Holy cow guys! We're almost done with this story. Really hard to believe, after so long. Kinda makes my heart break a little but it's still so awesome. Anyway, here it is, we find out who the real villain is. It's so exciting! So read on and please review :D
Chapter 23: Evil Wins?
Sly paced in the spare office they had in the Brigerbad police department as he tried to think through what could be going on. As soon as they got the call from Guru they immediately came to get Alexa, Jamie and Ken but when they found the cabin they were in, it was empty.
But all their things were there. And then Guru had the inclination that Ken and Jamie were dragged out of the place and Alexa was hurt out in that open area. Even though he said she wasn't hurt physically, the amount of pain was enough to knock him off his feet. Finally, we found that paper signed by that kid we don't know about. What does he have to do with this?
There was a knock on the door and Bentley and Penelope came through the door. "Good news!" Bentley grinned.
"You found her?" Sly questioned.
"Okay, not that great of news but we do know where she is," Pen stated.
"We were able to pin point a tracker that has been in the places that Alexa has been at the right times. It has to be a tracker in something of hers," Bentley explained.
"But what would she not notice being bugged?"
"Well, it has to be something that would be on her person almost all the time, I think," Pen thought out loud. "I mean, if it was something that I had with me nearly all the time, I wouldn't think to check it."
Sly gasped, "The Thievius Raccoonus."
"You think?" the turtle commented.
"It makes sense. How else would he be able to follow her? But where is it now?"
"It's still pinpointing but it looks like it's right outside of the country."
"Anything else?"
"We have the rest of the gang out and looking for any clues in the thieving world. A name keeps coming up. He calls himself Father and apparently he's the errand boy for someone called Mother. There are rumors of a young thief under their command, sounds like this Chase guy," Pen noted.
"I think I've heard of those rumors somewhere… I remember something coming up around the time Alexa was born. But they were dismissed since nothing out of the ordinary happened," Sly added, seeing the past clearly.
The office door then opened with a booming voice to follow, "Perhaps they are the ones we're looking for." Panda King stepped in, with his emotionless face present. "I also have been hearing these rumors. I questioned Fydor and after awhile, he admitted to know the boy was associated with this Father and Mother." His face then became sullen, "But he is surprised to hear that the young Cooper gang is in one piece. He was certain that he left Jamie and Ken in horrible condition and had left Alexa and the boy with a couple wounds as well. Sly, I tried my best, but he unfortunately had no other useful information."
"It's fine," Sly placed an assured hand on Panda King's arm. "You got a lot of info. It should help in our investigation."
"Yeah," Pen smiled, "We'll just start looking for leads on this Father character. I'm sure Dimitri could find something on Chase with his connections too."
Panda King bowed his head slightly, "I'm glad to be of some service."
"Well, let's go see about this tracker," Sly said, getting the small part of the gang out of the office. "Hopefully nothing shut it off because right now that's our only real lead to finding Alexa."
…
The gang had been kept in cells for hours on end. After finally walking up, Alexa paced the cell she was placed in, her hands chained behind her. Ken and Jamie had also woken up soon after her and were in the cells next to her sitting down, also chained up and contemplating what to do next.
"Dang it, Chase…" Alexa muttered underneath her breath.
"Don't blame yourself, Alexa," Jamie commented, leaning against the bars nearest to her friend. "He fooled us all."
"I thought for sure he liked you…" Ken sighed.
Alexa froze and collapsed on her butt, "So did I… I mean, was it all just a lie? Does he even have a little brother? Did he even…" her voice drifted off as her thoughts caused more pain in her heart. "I guess it doesn't really matter now, huh?"
Silence occupied the room till, "Alexa… what are we going to do?" Jamie asked.
Alexa sighed, "I honestly don't know. They've made it really impossible." Her head hung down, "I'm so sorry guys. I'll find some way to get us out of here… somehow."
