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 25 - The Robo Caper
(With Gray)
Gray was still in the phone booth, holding the phone in his hand, a look of panic on his face, as more images flashed through his mind; the first one showing him and a bunch of other teens standing before 5 adults in front of a long table, with Gray wearing some kind of suit, along with his hair looking different and the second was of him about to jump out of a high tech helicopter. Gray shook his head, as he placed his hand to his head while closing his eyes, as sweat fell down his head.
{"Hello?"} a male voice said from the phone.
Gray looked around with a raised eyebrow in confusion, before he looked at the phone.
"Who is this?" Gray asked, as he put the phone to his ear.
{"You phoned us. Remember?"} the voice from the phone said.
"I did?" Gray asked in confusion, as he looked at the phone, before he saw the phone looking like some kind of rod, as a firm look appeared on his face.
{"We have traced your location. Do you wish to come in from the cold?"} the man asked.
"I'll be waiting," Gray said, before he hung up and stepped out from the phone booth.
Once he'd stepped out, he looked around for a moment, as he saw a teen boy with orange frizzy hair crossing the street. Gray then heard an engine and saw a van heading towards the boy, which caused his eyes to widen in shock.
"Hey!" Gray yelled out, as he ran towards the boy, who had some earphones on and was listening to some music with his eyes closed, not noticing the van heading towards him.
"Watch out!" Gray shouted, before he tackled the boy onto the sidewalk, just as the van drove past.
":Um, thanks?:" the boy said, as he and Gray both sat up.
"You're welcome. But maybe you should look where you're going" Gray said to him.
"Yes, of course" the boy said in English with a Norwegian accent as he nodded, as he stood up and dusted himself off.
Gray then looked down and saw that the teen boy's wallet was poking out of his hoodie pocket, which caused him to narrow his eyes at this, a sinister look in his eyes.
The teen boy then noticed a bus pulling to a bus stop. "Uh, my bus" the teen boy said, before he walked towards the bus, not knowing that as he walked past Gray, Gray had grabbed his wallet, without him noticing.
Gray smirked widely at this, as he stood up and began walking away. Just as he was about to cross the street, a car honked its horn at him, as it screeched to a halt, causing Gray to jump in surprise at this.
The occupants of the car glared at Gray for a moment, before they drove off. Gray watched them go, before he closed his eyes and held his head in pain and when he opened his eyes again, he saw that he was holding the other boy's wallet.
"Hey! You dropped your wallet!" Gray yelled out, as he ran towards the bus waving the wallet in the air. But he was too late, as the boy had got on the bus, which soon drove off, leaving Gray standing there, as he looked at the wallet with a raised eyebrow, a look of confusion on his face.
0o0o0o0
(VILE Castle)
"He seemed to be in a state of bewilderment and did not recognise my voice" Professor Maelstrom said with a frown, as he rested his chin on his steepled fingers.
"But if Crackle remembered how to contact us, there is no telling what else he might remember" Countess Cleo said with her own frown.
"Or, who he might decide to share it with, if he finds himself in a chattin' mood" Coach Brunt added with a frown too.
"Cleaners, please plug this potential leak in Reykjavik" Maelstrom said, as he looked at the Cleaners, who were standing before them.
Boris and Vlad both nodded at this, before they turned around and walked out of the castle, heading for the VILE chopper.
As the two of them left, the large screen began lowering itself down from the roof, before the screen turned on, showing Dr Bellum's lab.
{"Greetings from the Himalayas. I have some exciting news"} Dr Bellum said, as she lowered herself from the roof, showing only the bottom half of herself.
"You decided to change a light bulb?" Brunt asked with a cocked eyebrow.
Bellum chuckled sheepishly at this. {"Oh, I see. One moment please, I'm coming. Oh, yeah, a little too much lift. Whoopsy!"} she said, as she moved about on the screen a bit, eventually lowering herself down, before she suddenly flew off screen, where they heard her grunt, as she crashed into something.
"See? Too many toys!" Cleo said with a scoff at this.
"Would this be about the test run, Dr Bellum? For the robot?" Gunnar asked with a raised eyebrow.
Saira floated up from the ground, adjusting her goggles as she did, before a computer keyboard folded up in front of her, where she typed on it, causing a small screen of her to take up one corner, with a map of Singapore taking up the rest of the screen, which then changed to show the city, before an imagine of a building appeared. {"Uh, yes, yes, indeed. I feel that Roby is ready for his very first foray out into the world. And I wish to suggest Singapore for a visit to its new Science Museum, which is currently presenting an exhibit on…."} she was saying with a grin, before being cut off.
"Of course you'd plot a tech caper" Countess Cleo said with a groan, as she rolled her eyes at this.
Dr Bellum scowled at this. {"If you would allow me to finish, Cleo, an exhibit on the Science and History of Gold, with the main attraction being this unique and brilliant crown, that was once worn by a Himalayan oracle, lined with precious gems and 24 karat gold"} she said with a smile, as she pressed a few buttons on the keyboard, causing the crown to appear on the screen.
"Now you are speaking my language, Saira," Cleo said with a laugh, as she smiled widely at this.
0o0o0o0
(With Carmen)
It was the next day, as Carmen and Ivy were both sitting in the airport, waiting for their plane. And as they were waiting, Ivy was eating some chocolate from a bag that she'd bought earlier.
"How can you even look at chocolate after what we just went through?" Carmen asked with a perplexed look on her face.
"I'm not looking, I'm eating," Ivy said with a grin, before she popped another piece of chocolate in her mouth, causing her to hum in at the taste.
Before Carmen could say anything else, her phone rang, causing her to look at it and smile, seeing that it was Player calling. "Hey Player. How's life on the inside?" she asked, as she answered her phone.
{"Well, maths stinks, but I am acing geography"} Player said.
