The Anti Thieving Duo
"Hello" - (Normal talking)
"What happened?" - (Thoughts)
"What do I do?" - (Flashback)
{"Hey, can you hear me?"} - (Communication)
":Now arriving at your destination:" - (Another Language)
"\Prepare for departure\" - (Radio and speakers)
Hope that you all enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 23 - The Beijing Bullion Caper
(In Iceland, Reykjavík)
At a concert hall in Harpa, there was a play going on, with Gray providing the lighting support for it.
"And it's another rocking night at the opera," Gray said with a smile, as he leaned back in his chair with his hands placed behind his head, as the door behind him opened.
"Graham Calloway?" a man's voice asked.
Gray raised an eyebrow at this, as he turned his chair around, and saw two ACME agents in the doorway, a man and a woman.
"Before I answer that, mates, I need to see some wristbands" Gray said with a grin at them.
"Come with us" the male ACME agents said, as he and the female walked towards Gray, who looked at them both curiously with a raised eyebrow.
0o0o0o0
(VILE Castle)
At VILE's base, it was raining, as there was a clap of thunder and a flash of lightning.
Inside the castle, Roundabout was being led by The Cleaners and Professor Maelstrom down a hallway, with Roundabout having a worried look on his face.
"Gunnar, ol' chum. Is this absolutely necessary? Unlike Neal the Eel, I was never actually taken into custody. Thanks to these fine fellows" Roundabout said, glancing over his shoulder at The Cleaners with a slight smile, while a little nervous, as The Cleaners were giving him hard looks.
"A technicality. You know the rules, Roundabout" Maelstrom said with a frown, as he glanced back for a moment, before facing the front.
"I know. 'Failure is forgivable, capture is not.' Yes, yes. But, tinkering with my memories?" Roundabout asked, as he pulled at his collar slightly, with a look of worry.
"You can not incriminate VILE if you do not remember us" Gunnar said with a scowl, as he looked back at Roundabout for a few seconds, as Roundabout looked over his shoulders at The Cleaners with a worried look.
"But I've heard that Crackle fellow I'd once sprung from jail has gone soft. Lost his edge!" Roundabout said with a cocked eyebrow, as he placed his hand to the side of his mouth, as though afraid that someone would hear him.
"Suppressing the criminal impulse ensures no unexpected relapses" Professor Maelstrom said with narrowed eyes, as he turned around, as they came to a stop next to an open door, where they saw green light coming out of it, which he gestured to.
"Even though I have other smashing capers in play?" Roundabout asked with a raised eyebrow, as he looked at The Cleaners, who were glaring at him. "Our gold initiative in Beijing is prepped, I merely need to assign another operative!" he said, as he backed away with an uneasy smile, only for The Cleaners to shove him forward, causing him to grunt, causing him to be in front of Maelstrom, who looked into the room with a cruel smirk.
Roundabout looked inside too, and saw that it was one of Dr Bellum's labs, with Neal the Eel strapped to a chair and his eyes closed, while wearing some kind of high tech headpiece, with electricity coming off it, as Saira stood next to the chair, holding a remote in her hands.
"If you were considering Neal, he's retired" Gunnar said, as he gestured at said person, causing Roundabout to gulp at this, while pulling at his shirt's collar.
A few moments later, Bellum pressed a button on the remote, turning the headpiece off as Neal opened his eyes.
"I've gotta say, you were right about that tingling sensation, Doc. It did not hurt one bit!" Neal said with a grin and a raised eyebrow.
"What? You are not supposed to remember that I said that" Saira said in shock, as she narrowed her eyes.
"Well, slippery to the last squeak" Neal said with a shrug.
Before anything else could be said or done, one of the computers in the room beeped, which caused Dr Bellum to look at it. "Calibration error! My equipment has been raining malfunction since our move here to this damp climate" she said with a scowl, as she put the remote in one of her pockets, as she walked out of the room with a sigh. "I must fetch replacement parts from my laboratory."
"Shall we wait here, Dr Bellum?" Professor Maelstrom asked her, as she walked down the way he and the other three came from.
"My laboratory, in the Himalayan mountains!" Saira yelled out.
Gunnar had a wide eyed look of shock at this, as Bellum faded into the darkness of the hallway.
"What say we agree to forget about this morbid memory-wiping nonsense and allow another opportunity to prove our worth?" Roundabout asked with a grin, causing Maelstrom to look at him with a cocked eyebrow.
They then heard a scratching noise, which caused them to look into the room, where they saw Neal was scratching the side of his head, before he stopped when he saw them watching him. "I'm game," he said with a smile, as he shrugged his shoulders.
"This time, failure will not be forgivable" Gunnar said with narrowed eyes, as he walked towards Roundabout, causing him to back up into the lab.
Roundabout had a nervous look on his face, as he pulled at his shirt collar slightly while some sweat appeared on his brow. "Hey! Jolly good then! As I was saying, the heist will take place in Beijing" he said with a small smile.
Professor Maelstrom just stared at him for a few moments, before he turned around and left the lab, causing Roundabout to let out a breath of relief.
0o0o0o0
(With Naruto)
{"Welcome to Beijing, China's capital"} Player said on Naruto's laptop, as their private jet plane was coming in to land at the airport, with everyone gathered round the laptop.
"So, what's going down here, Player?" Naruto asked, just as the plane landed, so he switched from his laptop to his phone, with everyone else doing the same thing, as he put his laptop away, before they got off the plane and went into the airport, and after going through customs, they went outside and got in a car that they'd hired, before heading off into the city, with Zack behind the wheel.
As they drove through the city, they looked at all the sites, while taking some photos on their cameras.
