A/N: Logan: Thank you so much! I appreciate you taking time to review. The wedding chapter was very fun to write and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope you're still reading.

I found out who my guest reader was so I could personally thank them for their much appreciated thorough review. So thank you again BananaB0mb, I always enjoy reading what you have to say. :)

Cheesebread222: Yes! Thank you for catching my mouse joke! And also thanks for keeping up with this story from the very beginning. It means a lot to me.

Alright guys, ready for this? Here we go…

Chapter 21 Pleasantries of the Unpleasant Kind

It had been a week since the Cooper Gang had succeeded in stealing from the Italian coyote mobster, so to reward themselves, the whole gang decided to take a little respite in the alpine regions near Catania, an hour long car ride from Taormina. Sly, Bentley, Murray, Dimitri, Penelope, and Carmelita all headed out to explore the grassy fields and enjoy the wilderness setting there. When they arrived, the girls laid a quilt out that they'd brought. They lounged on it and talked as they watched the boys play a little Frisbee.

When the guys took a small break from their game, Bentley decided it was time he revealed his latest creation that he and Penelope had been working all week on. The couple left to retrieve the item. When they returned, Penelope had her hands behind her back, concealing the object from everyone's view to maintain the element of surprise. The others gathered around to see what fascinating creation the brainy pair had invented.

"Well, Carmelita," Bentley began, to which Carmelita's ears perked and she sat at attention, now knowing that this regarded her, "As we've all previously mentioned, now that you're a part of the team, you're eventually going to help us on heists. And shock weaponry is indeed your forte." Bentley looked to his girlfriend. "And Penelope brought up a good point that because you are a legitimate Cooper now, since you share Sly's surname, being that you're married to him…we thought it proper for you to have a weapon similar to his to use, while also being something you have an aptitude for." He nodded to the mouse.

"Carmelita," Penelope said, "allow Bentley and I to present you with what we've named: 'The Shock Cane'." She held the object out to Carmelita.

Carmelita took it and stared in wonder at the sleek shiny cane she now held in her hands. It was curved with a hook at the end, resembling a 'C', just like Sly's cane, only the shaft was black, and the hook was silver. There was also some kind of red wiring spiraled all the way down the shaft. She twirled the cane to examine it more, and noticed a small button on one end. She gave Bentley a confused look. "What's this for?" she asked.

The turtle grinned. "See for yourself." He pointed to a cleared area in the distance. "Why don't you try aiming it that way so none of us…get blasted?"

Her eyes lit up slightly as she continued to gape at the sleek weapon. Catching onto his words she narrowed her eyes and aimed the weapon's head at a nearby rock. She pressed the button, and a small electric orb launched from a tiny opening on the hook. The projectile sailed through the air, finally hitting the rock, causing it to crack and break apart.

She laughed excitedly as she looked down at the cane. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "I haven't gotten to do that in so long!"

Bentley clasped his hands together. "So, I'm assuming you like it then? It's a crude prototype, and will need more work and fine tuning of course, but it's a start."

The vixen grinned. "A great start. I love this you two! This is perfect." She started to get up to hug them, but Penelope stopped her and went over to her instead.

"It really is, guys," added Sly, giving an impressed look. "Nice job." It was moments like this that Sly still couldn't believe were taking place in his life. Carmelita, once a daunting Inspector who hunted down his team and desired to lock them away for life, was now hugging a beloved member of his gang, thanking her for helping to construct a new weapon for her to use to aid the gang on future missions. It was almost incomprehensible. Yet, here she was, talking and laughing with Bentley and Penelope like they'd all been great friends for years. It was unreal to the raccoon, but he couldn't have been happier.

Carmelita looked up to Bentley with elation. "Thank you so much."

He adjusted his hat on his scaly head and smiled. "No problem Carmelita. You'll have to aid us sooner or later, and we thought using this would be the most efficient way to do so. As I said, it needs work though; it's merely a prototype, so I'll put it away for safe keeping until it's been thoroughly tested out and improved."

Carmelita nodded and handed the shock cane back to the turtle. It excited her immensely to know that she would soon get to be helpful once again.

Half an hour later, Tabby arrived, as Murray had invited her to join the gang on their outing. This was the first time everyone would actually get to meet her, as opposed to simply seeing her the day of the train robbery. She parked next to Dimitri's sports car, and couldn't help but snicker as she stepped out and got a closer look at it. Sports cars weren't so appealing to her, especially brightly painted ones with outrageous colors like the one Dimitri owned. She walked down the small dirt road and began to approach the group of friends.

