Chapter 10

Operation: Cold Heart of Hate

Miles outside of Krack-Karov Volcano; Russia

"Is it a good idea to have your assistance with us Dylan?" Bentley lectured.

"If there is anyone I trust with my gadgets and hacking into super computers, it's her." I complimented. Kip looked at me and nodded with a smile. We were inside of the Cooper Van, slowly making our way to Clockwerk's base. "So Sly, how exactly do you plan on getting us in there?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The segment of the Thievius Raccoonus I got from the Panda King talked about my ancestor, Otto Van Cooper's, mechanical genius and with this knowledge I was able to create some upgrades to the van with the help of Bentley."

"Well I'm putting a lot of trust in you Cooper…I hope you won't let me down as your father always did for me."

"Trust me, if there's one thing I inherited from my father, it's his faithfulness."

"Clockwerk's lair, dead ahead!" Murray called from the front as the gate entrance that led to the inside of the volcano could be seen. "Great, how will we get past that?!" Kip called out. Taking this as a challenge, Bentley smirked as he fixed his glasses and hit on a button. At that moment, the front of the Cooper Van, where the Cooper symbol, same as Cooper's calling cards, shot out like a battering ram and burst open the door wide open. "Um…" Kip went silent from just the splendor of how they dealt with the problem. I whistled in amazement of what they did, "Not bad boys. I guess I can have faith in these then." I threw a strap of TNT over my shoulder.

"Now be careful Dylan, those explosives are very powerful. Once you set the charge, get out of there immediately." Bentley explained. A red signal started to beep inside of the van as Sly sat in a seat in the middle of the back area those rose up. The top of the van opened up, allowing the seat Sly was to completely transform into a turret. Man that book must have some impressive knowledge in it. Flying towards the van were Clockwerk's mechanical, owl minions to which Sly happily opened fire upon while Murray was driving them right up to the doors of Clockwerk's base. Hopping on up with Sly, I took out my stun baton and started smacking back some minions that Sly couldn't shoot down. They exploded to my delight after a good hit from my fully charged, 50,000 volt weapon as they overloaded and explode from impact. "Guys be careful! We're going to ram through the front doors!" Murray called up.

"Come on! Bring it!" I accepted. Going at full 120 miles per hour, Murray crashed the van through the front door, catapulting me and Sly inside. On our ear pieces, Kip and Bentley were talking to us respectively.

"Alright guys, from here on out we're going to speaking through communicators. Me, Murray, and Dylan's assistant will be manning the car for our getaway." Bentley started explaining. Kip continued off, "Master, start making your way to the Doomsday Laser and get those TNT charges set. I'm sure Sly will like to know you're on the job while he kicks the nuts and bolts out of the mechanized bird." Sly nodded towards me as I nodded back. Before we could move though, a screen came down at the end of the base's front lobby, showing Clockwerk's ugly mug. "Cooper, Asmadus, I'm glad both of you could come. Sadly I couldn't procure anyone on Sly's side for a hostage, and I know you never let Kip out of your sight Dylan, but I believe I found the perfect candidate to make you two chase your tails." The screen changed to show us Carmelita locked up in some strange sphere prison.

"Carmelita!" Both me and Sly yelled out as Clockwerk was laughing at our shock. "Poor Carmelita. She only has thirty minutes until that sphere of hers unleashes volts upon volts of electricity, burning her to a crisp. I'll let you two ponder o that."

"Gh! Damnit!" I was about to run off to save her, but Sly stopped me. "Cooper?!"

"Now's not the time to play into Clockwerk's hands so soon. He wants you to get distracted from your job. I'll go save Carmelita before I go after Clockwerk. You focus on blowing that laser up and saving humanity…hehe no pressure now." Sly smirked as he ran off instead to go and save Carmelita. I stood there in the empty lobby as I sighed and looked down. "Master?" Kip called to make sure I was still there. I held my fingers to the ear piece. "Heh, guess I can't match his charisma when it comes to her…"

"M-Master?"

"Heh, he'll make her happy…he gives her a job after all." I regained my composure as I started making my way up through many different staircases.

The heat was unbearable as I ran through the base, eventually getting up to the area where the laser was. I didn't conclude though that I was being waited upon as I heard the sound of snipping claws. "Heh…and here I thought that the Inspector was persistent on catching people. But you really shocked me." Out from the shadows was the Contessa, still sporting her ever so frightening scowl. "You made a fool of me Asmadus, and for that I'm going to-"

"Arrest me?"

"….Kill you…"

"Whoa…" My eyes widened at the phrase as she started crawling towards me at a very fast speed. What the hell is going on?! She's a cop?! She can't kill me! I dodged her snipping claws, keeping myself from getting my head chopped off. Getting out my baton, I swung out to block more of her swings. She swung down, making me jump back in order to give distance. "Hold still you little vermin!" She screamed as she shot web out from her stinger, entangling my legs. I fell back against the cold, metal grounding as she was now over me with her claws ready to strike. "Ngh, what makes you decide to kill me Contessa? You're a cop! They'll find out and you'll be resigned faster than Muggshot's IQ drop!"

