Author's Note: FINALLY! After YEARS of trying to get around to it, I finally got around to it! I've finally uploaded the second chapter of Sly Cooper and Carmen Sandiego: Honor Among Thieves!
I humbly apologize for how long it took to make this. Admittedly, I've been out of heist interest for a while, and I'm trying to get back into both Sly Cooper and Carmen Sandiego. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take NEARLY as long to make.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter. Any and all comments are welcome.
"Apologies for the day, inspectors." Julia Argent greeted Carmelita Fox and Chase Devineaux at the local police station. "I came to Paris as soon as I could."
"Perfect timing, Ms. Argent." Devineaux said. "Sandiego and Cooper's victim regained consciousness only moments ago and awaits us for questioning."
"Cooper does like to talk." Carmelita said. "Perhaps this young man picked up on some kind of clue on their next location."
"Does it strike you as odd that Carmen Sandiego and Sly Cooper would harm an innocent bystander?" Julia asked.
"He is a witness. He saw their faces." Devineaux said. "What more motive would they need?"
"I don't think that's the case." Carmelita said. "I've known Cooper for over a year, and I've never seen him hurt an innocent."
"Do you find it curious that our witness had no identification," Julia asked, "Not even a train ticket?"
"The thieves clearly stole the poor man's wallet." Devineaux said.
"That would certainly be a valid assumption."
"Of course, it would. Thank you." Devineaux said.
"But petty theft seems below the station of two acknowledged super thieves."
"I suppose we'll know more once we talk to our witness." Carmelita said just as the three of them reached the interrogation room. She placed her hand on the door to push it open.
The three Interpol agents stepped into the room, but were surprised to find that they were the only ones in there. Other than them, there was a table with an empty chair in the center of the room.
"What?" Devineaux asked in shock. "Where did he disappear to?"
Julia picked up a piece of paper that was hanging on the door and looked over it. "According to the ledger, the subject was released?"
"What! By whose authority?!"
"What's going on here?" Carmelita thought to herself. "Cooper, what did you get yourself into now?"
Five different people sat in a long meeting table in the middle of a grim, gloomy room. There was a large, buff woman, a thin, grim-looking man, an Egyptian woman in high-class clothes, an Indian woman who was distracted by her computer screens, and a Japanese man in a haori. They were VILE Faculty: Coach Brunt, Professor Maelstrom, Countess Cleo, Dr. Saira Bellum, and Shadowsan.
The VILE leaders were speaking to a pair of Russian men through a large screen after they had picked up Crackle from the police station.
"Extraction complete."
"Thank you, Cleaners, for mopping up this little spill." Professor Maelstrom said before turning to the scientist in the group. "We have Crackle in our custody, Dr. Bellum. Shall we initiate standard debriefing protocol?" For a long moment, there was no answer. "Doctor, please, you spread yourself far too thin. Pick a screen."
"Professor Maelstrom, I happen to be laser-focused on a matter of grave urgency right now." Dr. Bellum said combing through her screens. She stopped when she found a security image of Carmen Sandiego entering a plane, which she shared with her colleagues. "Our intelligence indicates that the student formerly known as 'Black Sheep' has departed from Paris and is currently en route to Java, where I maintain certain assets. Troubling news considering our security last night indicated that she is now in league with Connor Cooper's little bundle of joy."
"Yes. The Red Rogue is a threat, but together with a Cooper, they are formidable." Maelstrom agreed clenching his fists trying to hold back his anger. "I still don't know how that little brat managed to evade our capture all those years ago."
"The Cooper family is naturally slippery, professor." Countess Cleo said. "You of all people should know that better than any of us."
"Oh, is he really that much of a threat?" Coack Brunt asked. "I mean, we did just take that fancy book of thieving secrets from his old man. He doesn't know any of the skills we know."
"Except that Black Sheep knows the basics of the techniques we've picked up from their pages." Shadowsan said. "If she ever decides to teach them to Cooper, he'll have a great start in his journey of following his family's legacy."
"Shadowsan is right." Maelstrom said. "The Coopers are resourceful. And if Connor Cooper's spawn is helping our wayward student in putting a stop to our operations, we need to remain on our toes. Fortunately, one of our finest operatives is currently stationed in Indonesia."
Carmen stood in the middle of a parking lot that was just outside of a local jungle. She made it to Java, Indonesia with her colleagues, two young-looking people—a man and a woman—with red hair. Their names were Zack and Ivy.