"Ah, you're a chip off the ol' fedora. So, what's the latest?" Carmen asked curiously.
"Something VILE's going down at Singapore tonight, at a Science Museum" Player said, as he stood in the school hallway, with his laptop in his locker, as he held the locker open, so that no one could see what he was doing, while he regularly checked that no one was nearby listening. "I'll dig around for more info. But that may be challenging, with the school's 'no cellphones' policy" he said, as he looked round his locker door, seeing Mr Humphery reprimanding another student, for being on their cellphone.
"I remember those days," Carmen said with a grin, as Ivy ate some more chocolate.
"I re-routed your flight, Red. Gotta run to class" Player said, as he slung his backpack onto his back and grabbed some books, before closing his locker door. He gained a look of worry on his face, as he saw Mr Humphery walking over, which made him walk off, with Mr Humphery raising an eyebrow at this.
0o0o0o0
(Back with Carmen)
After Carmen and Ivy had got on their plane heading for Singapore, they waited for it to reach the proper altitude, before Carmen pulled out her laptop and placed it on her lap, as she opened it up. "Ivy, we're heading off to Singapore. An island that's off the southern tip of Malaysia, in Southeast Asia. It's the only island in the world that's both a city and its own country. The name Singapore translates as 'Lion City', despite the city's origins as a fishing village. That may explain why the Merlion is such a popular symbol there. It's said to be a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish" she said, as she looked up the info of the country.
"Oh, 'merlion' as in mermaid. I get it now!" Ivy said with a grin, as she nodded at this.
"The most famous merlion statue sits near the mouth of Singapore River, overlooking the Marina Bay" Carmen said, as images of the area appeared on the laptops screen.
Ivy was about to say something, before she suddenly yawned, which made Carmen chuckle at this, as she too yawned. "We should probably get some sleep, especially since we stayed up all last night to stop VILE," Carmen said, as she put her laptop on the table in front of them, before she stood up.
"Yea, good idea" Ivy said with a nod, as she too stood up, before they headed off to bed, as it was a long flight to Singapore.
0o0o0o0
(Singapore)
After Carmen and Ivy had slept on the plane, they'd woken up with time to have something to eat and drink before they plane landed at Singapore airport. Once they'd cleared through customs, they went to find a hotel, where they dropped off their luggage and got changed, before they headed off out.
Carmen and Ivy got a ride on a bus to their destination and once they'd arrived, they went in different directions, to cover more ground.
{"Whoa. It's like the city of the future"} Ivy said on Carmen's comms, where you could almost hear the shock on her face, as Carmen approached a building that was shaped to look like a flower. {"Hey, is that an alien spaceship?"}
"No, it's Singapore's new Science Museum, VILE's target. Beaming up now" Carmen said, as she walked towards the building, as she pulled out her grappling gun, and shot the hook onto the roof, before she was pulled up and once she'd arrived on the ledge, she flicked the rope, causing the hook to detach and be reeled back in, before she put the grappling gun away.
Carmen then walked towards the windows, while taking out her laser cutter. "No hostile intergalactic life forms in sight….but we are definitely not alone" she was saying with a smile, before she looked to the side with a frown, when she saw that a hexagon shape was cut into a window.
Carmen carefully entered through the hexagon hole, while looking around, before she got out her grappling gun again and attached the hook onto the ledge before she lowered herself down. "Huh, no alarms either. Nice of VILE to disable the security system for me, now with Player being tied up in class" she said, as she reached the bottom, before she once again flicked the rope, causing the hook to detach and be reeled back in, before she put the grappling gun away.
Outside the museum, Ivy was in a van, looking at the Science Museum from the side of the road on the opposite side of the Singapore River. "They could still be inside. Be careful in there, Carm" she said on her phone, a look of worry on her face.
"Don't worry, I will," Carmen said, as she walked around the museum, making sure to keep an eye out for any VILE operative that could be lurking about.
As Carmen walked through the museum, she looked at all the space tech and gear that was either hung up or in display cases. "There's not enough gold in these inventions to be of monetary interest to VILE" she said, as she walked off, not noticing that she'd walked past Roby, VILE's robot operative, as it powered up before following Carmen.
Carmen stopped at a display case, as she rubbed her chin in thought. "Unless VILE is targeting tech, there doesn't seem to be a single jewel in the….crown" she was saying, before she saw a crown in a display case not far off.
Carmen narrowed her eyes at this, as she walked towards it, unaware that Roby was standing behind her, sending a video feed directly to the VILE Faculty members.
"Carmen Sandiego, what a surprise" Countess Cleo said with a flat tone.
Dr Bellum then appeared in a corner on the large screen. {"It is we who possess the element of surprise, Cleo. Watch"} she said with a smirk on her face.
Roby flexed its hands as it walked towards Carmen, who was looking at the crown in its display case, before she saw Roby's reflection in the glass dome, which caused her to turn around, just as Roby lifted up its arm. This caused Carmen to gasp as she leapt to the side, just as Roby thrust its hand forward, where it slammed against the glass dome with a thud, causing it to shake for a moment where cracks formed all over it, before the dome shattered to pieces, with Carmen covering her face to avoid the glass hitting her.
Roby then reached for the crown, but Carmen quickly jumped over the display case while grabbing the crown, where she rolled on the ground on the other side, before she got to her feet and ran off, clutching the crown to her chest as she did.
"She's quick, I'll give her that" Coach Brunt said with begrudging respect.
Roby turned its torso then its head, before it ran off after Carmen, who was heading towards the exit.
After running for a while, Roby reached out with its hand and grabbed the tail end of Carmen's coat before pulling on it, causing Carmen to yell out in shock as she was pulled backwards while dropping the crown, before Roby tossed her over its shoulder, sending her slamming into a nearby display case, where she fell slumped to the ground.
Carmen lifted her head up with a frown, before she gasped in shock, as she saw that Roby was holding the crown in its hand, as it walked towards the door, with Carmen scowling at this.
