Hey everyone,
Good news, I am re-editing Preventing Trouble. Bad news, I just realized that the whole set of chapters that describes the events taking place between reading PS/SS and CoS are pretty much impossible to take place as they did as I describe Harry moving around – while he's still in a wheelchair!
Seriously, not my best work – and probably one of the reasons I decided to just stop this blasted story after it got deleted. Either way, there will be a lot more editing needed than I first thought and while there are still parts that I am happy with, do I now feel bad as the time editing this baby will take longer than I intended.
Anyway, enjoy
Venquine1990
Chapter 03
Bentley's POV
When the goons working Akudo gave me back my wheelchair, rolled me out of their safe house and then made a dash for it, screaming about Interpol while wishing me luck on the road, did I sincerely believe that all the nightmares and problems my team and I have faced the last week had finally come to an end.
Yet, coming home, seeing Carmelita there, having to lull Sly to sleep in order to prevent him from having an emotional breakdown, hearing he had been out at night during a really heavy storm, hearing what Akudo had planned for Carmelita and discovering the changes made to the Special Room made me realize different.
Akudo may be in Interpol Custody, but Sly was still in need of help and Carmelita – while not directly involved in anything – is going to need a lot of support as she must have never been used as a victim like this, let alone have people after her for reasons such as those of Akudo and his men; reasons that should never even exist.
To have heard of my own girlfriend what Carmelita would have gone through had Penelope and Barkley not pulled off their little master plan had made me race after the poor vixen, knowing she would be in Sly's room and sincerely hoping this new experience would give my little brother the chance he always wanted.
Sly has been caring and concerned for Carmelita and her health ever since the Krack-Karov Volcano and had always done everything he could to keep her safe, saving her from the Gas Chamber and the Re-Education Tower, helping her in her fight against Clock-La and breaking the control the Mask of Dark Earth had on her.
Combine that with all the other ways Sly always made sure that Carmelita could bust this or that criminal, do I know that it was just their professional differences that always kept Carmelita away from the Raccoon, yet now it's that same Raccoon that the female Fox – I just know – will be leaning on the most.
Still, when I find her in front of Sly's wardrobe and discover that it's filled with all the dresses Sly ever made for the fox – having learned how to sow and knit from his mother at age 5 – was not something I had wanted to find out and had made me decide to check on the one room Sly had always considered special in our Hideout.
I had used this chance to give Carmelita a little hint as to how important Sly considered her and while I had sincerely hoped to make the fox feel a little better, had the sight of the neck-chain that we had found not improved my mood. Yet I had made the mistake of bombing it and that had caused for Carmelita to find something.
Something that made the ever confident and headstrong vixen actually flee the room Sly had designed for her and I had rolled my wheelchair over to where Carmelita had made her discovery, the rope with the loop at the end making me feel pretty bad, the others I find making me feel even worse and the whole scene bringing forth a realization.
"Penelope's discovery. Car-car-Carmelita's fate." I had stuttered and had only barely restrained myself from using my boosters to get back to Carmelita, finding her in Sly's room, cuddled up to my younger brother and the look of feared terror that adorned her face made me hate Akudo more than any criminal I have ever faced.
I now decide to face this problem and close the door to my brother's room before I use my ear-communicator and say: "Murray, Panda King, I need you both upstairs. I just found evidence of Penelope's revelation and I just cannot accept for it to remain within this hideout for one more minute, do you understand me?"
And while I try not to speak the actual words of what Penelope told us, does Murray growl: "On my way, Buddy." Before Panda King asks: "Will you be in need of my –?" To which, before he can finish, I answer: "Your strongest, yet also your quietest. Sly and Carmelita are asleep and I don't want them to wake before dinner."
I hear confirmation coming from both and wheel back to the Special room, working on one of the ropes I had found on the incredible bed – that Sly had worked on for a good week by out buying several trees that were actually supposed to be used to make printing paper and using nothing but his cane and plenty of spikes and bolts.
Untying at least two of them before Murray leads Panda King into the room, do I turn to them both and show them one of the ropes and the metal chain, their eyes widening and I say: "This was to be her room, whether Sly lived here or not. Let's make sure she will forget what Akudo wanted her here for, shall we?"
The two nod and I say: "Murray, use your strength to pull anything and everything you find off the floor, walls and ceiling. Anything either you or I don't recognize as something Sly put there gets removed. Panda King, make sure not to make too much noise and get started on the contents in that wardrobe there, if you would."