"I still can't believe we're working with ANOTHER professional thief group!" Ivy cried out excitedly in a Boston accent. "I wonder what Sly Cooper's like.
"I just hope they at least have something to eat." Zack said holding onto his stomach. "I'm starvin' like crazy."
"We'll know once they get here." Carmen said.
"Yoo-hoo!" The three of them turned and saw Sly Cooper standing a short distance from them. He, Bentley, and Murray stood behind their signature van.
"Sly." Carmen greeted as she approached the Cooper Gang with her team. "This must be your crew."
"Crew and best friends." Sly emphasized. "This is Bentley, the brains, and Murray, the muscle."
"Greetings." Bentley said.
"What's up?" Murray greeted.
"Nice to meet you." Carmen said. "This is my team. This is Zack and Ivy. And…" She reached into her pocket and pulled out three earpieces, which she gave to her allies. "This here is Player. He's the tech guy on our team."
Sly proceeded to stuff the earpiece into his ear. "Uh, hello?"
"Hey. You must be Sly Cooper. Red told me all about you."
"And you must be her secret call friend she met at VILE Island." Sly said as Bentley and Murray activated their earpieces too.
"Looks like we're all in this together now." Bentley said. "Good. For a while, I was worried how the three of us could stop VILE all by ourselves."
"Yeah. The enemy of our enemy and all right."
"Whoa!" Ivy exclaimed circling around the Cooper van with her brother. "Is this really your van?"
"Yep. She's my pride and joy." Murray said. "You know vehicles?"
"Heck, yeah. Before we met Carmen, my bro and I were a great racing team back in Boston." Ivy answered. "I did the mechanic work and Zack was the driver."
"Boy, those were good times." Zack said before realizing something. "Wait. How did you guys get here from Paris the same time we did with just a van."
Sly was about to answer, but was unable to provide one. "How did we, Bentley?"
"Well, you got me." Bentley shrugged. "By all accounts, it doesn't make sense."
"We'll talk travel arrangements after we stop VILE's operation here in Indonesia." Carmen said. "In the meantime, Murray, can you drive your van through a jungle?"
"In my sleep." Murray answered.
"Let's not test that theory." Bentley said.
Murray took the van and drove it into the jungle with his friends resting at the back. During the drive, Zack looked outside with hunger pangs.
"I haven't seen a single drive-through." Zack complained. "I'm gonna faint from hunger here."
"Uh, what's up with him?" Bentley asked.
"He's just upset because we haven't had anything to eat since before our France job." Ivy said. "Zack, just think of something other than takeout, like… stakeout."
"Reminds me too much of meat."
"As in, casing a joint? You know, like the night we first met Carmen."
"Right!" Zack said growing a smile and ignoring his hunger. "She was casing the same joint. Who'd ever guess a South Boston donut shop would be a front for a supersecret crime empire?" He gagged. "Donuts baked by VILE sure taste vile."
"Ha! There." Ivy said. "You can thank me now for ruining your appetite."
"Is that really true?" Sly asked Carmen.
"Pretty much." Carmen said. "VILE was using that donut shop as a front for a counterfeiting operation. I was pretty much against them tagging along at first, but they really proved themselves. What about you? How did you meet your gang?"
"Oh, we've known Sly for years." Murray said. "We grew up in the same orphanage."
"With Murray's strength, Sly's skills, and my brains, we realized we had the potential to do anything." Bentley said. "So when our friend told us about his trouble with the Thievius Racoonus, we decided to help him as much as we can."
"Wow. Sounds like you three would do anything for each other." Carmen said. "Sure wish I had that same dynamic back at VILE."
"Hey, you got us, Carm." Zack said. "And we'll do anything for ya."
Carmen smiled. "Thanks, guys."
At that moment, Murray hit the brakes and stopped the van. "We're here."
Everyone stepped out of the van and looked on out at a nearby large building in the middle of the jungle. They could see it over the trees from the adjacent hill.
"I'm guessing that's not a supermarket." Sly said.
"Hardly. It's a Dr. Saira Bellum R lab." Carmen answered.
"Something tells me 'R' don't stand for rubies." Ivy said.
"And 'D' don't stand for dollars… or donuts." Zack continued.
"I should probably go in with you." Bentley said.
"Really, Bentley?" Sly asked. "You don't usually volunteer for field work."
"If it's a laboratory, then you'll probably need my insight." Bentley said.
"Understood." Sly said. "Murray, keep a lookout in case we get visitors."
