I'm baaaaaack! (With a longer chapter)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any songs or games mentioned. They're just in my mind while I write.

Now, knowing that no one can really get on my case, on with the story!

It's been a good few weeks after the heist, and life was good. Bentley and Penelope really hit it off, and became really close. Brooke and Murray were constantly trying to beat each other in some new competition every few days. Right now, they were in the middle of a gaming competition. It was surprising that Murray was in the lead, having five achievments ahead of her. "So, what's our next heist?" Sly asked. "Muggshot has obtained some top of the line Australian gems." Murray looked up from his wrestling videos in a bit of a shock. "Bentley, how does this guy keep busting out of prison?" Said turtle just shook his head. "I'm assuming he has guards on the outside to bust him out. But right now, it matters what he's doing when he's out. We can let interpol handle his new cell."

Sly walked over to the fridge, scavenging for food. "Where is he hiding out?" Bentley frowned a bit. "Do you remember the closed of section of the school?" Sly turned around slowly. "Yeaaah... it's the lower level and is infested with mold. It's quarantined. He can't be there." The turtle nodded. "It's actually been cleaned for a few days, but Muggshot payed off the school administrators to let him hide out there for a little while." Murray walked over to his friends. "You know, it isn't even surprising. What's the plan?" The turtle rolled over to his room. "I've had to make a few plans and alternatives. He's really had security amped up since our last encounter in Holland." Sly nodded, opening the door for him.

"Alright, we go in tomorrow night at around 1:00 a.m. That's when his guards start nodding off until the next shift comes in. Murray, I need you to go in with Sly in case Muggshot comes back early from prowling the grounds." Murray gave a little salute, making his partners in crime chuckle. "Sly, you don't have to worry about the guards." Sly sighed in relief. "You'll have to worry about them and the new security systems he's had installed." He was relieved just a bit to soon.

"What does he have in store this time Bentley? Lasers, mirrors, pictures of himself decorating the wall?" Sly earned a disapproving look from the wheel chair bound turtle. "No, trigger censored poison gas. Just imagine the lazers, but around ten times the difficulty. Luckily it has a weakness. As long as you stay out of range of the blasts, the gas shouldn't affect you." Murray's eyes buulged "How big is the blast range?" Sly grimaced, afraid of the answer he was about to recieve. "Around a 5x5 foot perimeter, but the chandalier type lights hang just high enough to where you should dodge it no problem!" For the first time since facing clockwork, Sly was frightened for a heist.

"You okay, ring tail?" Carmelita asked, worry etched in her eyes. Sly lifted his eyes from his notebook. "Oh, I'm just a little tired is all. Which class is this?" She smiled at him. "Biology. The class that you would be failing without my help." Sly made himself look offended, causing her smile to widen. "How dare you! I would be making steady Cs in this class!" The vixen rolled her eyes. "What ever helps you sleep at night." The raccoon swatted her gently with his tail, tickling her.

"So, what are you doing tonight?" This caught him off guard. "Well, it really depends on the time. I'm eating at 8:00, showering at-" "You know that's not what I ment!" Carmelita laughed, she was always laughing with Sly around. "Nothing until around 1:00, but that's personal business." The bell rung and Carmelita waited for Sly to get his stuff together. "I was just thinking, maybe we could hang out tonight?" Sly was stunned at first, but quickly rebounded. "That sounds lovely. Want to come by when I'm in the shower? I'll smell all nice and clean." She smiled, walking out to meet up with the rest of their group.

Murray was giving Brooke a piggy back ride home from losing their bet. "How many times do you have to learn that you just can't beat me in Mortal Kombat?" "When I die, I'll stop trying to beat you. Until then this means war!" He started to run a little, making Brooke squeal. He honestly thought of himself as the winner, but he wouldn't let her know that just yet. "Penelope, you're coming tonight right?" "Of course! It's all I've been thinking about all day.I even managed to spell 'philosophy' wrong." Bentley went into a short laughing fit while unlocking the van. "Are you sure you'll be okay to drive?" Murray asked. Bentley just grinned, showing his robotic hands. "I don't need legs to drive!" Sly smiled as Murray came over and whispered that there was extra paint in the back if Bentley scratched the van.

"Alright you guys, be careful and don't hurt the van!" Bentley folded the driver's seat back to where he could still be in his wheel chair. "When did you manage to fix the driver's seat?" Penelope asked. "Last night after Murray lost the game. It's kind of nice getting to drive again." After they dropped Penelope and Carmelita off, Sly climbed into the front seat. "So, Penelope's coming on the heist?" "Yeah, sorry I didn't tell you earlier, it's just been hectic planning an extra escape route." The raccoon shrugged. "I'm fine with it, it'll be great having 2 brains help us out." The rest of the ride home was pretty silent except for the radio playing 'heart shaped box' by Nirvana.

Hey! Wait! I've got a new complaint!

Forever in debt to your priceless advice

Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet

Cut myself on angel's hair, and baby's breath

After everyone was home for a few hours, Carmelita was knocking at the door. "Hey Carm, come in." She came in, examining her surroundings. "It feels different somehow." "That's because I'm hear baby!" Demetri jumped up out of his seat in the living room, scaring her a little bit. "So, you're the cracker box's new girl? I gotta say, she looks better than you!" Sly held his breath for a few seconds before exhaling. "Thanks Dimitri, I should say the same thing next time you bring a lady home." Dimitri just laughed. "Well played homie, don't run this one off anytime soon!" Carmelita was stiffling her laughter, watching Sly fume silently. " How about we go play cloud berry kingdom? It's a rage game after the first 40 or 50 levels though."