Silence took over for the better part of the time that passed. Then the door coming into the cell area unlocked, sounding like a piano falling in a library. In stepped Father with a couple guards behind him. A Cheshire cat grin was across his face as he said, "Hello all. I hope you're enjoying your stay here," his voice pleasant as if he were discussing the weather. No one replied. "No? That's too bad. This will probably be the last place you see."
Jamie had to choke back a cry, but it was enough for Father to hear.
"Ah, so you are aware of this I see."
Alexa then jumped to her feet and rushed to her cell door shouting, "Leave them alone! It's me you want. Let them go free!"
"I'm afraid that's not my call. In fact, Mother would like to meet you." The guards behind him then began to move for the cell doors. "Take this one," he said gesturing toward Alexa, "and while you're at it, separate the other two. Let their thoughts be their final company." He noticed Alexa tensing up, ready to fight her way out so he added, "And Miss Cooper, before you start fighting to get away and try to save your friends, every time you struggle, this will happen," he pulled a device out of his pocket, and pressed two buttons. Suddenly Ken and Jamie went down to the ground withering in pain.
Alexa gasped. "Guys!" she then looked to Father screaming, "Stop it! I'll cooperate. Just stop it!"
Father grinned again, releasing the trigger. "Your friends should understand that the same will happen to you if they try anything. So, let's go, we shouldn't keep Mother waiting."
Alexa clenched her teeth but looked to her friends who seemed to be getting over whatever the trigger just did. For now, it will be like this, she thought as she allowed the guards to lead her out.
They traveled down the halls of the compound, and Alexa thoughts began to drift back to Chase. I can't believe he would betray us. I mean, what of his stories did he lie about? And why would he say "I'm sorry" if he didn't care. This is so frustrating.
"Chase!"
Alexa's ears perked up when she heard that voice down the hall.
"Chris. I've missed you so much!" she heard Chase's voice say.
Then the group Alexa was with passed a cracked open door and she was able to catch a glimpse of Chase hugging his little brother with tears running down his cheeks. "My little brother… I haven't seen him in four years…" Chase's voice rang in her head. So, he didn't lie about that. So then what's the truth?
They soon reached the end of the hall and walked through a door into a room decorated with cool blues, bright whites, and pale purples. Expensive rugs covered the floor, splashing all sorts of colors in the room. The right wall had TVs streaming video from cameras in and out of the compound and the left wall was covered with tools of all kinds ranging from weapons to medical hung up organized. Along the back wall were gorgeous paintings and a lounge chair with a beautiful young black panther with fiery red hair and simple white dress laying on it. She smiled, her tail twitching with anticipation as the group came in with Alexa.
"Madam Jezebel," Father stated, bowing his head respectfully. "I've brought her for you."
"Thank you, Charles. You can go now and take the guards with you," she stated still looking at Alexa.
"But, but Madam—"
"Charles, please don't test me," her smile revealed patience but the look in her eyes warned him to leave or else.
But he didn't notice, looking down to his feet he struggled to bow again, "Yes, Madam Jezebel." He then took his leave with his men, closing the door behind him.
"So, this is the newest Cooper to enter the thieving line," Jezebel stood up and began to circle round Alexa, examining her closely. "Hm, strong but soft, and beautiful, I also heard that you were smart and witty on top of that… no wonder the boy seemed captivated by you. Come now, I know you're being disciplined right now in not trying to get away to protect your friends, but you must have numerous questions running through that head of yours. I promise there will be no repercussions for asking me something."
Alexa looked Jezebel right in the eye and asked, "Who are you?"
"Ah, yes. The all curious question," she grinned as she went back to her seat. "To answer your question, I would like to ask you some questions. First, you know who Clockwork is I presume?"
Alexa tensed up, "Of course. Hard not to know about the being who tried to kill my family."
Jezebel giggled as she sat down, "Yes, well, haven't you ever wondered who created that mechanical body of his?"
"What are you getting at?" Alexa had no emotion in her voice. She was sick of not having answers.
The panther clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, "Straight to the point I see. Then the point, Miss Cooper, is that I am Clockwork's creator."