Once Roby had reached the door, it clenched its hand into a fist, causing a drill to appear from its middle knuckle, which it used to drill into the lock of the door handle, before it opened the door slightly.
"Not so fast!" Carmen yelled out, as she stood up and ran over.
Roby held its arm up, causing green electricity to run from its fingertip to its elbow, before it turned and swung its arm at Carmen, who quickly got down on her knees, causing her to slide underneath its arm, where she grabbed the crown from its other hand, as her knees pushed the door wide open, allowing her to enter into the other room that had nothing inside it with a glass rooftop and an opening in the centre of it, before the door closed behind her.
Carmen quickly got to her feet and ran towards the opening in the roof, where she pulled out her grappling gun and shot the hook at the edge of it, before she allowed herself to be pulled up, just as Roby ran towards where she was.
"Easy come, easy go" Carmen said with a smirk, as she looked down at Roby for a moment, before looking back up, holding the crown close to her chest.
Roby looked up at Carmen for a moment, before it raised its arm up and shot its hand into the air, causing it to also grab onto the edge.
"What?" Carmen exclaimed in shock at this, before she looked down, seeing that Roby was being pulled up too, causing her to scowl at this. "Copycat."
Once Carmen reached the top, she detached her grappling hook from the edge with a flick of her wrist, before she reeled it in and ran for the edge of the building, just as Roby appeared on the roof, who ran after her.
Carmen pulled out a small bag, which she placed the crown inside, before she pulled on the strings to close the bag up and once she'd reached the edge of the roof, she jumped off then activated her glider, while holding the bag with the crown in it in her hand. "Arriverderci, tin man!" she yelled out with a smirk, as she glanced back at Roby, before she focused on flying away.
Roby merely looked at her for a while, before it crouched down and jumped high into the air, leaving cracks in the ceiling, so that it was over Carmen, before it angled itself, so that it fell down towards her, and once it was close enough, it grabbed hold of the wing of the glider, causing Carmen to let out a grunt of pain, as the glider tiled to the side before she gave a yell, as the glider spiralled down to the ground, out of control.
Carmen saw that they were heading towards the Helix Bridge, so she took the glider off her back and jumped onto the bridge, sliding down one of its arches, and once she reached the bottom, she saw Roby fall into the water, while the glider aimlessly floated away in the air.
Carmen frowned for a moment, as she looked at the water, waiting to see if the robot would come out, but after a while, the water settled down.
Carmen sighed in relief at this, but before she could walk off, she heard water bubbling, causing her to look over at where the robot had fallen, seeing the water was being disturbed, before the robots hand shot out of the water and grabbed onto the top of the bridge, which allowed it to reel itself out of the water and once it had landed on top of the bridge, it pulled its hand back in and it took off running towards Carmen.
"Ivy, I'm heading away from the museum on the Helix Bridge - with a giant robot on my tail" Carmen said into her earcomm, as she took off running away from the robot.
{"What?"} Ivy exclaimed in shock.
Carmen kept on running, with the robot slowly but surely gaining on her, before it jumped off one of the beams and landed at the end of the bridge, just as Carmen reached the end.
"Persistent Terminator ripoff, aren't ya" Carmen said with a scowl, before she jumped into the air and tried to kick the VILE robot, as it turned around in time and grabbed her leg, before it spun around tossed her to the side of the bridge, where she hit the glass railing and fell to the ground, dropping the bag with the crown in it as she did.
Carmen then looked up as the robot approached her, a look of worry on her face, as the robot reached down and picked up the bag. But before it could do anything else, the sound of a vehicle approaching could be heard, before a white van crashed into the robot.
At VILE Castle, the large screen showing the video feed, cut off, showing nothing but static.
"No!" Cleo gasped out in concern.
After a while, the van screeched to a halt, before the driver's door opened, showing Ivy behind the wheel, who pumped her fist in the air with a grin. "Robot down!" she said, before she climbed out of the van and ran over to Carmen.
"Hey, Carm, are you alright?" Ivy asked in concern.
Before Carmen could reply, they both heard a clattering noise, which caused them to look over at the van, where they saw that the robot was lifting up the van off of itself, showing that it was missing an arm, as it tossed the van to the side, causing it to land on its roof with a loud thud, before it turned and leapt away, heading into the city.
Carmen and Ivy watched this in shock, as Carmen stood up, before Ivy looked down. "It's Even Steven. We have something that belongs to it" she said with a frown, as she walked over to the robot's other arm, as she crouched down next to it.
0o0o0o0
(In Reykjavik)
As all this was going on, The Cleaners had arrived at the phonebooth that Gray had used to call VILE and as Vlad opened up the phonebooths door, they saw that there was no one inside it.
This caused Vlad to look at Boris, who lifted up his VILE phone and called the Faculty members, before the screen showed Professor Maelstrom. "He did not wait," he said with a frown.
{"He can't have gone far. Comb the streets"} Gunnar said with a scowl.
Boris merely nodded at this, as he hung up the phone, before he and Vlad walked off.
0o0o0o0
(With Gray)
Meanwhile, Gray was standing in front of a house, as he looked at the ID card from the wallet he'd stolen, making sure that it was the right address. He then walked up to the front door, where he rang the doorbell and looked at the house with a small smile, before he rang the doorbell again, when no one answered the door.
"Hello? Is there anyone home?" Gray called out, as he looked in through the window next to the door, as the window opened slightly when he pressed his hand on it, showing that it wasn't locked.
Gray stepped back slightly at this, as images flashed in his mind: an elderly man holding an open briefcase, showing it was filled with lots of money, before it changed to show him looking at a floor plan of a building, where he drew arrows on it.
Once the images had vanished, Gray had a cold, hard look on his face, as he took out all the money in the wallet, then he tossed it aside while putting the money in his back pocket, before he climbed through the open window into the house.