She smiled and nodded. Sly took her hand and led her to the game room where Bentley and Murray where already starting the game. "Room for 2 more?" Murray scooted over on the couch, motioning for them to pick up a remote. Bentley already gave his character a mustache. "Have you been feeding the mustache again?" "Jealousy is an ugly emotion, Sly."

It took them some getting use to time with the game, but after a few deaths, everyone was on a roll. "I'm to scared to look at the clock to see how long we've been playing" Carmelita mumbled, entranced with not getting hit by the lazers. Murray took a quick glance at the clock above the tv. "It's nearing 10:00, pretty long game." "I've got to get going you guys, I'm not aloud to stay out to late on a school night." They all paused the game, and Sly walked her out. "We should do this again sometime, it's nice having someone to beat Bentley's high score." "It's nice having someone else's high score to beat." The raccoon engulfed her in a hug. "Get home safe, okay?" She blushed, partly from embarrasment, and partly because of how sweet it was. "Alright." she waved and started walking towards her house.

Sly watched from the window, making sure she got in and wasn't stuck outside for the night. "I don't want any cracker box juniours running around any time soon!" Sly's face turned a deep tomato red at Dimitri's comment. "Okay then, I'm just going to prepare for the heist with the guys." Sly ran down the stairs to go over the rest of the plan and wait for Penelope to arrive.

"Alright Bentley, me and Murray are inside. Is Muggshot out yet?" Bentley went to the monitors inside the van. "You wont have much time. Have Murray stand near the door incase Muggshot comes back. I'll try and distract him as much as possible." Sly headed to the safe in the back of the room, trying to crack the lock. 'He's not as much of a meat head as I thought.' Sly was trying to determine if this was Muggshot's work, or if he hired someone. He suspected the second choice was correct.

Bentley was setting up his RC chopper when Penelope nudged him. "I have a better idea." She unzipped her book bag to reveal several RC cars, leaving Bentley in shock. "You know, these just might work better. How fast can they go?" Penelope had a devious smirk on her muzzle. "It goes to around 30 mph. He could be chasing all night!" She giggled. "Well, it's never to early to have in field eperience." She smiled, attaching Bentley's grapple cam to her RC car and setting it outside of the van.

Inside Muggshot's hideout

(Sly and Murray)

Sly saw a rather new contraption zoom by outside of the window, followed by angry shouts and heavy foot steps/ Muggshot walking on his abnormaly muscular arms. "Murray, you okay over there?" Murray was rather squished between the door and book shelf, scared that he might trigger an alarm. "Not to comfortable, but I'll live if we get out of here *breathes* soon." He smiled at the raccoon as he finally cracked open the lock.

Prowling the grounds

(Muggshot and the guards)

Penelope ran over the feet of a few guards, waking them up. "Boss! Someone's here!" Muggshot turned from the school's doors, a little confused. "What are you blokes talking about?" The guards were stuttering which made the bull dog very impatient. "Spit it out!" Penelope grinned, ready to give them a good chase. She threw a bomb near their feet. "What the-" "GET OUT OF IT'S RANGE!" Muggshot and the guards ran for cover a little to late, being covered in dirt and rocks.

She maneuvered the car in the opposite direction. The guards chased it, but Muggshot stayed to examine the bomb. He looked it over, not noticing anything at first. "Wait a minute." He looked a little closer and noticed the Cooper calling card attached to the bomb. "COOPER!" Muggshot ran to the door, busting it open to reveal Sly placing a calling card in the safe.

"You thought you could get away without facing me?" Sly turned around with a grin. "I was actually hoping you'd show up. It would be to easy if you weren't so cocky." The bull dog glared at the young raccoon, his guards coming in right behind him. "You're out numbered Cooper. Where are you going to run?" He smirked. "I don't plan on running. Now Murray!"

Murray busted out of his little confinement with his self dubbed 'thunder flop.' He sent the guards flying into seperate corners of the room, all a little dazed. While Muggshot wasn't looking, Sly sneaked up behind him and gave him a good blow to the head. "Pleasure doing business with you." As soon as Murray and Sly slipped out of the window, the binocucom went off. "You guys need to get back to the van quick! Interpol is on the way!" Sly looked at Murray and started to sprint toward the van.

After a few days, the word of Muggshot being caught spread through the town. Interpol refused to release the place of his hideout to the public to save the town some pride. Bentley managed to get a high selling price on the Australian gems on thiefnet, leaving the Cooper gang in a good position. Carmelita rushed up to Sly as soon as she heard the news. "You got him locked up, didn't you ringtail?" Sly raised his hands in defeat. "I confess, but it wasn't just me! Two brains and a muscle helped."

The vixen smiled at him. "One day you're really going to get hurt." He gave her a little nudge. "Is that your way of saying you worry about me?" Carmelita just rolled her eyes. "Don't ask such stupid questions. Hurry up or we're going to be late." Sly just smiled to himself. He enjoyed how he made her flustered at times.

"What ya looking at, El Jefe?" A very short armadillo asked his friend. "Cooper. He needs to be knocked down a few notches." The tiger's nostrils flared at the thought of Sly. "I still don't see why you're so obsessed with him. Nothing really that special about him." El Jefe laughed. "The only thing special about him is that fox he's hanging around with." The armadillo huffed. "You really want to mess with her?" El Jefe sent a warning glare to his friend. "Pick your next words wisely, Toothpick." He giggled a little at the tiger. "I wasn't going to say anything bad. It's just too much trouble" El Jefe shrugged his shoulders. 'Not for everything I'm planning.

Okay, onto chapter 4! It might be posted not to long after this one if the caffiene flow keeps a rollin'.

In all honesty, I wasn't expecting anyone to like this story. It makes me really happy to see some people enjoy it!

Now, I'm going to scavenge for ideas ~ later taters