Alexa's brain froze. "Um, are you sure about that? I mean, that would make you—"
"Thousands of years old? Yes, I feel I did pretty well for myself. Did you really think I would give Clockwork the key to eternal life without taking some for myself?"
"But how—why would you do such a thing?"
Jezebel laughed, "Because I love to watch games. You see, I wanted to see this game of cat and mouse between your family and Clockwork to the end. I mean, you should've seen him when he came to me. He was a complete mess, looking for any way to get his revenge. At that point, he was willing to sell his soul to the devil."
"And so he sold it to you," Alexa stated bluntly.
Jezebel smiled, "Yes, I was happy to support him with my knowledge. You see, at the time I was a doctor wanting to experiment with some techniques and Clockwork was willing to let me have my way. After getting the parts to work for him, it wasn't hard to make the same parts for myself. Granted most of my original internal organs are gone now but I did want to keep my outside. I'm just too pretty to be made completely out of metal," she laughed again. "Centuries had passed and I thought Clockwork had finally won when he had the Thievius Raccoonus. But he let your father live. I was ready to see my creation win but he had gotten cocky, saying that there was no need to worry about Sly Cooper. It was time after he and the Fiendish Five had completed that mission that Clockwork believed that he had no more use for me. Me, his creator!"
"Then why do you want revenge on my family? They were the ones to get rid of that horrible creation."
"Hmpt, despite all of that, Clockwork was still my creation and I wanted to see him win. How do you think Neyla knew she could bond her body with my machinery? I came to her and told her what to do. I thought for sure I would finally win. But your father proved his skills, time and time again. Then your mother at his side, after taking him down a first time, broke him once and for all." She then looked Alexa straight in the eye, "I was the one who started this game and I want to be the winner." She then looked up to the ceiling, remembering, "So I've waited and plotted so that I could win. Charles came to me as an obedient servant, falling in love with my eternal beauty. He then went off in search for people who could teach the person I needed to complete my plan. You see, though I would have loved to take you out of the picture around the time you were born, it's so much easier to just have controllable pieces do it for me. That's why Chase was perfect. He was easy to manipulate since he didn't want to see his brother get hurt."
That's when something resonated with Alexa. Wait… if that's the case…
"But Chase took longer than expected since your father didn't give you the Thievius Raccoonus up until recently. And after all that waiting he failed to kill you as instructed, but then he devised a wonderful plan to play with your feelings." Jezebel giggled, "It was a most wonderful idea and so, here we are."
He—he wasn't playing, Alexa thought as tears came down her cheeks. He saved me again. He had to act like he was betraying me to save me and his brother, probably to save Ken and Jamie too. "I'm so stupid," she whispered. I won't let what he did for me be in vain. I can act too. "A game? All of this was just a game?" Alexa screamed in believable anguish.
Jezebel's smile grew wider, "Yes, quite a fun one in fact. But don't worry, all of that horrible pain you're feeling right now will go away soon and the game will be finally over. Take her away," she snapped her fingers and immediately guards came in and began to carry Alexa out.
Alexa still cried but had to bite back a relieved smile from her realization. Please prove me right, Chase.
…
"Ow," Chase whined. "Iris, is this really necessary?"
The female deer had Chase with his shirt off and positioned so that she could get a good look at his healed wounds from when he fought with Fydor and she was in shock. "But there are no scars where you were hurt during that battle. The wounds you described to me should've have left some sort of trace after this time span. Not only that, but some of your previous scars are gone and you're starting to grow fur in those patches. How is that possible?"
"I told you. The girls we ran into had special medicines," he stated again, pushing her aside so he could put his shirt back on.
"Is there a way I could get some? You know I'm always interested in new healing techniques," Iris's eyes sparkled with intrigue. She was the one who taught Chase everything he knew about medicine but if her pupil found something new, she just had to know.
"Leave the boy be, Iris," Nero said from a corner of the room. "He's obviously thinking about the girl and her friends."
"Hehe, am I that easy to read?"
"Oh yeah, where is she, Chase?" Chris asked from one of the chairs against the wall. "You said you really like her, so I want to meet her."
