Chapter 3 (Not So) Memorable Meeting

Sly didn't think anything else could surprise him that day after Spex_Guy revealed he knew Sly's name while asking to meet IRL.

It looks like he was wrong about that.

The moment he reached the picnic table it had only taken him a second to clock Spex_Guy and PinkTornado from where they were sitting at it.

And the reason it was so shocking was because… they looked exactly like he'd imagined them when reading their messages in his head.

There was no way Sly could have known Spex_Guy was a short turtle with thick glasses any more than he could have known PinkTornado was a massive pink hippo. But he'd pictured them exactly down to Spex_Guy's high-tech wheelchair and PinkTornado's luchador mask. The fact he instantly knew which of them was which was also very telling.

What was going on here?

They, apparently, knew what he looked like too, as PinkTornado spotted him walking up and gave a friendly wave. "Sly! Over here! We saved you a seat!" he called loudly.

Spex_Guy waved a little more shyly. "Hi, Sly, good to see you," he said.

Sly could only weakly wave back. They even sounded like he'd imagined.

Seriously, what was going on here?

Supremely confused, Sly made his way over to sit down at their table, eyeing them suspiciously.

Seeing that, PinkTornado seemed to deflate and look like a kicked puppy. "You really don't recognize us?" he asked sadly.

"Recognize you?" Sly asked in bewilderment. Then his eyes widened before narrowing again. "I knew you before I lost my memory, didn't I? Were we acquaintances? Friends?"

Spex_Guy and PinkTornado exchanged a glance before the former reached into his pocket and pulled out an old photograph. "You knew us… a bit more than that," he admitted.

Sly took the photo and gaped.

There in the picture was a young raccoon in a blue shirt wearing an impish grin and being hugged like a teddy bear alongside a small bespectacled turtle in the arms of a large and cheerful pink hippo.

Sly didn't need his memories to know this was him as a child.

"Then, you're… what? My childhood friends?" Sly asked.

PinkTornado beamed at him and pulled him into a hug. "Oh yeah, best friends. We're basically your brothers."

Spex_Guy coughed and waved for PinkTornado to tone it down, and the hippo reluctantly set Sly back into his chair. Turning to address the raccoon, the turtle said, "My name is Bentley, and he's Murray.

"The Murray," Murray corrected.

"The Murray," Bentley repeated. "The three of us grew up together in the same orphanage after you lost your parents. We've stuck together ever since."

Sly looked between them and the picture again. They certainly seemed close in the photo, but still… "If we're so close, why didn't you reach out to me after I lost my memories? I was starting to think I was some kind of loser with no friends."

"You're not a loser, Sly," Murray was quick to assure him. "And we did reach out. We've been talking to you this whole time."

Sly opened his mouth but then shut it again as he realized Murray was right. "But why the secrecy?" he asked. "Why not tell me we knew each other? Did Dr. Gray say you couldn't for some reason?"

Bentley squirmed uncomfortably in his wheelchair. "Erm, actually, your therapist never set up our group chat. I hacked into her email and sent it to you instead."

"Ah," said Sly. That explained why Dr. Gray had never mentioned the group chat in their sessions. "Again, why the secrecy?"

"We didn't want to get you or us arrested," said Murray as if it was just that simple.

"Wait, what?" asked Sly in bewilderment, feeling like he was missing something. Why would he, an Interpol officer, need to worry about being arrested?

Bentley sighed. "Sly… There's something important we need to tell you. Something I'm not sure you'll believe, but, well… here." A mechanical hand attached to his wheelchair reached into a pouch on the back and pulled out a large old book.

Sly didn't know why, but his heart skipped a beat at the sight of it.

He didn't know how or why, but one thing was for sure.

That book was important.

Upon seeing Sly's eyes glued to the tome, Bentley handed it over, and Sly held it like it was something delicate.

It didn't look like much on the outside. It was incredibly old, though it looked like it had been rebound within the last few years. There were gold clasps on its brown cover that held its pages shut, and emblazoned on the cover were two words over a caricature of a raccoon's face.

"Thievius Raccoonus," Sly read aloud, running his hands over the words.

"That book has been passed down in your family for generations, Sly," said Bentley. "It has records going back pretty much as far as writing has existed. In it, your ancestors have told all their history about their lives, their achievements… and details what it takes to be a thief as great as you are."

That snapped Sly out of the spell the book had him under. "Wait, what?" he asked in shock. "A thief? I'm not a thief."

Bentley and Murray exchanged a look.

"Uh," said Murray. "Actually, Sly… You kinda are, and we're your gang."

Sly stared at them for a long minute, before forcing out a chuckle. "Okay, haha, you got me," he said. "Nice joke to break the ice IRL."

But both the turtle and the hippo were dead serious. "It's not a joke, Sly. You really are a Master Thief."

But Sly shook his head in denial. "No, just no. There's no way. If I was a thief, there's no way Carmelita would even stand to be in the same room as me without arresting me, much less have me as her partner. Unless…" Sly paled beneath his fur. "Oh no, please tell me I didn't used to be a dirty cop!"

"No, no, you weren't a dirty cop, Sly," Bentley was quick to assure him.