Once inside the house, Gray looked around for a moment, before he walked over to a dresser, where he opened up one of the drawers, which had a few items in it, including what looked like a jewellery box and when he opened it, he saw a golden strap watch along with a pair of golden earrings and a gold necklace, with sapphires on the end of the earrings and in the middle of the necklace and along the necklaces cord.
Gray picked up the necklace and placed it in his shirt pocket, before he closed the jewellery box and the dresser drawer. He then turned to the front door to leave the house, but he stopped, when he heard the door being unlocked before it opened, showing a woman with the same coloured hair as the boy on the ID card, with a handbag slung over her shoulder, who stopped when she saw Gray in the house. ":Who are you?:" she asked with a frown.
"What?" Gray asked, as his eyes widened in surprise.
The woman looked at him with a perplexed look, before Gray saw her face was overshadowed by an older black man with a white beard while wearing glasses, before he saw the woman again, who was giving him a look of bewilderment.
Gray placed his hand to his head as he groaned, with more images flashing through his head; showing Gray in a blue and black suit holding a rod with electricity crackling at the end of it, before he shot the electricity at the black man, causing a crater to form in the wall behind the man which was covered in flames, before the man ran away.
Gray then collapsed onto the floor, his face covered in sweat as he panted for breath.
"Who are you?" the woman asked him in English, as she cautiously approached him.
"Graham….Calloway" Gray said, as he continued to pant slightly.
"What are you doing in my house?" the woman asked him suspiciously.
"I'm….not really sure" Gray said, just as the necklace slipped out of his shirt pocket and landed on the floor.
This caused the woman to look at Gray in anger. "I am calling the police," she said, before she pulled out her cellphone.
0o0o0o0
(With Carmen)
Back with Carmen, she and Ivy had returned to their HQ with the robot arm, where they told Zack, Naruto and Shadowsan what had happened in Singapore.
"I can't believe that you got to see a real life robot!" Zack said with a pout, as he and Ivy were sitting at the table, while Carmen sat next to Naruto on the couch with Shadowsan in his wheelchair, with a laptop on his lap.
"Yeah, I got to see it. As my rental van munched it's sorry ro-butt" Ivy said with a grin.
Zack placed his hand on her shoulder with a smile, causing Ivy to place his on top of it. "I'm alright, Zack. I guarantee you that it was more traumatic for it than me" she said.
"I was actually practising the Pressure Point Pinch that Shadowsan and Naruto were teaching me while you were away" Zack said, causing Ivy to look dumbfounded at this.
Zack grit his teeth as he clenched his hand on Ivy's shoulder, while she gave him a deadpan look, as she took her hand off of his. "Oh, you're supposed to be out cold by now," he said with a look of confusion.
"You keep training bro" Ivy said with a flat tone.
Zack grit his teeth again while closing his eyes, as he gripped Ivy's shoulder tightly again. "Nothing?" he asked after a moment, as he opened up one of his eyes.
"Nope, nothing," Ivy said flatly, as she shook her head.
Naruto, Carmen and Shadowsan glanced at them for a moment, before they looked at each other. "It would seem that Dr Bullem finally succeeded in launching her pet project" Shadowsan said with a frown, as they looked at the robot arm on the table in front of them.
"I can't believe that she built her own ripoff version of a Terminator, only this one steals valuable things," Naruto said with his own frown.
"Dr Bellum's most highly equipped laboratory is nestled in the Himalayan Mountains in Nepal. That is where she would often retreat, to conduct her experiments in robotics" Shadowsan said, while he began typing on the laptop's keyboard, as an image of the Himalayan's appeared on the screen.
"Do you think that the rest of her robot might have delivered the stolen crown to her there?" Carmen asked curiously, as she and Naruto looked at him.
"Considering that we still have no clue as to where VILE Faculty calls home these days, that would be a reasonable place to look" Shadowsan said with a nod.
"We'll have Player grab a satellite scan of the area before he starts his homework tonight" Naruto said with a frown.
Before anyone else could say anything, they heard Naruto and Carmen's cell phones ringing, causing them both to pick up their phones and raise an eyebrow, seeing that it was Player calling them, as they both pressed the screen to answer him.
"Player, your ears must have been burning," Carmen said with a grin.
"Yea, as we were just talking about you," Naruto said with his own grin.
{"Are you guys both sitting down?"} Player asked them.
"Yep, as me and Ivy arrived back from Singapore quite a while ago" Carmen said with a nod.
"So what's up?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Well, you remember how you had me set a global alert for Gray, so you'd know if he ever got into any trouble?" Player asked, as he had his desk lid up, with his head inside his desk while on the phone to them, with the hood of his hoodie up.
{"Yea?"} Naruto and Carmen asked slowly, wondering where Player was going with this.
{"Well, I just got ping'd"} Player said, causing Naruto and Carmen to both frown at this.
"It looks like an Australian citizen named Graham Calloway was just arrested in Reykjavik, Iceland" Player said, before a hand reached into his desk and grabbed his phone off him, which caused Player to gasp in shock, before he came out from his desk while putting the lid down, seeing that it was Mr Humphrey who took his phone from him.
"Mr Bouchard, how many times do I need to tell you? No cellphones in the classroom" Mr Humphrey said with a sigh, as he had a look and tone of disapproval.
"But this is important!" Player said with a look of worry on his face.
"Rules are rules. You can get it back after school, along with detention" Mr Humphrey said, as he walked back to the front of the classroom.
Player helplessly watched as he walked away with his phone, before he slammed his head onto his desk, with a few of the students looking at him in sympathy.
Back with Naruto and Carmen, they hung up their phones with blank looks on their faces.
"What's wrong?" Shadowsan asked them.
"Gray's in jail, in Reykjavik" Carmen said, as she looked at the others.
