Final chapter here so let's see if I can't tie any loose ends up. Grab a cup of coffee, it is going to be a long one. :)
*Same disclaimer: I own no Sucker Punch characters, but the plot is my own. :P*
Chapter Ten: It Ends Tonight
Still with Carmelita in his strong arms, Sly watched Interpol crumble to the ground. In an ironic kind of sense sirens from local fire stations and police were heard coming his way. "That building is probably nothing but dust now. Bently must have overdid it." His devilish smirk was quickly forgotten. "Bently... Murry..."
Cops coming quick Sly dodged in the alley trying not to rattle Carmelita too much in the process. He could feel how cold the fox had become. The team van was not far from Sly. This wasn't the first time his heart had been torn in two about a life and death situation. After safely loading Carmelita into the back of the van Sly did something he hadn't done for a very long time. Taking off with a sharp jerk he headed off in the opposite direction towards the hospital. Every second during with twenty minute ride through the morning sunlit town made his heart twist and his stomach churn.
"Carmelita is fading fast. She's needs help now." He tried to convince himself. "Bently's a smart guy. There's no way he would have still been in that building when the bombs went off."
A cafe was on the upcoming corner. Children in sun dresses and suits sat next to their parent who sipped on cups of coffee. It was a picturesque morning of a normal life in Paris. A life Sly have had with the woman of his dreams and not leaving his friends in an unknown state while he rushed the near death fox to the hospital. Driving past them Sly imagined it was Carmelita and him sitting there with a litter of Fox/Cooper breed so soundly around them.
"Father." Sly whispered to the spirit of his dad. "I know you and mom had your relationship ups and downs and that you two gave me a wonderful childhood, but... I don't think I can do this anymore." With the hospital in view Sly took a pause on his conversation. He pulled into the emergency entrance where doctors on a smoke break were stunned by his arrival.
One was a white female peacock and the other a brown bull. "Hey, you can't park here!" The woman screamed at sly when he shut off his engines.
The bull decided to go to Sly's driver side to give him an ear full about the hospital regulations, but he was stopped in his track. Sly was already out of the van and going for the back door. They watch in horror as the battered raccoon with cuts on every part of his body opened the van to reveal a fox in even worse condition.
"What happened?" The man signaled his companion to go and get help.
Sly was ready with the perfect lie. "We had been walking on the other side of town when the Interpol building exploded." Even though Carmelita looked liked she had been bound, beaten, stabbed, and shot, all of which she had, Sly was hoping the bull wouldn't think twice about it.
A surgical team brought out two stretchers. They first loaded the fox and then tried to get Sly to come with them. As much as he wanted to be with Carmelita he knew there was nothing he could do for her. He pushed all of the grubby paws off of him and headed back for the front seat. Revving up the engine Sly was out of there as fast as he had come.
"They'll take her in and fix her up." He tried to comfort himself. "I have maybe twenty four hours before they can identify her. That should leave me plenty of time." Miles in the distance Sly could see the rising smoke of what was sure now to be from Interpol's debris.
Smoke was rising through the building while pieces of it were giving way. A green turtle in a bow tie and a pink hippo in a wrestler's mask carried an unconscious calico feline up the crumbling stairs. Murry used every ounce of his determination, which was as about as much as he weighed, to out run the disaster behind him.
"Just one more level!" Bently urged his friend onward and upwards.
Chucks of foundation began to fall from the sky. The cement ranged from pebble to two tone boulders. It only took Murry one smash of his free hand to clear the hallways for them. Electric wires popped out of the walls. They were exposed and still live. Somewhere ahead of the pair the exposed wire sparked. A fire raged in front of Murry and Bently and to the sides of them. Bently was able to shook his ice darts at some of the milder fires to help ease the flames creeping towards their bodies.
"All this smoke!" Bently coughed to the hippo who had started to slow down. "I need my inhaler!" His nasally voice coughed.
"I know pal." Murry swooped down and picked Bently up with his free hand. "My goggles are clouded. I haven't been able to see for awhile now."
Bently shook his head. "We're doomed." His words were neither solemn nor optimistic.
Murry may not have been the sharpest crayon in the box, but he could tell when his friend was scared. "Don't worry Bently! You said it yourself, we're almost there."