"Got it."
Sly looked over at his fellow thief and watched as she wore her long, red jacket. "Uh, Carmen, why are you wearing your jacket? It's over a hundred degrees."
"A lady needs her tools." Carmen answered. She opened up her jacket revealing a set of thieving tools she had packed in it. "All right, Ivy. Bring out Red Drone."
Ivy pulled out a red, metallic ball with a camera lens from her bag. She then tossed it across, but before it could hit the ground, the drone released a beam of red light from below blowing it higher from the ground. It hovered up to the roof where it then entered the lab through a vent.
"Nice drone." Bentley complimented.
"Thanks." Ivy said opening up her electronic pad to see though a camera lens. "She's one of our best spies."
"Wait, hold on. Red Drone's a 'she'?" Zack asked.
"Red Drone's awesome. Of course, she's a she."
Everyone gathered around the screen and watched as the drone cut its way into an empty hallway with lasers beaming around randomly.
"State of the art." Zack said impressed. "Hey, how can anyone walk around in there with laser beams pointing all over the place?"
"It's a special type of security system." Bentley said. "The only way it can be active is if there's no one inside."
"So nobody's home." Carmen said.
"Is there a way for us to get inside?" Sly asked.
"Why, yes." Bentley said. "If my calculations are correct, there is a security override function in the far end of the hallway. Just move your scarlet automaton through the energy beams and insert a connecting line to deactivate the defenses."
"So just move Red Drone past the lasers and plug in to shut them off?" Sly asked.
"Isn't that what I just said?"
The team proceeded to move Red Drone being careful not to hit any of the lasers. After a minute, they reached the hallway and inserted a USB into an electronic panel.
"Your turn, Player." Carmen instructed.
"Security cams disabled. Back door open."
The door in front of them slid open for the others to get in.
The Cooper Gang and Team Red entered the lab and retrieved Red Drone on their way forward. They soon set foot in a laboratory with several pieces of equipment lying around and not functioning.
"No guards. No lab techs." Carmen observed. She then placed her fingers on a coffee mug. "Still warm. They just left."
"So what do you think they were working on here?" Sly asked.
Bentley looked around observing the lab. "It looks like the researchers were doing some kind of agricultural experiments."
"Player, up for a fishing trip?" Carmen asked plugging a USB into the computer.
"Casting off."
"Who doesn't finish lunch?" Zack asked picking up a small, glass container full of rice. "Oh, well. More rice bowls for me." He was about to pour them into his mouth, but Carmen stopped him by taking the rice from him.
"Zack, these aren't rice bowls. They're petri dishes."
"I'm guessing that's not the kind of dish you find in the kitchen." Sly said.
"Let me give them a look." Bentley said taking a close look at the rice. He took a sniff before stepping back. "Yucko! The rice in there. It's some kind of fungus."
"Like mushrooms?" Ivy asked.
"Like spores, I think." Bentley said. "So VILE must have been developing a type of spores that can infect rice."
"Right on the money, Bentley." Player said. "The computer Red patched me into shows me that we're dealing with super spores genetically engineered to feed on rice. I pulled the data from a folder labeled 'Operation: Sticky Rice'."
"Feed on rice?" Sly asked. "Spores can do that?"
"Yeah. Fungi need to eat too." Bentley informed. "It's like termites eating wood."
"According to Bellum's research, these organisms can wipe out entire crops in a matter of hours."
"A bio-weapon." Carmen surmised. "And if VILE cleared out 'cause they knew we were coming, they no doubt took their entire stockpile of spores with them. Player, can you pinpoint any likely targets?"
"You're surrounded by likely targets. Indonesia produces 70 million tons of rice per year."
"But if they just left…" Sly said before making a call. "Murray, you there?"
"I'm here, Sly. What's up?"
"VILE took something that's very dangerous, and they just left. Can you look around for anything that could indicate which direction they've gone? Like tire tracks or broken tree branches or something?"
"You can count on me, Sly!"
"So VILE wipes out some rice fields." Ivy shrugged.
"Order pizza, problem solved." Zack said.
"Rice is Indonesia's staple food." Carmen said. "If crops are destroyed, its entire population grows hungry."
"Well, what can we do about it?" Ivy asked. "We're not the green police. We're thieves."
"We can see to it that Bellum never gets a chance to use her super spores, by stealing them." Carmen said.
"It may not be a shiny gem, but it's certainly an important caper for VILE." Sly said. "And you can bet that I'd love to stick it to those creeps."