Murray, Bentley, Dimitri, and Sly were throwing the Frisbee. Bentley always caught the small disc with ease, no matter how high up it was thrown, thanks to the extending mechanical arms built into his wheelchair. Murray called unfair advantage, but Sly was impressed to see how well the turtle participated in the sport. No matter what, life could never hold him down or hold him back.

Dimitri wasn't so great at it, but he put forth a good effort. Try as he might to jump up to catch it, he failed time and time again. He still seemed to be enjoying himself nonetheless.

Penelope and Carmelita were setting up the picnic on the quilt. They were placing sandwiches on plates, and pouring drinks into plastic cups.

As the female warthog walked over, Murray was the first to notice her. He broke away from the game and ran up to her, lifting her up and spinning her around in the air. She giggled as he put her down and hugged her.

Sly looked over to see them sweetly embrace and whistled, causing the two to jump away from each other and blush. Embarrassed, they walked over to join the others, hand in hand.

"So, we finally get to meet this Tabby we've been hearing about," Sly said, approaching her. He held his hand out and smiled. "The name's Sly."

She smiled back shyly at him, shaking his hand. "Hi, it's nice to meet you Sly. Murray tells me you're the group leader?"

He tipped his blue hat. "Yep that's me."

"Nice cane," Tabby complimented.

Sly twirled the cane around in front of him with finesse that would make the most skilled baton twirlers envious, tossing it behind his back and catching it without looking. Tabby laughed softly at the spectacle, clearly impressed with his trick. "Thanks," Sly replied with a grin. "It's a family heirloom. Comes in handy when we…perform jobs. That being said, I assume Murray told you what we do for a living…"

Tabby looked up at the hippo. "Yes, he mentioned that he was part of a gang of thieves. Which is pretty cool, in my opinion."

Sly tossed the cane in the air again, catching it dexterously. "Really now? Glad you approve."

She gave Sly an apologetic look. "Well, at first, I was a little guarded about the whole idea." She smiled up at the hippo who was holding her hand. "Then I came to see how perfect Murray and I are for each other, and I decided that it's not such a bad…profession after all."

Sly nodded. "Well, being that we master thieves only steal from major criminals, it's really not. We're pretty friendly individuals, despite what the news reports may say about us."

The gentle breeze blew her wispy brunette hair and she smiled. "Oh yea, he explained everything to me. For fun, not profit and all that. And, from what he tells me, you all seem like a tight bunch of friends."

Sly looked back to the group. Dimitri and Bentley made their way over as Penelope and Carmelita remained on the quilt.

"Well as group leader of this tight bunch, allow me to introduce you to everyone. This is our good friend, and my cold-blooded brother, Bentley. He's the brains of our little organization," Sly informed her.

The turtle shook hands with the female warthog. "It's great to meet you, Tabby. Murray hasn't stopped talking about you since you two met."

Tabby giggled, placing a hand on her hip. "Well I hope he hasn't been saying anything bad about me."

"Oh no," the turtle assured her. "He's quite taken with you."

Murray blushed, though the color hardly showed on his pink cheeks.

She chuckled as she snaked her arms around his broad middle. "I'm kinda taken with him too. And it's great to finally meet you too, Bentley."

Sly then gestured to the iguana. "This is Dimitri. He's our underwater specialist. There's not much going on in his head, so don't take anything he says seriously."

Dimitri elbowed Sly and glared at him. "You're one to talk Cracker-box." He didn't shake Tabby's hand but instead took her hand and kissed it. "Hello, lovely. Always sweet to be in the company of a beautiful lady."

Murray held Tabby with a protective edge to his posture.

She drew back and scrunched her snout in amusement. "Uh…nice to meet you too Dimitri."

"Like I said, don't take him seriously," Sly reminded her, and she smiled. Sly walked over to stand behind the two females on the quilt. "These are our lovely female members." He put a hand on the mouse's shoulder. "This here is our RC specialist and now security system hacker extraordinaire, who also happens to be Bentley's girlfriend: Penelope."

Tabby and Penelope smiled and waved at each other.

"And this…" Sly said, sitting on the quilt behind the vixen and pulling her to him as he kissed her cheek, "…is my wife Carmelita." He then rested his chin on her shoulder and rubbed her belly. "And dis is our wittle baby," he cooed. Carmelita rolled her eyes and shoved him off with a smirk.

Tabby grinned as she bent down to shake hands with her. "Aww. Nice to meet you, Carmelita. You must be really excited."

Carmelita smiled as she returned the handshake. "Great to meet you too, Tabby. And at this point, I'm just ready for it to be outta me." They both laughed before Carmelita added, "But yes, we're thrilled." Carmelita looked over to the mouse, who then spoke up.