{"VILE's targeting gold, which is somewhere in The Forbidden City. Which isn't a city, exactly. It's a massive complex of palaces in the centre of Beijing. Dating back to the Ming Dynasty in the early 1400s. It was 'forbidden' because only the Emperor was allowed to move freely through the grounds"} Player said with a grin, as Zack headed towards The Forbidden City.
"Today, the complex houses the Palace Museum, which contains over one million historic objects, including jade, ceramics, and paintings, as well as gold" Carmen said, as they soon arrived at their destination, before they all climbed out. After getting out, Naruto, Carmen and Shadowsan went to get changed into their mission outfits, before they all split up, with Naruto and Carmen going by rooftop, while Shadowsan, Zack and Ivy walked around, while Player used Red Drone to look from the skies.
{"Speaking of, any sign of VILE's 'gold initiative' yet?"} Player asked curiously in Naruto and Carmen's comms, as they ran across a rooftop, before they jumped and slid down to the edge of the roof.
"We've split up to cover more ground," Naruto said, as he and Carmen looked around for a moment, before using their binoculars to see better. "But the Forbidden City looks more like a Ghost Town."
"Ivy, what do you know?" Carmen asked, as she pulled out her phone, which showed Ivy holding the phone, as Zack was talking to someone in the background, while making hand gestures.
{"Zack really needs to brush up on his Mandarin. And the museum is closed for an event. Something about a dignitary giving his daughter a private tour,"} Ivy said with a raised eyebrow.
{"Red Drone just spotted them"} Player said into Naruto and Carmen's earpieces, as they looked at Carmen's phone, which showed a video feed of a man and his daughter walking around, with a bodyguard behind them. {"Whoa. He's not just any dignitary. His name is Huang Li. And he manages China's largest gold reserve for its national bank, which happens to be right there in Beijing"} as a photo of the man and the building he worked at also appeared on the phone screen.
"So he's the reason VILE intends to strike here today," Naruto said with a frown.
"And do what exactly? Take him hostage and demand gold in exchange for his return?" Player asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not in plain sight, as that's not really VILE's style. Plus, they'd also need to get past his bodyguard" Carmen said.
{"So would you, if you plan to steal Mr Li before VILE does"} Player said.
"That would be kidnapping, which is not our style," Naruto said, as he and Carmen lightly grinned at this, before using their grappling hooks to get to the next rooftop, where they saw Mr Li, his daughter and their bodyguard standing in the courtyard below.
"Xifeng. Do you recall anything of interest about the Palace of Eternal Spring?" Mr Li asked his daughter with a smile.
Xifeng raised an eyebrow at this, as she placed her hand on her chin with a grin, as she thought about it. "Might it have something to do with opera? Performances were staged on its veranda, for The Empress" she said.
Huang chuckled at this. "There is no question, you know your father well" he said, as he gave her a wink, before they walked off, with the bodyguard following them.
As they walked off, a shadowy figure was seen behind a large pot at the bottom of some stairs. They pull out a small blowgun and a beetle shaped dart, which they put in the blowgun, before shooting it at the bodyguard, where it hits him in the leg, causing him to gasp and wince slightly in pain, as he looked down and brushed the dart off his leg, as he scratched where the dart hit him, while following Mr Li and Xifeng, furiously scratching and mumbling as he did.
"I have arranged for a treat. Your mother loved having tea here" Huang said with a grin, as Xifeng grinned back, before they both looked back, as they could hear the bodyguard mumbling and scratching himself.
"Uh, Oxtail?" Mr Li asked with a curious look, as he and his daughter stopped walking to look at him.
"I….think I may be allergic to bug bites" Oxtail said with a raised eyebrow, as he continued to scratch himself.
"You may locate a first aid station and tend to yourself" Huang said, as he bowed his head slightly with a smile.
Oxtail bowed his head back at this, as he turned around and ran off, while still scratching himself.
"Curious, that Mr Li should suddenly be left unprotected" Carmen said, as she and Naruto both frowned.
{"Heads up, guys"} Player said in their comms, as Carmen looked at her phone, and saw Lady Dokuso was hanging upside down on the roof of a large tea hut, as Red Drone took a picture of her.
{"Shadowsan. Friend of yours?"} Naruto asked Shadowsan curiously, as Shadowsan took out his phone, and saw the picture of Lady Dokuso.
"Lady Dokuso. We have a toxic relationship" Shadowsan said with a frown, as he put his phone away before running towards her location.
Mr Li and Xifeng were walking down a hallway, which had porcelain jars of various shapes and sizes along the walls and as they walked past one, Neal the Eel poked his head out of it.
"Slippery Neal to Slippery Mickey, they're heading your way" Neal said with a smirk into his earpiece.
Huang and Xifeng arrived at a large tea hut, with a Chinese woman standing at the bottom of some stairs, waiting for them.
"Welcome Mr Li" the woman said with a smile, as she bowed to them both, as they bowed back to her.
Inside the hut, a tray with a teapot, two small tea cups and a bowl of tea leaves in where on a table, as Lady Dokuso lowered a piece of string down to the bowl of tea leaves, as she poured some poison on the string, causing it to land in the bowl of tea leaves, with steam rising as it landed.
"Tea will soon be served, Unagi" Lady Dokuso said into her comms with a cruel smirk, as she stopped pouring the poison onto the string, before quickly pulling the string back up, just as Mr Li, Xifeng and the woman entered, with Mr Li and Xifeng sitting down, as the woman began preparing the tea.
{"Guys, the guests of honour just sat down to tea. You think…."} Player was saying, before he was cut off.
"The tea is spiked" Carmen and Naruto said together in realisation.
The two of them quickly jumped from the roof and ran down the same hallway that Xifeng and her father walked down earlier, as they headed towards the tea hut, only for Neal to ram himself against them, causing them to hit the wall, which made some of the vases to wobble, before they quickly steadied them, so they didn't fall over and break.