Chase got down to Chris's eye level and ruffled his brother's hair, "I hope to have you meet her soon."
"How?" Zhi questioned, hanging on a pipe using his tail. "Mother wants her gone, doesn't she?"
"I wanted to talk to all of you about that," Chase commented, standing up straight. "Ryu already guessed my selfish request so he's off to watch over her. But I'd like to ask if you all will help me save her and her friends and finally stop Mother and Father."
The monkey gave a huge grin and jumped down from the pipe landing with great poise and chuckled, "What do you think we've been waitin' for?"
"Huh?"
"Father recruited us because we didn't have families to tie us down and needed the money. But you and Chris became our family," Iris smiled warmly but sighed crossing her arms. "We've wanted to get you both out of here but we couldn't find the right time."
"But now seems to be a good time," the tiger commented with a smirk.
Chase was a little taken back, thinking it was going to be a challenge to convince them. But he gave a smile of relief saying, "Thank you. All of you. I'm glad I can depend on you."
Nero then came over to his former pupil and flicked him in the forehead. Chase gave a hushed ouch as the tiger noted, "Don't think you're out of the woods yet kid. We still have work to do."
"Right," Chase nodded rubbing his forehead.
Right on cue, Ryu came in, "Chase, they just put her back into her cell. She does not look happy."
"Well, no one's really happy after talking to Mother," Chase replied with a shiver, remembering this past discussion with her. I wonder if she believed anything that she was told... "Did you disable the cameras and communications? What about guards?"
"Not yet. I was looking for some help with that. Nero, Zhi?"
"Hehe, we'll have it done in five minutes tops," Zhi proclaimed with a smile and a reassuring nod came from Nero.
"Right. Wait for a couple minutes, Chase and head to these cells to get the gang free," Ryu handed a piece of paper to Chase. "We'll meet back here when we're done if not at the last cell on the list."
Chase glanced over the list and nodded, "Sounds good." With that, the room was left with Iris and the brothers.
"This must be some girl," Iris commented, jotting down some notes from her previous observations at a desk right across from him.
"Haha, yeah, she kinda is," Chase chuckled rubbing the back of his head.
"What do I get to do, Chase?" Chris questioned pulling on his brother's shirt.
"You just stay here with Iris."
"But I want to help save her too! She saved you before right? So I gotta help!" Chris stated stubbornly.
Chase got down and grabbed his brother in a hug, "I'm sure she'd appreciate your help but you're still not well and young and I don't want to see you get hurt. You know I wouldn't be able to stand it."
"Yeah, I know…"
Chase released the young raccoon and grabbed his shoulders so he could look him in the eyes, "Just stay here and wait for me, okay."
"Come back safe," Chris said with a smile.
"I will," Chase then put his forehead to Chris's with a smile of his own. He stood up and turned to Iris, stating, "Please watch him."
"Yes, yes, go get your girl."
With that he grinned and ran off.
Chris walked over to the deer with a begging look on his face, "You wanna help too, don't you Iris?"
She sighed. "Of course I do," the deer said, going back to jotting notes.
"Great, then I'll see you at cell 160. It might be Alexa's so I'm gonna go ahead and help out," he stated, going up into the air vent with ease.
"Huh, hey! Wait!" Iris squealed, trying to grab the young coon but by the time she got up he was gone. "Dang it, he's gotten so devious like his brother. And Ryu's training… gah! This is not good!" she stated running out of the room, heading to the cell the boy mentioned.
…
Chase walked casually up to the cell area that Ryu had written down; knowing that it was the one Alexa was being held in. He smiled to the guards as he approached. "Hey fellas. You mind if I see the girl? Just want to see what Mother talked to her about."
The guards looked over to each other. Chase could taste the tension in the air, it became so thick. That's when he noticed both of them going for their guns, and in seconds he propelled himself forward, just barely getting out of the way of the gun shots.
Alexa's ears perked up when she heard the shots. Chase! She got up to her feet and ran to the door to try and see out of the little window of her new cell. She couldn't see anything at the moment with the guard's door being closed but she knew for sure Chase was there.