This shocks Murray and I turn back to the third rope as I say: "Don't worry, Carmelita's outfits were all moved to Sly's room. The stuff in there is purely Akudo's and deserves to be destroyed." The two nod and get to work, Panda King moving everything out off the room before he blows it up in order to keep the floor clear off marks.
The removal of items and so-called toys doesn't take all that long and while I wonder why such a large group would only rely on such a small amount of items, does Murray open the bathroom, his eyes widening before he loudly shouts: "THAT MONSTER!" Making both me and Panda King rush over to what he's seeing.
The entire bathroom is made of the most expensive tiles and has only the thickest of glass windows, some of them stationed around a very expensive looking shower and the shiniest of mirrors, but in front of the mirror, against the walls of the shower, build into the wall and even over the toilet – are tons and tons of chains.
Chains dangling from the walls, cuffs build up either against or into the walls, a whole set of armor made of chains only hanging down from the ceiling in front of the mirror. Everywhere we look there are chains and while I can barely believe what Akudo was willing to do, does Panda King seem to understand why this is here.
"A bathroom is made to make someone feel clean and fresh once more. By putting all this here, they elude those that dare sneak in as one usually keeps their bathroom door closed, yet at the same time they prove to Inspector Fox that she belongs to them and that she should accept what they demand to give to her at all times."
This makes Murray almost cause several dents in the wooden door and I quickly use one of my robotic arms to pinch him so he can be alerted to this, while at the same time I just want to gather the entire team together and go on an all-out man hunt before I just simply hiss: "Let her rip, boys. No chain stays untouched."
The two nod and while we now cause for several of the tiles to get cracks or even break from the walls, something Panda King assures me he can fix at a later time, do we make sure that the whole bathroom returns to the state Sly left it in when he first build this place and do we move the chains and cuffs out of the room.
I then see the remains of what we found lying at the other end of the hallway and I growl: "Murray, pick all that up. We're putting an end to this once and for all." The Hippo nods and while Panda King makes sure not to dangle any of the chains in his arms as we pass Sly's room, do I move the two of them back down.
There Penelope awaits us and her whole body tenses in shock when she sees what the others are carrying, yet I decide to keep her out of this as much as I can as I just know that the little mouse will need her gang and leader as much as Carmelita will and say: "Penelope, head for Sly's room and stay there until dinner."
The mouse nods and when she has passed us, do I open the staircase door to the basement and take the team down to the Hazard Room, not activating any of the challenges, but telling my friends to put their cargo in the middle of the room before I say: "Panda King, do not hold back." Making the powerful mammal nod in understanding.
He then loads the blasters on his back full to the very brim, more and more of his powerful, destructive fireworks stacking up together and while part of me fears for the damage this could actually cause the Panda himself, do I not voice my worries as my need to have this chapter of the story closed is much stronger than my concerns.
Panda King unleashes the whole array, over a good thirty pieces of fireworks all erupting from the blasters which are as good as blown to shreds by the firepower of their creator and while I have no doubt that Sly will soon be making new ones in order to thank Panda King for his help, do I happily watch the fireworks hit.
The explosion and the blast that comes from the firepower blows me straight out of my wheelchair and blows Murray several feet away from where he was standing while Panda King, who was closer to the target's location, gets blown away so hard he actually rolls up and rolls all the way to the other side of the room before crashing.
I cringe at seeing this, but then see how the metal of my room is torn to shreds and how there are only flimsy little bits left of what were once chains, cuffs and other disgusting toys one would only find in a brothel, something that makes me feel as if the three of us just cleansed this hideout and makes me sigh in pure relief.
Yet this relief is short lived as Penelope actually runs into the room and asks: "Are you okay? I could feel the shockwaves all the way from the second floor. They actually stirred Carmelita and Sly." To which I quickly try getting to my wheelchair, Murray picking me up and helping me do so, before I roll out of the room with haste.
I rush out of the hallway, barely even wait for the others to rush into the main hall behind me and slam the staircase door closed before using my booster to rush upstairs, where I instantly rush for Sly's room, hoping with all that I am that – being in each other's presence – will have helped keeping the two wounded spirits asleep.
Will they be? Sorry Bentley, no can do. Oh, and I'm not ending the chapter here, that would be too much of a contrast to the length of the other chapters. So enjoy some more content.
Sly's POV
A sudden shockwave makes my whole body shiver underneath the warmth of my blanket, stirring me awake from the state of dreams I had fallen into thanks to Murray's warm petting and Bentley's rhythmic shell music, yet while part of me wants to fall back asleep, do my sensitive ears suddenly pick up on something.