"Carmelita and I were just setting up our picnic now, if you'd like to join," Penelope said. "Pimiento cheese and egg salad sandwiches. Take your pick. We made enough for everyone."

Tabby sat down next to the mouse. "Thanks, I'd love to! Either one sounds good to me. I'm just really hungry."

"Me too!" Murray added, plopping down beside the tawny warthog.

The others laughed. Murray and Tabby really did seem to make the perfect pair.

After the picnic, Penelope, Tabby, and the boys all played Frisbee for a little while longer, while Carmelita napped in the sun, as she was not really up to playing any game involving physical activity. She much preferred to rest her body, due to the fact that it was currently inhabited by someone else, and that alone left her feeling exhausted.

When they'd all had their fill of tossing the disc around, Tabby and Murray decided to wrestle a bit and show the others their impressive tussle techniques. Sly tried to mimic their moves on Dimitri, which proved to be an unfair fight, since Dimitri was not skilled in physical combat whatsoever. To a point, Sly almost took pity on the poor reptile's ability, rather inability, to fight back.

Penelope and Bentley sat under the shade of a pine tree, researching the intriguing talisman a little more on Bentley's laptop to see if they could find anything beneficial to their time machine preparations. Out of the corner of his eye, Bentley saw Carmelita slowly wake and get to her feet, and head for a nearby nature trail. He almost asked her where she was going, but shrugged and thought she just desired to take a little walk.

"So, if I grab Dimitri around the neck like this-" Sly said, gripping his neck.

"Hey! Easy man!" the iguana protested. "Watch the collar!"

Tabby giggled as she jumped on Murray's back, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Yes if you apply pressure and can compress the carotid artery without compressing the airway, he should be unconscious in a matter of seconds," she explained.

Sly grinned a cheeky grin. "Lemme try again, Dimitri. C'mon."

Dimitri crossed his arms, closing his eyes as he tilted his head upwards. "No way bro! Forget it!" He turned to walk away and Sly tackled him to the ground, causing Dimitri to screech loudly. Murray and Tabby chortled as they watched the raccoon and iguana tussle good-naturedly. It didn't take long for Dimitri to escape his grasp and inch away from him, leaping to his feet. He held his hands up. "Smoky alert! I surrender! I'm takin' a smoke break!" He turned and ran for his car.

Sly rolled onto his back, laughing at his iguana friend as he ran away from the 'fight'. When his laughter died down he stared up at the sky for a moment, watching the puffy clouds slowly pass over in the light cerulean sky. He then pulled himself up to a sitting position and looked around at all his friends. He couldn't help but notice that someone was missing. "Hey," he said. "You guys seen Carm?"

Bentley looked up from his computer. "She went walking down that nature trail there." Bentley pointed to the small road flanked with woodland conifers.

Sly frowned as he stood up. "Huh," he said aloud in a suspicious tone. "She's always running off…"

Sly walked down the nature trail, looking for the missing fox. He had no idea why she'd run off again. He thought maybe she just wanted to be alone for a while; Carmelita did savor her alone time.

After walking a good distance down the rocky path surrounded by towering conifers and evergreens that gave off a strong pine scent, he spotted her, sitting down at the base of a tree. Her back was to him as she sat on the edge of a rocky cliff ahead. She appeared to be sulking. That explained why she had left; she apparently took a walk to cool off.

Sly crossed his arms, not really feeling up to dealing with her erratic moods today. "Alright Carm, who made you mad this time? Did Dimitri say something outta line?"

She didn't respond.

He exhaled deeply through his nose. "What, you're not speaking to me now?"

She didn't answer verbally, but instead let out a small moan.

His brow furrowed and his ears twitched as he walked over to stand beside her. Her eyes were tightly shut and she was clutching her belly. She didn't look angry or annoyed like he'd assumed; she looked pained.

His features filling with concern, Sly put a comforting hand on her shoulder and squatted down beside her. "Carm? You ok?"

A few moments passed before she looked up at him. She had a stricken look in her chestnut eyes. Her voice was breathy as she answered. "Sly…I…I think it's time."

Her words didn't register at first. Then when he figured out what she meant, his eyes popped wide and he knelt down in front of her, clamping his hands on her shoulders. "Now? Are you sure?" he asked.

She groaned softly and slowly nodded her head.

Sly put a hand over his forehead, flooded with anxiety. This was it. The time had finally come.

The two were so focused on what was happening that neither one of them noticed the figure looming overhead. In the blink of an eye, it swooped down and grabbed Carmelita up in its talons.

Her scream of terror sliced through the humid air.