Chase then finished up with the guards there quickly grabbing the key successfully till a couple more that showed up out of the blue.
"Sorry Chase," one said. "No hard feelings but you have a hit out on you."
"Figures," Chase muttered under his breath. "Then come on. Let's get this over with."
Soon more shots were fired and Alexa was getting a little nervous. Why are they shooting at him… he's on their side for now isn't he?
But then she heard the door turn and light flooded the room. And in stepped a little winded Chase. Alexa fought back a smile as he came to her cell door.
"I'm sorry," he said, letting the words fall out of this mouth. "I wish it wouldn't have turned out this way and I understand if you hate me right now," he confessed, unlocking her cuffs. "If you want to hit me, I understand." The cuffs fell to the floor with a clang. "But I would ask you to forgive and help me after you do so."
Alexa rubbed her wrists and stared at Chase with little emotion on her face. "Close your eyes," she demanded.
Chase clenched his jaw, but sighed, realizing he probably deserved her worse. He closed his eyes on request.
Alexa then step forward close to him grabbing his head and pulled him into a kiss.
Chase's eyes then opened wide and his muscles locked up from shock but joy still seemed to flow through his body.
As she stepped back from the kiss, he tried to say something but it was lost when she said, "That's for proving me right." Then she punched him in the shoulder, "That's for not telling me about all of this sooner!"
He rubbed his shoulder from the punch she dealt to him but still smiled, "I know. I wish I told you sooner but you probably wouldn't have believed me earlier."
"Maybe but," she wrapped her arms around him, leaning her head on his torso with tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, "I am so glad you came back for me."
Chase's heart skipped a beat, realizing that he had missed having her with him and he took her into his arms. "I'm so sorry for the pain I caused you. You have no idea how far my heart sunk when I saw the look on your face. It took so much of my will power to not punch Father in the face. But that was the only thing I could think of to protect you."
"I know," she smiled. "Why do you think I'm not trying to kill you right now?"
Chase laughed. "I'm glad that you haven't felt that need to every time you've said that." He released her and grabbed her hand, "Let's go get the rest of the gang," and began to ran with Alexa keeping up being him.
"Yeah!" she grinned, looking forward to some payback.
The two headed down the many halls soon arrived at the next cell only to find many guards out front.
"I'll get the keys, you handle the guards?" Alexa questioned gearing up.
"Sounds good," Chase nodded.
Both took off at the guards. Alexa easily maneuvered through the guards, grabbing the keys hanging from one of the guard's sides. She then kicked the guard in the face then punched another in the stomach, leaving the others for Chase.
Alexa quickly went to the cell door and opened it, "Jamie?"
Jamie looked up and gasped getting to her feet, "Oh my gosh, I knew you'd come up with something!"
"Yeah well," Alexa ran over and unlocked the cuffs on Jamie, "I almost lost hope until—"
Chase then appeared in the doorway, "Alexa?"
"Oh no you don't," Jamie ran at Chase as the cuffs hit the ground. She kicked Chase in the gut and swept his legs out from underneath him before Alexa stopped her.
"Jamie, stop it! He's on our side!" she grunted dragging her friend back. "Geez, maybe I shouldn't have taught you those moves."
"What? But he—"
"It was the only way he could save everyone. So please, calm down."
Jamie stopped struggling and glared at Chase, "Do you know what you put her through?"
"See, I expected this from you," Chase coughed looking towards Alexa as he got back to his feet clutching his stomach. "Ow, yes, Jamie. I do know how much I put her through. I was there. I hated that I had to do it but I rather had done that than you guys end up dead."
Jamie frowned for a moment but then sighed, "Then I'm sorry for kicking you…"
"It's fine. I've had worse. Let's just keep moving; we still need to get Ken," he stated moving ahead of the girls.
"He's right," Jamie took off with Alexa next to her. "When they were moving us earlier some of the guards were getting a little grabby and Ken tried to kick them off me. They were beating him as they dragged me away. I hope he's okay…"
"Then let's hurry to make sure," Alexa said running on.