"Sly! It's The Murray! I found tire tracks!"
"Get that engine ready for us, bud!" Sly said. "We're on our way!"
After the thieves entered the Cooper Van, Murray drove as fast as he could to follow the tracks' path, which led them to roads that circled the mountain.
"One thing still doesn't click." Ivy said. "What's in it for VILE? Why would they go through all the trouble of engineering some crazy food shortage crisis?"
"To force an entire population to buy VILE-brand instant imitation rice, at inflated prices no doubt." Carmen said.
"How do you know it's instant imitation?" Sly asked.
"They tried to feed it to us back on the island, but "vile" doesn't even begin to describe how bad it was. If Dr. Bellum thinks I'll stand by while she risks people starving so VILE can make a quick buck, she has a surprise coming."
"Two, in fact." Sly agreed. "Don't forget. I've got a personal mission against VILE. So what you do, we do."
"Found them!" Murray yelled.
Everyone looked out the window to a nearby path where a white truck was driving along. Carmen and Sly headed over to climb to the top of their van, and once they were right above the truck, they jumped to its roof.
Unfortunately for them, their landing caught the attention of the people inside the truck, VILE agents and a certain operative wearing a tiger-themed costume.
"Something tells me that was no Komodo dragon." The tiger girl climbed out her window and confronted both Carmen and Sly at the roof.
"Tigress." Carmen greeted. "Haven't seen you since…"
"Morocco. The pit. You broke my glasses."
"Wait, so this is Tigress?" Sly asked with a laugh. "I gotta say, she a LOT more catty than you described."
"And you must be the meddling Cooper guy who's been meddling in our business." Tigress said. "Guess you get to get clawed up just like your girlfriend."
"Easy there, Tigress." Carmen said defensively. "Sly here isn't my boyfriend."
"Yeah, I got my eye on another girl, thank you very much." Sly said.
"How nice. I'll be sure to send an invitation to her for your FUNERAL!" Tigress lunged at both Carmen and Sly slashing her claws at them. They dodged, though, allowing her to cut nothing but the air.
While Carmen and Sly were fighting Tigress at the top of the truck, Murray managed to drive the van directly behind it.
"Carmen and Sly are occupied." Ivy said. "I'll take the rear."
She climbed out of the van and headed over it to reach the hood of the van. Once they drove up close enough, she then jumped forward and managed to land on the back of the truck. She tried to open the door, but there was a key lock keeping it sealed. Thankfully, she pulled out a set of lockpicks and began to pick it.
"Wow!" Murray exclaimed. "Zack, your sister is pretty talented."
"Well, yeah. She's my sis after all."
While Murray continued to drive and Ivy continued to pick the lock, Sly and Carmen continued with double-teaming Tigress.
"You know, for a girl named Tigress, I thought you'd be more agile than that." Sly taunted making the villainess growl. She tried to lunge her claws at him, but Carmen kicked her away.
"What's in the truck, Tigress?" she asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know."
"Yes. I would. That's why I'm asking."
Sly noticed that the truck chase lead to a section of the jungle that had trees that grow durians. A plan sprung into his mind. He extended his cane and managed to hook one in before pulling it to him.
"I'm curious. Do tigers eat durian?" he asked before tossing it into the air. He then turned his Cooper Cane and swung it to slice it in half. Both pieces of it landed in Tigress' claws, and once she took a whiff of it, she pulled her head back screaming in disgust.
"UGH! This smells awful!"
Sly took advantage and swung his cane at her like a bat knocking her across the van.
The durian pieces fell off and fell beside Murray's van. The big guy reached his hand out a window and grabbed it before giving it to Zack.
"Here. I heard you were hungry."
"Oh, yes! Thanks, man!" Zack exclaimed excitedly taking the fruit. At first, he wrenched at the smell of it, but after he took a taste of it, his expression changed to delighted.
Finally, Ivy managed to unlock the back of the truck right when the vehicle hit a big rock. She nearly lost her balance and found herself hanging over the cliff. The only thing keeping her from falling was the truck door that popped open, and she held on for her life.
Sly noticed Ivy in trouble and wanted to help. "Hey, Red, I gotta help your friend!"
"Don't let me stop you!"
Sly hooked her cane on the edge of the truck and swung himself past its side. He managed to grab Ivy and continued his swing until he came to the furthest point. He released his cane's grip and landed right on top of the Cooper Van, where the two of them proceeded to jump back in through the back.