A moan. A moan coming from the throat of a female, one who is apparently quite close to me and seems to be behind me as my ear twitches to the back of my head in order to better catch the sound that I am hearing and while blinking the sleep out of my eyes, do I curiously twist my head to where I heard the sound coming from.
The sight that I meet with when I turn my face instantly takes all of my drowsiness away and shocks me senseless. Carmelita. The beautiful and dashing vixen is lying behind me, her face covered in the fur of my back and the fabric of my shirt, one arm sleepily wrapped around my waist and her expression one of pain.
This last fact worries me and while trying not to stir the fox anymore than the shockwave must have just done, do I gently move myself so that Carmelita and I are now chest to chest and do I tentatively – not wanting to wake her in fear that this amazing experience could be over – reach one of my hands out to her hair.
The luscious locks are slightly covering her face and while I try not to shiver in delight at getting the chance to touch and feel them, do I gently wipe them back to behind her ear, my fingers actually getting a will of their own here as they don't pull away from the fox, rather slide over the back of the black-tipped appendage.
At first I feel mesmerized by seeing myself able to do this, yet then I wonder if perhaps Carmelita has sensitive ears like myself and I look back at her gorgeous face, which seems to have lost some of the pain it had been feeling earlier. Relieved that I was able to make the pretty little vixen feel better, does something happen.
My throat constraints and my lungs pull together at the same time, making me move away from the fox quite hurriedly before I cough into one of my hands, the cold I had gotten earlier today letting me know it has yet to fully leave my system. My lungs keep pulling together painfully, making me cough for longer than ever before.
I hate feeling like this as it makes me pull even further away from the fox in my bed, if only to make sure she doesn't get infected, but then, just when I have pulled myself fully out of her grip and gone to sit on the side of the bed to get some fresh air, do I suddenly feel a soft hand rubbing itself over the upper part of my back.
The feeling of the soft feminine touch on my back actually makes for my lungs finally capable of taking normal breaths and when I feel like breathing instead of coughing, do I turn around gratefully, only to see Carmelita sitting up in bed, her form amazingly close to mine and her eyes showing how worried she feels for me.
"Feeling better, Ringtail?" She then asks and I nod, amazed that her tone holds such warmth and care in it, making her smile at me before she suddenly says: "They're really gorgeous, you know." This confuses me, but she turns away from me and turns to look at something else as she says this, making me turn around as well.
I look at where the Interpol Inspector is gazing and see that my wardrobe is open, the sight of all the dresses I ever made for the beautiful fox besides me shocking me and making me ask: "What are – what are they doing there?" A cough interrupting me halfway through and escaping my throat before Carmelita answers:
"Akudo send them there. He – he changed the room you made for me." I look at her, the sound of her voice becoming smaller and more timid at the end worrying me and I ask: "You – you mean?" And the nod the fox gives me, one that is filled with sheer fear and great anxiety making my body move out of chaste instinct.
I turn my body her way and hug her close, Carmelita tensing for only a moment before she actually accepts the embrace, her face burying itself in my shirt and making me realize two things, the first being that the fox really is scared of what almost happened to her and the second being that I am still in my old cloths.
At this I really feel like letting go off the fox in my arms, but I just know that Carmelita needs me and whisper: "I really don't want to contaminate you with my germs, gorgeous, so maybe it's better if I change before I offer you some more comfort." And the small smile that grows on Carmelita's face makes my entire day.
She then shocks and amazes me as she pulls away from the embrace, her face again alight with the same strength that I have come to believe is something that is hers and hers alone before she asks: "How about we both get changed? I – I kind of feel like – if you'll accept – putting on one of those outfits you made for me."
At this the images that had always run through my mind while making the dresses flash through my mind a second time, making me think back on all the amazing ways Carmelita could look were she to wear one of my creations to a certain event or location and while I can barely suppress the joy within me, do I softly say:
"I would very much like that. Could I pick one out?" At this the fox looks a little troubled and we both look at the open wardrobe, my eyes trying to find that one dress I worked a good four months on and on which I ripped apart several cloths of fabric before I felt that the style was exactly the way that I had desired it to be.
I then almost hear Carmelita take a deep breath, as if steeling herself for something before she says: "Go ahead, Cooper. Prove me I can trust your judgment." And while I feel highly elated for this incredible chance, do I try not to let this happiness be ruined by how my body still feels weak and ill due to my ever-present cold.
I quickly stand up, trying my hardest to ignore how this actually makes me feel dizzy and sway on my own two paws and walk over the wardrobe, my eyes searching and finding the desired dress as I do and I happily pull it out upon arriving, lying it over one of my arms and letting my other hand softly run through the fabric.