"Eel in a China shop, anyone?" Neal asked with a grin, as he picked up a small vase and rolled it along from one end of his arms to the next, before he threw it slightly into the air and grabbed it in his hands.
Xifeng was about to drink her tea, before she looked back the way they came. "Did you hear something?" she asked curiously.
"It is probably Oxtail," Huang said with a smile.
"I will check," Xifeng said, as she stood up and walked off.
Mr Li chuckled at this. "She is most protective of me," he said with a fond smile.
Lady Dokuso was looking down at the tea ceremony with a smile, before she heard a noise that caused her to look to the side, which made her smile turn into a scowl, as she saw Shadowsan standing on a tree branch.
"A Chinese Tea Ceremony is a far cry from a Tokyo Night Club" Shadowsan said with narrowed eyes.
"And you know how cranky I get without my karaoke" Lady Dokuso said with a smirk as she stood up, before she grabbed her hair pins out of her hair and threw them at Shadowsan, as she leapt down.
Shadowsan leapt sideways, dodging the hairpins, as they ended up in the tree branch behind him, as he too leapt down.
Once on the ground, Lady Dokuso took off running, with Shadowsan following after her. Lady Dokuso took out a shuriken from inside her outfit, before she jumped up and spun round, as she flung it at Shadowsan with a yell, while she flipped herself upside down, before she ran off, once she landed back on the ground. Shadowsan leaned to the side, avoiding the shuriken from hitting him anywhere vital, but it still cut his outfit, which caused him to stop running for a moment, as he placed his hand on his shoulder, making sure that he wasn't bleeding, before he continued to run after Lady Dokuso.
Back with Naruto and Carmen, they were catching the vases that Neal was throwing at them.
"Whoopsie! Sorry about that. Oh, how clumsy of me. That's not good" Neal said with a grin, as he threw some more at them.
Naruto and Carmen quickly placed the vases in their hands on the floor, before they grabbed those that Neal had thrown at them, just as Neal grabbed three more and threw them one at a time with a sinister smirk.
Naruto and Carmen's eyes widened in shock and concern at this, as they wouldn't be fast enough to put those in their hands down before catching them.
But before they could hit the ground, Xifeng suddenly appeared, as she jumped off a vacant vase stand and grabbed them, using one of her knees and both of her arms to catch them, just as she landed on the ground.
"Nice catch" Carmen and Naruto both said with a smile, impressed at seeing this.
"Thanks. It's my Peking Opera training" Xifeng said with a smile at them.
Back with Shadowsan, he was chasing after Lady Dokuso, as they both jumped from rooftop to rooftop, before they eventually landed on separate lion statue heads.
Shadowsan gave Dokuso a slight smirk, who narrowed her eyes at this, before she gasped in realisation and turned around, where she saw that Zack and Ivy were running towards where Huang was.
"A decoy" Lady Dokuso said with a growl of annoyance, before she placed a finger to her ear comm. "Abort mission!"
Dokuso then reached into her outfit and pulled out a smoke bomb, which she threw down, just as Shadowsan leapt at her, trying to grab her. But he went right through the smoke, and when he looked back, Dokuso was gone.
"Sorry, but it looks like it's time for this eel to peel!" Neal said with a smile, as he tossed a vase in one hand, before he threw it at Naruto, who caught it with a frown, just as Neal leapt through a small gap in the wall.
Naruto and Carmen both had scowls on their faces at this, while Xifeng had a raised eyebrow along with a look of confusion on her face.
Back at the tea hut, Mr Li was still waiting for his daughter while looking at the cup of tea in front of him, before he shook his head slightly.
"A shame to allow it to cool," Huyang said to the woman, as he picked up the tea cup and brought it to his lips.
But before it could reach his mouth, Zack and Ivy both ran up the steps, with Ivy taking the cup from him and placing it back on the tray, with Mr Li having a look of confusion on his face.
"But, wouldn't a fresh warm pot be nicer?" Ivy asked with a smile, as she lifted up the tray and walked off with it.
"We're from Boston. We know all about tea parties" Zack said with his own smile, before following after his sister, with Huang and the woman watching them go with raised eyebrows.
0o0o0o0
(Sometime later)
After they'd disposed of the spiked tea and made a fresh new batch for Mr Li and his daughter to drink, the group met up to talk.
"With a trove of gold bullion at stake, VILE will absolutely have a Plan B" Shadowsan said.
"Shh, companies coming" Zack said with a whisper, as he and everyone saw Xifeng walking over to them.
"It's okay, she's in the loop," Carmen said with a smile, with Naruto nodding at this.
"So, are you Interpol? Or CIA? Or NSA?" Xifeng asked with a raised eyebrow.
Ivy gave a chuckle at this. "If CIA stands for 'Carmen In Action' and NSA stood for 'Naruto Striking Action'..." she said, as she punched the air a few times.
"Then that would be us. I mean, that would be them" Zack said with a grin, while gesturing at Naruto and Carmen.
"We believe that the criminals who attempted to abduct your father will try again," Naruto said with a small frown.
"Father is heavily guarded when at the Gold Reserve. But he is proud and stubborn, and does not fear his safety outside of it. Not while his bodyguard is present" Xifeng said.
"Do you have any idea when or where he might be vulnerable next?" Carmen asked curiously.
Xifeng looked down and frowned at this for a moment, before she looked up. "Tomorrow night. At the performance" she said.
"Performance?" Naruto asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"Gold is my fathers job. Opera is his passion" Xifeng said with a smirk.
"Opera? Ugh. Good luck staying awake" Zack said in disgust.
0o0o0o0
(?)