Ivy had a look of shock on her face, as she was about to drink a bottle of juice, while Zack was eating a bowl of noodles, with a clueless look on his face. "Wait, is that in Australia?" Zack asked in confusion, after he'd swallowed some noodles that he was eating at the time.
"I thought that he was a good guy now?" Ivy asked, also with a look of confusion.
"Reykjavik's in Iceland, which has one of the lowest crime rates in the world," Naruto said, as he and Carmen were both looking at their phones.
"So, maybe Gray got arrested for littering. While he was on vacation?" Carmen asked, as she and Naruto both looked at Shadowsan questioningly.
"If we managed to learn that Gray was arrested there, then it is safe to assume that VILE will also learn the news. And you both know that they don't tolerate loose ends" Shadowsan said with a frown.
Naruto and Carmen both looked at each with frowns on their faces, having a silent conversation with each other, before nodding.
"The crown is gonna have to wait," Naruto said with a frown.
Carmen nodded at this, as they both stood up and walked towards the front door. "We need to get to Gray before they do," she said.
"Zack, Ivy, time to jet" Naruto said, as he and Carmen turned to look at the siblings.
"But I need to stay here and take care of -" Zack was saying with worry, as he gestured at Shadowsan, before he was interrupted by said man.
"I will be fine. I have a back scratcher now" Shadowsan said, as he looked at the robot arm with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, you heard the man bro, so let's go" Ivy said, as she got off the table she was sitting on and pulled Zack off the stool he was sitting on, dragging him towards the door.
"Okay, but let me finish off my noodles first" Zack said, as he quickly ate the rest of his noodles, then he ran into the kitchen area and placed the bowl and fork in the kitchen sink, before running back to the others.
The group then walked outside and headed for the car, with Zack in the driver's seat and Ivy in the passenger's seat, while Naruto and Carmen got in the back, before Zack started up the car and drove for the airport, with Naruto using his phone to book them a flight to Iceland.
Once they arrived at the airport, they did all the usual stuff there, before they climbed on the plane, which soon took off.
"And we're off to Iceland" Ivy said, while Zack stood behind the chair she was sitting in, with his arms crossed on the headrest as he looked at the laptop on his sisters knees, as she was looking up info about Iceland, while Naruto and Carmen were looking out the window in worry for Gray.
"It sounds cold. It's too bad that Gray wasn't arrested in Greenland" Zack said.
"Well, according to this, it says that Greenland is much colder and icier," Ivy said with a smile, as she glanced over her shoulder at Zack.
"Really? Huh, you learn something new everyday" Zack said with a look of surprise.
"But when Iceland does get cold, the locals warm up. Thanks to the country's many active volcanoes" Ivy said with a grin.
"Ooh, almost all Icelandic households use geothermal power, which harnesses heat from deep within the earth to generate electricity" Zack said, as he read some info on Iceland from over Ivy's shoulder.
"We're heading off to Reykjavik, which is Iceland's capital, where nearly half the country's total population lives. The city is also home to a large population of cats, since dogs weren't allowed there until the 1980's" Ivy said.
"Whoa. And turtles still aren't allowed there. It's technically illegal to even own one in Iceland. Gotta wonder if that's why Gray was sent to the slammer?" Zack mused to himself.
"We'll find out once we arrive" Carmen said, as she and Naruto looked over at the siblings.
"Agreed. So for now, let's all get some rest" Naruto said, as he and Carmen got to their feet and headed off to their bedroom to get some sleep, with Zack and Ivy doing the same thing.
0o0o0o0
(Reykjavik police station)
A few police officers outside the station were walking home, while one police car was parked outside, with some officers inside the station sitting at their desks, doing some last minute paperwork before heading off home.
In the back of the station, where the jail cells were, Gray was in the furthest one, sat on the bed, resting his chin on his hand with his elbow on his knee, as an officer walked over and took the food tray away.
"Not hungry, eh? You didn't even touch your harðfiskur" the officer said, as he saw that Gray hadn't touched the food on the tray.
"Shouldn't you be out on patrol?" Gray asked the policeman blandly.
"I already have all of the criminals locked up," the officer said with a cocked eyebrow, as he gestured at all the other cells, which caused Gray to look at them, seeing the rest of them were empty.
"I'm telling you, mate, I have no idea what I was doing in that house" Gray said with a sigh, as he rested his arms on his knees.
"The belongings stuffed into your pockets indicate that you were robbing it" the policeman said with a frown, before he walked off, with Gray watching him go.
0o0o0o0
(?)
Inside the room where Gray was previously held by ACME, both Chase and the other agent were awake, as they watched Chief's hologram pacing around the room, wondering what caused Gray to act the way he did, after wearing the device on his head.
"He was probably biding his time, just waiting to make his move!" Devineaux said with a shrug.
{"Calloway is either some kind of 'sleeper agent' that we unintentionally activated, or he's been beating our lie detector all along. Either way, we have a potential threat loose in Reykjavik. And if ACME couldn't contain him, then I doubt the local police there can,"}Chief said with a frown, as she looked over at Chase.
"Actually, Chief…." the ACME agent said, as he tapped a few times on his tablet, causing a hologram of Gray's mug shot to appear from the ACME communication pen Chief was using, causing her to look shocked at this.
{"Devineaux, get over to the precinct house, now"} Chief said firmly.
"I'm on it, Chief" Chase said with a nod, before he quickly left the room.
0o0o0o0
(VILE Castle)
Meanwhile, the Faculty members were all having a meeting, with Saira repairing Roby, by putting a new robotic arm on it.
{"And unlike human operatives, my Robo Robber is easily repaired"} Dr Bellum said with a grin, as she lifted the welding helmet up.
"Oh, how nice. Now can you please just tell me my Crown is secure?" Cleo said sarcastically, before she frowned while clenching her fist tightly.