The three teens reached Ken's cell to see all of the guards were already knocked out and the cell door was open.
"Something isn't right," Chase whispered. "Stay here." He crouched into a fighter's stance as he made his way over the guards in his path. Alexa and Jamie stood with their bodies in tense anxiety. Then Chase jumped in front of the cell door to attack but when he finally saw what is inside, his body immediately… relaxed? "Chris, what are you doing here and Iris, you're supposed to be watching him!"
The girls looked to each other confused when they heard a female voice reply, "I'm sorry but he forced me to join the adventure."
As the girls ran over next to Chase, he let out a sigh of annoyance as his little brother stuck out his tongue to deer.
Jamie let out as gasp, "Ken!" she ran over to the knocked out wolf. He had taken a beating from the guards like she thought but it seemed that Iris had already taken the notion to start bandaging his wounds. "Is he going to be okay?"
"Yep," Iris replied with a smile. "I have him all patched up and gave him something for his muscles so with this," she put some smelling salt in front of Ken's nose and he slowly became conscious, "he'll be up."
"Agh, what's going on?" he mumbled.
"Ken!" Jamie squealed hugging him. "Don't ever scare me like that again," she said in his chest relieved.
"I'll try to keep that in mind when I'm saving you," he smiled warmly, hugging her back.
Alexa and Chase looked over to each other, chuckling at the couple.
Chris got up from Iris's side and walked over to Alexa, staring at her, "So you're the girl Alexa…?"
"Um, yeah…" she replied, not really knowing what he was getting at.
The boy stared a little longer and then looked to Chase, "You're right, brother. She's really pretty."
"Chris—" Chase was going to go on but Alexa's laughing interrupted him.
"Thank you, both of you," she winked at Chase and his face flashed red.
"So then you're my brother's girlfriend?" Chris then asked with all seriousness in his voice.
Alexa was taken aback by the question but before she could answer, Chase swept his brother into his arms stating, "Alright, that's enough, Chris."
"No, I'll answer it." Alexa then bent down to look Chris in the eye while in Chase's grasp, "We'll see what happens today. If things go well, that would be a yes." If Alexa were any closer, she could hear Chase's heart skip a beat with happiness.
"Then let's make it go well cuz it's obvious that you make him happy," Chris grinned.
"Oi…" Chase was exasperated with his brother at this point.
Alexa laughed again, "Well you do too even if you're making him turn red." She smiled at Chase and his frustration evaporated.
He gave a sigh and nodded, "Yeah, you do," and he gave his little brother a nuggie.
"It's like a Hallmark card moment," Jamie chuckled in the background with Ken, and Alexa stuck her tongue out at them.
"Chase," Ryu ran up to the gaggle as they were coming out of the cell. He was going to go on but he noticed Chris, "What's he—never mind. We need to keep moving. Mother has put out a kill call on all of us."
"Kinda found that out already," Chase stated, gesturing to the guards on the ground.
"Right, I see. Well, I was able to grab the items that were taken from you all," and he handed the binoc-u-coms and gadgets back to Alexa and the others.
"Good," Alexa replied making sure her binoc-u-com was working properly, "then we can call in reinforcements."
"Wait," Ryu interrupted. "We still need to do reconnaissance. I really doubt Mother didn't prepare for this."
"What are you suggesting?" Jamie inquired.
"We hunt down Father and interrogate him. If she has a trick up her sleeve, he'll know."
"Gah!"
The group turned around to the random yelp to see Nero step out of the darkness with Father in his hand and Zhi next to him grinning widely.
"Looks like we took care of that part for you," Nero said dragging Father along.
"Unhand me you brute!" the raccoon squirmed.
"Fine," and Nero tossed him over to Ryu.
"You take care of him. We'll look out for any more guards," Zhi gave a thumbs-up as they walked off.
"Thank you," Ryu nodded ignoring Father's complaints.