Inside a hidden room, the two ACME agents who'd grabbed Gray were standing on either side of a door, while Gray was sitting in a chair, with a table in front of him.
The ACME woman's communication pen soon began beeping, causing her to pull it out and press on the clicker, before she lightly tossed it to the floor, causing it to stand up right before a hologram of the Chief appeared.
Gray leaned to the side, as he looked at the two ACME agents by the door. "Look, mates, I'm just the lighting tech. If you want to pitch special effects, you have the wrong guy" he said with a grin.
{"I am special, and I've been known to have an effect on people"} Chief's hologram said, which caused Gray to look at her in surprise, as she walked towards the table, before leaning on it. {"So, I would suggest addressing your questions directly to me, Mr Calloway."}
Gray leaned forward hesitantly, as he grit his teeth, before he poked a finger into Chief's hologram, causing static to briefly appear, as Chief gave him a deadpan look.
{"That tickles. Now. Iceland is a long way from Australia. What brings you to Reykjavik?"} Chief asked, as she walked away from the table.
"The Thieving Magpie. It's an opera, by Rossini. I'm touring with the Sydney Opera Company" Gray said.
{"I see"} Chief said, as she turned around and looked at Gray with a raised eyebrow.
"Wait a minute. So you're, what, CIA? Interpol? NSA?" Gray asked with a grin.
{"Consider us all of the above. Except that they don't know we exist"} Chief said.
"Then you must know Naruto and Carmen," Gray said with a smile.
{"Now we're getting somewhere"} Chief said with a raised brow and a slight hint of a grin.
0o0o0o0
(Back in The Forbidden City)
"So, your father will be attending the Opera," Carmen said.
"No, starring in it," Xifeng said with a smile, as she brushed some of her hair behind her ear. "He is the benefactor of a Peking Opera troupe, but also a quite talented singer."
"Would the concert hall be anywhere near the gold reserve building?" Shadowsan asked her.
"A few miles from it, yes," Xifeng said with a raised eyebrow.
"If our enemy stole even a fraction of the gold stored there, it could fund their crimes for years," Shadowsan said.
"And stealing enough money could even harm China's economy," Naruto said with a frown.
"We must see to it that the performance is cancelled" Shadowsan said, as he looked at everyone there.
"But father and I will be sharing the stage, for the very first time," Xifeng said with a sad look and tone.
"Whoa. You're in the show, too?" Ivy asked with a grin.
"Peking Opera has singing, dancing, even acrobatics. You would find it quite entertaining" Xifeng said with a smile.
Everyone else smiled at this, except for Zack, who had a look of boredom on his face.
"The Opera was mothers greatest joy. Father and I vowed that we would perform together, on the anniversary of her…." Xifeng was saying with a fond smile, which soon changed to a look of sadness, as some tears appeared in her eyes.
"We're both very sorry" Carmen and Naruto said, as they each placed a hand on her shoulders in comfort.
"In honour of her memory, father will sing her favourite song during tomorrow night's finale" Xifeng said with a small smile, as she wiped away the tears in her eyes.
"Then the show must go on," Naruto and Carmen said together, as they both smiled back.
0o0o0o0
(VILE Castle)
{"There plications"} Lady Dokuso said to the Faculty members sitting at the high table.
Brunt, Gunnar and Cleo each glared at Roundabout, who leaned away from them, a look of worry on his face.
"Perhaps we should check in with Dr Bellum" Professor Maelstrom said with a harsh look and tone.
This caused Roundabout to gasp in panic. "Really not necessary! I have a cracking Plan B in place!" he said with a nervous smile.
"Then why do you seem so….tense?" Maelstrom asked with a cruel smirk.
"Well, only because it promises to be a tad plex than Plan A" Roundabout said, as he sweated slightly in worry.
{"True. But, our secret weapon is already here in Beijing. And he has been rigorously preparing for his role of a lifetime"} Dokuso said with a smirk, as in a hotel room, Mime Bomb was watching a video of Mr Li singing, as he put on a pair of headphones, before he began lip syncing in time with him.
0o0o0o0
(That night)
It was now nighttime and people were walking into the Opera building, all excited to see the Peking Opera performance, as they all went to their seats, and as they were sitting down, a gong sounded.
Naruto and Carmen were on the other side of the curtain, as they parted it slightly, so that they could look at the crowd, while using some high tech glasses to look at the crowd.
"It's almost showtime," Carmen said.
"And no sign of VILE," Naruto added with a frown.
{"They will show, if they are not already here"} Shadowsan said in their ear comms.
Backstage, Lady Dokuso, who was disguised as a stagehand, opened a door, which showed it was a dressing room, as she pulled a clothes rack into the room before closing the door behind her.
She then placed the clothes rack at the back of the dressing room, and walked over to a makeup table, as she picked up a makeup tube and took the lid off a jar, before placing the makeup tube inside it with the jar back on top. She then took out a new makeup tube from within her outfit with a smirk and placed it on the makeup table, before she left the room.
"Break a leg, everyone!" Zack yelled out, as he and Ivy stood with Xifeng, who was already in her costume and wearing her makeup.
Ivy growled in annoyance at this, as she rolled her eyes with her arms crossed.
"I saw it on TV once. They say it in the theatre for good luck" Zack said with a smile.
"Yeah, maybe somewhere in the world they do. But we're in China!" Ivy said with a scowl, with Xifeng smiling at this.
Oxtail opened the door to Huang's dressing room and looked around inside it for a moment, a frown on his face. "Clear" he said, before he stepped aside to let Mr Li enter.
"Xifeng means well, but she worries," Huang said with a smile, as he walked towards his makeup table, as Oxtail closed the door, leaving Mr Li in the room.