Before Bellum could answer, The Troll's logo appeared on the screen, covering her face up, before The Troll himself replaced it and moved to the side, so that Saira could be involved in the conversation. {"Check it out, gang. I tapped into Iceland's CCTV, satellites, you name it, but I couldn't pinpoint your bogie. That is, not until….'Mr Electricity' popped up in the local police database"} The Troll said with a smirk, before his image was replaced with Gray's mug shot.
"Next time, Troll, do make it a point to get to the point" Professor Maelstrom said with a scowl.
"With Roundabout out of play, we no longer possess a convenient means of releasing operatives from jail" Countess Cleo said with a raised eyebrow.
{"Don't we?"} Bellum asked with a smirk, as she removed the welding helmet, while Gray's mug shot disappeared from the large screen.
"What, are you gonna jetpack on over there and fly him away?" Brunt asked with a smirk.
"That will not be necessary. Need I remind you that The Cleaners are in the area?" Gunnar asked with his fingers pressed together, before the screen went blank.
"Define 'unnecessary' Professor Maelstrom" Dr Bellum said with a grin, before she turned to her robot and lifted up the controller for it, where she pressed some buttons on it. "Pairing new device. Roby, flex your fingers."
Only for nothing to happen.
Saira raised an eyebrow in confusion at this, before she pressed some more buttons. "And now?" she asked, only for nothing to still happen.
Dr Bellum began pressing all of the buttons on the controller, as she tsked in annoyance at this. "Why aren't your fingers moving?" she asked, as she moved the controller closer to the robot, not knowing that the fingers from the robot's detached arm were moving, while Shadowsan was laid out on the couch, reading a book.
0o0o0o0
(Reykjavik Police Station)
The officer from before was behind the front desk, doing some work on his computer, when the front door opened, causing him to look up and see Ivy in the doorway.
"Officer! I just witnessed a crime!" Ivy said with a look of shock, as she walked towards him.
"Another one today?" the officer asked with wide eyes.
"I saw a man outside, walking his….turtle!" Ivy said, as she leaned on the desk.
"Turtle," the officer said with a cocked eyebrow, while tilting his head slightly.
"As you and I both know, they're illegal in these parts" Ivy said with a smile at him, before she narrowed her eyes.
The officer gave a slight nod at this. "Well, technically" he said, as he began writing on his notepad, while Ivy stood up with her arms crossed.
"You still have to arrest him, don't you?" Ivy asked with a frown.
"It's really more of a fine" the guard said with a small shrug.
"Yeah, okay, yep. Mm-hm" Ivy said with a sarcastic tone.
"Oh, fine, fine, fine" the officer said with a sigh, as he stood up and walked round from his desk, while Ivy ran out of the station, as the officer followed her, not noticing that his keys were grabbed by Naruto, as he and Carmen were hiding behind a beam holding the outdoor roof up, before they entered the police station.
After Ivy and the officer had walked a fair distance down the street, Ivy pointed at Zack, who was standing on the sidewalk looking at his phone, with a toy turtle wearing a harness, while Zack was holding the lead in his hand. "That's him, officer!" she said with a frown.
"Excuse me sir, can I please have a word with you?" the officer asked.
"Why are turtles a crime? Why? They don't bark or bite!" Zack yelled out, as he looked at the officer, before he turned and ran off, dragging the fake turtle along as he did.
"Wait! Come back here!" the officer yelled, before he took off after Zack.
"I tried to warn you, he's a public menace!" Ivy yelled after the police officer, before she smiled with her eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip.
Back at the police station, Naruto and Carmen were behind the officers desk, as they turned off all the cameras in the precinct.
"Surveillance cameras are down" Carmen said, before she pulled up records of who was in the prison cells and in which one they were in.
"And it looks like there's only one occupied cell," Naruto said, as it showed Gray's mugshot photo and all the info they had on him.
"Wow, there really isn't much crime here," Carmen said in surprise, with Naruto nodding in agreement.
"Bonjour" they heard a familiar voice say, causing them to look up and see Devineaux standing in front of the desk. "I am here to see….Naruto Uzumaki and Carmen Sandiego?" Chase was saying, as he took out his ACME ID card, before a look of surprise appeared on his face, when he noticed who was behind the desk.
"Devineaux? Really not -" Naruto and Carmen were both saying with scowls, as they walked away, before they were cut off.
"Yes, yes, 'not a good time' I know. But I'm not here to arrest you" Devineaux said, as he put his ID card away.
Naruto and Carmen paused in their walking, as they looked back at Chase with raised eyebrows.
0o0o0o0
(With Shadowsan)
Meanwhile, back at their HQ, Shadowsan was still reading his book, but the robots arm was no longer on the table, as it was crawling along the floor for a moment, before it used its fingers to move about, as it began using railing of the stairs to go upstairs, while Shadowsan looked like he was completely oblivious to what was going on….until he threw the book at the robot arm, causing it to fall to the floor, with the book landing on top of it.
Shadowsan narrowed his eyes at the robotic arm, as he grabbed his crutch and hobbled over to it and once he'd reached it, he carefully kneeled down for a closer look, as he reached out to lift the book off it. But just as he was about to, the arm suddenly moved, as the drill appeared where the middle finger was, as it leapt at him.
Shadowsan quickly dodged to the side, a gasp of shock as he did, while the arm drilled into the table nearby, causing it to break in half, before the arm jumped out of the wreckage, looking quite threatening for an arm, before it sprang at Shadowsan again, who quickly used his crutch to stop the robot arm from reaching him.
The two struggled for a few moments, before Shadowsan tossed the crutch to the side, where it landed on the floor, with the robot arm tangled up in the crutch, as it twitched slightly, before it tried to get out of the crutch, only to get more trapped in the crutch.
Shadowsan turned and crawled towards the large elevator doors, as the robotic arm continued to try and get out of the crutch.