"You'll never get me to talk! I'm loyal to—" but Ryu then slammed him up against the wall with enough force that the wind was knocked out of his lungs. Alexa even flinched at the thud that resounded in the hall.
"Start talking or you will get ten times worse what you've done to those boys," Ryu growled looking Father in the eyes with a glare that could send anyone to their knees.
"Please don't kill me!" he blubbered. "Jezebel, sh-she has a failsafe. She has a s-self destruct system for when she f-feels she can't w-win."
"So much for loyalty," Chase muttered. He had a feeling that if Father ever had his back up against the wall, he'd become weak and give whatever he could to save his own tail.
"Alright, so we know what M-Jezebel has planned for us. I have an idea. We'll need to know how her chamber is laid out, especially the roof, and some bombs."
"I bet I could get some details," Ryu looked over to Father who cowered away as much as he could while still being in Ryu's grasp.
"We can go get those bombs," Iris volunteered with Jamie and Ken next to her.
"Good. Then I'll call in reinforcements." Alexa then pulled out her binoc-u-com and began trying to get it to function as a phone.
…
Sly was looking over charts and maps. All they had was a broad location area since the tracker was turned off towards the end of the pinpointing. Bentley was extremely frustrated by the idea of his machine not being fast enough but they still had more information than they did before.
Dimitri then burst into the room, "Ow, Raccoonus-Doodus, have I got some info for you," he stated leaning against the desk.
"What is it Dimitri?" Sly asked not really looking up from the map as if as soon as he would he'd miss the thing he needed.
"Found out who this Chase dude is." That sparked interest in Sly and he looked to the lizard. "Turns out he's an orphan, like you and the original gang. His full name before being adopted was Chase Erhard and he has a little bro, Chris. It appears that the dude Father wanted a kid like this, but the orphanage don't really know why. They just figured he wanted those two kids after seeing how good they were together. I tried hunting down Father's real name but he used a fake one to adopt the kids."
Sly thought for a minute and said, "That is interesting. How did his parents go?"
"Died in a car wreck. And he was apparently a good kid. Stayed out of trouble and was really responsible. Looked after his kid bro like his life depended on it, is was the orphanage people told me. They were surprised to hear that the coon would be in this kind of mess."
"Hmm… maybe—" but it was at that time that his cell rang. He answered without thinking about looking at it, "Hello?"
"Hey, Dad."
Sly felt his body explode from all sorts of emotions, not knowing which one to act on first but the words still poured out of his mouth, "Alexa! Where are you? Are you alright?"
"Eh? The girl called you?" Dimitri questioned but Sly waved at him to be quiet so he could hear his daughter.
"I'm fine, Dad. Thanks to Chase."
"Wait, isn't he the one who hurt you though?" At that time, Dimitri stepped out to get the rest of the gang inside to hear the call.
"How did you know about that?" she asked confused with Chase echoing the question in the background.
"Okay, what's going on right now? Where are you?" Sly was just as confused as his daughter. Alexa went into the short version of what was going on while the rest of the Cooper gang listened intently to the story coming over the speaker phone of Sly's cell. After Alexa finished, Sly let out a sigh, "Geez. The creator of Clockwerk; no wonder we couldn't come up with anything. So what do you intend to do now?" Knowing his daughter wasn't going to leave just yet.
"Well, I was hoping to enlist help from Uncle Bentley with that device he made some years ago. You know the one Bent? The one you showed me when I was around five, I think…"
"Oh, that one," Bentley remembered. "But it's only a prototype. I never got a chance to try it."
"We're dealing with Clockwerk's creator who's made out of the same machinery, so now is a good time to see if it works."
"I don't know if I want to risk your lives on it though," Bentley stated worriedly.
"Haha, I have confidence in your stuff Bentley. When have the prototypes let you and the gang down?"
"I feel like I shouldn't answer that," though he knew Alexa was right. His prototypes were practically the devices they would use the most before he'd make any adjustments.
"There are also a couple other things I'll need. If the gang's willing, we could use all the help we could get," Alexa said hoping her father would give the okay.