Huang pulled out the chair at the table and sat down, before he pulled out a photo from his costume and looked at it for a moment, before sticking it to the mirror, showing that it was of his wife and Xifeng. He ran his fingers over it and clasped his hands in a prayer for a few seconds, before he began putting on his makeup.
Outside the dressing room, Oxtail was standing guard, when he saw that Lady Dokuso was about to walk past him and as she did, she ran some lipstick just under his nose, which caused him to look at it with a raised eyebrow of confusion.
"Hey!" Oxtail called out to her, as he reached out to grab her. But as he did, he took a sniff, which caused him to wobble for a moment, before he fell into a box that Neal was pushing along with a groan, as he fell asleep.
"Easy peasy" Neal said with a grin, as he was dressed as a janitor.
Mr Li was just finishing putting on his makeup, before he stood up with a smile. "It is showtime, folks," he said.
But before he could step away from the table, he suddenly grunted, as he found it hard to keep his eyes open, before he fell over onto the table, then he fell onto the floor, leaving a black mark on the edge of the table as he did and caused the makeup tube he'd just used to fall off the table and roll under one of the clothes racks.
After a few moments had passed, Mime Bomb poked his head out from the clothes rack Lady Dokuso had placed in the room, before he climbed out and walked towards the makeup table, where he sat down with a smirk. He then took the makeup tube out of the jar where Dokuso had hidden it, before he began applying the makeup to his face.
0o0o0o0
(Sometime later)
Once everyone was in position for the Opera, the curtains opened with the audience applauding at this.
Xifeng stood on one side next to Naruto and Carmen, while Zack and Ivy were on the other side, as they watched someone wearing an outfit with black and white makeup on their face, along with a headdress on their head and a spear in the hand walk onto the stage, with some Chinese opera music playing, as the man stood in the middle of the stage and did some gestures with his hands and the spear.
"This doesn't sound like any opera I've ever heard," Ivy said with a cocked eyebrow.
"This….rocks!" Zack gasped with a grin, with his eyes lit up excitedly.
The man on the stage then began singing in Chinese, while he made gestures with his hands and spear as he did.
Xifeng narrowed her eyes for a moment at this, before they widened in realisation. "Naruto, Carmen, that is not father!" she exclaimed in shock.
"You can tell, under all that makeup?" Carmen asked in surprise.
"No, by the singing. My fathers voice is not nearly so sublime" Xifeng said with a scowl, as Naruto and Carmen used their glasses to look at the man singing.
Naruto and Carmen had their glasses zoom in on the man's face and scanned it, before an image of who it really was appeared. "Mime Bomb" Naruto and Carmen both said with narrowed eyes.
"He's lip syncing. To a professional recording of the opera, which is playing though a hidden loudspeaker" Player said, as he typed away on his computer, before he had the image of the disguised Mime Bomb turn black, showing where the loudspeaker was.
"I must find father!" Xifeng said with a determined look.
"We'll have a much better chance of finding him if they don't know that we're onto them. Trust us" Naruto said, as he placed his hand on her shoulder.
{"Li's dressing room is empty"} Shadowsan said into their ear comms.
{"How'd they pull it off?"} Carmen asked him.
Shadowsan entered the dressing room and looked around, before he noticed the black mark on the edge of the table, causing him to kneel down and look at it, before he looked at the floor and then he spotted the makeup tube under the clothes rack.
{"The makeup"} Shadowsan said with a growl.
"Then we have to assume that Mr Li has left the building," Naruto said with a frown.
Carmen nodded in agreement at this. "Zack, Ivy, stage door, now" she said, before she grabbed a robe and walked off with Naruto following her, as Xifeng watched them go.
0o0o0o0
(On the streets)
Neal was behind the wheel of a van, as he drove away from the opera, with Huang sitting in the back of the van, still knocked out.
{"Remember, Unagi. You have the runtime of tonight's performance to transport our target to the Gold Reserve and back before the curtain falls. So that no one notices anything amiss. Mr Li will remain unconscious for as long as the tainted makeup remains on his face"} Lady Dokuso said into his earpiece, with Neal stopping at a red light, as he looked in the rearview mirror at the knocked out Huang, before he drove off, once the light had changed back to green.
0o0o0o0
(Backstage at the Opera)
Dokuso hung up her phone before she walked off, with Shadowsan watching her go with a frown, before he followed after her.
Shadowsan peeked into a room, which had a few mannequins wearing different costumes, before he entered the room, looking around for Lady Dokuso, not noticing that she was hiding amongst the mannequins with her eyes closed, before she opened them with a smirk.
After walking some more, Shadowsan heard a noise behind him, which caused him to glance over his shoulder, where his eyes widened in surprise, as he saw a rope dart knife heading towards him. He quickly moved to the side to avoid being hit, which caused the blade to end up in a mannequin, before the rope was pulled, causing the mannequin to fall over, as the blade came out, before it was sent back at Shadowsan, who sidestepped to avoid it, before it was once again pulled back, with Lady Dokuso catching the handle of the blade with a smirk, before she turned around and ran off, as Shadowsan followed her with a growl of annoyance.
0o0o0o0
(With Neal)
Neal was still driving along on the streets, a smile on his face, which soon changed to a frown as he saw the light change to red, which caused him to brake, causing the tires of the van to screech to a halt. "I'm hitting all the lights!" he said unhappily.
After a few seconds, the light changed to green, which caused him to smile. "About time" he said, as he began moving forward….before a banner fell on his windscreen, causing him to stop once more, as he gave a yell of shock.
Neal then climbed out of the van and looked at all the cars speeding past him, a few blaring their horns. "It's another banner day for Neal the Eel" he said with a sigh while rolling his eyes, as he pulled the banner off the windscreen and left it on the road, before he climbed back into the van. "Keep resting those eyes of yours, compadre. We'll need them open soon enough" he said with a grin, as he glanced in the rearview mirror at Mr Li's unconscious form, before he drove off.