And like a gift from the heaves they came to the exit door for the roof.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! An entire batch of grenades were going off beneath them. Now breathing the crisp, clean morning air Bently was able to pull himself together. He his bow to shoot a line for the fire escape on the nearest closet building. The other end was tied to the water
"I don't know Bently." Murry stood on the ledge of the roof with Elle still thrown over his shoulder. "I doubt this string would hold my weight, let alone Elle as well." Plus he was able to look over the edge. They were higher up than he had anticipated.
"Don't worry. This rope was made to sustain over three thousand pounds." He handed Murry a pulley and then gave him a sturdy push.
Something about a half ton hippo holding on to a piece of thread with a metal wheel didn't sit right with him. They wobbled a good hundred feet before he crashed through the wall of the office building. Through his binoculars Bently watched Murry get up out of the rubble.
"Guess I'd better shoot another line." Bently reached for another arrow.
POP! Something flew off of the building and hit Bently in the back of the head. He was out cold.
From the distance at the other building Murry watched as Bently got ready to release his bow when he suddenly toppled over.
"Bently!" Murry tossed Elle down and was about to bounce back to his best friend. "Huh?" One foot out of the hole in the office Murry say someone come up behind the turtle.
"Huh?" Back on what was left of the Interpol building Bently was coming to just as he felt thunderous plods shake the pebble beneath him. "Oh!" Small, stubby arms wrapped around his waist before he zipping on the rope he had shot before being knocked out. "Ah..." His screams were drowned out just as the building behind them was falling to the ground.
Murry was able to catch Bently as he and Chief Barkley came flying though the hole in the wall. Barkley was able to land on his own two feet and struck a heroic pose with his legs spread and hands at his sides. Bently and Murry, along with an entire office of workers, watched Interpol of Paris fall and become nothing but mere dust.
Sly raced to the other side of town to see that a blockade had already been set up a quarter mile around the site. A mob had gathered at that point and tried to look through the mass of police officers and SWAT members. Using a quick disguise change Sly was able to blend perfectly in the crowd. People limped away from the debris. Some needed support to help the walk. He sorted through the faces and not one of them was Murry or Bently.
"Ah!" He screamed as loud as he could, but was not heard over the frenzy around him. Sly grabbed at his hair with his thin fingers and looked at the sky. The stress was getting the better of him. "Huh?" Catching a glance at the building next to what was Interpol Sly spotted something that made him take a double look.
Chief Barkley was standing through a gaping hole in the wall of an office building like a super hero after defeating his arch nemesis and saving the world. What surprised him even more was that Murry was standing there too with Bently in his arms! There had never been a moment in his life when he was more relieved and happy to see the goofballs. Sly zipped through the building and found his friends. After a brief man hug they looked to Chief Barkley.
"I was making sure none of my men were still in the building. After that first bomb went off I started sweeping every room and eventually found my way to the roof and that little fella." He pointed to Bently. "I was in such a rush to save people that I didn't plan on how I was getting out of there. Luckily he already had an escape. I grabbed him and well here we are."
"So what now?" Sly said what was on the others minds.
"I am going to be quite honest with you, Cooper." Barkley took a deep breath. "We've been after you and your gang for years now, you turned my best officer, and destroyed the Interpol headquarters."
The Cooper Gang held their breaths in. It was not sounding good.
"I have also known for a long time that seeds of corruption had been sewn in my office. Seeds that were sprouting and tarnishing out good nature." They all looked over at Elle who still lay unconscious. "You've never actually committed a 'true crime.' Well that was before my office was destroyed. We're damaged and our resources are spread pretty thin."
More bad news. Sly and his pals were ready to turn themselves in.
"But as I don't see any criminals here, there's nothing I can do." He turned his back to the trio.
Sly had known what the chief meant. They began to make their lightning fast exit when Barkley had one more piece of advice to relay.
"I now know what Carmelita see's in you guys. Why she had been so passionate all these years about catching you guys and bringing you to justice..." They didn't know it, but a tear was falling down the gruff mans eye. "Treat her right or else I will find you."
On his last words Sly nodded then left the room at their own pace. Almost everyone in that office had left to see the show going on next doors. By the time Barkley finished his cigar he turned around to see he was all alone.
"Ugh, this is not going to be fun." With a little hesitation, Chief Barkley went to join his crew out on the ground. He also had to explain how he ended up in the opposite building.
Murry drove to one of their vacant safe houses while Bently check himself out for any critical damage.