"Hah! What makes you think those fools will do anything? With my power of hypnotism, not only did I rise to the top, but also keep little "accidents" like these as accidents…"

"Wh-What?"

"You've been useful while you lasted Asmadus." She rose up to swing, but I then placed the tip of my baton against the metal, "Do you know how well electricity travels through metal? Quite a good conductor it is." I smirked. Contessa laughed even harder. "You must a bigger fool than I thought you were Asmadus! Shock me, you shock yourself as well!"

"Hehe, lucky for me….I built an immunity to shock therapy. So this thing…it's only gonna tickle." The Contessa's eyes widened as I flipped the switch, shocking both her and me through the metal floor. It didn't take too long before the singed arachnid dropped. I stepped on her chest as I pointed my baton at her. "Now…let's make ourselves a new deal Contessa. You give me my true freedom and I won't blab to your superiors about your little "rise to the top" speech."

"You fool! It's your word against mine! You have no evidence!"

"Kip?" I called while placing my fingers to my ear piece.

"Don't worry Master, I got all of it." The Contessa struggled beneath my foot, "You leech! You fiend!"

"Do we have a deal Contessa?" I smirked, making her look at me in fear or once. "O-O…Ok…Ok ok ok I'll do it! You're a free man Dylan Asmadus!" She screeched. I released my foot from under her, "Now go back to the police station hole you crawled from…" The Contessa looked at me one last time before she crawled away.

Not a moment too soon, I heard the sound of jets as flying out from the base and up overhead of me was Sly in a jetpack and Clockwerk! "Crap, I guess that's my cue to hurry!" In full sprint now, I ran on up to the Doomsday Laser, ironically enough in the shape of Clockwerk's head. Narcissistic much? I jumped on up to the top and placed the TNT down, arming it. "Whew…now to get the hell out of he-" An explosion from Sly and Clockwerk's fight came up right next to me as it launched me down the top of the laser and I landed on a railway, feeling as if I broke my rib on it from contact. Rolling off, the bottom of my pants got latched onto the railings edge, making me stuck while the TNT is close to exploding. I tried to reach up, but my ribs were sending shocks of pain all throughout my body, my screams echoing through the area. From my ear, I could hear a sobbing Kip, "M-Master get out of there! Please! I don't want you to die! I-I'll….I'll be all alone again…" With those last words, I pushed through my pain, obviously making my ribs crack even more, I reached up and pulled myself back onto the railing. "Master! Five seconds left!" Hurrying, I used the remainder of my strength to lift myself up and throw myself off as the TNT finally exploded, causing a massive one that launched me off towards the safe ground as I landed, soon after losing consciousness to the sight of the laser sinking into the lava.

An hour later; Krack-Karov Volcano

My eyes slowly opened to the sound of someone yelling. I laughed lightly to know that it was someone familiar.

"Cooper! Cooper you get back here and unlock these cuffs immediately! COOPER!" I rose up to my knees, holding onto my side, hearing Carmelita's voice ring out through the Volcano. I looked over to see that in the lava was bashed up and charred Clockwerk. He did it…

Finally standing up, I made my way over to a destroyed railway where Carmelita's hand was cuffed to it. "Who's there?! I swear if it's you again Cooper I'm going to blast you!"

"Different coon." I said as I threw up some lock-picks from my utility belt. Carmelita's personality went in a complete reverse, "Dylan! Wh-What are you doing here?!"

"Helping….ngh…" I held onto my ribs. "I helped out in destroying the Laser…" I started to pick the lock until my face was brought up and something was planted onto my lips. C-C-Carmelita?! I couldn't stop my face from turning completely red as the locks clicked on her cuffs and they came off, allowing both of her hands to hold my head. "Heh, I at least wanted to kiss a hero rather than a criminal."

"Sorry Inspector, I'm no hero." I broke off from her kiss as I gave her a friendly. "I'm just a criminal like that Cooper…" Carmelita looked down as I spoke, "But…if you work for Interpol and use your info seeking skills for good then you should…" I shook my head, stopping Carmelita's offer. "What about the manhunt Dylan?!" I chuckled, making Carmelita give me a puzzled look, "Let's just say I found a little leverage on little miss arachnid."

"Y-You found something on Contessa."

"Hey, I'm the leech. I'll ALWAYS find something." With that, I jumped back off of the railing, leaving the Inspector there to await back-up. By her feet though, I left a note. She picked it up and read on:

Carmelita,

No need to worry about me. I have a place that you nor anyone from the police headquarters could find. Til la prochaine fois mon "Renard Crumpet".

The Leech of the World

~~ 3

"Heh…why do I always get myself involved with ringtails~."