Chapter 3

After Tide of Terror

Since I'm now working as a PI (Person of Interest) for Interpol, I got my own little office set up right next to the Inspector's room. The day after Raleigh's capture, I had my feet planted up on my desk reading the newspaper….and laughing out loud from it. I was apparently laughing so loud, that the Inspector burst into the room with a vein on her head. To be honest her anger is starting to grow on me. I'm even starting to think she's cute when she's angry. "Will you shut up leech?!"

"Haha! Inspector you need to take a look at today's front page!" I threw the newspaper to Inspector as she scanned it over. Her face then went to a bright red, "H-Hot Chick With Gun Busts Amphibious Yuckmouth?!" I then laughed so hard from her reaction that I fell out of my seat. "Th-This isn't funny Dylan! Ugh, I hate journalists…." She crumpled up the newspaper as she threw it backwards into the trash can. I finally caught my breathe as I pulled myself up to the desk to look at her. "Hehe come on Inspector, lighten up a bit. You know what you need?"

"To give some smart ass leech a shock pistol to the face?" I gulped, "N-No, what you need is some time off. You're too wound up tight Carmelita."

"Hmph! An Inspector's job is never done." She turned around, crossing her arms.

"Well it won't ever be if you tire yourself out…" She looked down from what I said as she then came over and grabbed my wrist, pulling me out of the station. "What do leeches like you usually do for fun?..." She sneered, hating that I convinced her. "Well…I usually go for a nice cup of coffee first."

Café Le Da Vinci, my favorite coffee joint in all of Paris. They practically know me there so they immediately gave me and Carmelita seats once we arrived. "I've always driven by this place, but I've never once went in…" Carmelita eyed around. Soon, a waiter brought over two Lattes for me and her. I happily sipped mine in enjoyment. "Aaah nothing's better than the sweet taste of Da Vinci caffeine after ten years of confinement." Carmelita took a sip from her cup as her eyes lit up, "Th-This is good…a-at least, much better than the dirt they give us at the station…"

"How about I bring a batch in every day for us to enjoy Inspector?" I offered. She looked away, smiling some. "That would actually be…alright leech…"

"But on one condition."

"Ok."

"Please….call me Dylan, or Asmadus at least." Carmelita closed her eyes and thought for a moment before smiling and reaching her hand out, "You got yourself a deal Dylan…" I gratifyingly shook her hand as we enjoyed the rest of our coffee for the day.

Sooner or later though, my pager went off in my pocket. "What is it?" Carmelita eyed me.

"New info received back at my base. I'll be right back later to give you the news?"

"I've always wondered Dylan. Who have you been keeping in touch with to still give you all of this info?" She asked as I stood up. I placed my fingers to my lips as I smirked, "Well Carmelita, some things I really do want to keep a secret." I walked right on out of the door as I heard Carmelita mumble, "Ugh…criminals."

Somewhere in East Paris

My old base of operations; Talk about a home away from home at the moment with my current situation with Interpol. Whenever I can't get the job done at the Le Police Station, I always come back here. Though I never exactly got the peace and quiet I used to have since now my base is being kept a close eye on by Interpol. Walking in, I made my way over to my office room, hoping that the Police who checked this place during my arrest had no brains. Of course, I was right. Over behind my work desk was a picture hanging up of me and Connor Cooper from the old info seeking days. Thankfully one of my prized possessions also doubles as a crafty secret switch. Clicking on a hidden button behind the frame lifted up the picture, revealing a hand print, who if the print wasn't a match, they would get a very bad shock with 100 volts of electricity….hehehe it's so good being bad sometimes. My hand successfully scanned as my darling Janice spoke out, WELCOME BACK DYLAN. "It's good to be back." I responded, watching the wall that the picture frame was on shifted to the side, revealing an elevator to a lower basement floor. Reaching the bottom, a circular room with a work chair surrounded by computers on all sides could be found. At the very moment, someone was occupying that chair. "Well, nice to see you kept this place up and running." I spoke. Turning around on the chair, with an excited face was my squirrel apprentice, Kip. "Master Dylan, you're back!" Kip jumped on over to me, but she immediately slapped me once she reached. "Ten years and no phone calls? Don't act like I don't know that they actually give you call times even in Solitary Confinement." A huge red, hand print was visible on my face as I gave my usual snobby shrug, "Hey what can I say, I've been a very busy coon lately."

"Tell me about it Mr. Interpol PI." Kip turned back around in her chair as she brought up the newspaper of Raleigh's arrest. I was to the right behind Carmelita who held up the amphibian. "Yeeeeaaaah, I've been meaning to tell you about that." I sweated. Kip pouted as she closed her eyes, keeping the back of her chair facing me. My eyes narrowed and my lips curled to a smirk as I leaned over with one of Café Le Da Vinci's cups in my hand. "I got you Da Vinci's." I said in a cute tone. She opened her eyes a little as she quickly took the cup, "I'm still mad at you."

"Ok! What've we got Kip?"

"Well considering you just caught one of the legendary Fiendish Five, I guessed that you were tracking down its other members."

"Eh, you're half right."

"Care to fill me in master?"

"The less you know the better. Don't want you getting involved in my little PI phase." Kip sighed out, "Fair enough master."

"So what's the scoop?" Kip brought up an image of a purple bulldog who was wearing a white tank top and yellow and white striped pants. "His name is Muggshot, also known as "Two Gun Tony" by his men and the Enforcer for the Fiendish Five."

"Oh yeah, I remember that guy. He would always be with Raleigh when he visited me for info. Guess they were going for that "Brain and Brawn" combo. Too bad the Brain of the two is out of commission. From what I saw long ago, Muggshot isn't exactly the brightest bulb of the group."

"Yeah, but he can raccoon stew out of you any day master."

"Yowch. Would it kill you to have any faith in me sometimes?" I winced comically.

"Maybe." Kip smiled. I looked over the info more, "Hmmm, seems like he's being holed up in Mesa City." With that, I printed out all of the info on the mutt as I began to walk back out. "Master…" I looked back at a worried Kip. "Please be careful…you of all people know how dangerous the Fiendish Five are." I scratched the back of my head, chuckling to myself. "Remember Kip, a group of thieves is nothing without the right info. If it weren't for me, the Fiendish Five would've been caught ages ago."