0o0o0o0
(?)
"And then, Naruto and Carmen both left me hanging at the cafe….again" Gray said, as he looked at Chief, before he drank from the mug he was given earlier.
{"Be glad that I'm having coffee with you"} Chief said with a cocked eyebrow.
Gray gave her a nonplussed look at this.
{"But just so that I'm clear, you never saw Sandiego and Uzumaki steal anything from this fake concert hall in Auckland?"} Chief asked curiously.
"Why would they? They're one of the good guys" Gray said in confusion.
{"Good guys?"} Chief asked with a frown.
"Wait. They….don't work for you?" Gray asked with a puzzled look on his face.
{"What's your game, Uzumaki and Sandiego?"} Chief asked herself with a raised eyebrow, as she turned away from Gray.
0o0o0o0
(With Neal)
After driving for a few more minutes, Neal smiled widely, as he saw that he'd finally arrived at the Gold Reserve. He saw that some VILE agents were standing outside waiting for him, as he drove the van into the Reserve, before he turned it round and switched off the engine after putting it into park. "Is Operation Slumber Party in play?" he asked the agents with a sinister grin, as he climbed out of the van and walked to the back, before opening the doors, showing the still unconscious form of Huang.
"Knockout gas has been pumped through the ventilation system. Anyone inside will be fast asleep" one of the VILE agents said, as two of them grabbed the unconscious form and Mr Li and dragged him towards the building, with Neal opening the door as they strolled through the building, passing rooms with knocked out workers and security inside them.
After walking for a few moments, they finally arrived at the vault, with Neal looking through the small window and smiled widely, as he saw it was filled with gold bars.
"The peel back those lids, boys. Those retinas aren't gonna scan themselves!" Neal said with a smug grin, as he stepped away from the door, with the two VILE agents dragging Huang's body towards the retinal scan.
One of the agents opened up one of his eyes and held it open, as the scanner ran over the eye before it buzzed, with the agents pulling his body away.
"Try again," Neal said with a small frown.
The agents moved him to the retinal scan again, with the scanner running over the eye, before buzzing again.
"What is it with red lights tonight?" Neal asked with a groan of annoyance, as he moved them to one side, before he began pressing the buttons on the wall, trying to get it to work.
"Beats me," Zack said, revealing that he was disguised as Mr Li, as he took off his headpiece and slammed it on the head of one of the agents, before he turned around and ran off. "But I have an opera to crash!" he yelled out, as he took off the fake beard which also removed his makeup, as he held up the vans keys.
"Hey, no one gives Neal the slip!" Neal yelled out, as he and the VILE agents chased after him.
Zack ran past one of the rooms that was filled with the knock out gas, before he stopped and opened up the door, letting some of the gas out of the room before he continued on running. This caused Neal and the agents to stop, as they breathed in some of the gas, which caused them to start coughing, while Neal glared after Zack, as they ran after him again. Once they pushed the main doors open, they saw the van driving off, while they continued to cough, as the gas seeped outside.
0o0o0o0
(With Naruto and the others)
Meanwhile, as this was happening, Naruto and Carmen were in the back of a white van with the real unconscious Huang, as Ivy was behind the wheel.
"And, the bait has been switched" Ivy said with a grin and a raised eyebrow,
"Player, we're heading back to the opera house with Mr Li in tow," Naruto said.
{"I'm glad to hear that it worked out"} Player said with a sigh of relief. {"Hacking into Beijing's Traffic Network was no easy task, thanks to the language barrier. But I'd managed to line up the lights in your favour."}
"Which left us with just enough time to prep Zack for his off-stage Peking Opera debut" Carmen said, as she and Naruto both grinned, as she and Naruto both remembered having Zack get dressed just like Huang, before they applied the makeup on his face, making him a perfect duplicate.
"And beat VILE at their own game" Naruto said with a nod, as he remembered poking himself out of the passenger window, so that he could throw a shuriken at the ropes holding up a banner, causing them to be cut and fall on Neal's van, so that he'd stop, which allowed them to get the unconscious form of Mr Li out of the back of the van and into theirs, while Zack climbed in and shut the doors behind him, before pretending to be knocked out, so that Neal wouldn't know the switch had happened.
0o0o0o0
(Back at the Opera)
Xifeng was on the stage with two others, as they were spinning spears in front of them, with Xifeng in the middle and the other two were on either side of her, while Chinese percussive music played.
The two on either side of Xifeng then spun their spears next to them, before they spun them over their heads then on their other side, while doing some poses at the sametime as they did this, before gongs were clangged, as the two on either side of Xifeng spun themselves to look at Xifeng, while still spinning their spears.
The two then stopped spinning their spears, as they leapt at Xifeng with their spears in the air. Xifeng watched this with a frown, before she raised her spear in the air, blocking theirs, before she spun herself slightly, causing them both to be sent backwards, as the spears were sent into the air. Xifeng landed on her feet, before she ran forward and placed her hands on the floor, as she sprang into the air and spun in place curled up, before landing back on the ground, as the other two landed on either side of her, all with their hands in the air, as they grabbed their spears.
The crowd applauded at this, as the other two girls walked off stage, while Xifeng looked around to see if Naruto and the others were back with her father yet, before she too walked off.
0o0o0o0
(With Shadowsan)
Shadowsan entered a back room, as he stopped in the doorway, to look around and see if Lady Dokuso was in there. He then spotted the wig Dokuso wore as part of her disguise on the floor, before walking towards it.
He then stopped and slightly glanced over his shoulder with a smirk, before he quickly moved to the side, avoiding a blow dart from hitting him, as Lady Dokuso was on the walkway above him.
