Chapter 5 Seeing is Believing
Sly was at least able to stand when Murray practically broke down his door to get in, but he was still in rough shape.
Upon seeing Sly's disheveled appearance and the clear lingering pain he was in, the hippo raced forward and yanked Sly into a massive but gentle hug.
"Don't you worry, Sly," he said into his ear a little too loudly, but with earnestness bleeding through with every word. "We're gonna fix you up no problem. The Murray promises that."
"I'll hold you to that one," Sly replied, appreciating the gesture.
Murray hurried to pick up the Thievius Raccoonus and escorted Sly out the door to a large and loudly-painted blue van with some strange mechanics and even what appeared to be rocket boosters grafted onto it.
There, Bentley appeared to be fusing the last of the odd parts into place and lifted his welding mask up when they approached.
"Describe what happened?" he said, clearly in full science mode.
While still in disbelief despite having seen it himself, Sly explained everything that had happened, from the vanishing page, to his pain, to beginning to see even himself start to disappear along with the writings.
At his words, Bentley looked grim. "It's as I feared. Despite my machine, time is something we are very quickly running out of."
"Yeah, about that time machine," said Sly, eyeing the crazy van in front of him. "Mind explaining that."
"Certainly," said Bentley, hopping his wheelchair into the van and gesturing for Sly to join him. "But I think it'd be better if I just showed you instead."
Swallowing his skepticism and instinctive worry he was about to be kidnapped, Sly climbed into the van after him, and Murray moved over to the driver's seat.
"Now Sly, can you tell me what this is?" asked Bentley as he sat in his wheelchair next to a large jar-shaped mechanism in the back of the truck and held something up for Sly to see.
Sly sat down beside him looked at it and quirked an eyebrow. "It's this evening's paper."
"Precisely," said Bentley. "This newspaper didn't exist before today. Specifically, when it was printed this afternoon. My time machine requires objects originating from different points in time and uses them to take us to those times. So, if I were to put this paper in like so…"
Bentley put the newspaper into the jar, and the whole thing sparked with electricity, and the machinery around them began to hum.
"Punch it, Murray," the turtle called to the front.
Murray gunned the engine, and the van began shooting down the road at breakneck speeds.
Sly had to grab the side of the van just to keep from being jostled about. Outside the van's windows, he was shocked to see everything blur together until nothing was left but a blue vortex swirling around the van.
They were only in the vortex for a brief moment before reality reasserted itself.
Or at least, Sly thinks it did. He was pretty sure it was nighttime a few seconds ago.
As the raccoon tried to make sense of what he was seeing, Bentley made it even more confusing by opening the van's door and gesturing for Sly to peer out.
Following his gaze, Sly's jaw dropped.
They were back at the park.
Not only that, across the grass ahead of them near a picnic table there was already a Sly, Bentley, and Murray chatting on oblivious to their onlookers, and if he listened closely he could just make out them having the exact conversation they'd had earlier that day.
"So, time travel doesn't exist, huh," said Bentley, crossing his arms smugly.
Sly forced his jaw up off the ground even as he watched Past Carmelita arrive at the scene and chase Past Bentley and Murray off.
"Murray was right," he said finally.
The Bentley next to him made a noise of confusion, and in the driver's seat, Murray pointed at himself as if to say 'Who? Me?'
"What he said earlier, or, I guess it's just now he said it," said Sly, glancing over to the turtle. "You really are the smartest guy there is. You'd have to be to come up with this."
Bentley sputtered bashfully and Murray laughed.
Glancing between the distant Sly and Carmelita who were now leaving the park and the van around them, Sly asked, "So how are we going to use this to both save my ancestors, save your girlfriend, and how can I help?"
Bentley cleared his throat to get ahold of himself. "Well, to start, we need you to rob that museum."
For the umpteenth time that day, Sly did a double-take. "Wait, what?!"
Sly had no idea how they had talked him into this.
Standing in a criminal hideout and staring at himself in a mirror dressed in blue with a matching hat, black cloth mask over his eyes, and a logo belt like he was some kind of superhero. Sly wondered if it was too late to call it quits and go back to his apartment.
Was he seriously about to rob a museum?
"Can't we just, I don't know, order an antique on eBay?" asked Sly, turning to face Bentley and Murray, who were looking at him with nostalgic expressions on their faces. "There's gotta be a less insane way to do this."
Murray clapped a hand over his mouth at that and giggled. "I'm sorry," he said between snickers. "Just, it's you saying a heist is crazy."
Bentley chuckled at that too, before turning back to Sly and actually answering the question. "It would take a lot of time to find one that's both authentic and comes from the proper time period that we could purchase through legal channels."
"Yeah, but still, stealing from an innocent person?" asked Sly. "It just sounds wrong."
Bentley frowned. "If it makes you feel better we can return it afterward, but for the record, Cyrille Le Paradox is far from innocent. I don't know fully what he's up to, but he's definitely behind a lot of that recent string of art thefts. He's been selling them on ThiefNet to the highest bidder."
