Chapter 15- The Best Laid Plans

"So they met in a cave," asked Sly, settling down into the couch nearest the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

"Yes," replied the bat, lounging deeper into the armchair across from the raccoon.

"In the middle of the arctic," reiterated Bentley, seated in his wheelchair to the right of Luc.

"Yes," answered the bat once more.

"All 'cause of some thing Clockwerk's dad had for Sly's family?" asked Murray, rounding out his question with a scratch of his head.

"That is indeed correct, my friend," concluded Luc. He let out a deep sigh before trying to stand up. It didn't amount to much more than struggling around in his chair for a moment before a worried looking Claire helped him get up and out. Inwardly cursing his old age, he flashed a smile of thanks, and then addressed her in a more direct manner;

"I know it isn't truly in my place to ask," he queried in a raspy voice, "but would you happen to have anything that the lot of us could eat?"

As if on cue, Carmelita's stomach let out a rather impressive sounding growl. Sly started to laugh, but stopped to nurse his arm after the fox none too gently slugged him in the shoulder.

Claire stopped to think for a moment, and then turned on her heel to head towards the small kitchen that was attached to the room they were in. "Give me just a sec to run through what I have."

Luc, now standing, turned to face the rest of the group, an indecipherable expression on his grizzled face. "That is how they met," he stated simply, glancing down at gold watch he kept wrapped around his thumb out of habit, "but we are too short on time for me to continue at the current moment."

Sly shifted slightly in his seat, noting (with much pleasure) how Carmelita moved closer to him as he did so. He placed a hand on top of hers and began to move his thumb back and forth across the top of it, a smile playing at the corner of his lips as he felt a small, cool lump on one of her fingers. It didn't go unnoticed to the bat in front of him.

Deciding to keep his observations to himself, knowing that Sly would tell the others when he saw fit, Luc took a step forward. He exhaled softly as he drew a small sheet of aged, slightly torn paper from beneath his wing and placed it on the over-polished oak coffee table that the others surrounded. "This is a piece of the journal that I was able to take from Ambroise before I took my leave, the one that I presented to you all earlier that contains what appears to be the arctic circle," he said, indicating the fragment of a map in front of him. "Unfortunately for us, however-"

Sly finished his sentence for him. "-It's only a part of it."

The aging bat nodded once, and then directed his gaze at Aero; "Would you care to finish our friend's observation?"

Aero gratefully obliged. "We can't find Annette's vault with only a part of the map," he said, stepping forwards as he knelt down to get a better look at the page. "But that also holds true for Amby." He gently lifted the yellowed document, making an effort to put as little pressure on it as possible. Turning it over in his hands, he examined the lower left-hand corner and the signature that it held. "Luc and I were able to do a bit of research into the locations indicated on the part of the map that we have, and made a few interesting discoveries along the way," he said, not once breaking his gaze from the flowing handwriting in the corner. He set the paper back down onto the table and indicated a series of circles drawn on to the paper in seemingly random locations. "Luc?"

"Thank you, monsieur Christophe," the bat continued. He gently rubbed at his still aching side, and then knelt down to where Aero had been. "We are not entirely certain we would be able to locate it even with the full map in our possession." He pointed a claw at the top-most circle drawn on the map. "This is where Clockwerk landed when his ship froze in place." He swiped from where he was indicating to a point a little lower down, to another circle. "This is where the Vikings turned around." Sliding his claw even further down, he tapped the center of the last circle. "And this is where the Greek explorer Pytheas turned back. All three points of interest land where the important voyage to the arctic ended."

Bentley rolled his wheelchair slightly forward, angling it towards the kneeling bat. "That's all well and good, but how is any of this important?" Penelope padded over behind him and put her hand on the back of his chair.

Aero helped Luc back into a standing position, and then turned to face the turtle. "We aren't entirely certain," the cheetah truthfully said with a shrug. "What struck us is that she would choose to record these events in her journal at all."

"We assume," added Luc, playing off of his partner's last thought, "that she considered all of these locations as potential sites for her vault. The issue, however, is discovering which, if any, of these indicates the final placement."

"And without the second half of the map," continued Aero, "we won't be able to know if any more locations were-" He cut his words off short and blinked comically, unable to finish his sentence as the smell of bacon found its way to his nose.

All in attendance turned to face the kitchen. Clearly visible from across the bar, Claire was tending to a pan of bacon that sizzled happily over the stovetop, its enticing aroma filling all corners of the room that they were in. Noticing a lull in conversation, she looked up from her post only to be met with seven hungry stares. She looked around nervously, coughed once, and then directed her focus back on to the skillet.

A short number of minutes later, a simple breakfast was served consisting of several strips of bacon and a slice of bread apiece. Claire looked over all of them as the sound of silverware against china clicked and clacked gently throughout the room, thankful that they were able to eat what meager offerings she had. Normally, she wouldn't be caught dead without a fully stocked pantry and fridge that could offer up any number of dishes on a whim, but thanks to recently being let go from her job as a clerk at the local hotel, funds have been a little short. She was torn as to what to do; to go with her 'relative' (she still didn't fully believe him, though what reason would he have to lie to her?) off on some crazy adventure, or stay behind and risk drawing the attention of some apparently very unsavory individuals. Her troubled mind must have shown through, as the one she had come to know as 'Luc' looked at her quizzically.

"Are you doing okay, my girl?" inquired the bat, gesturing to the untouched plate in front of her.