Sly's head whipped around, and he stared up in horror at a being that eerily resembled enemies he'd battled long ago, hovering above him. It was like being face to face with a reincarnation of a combination of all five of them, only with a majestic mane and feline face. It left the raccoon frozen in bewilderment, his jaw falling open at the sight before him. The terrifying chimera was holding Carmelita and staring down at her with a malicious grin, flashing a set of disturbing needle teeth.

He laughed a low, maniacal laugh, watching her hyperventilate as she stared up in fright at him.

"M…M-M…Mélange!" she squeaked out.

He put a talon to her chin. "Hello my little Señorita. Well, I suppose 'little' is a poor adjective choice. Look at you, you're positively glowing!" His sugar-coated tone barely camouflaged the utter sarcasm and disgust in his deep voice.

Sly's heart raced wildly in his chest as he stared up at the chimera, his muzzle agape. This couldn't be real; it had to be some sort of horrific nightmare.

She whimpered as she squirmed futilely in his clutches, her breathing labored due to fear and the pain of the contraction, and the creature seemed to enjoy it greatly. He grabbed her wrist and examined her wedding ring, which had been soldered to her engagement ring, with a smile. "Ah I see you've gotten married. Good girl. Trying to rectify your little mistake. Although your efforts are in vain I'm afraid."

"Let her go!" Sly yelled up to the monster, now standing and clenching his fists. Though he tried to sound intimidating, his tone was filled with panic.

The chimera looked down at the raccoon, who looked horrified and furious all at once. Flapping his enormous brown wings, he laughed again, a psychotic look in his blazing eyes. "Oh if only it were that simple," he spat out. "I've been looking for you for weeks now, Cooper. Participating in your merry little game of hide-and-seek. Did you really think that running off and hiding out in Sicily would save you? Did you honestly expect it to be so easy to escape me like that?" He gave him a look of feigned sympathy, and began to take for the sky.

"Sly! Help me! Please!" Carmelita cried, reaching a hand out to him in desperation, as Mélange soared higher into the air.

"NO! WAIT!" Sly shouted, reaching up to her. "Bring her back!"

At once, Mélange stopped and spun around in the air, his perturbing eyes narrowing as he looked down at the distraught coon. A green orb of energy blazed in his avian palm and he hurled it directly at Sly, who barely dodged it. The green orb blasted violently into the ground, sending clumps of dirt and rocks sailing into the air. Sly fell back into the rocky earth, breathing heavy from the close call with the ethereal substance that had been thrown at him. He stood once more and looked up at the red eyes glaring back at him. The chimera lifted Carmelita in the air, holding her with one hand by the nape of her neck, dangling her like a rag doll. "Want your little furball, Cooper?" Mélange taunted. "Well we can…negotiate…on the crater of Mt. Etna." He pointed to the volcano in the distance with his free hand. "If you can catch me before I get there and I decide to throw her to the lava, that is." He then held the laboring fox in both hands again and caressed her face. "Better hurry Cooper…the clock is ticking." He laughed ominously before taking flight and gliding into the distance.

"STOP!" Sly yelled at the top of his lungs. It was a waste of breath and vocal strain as the beast flew higher and farther away.

"SLLLLYYYYYYY!" Carmelita wailed.

Sly watched as Mélange took his whole world away, flying off with his wife and unborn. His knees gave out and he fell on all fours as he heard her wail echo, crying out to him over and over. "Carm," he whispered. "No…"

At that moment, the rest of the crew ran up to Sly.

"There he is!" Bentley said, pointing out to the raccoon near the ledge. Following behind him were Penelope, Murray, Tabby, and Dimitri trailing behind the rest.

Murray ran over to stand next to Sly. "Hey little buddy. We heard someone screaming. Everything ok?"

Sly continued to stare out in the distance at the volcano, a forlorn look gracing his procyonid features. "Carm's in labor," he answered in a faint voice.

At hearing this, the whole group began talking at once.

Penelope shushed them, noticing the vixen was nowhere in sight, and also noticing Sly's distressed face. She knelt down next to the raccoon. "Where is she Sly?" Penelope asked.

His lips trembled as he continued to stare out at the flying figure heading for the smoking crater of Mt. Etna. "Mélange took her."

Everyone followed Sly's gaze, staring in silence, no one saying a word but all thinking the same thing: they had to save Carmelita and the kit, before it was too late.

Well little Cooper, your timing couldn't be worse.

Surprise! Mr. M has returned! And he's taken a captive. Uh oh…

Expect an epic final boss battle of sorts ahead. On the crater of a volcano. Feel familiar? We've reached a proper story climax folks!