Sly's face pinched at that. While hearing the guy was crooked did ease his conscience somewhat, he was disappointed to finally get the tip Carmelita had been needing for her case and was unable to tell her about it. She'd want to know where he'd gotten that info when he was supposed to be in their apartment, and explaining it was not a conversation he was looking forward to.
Seeing Sly needed more convincing, Bentley's expression then grew concerned and he added, "Not only that, and forgive me for saying this, but that attack you had that convinced you to come with us. That was the second one you had today, wasn't it? And it was the worst one yet."
"Well, yeah but-" Sly started to say before another attack hit him in the gut like it had been just waiting for them to talk about it. Thankfully, it was a relatively minor one and he shook it off quickly, but still needed Murray to steady him as he swayed.
Still, Bentley's point had been made. "And that's attack number three. On top of them getting worse, they're growing more frequent. Whatever's going on with Rioichi, I don't think it can wait for shipping and handling to get another artifact to us. We need to get to the past pronto. For your sake if nothing else."
Sly took a deep breath to steady himself. "And do you really think I'm in any shape to pull off a heist?"
"You'll have to be," said Bentley grimly. "Neither Murray nor I have the acrobatic skills required to get to the roof undetected. It has to be you."
Sly sighed. "Great, no pressure or anything."
"Aw, don't worry Sly, you'll do great!" said Murray encouragingly. "Me and Bentley have been casing this place all week, and we'll have your back the entire time."
"He's right," agreed Bentley. "My plan will get us through no problem, and you've trained yourself for this your entire life. It'll be just like riding a bicycle." The turtle then snapped his fingers as something occurred to him. "Speaking of…" he said, turning to another part of the hideout and using his wheelchair's arms to pull something out of a crate.
A long cane with a gold stylized hook at the end of it in the shape of a C.
Sly's eyes widened as he caught sight of it.
Like with the Thievius Raccoonus, something deep inside him told him that this was important. Something he was always meant to have. And when Bentley held it out to him, the raccoon couldn't help but pick it up reverently as if it were irreplaceable.
The cane immediately felt more at home in his hands than his shock pistol ever did.
Instinctively, Sly spun the cane around in his hands, finding himself doing tricks that should have taken years of practice, but instead felt as easy as breathing.
When his impromptu routine was finished, he held the cane up to the light with an awed expression. "Like riding a bicycle, huh?"
Bentley and Murray exchanged a grin. "Yes!" the hippo whooped. "The Cooper Gang is back in business."
Sly wasn't so sure about that, but he adjusted the hat on his head and nodded anyway.
This would be interesting if nothing else.
After leaving the Thievius Raccoonus with an… interesting but apparently trusted friend (who had been thrilled that Sly was about to go steal something. Well, Sly thinks that's what he said. Dimitri's lingo was hard to translate) the three were off to the museum.
Sly had been certain Bentley's plan wouldn't work. There was no way he could do even half the stuff the turtle was asking him to do. He was already planning his apology speech to Carmelita for when he inevitably tripped an alarm it all crashed and burned.
Except… it didn't crash and burn.
The entire plan went off without a hitch.
In fact, it had been easy!
Sly was pretty sure being perched on a skylight while waiting for Bentley to turn off the laser grid was not the best place to have an existential crisis, but he was pretty sure he was having one right now.
Nothing made sense anymore.
One minute he was an Interpol officer on sick leave, with a gorgeous girlfriend/partner in crime fighting. All normal things. The next he was apparently a thief from a long line of thieves, and he and his old gang were about to rob a museum in order to travel back in time to save his own ancestor.
How was this even his life?
And more than that, what did this mean about his past? As crazy as it all was, so far Bentley and Murray seemed legit. They honestly seemed to see him as a friend. The worry Bentley expressed for both him and the still missing Penelope could only be genuine. Murray's earnest care wasn't in doubt. They really seemed like they knew him better than he even knew himself, and the evidence was backing up everything they'd said so far.
So what did that mean about Carmelita? About his job with Interpol? About everything he'd thought was his life?
Was it really all a lie?
Before Sly could come to any conclusions, Bentley chimed in over his earpiece. "Okay, Sly, the security system is down. You're all clear!"
Shaking himself out of his funk, Sly said, "Uh, right, I'm on it."
Propelling himself down from the skylight until he was level with the Japanese dagger. Staring at it for a long moment, wondering if he was really going to do this, he finally reached out and took it.
"Don't forget to leave your calling card," Bentley reminded him in his ear.
Sly twitched at his words and thought of the raccoon-shaped card in his back pocket Bentley and Murray had insisted he take. "Really," he asked, "is that necessary?"
"Well, no," Bentley admitted. "But it's what you've always done before."
Sly shook his head and decided not to place it. He still wasn't sure about this whole thief thing, no matter how naturally it came to him. He was doing this to save people, not show off.
Just as he was about to climb back up to the roof, a door burst open and a shot rang out, slicing his line in two, and sending him falling to the floor.
"What the-?" he asked in confusion.
But when he looked up, silhouetted in the doorway was one Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox.
And she. Was. Furious!
