." Murray looked like he was being traumatized while Kristian looked like Christmas had come early.

"Those were all necessary!" The raccoon flung his hands in the air, breathing hard, "Did you even stop to think-"

"YES!" I screamed, "Yes I thought! I thought that even if the time machine was working, all the artifacts were at the Safehouse and even if you used a modern item you had on you, it would probably land you a few months earlier than the present and that would make getting more artifacts really freaking hard and even then they might not be accurate enough to land you even close to me! But I also thought that the van had shed too many parts and it probably wasn't working anyway, which would mean you were stuck and needed the parts which- hey!- turned out to be the case! And on top of that-"

"Still-!"

"-I wasn't going to let you leave me again!"

For the second time that night, the Safehouse went quiet, this time for an entirely different reason.

Part of me wanted to run outside and stick my head in a snowdrift until the embarrassment of saying that out loud curled up and died. The rest of me realized that it was so cold outside I'd probably be back in five minutes regardless. Best to just bite the bullet.

Also, I needed to stop flying off the handle at things. This was my second breakdown in two days; this never happened before I joined the gang.

Sly looked like I'd just stolen his cane and slapped him in the face with it, "What?"

I shrugged and refused to look at anyone, "You heard me. You keep running off or getting arrested and I can't keep reconstructing my life after that happens. It was hard enough the first time, then the second. We're not going to make it three."

The raccoon looked like he was trying to decide whether or not to say something. Honestly, I'd rather get it all out in the open than have it come up later, but I wasn't looking forward to what he was going to come up with.

"So, why'd you follow us to Japan, then?"

Oh, that one was easy, "Because as much as you guys can occasionally make me want to tear my hair out, I'd rather be here. Is that so hard to believe?"

He blinked at me and I got the sick, aching feeling that maybe it was to him. He loved his work and Bentley and Murray did too, so why was he so shocked about that? Admittedly, I liked the company more than the job, but the job was pretty fantastic too.

I was opening my mouth to say, well, all of that, when he started walking forward and just kept going until we collided.

Apparently, hugging was now a thing we did with regularity. I was okay with that.

We had a few seconds of a nice, solid hug before Sly said, "We should huddle together for warmth" and I had to smack him.

Another chapter done. This one feels weirdly short to me, even though the word count is above average for these chapter. Huh. Anyways, hope you enjoyed!