At first, Ivy was relieved to be alive. But then, she smelt a horrid odor and plugged in her nose. "What crawled in here and died?!"
"Durian. It's a fruit." Bentley explained. "It smells like old gym socks, but it's actually delicious."
Back to the top of the truck, Tigress had Carmen pinned and tried to sink her claws into her face, but the red thief struggled to keep her from even touching it. She then kicked Tigress away and took her chance to look into the truck with the open door. Inside, she found a lot of packages filled with fireworks.
Carmen was curious, but before anything else, she was caught by a surprise kick from Tigress strong enough to launch her back. Murray then steered the van to turn right around and stop so that Carmen can land into the back of the van safely. Unfortunately, though, that gave Tigress and her truck time they needed to disappear from their line of sight.
"They're getting away." Zack said.
"But we got a clue about where they're headed." Carmen said. "I looked inside the trucks, and they had a lot of skyrockets packed in."
"Of course!" Bentley cried out in realization. "Dr. Bellum needs a launch mechanism for her super spores. The fireworks must be used to distribute them from the sky."
"But wouldn't it be suspicious for a bunch of fireworks to go off in the middle of a jungle?" Murray asked.
"Not if people are EXPECTING fireworks." Sly said. "Yo, Player, is there anywhere that's festive tonight?"
"Hmm? It's not New Year's Eve, and Indonesians don't celebrate the Fourth of July. But there is a shadow puppet festival tonight, not too far from you. Just outside of Jakarta."
"Let me guess," Carmen said, "Bordering a swath of interconnected rice patties."
"You're suave AND you're psychic. So why is VILE sneaking around? Why not have Tigress find the nearest rice crop and scatter the spores?"
"Not VILE's style." Carmen answered. "They never operate without a smokescreen, and they never show their true face."
"This also gives us better opportunity to get the drop on them." Sly said. "VILE's subtlety can be used to our advantage."
Later on that night, the thieves made their way to the village where the shadow puppet festival. They parked their van in a cleverly-hidden spot before stepping out. They took in the sights of a crowd of Indonesians partaking in the festival, including a fun shadow puppet that was entertaining to the children.
"Okay. The fireworks are officially meant to go off at the end of the shadow puppet show." Bentley said. "Everyone clear on the plan?"
"Right." everyone answered at once.
Far behind the shadow puppet stage, farther than anyone can find, Tigress was just finished setting up a couple rows of green rockets that were all aimed to the sky. Once she was done, she made a call through her wristwatch.
"Dr. Bellum, bio-weapons are locked, loaded, and ready to launch."
"Tigress, you know the rules. Nothing must seem out of the ordinary. The fireworks must launch as scheduled, when the puppet show is over, and not a moment before."
"You do realize that means risking another surprise visit by Fedora the Explorer and Blue Zorro, or whatever they call themselves."
"Hey! Who are you calling Blue Zorro?" Sly asked dropping in behind Tigress taking her by surprise. "Though, I admit, that is a cool nickname."
"You!" Tigress yelled readying her claws. "Where's your partner?"
As if on cue, Carmen jumped out of a nearby tree and landed a dropkick on Tigress knocking her backward.
"Does that answer your question?" Sly asked.
"Name calling. Another reason why I unfriended you." Carmen said arrogantly.
"They're here! Permission to break protocol and launch the spores." Tigress called into her watch. There was no answer though, as Dr. Bellum was too distracted at the moment admiring a video of a cat playing a piano.
Carmen and Sly took their chance and began fighting against Tigress, who fought back trying to keep them away from the fireworks. She led them to a crowd of musicians, and although the civilians were confused, they continued to play their instruments until Tigress tackled Carmen off the stage scaring off the puppeteers. The crowd was disappointed at first, but when Carmen and Tigress stood behind the partition and their shadows appeared as they fought, the crowd thought it was part of the show and kept cheering.
Tigress found a stick and picked it up. She readied to use it as a weapon.
"Care to make a loan request?" Sly asked offering his cane.
"Yes please." Carmen answered accepting Sly's signature tool, which she then used to counter against Tigress.
The two ladies traded blows to each other with their handheld weapons. Each exchange just made the crowd more excited. The musicians kept playing.
After a minute of trading blows, Tigress got the advantage with a good kick to Carmen. She raised her stick to finish her off, but Carmen got the best of her by deflecting it upward with a swing from the Cooper Cane. That deflection hit a spotlight that crashed between the girls and darkened the puppet show abruptly.