I then turn back to Carmelita and while my mind's eye actually shows me what the fox would look like on my bed with that dress on, do I try not to let her realize what I am imagining as I instead just simply smile at her before taking out one of my warmer shirts and even a pair of soft grey pants that are similar colored to my own fur.
I walk back to the bed and hand the dress to the fox, who lies it down over her own lap, her eyes wide when she sees what I picked and I happily look down at the creation myself. The dress itself is made of two pieces, one a full-body suit that goes from the lower neck down to the ankles and the other from the neck to the calves.
The two pieces are put together thanks to a loose-fitted leather belt and several golden buttons that were actually coins once upon a time, but that I used fire to melt into the golden shaped buttons and button holes they are now, which go from the center of Carmelita's hips up to the left, reaching all the way to her left arm pit.
This part of the dress is loose-fitted as well and made to be put on after the body suit has been strapped on, the dress itself also having a zipper to make sure the dress can be taken on and off easily, while the buttons are meant to keep the dress in place. The dress itself is made very fine silk and has a delicious cranberry purple color.
The bodysuit, on the other side is made of a very soft leather fabric, one I worked on the hardest as I wanted to make sure the fabric was both as flexible as leather as well as be able to be very breathable, making me have to tear apart several samples before I got the desired results and the fabric is only a single shade softer than the dress.
All in all do I smile at my little creation, one I made shortly after stealing the Venus de Whalo and while Carmelita looks at the dress in shock, do I walk around the back and keep my back to her, giving her some privacy and lending myself some as well as I take off the sweaty, week-old shirt and change into the warmer, cleaner one.
"Cooper?" I then hear Carmelita asking me and the suddenness of it makes me gulp, wondering if perhaps I should have picked a different one and I ask: "Yes?" Hoping with all that I am that she won't shoot me as I really don't feel like fleeing from my own room, especially not because I still feel the presence of my headstrong cold.
"How – how did you – how did you make this?" She then asks and I feel relieved, the idea that perhaps I didn't pick the wrong one after all and while I happily pull my trousers over my legs, giving my body a bit more chance to stay warm, do I shrug and say: "Just like I always do. With a lot of effort and hard work."
And with that do I almost feel the fox turning to gaze at me, making me smile at her over my shoulder as I switch the cap I have hanging on the rack besides my balcony door for a new one I had plucked out of my wardrobe and ask: "Would you rather have another, perhaps?" But the fox shakes her head and I say: "I'll be outside."
And while part of me really hates the idea of going outside again and while I actually keep a bit of my tail between the doors to make sure they don't fall close on me, do I still lean forward on the railing, loving how, while the balcony itself is only a few inches above the ground, I still have an amazing view of the Eifel Tower.
This had actually been the whole reason I had chosen this room when we first met here as the room itself is parallel to a smile little river that runs between the two blocks of houses opposite of this house and thus, because of the long distance between the house and the tower, the river makes it that much easier to the Eifel Tower.
I look at the magnificent structure as I feel myself getting a little lost in awe, something that happens often when being out here, when suddenly the door behind me opens and Bentley shouts: "Sly! What do you think you're doing still being out? You've got a cold to heal from, remember? Get back inside already!" Shocking me.
I then look inside and my eyes widen beyond belief as the dress I made for Carmelita easily fits her like a second skin, the way that the dress itself hangs off her curves accentuating them even more and the tight fit of the body suit making all of her slim muscles stand out, causing for the full, powerful beauty of the fox to show.
The fox herself stands behind a very worried and angry Bentley, yet I barely pay attention to my friend as it's very, very hard to look anywhere but at the gorgeous fox behind him and Carmelita raises one of her eyebrows before she asks: "Cooper, did you even hear Bentley? Get in here. You've been outside long enough this week."
At this I shake my head and move back in, part of me reveling in the ability to do so and Bentley huffs before he says: "Let's just go, Murray's getting dinner ready and I'm pretty sure the others have been greatly worried about you since you went to bed earlier." At which I smile at my friend, feeling touched by his words.
I then turn back to Carmelita, who smiles at me and asks: "Any reason you were outside for so long? I changed ten minutes ago, you know?" At which I turn red a little and say: "My balcony watches over a small river that leads straight to the Eifel Tower. The sight of it just always takes my breath away and makes me forget the time."
The fox nods and then sighs as she says: "You know, I've never even been up that tower my entire life." Shocking both Bentley and me and I can't help but ask: "What? Why not?" And the answer the fox gives me both fills me with loving hope and makes me fear for my future with her as she smiles sweetly before she says:
"Because I swore myself that my first time up there – would be with the man of my dreams." And while all kinds of images of her and me sharing a starry sky filled night on the very top of the tower, with her in various outfits including her current one, fills my mind, do I follow the fox and turtle on their way downstairs.