"Give the phone to Chase," Sly stated with no emotion in his voice.
Alexa was a little hesitant but she eventually handed it over to Chase. "Yes, sir?"
"I want to get some things straight with you. First: Why did Mother and Father recruit you?"
"They needed someone they could manipulate," Chase replied right away. "My age allowed me to watch Alexa more closely, and my brother was their leverage against me. I've known this for a while, sir."
"Alright. Second: I would like to take Mother and Father in for questioning, but do you think either will come into custody alive?"
"Father probably; Mother will die before getting caught but if that device that your friend Bentley has works, it's possible."
"Lastly: You will protect my daughter from harm," Sly didn't even let the statement be a question.
Chase chuckled, "Yes sir. Always."
That caused smiles to break out across the faces of everyone in the room, even the Panda King. They were for sure going to test Chase later but for now, he passed a very important test among the gang. "Good," Sly replied. "You can hand the phone over to Alexa."
Alexa's voice came over the speaker again, "What was the last question you asked him?"
Sly laughed, "I'll tell you when I see you," giving assurance to others and himself that he will see his daughter again. "Tell us your plan."
…
Alexa and Chase walked into Jezebel's chamber holding hands, more for Chase than Alexa. He was shaking from so many emotions that Alexa just grabbed his hand to make him calm down.
Jezebel sat on her chair looking idly over to the two teens. "Hmm, I see you have made your choice," she addressed Chase.
"Seems that way," Chase said evenly though he had to squeeze Alexa's hand.
"There's no way to escape," Alexa stated. "If you surrender now, then things won't have to get messy."
"Are you telling me it's just you two to get me?" Jezebel stood up chuckling.
"You've used him to get to me. I thought it would be fitting for us to take you in," Alexa replied.
"I see. You want to take me alive?" Jezebel's body tensed up.
"Only if you cooperate."
Jezebel laughed, "I won't comply with your wishes!" and then she went in to attacking Alexa.
The two released going into opposite directions, Jezebel still going for Alexa. Chase then got in between them, blocking Jezebel's attacks to allow Alexa to pull out a device, muttering, "I was afraid you'd say that," then pressed a button.
Mother's body then froze and she went to her knees, gasping for air.
"It worked," Chase gasped.
"Of course it would," Alexa grinned coming up next to him.
"What did you do to me?" Jezebel growled.
Alexa showed the device stating, "This is something my Uncle came up with for Clockwork during the time when they were collecting his parts; to stop him in his tracks just in case he came back. I remember you telling me that you two share the same machinery so I figured this should work on you."
Then Jezebel began to laugh manically, "You fool! You think I would go out like this? I've already started the self destruct sequence. There will be no way for you to make it out alive. That will suffice for my revenge!"
Alexa sighed, "Then we have no choice." She pulled out her binoc-u-com, "We need to get out of here guys!"
Suddenly an explosion came from the roof. Huge rubble came down but it was easy enough to dodge but Jezebel stood there in shock, "What?"
Then a helicopter appeared through the smoke, sending a rope ladder down to Chase and Alexa.
"Sorry to leave you but we'd rather not blow up," Alexa stated hoping on first with Chase right behind her as she began to climb and the helicopter rose.
"No you don't!" the panther mustered all of her final bits of strength to jump up and grab Chase.
Chase, not expecting it, nearly fell back to the ground but Alexa caught his arm. "Let go of him, you witch!" she shouted. Chase tried to shake her off but her grip only tightened.
"I will take at least one of you! I will not lose this game completely!"
If she doesn't let go then we will both go down, Alexa realized as she tried hard not to lose her grip.
Chase saw the look on her face and realized the same thing. But then he smiled, remembering his promise to Sly and said, "Hey, Alexa," she then looked to him, "take care of Chris, okay?"
"Wha—" but he had already threw off Alexa's grip, sending him and Jezebel falling.
OMG! A CLIFFY! Don't panic though, the next and last chapter is up so read on (but please leave a review. I really would like to know what you guys are thinking right now) ;)