Dokuso kept on blowing more darts, trying to hit Shadowsan, but he avoided all of them, before he reached the bottom of the stairs to the walkway and grabbed a wooden shield off the wall and used it to protect himself from the remaining darts that Lady Dokuso sent at him, while climbing up the stairs.
Dokuso scowled at this, before she took off and jumped through a hole in the wall. Shadowsan frowned at this, as he dropped the wooden shield and ran after her.
0o0o0o0
(With Naruto)
Once Ivy had parked the van at the back of the Opera, she and Naruto grabbed Huang and dragged him into the building, with Carmen opening the doors and making sure that the coast was clear as they headed to Mr Li's dressing room. Once they'd arrived, Carmen opened the door for them, with Naruto and Ivy moving Huang to his makeup table, where they sat him down in the chair.
"Makeup rhymes with….wake up" Carmen said, as she grabbed a cloth and used it to wipe the makeup off from around Mr Li's eyes, which caused him to wake up with a gasp.
"What….where?" Huang asked in confusion, as he looked around the dressing room.
"You passed out, Mr Li. Opening night jitters. But it's time for your big number" Naruto said with a grin.
Huang looked at the photo on the mirror with a fond smile, as he stood up and reapplied the makeup around his eyes, before he walked out of the dressing room, with Naruto, Carmen and Ivy following him.
At the opera stage, Xifeng was looking around for her father with a slight look of worry, which soon changed to a smile, as she spotted her father on the other side of the Opera stage, with the others standing with him, as Naruto and Carmen both smiled and gave her a small nod.
A look of relief appeared on Xifeng's face, before she looked to the side and saw the disguised Mime Bomb walking towards her. A hard scowl appeared on her face at this, as she took off running towards him, before she slightly jumped in the air and placed her hands on the floor, which caused Mime Bomb to look shocked, as he turned around to run away, but Xifeng pushed off the ground and kicked him in the back, while also using him as a springboard, as she spun in the air and landed in a three point stance before standing up in a fighting stance, as Mime Bomb was sent into a pile of boxes, while a broom landed on his head.
Seeing that Mime Bomb was taken care of, Xifeng heard the crowd applauding, before she quickly ran back to the side of the stage, where she saw her father was on stage, as he looked at her and gave a smile, just as the curtain began to rise.
0o0o0o0
(Meanwhile)
While this was happening, Shadowsan climbed out of a hole that led to the roof, before he slid down the slanted roof slightly, as he saw that Lady Dokuso was using her rope dart knife to climb to the top of the opera building and once she reached the top, she unhooked it from the edge and looked down at Shadowsan with a smirk.
Shadowsan frowned at this, before he ran across the rooftop and climbed up to where she was. Once he reached the top, they stared at each other for a few moments, as Shadowsan got into a stance.
Dokuso narrowed her eyes, before she spun the rope dart knife behind her back and sent it towards Shadowsan with a yell, who stepped to the side to avoid it, before he had to step aside again, as Lady Dokuso had pulled it back, only to send it at him again immediately.
Dokuso then pulled the knife part into her hand, while spinning the other end and sent it at Shadowsan with a yell, as it wrapped around his arm. Shadowsan scowled at this, as Lady Dokuso yanked on the rope, causing Shadowsan to be pulled towards her, while she raised the knife part in the air and brought it down towards him with a smirk.
Shadowsan's eyes widened at this, before he threw his tied arm in the air, which caused the rope to come off his arm and then he punched Dokuso in the chest with a glare, sending her back.
Lady Dokuso held her stomach from the punch, as she looked at Shadowsan with a smug look on her face.
Shadowsan continued to glare at Dokuso, before his eyes widened, as he saw a dart in his arm.
"Damn it, she must have done it when I punched her" Shadowsan thought, as he pulled the dart out with a scowl, as he groaned from feeling the effects of the poison in his system, while his vision became blurry and he was finding it hard to keep his eyes open too. He wobbled for a moment, scowling at Lady Dokuso as he did who only grinned widely, before he fell over the side of the roof, where he quickly grabbed the edge of the roof, stopping himself from falling any further.
"Any pain from the pinprick will quickly subside, once your fingers go numb" Dokuso said with a smirk, as she turned round and jumped off the rooftop to the lower ones before running off.
Shadowsan grunted with effort, as he tried to keep hanging onto the edge, before one of his hands slipped off, causing him to groan.
Meanwhile, Mr Li was on the Opera stage singing in Chinese, while waving his hands about and once he'd finished, a few tears had appeared in the corners of his eyes, as cymbals clashed together.
Xifeng smiled at this, as a few tears also appeared in the corners of her own eyes, while the crowd stood up and applauded at the performance they'd watched.
Huang looked off to the side and smiled at his daughter, while holding out his hand towards her, with Xifeng smiling back, as she walked out on stage and held her fathers hand, before they both bowed to the audience. Xifeng looked off to the side and saw Naruto and Carmen standing off stage, as they both grinned and nodded at her, with Xifeng grinning back at them before looking back at the audience, as the curtains closed. And once the curtains had closed, Xifeng and her father smiled at each other in joy.
Shadowsan had a look of worry on his face, as he could feel his grip weakening, before his fingers slipped from the roof's edge and he fell, crashing through the roof of the Opera building and ending up on the floor backstage.
"Shadowsan!" Naruto and Carmen both yelled in concern, as they ran over to him with Zack and Ivy doing the same thing, with Shadowsan groaning in pain, while holding onto his left leg, letting them know that it was broken, as Naruto and Carmen kneeled down next to him.
"What happened?" Mr Li asked, as he and Xifeng ran over.
"Is he hurt?" Xifeng asked with a worried look and tone.
"Only….my leg. I believe….it is broken" Shadowsan said, as he panted and grunted in pain.