0o0o0o0
(With Naruto)
Back with Naruto, he and Carmen were walking through the Reykjavik police station, with Devineaux following behind them.
"I just have questions for you, so many questions. Starting with, why are you here?" Devineaux asked with a cocked eyebrow.
"We're visiting an old friend," Naruto said with a slightly raised eyebrow, as they turned to one of the rooms they were walking past.
"Graham Calloway?" Chase asked, as Naruto opened the door.
Naruto and Carmen looked back at Devineaux. "You…aren't here because you followed us?" Carmen asked, as they both had slight looks of surprise at this.
"Ah, so the three of you are connected!" Devineaux said with a grin, as he entered the room while cupping his chin. "But if Calloway is bad and you are good…." he was saying with a raised eyebrow, as he looked confused at this, while glancing over his shoulder at them.
"It's complicated. And truly, Devineaux, not a good time" Naruto said with a frown, as he closed and locked the door, before he and Carmen ran off.
Chase turned round at this, before he gasped out in shock as he walked towards the door and tried the handle. "No! No! No! No! Please, let me out!"
Devineaux then tried to look out of the small barred window in the door, to see if he could spot Naruto and Carmen, before he looked around for another way out of the room. He then spotted the chair in the room and quickly walked over to it, as he picked it up and threw it at the large window, only for it to bounce back at him and hit him in the head, causing him to fall to the floor, knocked out.
After walking for a few minutes, Naruto and Carmen arrived at the cell Gray was in, where they saw him sat on the bench, with his head hung low while he was pinching the bridge of his nose with his hand, before he looked up when he heard the two of them approaching.
"Carmen? Naruto? How'd you know that I was here?" Gray asked in shock, as he stood up.
"All in good time, Gray. We need to get you out of here" Carmen said, as she and Naruto lowered their hoods, before Naruto held up the keys and began trying to unlock the cell door.
"It's Graham….look out!" Gray was saying with a smile, before he looked behind them and yelled out the last part.
This caused Naruto and Carmen to slightly look over their shoulders, before they both felt someone grabbing them from behind, as a cloth covered their mouths and nose; with Boris holding onto Naruto while Vlad was holding onto Carmen.
The two of them both struggled in The Cleaners grips, as Naruto dropped the keys in his struggle, before he kicked them behind him, while Gray could only watch on helplessly, before he closed his eyes, as memories of seeing The Cleaners in gardening work clothes flashed in his mind, which was then followed with them dressed similar to what they're wearing now, with them in the front of a car while he was in the back, knocking on a glass window to get their attention.
Gray then opened up his eyes, groaning in a panic, as sweat dripped down from his head onto the floor.
After struggling for a few more minutes, Naruto and Carmen were able to get the cloths away from their faces, before they both stomped on The Cleaners feet, which caused the two of them to grunt and groan in pain, as they both elbowed them in the stomach, before turning around and punching them in the chest, sending them back.
Naruto and Carmen then wobbled about slightly, as they backed up to the wall, with Carmen grabbing hold of a mop that her hand touched, while their vision blurred slightly before coming back into focus.
The Cleaners both looked at the keys in the corner of the room with frowns on their faces, with Naruto and Carmen doing the same thing, while they tried to keep their eyes open, as The Cleaners put some gloves on their hands, before advancing towards them with Gray watching in worry.
Carmen pulled the mop out of the bucket and held it at the ready, while Naruto pulled out his escrima sticks and twirled them slightly, before he got into a ready stance.
0o0o0o0
(With Shadowsan)
Meanwhile, Shadowsan was still crawling on the floor, heading for the elevator doors, while the robotic arm continued to try and get free from his crutches.
Once he'd reached the doors, he glanced back for a moment to see what the robot arm was doing, then he pressed the down button, causing a ding noise to be made, before he heard the elevator coming down.
Shadowsan then sat up on one side of the doors and grabbed hold, before he tried to open the doors up with a growl.
The robot arm was still moving about, trying to get loose from Shadowsan's crutches, before it was finally able to get free. It wiggled about for a moment on its back, before it righted itself back up and activated the drill again and moved as quickly as possible towards Shadowsan, who was gritting his teeth, as he tried to open the elevator doors.
Once the robotic arm was close enough, it jumped at Shadowsan, who was able to get the elevator doors open just in time, which caused the robot arm to fly into the elevator shaft, where it ended up embedding itself into the wall, before it tried to get loose, as Shadowsan looked in and saw that the elevator was coming down.
After some struggling, the robotic arm was able to get itself free from the wall, before it turned and jumped at Shadowsan once again with the drill going, which caused Shadowsan to back away. But before the robot arm could do anything, the elevator came down on top of it, with only the hand getting through, before it was snapped off by the elevator where it lay twitching on the floor for a moment with green electricity covering it, before it eventually went still.
Shadowsan panted for breath at this, before he laid on his back, glad that ordeal was over with.
0o0o0o0
(With Naruto)
Back in the police station, Gray was watching on helplessly from in his cell as sweat dripped down his face, as The Cleaners advanced towards Naruto and Carmen, with Carmen swinging the mop at them to keep them back, while Naruto was doing the same thing with his escrima sticks, with them both trying to keep themselves awake.
They both saw Boris trying to sneak up on them, which caused Carmen to swing the mop at him, hoping to take him out. But Boris easily grabbed it and swung Carmen round, slamming her into the cell Gray was in, before he began pushing the mop up into her chin.
This caused Naruto to frown at this, as he guarded the keys while Vlad walked towards him.
Naruto then began swinging his escrima sticks at Vlad, hoping to take him out so that he could help Carmen, but Vlad was easily able to avoid his swings, before he grabbed hold of one after moving to the side, then he spun around and let go, causing Naruto to go flying down the hallway, where he fell in a heap on the floor, in a daze.