"Puppet show's over." Tigress said taking her chance to run to the fireworks.
"Not so fast, Garfield." Sly said trying to stand in her way. However, Tigress dropped down to slide between his legs and continuing her run to the fireworks.
Without any other trouble, she lit a match and dropped it to a long fuse that was leading to the fireworks.
"Word of advice," Tigress said with a smile, "Don't eat the tainted rice."
Tigress fled the scene and disappeared into the bushes. Sly and Carmen didn't seem upset, though. They waited for her to be gone before turning to the fireworks.
"You got it, guys?" Sly asked.
Zack, Ivy, Murray, and Bentley made their way out of the bushes and grabbed the stand holding the green fireworks. They lifted it up and moved it letting the fuse light its way to its real target: a set of RED fireworks, which all belonged to the good thieves.
"According to plan." Bentley said with a sharp smile.
The fuse continued on until it reached the bottoms of the red fireworks. They were all lit, and they flew into the sky like bullets. Once they were high enough, they all detonated illuminating red lights along with the rest of the fireworks that blew up around the same time.
"You were right, Carmen." Sly said. "As long as Tigress had her focus set on you, she didn't even notice me detaching the fuse to her spore fireworks and attaching it to normal ones."
"Of course, she didn't. She hates me too much to think about anything else." Carmen said. "By the time VILE realizes the crops are safe, it'll be too late."
"So what are we gonna do with all the bad fireworks?" Murray asked.
"I can probably sterilize safely sterilize the spores with the data we picked up from Dr. Bellum's lab." Bentley said.
"Ooh! Bentley! If you can do that, will the fireworks be safe to use?" Sly asked excitedly.
"Yeah, I think so. Why? …You want us to put on a private fireworks show for ourselves, aren't you?"
"Oh, that'd be awesome." Zack said.
"I really like the new guys." Ivy said.
"Well, let's have a bite to celebrate our collaboration." Carmen said. "Who's up for a rice bowl? My treat."
"You know what, Carmen?" Sly asked. "I think this is the start of a beautiful partnership."
Dr. Bellum was livid when she learned the truth of her infected rice caper. She joined Professor Maelstrom and escorted Crackle through the halls of VILE Academy.
"I did my best," Crackle said, "But that Carmen Sandiego and Sly Cooper are a couple of jumpy roos."
"Thanks to them, I am stuck with warehouses filled with imitation instant rice and no one to sell it to." Dr. Bellum said as she opened a door to a dark lab.
"So Tigress failed her mission to, eh?" Crackle asked.
"Have a seat. Please." Professor Maelstrom instructed guiding Crackle to a metal chair in the middle of the lab. Crackle was nervous, but complied.
"There's just… something I want to clear up." Crackle said. "That Cooper fella, he said that you lot killed his father to steal his family's thieving secrets. Is that… true?"
Professor Maelstrom and Dr. Bellum exchanged a look.
"Huh. Well, that confirms that for me." Crackle said. "Still, I don't think I've ever heard of a case where all five members of VILE Faculty worked together. That old book you guys snatched must have been pretty special."
"The Thievius Raccoonus is VERY special," Dr. Bellum said, "But we didn't simply take it just to better our resources. We stole it so that the Coopers couldn't use it again."
"Really?" Crackle asked. "Why? Is the Cooper family really that much of a threat?"
"I wouldn't worry about the Coopers if I were you, Crackle." Professor Maelstrom said. "If I were you, I'd worry more about myself."
"Uh… What do you mean?" Crackle asked. "I mean, Tigress failed her mission too."
"You went to school here, Crackle. To fail is forgivable. But to allow yourself to be captured… Your misstep could have put the entire academy at risk."
"Well… it won't happen again. I assure you." Crackle promised with his fears growing. Just then, his wrists and ankles were snatched and bound by metal shackles that clamped around them. He frightfully tried to break free, but it was hopeless.
"No. WE assure YOU that it won't." Maelstrom returned with a sinister tone.
Dr. Bellum approached Crackle with a metal headband that began to glow. "Relax. This won't hurt a bit. Just a light tingling sensation. Then, happy days."
The day after the Indonesian festival, two people in suits came to the village just as everything was being cleaned up. They gave cold stares at everything before one of them pulled out her phone and made a call.
"We lost Carmen Sandiego. …Yes, again. And there's more. It looks like she's joined forces with Sly Cooper." After a moment, she turned to her partner. "Chief wants us to initiate… Plan B.