She shook her head, clearing it of any stray thoughts, and then smiled unconvincingly. "Yeah," she replied, shyly pushing her untouched plate towards a very grateful Aero, "just… confused."

"You know just about as much as the rest of us," offered Sly around a mouthful of food.

"I know. It's just that… Well… That's not a lot,"

Sly sighed softly, understanding the truth in her statement. He swallowed and then opened his mouth to speak, but slowly closed it, unable to find any words that would comfort the female raccoon sitting across from. Luckily for him, Carmelita noticed the potentially awkward pause in conversation and jumped in to take his place.

"No, it's not," she said, drawing the attention of both raccoons. "Dios…" she rubbed her temples, looking down. "From what we do know," she flicked her eyes over to Luc, her hands still on her head, "or, from what we have been told, this is big. Everything that has even remotely involved that demon of a bird Clockwerk has nearly ended the world," she said, recounting her various run-ins with the evil entity.

"Clockwerk had kept himself alive by hating the Cooper family," continued Aero in a cool voice, "and now, we are dealing with someone who has taken it a step further by keeping himself alive by hating Clockwerk."

Sly sputtered on his drink and then looked over at the cheetah. "He hates Clockwerk? What?" He had figured that since Clockwerk was the one that created him, he would have some sort of sick bond with the bird.

"Long story condensed considerably in the interest of time; yes," finished Luc, pushing his now empty plate forwards. "I will finish my earlier story at a later date, have you no worry."

Sly once again found himself at a loss for words, noting with displeasure that this has been happening more and more often.

Claire looked down towards the table. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, then," she said to no one in particular. "I guess none of us do."

"Unfortunately not, dearest," Aero said somberly. "We either take the initiative and distance ourselves from him, or wait around until he finds us."

Luc looked over to him and tapped discreetly at his watch.

"Now, however," the cheetah continued, both standing up and pushing in his chair in one fluid motion, "I must take my leave. If I'm gone much longer, Amby's slithery little pet, Khal, will start to notice that something's up." Exiting the dining room, he made his way over to the window on the far side of the living room. Undoing the latch at the bottom, he lifted it up and twisted around to face the others. Flashing them all a quick smile, he turned back around and used an arm to vault himself silently over.

Murray spoke up for the first time since finishing his plate, "What is it with you Numbers guys and jumping out of things?"

Luc shrugged. "Moving on from that, however, we are still left with the issue of Roush knowing exactly where we are as well as none of us knowing where the vault of one Anette Cooper resides." Luc stood up and began walking around the table to collect the plates from in front of all at the table. Stacking them neatly, he deposited them on the counter next to the sink. "Short of asking her ourselves," he said, continuing his previous thought, "I doubt we will ever be able to know exactly where it is. Now, this is fine with me, however…" he trailed off, looking over to Claire.

She took his hint, finding it slightly off-putting to look into his milky-white eyes. "But this Ambroise guy," she ventured, "Won't stop 'destroying the world' until he finds it?"

Luc winked at her, "Precisely." He tucked his wings neatly at his side, and began to walk back and forth across the dining room. "The way I see things," he said, turning on his heel to begin pacing in the other direction, "we are presented with a number of choices on how to handle the current situation."

"I guess walking up to Ambroise's front door and politely asking him to stop is out of the question?" Sly quipped.

Luc chuckled dryly, "I'm afraid so."

Carmelita decided to speak up next. "Finding the vault would certainly make things easier, but for the sake of continuing to plan, let's consider it an impossibility for now." She looked up, finding several sets of eyes gazing at her expectantly. "Wouldn't it make better sense to try and weaken Ambroise before we tried to stop him?"

Bentley looked up at her, a look of understanding in his eye. "I think I know what you're trying to get at. If I may, Inspector?" he asked, wishing to elaborate on her thought. She nodded. "If we could find some way to take out the other Numbers one by one, we could do some serious damage."

The former Number furrowed his brow, surprised that a solution as simple as what the fox and turtle in front of him had suggested had eluded him. "As it happens," he said, slightly disappointed in himself. "Four is operating out of London as of speaking."

Sly clapped his hands together, causing Claire to jump slightly in her seat. "Then it's settled, right? We go after… whatever their name is in London."

Luc tucked his wings back into his sides. "I do believe we have ourselves a plan, ladies and gentlemen," he said happily. "Claire, I am afraid that I must ask something of you again."

The female raccoon, shifting slightly in her chair, turned to look at him. "I'm willing to help."

"Excellent, my girl," he continued. He had hoped that Claire would be easy to bring onto their cause. "Would you happen to have a vehicle that we all may use?"

She looked around, grinning slightly. "Even if I were to say no, couldn't the famous Cooper gang just take it?" she challenged.

Now it was Sly's turn to start smiling. "I dunno, cars can be a little tricky."

"I take it that we are free to take full use of any and all resources, then?" asked Luc, stopping any back and forth banter before it could begin. He sighed; they just simply didn't have the time.

"Uh, yeah. Sure," she said, noting the sense of impatience in his voice. Luc's features softened considerably at hearing this.

The bat was going to speak once more, to voice his happiness at how easy it was to bring Claire on to their side, but was silenced by Sly as he took over the conversation. "Let's get it together then, guys," he said, standing up. "Let's get what we need for the road and then get out of here."

Penelope smiled broadly. "To London!"