Carmen glanced over Boris' shoulder, where she saw Vlad walking towards the keys. Not wanting him to get them, Carmen jammed her knee into Boris' stomach, causing him to groan in pain, before she spun him around and slammed him into the cell door, before she ran off to stop Vlad. Boris made to follow after her, but found he couldn't move, as Gray had wrapped his arms around him, keeping him in place.
Vlad was about to pick up the keys, when Carmen used the end of the mop to move the keys, so that they were next to her.
Vlad scowled at this, as he stood up while pulling out a baton and swung it at Carmen, who backed up to avoid the first swing and used the mop to block the second, before swinging the mop at him, which he avoided by leaning back.
Vlad then noticed the keys at his feet, so he kicked them towards Boris, who then grabbed Gray's arms and tried to pry them off from around his waist, with Gray trying to keep his arms wrapped around him.
Naruto got up off the floor and shook his head, before he picked up his escrima sticks and ran to help Carmen against Vlad, hoping that the two teaming up against him would work.
When Vlad saw Naruto running over, he pulled out a second baton and used it to block against one of Naruto's escrima sticks, while avoiding the second one.
As the two of them fought against Vlad, they slightly glanced over their shoulders at Boris, where they saw that he was almost free from Gray's grip.
Vlad tried to take advantage of this, as he swung his batons at them, but they ducked under his swings, with Carmen swinging the mop at his feet, causing him to fall over onto his back, before she lunged at the keys and was able to grab them just in time, as Boris had got free from Gray's grip, while Naruto glared down at Vlad, keeping an eye on him.
Carmen looked up at Boris, as he reached down and grabbed hold on the mop, which he pulled from Carmen's grip, before he tried to jab the end of it into her chest, but she was able to roll out of the way in time.
Naruto looked over to make sure that Carmen was okay, which Vlad capitalized on, as he kicked Naruto in the chest, sending him backwards, so he ended up where Carmen was, as she got up off the floor, while putting the keys in her pocket for safe keeping.
"Leave the cleaning to the professionals" Vlad said as he stood up, while Boris twirled the mop expertly, before he ran at them and tried to hit them both with the mop, but they both dodged his attacks, before Carmen jumped over one of his swings at her and landed on the end of the mop, keeping it trapped on the floor, before she stamped on the middle with her other foot, breaking it in half.
This made both The Cleaners scowl at this, before Vlad ran at them, as Carmen picked up the bucket the mop was previously in and used it to knock the baton out of his hand, causing Vlad to look slightly stunned at this, as she and Naruto both kicked him in the chest, sending him skidding back to stand next to Boris.
Carmen dropped the bucket on the ground, as she picked up the broken piece of the mop and held it in front of her, while Naruto held his escrima sticks at the ready, the both of them panting for breath as sweat ran down their faces, the both of them scowling at The Cleaners.
The Cleaners began advancing towards them, with Gray watching in a panic from behind the bars, but before anything else could happen, a phone's ringtone along with it vibrating could be heard, causing Naruto and Carmen to raise an eyebrow at this.
The Cleaners stopped walking, as Vlad pulled out his VILE phone to answer it. "Yes?" he asked, putting the phone to his ear.
Naruto and Carmen could hear an indistinct voice speaking from the phone, as Vlad listened to whoever was on the other end, as he raised an eyebrow at what he heard. "I see," he said, before he hung up. He then looked over his shoulder at Boris and gave him a slight nod, before they turned around and walked off, with Naruto and Carmen watching them go in disbelief.
Once The Cleaners had walked round the corner and they saw that they weren't coming back, Naruto and Carmen both slumped back against the wall and dropped what was in their hands as they fell to the floor, panting for breath with sweat rolling down their faces.
"Naruto! Carmen! Are you both alright?" Gray asked them in concern.
Naruto and Carmen both panted for a few moments, before they nodded slightly.
"Do I know those guys? Who were they?" Gray asked, as he looked down the corridor where The Cleaners had disappeared.
"Guys who never leave before the job is done" Naruto said, as he and Carmen used the bars of the cell to climb to their feet, while looking where The Cleaners had gone.
Before anything else could be said and done, a shattering noise was heard, before they heard a zapping noise, which caused them to look at the ceiling in the cell, where they saw what looked like electrical blades cutting the ceiling open.
"Huh? What's happening?" Gray asked, as he slumped against the cell bars before falling to the floor.
Once the blades had cut a hexagon shape, they then cut straight down the middle, before retracting, causing the pieces to fall to the floor, with Roby falling with them, as it landed in a crouch.
Naruto quickly tried to unlock the cell door, going through each and every key as he did, a look of worry on his and Carmen's faces.
Roby then stood up and grabbed Gray by his shirt, and pulled him towards him.
"Crikey!" Gray yelled out, as he tried to get out of Roby's grip.
"No!" Naruto and Carmen yelled out, as they pulled out their grappling guns and shot the hooks to grab Gray, but Roby was able to grab them without even looking, before it pulled on the wire. Naruto and Carmen tried to keep hold of them, but after a while, they were forced out of their hands, where they fell on the floor, with Roby dropping the hooks on the floor too.
Roby then looked up, with Gray doing the same thing, where they saw the VILE helicopter was coming down, with The Cleaners at the controls, as Roby turned around.
Naruto continued to try and unlock the cell door, even grabbing the handle and tugging on it helplessly, as Gray looked over Roby's shoulder in a panic with some fear on his face, as Roby shot its grappling hand up to the helicopter, before jumping while reeling itself in at the sametime, while Naruto and Carmen could watch on helplessly.
"No! Naruto! Carmen!" Gray yelled out, as Roby tossed Gray onto the helicopter, before it turned around to look at them, as the VILE copter flew off, with its side door closing.
"Gray!" Naruto and Carmen yelled out, as they could only watch on, as the VILE chopper flew off into the night.
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.