"How are you?" Sly joined the turtle in the back of the van. Bently was just finishing up a scan of his torso and checking for major cracks in his shell.
"No real damage. Some minor shell fractures and a bump on the head." He took a huge whiff of his inhaler. "A little smoke inhalation never killed anyone." Bently tried to smile to let Sly know it was alright.
The raccoon's face softened. "You know you guys are my only family. I'd never been able to forgive myself had something happened to you guys."
Erk! Murry brought the van to an abrupt stop.
"Listen Sly, you'd never have to have forgiven yourself for that. It was our decision and our decision alone. And besides, you would have done the same thing for us had the situation called for it." He started the van again.
"He's right Sly." Bently tried to press it into his brain.
"Darn right I'm right." They barely heard the hippo mumble. "We're family!" He shouted back at them.
"And now Carmelita is undoubtedly part of this family." Bently couldn't look at Sly while saying his part. "And we'd all pay any cost to save a family member."
"Thanks guys... Um, well speaking of Carmelita." Sly hated asking his friend for a favor after everything they had just went through.
"I'm printing up the fake I.D's now and uploading it to the hospital's database as we speak, Sly." Bently was always one step ahead of him.
The trio showed up to the hospital claiming to be Carmelita's brothers which raised some eyebrows as none of them looked a like. The hospital staff cleared the identification as real and after Carmellita's several surgeries, they were allowed to wait in her room until she regained consciousness. It was another three days before Carmelita opened her eyes and when she did she went wide eyed.
"Who are you?" The faces were looming over her.
"Psst!" Sly winked underneath his orange fox makeup.
A smile crept over her pale face. "You'll have to tell me everything later."
"After you've regained your strength, my love." He took her dainty paws in his.
"I love you and no act of nature nor the heavens can keep me away from you. I am finally ready to give myself and my all to this family." Carmelita knew the other two strangers in the crane and elephant get-ups were really Bently and Murry.
"I believe Sly has been waiting a very long time to hear that." He punched the raccoon's small arm.
Sly stumbled and hit the ground. Everyone shared in a laugh. Everything had felt so right to them.
Carmelita was released from the hospital and was grateful to have her three best friends help her with her recuperation. When the heat over the Interpol explosion never seemed to die down, the gang moved out to a small mountain town in Sweden. With a heavy heart Sly continued his master thievery, that is with a whole lot of coaxing from Carmelita. She still had a high respect for law and order, but now she saw the logic behind what Sly had been doing all his years. It was hard do to due to the fact that she never cared for vigilantes. If the situation had ever become too much for her 'cop' half to handle, the gang respected her wishes and proceeded in a way that work for all of them.
Standing on her deck, Carmelita looked out over the cliff to a nearby valley. Sly came behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
"What a beautiful and cloudless day this is." She tried to say as Sly rubbed his muzzle on her neck.
They were married and Bently and Murry moved out of the house against Sly and Carmelita's wishes.
"Well we can't stay around here any longer." Bently said with his bags in hand.
"Yeah, where else will the children live." Murry motioned to Carmelita's giant stomach.
They moved into a house they had specially built right next to Sly's and Carmelita. Time moved on and the children were born. Bently met a nice mouse girl name Penelope and Murry went on to professionally race. Through it all they were still the gang that came from broken backgrounds and brought together by love and loyalty. Every now and again Carmelita and the gang would go out on jobs, but even time ends all good things. The next generation of the Cooper Gang was trained and the children of Sly and Carmelita's dozen rug-rats, along with Bently's and Penelope's brainiacs, and Murrys and his racing companion wife speed demons continued the gangs legacy for generations to come.
They retired happily and just as in much love as they had been the first time they laid eyes on each other in Paris on a dark, star filled night.
Hope it was satisfying. I was thinking of turning it into another two chapters, but I kept telling myself to get it done now. It took me twelve hours, on and off, today to write it. I really enjoyed writing this and actually am sad to have done so. It's like the ending of an era for me. When you start writing a story, sometimes all you have is the beginning and end planned out. Everything else is spontaneous. It's been real people, so that's all I really have to say. It it so sad that other writers from the time I started this are no longer around. They were such a good group of support with wonderful stories and oodles of talent. :'( Enjoy this cause I really don't know if I can give my heart to another fan fiction project. Goodnight all.