"You weren't a cop at all," Murray added, making Bentley elbow him in the stomach.

Sly's head slowly rotated between the two of them as he gaped. "What?"

Bently sighed. "The truth is Sly, you were never an Interpol agent before your amnesia. Your entire history with them is a fabrication to keep you from the truth and put your skills to use for their benefit."

But Sly was shaking his head in denial. "No, Carmelita told me herself when I woke up that I was her partner. She wouldn't lie about that."

"I mean, she probably would to protect you," said Murray.

"And keep you from escaping her again," Bentley muttered under his breath, soft enough that Sly was pretty sure he hadn't been supposed to hear that.

"Protect me from what?" asked Sly.

The other two exchanged another glance. "We have a lot of enemies, Sly," said Bentley seriously. "Stealing from thieves doesn't exactly give other criminals the warm fuzzies."

Sly put down the book and began massaging his forehead with his hands. "Okay, say I believe you and I was some thief before I lost my memories and got conned into becoming an Interpol agent by one of the most straight-laced inspectors I know. Now what? Why not leave well enough alone? Why-"

He was cut off as he felt another attack hit him like a truck.

With a whimper, he practically collapsed onto the table, grabbing at his chest and praying he stayed conscious through it. He had a strong suspicion these two would just kidnap him if he passed out now.

They might just kidnap him anyway, as he felt Murray's strong arms pick him up, but instead of making off with him somewhere, the hippo gently laid him flat on the grass by the table until the pain finally passed.

When he could finally open his eyes again, it was to the sight of Bentley and Murray looking down at him with fear and worry rivaling Carmelita's in their eyes. Having only heard about the attacks before, witnessing one in person had to be pretty scary.

"That's why," Bentley said quietly as he and Murray helped Sly sit back up, before settling beside him on the grass. "Your condition is getting worse, isn't it?"

Sly didn't meet either of their eyes. He hadn't even admitted that to Carmelita yet.

"And I think I know why," Bentley continued, seeing the truth on Sly's face.

That got Sly's attention. How could Bentley know what was going on? Did the book say something about it being a hereditary illness or something?

Bentley glanced over at the book still sitting innocently on the table. "Since you lost your memory, I've been guarding the Thievius Raccoonus for you. And recently I noticed something strange." He then cast a glance at Sly, and added, "Now this is going to sound crazy-"

Sly gave a slight laugh, "Please, I'm pretty sure we're long past the bar of crazy at this point in the conversation."

"I believe someone is using time travel to go back in time and erase your family line and you along with it," Bentley said bluntly.

Sly's jaw dropped. "I stand corrected," he said.

Seeing he was once again losing him, Bentley quickly tried to explain, "It's the pages. They're all suddenly turning blank like someone's undoing history. I've noticed it most strongly in Rioichi Cooper's section, but I've seen similar inconsistencies elsewhere, and since it's affecting your ancestors in the past, it's also affecting you here in the present."

"Are you hearing yourself?" Sly asked in disbelief. "Time travel doesn't exist!"

"Does too," Murray said, defensively. "Bentley invented it. He's the smartest guy there is."

"It's the project I'd been working on that I've been telling you about," said Bentley bashfully at the praise. His face then fell. "The one Penelope and I had been working on together before she disappeared."

"Penelope?" Sly asked before it clicked who he was talking about. "Oh, Air_Heart_Babe."

Bentley nodded. "I'm worried someone kidnapped her and used her to get our technology to do this. But with your help, we could go back in time and find who took her and help you stop having those attacks."

"So whaddya say, Sly?" asked Murray eagerly. "Will you help us?"

Sly was pretty sure the best way to help them was into a mental institution, but before he could form any kind of answer-

ZZZZAP!

All three of them jumped as a shock blast fired over them and singed a tree near Murray's head.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" came an angry shout, and they all looked up to see Carmelita racing out of the museum in their direction.

It was then it occurred to Sly that this probably wasn't the best way for her to see them, with him sprawled on the ground, and Bentley and Murray looming over him like they were threatening him.

That seemed to occur to Bentley too. "Oh man, it's Carmelita!" he said. "We gotta go!"

Murray nodded in agreement, and picked Bentley up, wheelchair and all, onto one of his shoulders, then held his other hand out to Sly. "Come on, Sly!"

But Sly could only shrink back and wordlessly shake his head.

Murray drew back his hand and looked hurt, but with Carmelita closing in, he only had time to reaffirm his grip on Bentley and then hightailed it out of the park.

Carmelita reached Sly a moment later, glowering after the fleeing figures with fury in her eyes.

She then looked down at Sly with the same worry and fear he'd seen when he told her about the memory of his dad. "What were you doing with them?" she demanded, reaching out a hand to help him up.

Sly reached out and took it, trying to think of how to explain it to her.

Everything Bentley and Murray had told him was still turning around in his head. According to them, Carmelita had lied to him, used him, and had been using and lying to him from the start. But… no, it couldn't be. It was Carmelita. His partner. The vixen he was head over heels for. There's no way she would do that to him.

… Right?

A/N And so Bently and Murray try to give Sly his backstory... To very little success. Unfortunately, Sly's not buying what they're selling. At least, not yet.

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