"Come, we'll take him to a doctor that I know," Huang said, as Naruto and Zack carefully helped Shadowsan to his feet, before they followed Mr Li out of the Opera House.
0o0o0o0
(Castle VILE)
Lady Dokuso and Mime Bomb were on the large video screen, as Coach Brunt, Professor Maelstrom and Countess Cleo sat at the head table, while Roundabout was standing in the middle.
{"Plan B proved a bit….too complex"} Dokuso said with a frown, while Mime Bomb stood behind her, as he ran his finger across his neck with a worried look on his face.
This caused Roundabout to gasp, before he turned around to look at the three Faculty members with a nervous smile on his face, as they all glared at him. "Might we entertain a Plan C, then? Whilst we await Dr Bellum's return from the Himalayas, that is?" he asked with a nervous look and tone.
"Lock him in the dungeon" Gunnar said with a hard look and tone.
"What? Unfair, I say!" Roundabout said, as he smacked his cane on the floor, before The Cleaners grabbed an arm each and dragged him away. "What about Neal? What about Neal?"
0o0o0o0
(Somewhere out at sea)
"Slippery to the last squeak" Neal said with a grin, as he wore a wide brimmed sun hat, a green summer shirt, light brown pants and brown loafers while sitting on a deck chair on a boat.
":Hey, get out of the way, we're working! Get out of the way now!:" someone yelled at Neal in Chinese, before a fishing net was opened up, causing all the fish to land in a fish hold, with a few ending up on Neal, showing that he'd stowed away on a fishing boat to escape.
0o0o0o0
(Back in China, the next day)
Shadowsan was seen in a wheelchair, wearing a cast on his leg, as he, Zack and Ivy were outside the Forbidden City, waiting for Naruto and Carmen.
"Oh, I blame myself. I said break a leg, and you broke a leg!" Zack said with a look of sorrow, while Shadowsan growled at this.
"Father has decided to expand his private security detail after this incident" Xifeng said with a smile as she, Naruto and Carmen walked out of the Forbidden City.
"That's good to hear," Carmen said with a smile.
"I could speak to him, if you're interested," Xifeng said with a grin, as she gave Naruto and Carmen a raised eyebrow.
"Thank you, Xifeng. But we think that Mr Li is plenty well protected without us" Naruto said with a smile.
"Oxtail is strong, yes, but…." Xifeng said with a look of worry on her face.
"We were actually referring to you," Carmen said with a smile, as she and Naruto each placed a hand on her shoulders, causing Xifeng to look up at this and smile at them both.
"Well, see you later. We need to get Shadowsan back, so that he can rest and recuperate" Naruto said, as he and Carmen walked over to the others.
"Many thanks, once again for your help. And you are more than welcome to come back and visit, anytime" Xifeng said, as she bowed to them, while they all bowed back to her, before they all got into a taxi, which soon drove off, with Xifeng waving after them as they waved back.
0o0o0o0
(ACME HQ)
Electronic double sliding doors opened, as Chief walked into a large room, where ACME agents were sitting at desks on either side of a walkway and at the end of the room, was a large screen, which was divided into smaller screens, showing Gray in the room where he and Chief had chatted, as he drank from a mug.
"And?" Chief asked, as she approached one of the agents.
"We ran every flinch, twitch and nose hair through Crime-Net. He's telling the truth, ma'am" the agent said, as he shifted his glasses for a moment, before looking at Chief with a raised eyebrow.
Chief then looked at the monitors on the wall, as she gave a sigh. "Just some sap who allowed himself to get duped by smooth talking super thieves. Let him walk" she said, as she turned around and walked off.
"Yes ma'am" the agent said with a nod, before he began typing on his keyboard.
The electronic double sliding doors opened, as Chase entered the room. "Good evening, I am here to meet with….Chief? But you are…." he was saying, before he stopped in surprise, when he saw Chief in person, instead of a hologram of her.
"Tired, Agent Devineaux. How nice of you to notice" Chief said with a bored look and tone.
Devineaux coughed into his fist, to clear his throat, to get past the awkward moment. "You….wanted to see me?" he asked curiously.
"You've clearly been harbouring new hunches about our ever elusive targets. Maybe I'm ready to listen" Chief said.
Chase absently glanced over Chief's shoulder at the monitors, before he gasped in shock, when he saw Gray on them. "It is him," he said, as he walked past Chief to look at them closer.
"You know this man? We first spotted him meeting with Carmen and Naruto at a cafe in Sydney, Australia….during your leave of absence" Chief said.
"He is the one that I told you about! He was on the train to Paris. The night I first encountered La Femme Rouge and L'homme blond! I'd brought him in for questioning, but he'd vanished into thin air!" Devineaux said, as he remembered what happened that night, before he turned around to look at Chief. "He may very well be the missing link to everything that we wish to know about Naruto Uzumaki and Carmen Sandiego!"
Chief's eyes widened at this. "I'm sending you to Reykjavik" she said with a firm look and tone.
Chase had a wide smirk appear on his face at this.
0o0o0o0
Author's Note: To those who want me to lemon/sex scenes in every chapter or so, I can't as I need to find the right time/moment to do them. Such as, on their plane, in a hotel room or in a train's sleeping carriage. So please, stop asking me to keep adding them, as I'll do them when I please.
Hope that everyone enjoyed the chapter, and that you're doing what you can to avoid getting this COVID by following the rules, while any and all flames are no longer welcome. Also, for some reason, if I get a PM from anyone, it wouldn't show me the number(s) on fanfiction (so if you send me a PM, and I reply to it late, that's the reason why). Let's hope that now the vaccines are all done, we can rest a bit easier.
I have also posted a few story ideas on my home page, and if any of you want to use them please, PM me and let me know.