Yet while I do and while I keep looking between where I walk and where the fox walks before me, do I feel her last words going through my mind again and again, making me feel both elated with the chance that I now have as well as fear for losing her to someone else, for her falling for someone other than myself.
At this I want to shake my head, not just to shake the thoughts off, but to convince myself that this will not happen – that I won't let it happen – but because I don't want to chose her life for her and because I don't feel ready to tell her directly how I feel just yet, do I keep my head from shaking and do I just keep walking down the stairs.
We then enter the living room and as we do, does a sight I have been almost dying to see all week meet my gaze. Panda King seated at the large sofa in front of the back wall, Guru on his shoulder, both of them talking with Penelope and Dimitri lounging in a chair on the left of them, while the scent of Murray's cooking reaches my nose.
Feeling relieved, relaxed and warmed by all that I see, feel and smell, does the realization that I am home once again hit me stronger than ever, making the muscles I have felt being tense since realizing what a terrible situation my team and I were in relax even more than they did when I fell asleep, before Bentley suddenly asks:
"Ah Dimitri, was there by any chance a blue ribbon attached to your seat?" The Iguana looks up from where he is lounging, making me realize that he's actually seated in my favorite chair – one I claimed when Bentley, Murray and I first moved here – and Bentley motions for the large chair that is opposite of Dimitri as he says:
"You see that brown ribbon over there? We placed that there when Guru came to join us. We didn't need it before because Sly, Murray and I all knew the unspoken rule of which chair belonged to who. I still have mine, I just don't use it anymore now that – well, this." And he motions for his wheelchair while Dimitri looks shocked.
"So, what does blue ribbon mean, brain bro?" And while leaning against the wall that has some trinkets of our previous heists stalled out on the right of me, do I say: "The Brown ribbon means that it's Murray's chair. Bentley had a green ribbon and the blue one's mine. We can make ribbons for the rest of you as well, if you want."
And while Dimitri shoots out of the chair as if it suddenly caught on fire, do I not really notice this as my eyes are drawn back to how incredibly beautiful Carmelita looks, especially now that I suddenly notice how the soft fabric of the dress, which has a hole and a zipper to fit around her tail, make her lower sides even more enticing.
Trying to behave like the gentlemen my mother raised me to be in the few years she had with me, do I work my hardest not to let my eyes linger down any further than her slim waist before the fox even seems to notice my attention being on her and while Dimitri takes for a chair a few feet away from mine, does Murray shout:
"Dinner's ready!" Making me smile widely, while part of me feels absolutely amazed that I have slept and stood outside on the balcony long enough for early noon to change into evening, do I happily put my hand on Carmelita's waist, ignoring how she raises her eyebrow at me and showing her a dashing smile as I lead her to the kitchen.
Bentley then does the same with Penelope, the mouse giggling softly as my turtle buddy takes her hand and uses his other to roll into the kitchen and Murray gives me a warm hug, something that makes the warmth of my cloths intensify nicely before he guides both me and Carmelita over to the extended dinner table.
There I feel like taking a breath of heaven as Murray actually made his specialty, which is rise with raisins, ground beef, apple slices and green beans all mixed together with a delicious south-African sauce and when Murray divides the meal over our plates, does everyone, bar Carmelita and Dimitri, send him a grateful smile.
"We're all together again and the team's fully complete, so the Murray decided he should celebrate." The Hippo then says and then Dimitri makes us all tense as he asks: "Team complete? Even Mss. Lady Cop?" And while his words make me imagine Carmelita going on several heists with me, do I tense nonetheless.
Okay!?
That – is tense. And why did I pick Dimitri? He's not always the brightest bulb in the box, that's why. He's definitely clever enough to be a painter, to scuba dive like no other and to forge money, but he's not always clever and him inviting Carmelita to see a statue he wanted to steal – I think that pretty much proves this.
Now next chapter will again be Carmelita's POV and will be a little bit about her contemplating the Iguana's words, but I won't let her join immediately. Heck, I might not let her join at all. I might throw in a whole different way for her and Sly to get together, but together they will get, of that I have ZERO doubt.
Also, YES, this hideout is pretty much exactly like the one I wrote about in Family Traditions, but I just always believed that the way I envisioned the Hideout is perfect and would be exactly how those three – and later their team mates – would live. I will probably make this same hideout for other stories, but I can't say I care.
Okay, enjoy,
Venquine1990