"You didn't really think you were going to get away with this, did you Ringtail?" she asked in a low, dangerous voice, her shock pistol pointed right at his head.
"Carmelita?" Sly said in surprise (and hearing Bentley and Murray begin to panic through his earpiece). She shouldn't be here. She was supposed to be off work by now. Of all the days to stay late. "I can explain!"
"Explain what, you no-good lying thief!?" Carmelita hissed as she stormed closer to him, the shock pistol never leaving him for an instant. "I should have locked you up the second I got my hands on you!"
Sly sucked in a sharp breath at hearing those words, but Carmelita wasn't finished. She was on a roll.
"Why am I not surprised you'd go back to this!" She ranted, almost right on top of him now. "How long have you remembered your past? Or did you even forget it in the first place? Was this all a trick to make a fool out of me?"
She then paused as she seemed to notice he wasn't trying to run away, but was instead just staring up at her with his face ashen beneath his fur.
"Well?" she demanded. "Out with it!"
Sly just stared at her for a very long moment as it all fell into place.
"They were right," Sly finally said in a very quiet voice. "You've been lying to me this whole time."
That took some of the wind out of Carmelita's sails and her eyes widened as she realized that, no, Sly hadn't tricked her and actually didn't remember anything. She'd just blown a hole in her own story and confirmed everything Bentley and Murray had told him.
Still, that didn't change the fact she'd caught him in the act.
"That doesn't matter! What matters is me finding you committing a crime!" she snapped, still angry at what she'd caught him doing.
And you know what, maybe Sly was starting to get angry too.
"Well, gee, Carmelita," he said, standing up and glowering at her. "I happen to think that it matters a lot that my partner, the woman I love, the person I'm supposed to trust to watch my back, has been lying to me about something as important as my entire life!"
Carmelita did not like his tone. "Oh, what, are you trying to tell me this whole stupid heist you're pulling right now was just an act to catch me in a lie?"
"Of course not!" Sly said, clutching the dagger in his hand tightly. "Do you really think I'd be doing something like this all for a petty reason like that?!"
The look Carmelita gave him made it clear she absolutely thought he could be that petty.
"I didn't!" insisted Sly. "I didn't even want to do this!"
"Then why, Sly?" demanded Carmelita, who still had her shock pistol aimed at him but not as high as before and a desperate edge creeping into her voice. "You were out of this business. You were doing good. We were-" she cut herself off and steeled herself. "Why would you throw that all away?"
Sly knew she wouldn't believe his reasons. But fortunately, or rather unfortunately, before he could even open his mouth to try, another attack crashed through him and his words instead came out as a choked scream.
Carmelita actually dropped her pistol in shock as Sly collapsed onto all fours and pain worse than any he'd felt before wracked through him.
And, to his horror, he was once again beginning to flicker. But not just his arm this time, instead his whole body began turning transparent right before his and Carmelita's eyes.
He was literally running out of time.
When the attack finally ran its course, Sly was left panting on the ground with Carmelita standing over him looking horrified and reaching out for him as if she wanted to help but didn't know how.
Finally, Sly managed to pull himself up into a crouch, his cane clutched in one hand and the stolen dagger in his other. "That's why," he said in a hoarse voice. "Turns out the whole time travel thing isn't as loco as we thought it was."
Carmelita just gaped, too shocked to do anything.
Her shock then turned to alarm as Murray's van suddenly crashed backward through the nearby window, the rear end of the vehicle bashing through the glass and setting off every alarm in the building.
The second it was inside, Bentley threw the back door open and his metal arms shot out of his chair to grab Sly by the collar of his shirt and yank him inside. "We have to go!" he shouted, slamming the van doors back shut the instant Sly was inside.
It took a second for Carmelita to register they were getting away, but soon enough she was diving for her shock pistol, but the van was already gunning it away.
Then, before her very eyes, the van drove even faster as the rocket boosters attached to the back activated. Soon it was so fast it was nothing but a blur before it suddenly blinked out of existence entirely.
The only evidence it had even been there in the first place was a license plate that had fallen off when it crashed into the museum.
The Cooper Gang were already off on another adventure.
Well, needless to say, my relationship with Carmelita was probably over.
I didn't want it to end the way it did, with both of us hurt by each other's words and actions, but a relationship built on a lie… is that any kind of relationship at all?
I should have known Carmelita would stay late at work. I've never known anyone else who could be more dedicated to her cases.
I just never realized one of her cases was… me.
I guess I should have known better than to underestimate Inspector Carmelita Fox.
I definitely knew I needed some time to think things over since my entire life had been turned upside down again. I guess being centuries in the past and on the other side of the world was distant enough.
I was almost hoping it would be a long trip.
A/N Sorry this is late. I completely forgot what day it was and which fic is updated this week.
The truth is finally out, and only Bentley and Murray are probably happy about it, Sly and Carmelita meanwhile are steamed. Sly at the lies, and Carmelita that he's gone back to stealing, though she can see there is more to it than just old habits. It's probably a good thing that they're in different time zones for a while to give them time to cool off.